TltAN.xACTIONi! OF SiECTION F. 



825 



tho rate of 

 licli indure 

 the luoiipy 

 future U3e, 

 to be given 

 jpend upon 

 nve in the 

 the annual 

 be ap\)art'nt 

 f money by 

 ; ill f,'voate8t 

 Bd by tli03« 

 p represent:! 

 us year \m 

 uall part nf 

 ,vork of that 

 svork. Thi' 

 in less than 

 liaiul at any 

 iree years nt 

 wit, all thi' 

 ires of every 

 v-o, or, at the 

 ;ws that all 

 value uf 'he 

 ce of compe- 

 ish relntmhi, 



|i('tition, tho proportion of pniilnct fulling to thti hihourer steadily incroasiv^. 

 1 his seems to be a paradox, but an examination of the tables will show the simplo 

 reason. Let the column on page 831, the comparison of 1830 with 1884, bo first 

 cDHsidered. It required ,?332,(i6o in money to construct the mill, with auxiliary 

 liiiildings and dwelling-houses, of a factory of a little over 8,000 si)indles. Such a 

 mill would cost at this time less than one-half as much ; but, by taking the history 

 lit' several separate factories which have never failed and tlie stock of which lia-t 

 never been reduced, it appears that a suHicient proportion of the earnings has been 

 M't aside and expended in the increase of the productive units of tho spindle and th" 

 liiom, to the end that the ratio of dollars has been reduced 7^) per cent., or IVoui »S40 

 to ^10 per spindle. Each spindle of the greater number has become 22 percent. 

 more etlective. Each spindle and each loom requires less arduous attention. The 

 proportion of operatives per thousand spindles has been reduced 04 per cent., and 

 liie work of tho lesser number is very imieh less severe now than the work of eiicli 

 (it' the larger number was at the beginning. The productive capacity of each of 

 the operatives per day (the day of 1830 having been from 1:5 to 14 liours and the 

 iliiyofl884 being from 10 to 11 hours) has increa.sed 214 per cent. Apart of 

 the beneiit of this vast change has gone to the consumers of the goods. The prici* 

 of raw cotton happened to be almost exactly the same in 1840 as it was in 18s;!, 

 and the standard sheeting was sold in 1840 at cents ])er yard and in 1883 at 7 

 cents per yard, at which latter price it paid a fair prolit. But the less price at 

 which it can lie sold to-day pays no prolit whatever, the export demand for China 

 having been interrupted by the I'reneh war, and the export demand for Afiieii 

 having been interrupted by various causes. 



Now, what has been the course of wages? The wages of the farmer.*' 

 'laughters of Xew J'Ingland, to whom it was a profitable opportunity to enter tlie 

 cotton mill in 18.30 and to work there in 1840 from 1.3 to 14 hours per dav, were 

 $m a year in 18.30, $\7o a year in 1840, and ^100 a year in 18r)0. In fact, the 

 waj^es of women were much less than these figures show, as these figures give tlu^ 

 average of men, women, and children, including overseers. Good weavers really 

 earned only 48 to 50 cents per day in 1830 to 1840. The proportion of men 

 was much greater and of children much less prior to 18o0 than it is now. 

 Contrast these wages with the present. The average earnings of men, women, and 

 children for the shorter hours are now ;S'2i)0 a year. Skilful female weavers earn 

 now more than male overseers and second hands earned in 1830. There is now, 

 l'^84, some temporary disturbance, and there may be a temporary reduction in tlui 

 rate of wages by the piece. But hard times are the best schoolmaster. If the rato 

 of wages is reduced, improvement and invention will be applied to the machinery, 

 and in spite of present depression, the sum of wages for the year 1885, even at a less 

 nite by the piece, will be higher than in the year 1884. In witness of this, turn 

 to the column on page 830, and see how the law of increasing wages has been pro- 

 cressingfrom 1830 to 1884, subject to the temporary aberration caused by the use 

 "f paper money, when wages apparently increased, but the cost of living increased 

 a sfreat deal more. Now, what is the elfect upon profits ? Assuming that 10 per 

 feat, constituted such a rate of profit in 18.30 as to have induced the construction 

 "fa factory, and that 10 per cent, would be a high rate of profit at the present 

 'inie ; also bearing in mind that, so far as tlie author knows and believes, there is no 

 ciitton factory in New England which has paid 10 per cent, per annum, on tlie 

 average, upon its original capital for a period of fifty years — we find that it required 

 !■! per cent, of the gross sales to be set aside in the year 1840, at the rate of 118 

 <'ent8 per yard of cloth, in order to secure to capital 10 per cent, upon the investment. 

 1 will not go back to the earlier date of 1830, when it required a very much larger 

 ■''hare of product to compensate capital at the rate of 10 per cent. At the present 

 time. per cent., or four-tenths of a cent per yard, set aside from the sales 

 annually, will yield 10 per cent, upon the capital. 



There is scarcely an article which could serve so well as a guide and standard 

 f'11' this investigation as a standard sheeting. It has been made in the same way, 

 of substantially the same weight, from the same stock, from the beginning to tiie 

 <^»d, and the accounts have been kept in the same manner, according to the exact 



