Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-02-25

ing richer, and the poor poorer. When
ever demagogue, with lungs of brass and
brain of sheep, wishes to assist his personal
schemes by indorsing some piece of COM
munistic roguery, he is sure to make use Of
this phrase. It is, in short, the shibbo
leth Of all who seek to overthrow existing
institutions, and OF all who seek to curry
favor with the ignorant by affecting a
spurious sympathy with the poor. The
fallacy of the position has been often as
serted, and as often demonstrated. 1t is
not in any sense true that the conditions
of modern society favor the few at the ex-
pense of the many. The truth is that the
many never had as good opportunities as
now, and that while the facilities for &C
cumulating wealth have greatly increased
the percentage of prosperous men, the cir
cumstances of the masses have been i'm
proved within the past half century In the
most wonderful and altogether unpre-
cedented manner 1t is in fact true that
the richer have grown richer, but it is
quite as true that the poor have grown
richer too and it is certain that the pros
perity of the lower classes has been pro-
portionately greater than that of the small
minority of rich men.
The proofs of these assertions have re.
Gently been furnished in the form of stats
tics as regards most of the countries of
Europe. The statistician is Mr.. Nulhall,
well-known English economist, and his
conclusions are extremely interesting. He
has taken the period since 1910 for exam
nation. In that year he finds that the
amount of property per capita in the
United Kingdom was g Id, whereas in
1877 it had risen to f3 los. That this did
not represent an increase of wealth pos
sessed by the upper class alone, is shown
by the fact that the proportion of the lower
class during the same period shifted from
rs to &c per cent. of the whole population,
showing o marked rise in the prosperity of
the workingmen. 1t is interesting to dis
cover that in the same period Scotland and
Ireland showed greater advance even than
England. The latter fact will puzzle those
who have been assured that the condition
of the Irish has been steadily deteriorating,
and that they are continually going from
bad to worse But it will surprise most
people to learn that Scotland has become
the most thrifty country in the world per.
haps. Forty years ago, says Mr.. Mulhall,
Scotland swarmed with beggars to such
"a degree that the Sheriffs declared the
state of the country was most alarming,
''and the farmers were so poor that they
"bled their cattle and cooked the blood
"as food" But in 1877 the wealth of the
country had so increased that it then
had f277 to every inhabitant, which is a
| larger proportion than is to be found any
where else, probably.
The details of the Irish case show that
| whereas in lS40 her property amounted to
f30S, 600, 600, to-day it is f43S, 900, 900, or
fS5 per head. 1t is curious that in 1910
Ireland was ahead of Scotland as regards
wealth, though now Caledonia has com
pletely eclipsed her sister Erin. But among
the most interesting facts revealed by Mr..
MulhalPs inquiries is the discovery that
increase of prosperity leads, among other
changes, to very much greater consump-
ton of food than would be thought prob
able. The working classes evidently invest
a large part of their increased wages in
improved living, and in this way it cannot
be doubted that the physical well. being OF
modern communities has been greatly pro-
NOTED. In 1910 the average consumption
for every person in the United Kingdom
was as follows, for the provisions named
Tea, % ounces; sugar, Is pounds wheat,
269 pounds meat, 81 pounds. In 1880
the quantities consumed per capita were
as follows Tea, 70 ounces sugar, SO
pounds wheat, 35S pounds meat, lis
pounds. 1t will be perceived that the in
crease of consumption has been very much
greater than could have been imagined,
and that it is indicative of the most marked
and unmistakable improvement in the
general condition of the masses. And it
must be remembered that the English
statistics give us very fair idea of what
has happened in this country. The differ.
ences are not great. Our tariff has oper.
ated against our working classes, and in
several respects their living is more expen.
sive than that of the English workingmen.
But it is certain that in both countries the
natural tendency has been steadily upward,
where it has not been checked by bad
craftsmanship.
There has been certain rise in the cost
of living during the past forty years, but
it is but small percentage of the improve.
ments in wages and in the general condi.
tions of life. In fact these statistics make
it perfectly clear that the talk about the
rich growing richer and the poor poorer is
without the slightest foundation that the
poor have been constantly growing richer
that their means have increased, and the
market for the expenditure of their means
has also expanded enormously that the
workingman of 1880 lives better than the
prosperous tradesman of 1910 did that he
commands comforts and luxuries which
were beyond the reach of the richer classes
in 1900; that he is as well off as the no.
bility of Europe were century and hall
ago that he is better off in all ways than
any workingman was ever before since the
beginning of civilization. That is the
exact truth, and it is also true that the
condition of the working classes in thi,
country would be still better if they them.
selves did not combine to keep in power
the men who are making them pay for the
enrichment of the tariff monopolists, and
are reducing their wages that that small
class of persons may become obtrusively