THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK. u 



tlie United States, in tlie strictest meaning of these words, are, 

 decade by decade, securing to their own use and enjoyment an 

 increasing share in a steadily increasing product." * 



The report of the Bureau of Industrial Statistics of the State 

 of Maine, for the year 1887, also presents some notable evidence 

 of the continued increase in the purchasing power of wages ; and 

 show that, taking the experience of a typical American family 

 in that State, deriving their living from manufacturing employ- 

 ments, as a basis, as much of food could be bought in 1887 for 

 one dollar as would have cost $1.20 in 1882 and $1.30 in 1877; the 

 difference being mainly due to reductions in the prices of flour, 

 sugar, molasses, fresh meats, lard, oil, and soap. 



In a paper presented to the British Association in 1886 by Mr. 

 M. G. Mulhall, the increase in the purchasing power of money 

 as respects commodities, and its decrease in purchasing power as 

 respects labor in England during the period from 1880-83 as 

 compared with the period from 1821 to 1848, was thus illustrated 

 by being reduced to figures and quantities: Thus in 1880-'83, 

 117 units of money would have bought as much of grain as 142 

 units could have done in 1821-'48; but, in respect to labor, it 

 would have required 285 units of money to have bought as much 

 in 1880-83 as 201 units did in 1821-48. In respect to cattle, the 

 .purchasing power of money had decreased in the ratio of 312 in 

 the latter to 218 in the former period ; but since 1879 the carcass 

 price of meats has notably declined in England: inferior beef 

 upon the London market to the extent of 43 per cent (in 1885-'86) ; 

 prime beef, 18 per cent ; pork, 22 per cent ; middling mutton, 27 

 per cent. It is also undoubtedly true, as Mr. John Bright has 

 recently pointed out,f that meat, in common with milk and but- 

 ter, commands comparatively high prices in England, " because 

 our people, by thousands of families, now eat meat who formerly 

 rarely tasted it, and because our imports of these articles are not 

 sufficient to keep prices at a more moderate rate." 



One point of interest pertinent to this discussion, which has 

 for some time attracted the attention of students of social science 

 in England and France, has also been made a matter of comment 

 in the cities of the northwestern United States, especially in St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis, and is probably applicable to all other 

 sections of the country ; and that is, that expenditures for rent 

 form at present a much larger item in the living expenses of 

 families than ever before, and for the reason that people are no 

 longer content to live in the same classes of houses as formerly ; 

 but demand houses with all of the so-called modern improve- 

 ments — gas and water and better warming, ventilating, and sani- 

 tary arrangements — which must be paid for. 



* " Century Magazine," 1887. f Letter to the London " Times," November, 1884. 



