The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-11-30
ThOs. 5. oPRAGUE & SON.
r. A. E III T 6
Wrvne County Bank BLDG. DETROIT
GOVERNMENT WAGES LOW.
H. T. Newcomb Gives Facts of inter-
est to Wage Farmers.

n. u NcWCornp SiVeS FactS OF inter-
est to Wage Farmers.
From 1896 to 1904 the average retail
cost of the ordinary articles of food
used in the United States advanced no
less than IL per cent Q696, to be more
exacb-that is, the purchaser of food
for a family had to pay SLIT in 1904
' for the same quantity and quality OF
food that 81 would purchase in 1885,
These are official statistics compiled
by the highly skilled experts employed
by the federal government, and every
housewife knows that they do not over
state the advance. Other necessities of
life have advanced in cost with APP
proximately equal rapidity.
PROFESSIONALLY wages ought, gener-
ally speaking, to have advanced some
what in proportion to the increase in
the cost of living. In private employ
ment this has apparently taken place,
the average wages per hour reported
by the federal bureau of labor being
1916 per cent higher in 1904 than in
1896 and the average weekly earnings
1916 per cent higher. The advances
thus represented are spread all over the
country; they characterize every pri-
vate industrial enterprise and have
benefited all classes of workmen en-
ployed in private undertakings.
How is it with public employment?
A few undertakings conducted under
public ownership employ labor like
81, IL, 20 nj
ers in the same communities, and in
these cases the public rate of wages
has slowly been advanced somewhat
in proportion to the advance in the
wages privately paid. But where any
American government, municipal, state
or national, Is the sole or by far the
!. largest employer Of particular class
bf labor the advances to meet increas-
ed cost of living have been so few that
the ordinary investigator will be I'M
hble to discover q single instance.
Throughout the postal service, among
The $4,000 clerical employees at Wash
ngton, in the cvstoms and internal
revenue services there have been no
]adyQpces- in pay to meet the rise in
ilcost OF food, Nelcthing and shelter. The
-lpay of letter carriers, for example, re-
}mains precisely where it was fixed
(twenty years ago by an act approved
on Jan. 3, 1887.
The largest printing Office in the
4 world is that maintained at Washing
Il ton by the government, and there the
federal government employs a large
Il force Of intelligent and highly skilled
workingmen. A change in the basis
u of payment in 1899 from the piece
work to the per hour system prevents
comparisons with dates prior to the
! change, but wages have remained sta
I tionary since March 3, 1899, although
the official statisticlans report that the
cost of food has advanced since the
rate of wages was fixed by statute full
~ 1926 per cent. During the same
Il years the wages Of printers in private
book publishing or job printing estab-
lishments advanced throughout the
|rUhited States as follows: Competitors,
male, 14.67 per cent; compositors, fe-
male, 2030 per cent; press feeders,
male, 22.41 per cent; press feeders, fe-
male, 21.27 per cent; pressmen, 11.75
per cent.--H. Il. Newcomb.