200 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE INFLUENCE OF STRIKES. 



composition, numbers, and nominal earnings of the various 

 classes of any Society. 



It is impossible with our present knowledge to gauge all 

 such conditions accurately, but if, for example, we divided 

 all Breadwinners — Eich and Poor — into, say, five distinct 

 groups, thus — 



ASSUMED PROPORTION. 



1 per cent, of Breadwinners. 



1. 



2. 

 3. 



4. 

 5. 



Upper Class Bich, say . 

 Middle Class „ . 

 Higher Industrial 



and Artisan ,, 

 Middle Industrial „ 

 Lower Industrial ,, 



.. 1] 



.. 5 



.". 15 

 . 20 

 . 59 



100 



If, further, the total satisfactions secured per day amounted 

 to ,£33 6s. per 100 Breadwinners, and were divided as follows: — 

 viz.: for the 1st, 40s.; 2nd, 20s.; 3rd, 10s.; 4th, 7s.; 5th, 4s., 

 we may ask — What, then, would be the effect upon all if the 

 satisfactions were equally distributed according to the day's 

 labour, disregarding the nature, quality, or quantity of the 

 work or service performed by the various classes ? Some 

 indication of the effect that would be produced is shadowed 

 forth in the following table : — 



Per 



SATISFACTIONS PER DAY 



centage 



pro- 

 portion. 



1. Upper Class Rich 1 @ ' 



2. Middle Class 5 <a 



3. Higher Industrial & Artizan 16 @ 



4. Middle Industrial 20 @ 



5. Lower Industrial . . . . 59 @ 



Total or Mean ... 100 



Assumed 



existing 



proportion. 



10s. 



20s. 



10s. 



7s. 



4s. 



6-66S. 



Total 

 Satisfactions 

 if equally Increase or 

 Total, distributed, decrease 

 per cent. 



40 

 100 

 150 

 140 

 236 



6-66 



33-30 



99-90 



133-20 



392 94 



066 



— 83 ■£ 



— 66-7 



— 33-3 



— 4-8 

 + 66-5 



From the preceding table it would appear that if all classes 

 shared equally in the satisfactions assumed to be created by 

 thejaggregate labour of men, only the lowest would receive a 

 positive increase, while the four higher would lose a con- 

 siderable per centage, amounting to a decrease from 4' 8 per 

 cent, in the Middle Industrial to 83' 3 per cent, in the Upper 

 Class Bich share. Even the Higher Industrial and Artizan 

 Class, who often dream that a redistribution of wealth would 

 be to them of untold advantage, would, as shown, probably 

 lose 33 i3 _percentage of their present allotted share of created 

 satisfactions if the world's created wealth were equally 

 distributed among all men. 



This equality of distribution is the dream of many 



Note. — Indicates Decrease. + Increase. 



