The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-14 00:00:00

Wages and Prices in America.

The Cincinnati Gazette gives a long and carefully-
prepared comparison of wages and prices in that
city in 1860 and at the present time ; and as Cin-
cinnati is a large city, making fair progress, and
advantageously situated so far as trade, and espe-
cially trade in supplies for consumption, is con-
cerned, it probably exhibits about the average of
the country. It appears that, as a rule, in private
employ the advance of wages has been about 100
per cent., but it is much less in the public service
and in the employ of companies. Machinists, who
earned $9 to $l2 a week in 1860, now earn $l6 to
$2O. The wages of locksmiths have advanced from
$9 in 1860 to $l5 or $lB at the present time ; while
painters, who got $9 or $lO in 1860, now get on an
average $2l. Tailors get at least 100 per cent.
more than they did before the war. They used to
make coats at $6 50c. to $7, now they get $l4. They
made vests and pants at $1 75c. formerly, and get
$3 40c. now. Cigar-makers have made greater ad-
vances in wages than almost any other trade. In
1860 they received for best brands $4 50c. to $6 per
1,000 ; now the price is no less than $l4. Brick-
layers, who got $2 to $2 50c. per day before the
war, now get $4 50c. to $5. Carpenters who got
$1 75c. to $2 before the war, now get $3 to $4.
The wages of plasterers have advanced from $1 25c.
or rdsl 50c. to $3, and of hod-carriers from $1 or
$1 25c. to $3. Gunsmiths now earn $lB to $2O per
week, though in 1860 the most experienced work-
men only received $9 to $l2. The wages of book-
binders have largely advanced. Women who got
$3 50c. to $4 per week in 1860, now get $7 or $B.
Men's wages, which were from $9 to $l2, have risen
as high as $l5 to $2O. The wages of bootmakers
have risen fully 75 to 100 per cent. The wages of
blacksmiths, boiler-makers, and street-pavers, have
advanced 100 per cent. The salaries of clerks and
teachers have only advanced 25 to 50 per cent.
Turning now to prices we learn that rents in Cin-
cinnati have more than doubled. Houses that could
have been obtained in 1860 for $8 to $lO per month
now command $25 to $3O, while those which used
to rent for $2O to $2 5 are now rented at $5O to
$6O. In groceries, provisions, and liquors, the ad-
vance has been greater than in many other articles.
Coffee has in the five years advanced from 12c. to
38c. ; sugar f coin Bc. to 20c., butter from 14c. to
35c., cheese from Bc. to 19c., whisky from 20c. to
$2, alcohol from 42c. to $4, and beer (per barrel)
from $5 to $l4. Mess pork has advanced from
$l6 80c. to $32.75c,, while other descriptions of
pork have advanced in, perhaps, a little greater
ratio. Altogether, the cost of provisions of all
kinds has gone up fully as much as wages have done
in the best of the trades. The Cincinnati Gazette
buttp ro
o i
produce
gives no statistics of the advance in clothing, but
it has
sisi
so far
probably
si s
theirae about
oc exceeded dai:t
ednilsOado
due
opo
netr.o cent.
inflation
Increased
a tiCo oal is not
mentioned : its present price in New York and
inteisaatycseaduvisesarepehpciegrthrie.sr, prices than before the war, .
t h tea ad-
vancexa
change, The
and perhaps haowdieffivecru,limyaiyn
getting employment for a time.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

,;..__

TIMES.--The subject discussed by Lord Lyttelton
a day or two ago at Bilston is one of many that
have passed in course of forty years from the
region of theory to that of experience. The last
generation may be said to have divided itself pretty
evenly upon the multifarious controversy about
Popular Education, Useful Knowledge, Social Pro-
gress, Mechanics' Institutes, and Working Men's
Clubs. But in one point there was a considerable
resemblance between the arguments pro and con.
Both sides went upon certain theories of human
nature and the spontaneous action of society, and
particularly upon their respective preconceptions
of the working man. The one imagined the work-
ing man to be an earnest, simple fellow, with a
modest sense of his backward attainments and de-
pressed condition, anxious to improve his mind and
acquire information, and specially desirous to hear
lectures and addresses delivered by gentlemen of
talent and education. The theorists—for theorists,
indeed, they were obliged to be in that stage of the
affair—were not unaware that there would be
varieties in the throng nightly pressing to the
new founts of knowledge. The mechanic would
go there to get an insight into the principles of
his craft; the painter, or carver, or gilder would
go to peep into the glorious world of art, of
which lie was the tantalised outsider ; the
mason or builder would go to study the charm-
ing details of Palladian or mediaeval art, and
one day emerge as an architect; the chemist's lad
would try to learn the difference between poisons
and drugs ; the politician of humble life would
learn to know better what he was talking about ;
and all classes would find something or other to
their taste to relieve the monotony of their lives,
and throw a few rays of light through the dark-
ness of their understanding. When it came to
clubs, of course they would talk, warm themselves,
take some cheap refreshment, and, in fact, spend
the evenings as their betters did. But utility and
progress were still the leading ideas of the move-
ment that was to be, and it was impossible to say
at what a pitch of perfection that movement might
land us. The other side went upon the opposite
idea of the working man. If he went to an insti-
tution, a club, or any place of resort specially for
his class, where he could feel himself at once
at home and in company, he could not but make
the worst use of the opportunity by the irresistible
law of his nature. He would drink, plot sedition,
and vilify his betters ; he would plan poaching, rob-
bery, socialism, trades' unions, and strikes ; he would
talk infidelity and use foul language ; he would
labour to turn things upside down ; and neither
the Monarchy, the Church, nor the Constitution,
nor the first rules of social propriety and civil order
would be safe, if they were to be nightly canvassed
in every town and village by men interested in
anarchy, and predisposed to it. So strongly were
these objections felt that there was a time when any-
body would be set down as an atheist, or democrat,
and a great deal worse, if he would not join in de-
nouncing mechanics' institutions and everything of
the kind. Forty years have dispelled both antagonist
theories, and disappointed alike the hopes and the
fears of friends and of foes. The working men who
have availed themselves of these opportunities have
undergone no such change for the better, or for the
worse, as was expected. They have generally re-
mained working men. The general complaint has
been that they were outnumbered by the class above
them, and that while their betters did appreciate the
institute or the club, the working men did not. If
they did come, they read newspapers for the news,
and they read periodicals of a serious and instructive
character, such as their betters would think prosy
and dull. The workingman was found to be a
pave, reflective, and rather solemn being, with a
tone of thought and sentiment corresponding too
closely to the tenour of his condition. He reasoned,
he moralized, he asked the good of things, lie was a
severe censor, and made no compromises with dis-
guises, make-believes, conveniences, and all the
ways of worldlings. He was found to possess, if
not a particular fanaticism, at least A strong reli-
gious element. But the most observable result is
that neither the working man nor anybody else has
been perceptibly changed by an occasional visit after
work to a warm lighted room, with books and papers
lying about, and a few, like himself, in quest of
news or amusement. He might have been worse
employed, and, indeed, could easily be. The room
presented the attractions of a publichouse, with
neutral company, unobjectionable conversation, a
better choice of papers, and no necessity to drink
for the good of the house. Indeed, such institutions
stand upon the modest and unassailable ground of
simple convenience. Lord Lyttelton very properly
associates them with clubs of Pall-mall and St.
James's, which a man does not join for the regene-
ration or the elevation of his nature, or even for
such a minor purpose as the overthrow of the Con-
stitution ; but simply to find shelter, to sit down, to
read the papers, to talk with the next man if he
happens to be an acquaintance, to dine if he has no
where else to go to, and to smoke, or play a rubber
or a game of billiards, or read the last thing out in
the library. There were hopes and there were fears
as to the working of our London Clubs when they
were started forty years ago. They would break up
our homes; they would spoil our young men, who,
though good, were still fragile ; they would bring
together all that was bad. What would they not
do ? It is hard to say what they have done, except
it be to bring the Clarendon within the reach of
poor men, and give the comforts of an hotel without
the penalty of a heavy bill. The visible, simple,
and economical part of the business is all that stands
the test of time. The chimeras of the question have
vanished long ago. It is just so with these working
men's clubs. They offer shelter instead of an even-
ing stroll over sloppy pavements and dripping eaves.
They offer light and warmth. They give comfort-
able seats instead of standing room at the bar of a
giushop. They offer good and clean papers and
books, instead of a greasy copy of a bad print
several days old. Many of them offer cheap and
good tea, coffee, bread, butter, cheese, and beer,
instead f the cheap and nasty varieties. Some of
them offer classes and lectures, and we know not
what. These things may do good, and cannot pos-
sibly do harm. Some of them offer opportunities
for acquiring the art of public speaking, in the
shape of debating societies. That these will ever
do much good, and turn out a new race of orators,
may be doubted ; bid one thing we consider certain
--they will never do the least harm. So we cannot
attach to the question the fearful responsibility it
seems to evoke in the minds of some sanguine or

timid people. With Lord Lyttelton's. advisers, or
rather dissuaders, we see no necessity kr a country
gentleman going much out of his way and putting
his hand very deep into his pocket in order to enable
a number of full-grown men to shelter themselves,
warm and light themselves, take in papers, buy
books, and set up a counter and bar of their own.
It really is their own affair, just as it is their own
affair whether they marry or not, frequent a pub-
lichouse or not, dress decently or not, live in a house
or a doghole, lay by a part of their wages or spend
all. With Lord Lyttelton himself, we cannot see
how a gentleman can decline a little neighbourly
assistance when asked for and when really wanted.

He has ready money. He can give advice, for he
belongs to a club himself, and knows all about a
good many. He can make very valuable sugges-
tions as to management, and he can take a part in
it. He can give his name, which will go for some-
thing. Should there arise any irregularities or dis-
orders in the institution, he will always be an autho-
rity, an influence, and a weight on the side of good
order. All this he might do and ought to do ; but
he ought not to go away with the idea that he is
starting a mighty engine and beginning a great
movement, or anything of that sort. After 10 years
of it he will find it very hard to discover what good
he has done beyond helping people to make them-
selves comfortable and keep out of harm's way. As
for mental and moral improvement of a positive
and palpable sort, that must always be a matter of
faith. Nobody, be he rich or poor, will ever carry
anything from an institution of this sort which he
has not carried there ; and if he was not a philoso-
pher, a man of science, a poet, or an artist to begin
with, he will never become so by sitting in a read-
ing room, or listening to a lecture by his worship
the mayor. The " low ground," as it will be called,
is that which stands the test of time and experience.
These institutions are nothing more than matters of
public convenience, and those of neighbourly kind-
ness. These are no more parts of a great social re-
volution than was the introduction of pavements or
of gas. But they are indisputably useful, and that
is all one need know about them.

POST.—It is impossible to help being struck by the
singular fact that Reform, which is supposed to be the
antitheses of whatever is obstructive, should itself
constitute thc great political obstruction of the present
juncture. There is a curious sort of natural irony
caused by the play of events, and this is a remarkable
instance of it. If the subject of Reform does not suc-
ceed in bringing the public business to a deadlock
for a season, or at least retarding its natural progress,
it will be owing to the good fortune or the good
management of the statesmen in whose hands the
conduct of that business has been placed. The loss
of Lord Palmerston is no less felt in the difficulties

than in the advantages of the present situation. His
foreign policy has happily left us at peace with all
the world ; his home policy had the effect, while he
was at the head of affairs, of saving us from the em-

barrassments with which we are now threatened.

We h;venodifriculties to trouble us abroad, but at
home the very thing which purports to be synony-
mous with progress, instead of making a clear sea-
way for the vessel of the State, rears itself ominously
above the smooth waters as a formidable rock ahead.
This is very much to be regretted in the interest of

Reform itself. Reform, no doubt, is an excellent
thing ; but the most excellent in the world may, if
it obtrude itself upon us out of season, become some-
thing very different. If Reform, by the unconscious
agency of circumstances, or by the zeal without dis-
cretion of its friends, really should succeed in preci-
pitating a crisis, such as rendering another appeal to
the country, so soon after the last election, necessary,
or placing in office those who are most opposed to
Reform itself, and to the policy which the country
has accepted and approved, it will be a very unfor-
tunate event. Reform would suffer great loss of pre-
stige, and probably be all but unanimously voted a
bore, for some time to come. There is no good to be
obtained byshutting one's eyes to a difficulty; on the
contrary, the wisest plan is to look it well in the face,
that we may discover some way of avoiding or over-
coining it. When these circumstances are fairly con-
sidered it is difficult to suppose that the great Liberal
majority returned at the hustings last summer
should divide itself against itself, so to speak, and
by so doing place itself at the mercy of its political
opponents. Those who are reformers among re-
formers must know that, by placing themselves in
opposition to the more moderate Liberal party, they
would simply be playing into the hands of their
political antipodes. Are they prepared to do this—
and what can they expect to gain by it? It has
been said by some extreme politicians that a Tory
Government of the most pronounced type is prefer-
able to a moderate Liberal Government, for the not-
able reason that it is " more squeezable." But if the
moderate Liberals and the less advanced party were
agreed at least upon one thing, viz., that reform
should not be entered upon just now, it is difficult
to see in what the quality of squeezability can con-
sist, so far as this question is concerned. The ex-
treme Conservative party may hold that, so far from
doing anything more in the direction of reform, it
would be the best thing in the world to undo what
has been done ; so that the extreme Liberals have
nothing to hope from that section if it can have its
will. The moderate Liberals do but think that re-
form may advantageously be postponed to a more
convenient season. Those therefore who are for a
large measure being carried at once havelittle chance
of " squeezing" a compliance with their wishes.
These considerations would suggest to moderate
thinking men to inquire if the reform fruit is really
quite ripe for plucking. We all know by familiar
experience the disappointment and failure incidental
to gathering the finest peach while it is yet imma-
ture. Do existing conditions render it possible at
the present time to get such a measure of reform
as is likely to satisfy any political party ? And if
this is so, is not pressing this question to the ex-
clusion of all others, and the obstruction of the
public business, very like sacrificing much time and
trouble in the attempt to pluck an unripe peach
which only serves to set the teeth on edge, and is
thrown away in disgust? The history of the past
few years shows that there is no political party in
the country that is likely to be satisfied with a Re-
form Bill framed by any other party, so that if any
of them bring in a measure all the rest are sure to
unite to defeat it. And what does this fact mean?
It means that there is no great majority of persons
in the country agreed together as to what measure
of Reform is required. Every political party is at
variance with every other upon this question. The
like difference exists indoors and out of doors.
There are societies in various parts of the country
which have constituted themselves for the purpose
of advocating Reform, but hardly two of them are
agreed to what the Reform they seek to obtain
ought to be. Many a one of these societies, indeed,
does not seem agreed within itself as to this impor-
tant point. Under these circumstances we hope it
will not be considered presumptuous to suggest that
the Reform most needed just now is a reform of
Reform. Until reformers have come to something
like an agreement as to what it is that ought to be
done, it seems somewhat premature to contemplate
setting about doing it. It is like talking of building
a house before the plan has been prepared, and the
ground provided. If Reform, in its present very un-
reformed state, is to be pressed forward as an ob-
struction to the course of public business, it will be
brought into discredit altogether, and for some
considerable period too. This is not what the most
ardent, or even the least ardent, of reformers can
possibly desire—but it is likely enough to be what
those who are against all Reform would hail with
much satisfaction. Even if it were conceded as
matter of argument that everybody, including
women, must be considered as having a prima fade
case in favour of being endowed with the elective
franchise, and that the burden is on those who
would deny it to prove their disqualification,
still, until everybody asks for a thing, and while
apparently indifferent about it, the expediency of
forcinc, it upon apathetic recipients may be
doubted. If we look back to the legislation
of the period which has elapsed since the
Reform Act, we shall find that, if the working man
had a vote, he could hardly have desired anything
more to be done for him than has actually been
done; and perhaps much that has been so done
would not have been so well done. For instance,
the working man has been made as independent of
the master as it is possible for laws to make him.
Working men may combine to raise wages, or
shorten their work hours, and may enforce their
objects by strikes ; they may do anything, in fact,
short of violence and intimidation. What more
could have been done if the Reform Act had given
every working man a vote ? One thing that might
very likely have been attempted, and which would
have led to serious difficulties and troubles, is some-
thing in the shape of oppressive and one-sided laws
against employers. The necessaries and comforts
of life have been made as cheap and accessible to
the working man as human laws could make them,
regard being had to the revenue which the State has
to raise to pay its way. Let, then, Reform itself
be reformed into something definite and practical,
upon which all parties of reformers are agreed, but
let it not in its present state be made an obstruction
in the way of the public business.

In Michigan, at the present time, there are one
hundred and two newspapers published, divided as fol-
lows :—Ninety weeklies and twelve dailies; of these, forty-
six aro Republican in their sentiments, twenty-six are
Democratic, two aro religious papers, and one is a temper-
ance paper.

A NEW USE FOR PETROLEUM.—The volatile
character of highly rectified petroleum, and some other
oils, has led many ingenious men to try to devise some
means of conveniently vaporising them in air, and then
burning the air-compound like common gas. Owing to
difficulties of obtaining regular atmospheric pressure, and
regular vaporization, no machine for these purposes has
yet come into common use, though considerable progress
has been made in the important subsidiary work of im-
pregnating common gas with oil vapors, and thus increas-
ing its illuminating value. But even here great difficulties
of regular vaporisation present themselves. Wicks,
sponges, or analogous contrivance; are used to increase
the evaporating oil surfaces, but the capillary power of
these contrivances is gradually diminished by impurities
gathered from the gas. These difficulties, and others that
we have not space to particularise, seem to be removed by
a simple apparatus, patented through the agency of Messrs.
Curley and Co., of 33, Arundel-street, Strand. For im-
pregnating gas with oil vapors, the inventor uses, in con-
nection with the meter, an evaporating chamber, contain-
ing a series of metallic plates, covered with some textile
material, and constantly wetted with the oil by the action
of the meter itself. A very large and constantly perfect
evaporating surface is thus presented ; and the proportion
of the gas used, which must traverse this surface, is regu-
lated by a screw, so that the gas can be impregnated with-
out difficulty to the exact extent which is
most economical and desirable. ,To impregnate com-
mon air for lighting purposes, the inventor uses
a similar evaporating contrivance of larger size,
and he obtains the atmospheric pressure required
by an apparatus similar to a gasometer, which be moves
by a weight. The whole machine is compact and compa-
ratively inexpensive. We understand that the inventor is
an American, who obtained the only prize medal for gas-
regulation wnich was given by the Commissioners of the
International Exhibition of 1862. If his present invention
should be extensively adopted, it will materially increase
the already enormous demand for the oil products of
America.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] Dyspepsia (indigestion), constipa-
tion, debility, Consumption, and all nervous, bilious, stomach,
and liver complaints in every stage, are only aggravated and
accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly cur-
able by Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica
Food, as proved by thousands of cases which had been con-
sidered hopeless, such as—cough, asthma, also diarrhoea,
hmmorrhoids, liver complaints, flatulency, nervousness,
biliousness, fevers, sore throats, diphtheria, catarrhs, colds,
influenza, noses in the head and ears, 'ileum itism, gout, im-
purities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritibility,sleepless-
ness, acidity, palpitation, heartburn, headache, debility,
dropsy, cramps, spasms, nausea and sickness, even in preg-
nancy or at sea, sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of
the chest, pains in the pit of the stomach and between the
shoulders, &c. We quote a few :—Cure No. 16,276. MrJames
Roberts, timber merchant, of Fernley, Surrey, of 30 years'
dieeased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and par-
tial deafness.—Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacob of ex-
treme nervousness, indigestion, gather.n. gs; low spirits, and
nervous fancies. -Cure No. 1,771. 1 ord Stuart de Decks, lord
of 1S ateecrd, of many 3 cars' dyspepsia. —No, 10,832.
Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia,
nervousness,
asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, siLlcc ess, and
vomiting—Maria July—Cure No. 51,8 i 9. The Rev, James
T. Campbell, Fakenharn, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpid-
ity of the liver, which had resisted all medical treatment.—
In tins, 1 lb., 2s. 9d. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; 51b., its. ; 121 b., 225. ; 241 b
408.—Barry au Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London:
also Phillips, tea dealers, S, King William-greet ; likewl
at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishowate_
; 330, Strand •
• Close
street Within ; 63, 150, and 295, Oxford-street
54, Upper Baker-street ; 103, Tottenham-court-road •, 90'
'
Upper-street, Islington, N. ; Harvey, Nottinz-hill
Brothers, 6S, High-street; and Stubbs, Queen's-terra' ce St
John's•weod, London; and all respectable grocers and che-
mists,--Beware of spurious imitations.

Extraordinary Increase in the American
Trade.

--a--

The Times' City Article of Tuesday contains a
paragraph showing the extraordinary increase in the
trade between Liverpool and the United States
since the close of the civil war. The remarks are
based upon statistics taken from recent circulars of
Messrs. Guion and Co., of Liverpool, which furnish
a monthly resume of the amount of our exporta-
tions of goods to the United States compared with
the corresponding dates of the preceding five years,
commencing with 1860, when the war had not
broken out :—The news of the surrender of Gen. Lee
was received here on the 24th of April last, and its
effect in giving an impulse to shipments began to
manifest itself in June, and has continued in a
rapidly increasing ratio ever since, until it has reached
a point to which at no preceding time has there
been an approximation. Since June the number of
packages of British manufactures shipped have been
90,863, against 19,731 in 1861, and the difference
in money values must have been still more consider-
able, owing to the advance in the cost of all woven
fabrics. The increase in the foreign goods tran-
shipped at Liverpool has been equally striking, and
as these have been received by the Havre branch
steamers they have consisted almost entirely of
French productions, such as costly articles of dress
and luxury. Thus far, it is believed in the trade, the
large majority of the shipments have resulted profit-
ably, owing to the restricted nature of the prepara-
tions which had been made for the Northern markets
when the rebellion collapsed, and the extraordinary
demand that immediately arose from the South ;
but they are now probably assuming a speculative
character, such as may ultimately involve disap-
pointment. Meanwhile, although the extent to
which the European money-markets are supplied
from New York with Government and railway
stocks must operate as a considerable set-off to the
payments to be effected, it seems evident that large
and continuous remittances of gold will have to be
made to us for several months to come. Annexed
are the statistics in question :

Exports from Liverpool of British Manufactures of Cotton,
Wool, Silk, and Flax to New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
and Now Orleans, in Packages. . _

1860. 1861. 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865.
January 23449 17436 14381 12622 16669 6735
Februaryi 15762 7324 12742 12634 16125 9921
March
April llO3B 2595 6861 10200 9595 6716
May 15189 2627 7286 5925 11857 7423
Juno 24078 1445 8369 5747 13269 10960
July 24136 2740 15237 11535 10586 15708
August 19975 4105 13206 9868 5941 18850
September 13641 4451 11176 12468 4361 29481
October 14830 6990 10950 11520 4234 24855
Exports from Liverpool of Foreign Silks, Dross Stuffs,
Laces, and Embroidery to New York, Boston, Phila-
delphia, and New Orleans, in Packages.
1860. 1861. 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865.
January 6029 5110 1175 2760 5662 4527
February 3392 2524 2722 2931 6629 9345
March
April
May ... 1460 1929 2505 1384 6338 2428
June... 3666 1042 2841 2911 7031 4755
July.. ... 3813 1893 5485 3304 5430 8101
August ... 4030 2200 3055 3708 1409 8820
September. 2098 935 2576 3834 1305 6921
October

It will be seen by the above figures that our ex-
ports to the United States for June of this year
were more than seven times as numerous as these
of June, 1861, while our exports of last month
were nearly six times as great as those of the same
mouth last year. America which, according to the
predictions of our leading journals, was to have
become hopelessly 'bankrupt, is thus becoming a
better customer than ever, and her prosperity seems
as durable as it is great.—Anglo-Anzerican Times.