TRANSACTIONS Of SECTION V. 



833 



In the mountain section of the southern United States the people nre still clad in homespun fabric- 

 |-,ve women— two carders, two spinsters, and one weaver— can produce eight yards per day. 



Itndact of 5 por- 



T „,,< 1 year in 



I Sii.Ciiroliii.i . . 



|lf>l3ct of 5 ppr- 



\mf ill ^'>-'W 



I tngliii'l . . . 



Vijfs ill ^'cw 



hflml at 1 



.lijini cts. ^ yd. 



kifi- 113 they 



I TOUl'l be in N. 



I CiMlin^ at 1 



i-V) cts. If yl. 



fvirvinl in N. 



frn.-iiii'lat §287 



UyMachopem- 



I titt" 



M in Nil- Caro- 

 |l:na ,it §287 



I tre 



2,400 yds. 



140,000 

 yds. 



$287.00 



$.5.10 



1.0^ cts. 



58.49 CU. ; 



Tiieriile of diminishinj; rates of profit and increasing; rate of wages, of necessity ensuing from 

 ikproffrcss of invention, is fully sustained by these tables. As the capital is increased ijoth in its 

 liianiity and in its effectiveness, the absolute share of product falling to capital is increased, but the 

 I rolative share is diminished. On the other liand, the sluire of the labourer is in{Tca.sed, both abso- 

 lutely ami relatively. Labour takes, of necessity, a constantly increasing proportion of an increasing 

 [product. In tliis example, the wages of tlie oi)erntives have increased sinco lt<li1. (i-l per cent, pt; 

 ilavaml 91! per cent, per hour ; since IH.iO, 77 per cent, per day and + 100 jicr cent, per liour. Hi 

 liva.'f? in money liave ensued as the necessary result of tlie low cost of labour. 



It will be observed that in 1810 the prici; of standard sheetings lieing D cents a yard it required 

 ll.lSiYtits to be set aside for protits, or 13 pur cent, of the price, in order to pay 10 \wt cent, upon the 

 •ipit;i Xext it required 1.83 cents to be sot aside, lieing 20 per cent, of the whole price to pay wages 

 J ;it the average rate of only §175 a year to each operative. In 188^, the jirice being 7 cents ayard, it 

 |n|iiire(l less than (i per cent, of the gross sales, 0'40 cents a yard, to be set asido iti order to'pay 10 

 ■ rant, npon the capital, while 1.07 cents being set aside as tlie sliare of lal)our, or a fraction over 

 IJ |irr cent, of the gross sales, yielded to the operative .S'JOO in gold. The gomls cannot now be 

 "Mat? cents, and there is little or no profit for tlie time boing. lint while 10 per cent, was a mode- 

 Irate rate ef profit in 18-10, it is an excessive rate in 1884. The business would extend with great 

 lr.i|iHity if there were a positive assurance of G per cent. u|)on the capital or a quarter of a cent a yard 

 liml ii.>.< tliaii Ah per cent, of the gross amount of sales. 



Ilii! it iniiy be said, having assigned 0.40 cents to protits, and 1.07 cents to labour out of 7 cents 

 yard gress value, there remains bh cents a yard to be accounted for. This of course represents the 

 biioDty-cost of cotton, fuel, starch, oil, supplies, taxes, cost of administration, transportation of the 

 VwJs to market, and the cost of selling tbein at wholesale. 



liiies this all go to labour, or is there also a profit to be set aside on these elements ? 



Our spaoc would not suffice to tre.nt each one of these subjects, but it maybe said. I'irst, the cotton is 



|ui)>taiiiiiilly all labour ; there is no large margin of jirofit at the present time in raising cotton, which 



! mostly |ir(Hlueed by small farmers. .Second, tl'e other items constituting the materials form a very 



|iiiail|)art of tlie total cost, and iire subjected to jirotits in siiiall measure only in respect to fuel and oil. 



The cost of trai sportation yields to the railroads less than iin average of .") per cent, of tlie cajiital 



hve*ted, and cotton fabrics pay but a small fraction of their value even for very long distances. The 



''t of administration constitutes a very small part of the co>t of the goods, and in tiic general 



►eatisc of wages belongs to a class by itself rntlior than to be considered as protits. The charge for 



lllini,'tlie goods at wholesale does not exceed 1 per cent, to 1.^ per cent., and a largo part of ttiis is 



|itrilmted among the clerks and salesmen who do the work. 



If the subject is analysed, — first, as a whole, and, second, in eaeli departnient, — it will appear tliat 



I the present time the p'roporti(m of prolit wliich can be set aside from the sale of coarse cotton goods 



Ifficient to cover jirofits in all the various departments of the work, is less than l(i per cent, of the 



polcalo nijirket value of tiie product, and !M) per cent, is the .absolute share of the labourers who do 



fH'ork b th in respect to materials used and to the finished product. 



It i< a'so necessary to remember in respect to the cotton factory that the value or proportion of 

 |iil;il to a given product is greater than in almost any other branch of industry. 'I'he |)ro|)ortion of 

 |itil to product being ,S1 of capital to eaeli $\ or $l.oO of product, according to the weight of the 

 Jtioaiid the (piantity of cotton used. In the boot and shoe factory, on the other hand, the ratio of 

 r'al lo product is about §1 to $3 ; therefore in the boot and shoe Imsiness a much less proportion of 

 (;'ross sale needs to be set aside as profit on tiie business, to induce its Iteing established. 

 |"» the whole, so far as the r.iaiuifaeturers of New Kngland are concerned, the average of capital 

 I'lio i;ross value of the product.s is one d( liar capital to two ilollars ]iroduct ; therefore 3 per 

 It. of the L'ross sales set aside as jirolit will yield per cent, per annum upon the capital invested 

 I'lfi Iniililings and machinery, which are applied to the conversion of raw or half-nmuufactured 

 pfrial into fiinshed forms ready for final consumption. 



1884. • 3 H 



WM 



!1 i' 



