Principles Of Political Economy

Under these conditions, it seems that the only hope of an improvement for the laboring-classes lies in the limitation of population—or at least in an increase of numbers less than the increase of capital and improvements. It is possible, however, that Mr. Cairnes, with many others, has failed to recognize the full extent of the improvement which is taking place in the wages of the laborer under the existing social order. Although we hear much of the wrongs of the working-men—and they no doubt exist—yet it is unquestionable that their condition has vastly improved within the last fifty years; largely, in my opinion, because improvements have outstripped population, and because wide areas of fertile land in new and peaceful countries have drawn off the surplus population in the older countries, and because the available spots in the newer countries like the United States have not yet been covered over with a population sufficiently dense to keep real wages anything below a relatively high standard. The facts to substantiate this opinion, so far as regards Great Britain, are to be found in a recent investigation[307] by Mr. Giffen, the statistician of the English Board of Trade. For a very considerable reduction in hours of daily labor, the workman now receives wages on an average about 70 per cent higher than fifty years ago, as may be seen by the following table:

Occupation. Place. Wages fifty years ago, per week. Wages, present time, per week. Increase or decrease, amount, per cent. Carpenters Manchester 24 0 34 0 10 0 (+) 42   Glasgow 14 0 26 0 12 0 (+) 85 Bricklayers Manchester[308] 24 0 36 0 12 0 (+) 50   Glasgow 15 0 27 0 12 0 (+) 80 Masons Manchester[309] 24 0 29 10 5 10 (+) 24   Glasgow 14 0 23 8 9 8 (+) 69 Miners Staffordshire 2 8[310] 4 0[311] 1 4 (+) 50 Pattern-weavers Huddersfield 16 0 25 0 9 0 (+) 55 Wool-scourers " 17 0 22 0 5 0 (+) 30 Mule-spinners " 25 6 30 0 4 6 (+) 20 Weavers " 12 0 26 0 14 0 (+) 115 Warpers and beamers " 17 0 27 0 10 0 (+) 58 Winders and reelers " 6 0 11 0 5 0 (+) 83 Weavers (men) Bradford 8 3 20 6 12 3 (+) 150 Reeling and warping " 7 9 15 6 7 9 (+) 100 Spinning (children) " 4 5 11 6 7 1 (+) 160