Scott—Labor Conditions in Massachusetts, 1860-70. 171 
Income compared with cost of living. 
Year. 
Trade. 
Annual income. 
Estimated cost 
of living, 
family of four. 
I860. 
Blacksmith. 
1697 50 
325 00 
852 50 
455 00 
852 50 
455 00 
$587 17 
587 17 
711 50 
711 50 
808 27 
808 27 
1860. 
Laborer. 
1863..... 
Blacksmith. 
1863... 
Laborer .. 
1864. 
Blacksmith. 
1864. 
Laborer. 
The Daily Evening Voice, a labor paper published in Boston, 
asserts in 1864, that never “in the history of this country was 
there snch a gripe upon the laborer as at the present time. He 
is taxed for all the luxuries of the wealthy, which he is too poor 
to enjoy.” 15 Allowing for partisan exaggeration in this latter 
statement, it is yet clear that the workingman in Massachusetts 
was having a hard struggle for his livelihood during the Re¬ 
bellion. It is probable, however, that if willing to work he 
found little trouble in securing and retaining employment from 
1862 to the end of the war. 16 
After the war there was an increased demand for labor in the 
state, owing to a general revival of manufactures. 17 Employ¬ 
ment continued to be steady during the latter half of the de¬ 
cade. 18 The number of hands employed in manufactures in¬ 
creased more than 28 per cent during the ten years, while the 
population increased only 18 per cent; 19 39 per cent of the 
population are returned as being engaged in gainful occupations 
in 1870, as over against 37 per cent in I860. 20 On the other 
hand, the relation between wages and prices was slow of read¬ 
justment. The Commissioners on the Hours of Labor conclude 
that the average advance of wages in 1867 over 1860 has been 
is Daily Evening Voice, Dec. 13, 1864. 
is “In nearly all departments of trade there was a scarcity of labor, 
and all who were willing to work found employment at good prices.” 
Report, Boston Board of Trade, 1867, p. 42. 
17 Voice, July 26, 1865, quoting from the Newburyport Herald; Ibid,. 
Aug. 21, 1865, quoting from The Traveller; Ibid, Sept. 22, 1865, quoting 
from the Lynn Bulletin, etc. 
is Reports Boston Board of Trade, 1866-1871. Passim. 
is From figures given in United States Census Reports, 1860, 1870. 
20 Ibid. 
