The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-15
LABOR SHARESN PROSPERITY
II iTISTICS GiTHERED Nv THE
T.. :. BJREiT or LABOR.
me, show Ihs the wage Farmer IL RS ceiN.
ing More PAY and WORKING shorter
HOuTs Than Ever Before Increase Of
pay More Than In Cost Of Living.

ing Wore PhN AFN WOThlWk A0uEvfF
HOurs Than Ever before Increase Of
paw Nor" Than In Cost Of Living.
WASHINGTON. Oct. H.. American wage
.,rners are enjoying = large share OF the
general prosperity Of the country. This
fact ls shown by an analysis Of the recently
published report of the United States Bureau
~ Labor on wages. hours Of labor and
rrices OF food. The figures show that the
average wage Garner is working shorter
hours than ever before, that he IL receiving
noIe pay for the short hour week than he
formerly received for the long hour week,
and that the increase in his average wage
has been so great that its purchasing power
has risen. Notwithstanding the increase in
nrices Of many commodities. Finally,
Il shows that there has been an enormous
increase in the number Of persons en-
ployed.
The report covers the sixteen year period
beginning with 1890 and ending with 1906.
From 1900 70 1898 the condition OF the work
iusmsn was fairly good. In the last men
toned year the general business depression
act IN and the wage Garner suffered with
all other classes. A clear idea of the extent
NJ he Improvement in conditions can be
obtained Ivy comparing 1894 with 1905.
Sich = cenparison shows that the average
wage per hour has increased q s per cent,
while the average hours worked per week
have decreased 80 per cent. The average
wage Garner, working shorter hours. earns
1877 per cent. more per week than in 1894
and 1919 per cent. more than in 1890.
In the meantime the average price Of
food. weighted according to the averag
family consumption in the families of 1887
workngmen, increased 1877 per cent. above
1894 and 9s per cent. above 1890. Notwith-
standing this increase. the average wage
hour would purchase IL per cent. more
food in 1895 than in 1884, and 81 per cent.
more than in 1890. Still more important
has been the increase in the number en-
ployed. amounting to ~ per cent. over
1894 and 10 4O.0 Per cent. over 1890. The
combined effect Of the increase in the aver
age wage and in the number employed was
to increase the total amount paid in wages
per week by e57 per cent. above 1891 and
SOL per cent above 1890.
II the bureau Of labor had secured data
as to the total cost Of living for the series
Of years under consideration it would have
shown a larger increase in the purchasing
rover Of an hours wage than is shown by
considering the price Of food alone, for it is
true that while there has been a general
advance in commodity prices since the
beginning Of the present ara of prosperity,
that advance has been greatest in the prices
Of agricultural products and raw materials
generally. The average increases in prices o
Of manufactured articles nave been much
less. The increase in the price of aRricul-
tnrsl products, especially meats, has adj
vanoed the cost Of food to a much greater
degree than the prices of clothing and house
furnishings have advanced. In some locali-
ties the cost Of fuel has gone up and in some
localities houSe rents are higher. but on the
whole the average cost of living has not
advanced in proportion to the cost Of foods.
That manufactured articles have not
advanced in proportion to the advance in
the prices of raw materials and the wages
Of labor is due to the fact that manufacture
ing establishments, especially the larger
concerns, have been able to introduce
economies that have 10 some degree Offset
the greater cost Of labor and materials.
One OF the most important factors in
undertaking the advance in commodity
prices generally has been the decline in the
cost Of transportation--a cost that enter
into the selling price Of practically everys
commodity. The average freight charge
per ton per mile for 1905, as reported by
the Interstate Commerce Commission,
shows a decrease of 1919 per cent. as COM
pared with 1894 and 1875 per cent. as COM
pared with 1890. The figures for 1905 will
show a still further reduction.
This rapid decline in the average cost OF
transportation in the face of greatly in
creased expenditures for railroad wages
and materials and supplies of all kinds
has been made possible by the expenditure
by the railroads Of hundreds of millions of
dollars for the betterment of tracks and
roadbeds, the elimination of grades and
curves and the purchase of more powerful
engines and larger cars, enabling them to
make large increases from year to year in
the average tTainload. These railroad
improvements have contributed materially
70 the general increase in prosperity of the
whole country, giving employment to many
thousands OF wage earners and distribut-
ing enormous sums of money. This work
Of railroad extension and improvement
will continue on an unprecedented scale
for some years to come If it is not inter-
fered with by radical legislation.
A recent review of the work now in prog
ress and projected in trunk line territory
alone shows that the roads in that one sec
ton have planned for the expenditure of
not less than S4OO, OOO, OOo during this year
and 1907. In the vast region beyond the
Mississippi, between the Canadian border
and the Rio Grande, thousands Of miles Of
road are under construction and projected,
and all over the South existing lines are
being improved and extended.