450 WAGES COMPARED WITH LAND 



high . Accordingly, an ordinary mechanic obtains $ 1 per day, 

 with board, including washing ; and superior workmen, en 

 gineers, and millwrights, get from $2 to S3. Farm labourers 

 are engaged at from Si 00 to $120 a-year. Female house- 

 servants obtain Si in private families, and from S2 to S2-J- 

 a-week in hotels. As compared with the prices of produce 

 and land, wages may be stated thus : 



If an ordinary mechanic work five days in the week he will 

 earn throughout the year, besides board, S260 or of Indian 

 corn about 1733 bushels; or of wheat about 580 bushels; or 

 of beef about 13,000 Ib. ; or of land about 200 acres. 



An ordinary farm labourer will get during the year, besides 

 his board, Si 00 ; or of Indian corn about 667 bushels; or of 

 wheat about 222 bushels ; or of beef about 5000 Ib. ; or of 

 land about eighty acres ; which is a sufficient extent of surface 

 for any labouring man to possess. 



Female house-servants in private families get in the year 

 S52, which would purchase forty acres of land, and in hotels 

 what would purchase eighty acres of land. 



How very different is the situation of farm labourers in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland, compared with those in 

 Illinois. Supposing the weekly wages of labourers to be 10s., 

 8s., and 3s* 6d., without board, in England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland respectively, and they do not exceed these sums, the 

 Englishman will earn during the year about seventy bushels 

 of wheat, or of beef about 1560 Ibs. the Scotchman about 

 sixty-two bushels of wheat, or of beef about 1400 Ibs. the 

 Irishman about thirty bushels of wheat, or of beef about 750 

 Ibs. But when the board of the workman, or simply what he 

 himself would consume, is taken from these numbers, they 

 will appear quite insignificant compared with the wages of 

 Illinois. 



An ordinary farm labourer in Illinois gets the value of 

 eighty acres of land yearly : In Britain, when due allowance 

 is made for the board of the labourer, he does not get one- 

 tenth of an acre of good land. When wages are compared 

 with land, the farm labourer of Illinois is about 800 times 

 better rewarded than in Britain. 



The wages of female servants, compared with the price of 

 land, are also remarkable. I am sure there are many of my 



