TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 827 



parts in every one hundred produced on the continent of Europe ; free from the 

 burden of the artificial system of land tenure in Great Britain, under which the 

 mass of the people has been deprived of land ; free from the equally artificial system 

 of the compulsory sub -division of land which controls most of the continental 

 nations, under which allotments have become so small that effective machinery 

 cannot be applied to it, whence it follows that the minimum of product results 

 from the maximum of arduous labour ; we are also free from the restrictions of 

 caste and privilege. It is, then, beyond doubt, a fact, that even if their wages are 

 low at the present time, they are yet progressively increasing, and have increased 

 steadily and regularly every year for the last fifty years, subject only to the 

 inevitable chances and changes of short crops and commercial crises. Whatever the 

 rate of wages may be, the sum of the wages or earnings of those who perform the 

 work of production and distribution is 90 to 95 parts in 100 of all there is produced. 

 The author was unable to give facts as to the diminishing profits in other arts 

 than the one he has named, but the increase of wages is well proved by the 

 statistics of the census of Massachusetts and the census of the United States. Two- 

 examples may be given in respect to two classes of work which requires the services 

 of a high class of mechanics. In one large piano-factory, the rate of wages of five 

 classes of skilled workmen in 1843 was #562 for the year ; in 1880, for the same 

 work, #824 for the year. In another large piano-factory, the wages of twelve 

 classes of skilled workmen have been compiled, and the progress in rate has been 

 as follows : 1853, #11.32 per week, gold ; 1860, #12.33, gold ; 18G6, #1 4.75 per week, 

 currency ; 1872, #18 per week, currency ; 1878, #14.66 per week, substantially in 

 gold ; 1880, #17.50 per week. At the present time wages are as high in gold as 

 they were in 1872 in currency. In one large establishment making table-cutlery, 

 eight classes of workmen averaged, in 1859, #1.50 per day in gold. The same 

 eight classes in 1880 averaged #2.15 per day in gold. In another large establish- 

 ment making edge tools, ten classes of workmen averaged in 1850, #1.60 per day ; in 

 1880, #2.26 per day. The author had carefully chosen processes of industry, to' wit :. 

 standard cotton sheeting, pianos, table-cutlery and edged tools, which have been 

 affected in the least measure by the changes in the duties on imports. With the 

 exception of pianos the other three subjects of investigation depend measurably upon 

 the export trade, as well as upon the domestic consumption for the establishment of 

 the rate of wages. This selection has been made in order that the subject might not 

 be confused by considerations relating to the tariff. Finally, it appears that in the 

 census for the year 1880 the population of the United States numbered a little 

 over 50,000,000. Of this population (disregarding fractions), 17,400,000, in round 

 figures, were found to be engaged in some sort of gainful occupation ; the rest 

 consisted of women who did the work of families, of retired persons, and of 

 children. Of this number, substantially 150,000 were employed in the service of 

 the Government, leaving 17,250,000 producers, who, by exchanging products with 

 others, also obtained the means of living, and thereby became consumers. Of this 

 number the census discloses the fact that 1,050,000 were employed in what may 

 be called mental rather than manual work. They consisted of clergymen, lawyers, 

 teachers, artists, chemists, engineers, officials of railroads, banks, and insurance 

 companies, officials of manufacturing and other corporations, merchants, traders, 

 and dealers. In this list capitalists living wholly upon the income of capital are 

 not included. How many the capitalists number the census does not disclose, but 

 they are relatively very few, and their possessions represent but a relatively small 

 part of the total wealth of the country, this wealth being more widely diffused, 

 and enjoyed by a greater number of persons, than in any other country in the world. 

 Deducting 1,050,000 of those engaged in gainful operations, we have the remainder 

 16,200,000 who constitute the actual working class. Seven millions of these were 

 farmers and farm-labourers, the rest artisans, mechanics, clerks, salesmen and 

 saleswomen, labourers, factory-operatives, domestic servants, and other wage-earners. 

 The proportion of employed to employers, aside from agriculture, is at least 15 to 1. 

 The rate of wages, which measures their share of the annual products, is therefore- 

 the paramount social question of the hour. If it can be measured, and if it can be 

 found in the aggregate their wages as a whole constitute from 90 to 95 per cent. 



