, 1874-05-01
nevortholo's better than It vaa tYontv-dys

It Is an ntlisputnble fnct that tho wentth ot
England las increased vaatly since 1886. II
has, 1t ts ostimatod moro than uuadtupled Th.
exports Of the Kingdom, valued in 1s6o A. ,ho,,
s25o, 100000. aro nov valuod at G., 1,2so, ,oop ooo
4ts imports have Increased In oven oroats,
ratio. Tho country III, therefore, at the yer1
loaHt, four times as rich as 1t was Ut thn1
time. How has this iucreasc Of westh
nonofited tho laborers, or has 1t benefited them
at all5 Mr. Fawcott thinks that, oven whore Il
has benefited thom apparently, It has In roality
kept them just whoro they wore; TINT when, 10,
inHtancc, tic ratio Of wages pnid thom has riscr
20 per cent, tho cost Of living has increased at I
still grcatcr 1ato. He bases hia inferenccs on
tho statistics furnished by AIr. DraBsoy, autho,
Of "Work and Wagcs." Ho fluids, for instance,
that. OF tho thirteen classoa Of operatives en-.
gagod at tho Bfrkonhoad "Canada Engineering
"orlts," six arc now paid lower wages than they
received In 1864, three receive tho aamo remit.
neration as at TINT timo, while four gro bottor
paid now than then. An examination OF tho
ratoa Of wages paid to tue carpenters, blaok-
amltha, etc., employed In tho naval-works at
shcorneas ahows a atmllar atato Of things. Those
paid IN private enterprises, 80 far Us examined.
confirm these conolusions On tho othor hand,
1t is found that mechanics employed on sevoral
heavy Manchester md London works aro much
better romunoratod than they were wont to bo
somo ycarB ago. Horo, wh9re tho 1aborors arc
paid go much por hour, their wagen havo in-
creased a8 much ~ one~third. Mr. Fawcett
claims, however, TINT this improvement In tho
condition Of the children Of toll In counter
balanced by tho inoroasod cost Of living.
And now Tor the explanation. How comos 1t
TINT, whilo tho wealth Of England Ia four timea
as great as 1t WAS only a quarter Of century
ago, hor laborcrs arc about In tho
aamo condition. Mr.. Tawcott accounts for II
By what is, or what hc asaumes to DO, tho fact
that the supply Of labor has increased In tho
same ratio US the demand fori 1t. There has been
an actual increase in the population OF tue coun.
try spite Of emigration. The progress Of inven.
tion, loo, and the continued introduction of ma
chinory-machinery labor competing With hu.
man 1abor-has thrown large number Of hands
out Of employment. It Is m undoubtod fact
TINT, temporarily at least, ovory now machine
used dminishcs tho demand for labor. Tho in
croase Of population has been noted particularly
among workers in iron, in oil, and in
woolons. The farming population hns, In
tho interim, remnined about stationary;
mud thus agricultural productions hayo not In,
crcaaed in proportion to tho increase Of popu-
lation.
10 show how machinery may compete with
mon 1t is only necessary to mention tho stato-
ment Of Dir. Naamyth, TINT tho introduction Of
machinery bud enabled him to dispense With
one-half tho hands employed By him previously.
Another reason why the laborers in England
have net had their share Of tho benefit accruing
from au augmentation Of capital ia That 40 much
OF fs exported to foreign countries. England
is tho loan market OF tho world. It haa
lent largely during tho last quartor Of = century
to Russia, Italy, Turkey, Egypt. tho United
States, and carried on immense improvements ip
India. Tho public debt Of Russia has Increased
from E100, 300 in 1e48 to G300, ,00o, 900 In
1870; TINT Of ltay from E3o 900 900 to s2s5 o0o,-
600 in tho samo space OF timo; Turkey has bor-
rowed E92,o00,o0o, and Egypt ESQ, 100000. To
all Of theso loans England has contributed
largely. Tho cost OF railways constructed In
India during tho same period haa been
.e90,0 100000. Such are Mr. Fawcstt's yiews
and their explanation. Wo may hero re-
mark that thoy arc not shared by many;
and, It true In England Of its laboring claaaes,
they are not necessarily true hero; and,
If true here, the explanation would cer-
tainly DO different, as America las been
rather a borrower than lender Of capital,
and our agricultural population has boen by no
means stationary. It is urged, and We are in
clined to think rightly TINT llr. Fawcott nd
ducos too fow facts to support Ills conclusions,
and that d more thorough aud comprehensive
examination would lead to different results.
Tho Now York Fnancidt Chronicle remarks that
operatives, both skilled and unskiled are now
engaged fewer houra por day than they
wero in the time past to which Prof.
Fawcett refcrs, which is of itself equivalent to
an increase OF wages, II not to as great M in
crease as the Chronicle assorts, viz, from 20 to
25 per cont. There ia also aome truth in what
the Same journal remarks, that the increased
comfort visible In tho habitatous Of oporativoa
is evidence Of an improvement in their coudi-
ton. Tho deposits made by them in savings
bnuks confirm this. The patrons Of these
most usoful institutions are generally mo-
chauics and laborors. Now, in the State
Of New York, siuce 1857, the aggregate oi
deposits made In savings banks has risen
from 81, 900, 600 to s2s5,ooo,ooo. Tho Increase
haa boon constant one. In sixteen yeasa
khoro las boon but ono instance Of an interrupt
lion In tho increase. This was when the War
broke ont The deposits stood, Jau. !, 1861, ai
se7, ,440.s97. Jan. !, 1869, they had fallen off ia
7o4, ,0ss,119 Since that timo thoy havo been
increasing, a denomination that
sven the laboring class In this country can in.
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