Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-12-27
HOW WEALTH is MADE.
Result Of Fd,rard 4tkinso,a,s Researches
into the Statistics of Industry.
1po,&o, u...,lt

Inc statement made by Mr.. Edward Atkin-
son OF this city. before the Congressional COM
mlttee on labor. at its session of Thursday
last at the national capital is of great interest
bearing as it does upon much-discussed
economic questions. MIR. Atkinson's statistics
were taken from the reports of the Massa-
chusetts bureau of statistics of labor. and
from the returns of the 8 tate financial officers
These statistics furnish the basis for a pretty
close approximation to the truth in regard to
the annual product of labor and the value of
accumulated property In 1875 the amount of
property returned was as follows values being
expressed in currency, gold at the time being
worth Sl.l0 to Sl.l2.
Real estate. -. 81. 900 900
Personal property. .............. 900 600
Savings bank deposits. .......... 23S, 900 600
Property of cor rorations taxed
directly by the State. $4,000 900
Property returnd under the
bank tax. $1,000, 900
Total ..... .................S2 90, 1874, 900, COO
On account of property subjected to double
assessment, as In the case of mortgages, Mr..
Atkinson deducted $3.50, 600 600 from the re-
turned value of real estate, and on account of
mortgages, notes aud other paper merely rep
resentlng titles to property, he deducted $544,-
ooo,OOO from the aggregate amount OF per-
sonai property assessed for taxes. This left
l,OOO,OO 600 as the net accumulation of the
actual product of labor during the two CEN
uries which have elapsed since the Massa-
chusetts colony was founded.
'Mr. Atkinson set down the product of Massa-
chusetts industry for 1875 as follows:
~. nuiac1ures. 1882, 600 600
20. - .................. 7,5OO.000
Agricultural and mining .. 43. 500. 900
Total annual product. S649. OOO, 600
In this amount, however, there we're num-
erous Implications. Thus to some extent the
same Cloth is reported once as in possession of
the manufacturers, and again as clothing on
the shelves OF the dealer. After all ded sections
on account of Implications, Mr.. Atkinson set
down the net annual product of the industry
OF massachusetts at e maximum of $780,
Goo,oOU, ore maximum of $500, 600 600 and
point out that the aggregate accumulation
out of the labor of two centuries is canal tn
the annual product of two, or, at most, little
three years.
AS an illustration of the slowness with which
capital IS acquired, Mr.. Atkinson cited cotton
mill which in 1888 produced a given amount
hours days, and in 1878 produces the same
amount with the labor oil 80 men working ten
hours day. 1t belongs to the same
corporation, is represented by the same shares of
stock, and, to all appearances, is the same mill
as III 1898, but within the forty years from that
ton, while its machinery has been again and
again replaced by improved devices, devices
which have increased the productiyeness of
labor In the degree indicated by the figures
just given. This destruction of capital to
make way for new Inventions, said Mr. AtkIu-
son, Is The law OF progress and it is to the in
crease or production thus brought about that
the working classes must look for the imp
ment of their condition.
Mr.. Atkinson holds that in a normal coudi-
ton OF trade manufacturing capital may yield
10 per cent, and cannot yield more, because
any industry in which it yields that percentage
draws so much capital into it that the profits
are kept down by competition. For some
years past it has yielded much less. and speak
ing for the cotton manufacture, 1t would not
now be yielding anything at all except for the
utilization of material formerly wasted, and
only saved now in consequence of services to
which the wits Of the manufacturers have been
stimulated. The 10 per cent annual weld of
capital has to be employed in the repairing
and replacing of machinery, in the purchase
OF new Inventions, besides regular expenses in
the way of insurance, etc. OF the annual Weld
OF 10 per cent. probably four per cent. is used
as indicated. This leaves the capitalist ak per
cent, out of which he must pay FIVE for living
expenses. domestic service, etc. There then
remains but one per cent. to be devoted to the
increase of capital or luxurious induigences.
70 sum up, Mr.. Atkinson declared, as the re-
suits of his researches into the statistics of in
dustry, that, out of the entire annual product
of industry in Massachusetts, from 95
to 50 per cent is distributed t., labor
and all the remainder except one per cent. goes
to the maintenance and replacing of capital.
1t is out of his one per cent. alone that capital
can find anything to add to the percentage re-
ceived by labor, and the only way in whioh the
earnings of labor can be increased apprcciaby
is thro ish the increase in the efficiency OF
production which new mechanical inventions
are continually producing.