650 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



will reward investigation which will throw light, when properly 

 understood, not only on the particular problems in hand, but on 

 larger problems. I propose in the present paper to communicate 

 some reflections which I have made. The alleged drawbacks, 

 when considered, do, in fact, suggest for consideration questions 

 of a weighty nature, which go to the root of ideas of progress, and 

 affect the most general views of the prospects of modern civili- 

 zation. 



The alleged drawbacks of which I speak are mainly the follow- 

 ing : First, it is said, workingmen in many cases have more to 

 pay for rent than they would have to pay when earning less 

 money under different conditions, or they have to pay railway or 

 'bus fares or similar charges for conveyance to and from their 

 work, which are in the nature of an increase of rent. Conse- 

 quently, although the money wage is more, the workman is not 

 so much better off than he was, because a large part of that 

 money wage has to be paid as a fine, practically, to enable the 

 workingman to be in a position to earn it. In other words, the 

 gross sum is more, but the net sum is not so much more. It is 

 easy to perceive, also, that this principle may have a much wider 

 application than may at first be surmised. The case usually 

 thought of is that of rent, or an equivalent fine on a workman, 

 which he pays in order to be in a certain place where the money 

 wage can be earned. Suppose the climate in which he has to live 

 in order to earn a larger money wage than he can get elsewhere 

 is so exhausting as to compel a larger consumption of food in 

 order that the money may be earned ? The question of gross and 

 net is thus of a wide-sweeping kind. 



Next, it is maintained that along with a great increase in pro- 

 duction, which has undoubtedly taken place, there has come an 

 increase in the severity of the labor, and that the workman's 

 remuneration has not risen in proportion. It seems to be sug- 

 gested at times that the increase in the labor is itself an evil, even 

 if it were proportionately remunerated, but the complaint rather is 

 that the severer toil is not adequately compensated ; the workman 

 has a severer call made on his energies, and he is not so much 

 better off. To be able to earn more money, it is sometimes urged, 

 he must, in fact, spend more money on food and other things than 

 he formerly did. Here, again, is a question of gross and net, and 

 it will be observed how the last complaint raises in a different 

 form the question already suggested under the first head by a 

 consideration of the effects of climate. A distinction is made 

 between the gross earning and the net surplus, the difference 

 being something which the workingman has to pay as a fine to 

 enable him to earn the net sum which he wishes to spend. 



Last of all, it is maintained that on all sides the scale of living 



