The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-09-05
PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION.
TIE efforts That Il nov being made ~
reach the South American markets with
our wares reminds us that one Of the
great causes Of tDe present stagnation
OF the labor market is the lact that the
people OF this country are not able to
consume the products Of their labor
and have NOT paid attention enough TO
seeking other markets. The appliances
OF modern machinery and inventive
genius have multiplied the power of
production of nearly all articles so that
ten men can produce more now than
hundred could a century ago. This
power OF production has maniie6tly lar
exceeded the increase Of consumption,
as will readily be seen by comparing
any mans food, apparel, house and fur
niture, and his additional ConVenlences,
comforts and lUXuries, with those en-
joyed by people in the same station fifty
OF u hundred years ago.
Take as Illustrative Of this assertion
the case of a farmer sixty years ago.
At that time there was little labor
saving machinery on the farm. The
wheat was all sowe by hand and the
ground plowed by poorly formed but
expensive plow. The wheat when ripe
was cut with a reapIng hook and
threshed either with fails or by being
1rodden under horses feet. Every
bushel OF wheat therefore represented
three or four times as much labor as
does bushel raised this year. Yet the
Well-to-do farmer expended the returns
oil five hundred bushels for his gig, in
which but two persons could ride, and
il he was eXtraVagant. aspiring to gig
and tandem, with all the paraphernalia
of lead horse, or perhaps three horses,
driven one ahead of the other, his out
fit, to say nothing OF horses, cost him
the returns tor thousand bushels
of wheat. A comb for his wife, even if
he was not man Of wealth, cost $40,
representing thirty or forty bushels OF
his grain. Calico made by the clumsy
looms OF that day sold for 81 a yard, and
dress of six yards could be bought
with the returns of not less than ten or
twelve bushels OF wheat. Suppose one
bushel Of wheat at that time represented
as much labor as three do now, which is u
very moderate estimate, lady must at
the present day wear a $45 dress to be
as extraVagant as her grandmother was
in her six yards of calico; and it must
be remembered that our grandmoIhers
did not contne themselves to calico.
There were silks and satins, expensive
bonnets, and costly shawIs, Just as at
present. This same relative cost holds
good as well in all other articles as in
the matter OF dress. The modest outfit
oct OF cups and saucers, which
sixty years ago was considered a
neat housekeeping start. represented
more labor than is now invested in the
piano, carpets and fixtures OF a we'll
furnished house. 1t will thus be seen
that our ancestors were comparatively
much larger consumers than we are. In
other words, while we are in this aye
put down as extraVagant, we have not
progressed in extravaganza sufficiently
to keep pace with the power of produc-
ton. On this particular point the diff
Guilty is that people who have large
means continue to accumulate, while
those who have very little are the ones
that spend. The truth OF the PROPOSE
tion that the consumptive capacity of
the people has not kept pace with the
productive is evidenced by the fact that
the markets, warehouses and work shops
OF the country are abundantly supplied
at cheap rates with everything that
people need to buy; and, at the same
time. with this cheap abundance of ev-
erything, there is, and has been for q