200 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



nes3 national, State, or corporate. And this 

 process is undoubtedly adopted, and goes on, 

 month after month, and year after year, with- 

 out occasioning thus far any marked disturb- 

 ance in the trade and commerce of the country. 



On this subject the Commissioner remarks : 

 " Now, whether so great an exchange of evi- 

 dences of indebtedness for foreign commodi- 

 ties or foreign services is advantageous to the 

 country at large, or how long such a method 

 of liquidating balances can continue, are ques- 

 tions which it is not necessary to immediately 

 consider, inasmuch as we would rather direct 

 attention at this point to the fact that, while 

 before the war we were able to wholly pay for 

 our foreign imports and services with the prod- 

 ucts of our own industry, including, after the 

 discovery of California, and up to the begin- 

 ning of the war, such a proportion only of oiir 

 product of gold as it would have been practi- 

 cally useless and even mischievous for us to 

 retain, we are not now so doing ; and this 

 latter circumstance would seem to prove be- 

 yond question that the aggregate of national 

 production does not maintain the same pro- 

 portion as formerly to the aggregate of na- 

 tional consumption. 



" It must not be forgotten, furthermore, that 

 by the remittance of bonds we have simply 

 deferred payment, and must hereafter export 

 products to meet these obligations ; and, when- 

 ever such export of products in payment for 

 past imports shall be made, it will of necessity 

 be in addition to the export then made to pay 

 for current imports. Product for product is 

 the absolute condition on which alone com- 

 merce is possible." 



To show the effects of an excessive inflation 

 of the currency to disturb the ratio that for- 

 merly existed between national production and 

 consumption, it is asserted that, during the last 

 few years, large numbers of the population, 

 under the influence and example of high profits 

 realized in trading during the period of mone- 

 tary expansion, have abandoned pursuits di- 

 rectly productive of national wealth, and sought 

 employments connected with commerce, trad- 

 ing, or speculation. As a consequence, there 

 are everywhere large additions to the popula- 

 tion of the commercial cities, an increase in 

 the number and cost of buildings devoted 

 to banking, brokerage, insurance, commission 

 business, and agencies of all kinds, the spirit 

 of trading and speculation pervading the whole 

 community, as distinguished from the spirit of 

 production, and all the external appearances 

 of healthful activity. These things, however, 

 are not to be regarded as the legitimate growth 

 of a really sound commerce, but rather as the 

 results of influences which have originated al- 

 most exclusively in currency inflation. 



The following statements, showing that a 

 degree of disorganization in the labor of the 

 country exists, are made in the report of the 

 Special Commissioner of the Revenue, and are 

 too important to be overlooked : 



But. "be the cause what it may, one thing; is certain, 

 viz., that national production has suffered in conse- 

 quence : directly By the withdrawal of labor from 

 productive to unproductive or less productive em- 

 ployment, and indirectly by infusing a spirit of dis- 

 content among those who, by the force of circum- 

 stances, are compelled to earn subsistence in agricul- 

 ture or the mechanic arts, thereby impairing both 

 the quantity and quality of the products of their in- 

 dustry. A most intelligent observer, the superin- 

 tendent of one of the largest manufacturing estab- 

 lishments in the Middle States, thus writes to the 

 Commissioner : 



Those who observe the laborer find that he shows less 

 and less interest in the work he performs, his only anx- 

 iety being to hear the bell announce the hour of his dis- 

 charge from labor. 



Another, superintendent of an extensive manufac- 

 turing company, in answer to a question as to the 

 comparative amount of work performed by mechanics 

 and laborers in 1860 and 1869, submits the following 

 statement : 



October 1, 1869. 



In reply to your favor of the 29th, I would say that I 

 now employ seventy-eight men as mechanics, some of 

 them in building (new machinery), but most of them in 

 the way of ordinary repairs. It is impossible for me to 

 state accurately the quantity of work done by them as 

 compared with what would have been accomplished by 

 an equal number of mechanics in 1860, but I think it 

 quite safe to say it is twenty-five per cent. less. This dif- 

 ference is occasioned in part by a feeling that they are 

 less favored regarding the hours of labor than mechanics 

 who are employed by the Government, but chiefly be- 

 cause many of them are not really mechanics, having 

 never served as apprentices, and lack the skill which 

 would have secured such employment when help was 

 more abundant. 



With, a view of obtaining further information con- 

 cerning the relative product of labor in 1869, as com- 

 pared with 1860, the following question was appended 

 to a circular (relative to wages) extensively forwarded 

 by the Commissioner to the largest and most intelli- 

 gent employers of labor in different sections of the 

 country : " Please state whether, in your opinion, 

 mechanics and laborers perform as much work in a 

 day now as formerly." 



The following is an abstract of the answers re- 

 turned, the names of the parties or firms making the 

 same being omitted : 



Maine. Portland. " No, surely;" "and yet they 

 do all they get pay for" "the row the mechanic 

 now hoes is a hard one." 



New Hampshire, Manchester. " Only about two- 

 thirds as much." 



Connecticut, Bridgeport. " Mechanics perform 

 more, on account of the improved machinery, and 

 laborers less." 



Massachusetts, Worcester. "I think we don't get 

 as much work as formerly by fifteen per cent." Mil- 

 ford. " I think five men did more work in 1860 

 than six men do now." " Good hands more scarce 

 now than at that time." 



New York, New York City. " I think they per- 

 form from one-fourth to one-third less work since 

 than before the war." Buffalo."- Twenty-five per 

 cent, discount." Troy. "No, not by fifteen per 

 cent, in the average." Albany. " Three stone-ma- 

 sons or bricklayers will not do as much as two did 

 formerly." 



New Jersey, Jersey City." They do not.j>erform 

 more than two-thirds as much as formerly." 



Pennsylvania, Lancaster. " As much as before, 

 since the ten-hour system has begun." Philadel- 

 phia. " Three men do the work of two." 



Ohio, Cleveland. Three responded in the nega- 

 tive, and one to this effect : " We think they do now, 

 but there was a time, for two to six years, when they 

 did not." Cincinnati" No." Dayton." No." 



Missouri, St. Louis." No, by fifteen to twenty 

 per cent." 



Illinois, CJiicago. " One-eighth less." 



