82 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



earlier period, when also men were rarely discharged except at 

 the week end. Then, again, Mr. Gififen speaks of the shorter 

 hours of work which from " one or two scattered notices " he 

 estimates at nearly 20 per cent., and then adds, " The work- 

 man gets from 50 to 100 per cent, more money for 20 per 

 cent, less work ; in round figures, he has gained from 70 to 

 120 per cent, in fifty years in money return." What a con- 

 clusion for a statistician, from a very limited comparison of 

 wages obtained almost wholly from the masters, and from 

 " one or two scattered notices/' as regards hours of work ! 



But it is when he deals with the real value or purchasing 

 power of this greatly exaggerated increase of wages that we 

 find the grossest errors and the wildest declamation. After 

 just remarking that " sugar and such articles" have decreased 

 greatly in price, that clothing is also cheaper, and that though 

 house-rent has gone up, " it cannot have gone up so much as 

 to neutralize to any serious extent the great rise in the money 

 wages of the workman," he admits that the increase in the 

 price of meat is considerable. And then comes this amazing 

 statement : " The truth is, however, that meat fifty years ago 

 was not an article of the workman's diet as it has since 

 become. He had little more concern with its price than with 

 the price of diamonds." 



I was so perfectly astounded at this statement that I at 

 once made a few inquiries. A very intelligent man, a printer 

 in the City, gave me facts from his own observation. About 

 the time referred to, his father kept a public-house in or near 

 Greenwich, much frequented by mechanics and other work- 

 men, who came there in considerable numbers to have their 

 dinner. He assured me that almost without exception they 

 had fresh meat, which they either brought ready cooked, or 

 had purchased on their way to work and cooked in a 

 frying-pan or gridiron at the kitchen fire, many of them 

 bringing large chops or steaks of good quality. Remember- 

 ing the cheapness of meat when I was a boy, and remember- 

 ing also the well-to-do appearance of the carpenters in Mr. 

 Webster's shop, I wrote to ask my brother how they lived 

 during the twelve years he was in London, the last six working 



