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"4 MARINE REVIEW. [January 30, -- THE LABORER IS SHARING IN PROSPERITY. Not long ago Andrew Carnegie said in an address: "It is one of the most cheering facts of our day that under present conditions the wages of labor tend to rise and the prices of the necessaries of life tend to fall." When Mr. Carnegie's attention was called to the fact that statistics did not bear out his statement he qualified his utterance in this wise: "When I spoke of the decreased cost of living 'in our day under pres- ent conditions,' I had no reference to the advance in prices during the past few years of this temporary 'boom.' This is to change when the 'boom' subsides. Contrast prices before that and the fall is seen. 'Our day' is our generation. In clothing, for instance, the fall is remarkable and in many other miscellaneous articles equally so." The fact is that the cost of foodstuffs has materially increased, but it is equally true that the condition of the laborer in this country was never better than it is today. The capitalist is making money, but so is the laborer. This is shown in no better way than by figures compiled for the "Index Number" of Dun's Review. In compiling this 'Index Number" the price of a unit of each commodity for a given month is multiplied by the annual per capita consumption, so that at any given date is shown at the price of that date, the cost per capita of a year's supplies of all the nec- essaries of life. In a table recently published in the Review 1t was shown that the cost of living for 1901 was higher than the cost of living in any other recent year. A comparison of figures given below may be of inter- est. In explanation of the table it should be stated that the figures given represent the average cost per capita of any commodity mentioned for one year, at the price of the commodity on the date given, .Here are the figures: Dairy and Other Breadstuffs. Meats. Garden. Food. Clothing. 1809, Tan 1... ss... $15.75 $9.31 $15.29 $9.59 $13.90 1800; laa. Docu a 14.31 8.35 12.19 8.60 11.88 JOUR, loth... 6. 13:51 1.38 12.37 8.31 11.57 1900) Jatt 1a... 13.25 7.25 138.70 9.20 17.48 10h Jan, 12: ss. 14.48 8.40 15.55 9.50 16.02 A002 ean 1 oe... dus 20.00 9.67 15.24 8.95 15.54 "Breadstuffs"' include wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, beans and peas. "Meats" include live hogs, beef, sheep and many meat products, such as lard, tallow, etc. 'Dairy and garden" include eggs and fruits, while "other foods" include fish, liquors, sugar, rice and tobacco. "Clothing" includes raw materials, silk, rubber goods, hides and leather. In commenting on the table, only a part of which is given above, the Review says: "Tt is to be regretted that the compilation of prices here given has been quoted in support of efforts to stir up antagonism between wage earners and employers. In this connection the claim has been made that the remarkable advance in the cost of living since July 1, 1897, was due to combinations of capital, and that the manufacturer secured all the difference in price, while the wage earners were not earning any more money, although compelled to pay the advanced quotations for all things consumed. These statements are very far from the truth. .Not only are the wage earners receiving much better pay than at the earlier date, but they are well employed. 'he rate of wages is of trifling importance when there is no work. It was this factor, more than any other, which produced the depression that culminated on July 1, 1897, with prices at the lowest point in the nation's history. It was estimated by labor experts at. the time that 3,000,000 men were unable to find employment. This means that 15,000,000 persons were living on as little as possible, and consequently the consumptive demand was reduced to the lowest point. At the present time there is little difficulty in meeting the higher level of quotations, for there is full employment and each man has only his own family to think of instead of a host of unfortunate relatives and friends, as was the case during the earlier period." The figures show that, while foodstuffs have increased in price, the cost of manufactured articles has tended to decrease. The table, as given above, does not show a material decrease in the cost of clothing, which is a manufactured article, although Dun's figures in the full table show that for months other than January, during the years from 1898 to 1902, the tendency of clothing prices has been downward. The prices of other manufactured articles, particularly metal products, have become steadily lower. The rise in the price of foodstuffs is traced to a variety of causes. The natural increase in the population has something to do with it, but it must be ascribed chiefly to the demand.for our agricultural products abroad. The Boer war has'had something to do with increasing this de- © mand and the new markets opened to us in the islands of the southern and western seas have also had something to do with it. Attention is called to the fact that, when the farmers in any country are prosperous, the general condition of that country is good. It seems to be a proper conclusion, therefore, that the increase in the cost of food- stuffs is not altogether an unfavorable sign. Dun remarks, in effect, that, if Mr. 'Carnegie was wrong in particulars, he was right on the general pro- position that the condition of the American laborer was never better than it is at present. To that statement the following comment is added: "Morever, the suggestion that the manufacturers and the capitalists are pocketing all the profits is equally open to contradiction. These are not the men who have advanced the number of deposits in savings banks to the highest point on record, nor increased the life insurance policies to present phenomenal figures. Examination shows that the farming popula- tion receives the greatest share of enhanced prices, the rise in breadstufts falling little short of 90 per cent., while meats rose nearly 30 per cent., and dairy garden products 75 per cent. Much of the latter gain is due to the change in season, as eggs, milk, etc., are all more expensive in winter than in midsummer, but this factor enters into the record and cannot be ignored. Coming to the manufactured products, there is a sudden fall in the percentage of gain, the clothing class rising but 11 per cent. This does not indorse the statement that the manufacturers are securing all the advanced cost of living. In fact analysis of the clothing quotations in detail makes the showing still less favorable for the manufacturer. Com- paring the prices of a few of the principal products of manufacture and the raw material in each case, it appears that the advance in the finished article has not by any means been commensurate with the rise in material, For instance, hides are 49.5 per cent. higher than on Jan. 1, 1888, while leather the partially manufactured product, is 4.3 per cent. higher, but boots and shoes are actually 8.3 per cent. lower in cost to the consumer than at the than ordinary pains to make this windlass as nearly perfect as possible. ; oolens, alone, show a slightly higher percentage than the eprom heer due to the peculiar depression recently felt in the woo] market. Despite the marvelous demand for iron and steel products and the existence of the most complete industrial combination that. ever ex- isted, there appears a rise of but 35 per cent. in that class, while in the miscellaneous division there 1s a gain of 87 per cent. over July 1, 1897, chiefly due to lumber and building materials. As the laboring man does not as a rule own his home, the greater cost of structural products is not a disturbing element to him. On the other hand, the wage earner benefits by lower rents and better accommodations, which have followed the in- crease of money-seeking investment and consequent fall in interest rates, Capitalists who formerly received 7 per cent. or more on their properties are now glad to take 4 or 5. , These facts cannot be considered evidence that the few have reaped all the benefits of the marvelous advance of prices at the expense of the many." VARIED USES OF PNEUMATIC TOOLS. It is undoubtedly true that the adoption of the pneumatic tool has greatly lessened the cost and lightened the labor of ship building; not on steel vessels alone but in all kinds of ship yard work. A Pacific coast ship builder, writing to the Marine Review regarding the use of these tools in building wooden vessels, says: "We estimate that with each of the pneumatic tools which we have in operation we save the labor of twelve men per day. We not only do the boring with these machines, but drive the treenails and bolts requisite in the construction of a wooden vessel, which reduces the labor on a vessel, say of 1,200 tons gross tonnage, one-third. : : It would be impossible without the aid of these ingenious and labor- saving appliances to turn out steel ships with the rapidity with which they are at present being turned out in the United States. They are now used in almost every line of work involved in hull construction. Time is today the most valuable of all assets, and regarded from that standpoint the pneumatic tool is priceless. Its adaptability to structural work is infinite. Referring to their line of tools the Standard Pneumatic Tool. Co.. of Aurora, Ill., submit the accompanying illustration, showing a man with "Tittle Giant" drill No. 0 drilling heavy plate in a large vessel under con- struction.. They say: "Qualities which a portable pneumatic tool should possess includé economy in the use of air, lightness, freedom from yibra- tion, simplicity and durability of construction, and excellence of workman- ship. We are'quite sure that these qualities are possessed in a very high DRILLING HEAVY PLATE IN SHIP CONSTRUCTION. degree in our "Little Giant" tools. Our hammers are particularly adapted to ship yard use. 'They are unexcellend for all classes of riveting, chip- ping, calking, beading, etc. Our "Little Giant" drills are of the piston type and consist of four single-acting cylinders, arranged in pairs, each pair of pistons being connected to opposite wrists of a double crank-shaft; each piston of each pair traveling in opposite directions at all parts of the stroke, thus insuring a smooth running machine. All parts are made in- terchangeable. The machines are provided with balanced piston valves, set to cut off at five-eighths of the stroke, thus insuring great economy in the use of air. The crank-shaft revolves in an enclosed chamber, designed to be kept partly filled with oil. Each of the four cylinders at their rear ends into this compartment and the gear-case also communicates with and forms a portion of this chamber or oil receptacle. When the machine is in use the rapid rotation of the crank-shaft throws the enclosed oil over the parts located in this chamber, and in the gear case, thereby insuring perfect and continuous lubrication of all the parts. The thrust or strain in drilling is not borne by the main frame of the machine, but is passed directly from the drill to the screw-feed by means of a spindle bearing on a fixed post, upon which the screw-feed is mounted. The spindles are provided with standard Morse taper sockets and threaded externally at their lower ends, so as to receive chucks and other special devices." The Standard company manufactures air drills, hammers, reversible flue rolling, reaming, tapping and wood boring machines, motor chain hoists and pneumatic tools and appliances of every description. The windlass for the yacht which the Townsend & Downey Ship Building & Repair Co., Shooter's island, N. Y., is building for the Em- peror of Germany, will be of the Providence kind, made by the American Ship Windlass Co, of Providence, R. I., and well known all over the world. It is understood that the Providence company is taking more