REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 

 Average wages for 1880. 



145 



A comparison of the returns in the first two cohimns of the above 

 table with similar returns made last year gives a clear idea of the change 

 in the value of labor since then. The decline which had been steadily 

 going on since 1873 till last year seems to have been arrested, and there 

 is a decided advance in almost every section. The average wage of labor 

 engaged by the year or season, and which represents the steady and reli- 

 able force on the farm, was, for the whole country, last year, an average 

 of $20.26 a month, without board. This year it is $21.75, being an in- 

 crease of 7.25 per cent. 



Taking into consideration the figures of the second column, being the 



rate paid with board to the same class of labor, we gain a clear view of 



the cost of subsisting the laborer, which, for the average of the whole 



country in 1880, is $7.17 a month against $7.14 in 1879. Heretofore 



10 AG 



