588 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



months of 1887, the operations of the manufacturers of copper and brass 

 were reported as having been materially restricted. 



Every reduction in the price of gas has been attended with greatly 

 increased consumption, entailing greater demand for labor in the min- 

 ing and transporting of coal and other materials, and in service of 

 distribution ; and it is very doubtful whether the apprehensions of 

 impairment of the value of the capital of the gas companies, which are 

 always excited by such reductions, are ever, to any disastrous extent, 

 realized ; and it is the general experience that the profits on the in- 

 creased demand created by cheaper supply continue to afford to the 

 gas companies reasonable and often equal returns on their invested 

 capital. It seems to be also well established that the extensive intro- 

 duction and use of the electric light has in no way impaired the aggre- 

 gate consumption of gas. 



In 1830 the average price of cotton cloth in the United States was 

 about seventeen cents per yard ; in 1880 it was seven cents. This re- 

 duction of price has been accompanied by an increase in the annual 

 per capita consumption of the people from 5*90 pounds of cloth to 

 13'91 pounds ; which in turn represents a great increase in all the oc- 

 cupations connected with cotton, from its growth to its transformation 

 into cloth and cloth fabrications ; and the evidence is conclusive that 

 in all these occupations the share of labor in the progressing augmen- 

 tations of values and quantities has continually increased ; the advance 

 in the wages of the cotton-mill operatives, during the period under con- 

 sideration, having been fully 80 per cent. 



When, through competition, the companies controlling the sub- 

 marine telegraph lines between the United States and Europe reduced 

 in 1886 their rates from 40 to 12 cents per word, 212 words, it was 

 reported, were regularly transmitted in place of every 100 previously 

 sent. Assuming this report to be correct, a comparison of receipts 

 under the new and old rates would give the following results : 210 

 words at 12 cents each, $25.20 ; 100 words at 40 cents each, $40 ; or 

 a reduction in rates of 70 per cent impaired the revenues of the lines 

 to an extent of only 37 per cent. 



A reduction in 1886 in the postal system of the United States of 

 three cents in the fee for domestic money-orders not exceeding 65 (or 

 from eight to five cents) has operated to increase the use of this serv- 

 ice to the remitters of small sums in a very noticeable degree, the 

 average amount of each order issued in 1887 being but $12.72 as 

 against an average of $14.33 in 1886, and larger sums in previous 

 years ; while the increase in the number of money-orders issued in 

 1887 was 16*27 per cent greater than in 1886. The aggregate value 

 of these orders for 1887 is returned at the large sum of $117,462,000. 



The following have been the economic changes within a decade in 

 the business of manufacturing American watches, and the manner in 

 which such changes have affected the welfare alike of owners and 



