TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



971 



but is sufficient for the present purpose. For each trade in question all the 

 available data have been tabulated, and the rates of change indicated by each 

 authority for series of dates considered. From these have been deduced series of 

 index-numbers relating to the various trades, harmonising as far as possible all 

 the information. In the case of Agriculture, Building, Printing, and Mining, 

 authorities are in close agreement ; for the Cotton, Woollen, and Iron industries it 

 is more difficult to make good estimates. A table is given showing these figures. 

 The principal results are that average iionmml or money wages in 1840 expressed 

 as percentages of those in 1891 were Cotton, 50; Wool, 74; Building, 66; 

 Mining, 61 ; Iron, 77 ; Sailors, 61 ; Conipositors, 79 ; Agriculture, 75. A second 

 table is given xveighting these averages for the general comparison, and the 

 course of average nominal wages in this group of trades is found to be as given in 

 the first table below. The English figures would be practically unaffected if 

 agriculture were excluded. 



It having been found in the previous work that the American figures give 

 nearly the same result on whatever principle the averages are taken, the corre- 

 sponding line for the United States is filled in with little further discussion. 



The French figures require more explanation. The data appear insufficient, 

 but are shown to be consistent with each other and capable of giving sufficiently 

 accurate results. For many years figures are interpolated, since the French dates 

 — viz. 1840-5 and 1860-5 — and the English dates do not quite correspond, and the 

 result is given in the following table : — 



A. Average Nominal Wages, as Percentages of those in 1891. 



The attempt to estimate real wages by correcting for the changes in purchasing 

 power cannot be satisfactorily carried out for France ; but the following tentative 

 results are obtained, as being those indicated by the data so far found: — 



These results are all subject to correction, especially those relating to real 

 French wages ; but it is unlikely that further information can greatly afiect the 

 startling similarity of the course of real wages in the three countries. The con- 

 clusion may be stated roughly as follows : — Reckoning from 1891, real wages had 

 doubled in all these countries in less than fifty years, and increased by one-half in 

 less than twenty years. The question of the distribution of the wages of indi- 

 viduals about the average at different dates is not discussed. 



