362 REPORT—1883. 
If we now compare the income of these classes of society in 1851 and 
1881 we have their rate of progress as follows :— 
- | : Increase | Decrease 
1851 1881 per cent, | per cent. 
£ £ | 
Income taxpayers . f 824 544 | = 30 
Lower middle classes. 80 110 | 37 == 
Labouring classes. : 52 83 | 59 — 
100 150 42 
It may seem bold to reduce {o a numerical ratio the relative condi- 
tion of the different classes of society; nevertheless, we have here a 
clear evidence that the labouring classes have participated to the full in 
the tide of prosperity which the nation has enjoyed for the last thirty 
years, and a tangible proof that the increase of commerce and manufac- 
tures has not only introduced into the community a powerful middle 
class, but has actually increased considerably the income of the labouring 
atl geen In truth, with prosperous trade, we have progress all along 
the line. 
§ 10. Progress and Poverty. 
Mr. Henry George’s work on progress and poverty is able and inge- 
nious; but the arguments produced do not stand the test of economic 
science. Still less reliable or economic, however, is the programme of 
‘the Democratic Federation recently issued, including as it does, among 
other things, the State appropriation of railways, the practical repudia- 
‘tion of the National Debt, and the nationalisation of land. Believe me, 
‘there is no short cut in the road to wealth. Let us not deceive ourselves 
with illusory statements or fanciful doctrines. Make Socialism ever so 
plain, and it will be found to rest on the negation of the right of pro- 
perty, which is the best incentive to the employment of labour, and on 
the possibility of an equal division of wealth, which is incompatible with 
‘the endless variety of powers and talents of men, and the ever-shifting 
circumstances of life. All facts recording the economic progress of every 
class of the people in the United Kingdom bear ample: testimony to the 
truth of economic axioms; and our labouring classes are too intelligent 
to imagine they can set them at nought, or that they would benefit by 
‘the attempt to do so. They know, moreover, that by the working out of 
economic problems, the financial administration of late years has been 
altogether in their favour, for, while the taxes on general comforts, such 
as corn, tea, sugar, coffee, &c., have been either altogether relaxed, or 
greatly reduced, the taxes on extravagance, as on spirits, tobacco, and 
wine, have become much more productive. It is, moreover, a source 
of great comfort to find that, whilst in 1851 the amount held by the 
savings banks was 30,000,000/., in 1882 it reached 84,000,0007. Allow- 
ing that the amount held by the savings banks belongs to the lower 
‘middle and labouring classes alike, it follows that, whilst in 1851 the 
