390 



HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



brought about tMs increase of social wealtb if not competition ? 

 And can it be maintained that competition begets altruism ? 

 Mr. Kidd states very clearly that the tendency of social evolution 

 is to increase the power and the sphere of action of those forces 



the following figures for the period dating from March 31, 1889, to March 31, 

 1890: 



Total number of successions submitted to probate duty, 46,336 ; repre- 

 senting a capital of ^231,000,000. 



These successions can be divided up as follows : 



I Amount of Fortune 

 ' inherited. 



Under £1,000 . . 

 £1,000 to £10,000 

 £10,000 to £50,000 

 Exceeding £50,000 



Number of Successions. 



68-9 per cent, of total 



number of successions 

 25'5 per cent, of total 



number of successions 

 4' 6 per cent, of total 



number of successions 

 2-0 per cent, of total 



number of successions 



Total Amount of Capital. 



£10,000,000 (7 per cent.) 

 £38,000,000 (24-8 per cent.) 

 £45,000,000 (29-5 per cent.) 

 £58,000,000 (38-7 per cent.) 



Thus, although the fortunes under j61,000 constitute 68'9 per cent, of 

 the total number of fortunes inherited, the capital which they represent 

 is but 7 per cent, of the total amount of capital, whereas the fortimes 

 exceeding £50,000, although numbering scarcely 2 per cent, of the total 

 number of successions, represent nearly 39 per cent, of the entire capital. 



The American economist, Mulhall, calculated the following figures for 

 the year 1899 : 



Total amount of revenues for the United Kingdom, i£l,285,000,000. 



Aristocracy : 222,000 families, average income, i61,500 ; total income, 



£330,000,000. 

 Middle Classes : 604,000 families, average income, £400 ; total income, 



£241,000,000. 

 Trading Classes : 1,220,000 families, average income, £200 ; total 



income, £244,000,000. 

 Working Classes : 4,774,000 families, average income £97 ; total 



income, £467,000,000. 



Thus the aristocracy and the middle classes, which number together 

 826,000 families, possess practically half the revenues of the United King- 

 dom. The other half is divided up between 5,994,000 families {vide 

 J. Bardoux, Essai d'une Psychologie de I'Angleterre contemporaine, pp. 69 ff. 

 Paris, Alcan, 1906). 



