284 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 8.% 



becoming poorer, as a whole, was not conclusive, and 

 that the extraordinary circulation of the book in 

 many languages showed how all-important was the 

 question at this time. He therefore suggested, in 

 reply, that, as it is generally conceded that somewhere 

 .and always there is enough and to spare, the question 

 is only one of distribution, not of production. And 

 yet distribution he held to be subsidiary to produc- 

 tion, claiming that at no time should more be dis- 

 tributed than was produced in that period. That 

 distribution is to 1° taxes, 2° profit, 3° labor, — the 

 last receiving all that the others leave, and being 

 measured by wages. The true wage which is due to 

 the laborer is food, fuel, shelter, and other means of 

 subsistence. The vast majority of mankind are 

 wage-receivers. What determines the rate of their 

 wages in terms of money? High rates of wages are 

 the natural and necessary result of low cost of produc- 

 tion. Especially is this so in the United States, where 

 the people are homogeneous, means of intercommu- 

 nication ample, and where there is no artificial ob- 

 struction to prevent commerce. Wages are therefore 

 the consequence and remainder over after capital has 

 received its profits. This remainder has been con- 

 stantly increasing. This he illustrated by elaborate 

 statistics, compiled from the books of two New Eng- 

 land cotton-factories. The profits declined, having 

 been 2.40 cents per yard in 1830; LIS in 1840; 1.11 in 

 1850; .69 in 1860; .60 in 1ST0; .48 in 1880; .43 in 1883; 

 and .41 in 18S4. The average annual wage per opera- 

 tor had increased at the above dates as follows : $164, 

 $175, $190, $197, $240. $259, $287, and $290. 1 Profits 

 and wages together showed a constant increase due 

 to increased efficiency and subdivision of labor, im- 

 proved machinery, and a consequent lower cost of 

 production. Capital alone made this possible. Van- 

 derbilt was pronounced the greatest communist in 

 the United States, in that, for every cent he saves 

 from his railroads, he saves a dollar to the masses in 

 the cost of transportation, and thus aids a low cost of 

 production, which, in turn, gives a high rate of wages. 

 Mr. Atkinson incidentally pointed out, as against the 

 Malthusian theory, that as yet a field ten miles square 

 would hold the population of the earth, while one 

 twenty miles square would seat every person; and 

 that, but for the interdependence of nations, an enor- 

 mous part of the products of our soil would rot as 

 valueless. It is our duty to show the masses how, in 

 the distribution, each may get his share; or, as Glad- 

 stone has said, to weave the web of concord among 

 the nations. 



The paper was discussed at length by Sir Richard 

 Temple; J. B. Martin of London; Prof. H. S. Fox- 

 well of St. John's college, Cambridge; Mr. Swire 

 Smith, of the Royal commission on education, Low- 

 field, England; David Chad wick of London; and 

 Cornelius Walford, the secretary of the Geographi- 

 cal society, London. The general tenor of discus- 

 sion was highly complimentary to the essayist. Mr. 

 Martin thought labor and capital unavoidably in op- 

 position, not to say antagonistic; and that the rate 

 of wages would be determined by the margin exist* 

 1 All figures are reduced to. gold basis. 



ing between the cost of wages and what the laborer 

 is willing to confine himself to for a living. That 

 margin which so attracts emigrants he found exces- 

 sive on this continent, and was totally at a loss to 

 explain why it required ten cents to get his boots 

 blacked in Montreal. 



Professor Foxwell said that in Ricardo's time capi- 

 tal was the starting-point for discussion; now it is 

 labor. Gen. F. A. Walker has done much, by his 

 political economy, to influence thought in England. 

 In the distribution in question, every thing depends 

 upon the equality of the bargainers. As laborers 

 have become wiser, they have bargained for a better 

 distribution. In the United States this has been 

 potent. The diffusion of property as a reserve is a 

 very important aid to bargainers. England much 

 needs to educate its laborers, and secure a diffusion 

 of property. Monopolies he had regarded with dis- 

 trust, but is coming to think them desirable: they 

 must, however, be under some public control and 

 restraint. He pointed out that the rise in factory 

 wages had been coincident with the rise of labor- 

 unions, and doubted whether capitalists voluntarily 

 raised the wages. Capital invested in factories was 

 doubtless receiving a lower percentage of profit, but 

 interest is also lower. Mr. Smith could see, in the 

 facts presented, only Adam Smith's law of supply 

 and demand regulating rate of wages. Mr. Chad- 

 wick demurred from the Smith doctrine. Disturbing 

 elements have come in. By combination English 

 laborers have forced higher wages, and the hours of 

 labor per week from sixty in 1849 to fifty-six and one- 

 half in 1SS4. Capitalists have always known their 

 power: the laborers, only recently. Germans, French,, 

 and Swiss work sixty hours, solely because they do 

 not realize their power, aud combine for a reduction. 

 Mr. Atkinson admitted that character, in the last, 

 analysis, makes the rate of wages. He thought, that, 

 although legislation had attempted in Massachusetts 

 to regulate hours of labor, the changes cited have 

 come about naturally, and regardless thereof. 



Three papers on savings banks followed. Mr. 

 W. A. Douglass, of the Freehold and savings society 

 of Toronto, gave the history and described the man- 

 agement of loan and savings companies in Ontario. 

 Starting in 1855, the number has reached 73, with 

 assets of $79,500,008. Seven per cent is obtained in 

 Ontario, and nine per cent in Manitoba, on good 

 mortgages. Since 1874 the companies have obtained 

 some money from England, the amount so handled 

 amounting to $25,679,803. Mr. Stephen Bourne re- 

 marked upon the opportunity thus presented for 

 England to invest surplus funds, and of her duty to 

 thus aid her colonies. Mr. Atkinson spoke of the 

 800,000 accounts averaging $300 each, in Massachu- 

 setts savings banks, and of the accumulations made 

 by Irish laborers Mr. J. Cunningham Stewart, of 

 Ottawa, sent a paper upon the history and progress 

 of post-office savings banks, which contained the 

 statistics of the subject from official sources. After 

 sixteen years' growth, Ontario has 57,296 depositors, 

 and Quebec 9,386. The deposits amount to $13,- 

 245,000, one-half of which is held in Montreal and 



