204 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



employed in it, or at all events that it has been stationary; 

 on the other hand, where we have a special business or 

 profession or trade which is supported wholly or mainly 

 by the wealthy, we find an increase, and sometimes an 

 enormous increase. When I use the word increase or 

 decrease, I always mean an increase or decrease in propor- 

 tion to the total population. Thus I find, taking the 

 increase of population into account, between the two 

 censuses of 1871 and 1881 (the last we had) the persons 

 engaged in the cotton manufactures of this country 

 diminished 20 per cent, in that j^eriod ; persons employed 

 in the linen and woollen trade diminished 15 per cent; 

 metal workers remained stationary; and drapers diminished 

 7 per cent. Now these are all businesses and manufactures 

 which certainly depend upon the consumption of the 

 masses. Now we come to those which more especially 

 depend upon the consumption of the wealthy. Milliners 

 increased 4 per cent., more than the whole population 

 increased ; carpet makers increased 9 per cent ; florists 

 and gardeners increased 10 per cent. ; musicians and 

 musical instrument makers increased 23 per cent. These 

 remarkable facts support my contention — and may almost 

 be said to prove it — that the rich have grown richer and 

 have been able to indulge in greater luxuries, while the 

 poor have grown poorer and have been obliged to do with 

 less of the bare necessaries of life. 



The Increase of Bfeculation. 



The census also gives some remarkable illustrations of 

 the increase of speculation as a business, — and this is 

 pre-eminently a non-productive business, and one that is 

 impoverishing to all but the few winners. 



In the same ten years I find that persons registered as 

 bankers or bankers' clerks increased 21 per cent., and 

 accountants 6 per cent. ; and then there comes a most 

 extraordinary item, which the census authorities note and 

 say they are utterly unable to explain, and that is that 

 persons who call themselves insurance agents or brokers 

 have increased 300 per cent. I can only explain it by 



