The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-01-17 00:00:00

A CAUTION TO WITNESSES.

In the City of London Court, before Mr. Commis-
sioner Kerr, an action was brought by Mr. W. P.
Willis, painter, 98, Boston-place, Dorset-square,
against Mr. T. Durant, solicitor, 5, Guildhall-
chambers, to recover the sum of .E 3 15s. for five days'
attendance at the Royal Courts of Justice, under
subpcena, in the case of " Slattery e. Ritchie? His
Honour: How do you make Mr. Durant responsible?
Plaintiff: Because he was fhe solicitor. His Honour:
That is not enough. Lawyers ',Alien they make law
generally make it in their own favour as much as they
can. The plaintiff may be responsible, but Mr. Durant
is not unless you can produce proof. He has been
clever enough to keep himself free from responsibility,
whicli some solicitors are not. I must find for the
defendant. Mr Durant: I don't ask for costs. The
plaintiff was my client's•clerk. That is the explana-
tion. Plaintiff: I consider it very hard. His
Honour: The next time you are subpcenaed refuse
to give evidence unless you are .paid. I have given
you good advice, but I shall decline to do so in future
if it leads to a long discussion. Talking is the curse
of the present day. (Laughter.) Jo4limem yogi thou
entered #QT tUe dcfmidaut,

THE WAGES AND EARNINGS OF THE
WORKING CLASSES:

Professor,Leoni Levi has addressed a letter to Sir
Arthur Bass, M.P., reporting the result of an inquiry
which he has made at Sir Arthur's request into the
amount of earnings of the labouring classes. In
it he states that the inquiry he had instituted into the
wages and earnings of the working classes of the
United Kingdom in 1867 and 1879, by desire of the
late Mr. M. T. Bass, M.P., had, he had reason to
believe, been helpful in forming a sound opinion on a
subject of great interest, and on which politicians and
economists alike experienced great difficulty. It was
not only their large number, but the improved con-
dition of the labouring classes that suggested
and sanctioned the extension of the Franchise.
And many were the social • and economic
problems which depended for their solution on the
knowledge they possessed of the actual means at the
disposal of the masses. Since 1867 the population
had increased from about 30,000,000 to 36,000,000,
and many vicissitudes had occurred in the rates of
wages. After a period of unexampled prosperity in
trade, the nation had experienced all the bitter fruit
of a protracted depression ; the relations between
capital and labour had been frequently strained; and
an important conference was about to be held for the
purpose of considering whether the present system
whereby the products of industry were distributed
between the various persons and classes of the com-
munity was satisfactory, or, if not, by what means that
system could be improved. As in the former inquiry,
he had taken the number of earners in the different
industries from the latest census. In 1867 he found the
number of workers to be 11,018,000; in 1881 they were
12,200,000. Assuming the working classes to com-
prise 70 per cent, of the population, and with small
farmers, crofters, and others to number 26,000,000
persons or 5,600,000 families, 12,200,000 workers
gave 2.17 earners for every, family. The Professor
concludes his reports. as follows : "One of the most
difficult problems in industrial economics is in what
proportion the products of labour ought to be fairly
distributed between masters and labourers. The
question is, indeed, more theoretical than practical
because under the contract of wages, the most co -
venient relation for masters and men, all things
considered as applicable to the great mass of
labourers, the workmen renounces and the master
assumes, for a consideration, all chalices of the
operation; and because with free competition, and
the necessity on the part of the master of utilis-
ing any increasing income, by increasing pro-
duction, the labourer is certain, sooner or later,
to derive his full share of the products of
la'bour. In many industries the proportion of
wages to production ranges between 20 to 30
per cent. Sir James Caird estimated the gross
amount of agricultural products consumed in the
United Kingdom at £l2 per head, which, with the
present population, would give a total of -L432,000,000.
Deduct from this amount the value of agricultural
products imported—Lls7,ooo,ooo, the amount pro-
duced at home is found to be £275,000,000. The
total amount of agricultural wages, as estimated in
this report, is £66,000,000. Therefore, the propor-
tion seems to be 23.23 per cent. But the proportion
differs widely in different districts. In the cotton
industry valuable data exist for arriving at what may be
considered the fair remuneration of labour. From
Mr. Ellison's reliable statistics I find that in 1871-75
the total value of produce, estimated by the total
amount of exports, plus one-third for consump-
tion, being £100,400,000, the cost of cotton was
£41,500,000, the wages £25,800,000, other ex-
penses £25,300,000, making a total of .L 92,600,000
leaving £7,800,000 for rent, depreciation, profits, &c:
In 1880-82 the cost of cotton amounted to,
£38200,000; the wages, as in this report
£28,500,000; other expenses, £27,700,000; total
£94,400,000; the total value of produce, estimated as
above, was £102,400,000, leaving £8,000,000 for rent,
depreciation, profits, &c., a sum much under what is
required for the maintenance of the industry.
Economies may be made in the other expenses, but in
any case such gross results account for the complaints
of cotton spinners and others connected with this
large industry. The relation of wages to production
must necessarily depend on the proportion between
the cost of the raw material, value of capital, and
other expenses, and the market value of the com-
modities produced; and it is not always in the power
either of masters- or labourers to determine at will
either the one or the other. Nor is it possible to
arrive, in all cases, at the value of labour in relation
to the other factors in production. The cost of
setting a diamond is small as compared with the
value of the precious stone, and a comparatively
valueless piece of clay becomes most valuable in the
hands of the potter. In goldsmiths' work the wages
are higher, because the great intrinsic value of the
material employed renders it necessary to raise the
workers above temptation; and becaese, also, the
artistic character of the work ranks the workman
among those who are in the borderland of the artist
and the sculptor, In Eden's "Stare of the Poor,"
the wages of agricultural labourers are given, in 1793,
at is. sd. per day in winter, and is. 9d. per day in
summer. Now agricultural labourers seldom get
less than 2s. or 2s. 6d. per day. At that time the
earnings of agricultural labourers were permanently
less than their expenditure, and had to be supple,
mented by doles from the poor rates. Now, unless
wasted, they equal if not exceed what is required for
legitimate wants, and, if well thrifted, leave a surplus.
In 1831 a single hind in Northumberland got 11s, per
week , in 1880, 18s. In 1834 a mule spinner in Man-
chester earned 345.; in 1884, 535. And a pieces who
in 1834 got 4s. 9d., in 1884 got 12s. All through the
long range of labourers' wages more or less advance
is noticeable, if not in the rates, certainly in the capa-
city, of earning; any difference between labourers'
earnings being more generally the results of compara-
tive_ skilfulness, perseverance in labour, and quick-
ness of movement. In estimating the wages and
earnings of the labouring classes, I must not omit to
state that the number of persons classed in the Cen-
sus under t` indefinite " occupations, though mainly
engaged in family duties, combine with these occa-
sional labour for wages, and it is among these
classes that some of the least remunerative
wages generally prevail. In a similar manner the
incomes from savings must be added. The large
number of houses acquired by the working classes
through building societies produce rents which
form part of income whether received or
saved. And so do the profits made from the sub-
letting of houses. The annual subventions paid by
friendly societies are so much income to the re-
cipients. So are the interests paid or accumulating
from money in the savings bank; trustees, or Post
Office. The inquiry mainly relating to wages I have
necessarily omitted, though not forgotten, that
portion of the workmen's incomes which arises from
small industries, such as buying and selling com-
modities on a small scale, all helping to recruit the
fain ily income. Though the present depression of
trade has already affected, and may still more
operate injuriously upon certain industries-, its effects
hitherto have been more in diminution of profits
than on lessened production, and therefore the re-
sults are not so apparent on the total income of
the working classes. Altogether, in estimating
their total income at this moment at
£521,000,000, or, less board and lodging, £470;000,000
the chances are that I have rather under than over
valued all the items of income, Taking the number
of families belonging to the working classes at
5,600,000, and the total income at £521,000, or, exclu-
sive of food, &c., £470,000, we have an average nf
about 325. per week per family—a fair amount if
equally distributed. But the gradations of income
among the labouring classes are proportionally as
great as among the higher, for whilst in some
eases several members of a family are in the
receipt of high wages, in other cases they may be
only one person earning but a small pittance, and
with the weight of a largo family. Nor is the
great preservative of the family purse in charge of
the head of the household so prevalent as it ought to
be. An average does not convey the real condition
of the small earner, whilst it understates the real
receipts of the well-paid workman. The value of all
averages depends on their being the medium towards
which the manifold rates are found to be tending.
And if I am right in assuming that in the income of
the great mass of the labouring classes in the United
Kingdom averages, even approximately, at as much as
325. a week per family, I must come to the conclu-
sion that they are in a better economic condition than
the labouring classes of any other country."