194 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (BCEEAU OF LABOB STATISTICS.) 



they should be, and I should be glad of an op- 

 portunity of giving them more full and accu- 

 rate information as to the operation of that 

 solitary law upon our statute-book which has 

 any injurious effect on the laboring classes of 

 this country. In the further debate of this 

 question, I think I might well require of every 

 Senator who will participate in it, to point out 

 any statute of the United States under which 

 the laboring classes are either wronged or neg- 

 lected, unless it may be this tariff legislation. 

 I am not aware of any other. 



" There may be a want of information on 

 the part of representatives in both houses as 

 to the condition of the laboring classes in the 

 United States, and if so, it is the fault of the 

 representatives themselves. Our representa- 

 tive system is divided up so that each 150,000 

 people, or about that number, is represented 

 by a separate representative ;n the House, 

 chosen by the people, and if they and the Sen- 

 ators in this body are really not informed as to 

 the condition of their respective constituencies 

 the fault is that of the representative and not 

 of the law. I do not believe that there is any 

 gross ignorance in either branch of Congress as 

 to the actual condition and wants and necessi- 

 ties of the people of this country. It may not 

 be information collected and tabulated in form 

 go that it can be read by every man ; but when 

 you take the aggregate information of the two 

 bodies upon the condition of the people they 

 represent, I believe that it is as extensive and 

 as accurate as the information that is possessed 

 by legislators in any country in the world. It 

 would be a convenience to political economists, 

 and to social economists, and to writers and 

 speculators upon economic questions, to have 

 this all collected and tabulated. It is also for 

 the interest and honor of the country that the 

 exact condition of all classes in the country 

 should be known. I therefore am not opposed 

 to collecting these statistics. On the contrary, 

 during the time I have had the honor to serve 

 upon the Committee on the Census, which is 

 since its first organization, it has been a part 

 of my duty that I have most willingly and 

 cheerfully performed, to try and assist in the 

 collection of statistics touching every economic 

 question in the United States, and the census 

 of 1880, although not entirely accurate, still 

 more accurate than any that ever preceded it, 

 is a full and complete narrative of the condition 

 of almost every industry of any importance in 

 the United States, and of a good many that are 

 not of any importance, at least, not of any 

 great importance. 



" Now, we have a Bureau of Statistics in 

 the Treasury Department, presided over by 

 an eminent, able statistician, Mr. Nimmo, to 

 whom the Senate is constantly in the habit of 

 applying for the purpose of getting informa- 

 tion upon almost every statistical subject that 

 concerns legislation in this body. The main 

 value of a bureau of statistics rests in the 

 capacity of the man who has its direction, and 



in his integrity. If you have a really able 

 statistician at the head of that bureau, and he 

 'is furnished with a sufficiency of clerical force, 

 means enough to get information, he will ac- 

 quire, digest, and put before the country in an 

 authentic and proper form all the necessary 

 facts to guide us in legislation, and to guide 

 the country in its investigation of the moral, 

 social, and economical conditions in every re- 

 spect. We have such a bureau, and we have 

 such a man. I do not perceive the necessity of 

 organizing another bureau to conduct this busi- 

 ness, and I think it would be good public econ- 

 omy to place this subject under the control of 

 that bureau, as is proposed to be done by the 

 amendment of the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. 

 Garland). 



u Some pathetic appeals are made to the 

 Senate in reference to the wants and demands 

 of what are called the laboring classes. It is 

 said that the Senators upon the Committee on 

 Education and Labor, in their investigations of 

 this subject through the country, have become 

 informed generally by black and white, by 

 le of all classes, South, North, East, and 



f est, wherever they were in the course of 

 their investigations, that they desire a bureau 

 for the purpose of increasing their happiness 

 and their prosperity, and for the purpose of 

 giving more emphasis to the facts relating to 

 their condition, whether it be good or whether 

 it be bad. I should like to gratify any portion 

 of the people of the United States in any desire 

 that they have upon a question of this kind, or 

 indeed upon any question. At the same time, 

 it is the duty'of the Senate of the United 

 States to consult a sound and wise public 

 policy in respect of this as in respect of every- 

 thing else." 



May 23d, Mr. Garland, of Arkansas, moved 

 to recommit the bill, but the motion was lost 

 by the following vote: 



YEAS Bayard, Butler, Camden, Coke, Colquitt, 

 Fair, Garland, Harris, Jackson, Jonas, Jones of Flor- 

 ida, Lapham, Maxey, Morgan, Pendleton, Slater, 

 Walker, Williams-18? 



NAYS Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Call, Cameron of 

 Wisconsin, Conger, Cullorn.Dolph, Edmunds, George, 

 Harrison, Hawley, Hill, Hoar, Jones of Nevada, 

 Kenna, Logan, McMillan, Morrill, Palmer, Pike, 

 Platt, Puprh, Sawyer, Vau Wyck, Vest, Voorhees, 

 Wilson 28. 



ABSENT Anthony, Beck.Bowen, Brown, Cameron 

 of Pennsylvania, Cockrell, Dawes. Farley, Frye, Gib- 

 son, Gorman, Groome, Hale, Hampton, Ingalls. La- 

 mar, McPherson, Mahpne, Manderson, Miller of Cali- 

 fornia, Miller of New York, Mitchell, Plumb, Ransom, 

 Eiddleberger, Sabin, Saulsbury, Sewell, Sherman, 

 Vance 30. 



Mr. Garland also moved to strike out all 

 after the enacting clause, and insert the follow- 

 ing as a substitute for the House bill : 



That section 342, chapter 10, of the Eev5sed Stat- 

 utes be amended by adding thereto the following 

 words, namely : 



" The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics shall, under 

 such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may 

 prescribe, annually collect and report to Congress the 

 statistics of and relating to marriage and divorce in 





