THE GROSS AND NET GAIN OF RISING WAGES. 661 



enough to be thrifty and careful, and to do without some things 

 that appear to be necessary for their sphere in life, so as to have 

 what is meant by a surplus. Its absence is certainly no proof that 

 the condition of those who make the complaint has not improved. 

 The scale of living has risen, and this rise, beyond all question, 

 imposes a strain upon many workmen which only the greatest 

 care and philosophy can mitigate. It involves of necessity severer 

 toil on the part of the bread-winner, with no apparent surplus for 

 himself. 



It is apparent, however, that to some extent what is called a 

 rise in the scale of living is, in reality, an improvement in the 

 mode of living which is absolutely necessitated by the work itself, 

 without which, in fact, the work could not be done. Where 

 moral qualities are to be displayed, and great vigor, punctuality, 

 and energy are required, they are not to be expected except from 

 workmen of a certain class, whose scale of living has, in fact, 

 risen to the standard necessary, and whose " medium " and " at- 

 mosphere," of which the condition of wife and children or rela- 

 tions is a part, are altogether different from what they were. Be- 

 fore human beings can display the qualities and exert the energies 

 required, they must have certain tastes and wants to gratify, 

 or there would be no motive to exhibit those qualities and en- 

 ergies. Hence a rise in the scale of living is only another mode 

 of describing the improvement in the character of the workman, 

 which is essential to the performance of the work to be done. 



The conclusions of this long argument may now be very 

 shortly restated. In certain cases the increase of net earnings by 

 the advance of the last fifty years can not be so great as the in- 

 crease of gross earnings, because some classes of workmen have 

 to submit to an increased charge for rent and railway fares, and 

 similar expenditure, which really amount to a reduction from the 

 gross earnings which they receive. But, on the whole, the classes 

 of workmen affected in this way must, from the nature of things, 

 be comparatively small, while the general conditions are such that 

 the deduction from gross earnings, as a rule, still leaves an enor- 

 mous net gain. Next, the allegation as to the increased severity 

 of labor, and as to workmen not getting a sufficiently ade- 

 quate remuneration or a sufficient share of the increased gross 

 produce, is met by the admission generally of an increase in the 

 severity of labor, which, however, is found to be more properly 

 described as a revolution in the quality of the labor, and to be 

 connected with the fact of improvement generally, and to be evi- 

 dence of improvement in the workman's condition. The character 

 of labor generally has so changed that it can not really be meas- 

 ured in comparison with the labor of a former time. Some work- 



