LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORKJIA
IRVIN_
HT)
ESSAY
THE RATE OF WAGES:
AN EXAMINATION
or THX
CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENCES
IK THX
CONDITION OF THE LABOURING POPULATION
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
" We cannot refrain from expressing an opinion that another and a greater
matter than that between 'he utirocatrt and opponent* of poor-laws remain*
behind namely, an examination of the necctttry which is supposed to entail
pauperism on society." Athenctum, July 18, 1835.
BY H. C. CAREY.
PHILADELPHIA:
CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD,
1835,
ERRATA.
Page 141, line 18, for estate, read state.
u 143, line 6, for estate, rtad state.
" 161, line 22, for lands they possess are,
read land they possess is.
a 171, last line, for labourer, read labour.
185, line 28, for annum, read mensem.
44 244, line 9, for A'cole, read A eoti.
ESSAY
ON
THE RATE OF WAGES,
IN the discussion now and for a long time past
carried on between the political economists and the
practical men, or advocates of the mercantile theory,
the former have generally confined themselves to indi-
cating what would be the result of the adoption of
their views, while the latter have pointed triumph-
antly to experience, calling upon us to admire the
prosperity that has been produced by their system,
and to hesitate before abandoning one that has been
the cause of such admirable results, and which has
the additional recommendation of having been sanc-
tioned by our forefathers. They call for facts, re-
garding them as universally confirmatory of the truth
of their doctrines, and look upon their opponents as
theorists, reasoning in opposition to all experience,
and willing to hazard the happiness and prosperity
of nations in the endeavour to prove the correctness
of visionary notions, that will not bear examination.
Thus, in the inquiry now prosecuting by the French
Minister of the Interior, M. Barbet, one of the wit-
6 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
nesses summoned, says, "We are exceedingly sorry
that the persons who, in their writings, have attack-
ed the existing system, have not come before the
council to defend their opinions here. If instead of
a system founded on probabilities and surmises, they
had opposed to us facts, we could have answered
them."
The object of the following essay is to furnish the
facts, as called for by M. Barbet : not a few isolated
facts, as has generally been done by the advocates
of " things as they are," but " the truth and the whole
truth," as far as it can be ascertained, in regard to
the policy of some of the principal nations of the
earth, and to its results, as seen in the rate of wages,
or reivard of labour. As introductory thereto, it is
proposed to examine what are the circumstances
which tend to determine the rate of wages. Both
of these subjects have been treated by Professor Se-
nior in his lectures delivered before the University of
Oxford,* and as he is among the latest and highest
authorities, I propose, in order that the reader may
compare our views, and judge between us, to give
mine in the form of a review of the doctrines enun-
ciated in those lectures.
* Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages ; delivered before the
University of Oxford Easter Term, 1830. By Nassau William
Senior. Second edition : London: 1831.
Lecture on the Cost of obtaining Money ; delivered before th
University of Oxford, in Easter Term, 1839, by Nassau W. Senior.
1830.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER I.
" Most men, in all ages, have sat down to the Gos-
pel with a set of prejudices, which, like so many in-
quisitors, have laid the Christian religion on a bed
like that of Procrustes : and as it suited them, either
mutilated it by violence, or extended it by force."
So said the learned and excellent Alexander Knox,
in a letter to Bishop Jebb, and so may be said of
most writers on Political Economy. Almost all ap-
proach the subject with " a set of prejudices," and
instead of patiently collecting facts, and constructing
theories therefrom, the theory is first constructed
the bed of Procrustes is made and then as many
facts are taken as tend to support it, omitting all no-
tice of those which have a contrary tendency. Had
this not been the case, it would not, in our day, be in
the power of a distinguished professor to characterize
the doctrine of wages as " the most difficult, as well
as the most important branch of political economy."*
Adam Smith asserted that the rate of wages was
regulated by the proportion which the supply of
labour bore to the demand ; a theory which has been
controverted by writers of our time, on the ground
that in no case where an article can be freely pro-
duced can any permanent influence upon price be
* Lectures on Wages, p. 3.
8 ESSAY OH THB RATE OF WAGES.
produced by excess of demand, and that any rise
must cause increased production that will sink the
price again to the cost. That this argument is gene-
rally correct, there can be no doubt, but in order to
make it fit man, it has been necessary to distort some
facts, and overlook others, which are in direct oppo-
sition to it. Had subsequent writers followed the
author of the Wealth of Nations, confining themselves
to an examination of the various disturbing causes,
the work of man, that operate among the several
nations of the earth to produce the inequalities that
exist in the proportion between the supply and de-
mand, the " difficulty" would have been obviated.
There can be no difference of opinion as to the
" importance" of this subject, and its peculiar im-
portance at this time, when there is so strong a ten-
dency to the transfer of the reins of government
from the hands of the few to those of the many.
With the single exception of the United States, the
privilege of making laws has heretofore been con-
fined to certain classes, who, blinded by false views
of their own interest, have generally acted as if
government had been established for their peculiar
benefit, and hence have arisen corn laws and mo^o-
polies of all kinds ; restrictions on importations and
exportations ; wars, and their attendant, heavy tax-
ation. It is not to be doubted, that many of those
who promoted this system, have honestly believed
that it was for the benefit of the nation over which
they were placed ; and that, with better information,
they would have adopted a widely different course.
They might, and probably would, have discovered,
ESSAY OH THE RATE OF WAGES. 9
that " laissez nous faire" the reply of the French
merchants to Colbert, was sound and judicious; and
that all that could be desired by any people of their
government, was to let them alone, and confine its
attention to the security of person and property; not
allowing any man to " kick the shins ..-or' pick the
pocket" of his neighbour with impunity. Had they
done so, the governments of Europe would be deem-
ed blessings, instead of curses, as is now too fre-
quently the case. It remains to be seen, whether in
those in which the people have attained a higher de-
gree of influence than they ha ve heretofore possessed,
they will do better than has been done for them in
times past by their hereditary ] awgivers; and whether
or not it will be so, depends upon a correct under-
standing of their own interest- . If they can be made
to see, that the course heretofore pursued has had a
tendency to depress the rate of wages, and to keep the
mass of the people in a stn*- of poverty, it may be
hoped that there will be a disposition to make trial of
a different one, and ascertain its effects. If it can be
shown that restrictions and monopolies wars, and
heavy taxation low wages, poverty, and wretched-
ness go hand in hand ; while free trade freedom
of action peace moderate taxation high wages,
and abundance, are all associated, there can be little
doubt which will be their choice.
Heretofore, a large portion of the people of Great
Britain have believed that a state of war was that in
which the nation was most prosperous; and they have
been content to barter the advantages of peace for
the glories of Blenheim or Ramilies, Vittoria or
A2
10 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
Waterloo. Intoxicated with glory, and deafened by
shouts of victory, and the roar of cannon celebrating
their triumphs, they have squandered hundreds of
millions seeking that prosperity which stood at their
doors waiting the return of reason. Like the drunk-
ard, feeling after every such debauch (he injurious
effects of excitement, they have beert disposed to
attribute those effects to the absence of stimulus, and
not to the stimulus itself. Thus at each return of
peace, the nation has found itself burthened with in-
Creased debt, requiring increased taxes, tending to
lessen the enjoyments of the people; but those incon-
veniences have been attributed not to the war, but to
the peace. The necessary consequence of this has
been a proneness to embrace the first opportunity of
recommencing hostilities, and causes the most insig-
nificant the taking of Oczakow the seizure of the
Falkland Islands or the denial of the right to cut
logwood in the Bay of Honduras have been suffi-
cient to set the nation in a flame. When, at length,
the French Revolution occurred, it was gladly seized"
upon as affording an opportunity to interfere in the
affairs of the continent, in accordance with the sys-
tem that has prevailed since the accession of the
House of Orange, and the war then commenced was
persevered in, until its close found the nation in a
state of prostration, and the people by whom it was
most desired, reduced to the alms-house.
M Ships, colonies, and commerce," was the cry of
Napoleon, echoed by the British ministry, and gladly
re-echoed by the people, always accustomed to asso-
ciate the idea of prosperity with that of extended do-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 11
minion. During the whole of the last century, this
erroneous association led the nation to do that which
each member of it would have deemed madness in
an individual, became it was supposed that the rules
which should govern the actions of individuals, could
not be applied to those of nations. Had they seen a
man wasting his means and incurring heavy debts in
the prosecution of hazardous enterprises, the benefit
of which was doubtful, even should they succeed to
the full extent of his anticipations, while his farm was
untilled, or his business neglected ; they would have
said that he must become bankrupt, and his credit
would have been destroyed. Yet the people who
would argue thus in regard to an individual, ne-
glected the means of prosperity within their grasp,
seeking to increase their store at the expense of their
neighbours ; and the addition of a new colony, al-
though, like Gibraltar, Malta, or St. Helena, produc-
tive only of cost, was deemed sufficient to entitle the
minister to the gratitude of the nation. Every acqui-
sition was accompanied by an increase of debt and
consequent increase of taxation, tending to prevent
the proper cultivation of the farm at home, until at
length it was found necessary to apply the same sys-
tem to this country, the attempt at which lost her
these immense possessions, and added greatly to her
embarrassments. Had she been content prior to the
war of 1756 to cultivate her own resources, she
would never have experienced the want which led
to that attempt. It is true she might not have added
Canada to her already extended dominion, but she
might have retained these provinces, perhaps even
J2 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
to the present time , or, when they had become too
strong to be longer held as colonies, the separation
might, and probably would, have been a peaceable
one, each party governing itself, but remaining one
for all purposes of commerce. The battle of Plassy
substituted dominion in the east for that which she
lost in the west, but what has it added to her pros-
perity ? Nothing ! It has enabled many men to bring
home large fortunes, acquired at the cost of the
cries, and groans, and curses, of the unfortunate
Hindoos, plundered by order of a Clive or a Hast-
ings ; but to the substantial comforts of the mass of
the people, it has added nothing in any shape, while
it has withdrawn from them immense sums for the
support of an odious and oppressive monopoly. Sub-
sequently, the wars of the French revolution made
large additions to the possessions of the nation, on
the one hand, and corresponding additions to its
embarrassments, on the other : increasing the care
and anxiety of the governors, and preventing that
improvement in the condition of the governed that
would otherwise have taken place.
Had the laws which govern the rate of wages, and
the effect of the various disturbing causes which pre-
vent the action of those laws, been properly under-
stood, wars could never have been popular. Mr.
M'Culloch says, with great truth, that " the labour-
ers are masters of their own fortunes, and that there
is little reason to hope for any great improvement
until they shall be made to understand correctly the
laws which govern the rate of wages, and the fact
that it rests with them to determine what that rate
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 13
shall be." Had they understood them, they would
have seen that a state of peace was that in which
they must prosper most, and would have been indis-
posed to join in a pursuit that might bring them
" glory," but that would inevitably deprive them of
a part of their bread and meat. Had they been un-
derstood by those who are in " high places," and
upon whom rested the cares of government, they
would have seen that the prosperity and happiness
of the people, in which would consist their own true
glory, were not to be promoted by empty triumphs,
nor by the addition of barren islands to their already
extensive possessions. They would have seen that
peace alone could do it, and had they done so, they
might perhaps have retained the same intimate con-
nexion with this country that once existed, with an
intercourse unfettered by corn laws on the one side,
or the system of minimums on the other; and the
people of Great Britain, instead of groaning under
the pressure of taxation, for the support of the govern-
ment, the land owners, paupers, and monopolists,
might now be the happiest and freest from taxation
of any nation in the world. It is, indeed, impossible
to imagine the height of prosperity which she might
have attained, had she kept aloof from the intrigues
and contentions of the Continent during the last cen-
tury, as she might well have done; and had the
thousands of millions expended in paying men for
carrying muskets, been left in the hands of their own-
ers to be applied as they might judge most likely to
conduce to their comfort and advantage. Unfortu-
nately, however, the triumphs of peace are little
14 ESSAY O1T THE RATE OF WAGES.
valued, and Sir Robert Walpole, who could maintain
a peace for twenty years, is little thought of when
compared with the elder Pitt, whose first wish was
for extended territory, and who is best known for
carrying the nation triumphantly through a war; and
the names of Alexander and of Caesar are familiar
to thousands who never heard of Antoninus, or of
Marcus Aurelius.*
Had this subject been properly understood, we
should long since have seen the end of protective
tariffs; but as nothing can be more evident to the un-
enlightened than the advantage to be derived from
making their neighbours pay them high prices, so
nothing is more easy than to excite popular feeling
in favour of a system of protection; and the same
man who would deem absurd such a system in his
own family, would advocate its adoption by the large
family, termed a nation; as if those principles of trade
which were true with regard to ten or twenty per"
sons, could be untrue when applied to twenty thou-
sand or two hundred thousand. It is a disgrace to
our age to see two such nations as those of Great
Britain and France each hedging round its commerce
by restrictions that limit their exchanges to a million
or two of pounds per annum; thus doing all in their
power to frustrate the beneficent designs of the Deity,
who, in giving to different parts of the earth different
powers of production, paved the way for that inter-
* During the long peace maintained by Cardinal Fleury, France
recovered a little; the insignificant administration of this weak
minister proving that the ruler of a nation may achieve much good
by abstaining from the communion of evil. Soy, p. ZZZT.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 15
course which is most beneficial to mankind. " Com-
merce," says Mr. ftfCulloch, " is the grand engine
by which the blessings of civilization are diffused,
and the treasures of knowledge and of science con-
veyed to the remotest corner of the habitable globe;
while by making the inhabitants of each country de-
pendent on the assistance of those of others, for a
large share of their comforts and enjoyments, it forms
a principle of union, and binds together the universal
society of nations by the common and peaceful ties
of mutual interest and reciprocal obligation."
In another point of view, it is highly desirable
that it should be understood. Wages and profits
have been represented by many political economists
as natural antagonists, the Ormuzd and Ahriman
of political economy, one of which could rise only
at the expense of the other. Such has been the be-
lief of the great mass of the people who receive
wages, which belief has given rise to trades' unions,
so numerous in England, and obtaining in the United
States; as well as to the cry of the poor against the
rich. A large portion of those who pay, as well as
those who receive wages, believe that the rate is alto-
gether arbitrary, and that changes may be made at
will. To this belief we are indebted for the nume-
rous " strikes," or " turns out" we have seen, the only
effect of which has been loss to both employers
and workmen.* Had the journeymen tailors of Lon-
* From a pamphlet recently published by Mr. Pratt, in relation
to Savings Banks, it is found, " that the few counties which exhibit
a falling off in the amount of their deposits are precisely those in
which trades'- unions and turns-out have prevailed to the greatest ex-
16 ESSAY Olf THE RATE OF WAGES.
don understood the laws by which the distribution of
the proceeds between the workman and the capitalist
is regulated, they would have saved themselves and
their employers the enormous loss that has arisen out
of their recent combination, and would have retained
their situations instead of seeing themselves pushe^
from their stools by the influx of Germans, who seized
gladly upon the places vacated by their English fel-
low workmen. Believing, as they do, that their wages
are depressed for the benefit of their employers, they
believe also that those employers are bound to give
them a portion of their profits in the advance of
wages, when, in fact, the employers are also suffer-
ers by the same causes which produce the depression,
and are unable to advance 4hem, however willing
they may be. If the real causes of the depression
were understood, instead of combining against their
employers, they would unite with them to free their
country from those restrictions and interferences
which produce the effect of which they complain, and
would thus secure permanent advantage, instead of
a temporary advance of wages, which is all that can
be hoped for from combination, even if successful,
which is rarely the case. Fortunately, in the United
States there have been fewer interferences, and there
tent Among parts of the country where unions appear to have
flourished at the expense of the savings banks, we may enumerate
Derbyshire and Durham, in the latter of which there has been a de-
crease of 917 out of 3651 accounts. As might naturally be supposed,
the waste of capital has occurred principally among the smaller and
poor depositors; the diminution in the number of accounts under
50, being 719, and the decrease in /nuns below 100, amounting
to 830 of the entire 917."
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 17
is therefore less to alter, than in any other country;
and if the workmen and labourers could be made to
understand the subject, they would see that the divi-
sion between themselves and the capitalist, or the
rate of wages, is regulated by a law immutable as are
those which govern the motion of the Heavenly bo-
dies; that attempts at legislative interference can pro-
duce only disadvantageous effects; and, that the only
mode of increasing wages is by rendering labour more
productive, which can only be accomplished by allow-
ing every man to employ his capital and talent in the
way which he deems most advantageous to himself.
They would see that all attempts on the part of the
capitalist, to reduce wages below the natural rate,
as well as all on their part to raise it above that rate,
must fail, as any such reduction must be attended with
an unusual rate of profit to the employer, which must,
in its turn, beget competition among the possessors of
capital, and raise the rate of wages ; while such ele-
vation in any employment must reduce the rate of
profit so far as to drive capital therefrom, and reduce
wages again to the proper standard.
They should see in the fact that the great majority
of the master workmen have risen by their own ex-
ertions to the situations they at present occupy, abun-
dant evidence that nothing is wanting to them but
industry and economy. They should desire nothing
but freedom of action for themselves, and that secu-
rity both of person and property which prompts the
capitalist to investment; and so far should they be
from entertaining feelings of jealousy towards those
who, by industry and economy, succeed in making
B
18 ESS4T Off THE RATE 0V WAGES.
themselves independent, that they should see with
pleasure th<- increase of capital, certain that such in-
crease must produce new demands for their labour,
accompanied by increased comfort and enjoyment
for them. With such a system the population of this
country might increase still more rapidly than it has
done; the influx of people from abroad might be triple
or quadruple what it has been, and each successive
year find the comforts of the labouring population in
a regular course of increase, as the same causes which
drive the labourers of Europe here, to seek that em-
ployment and support denied them at home, impel
the capitalist to seek here a market for his capital, at
the higher rate of interest which our system enables
us to pay him with profit to ourselves. The great
influx of foreign labour at the present time has caus-
ed some uneasiness, but without good reason. The
capitalist should bear in mind that if the supply
of labour did not keep pace with the growth of
capital, the profits of the latter would be diminish-
ed; and the labouring classes should recollect that if
the labourers remained at home the capital would
probably remain with them, and that, at all events,
every man ivho, by his arrival in this country, increases
the number of producers, and of competitors for em-
ployment, also increases the number of consumers or
employers. Such people consume nearly, if not quite,
the whole amount of their wages, and are therefore
employers to nearly the same extent that they are
competitors. This remark applies with equal force
to the opposite side of the Atlantic, from which vast
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 19
numbers of consumers are sent off in the hope of
lessening the number of producers.
Had these laws been understood by the opposers of
the tariff at the south, Mr. M'Duffie and his friends
would not have asserted that " the tariff system had
raised the price of labour, in the free states, to fifty
cents per day, while it had forced it down in the
planting states to twelve and a half cents per day."
Had they endeavoured to prove to the people of the
north, that all were equal sufferers by the system, they
might have been listened to much more readily, al-
though, by such an argument, they would not have
produced so much effect upon the people of the south-
ern states. It was, probably, this erroneous idea that
produced the lamentably inconsistent course of the
most active friends of free trade in promoting the
passage of the gold bill, for the purpose of granting
a bounty upon a southern product. It may be hoped
that the result of this departure from principle will
prevent any such conduct in future. The friends of
free trade should never forget the admirable advice
of Burke: " We ought to be bottomed enough in prin-
ple, not to be carried away upon the first prospect
of any sinister advantage. For depend upon it, that
if we once give way to a sinister dealing, we shall
teach others the same, and we shall be overcome
and overborne."
In opposition to the doctrine of Adam Smith, that
" demand and supply govern the rate of labour, and
that where capital increased most rapidly the in-
creased demand for labour would lower the rate of
profits, by which the labourer would be benefited,'*
20 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGEfc.
Mr. M'Culloch says, that no competition among ca-
pitalists can lessen the rate of profit, except tempora-
rily, because, the rate of wages can never exceed the
necessary rate, [or, according to M. Say, " the limit of
strict necessity"] which is that which will enable the
labourer to purchase food and clothing; and that if
they should chance at any time to exceed it, there
would be an increase of population sufficient to re-
duce them again. He says, " the cost of production
will always regulate price, and if price go beyond
cost, the production will be increased." At the same
time he tells us that the food and clothing of a la-
bourer are now vastly greater than they were three
centuries since; that is, that the cost of a labourer is
now greater than it was. We know that there has
been a steady increase in the comforts of the labour-
ing classes for centuries ; that it is still going on, and
that their increased price has not increased production
sufficiently to check the advance, nor does it appear
likely so to do. In every tolerably well governed
state there has been a steady increase of price and
augmentation of comfort, causing increased produc-
tion, and yet that increase of production is attended
with an equally steady improvement of condition.
Following out the doctrine that the labourer re-
ceives only necessary wages, and that, in the event
of any circumstance causing a fall below that rate,
there will be a reduction in the supply of labour,
which will cause wages to advance, Mr. M'Culloch
asserts, that all taxes on wages, or upon articles used
by the labourer, must be paid out of profits, and that
as wages must rise with any increase of taxation)
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 21
profits must fall. If this be correct, it is of little im-
portance to the labourer what is the extent of taxa-
tion. Receiving only necessary wages, i. e. sufficient
to support life, they cannot be reduced; and all taxes
being paid by his employer, what interest can he have
in the good government of the nation? The experience
of England has shown, however, that such taxation
is not accompanied by a fall of profits, as within the
last century, in which taxation has been so much
increased, the rate of interest has advanced, and is
now considerably higher than it was in the early part
of the 18th century. During the reign of George
I., interest frequently did not exceed 3 per cent. In
1731-2, the bank furnished money to the govern-
ment at 3 per cent. In June 1739, the 3 per cents,
were as high as 107. In 1743, a period of war, they
were at 97. In 1744, a loan was contracted at 4J.
After the close of the war in 1749, the interest on the
public debt was reduced to 3 per cent, after 1757,
with a condition, that the creditors should receive 4
per cent, for cne year, and 31 per cent, thereafter
until 1757. In 1757, after the nation had been two
years engaged in an expensive war, the rate was very
little more than 3 per cent. Since 1815, the 3 per
cents, have fluctuated from 56| to 93| per cent.
From a statement furnished to Parliament by the
Bank of England, of the half yearly prices of stocks,
it appears that from August 1815 to February 1832,
a period of 17 years, the prices were
Once between 50 and 60 per cent
5 times " 60 and 70 per cent.
12 times " 70 and 80 per cent*
B2
22 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
1 1 times between 80 and 90 per cent
5 times " 90 and 93 J. per cent.
From August 1825 to February 1832, the highest
price was 91 J, and the lowest 76, and the average
of the fourteen half yearly returns 86. In France,
prior to the war of 1756, East India stock command-
ed so high a price as to yield little over 4 per cent,
interest In Hindostan, where taxation is high, it
produces no increase of wages, while the modera-
tion of it, in the United States, does not depress them.
Mr. M'Culloch says, that the great object of go-
vernment should be to secure to its people high pro-
fits, which would enable them to increase their
capital most rapidly; but according to his doctrine,
and that of M. Say, who styles them " conflicting
interests," high profits must be accompanied by low
wages. It is difficult to determine precisely what is
meant, when he speaks of wages, and what by pro-
fits, and, after a careful perusal of what he has written
upon this subject, I am uncertain whether he con-
siders the man who cultivates a dozen acres of flax
as receiving profits, or if he would confine that term
to the capitalist who makes it into linen.
The great mass of the agriculturists of this country
are small capitalists, as are those of France, Italy,
and Germany, paying rent, and finding their own
implements. The ^hocmaker, the tailor, the engraver,
and the enj^ir.'^r. have a capital in that quantity of
previous labour, which enables them to obtain higher
wages than a common labourer. There are daily
examples of the fact, that skill in any department of
business is deemed equivalent to capital, in the part-
ESSAY OH THE RATE OF WAGES- 23
nerships that are formed, where one party furnishes
the moneyed capital, and the other the ski'! to manage
it A large portion of the classes mentioned obtain,
in their double capacity of labourer and capitalist,
moderate wages, as I would term their compensation;
but I do not know whether Mr. M'Culloch would
consider them as living on wages or profits.
The moneyed capitalist of India receives enormous
profits, while the smaller capitalist, who cultivates a
few acres, has barely sufficient to support a miserable
existence. There, capital does not increase. In
England, Holland, and the United States, capital is
furnished at a much lower rate of interest, by the
large capitalists, but the smaller one, such as we have
mentioned above, who, perhaps earns only tolerable
wages, is much better paid, and there capital does
increase, as is evidenced by a rapid increase of po-
pulation, accompanied by improved means of living.
It would be necessary, in order to make the theory
of Mr. M'Culloch correct, to consider all those great
classes of which we have spoken, capitalists, living
by profits ; but, if so, the class living by wages is a
comparatively small one. I should be disposed to
consider them as living by wages, and to say that,
where wages are highest, there capital increases most
rapidly. The most rapid increase of capital is in the
United States and Great Britain, where wages are
highest. This is entirely in opposition to the doctrines
of Messrs. Say, Malthus, Ricardo, and M'Culloch,
as, if wages did not exceed " the limit of strict ne-
cessity," there could be no accumulation from that
source, and as, according to them, where wages are
24 ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
high profits must be low, there could be little expec-
tation from them.
Mr. M'Culloch asserts, that real wages, (by which
he means proportional wages,) have fallen in Great
Britain within the last fifty years, while the tables
in his own Commercial Dictionary show that real
wages, or the quantity and quality of commodities
attainable by the labourer, have steadily increased.
That increase has been small in food, because of the
corn laws, but it has been very great in almost all
other articles of consumption.* No better evidence
need be desired of the improvement that has taken
place in the situation of the labouring classes gene-
rally, than the fact that the Savings Banks of Eng-
land have a capital exceeding fifteen millions,! an d
those of France,* instituted more recently, a capital
* The Edinburgh Review, Vol. 56, in a Review of Dr. Chalmers's
Political Economy, furnishes extracts from various works on the
situation of Scotland, about the middle of the last century, showing
that the people were in the lowest state of wretchedness, and "often
felt what it was to want food." Now they are universally well fed
and well clothed, their cottages are comfortable ; and they are all in
the enjoyment of luxuries that formerly were never tasted, even by
lich proprietors.
t Upwards of 20,000 of the depositors were agricultural labourers,
who, there is reason to believe, were generally heads of families.
Report Poor Law Commissioners, p. 229.
t " M. Peurhet, the ablest of French statistical writers, says,
Us ae mangent aujourd'hui plus de pain, plus de viande en France
qu'autrefois. L'hommc des campagncs qui ne connoissoit qu'une
nourriture grossiere, une boisson pcu saine, a aujourd'hui de la
viande, du pain, du ble, du vin, du bon cidrc, ou de la biere. Lea
denrees coloniales sc sont repandues aussi dans les campagnes de-
puis I'augmentation de la richcsse des cultivatcurs.' If we turn to
ESSAT ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 25
of four millions, of pounds sterling, the accumulation
of those classes. It is a very general impression,
that the condition of the labouring classes of Eng-
land had deteriorated since the close of the war, but
the Agricultural Committee of the House of Com-
mons, of which Mr. Jacob was chairman, state in
their report of August 2d, 1833, that, " It appears,
that in all parts of the country in the most distressed
as well as the most prosperous the condition of the
labourer is in no instance worse than it was five or
ten years ago, and that in most cases their condition
is greatly improved. The wages of labourers, the
witnesses state, have not been reduced in proportion
to the reduction in the price of the necessaries of
life, and in many parts of the country no reduction,
whatever has taken place in their money wages since
the war. This state of things is the more extraordi-
nary, as the superabundance of labour is represented
to be greater than ever, and the number who are out
of employ, and who are provided for by the poor's
rate, is very considerably increased." The improve-
ment in the situation of the people of England would
be immense, had she not wasted her energies in the
prosecution of wars of the most expensive and ruin-
ous character, the natural consequence of which has
been,enormous taxation, which absorbs a large por-
tion of her increased production. Her corn laws,
Russia, Prussia, and Germany, the change for the better is even
more striking than in France ; and while the numbers of the people
are increasing, their comforts and enjoyments are increasing stifl
more rapidly." d. Rev, Vol. 56, p. 65,
26 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
too, the object of which is to raise the price of that
most important article of consumption, prevent the
improvement that might, even under the pressure df
her great taxation, take place. In the United States,
where taxation is small, and trade comparatively
free, a much more fair comparison may be made,
and it is the only country in whi<;h it. can be done
with any tiling like an approach to correctness. The
reward of the labourer is vastly greater at this time,
when there are fifteen millions of peoplp, than ft was
forty years since, when there were Only four millions;
and although the increased pri^e has produced ia*
creased production, as well as large- Importations of
labour, there has been a constant augmentation oT
the means of living. Agricultural labour has not
varied materially in these forty yeajs in its money
price, but the variation that has taken, place has been
in its favour, the wages of jnen having been very
steadily about nine dollars per month and their board,
but higher wages are now not very unusual. The
wages of house servants and of female* have greatly
advanced, being nearly double what thfcy were forty
years since. The expenditure of all these- classes being
confined almost altogether to the purchase of clothing,
in which there has been a prodigious reduction o(
price, it follows that the increase of comforts tvithin
their reach must have been very great. From the
year 1783 to 1790, the wages of carpenters and brick-
layers were from 624 to 75 6ents per day: at pretent
the wages of carpenters are from fl 'l2i to $1 2S>
And of bricklayers from $ 1 37 to $ 1 50 per day.
During thct time the price of wheat has experienced
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
27
great variations, but the average of ten years from
1784 to 1793 inclusive, and 1824 to 1833 also inclu-
sive, both periods of peace, is rather lower in the
latter period than in the former. The following list
of prices is made on an average of January, July,
and December of each year.
1784,
1785,
1786,
1787,
1788,
1789,
1790,
1791,
1792,
1793,
1824,
1825,
1826,
1827,
1828,
1829,
1830,
1831,
1832,
1833.
From this it will be seen that the quantity of wheat
that can be obtained by the mason and carpenter is
now double what could be obtained fifty years since.
In manufactured articles, the increase is vastly
greater. A change to the same extent would have
taken place in England, but for restrictions and heavy
taxation ; yet Mr. M*Culloch insists, not only that
wages have fallen, but that they must fall. Mr. Senior
$6 26")
5 82
5 56
5 56
4 89
5 07
5 91
general
^-average,
$5 57
5 42
4 97
6 26^
5 00^
4 84
4 92
5 17
5 67
6 25
4 91
general
>-average,
$5 32
5 41
5 67
5 34,
28 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
says, very justly, in regard to this theory, " Since the
publication of Mr. Ricardo's work, it has been re-
ceived as an axiom among the dabblers in Political
Economy, that according to the established doctrines
of the science, high wages and high profits are incom-
patible, and therefore that either the leading doctrines
of political economy are false, or the interest of the
labourer and capitalist are directly opposed to each
other. The former opinion has been embraced by
the large class, who do not attend to what they read,
and the latter by the still larger class, who do not
attend to what they see."*
* Lectures on Wages, p. 4.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 29
CHAPTER IL
THE proposition with which Mr. Senior com-
mences his Lectures on Wages, and which it is the
object of them to establish, is one that is entitled to
unqualified assent It is that " the rate of wages (i. e.
the quantity and quality of commodities obtainable
by the labourer and his family) depends on the extent
of the fund for the maintenance of labourers, com-
pared with the number of labourers to be maintained."
Of this proposition, he says> " it is so nearly self-evi-
dent, that it may appear scarcely to deserve a formal
statement, still less to be dwelt on as if it were a dis-
covery. It is true that it is obvious and trite, but per-
haps on that very account its obvious consequences
have been neglected."
Self-evident as it appears, it may not be amiss to
pause for a moment to illustrate it. It will be evident,
that if any given community now producing 100,000
bushels of wheat, shall increase the quantity to
120,000, without an increase of number, the quantity
for each, an equal division being made, will be in-
creased one-fifth. It will be equally evident, that if
at the end of a certain period, they shall, by any im-
provement hi cultivation, have doubled their product,
while their numbers have only increased fifty per
cent, the share of each will be increased one-third
As, however, the arrangements which take place
30 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
in society are often of a much more complicated
character, and render it necessary to make a division
between the farmer who owns, and the labourer who
tills the soil, it will be proper to examine how that
is regulated, and what determines the extent of the
fund for the support of the labourer. In a prosperous
community like that above mentioned, there is a con-
stant increase of capital, and as every owner desires
to receive compensation for the use of his portion,
each will seek some mode of employing it. One will
purchase new lands, while another will turn his atten-
tion to the further improvement of those he already
possesses, and both will require additional labour, the
former desiring to rent his lands to some one who
will pay him rent, and the latter wishing to pay wages
to some one to work for him. Both parties will be
in the labour market as competitors for the new popu-
lation, who will have thus the opportunity of becoming
either farmers or labourers, and unless those who
want them in the latter capacity will give a fair share
of the proceeds of their labour, they will prefer the
former. Such is exactly the case in the United States,
and it is as much so in the mechanic arts as in agri-
culture.
If capital increased much more rapidly than po-
pulation, labour would rise, and the share of the ca-
pitalist would fall. If it fell below the rate obtainable
elsewhere, so much would be sent abroad as would
bring it again to a level. If no such means could be
found of investing it, the share of the capitalist would
continue to fall until some means should be found to
supply the place of the labourer, or of rendering his
ESSAT OV THE RATE OF WAGES. 31
labour more productive. Such we have seen to be
the case in England, where interest had fallen in the
early part of the last century, considerably below
its present rate, and might still have remained so,
had not the spinning-jenny and the steam engine
substituted capital for labour, and by increasing the
produce of labour, had the same effect as multiplying
the labourers. Since those changes capital has in-
creased most rapidly, but with it there have been new
improvements of a similar kind, as the power loom,
the steam-vessel, the rail-road, and the locomotive
engine, by which it has been made productive, in-
creasing the demand for, and consequent price of,
capital, and at the same time reducing the cost of all
articles of consumption to the labourer, by which the
same effect has been produced as if his money wages
had been increased, and the prices of commodities
had remained stationary. Had these improvements
not taken place, the rate of interest would now be
low, but although the proportion of product assigned
to the labourer would be greater, the amount would
be by no means so great, on account of the unpro-
ductiveness of capital. It has been already shown
that although the money price of agricultural labour
has not changed materially in this country within
forty years, the share of the labourer of all the ar-
ticles of consumption has greatly increased, and the
general fund of commodities assigned for the support
of the whole body of labourers must have increased
in the same ratio, all of which has arisen out of the
fact that with the aid of capital human labour has
been rendered so very productive.
32 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
The more advantageously the capital and labour
of a country are applied, the greater must be the
amount of production, and the more rapid must be
the increase of capital. If it advance more rapidly
than population, the demand for labour will always
be such as to secure to the labourer nearly as large a
share of the proceeds of it as if he worked on his own
account; because, if he could obtain more by doing so,
he would not fail to embrace the first opportunity. The
division of produce is therefore regulated by the supply
of labour in the market; and the quantity and quality
of commodities assigned to the use of the whole body
of labourers, will depend upon the relation which
exists between the demand and the supply.
Mr. Senior cautions his readers that there are vari-
ous " popular errors** with which he deems this doc-
trine to be inconsistent, and which are
" Firtt. Itis inconsistent with the doctrine, that the rate of wages
depends on -the proportion which the number of labourers bears to
the amount of capital in a country. The word capital has been
used in so many senses, that it is difficult to state this doctrine pre-
cisely; but I know of no definition of that term which will not in.
elude many things that are not used by the labouring classes; and
if my proposition be correct, no increase or diminution of these things
can directly affect wages. If a foreign merchant were to come to
settle in this country, and bring with him a cargo of raw and manu-
factured silk, lace, and diamonds, that cargo would increase the
capital of the country; silks, lace, and diamonds, would become more
abundant, and the enjoyments of those who use them would be in-
creased; but the enjoyments. of the labourers would not be directly
increased : indirectly, and consequentially, they might be increased*
The silk might be re-exported in a manufactured state* and comma*
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 33
ditics for the use of labourers imported in return; and then, and not
till then, wages would rise; but that rise would be occasioned, not
by the first addition to the capital of the country, which was made
in the form of silk, but by the substituted addition made in the form
of commodities used by the labourer."
In another place the investment in diamonds is
given as a reason why wages are not in the propor-
tion of revenue to population. Such doctrines, as
well as that advanced in regard to absenteeism,
which will be considered hereafter, and that of M.
Say in regard to capital employed in foreign trade,
have a tendency to give a character of empiricism
to the science, and it is to be regretted that teachers
whose doctrines are so generally correct, should sanc-
tion with their names others so erroneous.
If a land-holder employ a hundred labourers in pro-
ducing corn, and ten in working a diamond mine, of
what importance is it to the labourer whether his em-
ployer retain his profit in diamonds or corn? Or if
the whole be employed in producing corn, and he ex-
port part of the produce, and receive diamonds in
exchange, how can it affect the wages of the labour-
er? Suppose, instead of giving his corn for diamonds,
he were to give it in exchange for a library, would
the situation of the labourer be benefited? Or, sup-
pose he employed only one hundred of them in agri-
culture, and ten in building himself a new house,
would they benefit by this mode of investment? The
extent of the fund assigned to the whole body of la-
bourers, must depend upon the amount of production,
and the proportion which exists between the supply
of labour, and the demand for it, and it is totally un-
important to them whether that production be in the
c2
34 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES*
form of corn and potatoes, or diamonds and gold,
and whether the landlord retain his share in the first
or the last It is entirely unimportant whether he re-
tain his diamonds, or invest the proceeds of them in
enlarging his house. In the former case he would
gratify his love of display, while in the latter his sole
object might be to increase the comfort of his family.
In all nations, and in all stages of society, a portion
of revenue will be applied to the increase of conveni-
ence or ornament The Indian and the slave have
as much love of display as is found in Grosvenor
Square* or the Chaussee (TJlntin. The cottager will
give a portion of his time or his money towards or-
namenting or extending his cottage, or, grown richer,
will replace it by a new house, of brick or stone ; the
mechanic will purchase carpets and mirrors; the mer-
chant his carriage, and his lady her diamonds; every
man will have his watoh, and those who have been
accustomed to have them of silver, will replace them
by others of gold, and in all these cases the object may
be the same ; yet Mr. Senior would hardly be disposed
to say that the price of labour was not in proportion
to capital, because a part of the increase was ap-
propriated to replacing wooden houses by others of
brick or stonft!
There is no objection arising out of the investment
of a portion of the capital or revenue of a nation in
diamonds, that does not lie equally against its employ-
ment in the construction of houses of four stories,
where those of two would as well answer the purpose
of their occupants, or against the formation of libra-
ries or museums, or the use of mahogany for furniture
ESSAY OR THE RATE OF WAGES. 35
to place of cedar or pine; or, jn fact, against evqry
species of expenditure above that of the log-house, and
the blanket necessary for preservation against the in-
clemency of winter.
The chief, if not the only* cause of error that would
exist in estimating wages to be in the ratio of capital
.to population, is that which arises out of government-
al interferences; and if two countries equally free
from them, but differing in capital, could be found,
wages would be found to differ in the same ratio. In
England, the nominal rate of wages, when the la-
bourer subsists himself, does not differ very material-
ly from that of the United States; but after the divi-
sion between him and the capitalist has taken place,
a large amount is withdrawn for me service of the
state, another for the support of the land owner, a
third for that of the East India Company, and a fourth
for that of the West India planters in their competi-
tion with the growers of sugar in the East Indies, all
of which tend greatly to red\ic the quantity of com-
modities that falls to his share, and it follows that the
general fund for the support of the labourer* is very
much reduced. In the United States, where the ratio
of capital, land included, to population, is, perhaps,
smaller than in England, th " fund" is much larger;
because, after the division has taken place, a compa-
ratively small portion is claimed for state and other
purposes, and the labourer has of course, a larger
sum to invest in the purchase of commodities.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER III.
THE second error to which Mr. Senior deems his
doctrine to be opposed, is, " that wages depend on
the proportion borne by the number of labourers to
the revenue of the society of which they are mem-
bert:" his reasoning in regard to which is as follows:
" Secondly. It is inconsistent with the doctrine, that wages de-
pend on the proportion borne by the number of labourers to the re-
Venue of the. society of which they are members. In the example
last suggested of the introduction of u new supply of laces or dia-
monds, the revenues of those who use lace or diamonds woidd be in-
creased; but as wages are not spent on those articles, they would
remain unaltered. It is possible, indeed, to state cases in which the
revenue of a large portion of a community might be increased, and
yet the wages of the labourers might fall, without an increase of their
numbers. I will suppose the principal trade of Ireland to be the
raising produce for thA English market; and that for every two hun-
dred acre% ten families were employed in raising, on half tfce land,
their own subsistence, and on the remainder corn and other export-
able crops requiring equal labour. Under such circumstances, if a
demand should arise in the English market for Cattle, butchere'-
meat, and wool, instead of corn, it would be the interest of the Irish
landlords and farmers, to convert their estates from arable into pas-
ture. Instead often families for every two hundred acres, two might
be sufficient: one to raise the subsistence of the two, and the other
to tend the cattle and sheep. The revenue of the landlords and the
farmers would be increased, but a large portion of the labourers
would be thrown out of employment; a large portion of the laud
formerly employed in producing commodities for their use would
be devoted to the production of commodities for the use of England;
and the fund for the maintenance of Irish labour would fall, notwith-
standing the increase of the revenue of the landlords and farmers."
ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES. 87
Having already, (p. 33,) considered the objection
arising out of the investment of a portion of the reve-
nue of a nation in diamonds, I shall here notice oidy
the case of the Irish labourers, which is entirely in
opposition to his own views, expressed in relation to
machinery. He sa^s no improvement in that can de-
press the general rate of wages, and as the land is
only a machine,- it follows, that if the owner can find
a mode cf using it, that will render it doubly produc-
tive, he is in the same situation with a man who
doubles or trebles the product of labour by an im-
provement in the power-loom, or any other machine.
By the saving which he makes in this case, he is en-
abled to increase his capital, and afford an equal, if
not an increased, amount of employment, although
not perhaps to the very same persons whom this im-
provement deprives of wages. What the labourer has
to complain of, is the want of capital. If capital in
land were abundant, he would transfer his labour to
some other part of Ireland, or if he had a little money-
ed capital, the result of his savings, he might transfer
himself to Canada ; but as land cannot be had in one
place, and he has not what would enable him to seek
it in another, he is deprived of employment In the
United States no injurious effect would be produced
by a determination of the whole people of Pennsylva-
nia to abstain from tillage, and devote themselves to
grazing, as the labourer would speedily remove to
Ohio, Indiana, or Missouri.
Great Britain possesses abundant capital in land,
but her people are too much impoverished by taxa-
tion to be able to seek it, and when they are not so,
38 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
they know that they cannot be permitted to exchange
their corn for hardware or cotton goods, except on
payment of a heavy duty in addition to freight and
other expenses, because the land owners do not deem
it for their interest to permit such exchange. The
following remarks by Mr. Senior, in relation to ma-
chinery, will be found to apply with equal force to the
case he has above supposed:
" Nature lias decreed that the road to good shall be through evil
that no improvement shall take place in which the general advan-
tage shall not be accompanied by partial suffering. The obvious
remedy is to remove those whftse labour has ceased to be profitable,
to a country that will afford room for their exertions. Few inven-
tions, during the present century, have conferred greater benefits on
the labouring classes than that of the power-loom. By diminishing
the expense of clothing, it has been a source, not merely of comfort,
but of health and longevity. But its proximate effect was to spread
ruin among the hand- weavers; to reduce almost all of them to a
mere subsistence, and many to the most abject want. Ever since
its Introduction, thousands have been pining away under misery,
not alleviated even by hope; 'with no rational expectation, but that
the ensuing year would be more calamitous than the passing one:
and this without fault, and even without improvidence."
The true causes why wages are not in the propor-
tion of revenue to population, are, first, differences
in the ratio of capital to population; second, in the
extent of taxation for the support of government and
for other purposes; and, third, in the mode of assess-
ing the contributions for those purposes.
In a country in which the ratio of capital to po-
pulation is large, the demand for labour ensures to
the workman a full share of the produce of his la-
bour, as is the case in the United States, but in one in
which it is small, there is little demand for labour, and
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 3ft
the competition fbr the use of landed or other capital
being great, its price is enhanced, and the capitalist
is enabled to obtain an undue proportion of the pro-
duce, as in Ireland*.
In two countries alike in the proportions which
capital and revenue bore to population, which could
not be the case, unless there was also equalitjrin the
security of person and property, as well as of freedom
of trade and of action, there would be an equdlity of
wages,* unless prevented by difference in the govern-
ment expenditure. The revenue at any given time
being equal, if one should from that time forward
expend ten millions, and the other one hundred mil-
lions, the portion which the labourers would be ob-
liged to contribute would form a deduction from t^e
quantity *>f 'commodities obtainable by them, and
render wages unequal. If one nation remained at
peace with an army of six thousand men, artdyjhe
other went to war, and employed half a million of
men in carrying muskets, the production or revenue
would be lessened, and the share of each than re-
duced.
During the whole time that this state of things
continued, there would be a constantly increasing
difference in the ratio of capital to population in the
two nations* with a constantly increasing difference
of wages, and at the expiration of half a century it
would be difficult to imagine that there had been at
any time an equality of condition between them.
Unproductive expenditure of any kjri3y has the
same effect; but that of government usually so far
exceeds thafef all others as to attract exclusive con-
40 ESSAY OH THE RATE OP WAGES.
sideration. If economy in government be advan-
tageous, that of individuals is also in a very high
degree promotive of the increase of capital, and of
the improvement of the condition of the labouring
classes. If in one country the labourers expend their
surplus in gin, and the land-holders in the support of
a numerous train of servants, while in another, the
one class is prudent and sober, and the other moderate
in expenditure, the difference will soon be perceived
in the greater rapidity with which capital will grow,
and with it the competition in the market of labour.
The third cause of difference mentioned above, is
th6 mode of assessing contributions for the support
of government and for other purposes. While taxes
are chiefly on consumption, governments will se-
lect such objects as are extensively consumed, and
will afford large revenue. An examination of the
revenue systems of the different countries of Europe
and America, will show that the chief part of the
revenue is collected upon articles chiefly used by the
labouring classes, while those which are used ex-
clusively by the wealthy are almost untaxed, on
account of the small amount they would yield, and
the greater liability to fraud in the importation of the
finer articles. All taxes and impositions of whatsoever
kind being paid by the consumer, it follows that
the labouring classes bear an undue proportion of the
public burthen. Such is the case under all govern-
ments, but less so in the United States than in Eng-
land, and less in the Netherlands than in France.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 41
CHAPTER IV.
THE third error to which Mr. S. adverts, is, " that
the non-residence of landlords, funded proprietors,
mortgagees, and other unproductive consumers, can
be detrimental to a country that does not export raw
produce" He admits its disadvantage in relation to a
country like Ireland, which exports corn, but denies
the injurious effect upon England, because she ex-
ports only manufactures. This distinction being ori-
ginal, his views are given in his own words:
" Thirdly. It is inconsistent with the prevalent opinion, that the
non-residence of landlords, funded proprietors, mortgagees, and
other unproductive consumers, can be detrimental to the labouring
inhabitants of a country that does not export raw produce.
" In a country which exports raw produce, wages may be low-
ered by such non^residence. If an Irish landlord resides on his
estate, he requires the services of certain persons, who must also
be resident there, to minister to his daily wants. He must have
servants, gardeners, and perhaps gamekeepers. If he build a house,
he must employ resident masons and carpenters; part of his fur-
niture he may import, but the greater part of it must be made in his
neighbourhood; a portion of his land, or what comes to the same
thing, a portion of hi> rent, must be employed in producing food,
clothing, and shelter for all these persons, and for those who pro-
duce that food, clothing, and shelter. If he were to remove to
England, all these wants would be supplied by Englishmen. The
land and capital which was formerly employed in providing the
maintenance of Irish labourers, would be employed in producing 1
corn and cattle to be exported to England to provide the subsistence
of English labourers. The whole quantity of commodities appro-
priated to the use of Irish labourers would be diminished, and that
D
42 ESSAY OJT THE RATE OP WAGES.
appropriated to the use of English labourers increased, and wages
would, consequently, rise in England, and fall in Ireland.
" It is true that these effects would not be co-extensive with the
landlord's income. While, in Ireland, he must have consumed
many foreign commodities. He must have purchased tea, wine,
and sugar, and other things which the climate and the manufac-
turers of Ireland do not afford, and he must have paid for them by
sending corn and cattle to England. It is true, also, that while in
Ireland he probably employed a portion of his land and of his rents
for other purposes, from which the labouring population received no
"benefit, as a deer park, or a pleasure garden, or in the maintenance
of horses or hounds. On his removal, that portion of his land which
was a park would be employed partly in producing exportable
commodities, and partly in producing subsistence for its cultivators;
and that portion which fed horses for his use might be employed in
feeding horses for exportation. The first of these alternatives would
do good; the second could do no harm. Nor must we forget that,
through the cheapness of conveyance between England and Ireland,
a portion, or perhaps all, of those whom he employed in Ireland,
might follow him to England, and, in that case, wages in neither
country would be affected. The fund for the maintenance of la-
bourers in Ireland, and the number of labourers to be maintained,
would both be equally diminished, and the fund for the maintenance
of labourers in England, and the number of labourers to be main-
tained, would both be equally increased.
" But after making all these deductions, and they are very great,
from the supposed effect of the absenteeism of the Irish proprietors
on the labouring classes in Ireland, I cannot agree with Mr. M'Cul*
loch that it is immaterial. I cannot but join in the general opinion
that their return, though it would not affect the prosperity of the
British empire, considered as a whole, would be immediately bene-
ficial to Ireland, though perhaps too much importance is attached
to it
" In Mr. M'Culloch's celebrated examination before the committee
on the State of Ireland, (Fourth Report, 814, Sess. 1825,) he was
asked, ' Supposing the largest export of Ireland were in live cattle,
and that a considerable portion of rent had been remitted in that
manner, does not such a mode of producing the means of paying
rent contribute less to the improvement of the poor than any extcn-
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 48
sive employment of them in labour would produce?' He replies.
* Unless the means of paying rent are changed when the landlord
goes home, his residence can have no effect whatever.'
" ' Would not,' he is asked, ' the population of the country be
benefited by the expenditure among them of a certain portion of
the rent which (if he had been absent) has (would have) been re-
mitted (to England) ?' ' No,' he replies, ' I do not see how it could
be benefited in the least If you have a certain value laid out
against Irish commodities ia the one case, you will have a certain
value laid out against them in the other. The cattle are either ex-
ported to England, or they stay at home. If they are exported, the
landlord will obtain an equivalent for them in English commodities;
if they are not, he will obtain an equivalent for them in Irish om-
modities ; so that in both cases the landlord lives on the cattle, or on
the value of the cattle : and whether he lives in Ireland or in Eng-
land, there is obviously just the very same amount of commodities
for the people of Ireland to subsist upon.'
" This reasoning assumes that the landlord, while resident in
Ireland, himself personally devours all the cattle produced on his
estates; for on no other supposition can there be the very game
amount of commodities for the people of Ireland to subsist upon,
whether their cattle are retained iu Ireland or exported.
" But when a country does not export raw produce, the conse-
quences of absenteeism are very different. Those who derive their
incomes from such a country cannot possibly epend them abroad
until they have previously spent them at home.
" When a Leicestershire landlord is resident on his estate, he
employs a certain portion of his land, or, what ifc the same, of his
rent, in maintaining the persons who provide for him those commo-
dities and services, which must be produced on the spot where they
are consumed. If he should remove to London, he would want the
services of Londoners, and the produce of land and capital which
previously maintained labourers resident in Leicester, would be sent
away to maintain labourers resident in London. The labourers
would probably follow, and wages in Leicestershire and London
would then be unaltered ; but until they did so, wages would rise in
the one district, and fall in the other. At the same time, as the
rise and fall would compensate one another, as the fund for the
maintenance of labour, and the number of labourers to be main-
44 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
tained, would each remain the same, the same amount of wages
would be distributed among the same number of persons, though
not precisely in the same proportion *s before.
" If he were now to remove to Paris, a new distribution must take
place. As the price of raw produce is lower in France than in
England, and the difference in habits and language between the two
countries prevents the transfer of labourers from the one to the other,
neither the labourers nor the produce of his estates could follow him.
He must employ French labourers, and he must convert his share of
the produce of his estates, or, what is the same thing, his rent, into
some exportable form in order to receive it abroad. It may be sup-
posed that he would receive his rent in money. Even if he were to
do BO, the English labourers would not be injured, for as they do not
eat or drink money, provided the same amount of commodities re-
mained for their use, they would be unaffected by the export of
money. But it is impossible that he could receive his rent in mo-
ney, unless he choose to suffer a gratuitous loss. The rate of ex-
change between London and Paris is generally rather in favour of
London, and scarcely ever so deviates from par between any two
countries as to cover the expense of transferring the precious metals
from the one to the other, excepting between the countries which
do, and those which do not possess mines. The remittances from
England to France must be sent, therefore, in the form of manufac-
tures, either directly to France, or to some country with which
France has commercial relations. And how would these manufac-
tures be obtained ? Of course in exchange for the landlord's rent.
His share of the produce of his estates would now go to Birmingham
or Sheffield, or Manchester, or London, to maintain the labourers
employed in producing manufactures, to be sent and sold abroad'for
his profit. An English absentee employs his income precisely as if
he were to remain at home and consume nothing but hardware and
cottons. Instead of the services of gardeners and servants, uphol-
sterers and tailors, he puichases those of spinners, weavers, and cut-
lers. In either case his income is employed in maintaining labour-
ers, though the class of labourers is different ; and in either case,
the whole fund for the maintenance of labourers, and the number
of labourers to be maintained, remaining unaltered, the wages of
labour would not be affected.
M But, in fact, that fund would be rather increased in quantity.
ESSAY OX THE RATE OF WAGES. 45
and rather improved in quality.' It would be increased, because
land previously employed as a park, of in feeding dogs and horses, or
hares and pheasants, would now be employed in |roducing food of
clothing for men. It would be improved, feecause the increased pro-
duction of manufactured commodities would occasion an increased
division of labour, the use of more and better machinery, and the
other improvements, which we long ago ascertained to be its neces-
sary accompaniments."
This distinction will not hold good. The laws of
political economy are of universal application, and
cannot be changed to suit the particular circflm-
stances of a state. Whatever has a tendency to pre-
vent the growth of capital, is injurious, while every
thing that promotes its groict/i is advantageous. This
is the test ; and if it can be shown that absenteeism
has a tendency to prevent its growth, in however
small a degree, there will be no difficulty in stating
what is the law which governs in this case, which has
been styled " the opprobrium of political economy."
If the landlord receive 1000 quarters of corn, and,
as a resident, consume the whole, while, as an ab-
sentee, he lives upon 500, applying the remainder to
the improvement of his land, there can be no doubt
bis absenteeism is advantageous. The question is
not, however, between a wasteful resident and an
economical absentee, but between two men of the
same habits of expenditure ; one li ving abroad, and
the other at home. In the one ease the 1000 quar-
ters of corn, or its equivalent, are sent to Paris, and
the amount is invested in the purchase of commodi-
ties. The corn having been sold at its wholesale, and
its proceeds applied to the purchase of other articles
at retail, prices, it is probable that he receives a
D2
40 ESSAY Olf THE RATE OF WAGES.
wholesale value, equivalent to 800 quarters of corn,
while his tradesmen of Rue Vivienne, or Rue Riche-
lieu, add to their capital the remaining 200 quarters.
The resident landlord does the same thing at Cork,
Dublin, or Limerick, dividing his 200 quarters among
his countrymen, by which their capital is increased.
It might be fairly estimated, that one-fifth of the
amount transmitted to absentee landlords, is thus
distributed, in the farm of profits, among foreign
tradesmen. The abstraction, in this manner, of a
fifth of the whole rents of absentee proprietors,
which would undoubtedly be left with the tradesmen,
is felt severely in Ireland, where the growth of popu-
lation is rapid, and of capital small ; but in Great
Britain and the United States, the growth of capital
and increase of demand for labour are so great, that
although the same result is produced, the effect is too
insignificant to be remarked. It can hardly be doubted
for a moment, that if all the landlords of Ireland were
to conclude to live at home for one year, and expend
the same amount among their tenants and tradesmen,
that they had been accustomed to expend among
the people of London, Paris, or Rome, there would be
a greater increase of capital among the mechanics
and tradesmen of Ireland, than if they had remained
abroad. Less money would be spent in those cities,
and there would be a smaller increase of capital than
usual. In like manner the absentees of New York
and Philadelphia contribute to the support of the hotel
keepers and tradesmen of Quebec and Montreal. If
they remained at home, and spent the same sum, the
ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES. 47
profits would remain with the tradesmen of their own
cities.
Absenteeism is thus injurious wherever it occurs,
tending to impede the growth of capital, but its effect is
felt in the ratio of population to capital, and is almost
unfelt when that ratio is small, as in England and
the United States.
A very material deduction is also made by absen-
teeism from the means of obtaining employment and
consequent reward. To illustrate this, the following
case may be stated : An island containing ten mil-
lions of acres is the property of one thousand land-
holders, and has a labouring population of one million
of persons. The average share of each would be
ten acres, producing 300 bushels of grain, of which
fifty go to the landlord. The fund for the support of
the labouring population would be 250 millions, leav-
ing fifty millions for the capitalists or land-holders.
These persons, however, being resident, have occa-
sion for gardeners, coachmen, footmen, &c., and em-
ploy each fifty in various capacities, leaving only
950,000 persons for cultivation, who divide among
themselves the whole of the land and its product,
after paying rent, giving 263 bushels to each. As
the wages of the cultivator amount to 263 bushels,
it is probable that the persons employed by the land-
lord, would have as much ; and as their number would
be 50,000, they would receive among them 13 mil-
Hons of bushels out of the fund originally assigned to
the landlord, increasing that for the support of the
labouring population to 263 millions, leaving only
37 millions to the landlords for their support, and for
the increase of their capital
48 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
If their savings, and those of their tenants, should
enable capital to keep pace with population, the lands
would be improved, roads and canals would be con-
structed, manufactories would be built, the amount
of production would be increased, and with it the
fund for the labourer, and wages would continue
unaltered ; if they went beyond it, they would rise,
but if they fell short of it, they would fall.
If, however, these one thousand persons should go
abroad, leaving their servants, &c., behind them, the
thirteen millions of bushels which they had been ac-
customed to pay for services, would be paid to fo-
reigners, and there would remain only 250 millions
to be divided among a million of labourers. The
capital in land would remain the same, while the
competition for it would be increased ; the labourer
would be willing to pay a higher price for its use,
perhaps 60 bushels, instead of 50, thus reducing his
share from 263 to 240. A further increase of popu-
lation would increase the competition, and as there
would be a steady excess of demand over supply,
the landlord's share would probably rise to 80, 100,
or 120 bushels, reducing the fund out of which the
labourers were supported, from 263 millions, to 180
or 200 millions.
All accumulation on the part of the labourer would
be thereby effectually prevented, and if the landlord
should expend or invest abroad, the whole of his re-
venue, there could be no increase of capital from
that source. If, under such circumstances, popula-
tion continued to advance, they might be reduced to
patches of an acre or two, the gross produce of
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 49
which would do no more than afford subsistence,
although the unfortunate cultivator would be willing
to give one half of it, in preference to being ejected
from the land. Such is precisely the condition to
which Ireland has been reduced by the extravagance
and absenteeism of its landed proprietors.
If the absenteeism existed without the extrava-
gance ; if the profligate and wasteful landlord were
replaced by the honest, active, and intelligent agent ;
if the residence abroad produced habits of economy
that would admit of the investment in improvements
of various kinds, by the agent, of a part of the reve-
nue, absenteeism would be a blessing instead of a
curse. The following passage from Mr. Inglis's new
work, "Ireland in 1834," confirms these views. Mr.
I. visited Ireland strongly impressed with the neces-
sity of poor-laws to counteract the ill effects of ab-
senteeism, and is in this case a most unexceptionable
witness.
" It must not be imagined that the people on all absentee estates
are in a worse condition than they are upon those estates where
there is a resident landlord. The condition of the peasantry depends
on the circumstances under which the lands are occupied, much more
than upon the residence of proprietors, and I cannot say that it is
generally an easy matter to guess whether the landlord be absentee
or resident. Some of the most comfortable tenantry in Ireland are
found on absentee properties, and some of the most miserable on es-
tates upon which the proprietor resides ; there is no doubt, however,
that where a well-disposed and unembarrassed landlord resides,
fewer unemployed labourers are found, the condition of the labourer
is better, and the retail trade of the most adjacent towns is material-
ly benefited. Vol. II. p. 256.
In the United States capital in land is abundant,
50 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
circulating capital increases with great rapidity, and
the demand for labour is consequently great. Should
the capitalist conclude to live abroad, his coachman,
footman, gardener, and all others who have been ac-
customed to live out of his income, can readily find
employment, and notwithstanding the fact that nearly
the \vhole of the exports consist of raw produce, it is
scarcely of the slightest importance whether he lives
abroad or at home. The foreign capitalist who places
his funds in the United States is an absentee, but
if he were to reinvest the proceeds here, so far
as not required for his subsistence, he would be nearly
as useful as if he were to remove here with his capi-
tal ; notwithstanding which, there is a constant jeal-
ousy of the investment, by foreigners, of their capital
in either bank stocks or real estate. In some of the
states there is an absolute prohibition to hold them.
It is difficult to conceive of a greater absurdity. The
men who oppose a tariff upon cotton goods, would
prohibit the importation of capital ! The British go-
yernmenthas wisely offered inducements to foreigner!
to invest their surplus funds in its stocks, and large
amounts are so invested, yet it would be difficult to
point out any difference between the absentee land-
lord, who left his estate in Surrey or Kent, and the
absentee fund-holder who left his money in London,
Yet the same persons who inveigh against the former,
would deem it injudicious to prevent investments of
the latter description.
Having shown, by the case of this country, that
the position of Mr. S. in regard to countries exporting
raw produce, is not correct, the question arises, would
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 51
it be more so, if the r opulation above supposed to
exist were exclusively engaged in manufactures, and
exported nothing else. If the one thousand landed
proprietors were converted into an equal number of
capitalists, owning extensive manufacturing establish-
ments, and their portion of the profits were remitted
to them in cottons, instead of, as in the other case,
grain, what would be the difference ? It is obvious
that their interest, or rent, or profits, could perform
but one operation instead of two, as suggested by Mr.
Senior. It would be difficult to imagine any disad-
vantage arising out of the transmission of rent from
Ireland, that would not arise in such a case as the
one now stated. No law of political economy can be
correct unless universally so, and that propounded
by Mr. S. is certainly not so as regards the United
States, which exports only raw produce ; nor, even
according to his own theory, would it be so in rela-
tion to one which was exclusively engaged in manu-
factures, and exported nothing else ; nor as regards
the capitalist of England, who lives abroad, having
lent his capital to an English manufacturer, who ex-
ports the interest in the produce of his manufacture;
nor to the agriculturist of Ireland, who exported the
interest in corn.
The people of Ireland suffer under the absenteeism
of the landlord, who leaves his capital behind him,
and those of Great Britain under the forced absentee-
ism of capital, the owner of which stays at home.
The absurd system of corn laws, by preventing ex-
changes, prevents the employment of capital in manu-
factures, and it is therefore sent abroad to seek that
52 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
reward which is denied to I* at home. It is sent to
the United States to aid in the construction of canals
arid rail roads, and the erection of manufactories, and
the labour that might be employed at home, is sent
to assist in using that capital, and in consuming that
corn, a market for which is refused in Great Britain.*
* Since writing the above, I have looked into Pebrer's work on
the British Empire, arid find the following remark in corrobora-
tion of the views above given. " There is found an immense excess
of capital, the very source of production, causing distress instead of
prosperity among its owners. An extraordinary excess of labour,
the very cause of wealth, producing poverty, ruin, and misery among
the labourers, themselves a great and powerful empire, when know-
ledge, invention, and art, have multiplied in a boundless manner tfee
means for the enjoyment of life, and for the satisfaction of all its
wants, comforts, and luxuries; but when the very perfections of
these springs of human and social happiness occasion misfortune,
distress, and perpetual agitation, among the members of that great
empire itself." page v. The object of Mr. Pebrer's work is to ascer-
tain the cause of the difficulties under which Great Britain labours,
and to point out a remedy. Laying aside all consideration of the im-
pediments in the way of freedom of action and of exchange^ he attri-
butes the whole difficulty to excess of taxation, which he supposes to
have the effect of raising tkt price of labour, and preventing the sale
of their manufactures. He holds up the case of Spain as a warning,
and says : " It is to her bad fiscal laws, to her bad system of im-
posts, to the taxes on consumption, which enhanced wages, and pre-
vented the sale of her manufactures, that the misfortunes of Spain
must be attributed; these, and no other, were the true causes of that
wide spread devastating laziness, which still desolates and impove-
rishes a land worthy of a better fate." p. 542. Considering wage*
as always at a minimum, and the heavy taxes on consumption as the
cause of their high rate in England, the remedy is to be found in
the abolition of those taxes, which can only take place when the
debt shall have been paid off. To accomplish this object in part, it
is proposed to raise 500 millions of pounds by a tax on all property
in Great Britain and the Coloniet, which latter are to be induced to
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 53
It is this abstraction of capital which causes the re-
dundance of labour, and yet it has been seriously pro-
posed in the Quarterly Review to tax all capital in-
vested in machinery, as a means of raising the price
of labour ! This would drive it abroad still more ra-
pidly, and wages would rise here while those of
Great Britain would fall below their present standard.
No great improvement is likely to take place until
the corn laws are repealed and the workman is al-
lowed to procure food from those who will give it
him at the lowest price. Mr. Senior advocates this-
and the repeal of the poor laws, but deems it neces-
sary to prepare therefor by a free exportation of the
shrplus population. He says, " The only immediate
remedy for an actual excess of population is an an-
cient and approved one ; coloniam deducere" In the
existing state of things, colonization may be beneficial
agree to it by the prospect of advantage to their commerce. Such
an arrangement would have one good effect, that of throwing the
burthens of the government upon the holders of property, who have
been accustomed to shuffle them off upon the unfortunate labourers,
but it would not reduce wages in the manner supposed by Mr. P.
Although the ultimate effect would be to raise wages by reducing
the cost of articles of consumption, it is not improbable that the first
effect produced by such an arrangement might be to depress them,
The two years in which it is proposed that this assessment should
be paid, would probably be "years of confusion," arising out of the
transfer of property under circumstances little calculated to satisfy
the owners of it, or to give confidence to the trading community,
and it is not improbable that the loss to the nation, arising out of
euch a measure, would be greater than the whole amount raised by
it. Let Great Britain throw off the shackles which interfere with the
free action of her people, and the free exchange of her production*, and
her debt will ceate to be of moment to her,
54 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
to both the mother country and the colonies, and as
the people have been deprived of the means of trans-
ferring themselves, it may perhaps be well to let it be
done at public expense, but it is highly improbable
that the nation will be more prepared for the abolition
of the corn laws after sending away half a million of
people, than at the present time. Unless the removal
of restrictions proceed pari passu with the removal
of the population which is rendered surplus by re-
striction, it certainly will not
The capital which is thus driven abroad by the
corn laws of England, is employed in the United
States to remove restraints imposed by nature upon
the trade in corn and other articles of produce. They
laboured under a deficiency of circulating capital, aid
the consequence was that communications in many
parts of the country were very bad, and the difference
in the prices of corn very considerable. When it was
proposed to make some of the great public improve-
ments that have since been completed, it was suppos-
ed that the effect would be to raise the price of lands
in the west, and in a corresponding degree reduce
those nearer the cities which had before been very
valuable, or precisely the same effect that is now anti-
cipated in England from a repeal of the corn laws. New
York and Pennsylvania have completed their great
works, by which they have repealed their corn laws, and
so far from the repeal having had the effect of reducing
the price of lands within forty, fifty or onehundred miles
of their capitals, those lands have materially advanced
in price in consequence of the general prosperity, to
which those improvements have largely contributed
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 66
by increasing the facilities of communication and in-
terchange. A similar repeal of the English corn laws
would, without doubt, be attended with similar effects,
and land owners would find that the prosperity which
would be the result of such a change of system, would
cause their lands to be more valuable than they had
beh under the restrictive system, and in addition,
they would have the satisfaction of knowing that their
rents were not forced contributions from the unfortu-
nate manufacturers for their benefit The experience
of the United States should satisfy the people of Eng-
land, first, that no loss is likely ,to arise to the land
owners from the freedom of trade in corn, and se-
cond, that absenteeism is not necessarily, productive
of evil, as nearly all the great public works of this
coutftry have been made with the capital of absentees.
It is singular that English writers who are so ner-
vous in regard to English and Irish absenteeism,
should have so little thought of the effect of it in India.
The landlord of all India is an absentee, and his agents
are little better, as all their surplus profits are trans-
ferred to Englandf*with a view of returning home as
soon as their capital shall be sufficient to make way
for a new swarm who will do the same. If so much
effect be produced in Ireland, what must be tUa con-
sequence in India?
56 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER V.
THE fourth error adverted to by Mr. S. is, " That
the general rate of wages can be reduced by ma-
chinery." Few persons now doubt the advantages
of machinery to the labourer, and if those who still
continue to do so, would reflect that the greater the
amount of production, the greater must be the fund
of commodities to be divided between the capitalist
and the labourer, and, that the rate of interest, which
indicates the usual rate of profit, has not varied mate-
rially for many years, showing that the capitalist
cannot take an extraordinary share of the increased
product, they would see that the fund for the support
of the labourers must be increased in the full propor-
tion of the increased production, and consequently,
that the share of each must be larger. The greatly
increased consumption of all articles used by that
class ought to be sufficient evidence on this head
The average consumption of cotton goods in Great
Britain, from iai6to 1820, was 227 millions of yards,
and that of 1824 to 1828, four hundred millions! It
is not improbable that it is now 500 millions, or
about twenty yards per annum to each individual.
The value of this immense quantity, at five pence a
yard, would little exceed ten millions of pounds ster-
ling, while at 2s. Qd. t the price about thirty years since*
it would be about sixty millions; or at 6s. the yard*
ESSAY OJT THE RATE OF WAGES. 67
the price about forty-five years since, it would amount
to one hundred and fifty millions of pounds. To the
improvements in machinery of the last half century
alone it is owing that the people of Great Britain have
been able to bear such an excessive amount of taxa-
tion, under which any other nation must have sunk.
" Every new invention and discovery, by which the
production of commodities can be facilitated, .and
their value reduced, enables individuals to spare a
larger quantity of them for the use of the state." Par-
nett, p. 11.
It is but a short time since that one of the most re-
spectable and intelligent editors in the Union, in no-
ticing some improvement in machinery, expressed
his regret that human labour should in this manner
be superseded ; that locomotive engines should take
the place of thousands of men and of horses who had
been accustomed to be employed in the transportation
of merchandise. Yet this same editor is among the
ablest advocates of one of the principal canals now in
the course of construction. A little reflection would
satisfy him and all other opponents of machinery that
the same objection which lies against the use of loco-
motive power, would lie against the rail road itself,-
and equally against the canal the turnpike the
common road, and even the horse path. If the ob-
ject be to employ the greatest number of persons in
doing a given amount of transportation, dispense en-
tirely with carriages and roads for them, and let the
whole be done on the backs of mules, as is in a great
measure the case in Spain ; or still further, dispense
58 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
with horses and mules, and employ manual labour
exclusively as in China.
The fifth error is, " That it can be reduced ty the
import of foreign commodities."
"Fifthly."* Closely connected with this mistake, and occasioned
by the same habit of attending only to what is temporary and par-
tial, and neglecting what is permanent and general; of dwelling on
the i v:l that is concentrated, and being insensible of the benefit that
is diffused, is the common error of supposing that the general rate
of wages can be reduced by the importation of foreign commodities.
In fact the opening of a new market is precisely analogous to the
introduction of a new machine, except that it is a machine which
it costs nothing to construct or to keep up. If the foreign commo-
dity be not consumed by the labouring population, its introduction
leaves the general rate of wages unaffected ; if it be used by them,
their wages are raised as estimated in that commodity. If the ab-
surd laws which favour the wines of Portugal to the exclusion of
those of France were repealed, more labourers would be employed
in producing commodities for the French market, and fewer for the
Portuguese. Wages would temporarily fall in the one trade, and
rise in the other. The clear benefit would be derived by the drinkers
of wine, who, at the same expense, would obtain more and better
wine. So if what are called the protecting duties on French silks
were removed, fewer labourers would be employed in the direct pro-
duction of silk, and more in its indirect production, by the produc-
tion cf the cottons, or hardware, with which it would be purchased.
The wearers of silk would be the only class ultimately benefited;
and as the labouring population neither wear silk nor drink wine,
the general rate of wages would, in both cases, remain unaltered.
But if the laws which prohibit our obtaining on the most advan-
tageous terms tea and sugar, and corn, were altered, that portion of
the fund for the maintenance of labour, which consists of corn, su-
gar, and tea, would be increased. And the general rate of wages,
u estimated in the three most important articles of food, would be
raised."
It is an error to suppose that the wearers of silk
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 69
would be the only persons ultimately benefited in
this case. If the labour of twenty thousand persons
be now required to produce silks, which, under a
different system, could be obtained in exchange for
the labour of ten thousand employed in the produc-
tion of cottons, the whole amount of production of
the remaining ten thousand would be added to the
fund of commodities. If the importation of silks were
doubled in consequence thereof, it would be equiva-
lent to a large increase in the amount of production,
and although the labourer might not obtain a silk
gown for his wife, there would be a larger portion
of cotton goods for his share ; but the experience of
this country proves that even the wife of the labourer
may, with a system of free trade, obtain one of silk.
If it remained the same, the wearers of silks would
add to their capital one half of the sum they had been
accustomed to expend for them, and this increase of
capital, by increasing the demand for labour, would
tend to produce an augmentation of wages. The laws
of political economy are universal in their application,
and none more so, than that restraints upon the free-
dom of trade are injurious to all classes of society,
and all measures tending to the removal of those
restraints, advantageous, even to those who consume
none of the particular articles the importation of
which is thereby promoted.
The sixth error indicated by Mr. Senior is, " That
the unproductive consumption of landlords and capi-
talists is beneficial to the labouring classes, because
it finds them employment" No benefit can arise from
60 ESSAY 0V TBS RJifE OF WAGES.
employment, unless it tend to increase thei amount of
production. Where it does this, it has a tendency to
raise wages, while any species of employment that
tends to decrease production, must reduce them.
Many persons are honestly opposed to machinery,
but if they would reflect, that the quantity produced
is greatly increased by the use of it, while it does
not increase the number of consumers, they would
see that the effect must be to increase the quantity of
commodities that falls to the share of each labourer.
If those persons who are opposed to machinery
would take the trouble to examine what would be
the effrct upon the growers of cotton and consumers
of cotton goods, (among whom are, of course, the
cotton manufacturers,) the owners of ships, and pro-
prietors of canal and rail road stocks, and the im-
mense number of persons that are employed in navi-
gating those ships, and directing the canal boats, rail-
road cars and engines, of abolishing the spinning
jenny and power loom, under the mistaken notion of
increasing the demand for manual labour, they
would never again say a word on the subject.
The seventh and last error is that of Mr. Ricardo,
that it is better to be employed in the production of
services, than in that of commodities, or, as Mr. Se-
nior says, " better to be employed in standing behind
chairs, than in making them; or as soldiers and
sailors, than as manufacturers." Mr. M'Culloch,
allowing his views of the conflicting interests of
wages and profits to mislead him also, says, that
" the demand for a large number of men, for the
ESSAY OIT TH* RATE OF WAGES. 61
supply of armies and fleets, must raise wages, in
consequence of the increased demand which it pro-
duces, and that the increase of wages must come
from profits." As the amount of real wages depends
upon the quantity and quality of the commodities
obtainable by the labourer, and as that depends upon
the total amount of production, this theory must re-
main unsusceptible of proof, until it can be shown
that in any given community a greater amount of
commodities will be produced where one-half of the
population is employed in standing behind chairs, or
shouldering muskets, than when the whole are em-
ployed in the business of production ; or when the
half shall be shown to be greater than the whole.
If Mr. M'Culloch's views on this subject were gene-
rally received, it would not be extraordinary that
wars should be popular among the labouring classes,
but if they could be made to understand their own
interests, they would be sensible that " War is mis-
chievous to every class in the community; but to none
is it such a curse as to the labourers." Senior.
u War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at,"
69 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WADES.
CHAPTER VI.
THE reader has seen, that in the Lectures on
Wages which have been considered, Mr. Senior has
taken the quantity and quality of commodities as the
measure of wages, but in that " On the Cost of Ob-
taining Money," which it is proposed now to con-
sider, he assumes the money price of labour as the
standard of comparison. It must be obvious, how-
ever, that the cost of obtaining silver is only the cost
of obtaining commodities that will exchange for it,
and that whether a day's labour be estimated as
equal to a bushel of wheat, or to so much silver as
can be obtained for it at the nearest store, the result
is the same. Where they have reference to the same
places, and at the same times, Mr. S. considers them
as convertible terms, and his object in using the mo-
ney price in the present instance, is to assume that
as a measure of the powers of production of the seve-
ral countries. There is, however, a very serious ob-
jection to its use for that purpose, arising out of the
different modes of taxation, in different countries,
even when the amount is the same.
In India almost the whole taxation is direct, and
is taken in the form of rent, before the labourer re-
ceives his share. In England, on the contrary, direct
taxation is small, while that upon consumption is
large, and is taken from the labourer after he has
KSSAY 05 TKfc RATE Of WAGES. 63
received, his share. To show the effect of this, I will
suppose tHe following case. A man in England raise*
three hundred bushels of wheat, fifty of which go to
his landlord as rent, and twenty to the state as land
tax, leaving him two hundred and thirty bushels as the
rewards of his labour, or wages and interest of capi-
tal. In exchanging this for tea, sugar, coffee, &c.
he pays, I will suppose, as a tax on consumption,
eighty bushels, leaving him one hundred ancl fifty
bushels. In India, another man, raising the same
quantity, would have paid one hundred and fifty
bushels as rent and tax, leaving his wages exactly
the same, although apparently above one third less.
Again, where the mode of taxation is the same,
money wages, although they may be taken as a mea-
sure of the powers of production, cannot be taken as
an evidence of the extent of real wages, unless allow-
ance be made for the difference of amount of taxa-
tion. In England, money wages are nearly as high
as in the United States, yet the greater amount of
the claims of the state makes a vast difference in the
quantity and quality of commodities at the labourer's
command, which is the only measure of real wages.
In the following extract will be found Mr. Senior's
views as to the actual amount of wages, and the
causes of the difference that exists :
" The average annual wages of labour in Hindostan are from one
pound to two pounds troy of silver a year (from fourteen to twenty-
eight dollars). In England they are from nine pounds to fifteen
pounds troy ($126 to $210 average $168, 01 35). la Upper Ca-
nada and the United States of America, they are from twelve pounds
troy to twenty pounds (1168 to $280 average $224, or 46 13$.).
64 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
Within the same time the American labourer obtains twelve times,
and the English labourer nine times as much silver as the Hindoo.
u The difference in the cost of obtaining silver, or, in other
words, in the wages of labour in silver, in different countries, at
the same period, has attracted attention, though not perhaps so
much as it deserves, and various theories have been proposed to
account for it
" It has been attributed to the different degrees of labour requi-
site to obtain the necessaries of the labourer. In Hindostan it has
been said, he requires little clothing or fuel, and subsists on rice,
of which he obtains a sufficient quantity with little exertion. But
how then do we account for his wages in North America being
twenty-five per cent, higher than they are in England, while the
labour requisite to obtain necessaries is not much more than half
as great in the former country as in the latter ? How do we ac*
count for the low amount of wages in silver in China, where the
labour necessary to obtain necessaries is proverbially great?
" It has been attributed to the different densities of population.
In Hindostan and in Ireland, it has been said, labourers multiply
so rapidly, that the market is overstocked with labour, and the
price falls from the Increased supply. But if this were an universal
rule, as the population of England has doubled in the last seventy
or eighty years, wages ought to have fallen, whereas they have
doubled or trebled in that interval. They have kept on increasing
in North America during a still greater increase of population.
They arc, perhaps, twice as high in Holland as in Sweden, though
the population of Holland is ten times as dense as that of Sweden.
M It has been attributed to the different pressure of taxation : but
taxation is no where so light as in America, where wages are the
highest. It is, probably, heavier in Hindostan than in England, yet
wages are nine or ten times a-bigh in England as in Hindostan.
So that it might seem that wages are highest where taxation M
lowest; but, on the other hand, taxation is lighter in Prance than in
England, yet wages are lower, and lighter in Ireland than in France,
yet wages are lower still. It appears, therefore, that there is no
necessary connexion between taxation and wages.
u It has been attributed to the different rates of profit The ave-
rage fate of profit in England is supposed to be about one-tenth, or
about eleven per cent per annum. In Hindoctan and America it it
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 65
higher. We will suppose it to be one-sixth, or twenty per cent, per
annum, which is probably far too high an estimate. This differ-
ence would account for the labourer, whose wages have been ad-
vanced for a year, receiving nine-tenths of the value of what he pro-
duces in England, and only five-sixths in America and Hindostan,
or rather is only a different expression of the same fact, but it does
not afford even a plausible solution of the present question.
" If the difference in wages were solely occasioned by a differ-
ence in the rate of profit, whatever is lost by the labourer would be
gained by the capitalist, and the aggregate value in silver of a com-
modity produced by an equal expenditure of wages and profits, or,
in my nomenclature, by an equal sum of labour and abstinence,
would be every where the same ; and in that case, how could both
wages and profits be higher in North America than in England ?
" Taking North America as the standard, and that the value in
silver of the produce of a. year's labour of one man, his wages hav-
ing been advanced for a year, is two hundred and eighty ounces of
silver, the value in silver in Hindostan and in England, of the pro-
duce of a year's labour of one man, his wages having been advanced
for a year, would also be two hundred and eighty ounces, and as
the labourer receives only twenty-four ounces of silver in Hindostan,
and only one hundred and eighty ounces in England, the Hindoo
capitalist must receive, on the sum advanced by him in payment of
wages, a profit of more than two hundred and fifty -six ounces, or
above one thousand per cent, per annum ; and the English capitalist
more than one hundred ounces, being more than sixty per cent, per
annum, which we know to have no resemblance to the fact. If my
statements and suppositions as to the average wages of labour, and
the average profits of capital in England, Hindostan, and America
be correct, a commodity unaffected by any monopoly produced by
the labour of one man for a year, his wages having been advanced
for a year, must sell in Hindostan for from one pound two ounces,
to two pounds four ounces of silver ; that is, for from twelve to
twenty-four ounces as the wages of the labour, and from two to four
ounces as the profit of the capital employed. In England such a
commodity must sell for from about nine p6unds nine ounces, to
about sixteen pounds three ounces. In America for from fourteen
pounds to twenty-three pounds four ounces- In other words, the
same sum of labour and abstinence, or, in other words, the samt
P
06 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGJSS.
sacrifice of ease and of immediate enjoyment, obtains in America
twenty-three pounds four ounces; in England sixteen pounds three
ounces; and in Hindostan two pounds four ounces. And this differ*
encc is the phenomenon to which I am calling your attention.
u It has been attributed to the different prices, in silver, of neces-
saries. Provisions, it is said, are dearer, that is, exchange for more
silver in England than in France; therefore, the labourer must re-
ceive more silver to enable him to purchase them. But provisions
are cheaper in America than in England, and yet the labourer re-
ceives much less silver in England than in America. The produc-
tiveness of the worst soil cultivated, the period for which capital is
advanced, and the rate of profit being given, it is clear that the ave-
rage price in silver of corn, must depend on the average wages in
silver of labour, not the wages of labour on the price of corn. On
my hypothesis, that the services of an English labourer for a year,
his wages having been advanced for a year, are worth about nine
pounds nine ounces of silver, the corn produced by him in a year
on the worst land, his wages having been advanced for a year, must
be worth nine pounds nine ounces of silver, and cannot be perma-
nently worth either more or less. If his wages fall one-half, the rate
of profit remaining the same, the corn mast be worth four pounds
ten ounces and a half. If they double, it must be worth nineteen
pounds six ounces. But in all cases, the productiveness of the worst
land cultivated, the period for which wages are advanced, and the
rate of profit remaining the same, the average amount in silver of
wages must regulate the average value in silver of corn, and not the
value in silver of corn the amount of wages. To suppose the con-
trary, is in fact the vulgar error of putting the cart before the horse,
or mistaking the effect for the cause. To use Adam Smith's illus-
tration, ' It is not because one man keeps a coach while his neigh-
bour walks a-foot, that the one is rich and the other is poor; but
because the one is rich he keeps a coach, and because the other is
poor he walks a-foot'
M If the population of England should maintain its present rate of
advance ; if our numbers should continue to increase at the rate of
more than five hundred persons every twenty-four hours, and the
absolute prohibition of foreign corn, for which a violent faction is
now clamouring, should be conceded, there can be no question that
tven though wages should not rise, the price of corn would advance.
ESSAY OBT THE RATE OP WAGES. 67
The constantly increasing additional quantity which must be raised
to supply an annual addition of fifty thousand families, would be
raised at a constantly increasing proportionate expense. According
to the theory which I am considering, the wages of the labourer
would rise in proportion. For what purpose would they rise ? To
enable him to consume the same quantity as before, though the
whole quantity raised would bear a less proportion than before to the
whole number of producers ? On such a supposition wages might
be ten guineas a day, and corn ten guineas a peck. According to
the "present administration of our poor-laws, which allots to each
individual a definite quantity of corn, to be given by the landlord
as relief when not paid by the employer as wages, the whole amount
received by the labourer in the two forms of relief and wages might
rise, not indeed ad infinitum, but until it had absorbed the whole
amount of rent and tithes, had converted the landlords and clergy
into trustees for the poor. And this is the state of things which,
under the united influence of corn laws, even such as they are now,
poor laws, and an increasing population, seems gradually approach-
ing. But in the absence of poor laws, what reason would there be
for expecting a rise in wages ? Because the labourer would want
more? But would the labourer's wants give to the capitalist the
power or the will to pay him more? Does the Manchester manufac-
turer pay his fine spinners '30s. a week, and his coarse spinners 15*.
because the fine spinner eats twice as much as the coarse spinner?
He pays the fine spinner 30. because the produce f his labour is
worth 30s., and a further sum equal to the average profit obtained
by a manufacturing capitalist, and because, if he were to offer less,
other capitalists would engage his labourers, and his machinery
would stand idle. While the labourer's services are worth 30. he
will receive 30., whatever be the price of corn. To suppose the
contrary, is to consider the labourer not as a free agent, but as a
slave or domestic animal, fed not according to his value, but his ne-
cessities.
" All experience shows that in the case which I have been sap.
posing, the labourer's resource would be, not to raise his wages, but
to reduce his expenditure. He must first give up his weekly pit.
tance of animal food. He must drink his tea without sugar, and
surrender his pipe, and perhaps his4>eer. He must sink from wheat
to rye, or barley, or oatmeal, and from oatmeal to potatoes. He
must look on the wheat which he would raise, as he now does tib
68 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
the sheep and cattle that he tends, as a luxury beyond his enjoy-
ment. The price of corn if? nearly as high in Ireland as in England;
but have the wages of the Irish labourer risen to enable him to con-
sume It 1 Did the exportation of corn and cattle from Ireland cease
even during the rages of famine, and of pestilence occasioned by
famine 1
"The only mode by which I can account for the phenomena
which I have been describing is, by supposing that the countries
which have the precious metals to dispose of, either as producers,
or as having a temporary superfluity at their own current rate of
prices, are willing to give more than one-fourth more for the ex-
portable commodities produced by the labour of one North American
in a year, assisted by an advance of capital equal in value to his
wages for a given period,, than for the commodities produced by the
labour of one Englishman, and more than ten times as much as for
the commodities produced by the labour of one Hindoo, similarly
circumstanced. Or in other words, that the diligence and skill with
which English labour is applied, enables the English labourer to
produce in a year exportable commodities equal in value to those
produced in a year by eight Hindoos ; and that the diligence and
?kill with which North American labour is applied, inferior as they
are perhaps to our own, yet by the assistance of the fertile soil which
be cultivates, enable the North American labourer to produce ex-
portable commodities more than one-fourth more valuable than those
produced by t.' 10 Englishman in a given period, and more than ten
times more valuable than those produced by the Hindoo. Or to use
a still more concise expression, that labour in England is eight times
as productive of exportable commodities as in Hindostan, and labour
in North America is one-fourth more productive of exportable com-
modities than in England."
Having thus taken money wages as the measure
of production, without allowance for the effect pro-
duced by the mode of taxation in increasing their
apparent difference, Mr. Senior has fallen into the
error of supposing a much greater difference in the
reward of the labourer than really exists, as I pro-
pose to show. By the following statemeats the reader
ESSAY 017 THE RATJfi OF WAGES. 69
will be enabled to compare the rate of money wages
of England and the United States. I propose, on a
future occasion, to examine what is the amount of
real wages.
The number of persons employed in the cotton
manufacture of the" United States is thus stated in
the memorial of the New York Convention, 1832:
males, 18,539 ; females, 38>927; children, 4,691 ;
hand weavers, 4,760 ; in all, 66,917 ; total wages,
$ 10,294,944, equal to $3 or 12s. 6d. per week.
In the History of the Cotton Manufacture, by Mr.
Baines, (p. 511) the above amount of wages is taken,
but the children and hand weavers are omitted, by
which the number of operatives is reduced to 57,466,
and the wages are thereby made to appear to be
14s. lid. per week. Mr- Baines's reasoning in rela-
tion to the comparative wages of the United States
and England, is thereby vitiated.
It is to be regretted, that the gentlemen by whom
the report was drawn up, did not give the average
wages of men, women, and children. As they have
not done so, we must endeavour to estimate them.
18,539 men, at $5 per week, would be $98<695
38,927 women, at $2 p^ week,
4,691 children, at $1 75 per week,
4,760 hand weavers* at $4 per do*
$197,800
52 weeks, al $197,800 each, would be $10,285,600,
being nearly the amount given in the report
In the above, it will be observed, that only about
*F
70 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
seven per cent are termed children, and even those
are much above the age at which children are em-
ployed in England. At Lowell, the number employed
below 16 is very small, and none below 12. In the
Lawrence Factory at that place, out of 1000 females,
only 129 are below 17, and of the males there are 28
below that age. Deducting those over 16, those below
that age, or who may properly be styled children,
cannot exceed eight per cent of the whole number
employed, which is 1160.
In a summary of the returns to the questions of
the Factory Commissioners, of 151 owners of cotton
mills, in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire, for
five weeks, ending May 1833, it is stated, that out
of 48,645 persons employed, 20,084 are under 18
years of age. The average wages in these mills, are
10*. 5d..
In an estimate of the number of persons employed
in the cotton mills of England, the total number is
given at at 212,800,f of whom 43,703 are under 14
years of age, and 39,554 between 14 and 18. One
half of the latter being deducted, the total number
employed below 16 years, would be 63,480, or 30
per cent of the whole quantity. Notwithstanding
the vastly greater quantity of inferior labour thus
used, wages are estimated at 10s. 6d. per week, or
within two shillings of what was paid in the United
States in 1832.
Dr. James Mitchell was employed under the Fac-
tory Commissioners, to draw out tables, showing the
Baines, p. 371. t Ibid. p. 379.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 71
wages, health, &c. of the factory operatives) and the
results of some of the principal cotton mills, embrac-
ing 7614 operatives, are as follows: *
1415 males below 16 2355 males above 16
1278 females below 16 2566 females above 16
giving above 35 per cent, below the age at which
children are usually employed here. As wages differ
very much with age, and as it is to be supposed that
the efficiency of the labourer is in proportion to the
wages received, the only fair mode of comparing
those of the United States and England, is to strike
off all whose ages are below that at which they
are here employed. The average wages of persons
above 16, in those factories, as given by Dr. Mitchell,
are as follows :
2355 males, 16s. 3d.
2566 females, 8s.
4921 general average 12s.
or within 6d. as much as the average of the estimate
furnished by the New York Convention. It may be
said, that seven per cent of the labourers employed in
the United States being below 16, there should be
some allowance made therefor, but they are gene-
rally so little below that age, that any allowance
would have small effect upon the result.
The great disproportion that exists between the
two countries, in the employment of male and female
labour, cannot fail to strike the reader. In England,
the females exceed the males by only about 9 per
* Baines. p. 437.
72 ESSAY 0!T THE RATE OF WAGES.
cent, while in the United States they exceeded them*
agreeably to the above statement, by above 110 per
cent. Since that time, great improvements have
taken place in machinery, increasing the proportion
of females very greatly, as will hereafter be shown*
At first sight, it might be supposed that this should
cause wages to be lower here, the labour of men
being generally more productive than that of women,
and that this would be an offset to the number of
children employed in England. Such is not, however,
the case, women being employed here because every
thing is done to render labour productive, while there
a large portion of the power of the male operatives
is wasted.
By the above statement it is shown, that in the
United States there were only 4760 hand weavers in
the year 1832, and the number can hardly be sup-
posed to have increased. From the great influx of
emigrants from Ireland, it is probable that there will
be, for a long time to come, an equal number ; but
the modes of employment are so numerous, that a
large number must be annually absorbed. On the
1st January, 1835, there were in the town of Lowell
6051 power looms, or more, by nearly 300, than
the whole number of hand looms in this country.
The whole number of power looms in England,
in 1820, was 14,150 in 1829 it had risen to 55,500,
and is now supposed to be 85,000, which, with
15,000 in Scotland, would give a total of 100,000.*
During this time it is supposed that the number of
* Baines* p. 238.
ESSAY ON THE RATE Of WAGES. 73
hand looms has rather increased, and it is now esti-
mated at 250,000.
The condition of the weavers is thus described:
" The hand-loom weavers,' says Dr. Kay, speaking of those
living in Manchester, ' labour fourteen hours and upwards daily,
and earn only from five to seven or eight shillings per week. They
consist chiefly of Irish, and are affected by all the causes of moral
and physical depression which we have enumerated. Ill-fed, ill-
clothed, half-sheltered, and ignorant weaving in close, damp cel-
lars, or crowded, ill-ventilated workshops it only remains that
they should become, as is too frequently the case, demoralized and
reckless, to render perfect the portraiture of savage life.' The state-
ment that the weavers work fourteen or sixteen hours per day, has
been so often made, that it is now generally believed. The fact,
however, is, that they work these long hours only two or three days
in the week, and they generally, notwithstanding their poverty,
spend one or two days in idleness; their week's labour seldom ex-
ceeds fifty -six or fifty-eight hours, whilst that of the spinners is
sixty-nine hours. This irregularity on the part of the weavers is
to be ascribed in some degree to the wearisome monotony of their
labour, from which they seek refuge in company and amusement ;
and also to their degraded condition, which makes them reckless
and improvident"*
It may be asked, why they should continue in an
employment so degrading.
" These were the occasions and direct causes of the lamentable
fall in weavers' wages ; but their effects could not have been so
serious if there had not been permanent causes, belonging to the
nature of the employment itself. Of these, thejirat and grand cause
is, the easy nature of the employment. The weaving of calicoes is
one of the simplest of manual operations, understood in a few mo-
ments, and completely learnt in a few weeks. It requires so little
strength or skill, that a child eight or ten years of age may prac-
tise it A man brought up to any other employment may also very
shortly learn to weave. From the facility of learning the trade,
* Baines, p. 485.
74
and from its being carried on under the weaver's own roof r he natu-
rally teaches his children to weave as soon as they can tread the
treadles, if he cannot obtain places for them in a factory. Thus
they begin at a very early age to add to the earnings of the family,
and the wife also toils in the same way to increase their scanty
pittance. But it is obvious, that that which is only a child's labour,
can be remunerated only by a child's wages. There are large de-
partments of hand-loom weaving, which are almost entirely given
up to women and children, and their wages go far to regulate all
the rest. The men, where they are able, procure better kinds of
work ; and where they are not able, they must put up with the moat
paltry earnings.
The second cause for the low wages of weavers is, that their em-
ployment is in some respects more agreeable^ as laying them under
leu restraint than factory labour. Being carried on in their own
cottages, their time is at their own command : they may begin and
leave off work at their pleasure : they are not bound punctually to
obey the summons of the factory bell : if they are so disposed, they
can quit their loom for the public-house, or to lounge in the street,
or to accept some other job, and then, when urged by necessity,
they may make up for lost time by a great exertion. In short, they
are more independent than factory operatives ; they are their own
masters ; they receive their materials, and sometimes do not take
back the web for several weeks ; and what is a lamentable, but far
too common occurrence they have the power, in case of urgent
necessity or strong temptation, to embezzle a few cops of their em-
players' weft in order to buy bread or ale. All this makes the
weaver's occupation more seductive to men of idle,, irregular, and
dissipated habits, than other occupations. It is a dear-bought,
miserable liberty, but, like poaching or smuggling, it is more con-
genial to some tastes, than working under precise restrictions for
twice the remuneration. The mention of thio unquestionable fact
by no means implies a charge against the weavers, that they are
aft of loose habits and morals ; but it helps to account for many
continuing at the loom, notwithstanding- the wretchedness of their
circumstances."*
Various estimates have been made of the wages
of weavers, as will be seen by the following extract:
* Baines, p. 493.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 75
* The weekly wages of several classes of hand-loom cotton weavers,
in each year, from 1810 to 1825, have been given in a table at -p.
438; and their wages in 1832 are given in a table at p. 439. The
former states the wages of the weavers of calicoes at the astonish-
ingly low rate of 4s. 3d. in the year 1825 ; but these goofc were
chiefly woven by women and children. The latter table does not
mention the prices paid for calicoes ; but it shows that in 1832, the
average wages for weaving common checks, common nankeens, and
cambrics, all of which are woven principally by women and chil-
dren, were from 6s. to 6s. 6d., 7s., and 8s. ; the wages for fancy
checks, woven by men, were 7s. to 7s. 6d. ; and for fancy nankeens
and quillings, from 9s. to 12s., 13s., and even 15s. Mr. George
Smith, of the film of James Massey and Son, of Manchester, gave
evidence before Ui* Committee of the House of Commons on Manu-
factures, Commerce, &c., in July, 1833, that the weavers of calicoo*
in the neighbourhood of Burnley and Colne earned little more than
4s. per week net wages : these, however, were almost all children t
of the whole number of hand-loom cotton weavers in the kingdom,
which he estimated at 200,000, he supposed that 30,000 earned this
low rate of wages ; whilst the remaining 170,000 would only earn
6s. or 7s. a week : in the neighbourhood of Manchester he thought
the average would be 7s. Mr. John Makin, a manufacturer, of
Bolton, stated before the Committee of the Commons on Hand-loom
Weavers, in July, 1834, that a weaver of the kind of cambric most
commonly produced there, namely, a six-quarter 60-reed cambric,
120 shoots of weft in an inch, could only weave one piece in a week,
the gross wages for which were 5s. 6d. subject to a deduction of
about Is. 4d. Hugh Mackenzie, a hand-loom weaver of Glasgow,
informed the same Committee, that the average net wages of the
weavers of plain goods in that city and neighbourhood, would
scarcely amount to 5s. per week. Mr. William Craig, a manufac-
turer of handkerchiefs and ginghams at Glasgow, stated the net
wages of weavers in that department to be 4s. 6d. to 5s. a week ;
and Mr. Thomas Davidson, a manufacturer of fancy lappet goods
in that city, stated the wages of the plain weavers to be from 5s. to
5s. 6d. net on the average, and that the plain weavers were two-
thirds or three-fourths of all the hand-loom weavers in Scotland,
whilst the remaining one-third or one-fourth earned on an average
boot 8s. a week. On the proceedings of the Committee on Hud-
76 ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
loom Weavers, it may be observed, that the selection of the wit-
nesses, and the mode of examining them, show some disposition to
make out a case ; and the most unfavourable view of the weavers'
condition is presented."*
Wages must depend upon production, and the fol-
lowing statement will at once satisfy the reader, that
low as are those received by the weavers, they are
fully equal to their deserts as producers.
" ' A very good hand weaver, 25 or 30 years of age, will weave
two pieces of 9-8ths shirtings per week, each 24 yards long, con-
taining 100 shoots of weft in an inch; the reed of the cloth being
a 44 Bolton count, and the warp and weft 40 hanks to the Ib.
" ' In 1833, a steam-loom weaver, from 15 to 20 years of age,
assisted by a girl about 12 years of age, attending to four looms,
can weave eighteen similar pieces in a week; some can weave
twenty pieces.' "t
In a description of the cotton goods made in Lan-
cashire, at page 418 of Mr. Baines's work, it is stated,
that the only goods that are the product of the power-
loom exclusively, are stout printing calicoes. Stout
calicoes for domestic purposes, as sheetings, coarse
shirtings, &c., cotton shirtings, and small wares, are
said to be chiefly the product of the power-loom.
Cotton velvets, velveteens, &c., of power and hand-
looms ; but all other articles, including common print-
ing calicoes, are made at hand-looms.
Hence it will be seen, that hand-looms continue to
be used for the manufacture of the commonest arti-
cles; and while such is the case while human labour
undertakes to compete with machinery wages must
necessarily be low. In the extract above given, it
will be seen that two-thirds or three-fourths of the
Baines, p. 486. t Ibid p. 240.
ESSAY <Jfr THE RATE OF WAGES. 77
weavers in Scotland are employed in the production
of plain goods.
If one half of the hand-looms, or that portion of
them now employed in producing articles that could
be made by the power-loom, were set aside, and re-
placed by the necessary number of power-looms, and
females to attend them, the effect upon the average
of wages would be very great. There would be
125,000 persons, at the lowest rate of wages, with-
drawn, and replaced by a small number, at the highest
rate of female wages.
Hence it iS evident, that much of the apparent dif-
ference in wages arises from the misapplication of
labour in the weaving department, and I propose now
to show that a similar result is produced in the spin-
ning department.
The following is the account given by Mr. Baines
of the throstle, which is the latest improvement in
spinning machinery.
M Mr. Bannatyne thus describes this improvement: 'In the
throstle, the spinning apparatus is in every respect the same as in
Sir Richard Arkwright's frame, but the movement of the parts is
different In place of four or six spindles being coupled together,
forming what is called a head, with a separate movement by a pul-
ley and drum, as istoe case in the frame, the whole rollers and
spindles on both sides of the throstle are connected together, and
turned by bands from a tin cylinder lying horizontally under the
machine. The merit of the invention chiefly lies in the simplifica-
tion of the moving apparatus just mentioned. The movement is
not only rendered lighter, but greater facility is afforded for increas-
ing the speed of the machine, and consequently, when the nature
of the spinning admits it, for obtaining a larger production. The
throstle can also, with more ease, and at less expense, be altered to
pin the different grists of yarn ; only a few movements require to
78 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
be changed in it to produce this end, while in the spinning-frame
there are a great many.'
" Further improvements, which have the effect of increasing the
velocity of the spindles, and consequently of augmenting the quan-
tity of twist produced, have been made within the last few years
by American mechanics; but these machines cause a large quantity
of waste, and they are therefore by no means established in gene-
ral use as real improvements. Owing to these advantages the
greater quantity of twist produced, its consequent cheapness, and
its adaptation to the purpose of warps for power-loom cloth of the
coarser kinds it is probable that the throstles will come into use
more extensively than at present. For all the finer qualities of yarn
the mule is the only machine employed."*
"Some idea may be formed of the proportions- which these two
machines at present bear to each other in the extent of their adop-
tion, from the statement of mule and throstle spindles in Lanark-
shire, in November, 1831, made by Dr. Cleland, in his ' Enumeration
of the Inhabitants of Glasgow,' &c. The number of mule spindles
is stated to be 591,288, and of throstle spindles 48,900. p. 151."t
By the above it is seen, that at Glasgow, in 1831,
the number of throstles was only about one-twelfth
of the mule spindles. In one of the tables above re-
ferred to,J the whole number of persons employed in
mule spinning is given at 65,216, of whom more than
one-third are male adults, while the throstle spinners
are 7709 in number, and only 793 are male adults.
Three-fourths of the mule spinners are males, while
nearly three-fourths of the throstle spinners are fe-
males.
At Lowell, the mule is not in use in any of the fac-
tories. The throstle has been greatly improved, and
is now worked to great advantage, and the conse-
Baines, p. 208. t Ibid. p. 909. Note.
t Ibid. p. 379.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 79
quence is, that female labour here takes the place of
the male labour employed in England.
It will be seen by the following passage that the
throstle, where it has been introduced in England,
has had the effect of superseding the demand for the
labour not only of males, but of young children.
" The throstle, which hardly ever requires the operative to deviate
from the perpendicular posture, has for a great many years super-
seded entirely that machine" [the water frame]. "It is managed by
young persons from fifteen years of age and upwards, and does not
necessarily involve the employment of children. One girl is adequate
to superintend a throstle-frame of 220 spindles. From this great
factory department, therefore, children are in a great measure ex-
cluded."*
In the carding department, the difference in the
proportion of males and females employed is exceed-
ingly great, f Of 48,645 persons engaged in the cot-
ton manufacture, there were employed in the carding
rooms,
2350 male adults.
1328 males under 18 years.
Total, males, 3678
3501 female adults.
2578 females under 18 years.
Total, females, 6079
At Lowell, in the card rooms, are employed 13 or
14 males to 33 females; the latter exceeding the
former by 150 per cent, while in England the differ-
ence is only 65 per cent.
Ure, Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 362.
t Baines, p. 372.
80 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
The whole number of persons employed in the
carding rooms in England, is estimated* at 40,484,
of whom there were,
Male adults, 10,361
Children, 5,522
15,883
Female adults, 15,062
Children, 8,720
23,782
Age and sex uncertain, 819
40,484
In this case the difference is only 50 per cent.
Nearly all the most recent improvements of ma-
chinery have been made in the United States. That
such should be the case, will not appear extraordi-
nary, when it is recollected, that the best workmen
are to be found where the best wages are paid, and
as wages are highest in the United States, there is
every reason to suppose, that at least as high a degree
of intelligence prevails among the labouring classes,
as in any other country .f
Reference has before been made to the return of
Baines, p. 379.
t The following remark, made by a Frenchman in relation to the
English workmen, will perhaps apply with greater force to those
of the United States.
" M. Roman, delegate from Aleace to the Commission of Inquiry,
who has travelled in England to inspect our manufactures, said,
with much justice ' II y a, dans 1'ouvrier Anglais, un espece de
croisement du caractere Frar^ais ct du caractere Allemand, un me*
lange de Saxon et de Normand, qui lui donnc, en meine temps, l'at
Icntion et la vivaciteV "Baines, p. 513.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 81
151 cotton mills, in which it was shown, that of
48,645 there were 13,740 male adults, being about
27 J per cent, of the whole.* Of these, 927 are en-
gineers, firemen, &c., and the remainder are employ-
ed in the different processes of carding, spinning,
reeling, weaving, &c., nearly all of which is here
done by women. At Lowell, the proportion of male
adults does not amount to more than 12$ per cent.
It thus appears, that in every department of the
cotton manufacture, there is an economy of labour
greatly exceeding that of England, and that although
apparently rather more expensive, it is really more
productive. The effect of these improvements in the
price of female labour, is the most remarkable and
the most gratifying. By substituting it for that of
males, to the greatest possible extent, it has been ren-
dered so productive, that the wages received by fe-
males now average more than the average wages
paid to men, women, and children, in the cotton mills
of England.
Since the preparation of the report to the New
York Convention in 1832, there have been various
improvements in cotton machinery, the effect of
which has been to increase the rate of wages, by
rendering labour more productive. By a statement
prepared at Lowell by W. Austin, Esq., superin-
tendent of the Lawrence Factory, there were em-
ployed in the manufacture of cotton goods (exclusire
of the printing establishments) about 4800 females,
and 800 males. The average wages of the former
* Baincs, p. 371.
82 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
were $3 15, or 13s. Id. per week, and of the latter
$6 75, or 285. Id. average of the whole, $3 67,
or 15*. 4d. sterling, being considerably more than
the average of the English cotton mills, as given
above.
The factories at Lowell are, however, on the best
footing, and it would not be just to compare the
wages there paid with those of the ordinary mills of
England. I will therefore take some of those select-
ed by Mr. Baines, and enable the reader to make a
comparison between the wages there paid, and those
of Lowell.
Fine cotton spinners, in the employ of Mr. T.
Houlds worth, Manchester, received, in 1833, from
64s. to 65*. per week, out of which they paid their
piecers 21s. to 22*. 6d., leaving them from 33s. to
42s. per week.*
There are 111 spinners at present employed in the
mill ; their average net earnings 33s. 3d. per week.f
In the card room, males receive from 15s. to 30s.
per week. Females receive from 8s. 6d. to 12s.
Mechanics' wages, blacksmiths, turners, filers, or
machine makers, and fitters up, are now from 27s.
to 31s. per week.J
Spinners in the employ of Mr. Thomas Ashton, of
Hyde, earned, in 1832, from 20s. to 35s. Dressers
received 80s. 6d. Weavers, all of whom are employ-
ed in attending the power-loom, and are for the most
part young girls, average 12s. Deducting the young
Report of Commons Committee, quoted by Baines, p. 443.
t Ibid. I Ibid. p. 444. $ Ibid. p. 445.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 83
persons, who receive inferior wages, and who would
not be employed in this country, there can be little
doubt the average of wages paid by Mr. Ashton is
nearly as high as that of Lowell.
" The net wages of a cotton spinner have been
rarely under 30s. a week, the year round."*
Mr. George Royle stated on oath before the Fac-
tory Commissioners, that the whole of his spinners,
whose average weekly wages were 53s. 5d., turned
out for higher wages f
The average of wages of all persons, young and
old, at the mills of Messrs. Lees, in Gorton, is l2s.
per week.J
The improvements in machinery since 1832, have
materially increased the wages of spinners, as will
be seen by the following extract:
" In the year 1834, in two fine spinning-mills at Manchester, a
pinner could produce sixteen pounds of yarn, of the fineness of two
hundred hanks to the pound, from mules of the productive fertility
of three hundred to three hundred and twenty-four spindles, work-
ing them sixty-nine hours: and the quantity that he turned off in
sixty -nine hours more frequently exceeded sixteen pounds than fell
short of it. These very mules being in the same year replaced by
others of double power, let us analyze the result The spinner had
been accustomed to produce sixteen pounds of No. 200 yarn from
mules of the said extent. From the list of prices, it appears, that
in the month of May, he was paid 3s. dd. per pound ; which being
multiplied by sixteen, gives 54s. for his gross receipts, out of which
he had to pay (at the highest) 13*. for assistants. This leaves him
41. of net earnings. But soon thereafter his mules have their pro-
ductive power doubled, being re-mounted with six hundred and
* Ure. Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 280.
t Ure. p. 283. t Ure. p. 307.
84 ESSAY OK THE RATE OF WAGES.
forty-eight spindles. He now is paid 2s. 5d. per pound, instead of
3. &/. that is, two-thirds of his former wages per pound ; but he
turns off double weight of work in the same time, namely, thirty-
two pounds, instead of sixteen. His gross receipts are therefore 2s.
5d. multiplied into thirty-two, or 77s. 4<f. He now requires how-
ever Jive assistants to help him, to whom, averaging their cost at
St. a-piece per week, he must pay 258. ; or, to avoid the possibility
of cavil, say 27. Deducting this sum from his gross receipts, he
will retain 50. 4d. for his net earnings for sixty-nine hours' work,
instead of 41*., being an increase of 9. 4d. per week. This state-
ment of the spinner's benefit is rather under the mark than above
it, as might be proved by other documents, were it necessary.
Supplem. Fact. Report. Preface to Tables by J. W. Cowell, Esq."*
A statement of the weekly rates of wages paid in
March and April, 1832, gives, for
Spinners, men, 20s. to 25s.
Spinners, women, 10s. to 15s.
Stretchers, men, 25s. to 26s.
Dressers, men, 28s. to 30s.
Mechanics, 24s. to 26s.f
A statement of average net weekly earnings, of
different classes of operatives, in various cotton fac-
tories, May 1833, gives the following:
Carders, or overlookers, - 23s. 6rf.
Spinners, overlookers, - 29s. 3d.
Spinners, male and female, average, 25s. 8d.
Throstle spinners, overlookers, 22s. 4d.
Dressers, 27s. Qd.
Engineers, firemen, mechanics, &c. 20s. 6d.
Warpers, weavers, & roller coverers, 10s. Wd. to
12*. 3d. These are both male and female.J
Ure. p. 323. t Ibid. p. 439.
t Balnea, p. 436.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 85
From a statement of daily wages of persons em-
ployed in the cotton mills of Glasgow and its vicinity,
April 1832, compiled by Dr. Cleland, it appears that
men on piece work, at spinning, earn from 21s. to
27s. per week. Lads and girls earn from 12s. to 18s.
per week.*
" The Glasgow mills are, in productive power,
much in arrear of the Manchester ones, as is proved
by the circumstance of thirty or forty per cent, more
being paid for the same produce of yarn in the former
than in the latter place."f A necessary consequence
of this deficient production, is that the average of
wages is lower in Glasgow than in Manchester.
I am not possessed of information in regard to the
woollen trade, as copious as that furnished by Mr.
Baines's excellent work, but the improvements that
have been made in machinery in the United States
are very important, and have enabled the employers,
in like manner, to employ female labour for many
purposes for which male labour is still required in
England. The following statement will enable us to
see what is the proportion : " The statistics of the
woollen trade, at present, as far as they can be as-
certained, give us the following results : number of
manufactories, 1315 male operatives, 31,360 fe-
male operatives, 22,526."J
At the Middlesex woollen factory, in Lowell, the
number of females is 240, and of males 145, whereas
Report of Commons Committee, quoted by Balnea, p. 442.
t Ure. p. 328.
t London Athenaeum, July 4, 1835,
86 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
in England the number of the latter would be 336.
In the one case, the males exceed the females by 40
per cent, while in the other they are 40 per cent,
less in number.
The following extract will show the average rate
of wages paid in the woollen manufacture. Were
the children deducted, it cannot be doubted that the
rate would be nearly as high as that given by the
New York Convention, say 12*. 6d. per week.
" The woollen manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Leeds,
amount to about 20,000, working twelve hours per day, and may be
divided into three classes, viz. weavers, earning 14*. spinners and
slubbers, 21s., and dressers the same women gain about 6s. chil-
dren from eight to twelve years, 3s. to 5s. ; from twelve to sixteen
years, 6. to 8. Forty years since, the average wages of men, wo-
men, and children, in the woollen manufacture, were from 5s. to 6*.
each per week ; they are now from 9s. to 10s. per week." Leedt
Mercury, March 23d, 1833, quoted in Hist, of Middle and Working
Cloiset, p. 572.
The difference in the rate of wages paid in the wool-
len manufacture is remarkable. At Leeds, accord-
ing to a table furnished by Dr. Ure,* men between
the ages of 26 and 51 average from 225. to 22s. Qd.
In Gloucester, men of the same age average from
13s. to 15s. 3d. in Somerset, 16s. 3d. to 19s. 9d.
in Wiltshire, 13s. Id. to 15s. 5d. The latter counties
are in the south of England, where the abuses of the
poor laws have been carried to the greatest extent
The following statement will enable the reader to
see how regularly low wages accompany a high
poor's rate.
* Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 476.
ESSAY Off THE RATE Or WAGES. 87
Wage*. Poor's rate per head
of population, 1831.
Leeds, 22s. to 22s. Gd. 5s. Id.
Gloucester, 13s. to 15s. 3d. 8s. Sd.
Somerset, 16s. 9d. to 19s. 9d. 8s. 9d.
Wilts, 13s. 7rf. to 15s. 5rf. 16s. Qd.
The cause of these extraordinary differences is to
be found in the poor laws, which obstruct the circu-
lation of labour, and produce the effects described
in the following extract :
" * Were I to detail the melancholy, degrading, and ruinous sys-
tem which has been pursued throughout the country, in regard to
the unemployed poor, and in the payment of the wages of idleness,
I should scarcely be credited beyond its confines. In the generality
of parishes, from five to forty labourers have been without employ-
ment, loitering about during the day, engaged in idle games, insult-
ing passengers on the road, or else consuming their time in sleep,
that they might be more ready and active in the hours of darkness.
The weekly allowances cannot supply more than food ; how then
are clothing, firing, and rent to be provided ? By robbery and plun-
der; and those so artfully contrived and effected, that discovery has
been almost impossible. Picklocks have readily opened our barns
and granaries ; the lower orders of artificers, and even, in one or
two instances, small farmers, have joined the gang, consisting of
from ten to twenty men ; and corn has been sold in the market of
such mixed qualities by these small farmers, that competent judges
have assured me, it must have been stolen from different barns, and
could not have been produced from their occupations. Disgraceful
v these facts are to a civilized country, I could enumerate many
more, but recital would excite disgust' Report of the Poor Lait
Commissioners, p. 70, 8vo. edit"*
The average of carpet and hardware manufac-
turers, is 22s. 4d., or $5 36 per week.
Carpet Manufacturers, 1st class, 30s.
2d do. 23s.
3d da 20*.
Ure.p.353.
88 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
Hardware and Metal, 1st do. 25s.
2d do. 205.
3d do. 16s.
I think it must be evident to the reader, that any
difference in wages that may exist between England
and the United States, must arise out of its better
application in the latter. The perfection to which
machinery has been brought, enables the proprietor
to avail himself much more extensively of female
labour than is the case in Europe. The labour of
the females, as shown, is much more productive, and
they consequently receive higher wages. The males,
not being compelled to compete with machinery,
are enabled to apply their powers in other ways that
are more productive, and as a consequence, when
they marry, the necessity for the employment of their
wives* and young children in factories is unknown.
A further consequence is, that all parents have it in
their power to obtain education for their children,
and the children have time to receive it. A still fur-
ther consequence is, that the state of morals at Lowell,
Dover, Providence, and other places where extensive
factories exist, is such as is almost utterly unknown
in any other parts of the world, and constitutes a
phenomenon in the moral, equal to that of Niagara in
the natural world.f
* Of one thousand females in the Lawrence Factory at Lowell,
there are but eleven who are married. There are nineteen widows.
t The following passage from a statement furnished by a gentle-
man who has charge of one of the principal establishments in Lowell,
hows a very gratifying state of things. " There have only occurred
three instances in which any apparently improper connexion or inti-
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 89
The necessity for the passage of " Factory Bills,'*
does not exist in this country. In England, by inter-
ferences of all kinds, the parents are oppressed and
reduced to the necessity of sending their children to
work at the earliest possible age, and then it becomes
necessary to interfere anew, to prevent the children
from bearing too much of the burthen. In the United
States, on the contrary, it is so desirable to have
efficient hands, that the owners are not disposed
to employ children at too young an age, and thus,
macy had taken place, and in all those cases the parties were mar-
ried on the discovery, and several months prior to the birth of their
children ; so that, in a legal point of view, no illegitimate birth has
taken place among the females employed in the mills under my di-
rection. Nor have I known of but one case among all the females
employed in Lowell. I have said known I should say heard of
one case. I am just informed that that was a case where the female
had been employed but a few days in any mill, and was forthwith
rejected from the corporation, and sent to her friends. In point of
female chastity, I believe that Lowell is as free from reproach as
any place of an equal population in the United States or the world."
At the great establishment at Dover, New Hampshire, I have
been assured there has never been a case of bastardy.
Let this be compared with the statements of the Poor Law Com-
missioners, and it will go far to show that the means which tend to
promote the increase of wealth, tend also to the promotion of mo-
rality, and, as a necessary consequence, of happiness. There can
be no doubt, that with a different system, there would in time arise,
in the factories of England, a similar state of things. There are,
even now, some similar cases to be found in England, proving how
much good may be done where the owners are disposed to do what
is in their power to promote the cause of morality.
" Amongst the great numbers of factory operatives employed under
this gentleman, [William Grant Esq., at Rumsbottom,] only one case
of female misconduct has occurred in the space of twenty years, and
that was a farmer's daughter." Ure, p. 416. Note,
90 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
while the excellent situation of the labourer renders
it unnecessary, the interest of the employer would
tend to prevent it, should idleness or dissipation lead
the parent to desire it.*
Owing to the system of making up wages out of
the poor rates, it is exceedingly difficult to ascertain
what is usually paid to the agricultural labourer, but
I find in the Report of the Poor Laws Commissioners,
that in 1832, wages at Eastborne were 2s. per day;
at Brede 2s. 3d. per day, winter and summer ; at
Northian and Ewhurst the same.
The following extract will show the wages paid
to common labourers at the Docks in London.
" What are the wages of permanent and extra ? The wages of a
permanent labourer are 1 6s. per week ; extra labourers 2s. 6d . per
day, the latter being only employed according to the demands of the
ervice.
" Is there ever any insufficiency felt of English labourers? There
* The following passage from a late English journal, serves to
show the inefficacy of legislative interferences. In the endeavour
to avoid Scylla, they are sure to fall upon Charybdis.
" Mr. Brotherton lias brought before Parliament a grievance
which 6ught to obtain an immediate cure. The public are scarcely
aware that children under eleven are required to produce a certifi-
cate of their age from a surgeon ; still less do they know that thia
aurgeon is empowered to exact sixpence for each certificate; or that
when the child, as is frequently the case, is transferred from one
factory to another, a fresh certificate is necessary. The children
of Manchester alone have thus been taxed, within a twelvemonth,
to the extent of 520/. In two districts, the sum of 4000Z. has been
thus wrung from the wages of the children within eleven months!
These harsh, these monstrous truths are contained in returns laid
before the House of Commons. Will that House close its labours for
the year, without terminating a system of spoliation that amounts
to sacrilege ?"
ESSAY COX THE RATE OF WAGES. 91
is; without the aid of the Irish and some Germans, the business of
the docks would at times be impeded." Evidence of John Hall, Se-
cretary of St. Katherine's Dock, fyc., before the Poor Laws Commit-
toner*.
Two shillings and three pence per day is equal to
$ 170 per annum. An agricultural labourer in the
United States receives nine dollars per month, equal
to $ 108 per annum, and his board, estimated at $ 65,
making $ 173. In the immediate vicinity of the prin-
cipal cities, wages are somewhat higher, being fre-
quently ten, and sometimes eleven dollars per month.
The cost of boarding is also somewhat higher. The
price given above would be considered a fair one at
the distance of twenty or thirty miles from those
cities. At greater distances they frequently do not
exceed $ 8, so that nine dollars may be considered
as a fair average price.
The following is given in the History of the Mid-
dle and Working Classes, as an evidence that wages
are " still lower in Scotland than in Lancashire" It
will be recollected, that Lancashire is the head quar-
ters of the hand weavers, whose situation has been
described.
"At Dumfries hiring market, on Wednesday,
healthy, unmarried men, who understood their busi-
ness, commanded readily 6 for the half year, with
board and lodging, and, in some instances, the pounds
were made guineas. Dairy maids and others were
hired at from 50*. to 55s., according to character,
capability, and experience ; but the former was most
common." Here we find wages from 56 to 60 dol-
lars per annum, with board and lodging, while the
92 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
same labourer would obtain here $ 108 with board
and lodging, making a difference of $ 50 per annum,
or about 96 cents per week, between this country
and Scotland, in a case that is adduced as an evi-
dence of the extremely low rate of wages, and where
the taxes on consumption must be paid by the em-
ployer. When those taxes are added, it will be found
that the cost of labourers is not probably 50 cents
per week less than in the United States. The female
servant has from 5 to 5 10s., being an average
of $ 25 40, or about 50 cents per week. In this case,
the difference is considerable, although but a few
years since good female servants could readily be
had at 75 cents. Adding to the wages of the Scot-
tish lass, the taxes on consumption, the difference
will be very much lessened.
The average of the wages of carpenters, brick-
layers, masons, and plasterers, as given in the con-
tract prices of Greenwich Hospital, by Mr. M'Cul-
loch, has been, for many years, 5s. Gd. per day, equal
to $ 1 32. The wages of similar persons in Phila-
delphia, as already given, (p. 26,) average about the
same sum.
The Wages of domestic servants, I believe, are
higher in London than in any city of this country.
By the following extract it will be seen that 15 is
given as the wages of female servants. This is much
above the average here.
" There are, perhaps, no services which, in England, are more
amply remunerated than those of domestic servants. While all other
classes have suffered a great depreciation during the last twenty
years, the wages paid to domestic servants have undoubtedly in-
creased. The ordinary items of the expenditure of this class have
ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES. 93
also very considerably diminished ; the cost of clothing, which, we
presume, constitutes the chief disbursement of female domestic ser-
vants has diminished, since the peace, at least 80 per cent. Hence
the 15 now paid as yearly wages, is equivalent to 27 twenty
years since. The number of female servants in Britain is upwards
of 700,000 ; and if their ages were calculated, we do not doubt it
would be found that two-thirds of all the British damsels between
the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, are domestic servants ; yet, not-
withstanding this immense supply of female labourers, the demand
is superior to it ; their wages rise and their prosperity is strikingly
evinced by their elegant garments and costly decorations. Male
servants are not so numerous, yet the demand is superior to the sup-
ply ; and the services of a footman, gratuitously educated at the
parish school, already command an equal remuneration, and promise
to command a higher price than the services of a curate, who has
expended large sums in the acquirement of classic lore at the uni-
versities."*
From the above it is evident that there is not the
difference that has been supposed in the amount of
money wages received by the labourers of England
and the United States. At page 63 it will be seen
that Mr. Senior estimates wages in Great Britain at
an average of 35 per annum, and in the United
States and Canada at 46 13s. per annum. The
lowest weekly wages in the former he puts at 10*.
per week, the highest 17s., and the average 13*. Qd.
In the United States and Canada, the lowest is 13*.
6rf., the highest 22s. 6rf., and the average 18s. By
the statements given above it has been seen that the
average wages of males and females above 16 in a
cotton factory, in which more than half are females,
are 12s., nearly equal to his average of men's wages.
* Browning's Political and Domestic Condition of Great Britain,
p. 413.
94 ESSAY OW THE RATE OF WAGES.
It has also been shown that the wages of agricultural
labour in some parts of England, are 2s. 3d. per day,
equal to the average wages stated by Mr. Senior.
It is very true that in a large portion of England not
more than 10s. are paid as wages, but to that must
be added the parish allowance, which would make
it equal to what is paid elsewhere.* Even in Scot-
land, where wages are exceedingly low, it is shown
that from six pounds to six guineas the half year is
paid, and if to that be added Qs. per week for board,
the whole will exceed 10s. In Wade's History of
the Middle and Working classes (p. 538,) the average
of husbandry wages is stated at 12s. If this be cor-
rect, the whole average must certainly very much
exceed 13s. 6d.
The average of carpet and hardware manufac-
turers is 22s. 4d. per week of carpenters, brick-
layers, masons, &c., 33s. per week. Is it possible
that such wages could be obtained when the ave-
rage of men's wages was only 13s. 6d. 1 I believe
it is not
It is probable that a much nearer average of wages
will be found at 18s. per week, or 72 cents per day.
* Judging from the following statement, we might suppose the
rate of agricultural wages fully equal to the deserts of the labourers..
" Good ploughmen art, not to be found. The labourers say they
do not care to plough, because that is a kind of work which, if ne-
glected, will subject them to punishment, and if properly done re-
quires constant attention ; and the lads do not even wish to learn.
Nine able-bodied young men were in the workhouse last winter ;
uch was their character, that they were not to be trusted with,
threshing." Report f Poor Lava Commissioners, p. 70.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
That of the United States is perhaps a little higher,
but the difference cannot, I think, exceed 8 or 10
per cent., and arises entirely out of the superior ap-
plication of labour.*
* The following statements, omitted in their proper places, give
a view of the operations of two factories of the highest character,
south of New England, and show a nearer approach to the condi-
tion of the average English factories, than is to be found at Lowell.
Average wage*.
The first is a cotton mill, employing 65 men, $ 7 70
148 females, 2 81
98 children, 1 50
Average wages $3 41, or 14. 2d. Here it will be observed, that
the proportion of men is nearly 20 per cent. ; about 30 per cent, are
children ; and less than one half are women. In the English mills
referred to at page 71, 31 per cent, are men, 36 per cent children,
and about one-third women.
Average wage*.
The second is a uoollen mill, employing 44 men, $6 25
57 females, 2 50
39 children, 1 25
Average wages $3 33, or 13s. lOd. If the children be equally di-
vided between the sexes, there will be 64 males, and 76 females.
At Lowell, in the woollen manufacture, 64 males would give 106
females, while in England there would be only 39.
It is probable that the machinery in these mills is not so perfect
as that of the Lowell mills, which will account for difference of
production and difference of wages. The improvements of the
present times, tend very much to reducing the demand for children
and men, and increasing that for young women, a change that can-
not be otherwise than advantageous.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
CHAPTER VII.
IF Mr. Senior is in error as to the amount, he is not
less so, I think, as to the causes, of difference. He
admits himself to be unable to account for it, except
by ascribing it to British superiority in industry and
skill. There is here a want of precision in the use of
the word " skill." It is well known that it is not want
of skill in the management of the miserable tools he
possesses, that affects the Hindoo. On this head,
Bishop Heber says :
" Nor is it true that in the mechanic arts they are inferior to the
general run of the European nations. Where they fall short of us,
which is chiefly in agricultural implements, and the mechanics of
common life, they are not, so far as I have understood of Italy and
the South of France, surpassed in any degree by the people of those
countries. Their goldsmiths and weavers produce as beautiful fab-
rics as our own, and it is so far from true that they are obstinately
wedded to their old 'patterns, that they show an anxiety to imitate
our models, and do imitate them successfully. The ships built by
native aitists at Bombay are notoriously as good as any which sail
from London or Liverpool. The carriages or gigs which they sup-
ply at Calcutta are as handsome, though not as durable as those of
Longacrc. In the little town of Monghyr, three hundred miles
from Calcutta, I had pistols, double-barreled guns, and different
pieces of cabinet work, brought down to my boat for sale, which in
outward form, for I know no further, nobody but perhaps Mr.
could detect to be of Hindoo origin, and at Delhi in the shop of a
native jeweller, I found broaches, ear-rings, snuff-boxes, &c., of the
latest models, (so far as I am a judge,) and ornamented with French
devices and inottos."
From this it will be seen that it is not skill, but
capital, in the form of improved tools, and other aids
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES.
to industry, that is wanting, and if the Hindoo did
not possess very considerable skill in the manage-
ment of such as he has, it would not be possible for
him to pay the enormous assessments of the Company.
Labour is said to be dearer in America than in
England, because of the superior capital in land ; but
if such be the case, why would it not be as correct
to say that it is cheaper in Hindostan because of the
inferior capital in land, as well as of tools with which
it is to be wrought? If superior capital give superior
wages, we may well believe that inferior capital will
give inferior wages. Superior capital in land is deem-
ed sufficient to make amends for deficient skill in the
American, enabling him to earn even higher wages
than the Englishman ; but if it produce so much effect,
why should not a similar effect be produced in Russia,
which, with an European population of forty-two mil-
lions, has twelve times as much European territory
as Great Britain and Ireland, with a population of
twenty-two millions? Or why are not wages as high
in Brazil, with its immense territory and limited popu-
lation? Or why should not the abundance of capital
in other shapes, existing in England, have an equal
effect? Her lands are in a high state of cultivation ;
the amount of capital invested in turnpikes, and rail-
roads, and canals, is immense ; and steam, with its
mighty power, is used to an extent almost incredible.
Her mines of iron, lead, tin, copper, and coal, are abun-
dant, and highly productive; mills and machinery of
every description abound, and are of the first order,
and circulating capital, with which to work them, is
abundant, at a low rate of interest In this country,
*H2
ESSAY OK THE RATE OF WAGES.
land, and mines of iron, gold, lead, and coal are abun-
dant; but circulating capital is scarce, and while it
remains so, much of this important machinery is of no
more use for present purposes than the mill to the man
who has used his whole credit and capital in erecting
it, and is unable to command the means with which to
put it in operation, as has not unfrequentty occurred*
So scarce is this description of capital in many part*
of this country, that it is not unfrequently worth from
twelve to twenty-four per cent, per annum, and in
some of the states, the legal rate of interest is ten
per cent, Mr. S. has certainly erred in supposing
the difference of wages to arise from this cause, and
if there be inferiority in point of skill, it must be com-
pensated in some other way,
I say if there be inferiority of skill, not being at all
prepared to admit such to be the case. On the con-
trary, my impression, as stated at the close of the
last chapter, is that labour is more advantageously
applied in the United States than in England. In
making a comparison between two countries, it is
necessary to take some pursuit in which both are
fairly engaged, as it would not do to compare a flutist
and violin player, and attribute superior skill to the
latter, because the former could not handle the bow;
nor to the native of Hindostan, because he displayed
more ability in the management of a rice plantation,
than an Englishman who had but recently seen one.
In what does this superior skill consist ? Is it in
agriculture ? The farmer of the United States would
be most unwilling to exchange his implements for
those of England ; all that he uses are calculated to
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
save labour in a much greater degree, and he would
lose much by relinquishing the cradle for the reaping
hook, or the horse-rake for the hand-rake.*
Is it in the manufacture of flour? Oliver Evans is
the first authority in the world on this subject, and
his book is studied in England, while it has been
translated on the continent, and is adopted every
where. Is it in the manufacture of cotton goods?
The English journalists tell us that all the recent im-
provements have been sent from this country to Eng-
land. Is it in navigation? Compare the number of
English vessels engaged in the trade between the
two countries, and the question will be answered; or
compare the number of vessels engaged in the whale
fishery, when it will be found that the American ships
triple those of England. Or remark the fact, that
with her immense trade with all the world, with her
great empire in India, there is nothing in England to
compare with the lines of packet ships between the
United States and Europe. Is it in steam navigation?
Compare the steam vessels of the several countries,
and it will not long be a matter of question.
I am disposed to believe that Mr. Senior himself
* The following extract will show the difficulty that exists in in-
troducing into England improvements in agricultural machinery.
" Instances, nevertheless, have been frequent, of farmers being
obliged to use the scythe instead of the sickle. Though the resort-
ing to this instrument has, on all occasions, excited the ill will of
the labourers to a very dangerous extent, for the scythe is a most
powerful and efficient instrument, and it is thought that if brought
into use would extinguish the usual harvest earnings." Report
Ptor Lawi Commissioners. Evidence of Mr. Chadwiek.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
would withdraw the claim of superior skill, and admit
that in every pursuit in which the people of the United
States have been, or are, fairly and fully engaged,
there is no deficiency such as he has supposed, re-
quiring superior capital in land to make amends for it.
The question now arises : what is the cause of the
difference in the productive powers of the nations to
which we have referred? Why is it that a man la-
bouring on the shores of the Ganges cannot obtain
an equal amount of the comforts of life with another
labouring on the banks of the Thames or the Dela-
ware? Why is the labourer in the vicinity of Calcutta
barely able to exist, while another in the neighbour-
hood of Philadelphia or New York can accumulate
capital? Why is it that when the labourer of Calcut-
ta is content with a handful of rice per day, he does
not drive the American labourer out of the markets
of South America, open to both, upon equal terms,
and with little difference of freight ? Why is it that
he cannot even hold his own market for the sale of
his cottons?
The answer is, that the system of government of
Hindostan tends to prevent the growth of capital,
while that of England, and still more, that of the
United States, tends to promote it. Upon capital de-
pends production ? upon production depends wages.
Where production is small, wages cannot be other-
wise than low.
If capital increase more rapidly than population,
the ratio of production, or revenue, to population*
will increase, and wages will rise; but if popula-
tion increase more rapidly than capital, the eon->
ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
trary effect must be produced, and wages must
fall. The experience of the United States shows
how much more rapidly capital may increase than
population, when security of person and property
are obtained at moderate cost of government, while
that of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and France,
shows that the tendency so to do, is too great to be
prevented, even by the lavish expenditure of those
nations. In Spain and Turkey, mis-government has
been carried so far as to prevent it; but it is doubtful,
if in any other part of Europe such is the case. With
these exceptions, Europe, and certainly the United
States and Canada, may be cited in proof of the as-
sertion, that capital has a tendency to increase mare
rapidly than population, and that it will do so, when
not prevented by disturbing causes, the most import-
ant of which are,
First. Insecurity of person and property.
Second. Heavy taxation.
Third. Restrictions upon the freedom of action,
or of trade.
All tending to produce the
Fourth. Want of industry.
All of which it is proposed to consider, with refer-
ence particularly to England, the United States, and
Hindostan.
In his Lectures on Wages, Mr. Senior adverts to
two of the above disturbing causes, restraints upon
commerce and difference of industry, but he does not
notice the others, which are of the utmost importance.
o2
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST among these causes is insecurity of person
or property, or both, as where these exist improve-
ment can hardly be hoped for. The beneficial effect
of security is well described by Mr. M'Culloch in the
following passage, and he does not attach to it more
importance than it merits.
" The immediate cause of the rapid increase and vast amount of
the commerce of Great Britain, is doubtless to be found in the ex-
traordinary extension of our manufactures during the last half cen-
tury. To inquire into the various circumstances that have contri-
buted to the astonishing development of the powers and resources
of industry that has been witnessed in this country since Arkwright
and Watt began their memorable career, would be alike inconsistent
with our object and limits. There can be no question, however, that
freedom and security freedom to engage in every employment, and
to pursue our own interest in our own way, coupled with an inti-
mate conviction that acquisitions, when made, might be securely
enjoyed or disposed of, have been the most copious sources of our
wealth and power. There have only been two countries, Holland
and the United States, which have, in these respects, been placed
under nearly similar circumstances as England : and, notwithstand-
ing the disadvantages of their situation, the Dutch have long been,
and still continue to be, the most industrious and opulent people of
the continent while the Americans, whose situation is more fa-
vourable, are advancing in the career of improvement with a ra-
pidity hitherto unknown. In Great Britain we have been exempted
for a lengthened period from foreign aggression and intestine com-
motion ; the pernicious influence of the feudal system has long been
at an end; the same equal burdens have been laid on all classes; we
have enjoyed the advantage of liberal institutions, without any ma-
terial alloy of popular licentiousness or violence; our intercourse
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
with foreign states has, indeed, been subjected to many vexations
and oppressive regulations; but full scope has been given taihe com-
petition of the home producers; and, on the whole, the natural order
of things has been less disturbed amongst us by artificial restraints,
than in most other countries. But without security, no degree of
freedom could have been of any material importance. Happily,
however, every man has felt satisfied, not only of the temporary,
but of the permanent tranquillity of the country, and the stability
of its institutions. The plans and combinations of the capitalists
have not been affected by any misgivings as to what might take
place in future.
" Moneyed fortunes have not been amassed, because they might be
mere easily sent abroad in periods of confusion and disorder; but all
individuals have unhesitatingly engaged, whenever an opportunity
offered, in undertakings of which a remote posterity was alone to
reap the benefit No one can look at the immense sums expended
upon the permanent improvement of the land, on docks, warehouses,
canals, &c., or reflect for a moment on the settlement of property
in the funds, and the extent of our system of life insurance, without
being impressed with a deep sense of the vast importance of that
confidence which the public have placed in the security of property,
and, consequently, in the endurance of the present order of things,
and the good faith of government Had this confidence been im-
perfect, industry and invention would have been paralyzed; and
much of that capital, which clothes and feeds the industrious classes,
would never have existed. The maintenance of this security entire,
both in fact and in opinion, is essential to the public welfare. If it
be anywise impaired, the colossal fabric of our prosperity will
crumble into dust; and the commerce of London, like that of Car-
thage, Palmyra, and Venice, will, at not a very remote period, be
famous only in history. It is, therefore, of the utmost consequence,
that in introducing the changes which the wants and -altered cir-
cumstances of society require should be made in the frame of our
polity, nothing be done to impair,- but every thing to strengthen,
that confidence and security to which we are mainly indebted for
the high and conspicuous place we have long occupied- among the
nations of the oarth."
In the United States equal security has existed.
Their -Course has been peaceful, and they have known
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
nothing of the calamities of war since the peace of
1783, except for a short period, and even then it was
confined to a very small portion of the country. Con-
fiding in the protection of the laws, capitalists have
invested their fortunes in mills and machinery ; in
canals and rail roads. The most gigantic projects
have been started ; many of them have been com-
menced, and several completed. No enterprise seems
too great, and capital is always to be found when it
can be shown that the investment will be profitable.
The capitalists of Europe, feeling the same confi-
dence, make investments in the stocks of our canals,
rail roads, and banks, thus aiding in giving employ-
ment to the population, which ignorance of the true
principles of political economy drives to our shores.
In India, on the contrary, security of person or
property has never been known. Since the Mahom-
medan Conquest the country has at all times been
desolated by the march of immense armies. At
one time by the invading hosts of a Tamerlane;
at others by those of a Baber or Nadir; at all
times by the contending forces of opposite factions,
always existing in a country where the succession
to the throne is irregular, and its possession uncer-
tain; and where it is constantly the object of conten-
tion among fathers and children ; brothers and cou-
sins ; sovereign and subject. The history of India
is a long scene of horrors, marked only by the " in-
cessant plunder and devastation of provinces : the
perpetual marching and counter-marching of armies,
and their lawless predatory habits." Nothing more
fully illustrates the state of society, than the fact of
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
the existence in their language, of two such terms as
" Wulsa" and " Joar," describing, in single words,
scenes so unusual in other countries, that no term
has been invented for them. The following account
of them is fim Rickards's India.*
** Illustrations of the manners and immemorial habits of a people
are sometimes unexpectedly derived from a careful attention to the
elements or structure of their language. On the approach of a hos-
tile army, the unfortunate inhabitants of India bury under ground
their most cumbrous effects, and each individual, man, woman, and
child above six years of age, (the infant children being carried by
their mothers,) with a load rf grain proportioned to their strength,
issue from their beloved homes, and take the direction of a country,
(if such can be found,) exempt from the miseries of war: sometimes
a strong fortress ; but more generally of the most unfrequented hills
and woods, where they prolong a miserable existence, until the de-
parture of the enemy ; and if this should be protracted beyond the
time for which they had provided food, a large portion necessarily
dies of hunger. The people of a district thus deserting their homes,
are called the Wulsa of the district. A state of habitual misery,
involving precautions against incessant war, and unpitying depre-
dations of so peculiar a description, as to require in any of the lan-
guages of Europe a circumlocution, is expressed in all the languages
of the Deccan and the south of India, by a single word.
u The second fact is, the shocking ceremony of the Joar, of which
some instances have been above given. We have seen that the Hin-
doos, when driven to despair by the Mussulman arms, were in the
habit of sacrificing their own wives and children, by burning alive,
or otherwise destroying them, to avoid the barbarities and pollutions
they would have to endure, by falling into the hands of their con-
querors. From facts like these it is to conceive how dreadful must
have been the fate of the sufferers ; whilst the name or appellation
it obtained throughout India, proves the cruelty to have been of no
* India ; or ficta submitted to illustrate the Character and Con-
dition of the Native Inhabitants. By R. Rickards, Esq. 2 vols.
8ro. London: 1832.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
unfirequent occurrence. Even the horrors of the Inquisition in the
west, are not to be compared with those of an eastern Joar. In the
former, individuals only suffered, and generally under the consola-
tory hope that their temporary pangs would be rewarded by a happy
eternity; but in the latter, thousands at a time were sacrificed, and
with no other feeling at the moment than the conviction that the
sparing of their lives would only be to expose them to greater cruel-
ties."
The last century- was marked by the invasion of
Nadir Shah, attended with an extraordinary destruc-
tion of life and of property. Independently of all that
Was destroyed, it was estimated that he carried with
him into Persia, gold and silver and jewels to the
almost incredible amount of thirty-two millions of
pounds sterling. Shortly previous to that invasion,
Sevajee had laid the foundation of the Mahratta
power, which continued, during the whole of that
century, and until its final overthrow by the Marquis
of Hastings, to spread havoc and desolation through-
out India. Some idea may be formed of the effect
of the operations of such a body from the following:
The characters of the Mahrattas throughout all these transac-
tions, have been that of the most rapacious plunderers. Their pre-
datory habits are quite proverbial, and their conquests were in a
great measure effected by laying waste the countries through which
they passed. When, therefore, it is considered, that in their first
triumphs over the Moguls, they demanded and exacted, where they
could, a chout, or fourth, of the revenues ; that they obtained from
the Emperor, as before mentioned, a formal grant of this tribute,
with power themselves to levy it on the disaffected provinces ; that
is, the vice royalties which had shaken off the imperial authority ;
the reade^ may judge of the state of misery and oppression to which
the inhabitants of these devoted countries must have been reduced,
who were thus subject to threefold plunder and extortion ; first, of
ESSAY ON THE BATE OF WAGES. 87
the imperial armies from Delhi, who still continued to carry off Vast
contributions from the DMfccan ; secondly, of their local Mussulman
governors ; and thirdly, of their equally insatiate Mahratta invaders.
The march of a Mahrttarmy is generally described as desolating
the country through which it passes, on either aide of its route,
which may thus easily be traced by ruined villages and destroyed
cultivation. They plunder as they mo var along, seizing l>y violence
or by treachery, on all that is valuable, o* any way conducive to
their present security or ulterior views. Sevajee's depredations in
this way were excessive ; so that *t his death his treasuries and arse-
nals were stocked even to exuberance. Among other acts of the
kind, he plundered the rich city of Surat three different times; on
one of which occasions only, his booty was estimated at one million
sterling. In his celebrated incursion into Drauveda, now called th
Carnatic, he is said to have carried off vast wealth ; but the best
proof, as well as the most characteristic trait of his unbounded and
indiscriminate depredations is, that he was at length distinguished
by the appellation of " The Robber," which was applied to him as
an exclusive and appropriate title." Richards, Vol. i. 236.
The Pindarees were another description of plun-
derers, thus described :
" It is a remarkable proof of the anarchy and tyranny long preva-
lent in India, and of the deplorable statf of its inhabitants, that a
power like that of the Pindarees should have grown into Mich for-
midable dimensions in the very heart of the country; and spreading
terror through all the neighbouring states, should require for its
suppression one of the largest British armies that was ever called
into the field. There are authentic records of the existence of Pin-
darees, as a marauding body, for upwards of a century. * *
Their ranks were constantly replenished with vagrants of all castes,
and from every quarter of India; men driven from their homes by
oppression, despair, or famine, to seek a precarious subsistence by
plunder. * * *
u Their incursions into the British territories were so frequent,
and their devastations so extensive, as to require a military force to
be annually employed against them. Their progress wa generally
marked by smoking ruins, and the most inhuman barbarities to pei-
sons of both sexes.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
" Marquis Hastings observes of the Pindarees, ' Whto it is rc
collected that the asso<Sa,tion in question consisted of above 30,000
mounted men, all professedly subsisting 1 by plunder, the extent of
theatre necessary to furnish an adequate prey may be well con-
ceived. The whole of the Nizam's subjects, as well as the inhabi-
tants of the northern circars of the Madras presidency, were con-
stantly exposed to devastation. It was not rapine alone, but unex-
ampled barbarity, that marked the course of the spoilers. Their
violation of the women, with circumstances of peculiar indignity,
which made multitudes of the victims throw themselves into wells,
or burn themselves together in straw huts, was invariable ; and they
subjected the male villagers to refined tortures, in order to extract
disclosure* where their little hoards of money were buried.' **-*
Richards, i. 260.
The French and English nations were also con-
tending "for the sovereignty of that vast country,
stirring up wars among the natives, that they might
profit thereby. The native princes themselves, among
the most distinguished of whom were Hyder and his
son Tippoo, were plundering their subjects to obtain
the means of waging war with their neighbours,
either for the purpose of retaining or extending their
dominions. In short, war, pestilence, and famine
stalked abroad, with poverty, and misery, tod wretch-
edness in their train.
On a smaller scale, for where all are plunderers,
there must be some of an inferior order, was what is
called Decoity, or gang robbery, another of the in-
flictions upon this unfortunate country. Recruits
were never wanting for the Deceits, or the Pindarees,
or any other robbers, for misery and want were con-
stantly driving the people from the homes of their
fathers, to seek by plundering others, to make amends
for having been plundered. " Murder, robbery, rape
and torture in the most barbarous shapes, were the
constant practice of these Decoits. Nothing was
more Usual with them than fo bind up persons in
straw, hemp, or quilts moistened with oil, and to burn
them alive to force a discovery of hidden treasures.''
Richards, ii. 207. The judge of the Calcutta Cir-
cuit says, June 13, 1808, " If its vast extent were
known, if the scenes of horror, the murders, the
burnings, the excessive cruelties which are continu-
ally perpetrated here, were properly represented to
Government, I am convinced some measures would
be adopted to remedy the evil. * * * It cannot
be denied that there is in fact no protection for per-
sons or property." This too was in Bengal, in the
fticinity of Calcutta, the earliest and most important
possession of the Company !
The police were little better, if we may judge from
an extract from a letter of Mr. Secretary Dowdes-
wdfl, (1809), quoted by Mr. Rickards. He says they
are an actual " pest to the country from their ava-
rice, and addiction to eyeary species of extortion."
Since thai time the Mahrattas and Pindarees have
been subdued, but gang robbery still exists, although
to a much more limited extent. During the existence
of such a state of things, all that could be hoped for
by the unfortunate cultivator, would be sufficient to
secure him and his family from starvation. Not only
capital could not accumulate, but it was destroyed
much more rapidly than it could be reproduced, and
the people were retrograding towards barbarism.
Immense tracts of land were depopulated and soon
became Jungle, inhabited only by lions and tigers,
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
who now roam unmolested where the Hindoo had
for ages cultivated the arts of peace.
During the period of comparative security that has
followed, population has again begun to extend itself
slowly, and part of those lands that had been aban-
doned, have again been brought under cultivation ;
but a long time will be necessary to recover from the
effects of such a state of things as has been de-
scribed.
We have seen the calamitous effects produced by
the revolution of 1830 in France. Paris was desert-
ed; workmen were discharged, and left to starve;
merchants were ruined ; and the agriculturist was
without a market for his products. Yet compare all
the tumults of France in the last five years, with a
single hour of the presence of Nadir Shah in Delhi,
and they sink into insignificance.
In the organization of the Courts of Justice there
are also defects which tend to increase insecurity.
" The delay in the administration of justice is, of
course, enormous and increasing. Under the Ben-
gal presidency, the causes in arrear were, in 1819,
81,000; and in 1829, they had crept up to 140,000,
or in ten years sustained an increase of 75 per cent."
W. Rev. Vol. xix. p. 142.
The traveller through England sees .the country
dotted over with farm houses and cottages, as is the
case in the United States ; but crossing the channel
and entering France, he is immediately struck with
the difference in the landscape. Instead of neat cot-
tages, each with its little piece of land, he sees here
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
and there a dirty village, and finds that is the resi-
dence of all the cultivators of the surrounding coun-
try. Living here, they are compelled to walk daily
one or two or three miles to their patches of land, and
with a view to save expense and trouble of transport-
ation, they occupy that which is nearest, whether
fitted or not, for raising their heavy crops, while
those of a lighter kind are reserved for the more dis-
tant land. A slight knowledge of history, with a
little reflection, will satisfy him that this is the result
of the insecurity that has prevailed in that country,
as well as in most countries of Europe. Exposed at
all times to the violence of contending factions; rob-
bed alternately by the soldiers of Valois and of the
League; by the Catholic and the Hugonot; the
labourer could look for protection only to union with
his neighbours, and deemed a residence in a dirty
village, with security, preferable to purer air, with
the risk of being daily plundered by friend and foe.
The injurious effect of this is described by Mr. Jacob,
thus :
" The residences of the peasants are generally near together, in
villages so distant from the extremities of the parish, as to make
those extremities very expensive to cultivate. The barns and other
buildings are near them ; these are, upon a scale regulated by the na-
ture of the climate, much more expensive to construct than in our
own, more agreeable, country. At present the lands, divided to
each occupier in scattered fragments over the whole common fields,
receive crops according to their vicinity to the village, and that part
appropriated to wheat, which is manured, is generally near to it If
those lands were parcelled out in separate farms, some allotments
must be at a great distance from the village. The shares in such
situations might be, and in justice should be, comparatively large,
The expense of carrying manure, and of bringing the produce to
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
them, would make the houses and erections in the villages, nuisances
and incumbrances on the land, rather than beneficial property."
Second Report^ p. 144*
To the same cause may be attributed the indispo-
sition of the people of the continent to engage in
great public improvements, and the necessity for their
being undertaken, if at all, by the government; while
in England they are made entirely, and in the United
States in a great degree, by individual capital and
exertion. Who would be willing to invest his capital
in the building of a bridge liable to be blown up dur-
ing the next war, by either friends or invaders? or
in making canals, the right to collect tolls upon which
would probably cease at the next war, and which, at
the ensuing peace, would perhaps be transferred to
an adjoining State? Even in France, where such
events are least likely to occur, the people have been
so long accustomed to look to the government for all
improvements of this description, that they can with
difficulty accustom themselves to the idea of such
investments of capital, and the most important com-
munications remain unimproved.
"The want of canals and navigable rivers m most parts of the
kingdom, compels the inhabitants generally to have recourse to the
roads for the conveyance even of the most bulky articles of merchan-
dise. The raw cotton is transported by land from Havre to Alsace,
a distance of 440 miles, and the manufactured article is sent in cara-
van* to Paris, upwards of 400 miles. * Though rich in mine-
rals and vegetable productions, all industry is checked for want of
means of export, and by reason of its small internal consumption^
* * * This state of things is strikingly portrayed by M. Cordier,
one of the most skilful of French engineers, in his able work, 'Sur
lea ponta et Chaussees.' After expatiating upon the superior advan.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
tages of England, derived from the enterprising spirit and real pa-
triotism of its inhabitants, and then upon her internal communica-
tions, he says, ' Je parcours apres une longue absence les departe-
mens du Jura, de 1'Ain, du Saone et Loire, du Rhone, et les pro-
vinces interieures du Royaume; je trouve les chemins vicinaux, les
rivieres, les fleuves, dans 1'ancien elat de nature ; on n'arrive d'une
contree & 1'autre que par des directions forcees et difficile*. En
s'ecartant des grandes routes entretenues, on entre dans des especea
de deserts; on ne decouvre plus que quelques traces des families qui
ont illustrd ou enrichi la France ; on n'apper9oit que les ruines de
leur demeures, ou des debris de domaines qni passcnt sans ceese de
main en main, ou s'exploitent par procuration, au detriment du
maitre et de la contree. J'ai traverse plusfeurs fois dans differcns
departemens vingt lieues carrees, sans rencontrer un canal, une
route, une manufacture, et surtout une terre habitee. La campagne
semble un exil abandonne aux malheureux; ses interets et ses be-
soins sont meconnus, et sa detresse toujours croissante par le has
prix des produits et la difficulte des transports. 1 " Quarterly Re-
view, Vol. xxxi., p. 412.
For many years it has been in contemplation to
make a canal or rail-road from Havre to Paris, and
thence to the Rhine; but it is not yet commenced,
although offering greater advantages than almost
any other route in Europe. With a capital like Paris
and similarly situated, the people of the United States
would, before this time, have made some half dozen
communications with the ocean, and most probably
have reached the Rhine in two or three places. Al-
ready there are two communications between the
ocean and the western waters completed, and seve-
ral others are in progress, and likely to be completed
sooner than that between the Rhine and the ocean,
although the latter would afford facilities of inter-
course to a population at least twenty times greater
than can benefit by any one of the others. At Am-
H2
ESSAY OH THE RATS OF WAGES.
sterdam, capital may often be had at two per cent
per annum, but it is not wanted for such purposes,
and the bankers find a market for it here at a much
higher price than can be obtained at home.
The same causes have prevented the construction
of roads or canals in Spain, the consequence of which
is, that " all means of transport are dear, and in the
neighbourhood of Salamanca it has been known, after
a succession of abundant harvests, that the wheat
has actually been left to rot upon the ground, because
it would not repay the cost of carriage." Ed. Rev.
Vol LV., 448.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 95
CHAPTER IX.
THE second great disturbing cause is the unpro-
ductive expenditure by government of the enormous
sums collected by taxation.
In the United States, taxation has been at all times
light. With a government comparatively cheap, and
abstaining from war, it has never been necessary,
except for a short period after its establishment, and
again during the war of 1812, to seek for subjects of
taxation elsewhere than at the custom house. The
state governments have had to support themselves
by other taxes, chiefly those on land, but the whole
amount of taxation has been comparatively small,
and the absence of the other great drawbacks has
rendered it very easy to meet these demands. False
ideas of the effect of legislation upon the price of la-
bour have induced the extension of the duties on im-
ports so far as to compel the people to pay consider-
able sums for the protection of domestic manufactures,
but the effect has not been heavily felt, and it is to
be hoped that the more correct views that now ob-
tain will, at no very distant period, with the present
tariff law, put the matter on a proper footing.
There is still too much disposition on the part of
Congress and the state legislatures to legislate away
money, without due consideration, and particularly
for what are called internal improvements; without
reflecting that if those improvements were really
necessary, they would be made by private enterprise,
and that, even if they be necessary, there does not
96 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
seem to be any good reason why the money of A.
B. and C. should be expended to improve the property
of D. E. and F., particularly when it at the same
time probably reduces the value of that of the former.
The people of Maryland, and the District of Colum-
bia, have been very urgent with Congress to complete
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. If done, it must be
done with the money of New York and Pennsylva-
nia, both of which states have made canals for the
same purpose at their own expense. There can be
no doubt there will be ample business for all, but is
it right to requiee the people of New York to make
a canal in opposition to their own, or the people of
Njew Orleans to contribute to a great work, the chief
object of which is to draw trade from the Gulf of
Mexico to the Atlantic sea-board?
Legislators would do well to recollect the follow-
ing sound remarks of Sir Henry Parnell:
"Taxation is the price we pay for government; and every parti-
cle of expense that is incurred beyond what necessity absolutely re-
quires for the preservation of social order, and for the protection
against foreign attack, is waste, and an unjust and oppressive impo-
sition upon the public. Every minister, and every member of Par-
liament who has the power to spend or save the public money,
should do his best to prevent the wants of the state from depriving
the people of the means of providing for their wants, and therefore
economy and frugality, which are virtues in a private station, for
their vast influence upon national happiness in public stations, be-
the most pressing of duties." p. 107.
Since the revolution of 1688, England has deemed
it necessary to take a part in all the wars of Europe,
but aji previous exertions were trivial, compared with
those which she made under the pretence of "fighting
for the liberties of Europe" the true object of which
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 97
was to prevent the spread of the revolutionary spirit
at home, and check the demand for a reform, that
would have a tendency to distribute more equally
the burthen of government. These extraordinary
efforts for the freedom of the world, caused enor-
mous expenditure, enormous debts, and their asso-
ciate, enormous taxation. In collecting these large
sums, the interests of the land owners required to be
considered, as they were the makers of laws, and
thus the taxes on land are light, while almost the
whole revenue is raised by taxes on consumption,
and levied upon articles used chiefly by the labouring
classes. Mr. Pitt said, that "three-fifths of the price of
labour are said to come into the Exchequer."* Sir
Henry Parnell estimates that the higher classes do not
pay more than six millions out of fifty. Mr. Bulwer
says, K By indisputable calculation it can be shown
that every working-man is now taxed to the amount
of one-third of his weekly wages; supposing the opera-
tor to obtain twelve shillings a week, he is taxed there-
fore to the amount of four shillings per week; and at
the end of six years, (the supposed duration of Parlia-
ment,) he will consequently have contributed to the
revenue, from his poor energies, the almost incredible
sum of 62 3s."f The Metropolitan for July, 1833,
gives the following "amount of taxes paid by a citizen
of London, having, we will suppose* an income of
200 a year, out of which he is necessitated to sup-
port himself, his wife, three children, and a servant
maid!" showing that out of that sum, above eighty
pounds are paid to government
* Quarterly Review, VoL XLIII.
t England, Vol. I., p. 187, London edition.
98
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
Articles Taxed and Used.
Rate of Taxa-
tion demanded.
Amount of
faxes levied
by Govern-
ment.
Tea J Ib. a week, at from 5. to 6s.
per Ib. -
100Z. per cent.
. s. d.
350
Sugar 6 Ibs. a week -
Coffee 1 lb. per week
Porter and ale 2 pots per diem (malt
and hop tax) -
Spirits 1 pint per week (lowest ave-
rage taxation on Foreign and British)
Wine 1 quart per week, on a yearly
average .....
Soap 3 Ibs. per week ...
Pepper 5 Ibs. a year at least
Other spices viz. ginger, cinnamon,
2J<Z. per lb.
Gd. per lb.
2d. per pot.
1 Os. per gall.
5s. 6d. per gall.
3d. per lb.
Is. per lb.
at least
2 14 2
1 6
3 10
3 10
3 11 6
1 19
5
6 6
Paper for the family, or boys at
school, 1 lb. weekly ...
Starch 12 Ibs. yearly
Newspaper to read only daily Id.
Currants dried 25 Ibs. a year
Raisins, oranges, lemons, prunes, nuts,
&.C. .....
Occasional use of an omnibus, cab,
hackney, or stage-coach -
Sundries such as taxes on medicines,
books, glass, silver-spoons, small
items, and luxuries, &c. -
House, window, and land tax
Poor, church, highway," -water, gas,
3d. per lb.
3Jd. per lb.
Jth of sta.
5d. per lb.
various rates,
ditto.
ditto,
ditto.
ditto.
13
3 6
1 10 5
10 5
10
150
2 10
10 10
10
Taxes on house materials which are
included in the rent viz. on bricks,
timber, glass, &c. -
Taxes paid to butcher, baker, tailor,
milliner, shoemaker, hatter, and all
persons employed, who being them-
selves taxed on the preceding arti-
cles, proportionably enhance their
demand for goods rendered or ser-
vices done ....
ditto,
at least
12
21
Total taxes paid by a person with 2002.
per annum ....
80 10 4
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 09
Of the Vhole sum collected for the support of
government, fifty-two millions sterling, less than one
third is raised by taxes on lands, stamps, insurances,
wood, wine, servants, carriages and horses, pro-
bates and legacies, and by the Post Office, leaving
the remainder to be paid chiefly by the articles used
by the labouring classes, as malt, hops, sugar, spirits,
tea, tobacco, coffee, corn, soap, newspapers, &c., &c.
The land tax which affected the aristocracy, was
made permanent in 1798, upon an assessment then
more than a century old, and produces now little
more than a million of pounds, notwithstanding the
immensely augmented value of landed property. The
income tax was repealed immediately after the close
of the war, because it affected the pockets of the law
makers. The house tax is assessed in a manner that
secures that class from the payment of their share of
the public burthens almost as effectually as the same
class were secured in France before the revolution.
The following are specimens.
Swtrn annual value, Land tax.
A shop in Regent street, 21 feet by
7 '5, owned and occupied by a tradesman, 400 56 13 4
Stowe palace, atoned by the Duke of
Buckingham a regal mansion, prin-
cipal front 916 feet; Corinthian co-
lumns, pilasters, saloon paved with
marble ; tower, obelisks, temples, &c.,
woods and groves, .... 300 42 10
Blenheim, owned, by the Duke of
Marlborough, 348 feet from wing to
wing, park 2,700 acres, ... 300 42 10
Eaton Hall, Marquis of Weatmin-
ter 300 49100
100 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
Alnwick Castle, Duke of Northum-
berland, 200 28 68
Nottingham Castle, Duke of New-
castle, 100 14 3 4
Northumberland House, in London, pays 4%d. per
square foot, and the grocer's shop next door, 7 shil-
lings !
Nottingham Castle, being injured some time since
by a mob, the Duke received TWENTY THOUSAND
pounds sterling for the damage to a property valued
at 100 sterling per annum. "Let it be supposed,
however, that Nottingham Castle is worth a quarter
of a million sterling, which is probably much nearer
its price. His Grace's mansion ought, in this case,
to be rated at 16,250 per annum, while his house
tax ought to be 2,301 Is. 8d. per annum." * * *
*' Farm houses are wholly exempted from taxation,
which farm houses are as much the property of the
landed aristocracy as the hedges and the ditches and
the very fields which compose their estate."*
A house with eight windows pays a tax of 2s. each
sixteen windows 4s. lid. each thirty-two win-
dows, 6s. 8d. each and the scale rises gradually,
until at thirty-nine windows the charge is about 7s.
each. Having thus arranged to include all the mid-
dle and working classes, a provision is now to be
made to let off as easily as possible what Captain
Hall calls the money-spending classes. According-
ly, forty-four windows are 6s. 6$d. each, and gra-
dually reducing, one hundred are 5s. lOirf. each,
and after one hundred and eighty the charge is but
* Westminster Review, No. 41, p. 87 American edition.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES. 101
one and sixpence. The labouring man who has eight
windows, and wants a ninth, must pay 4*. 6d. for it;
but the Duke of Northumberland may have the same
permission for his one hundred and eighty-first for
one-third of the money. Some mansions are said to
contain a window for every day in the year, and
would be charged at 3s. 3id per window, which
is less than half the rate of charge to the middle
classes.
Real estates, or lands, are wholly exempted from
legacy or probate duty. Thus lands are not only
almost free from tax, but they are the only species
of property that can be inherited without the pay-
ment of an enormous duty. The landholders have
well understood the mode of making laws which
shall exempt them, in a great degree, from contribu-
tions, while every one is made to contribute to them.
A more atrocious system of plunder does not prevail
in India, although done more openly.
" In Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy, the land tax never
constitutes less than one fourth part of the public income, nor is its
rate in any of these countries estimated at less than one fifth of th
actual rental. This last has generally been its rate in England. In
Great Britain (Ireland is exempted from it altogether), instead of
forming a fourth part of the public income, it forms about one
twenty-fifth part The total rental of Great Britain at present, in-
eluding tenements and mines, as well as lands, or what would be
subject on the continent to what has been called by the French, the
contribution fonciere, is commonly estimated at fifty millions. If,
therefore, the English proprietors of real property were to contribute
an equal share of their rents with the continental nations, and in-
deed what the rate was generally fixed at in early times in England
itself they ought to contribute, not two millions, but twelve mil-
lions, which would then constitute, as is the case with their neigh.
I
102 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
bours, about a fourth part of the public income. By having had th
making of laws in their own hands, they have in fact contrived to
add ten millions to their own property, and of course rob the public
to the same extent. It is curious to contrast the difference of their
conduct when they make laws for themselves and when they are
called upon to make them for other people. A very few years before
the British Parliament enacted a law fixing their own land tax in
perpetuity at 4s. in the pound, on a careless and imperfect assess-
ment made one hundred years before, they had passed a law fixing
the land tax of British subjects in India at 18s., on a modern and
inquisitorial assessment. This they called creating an Indian landed
aristocracy." West. Rev. xli. p. 85.
As an evidence that this exemption of landed pro-
perty from taxation has not arisen out of any desire
peculiar to the present generation, it may be men-
tioned, that in 1731-2 the land tax \Vas reduced to
one shilling in the pound, or Jive per cent., at the ex-
pense of taking two and a half millions from the
sinking fund.*
While the landholders are, as has been shown,
exempt from the payment of taxes, they have taken
care that nothing they produce shall be lessened in
price by foreign competition. Not only is the im-
portation of corn prevented by prohibitory duties,
but every article of agricultural produce is in the
same way subject to duties that are almost, if not
entirely prohibitory. The high prices thus caused,
must be paid out of the wages of the labourer, while
his wages are diminished by the reduced demand for
his labour, produced by the prohibitory system, which
forbids the exchange of woollens, cottons, and hard-
ware for corn. "The makers of laws have contrived
* Stewart's Political Economy. Vol. iv. p 57.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 103
to throw the great burden of taxation, first, by their
selection of the taxes imposed, and secondly, by their
selection of the taxes repealed, from off their shoul-
ders, upon the industrious classes, so that out of the
50,000,000/. of annual revenue, not more than six
millions fall upon the landlords." Parnell, p. 67.
The amount of taxation for the support of the
church, in the form of tithes, is enormous. It is, how-
ever, asserted that it is borne by the landholders, con-
stituting a deduction from their rents, and that the
price of grain is not enhanced by it. In support of
this assertion is adduced the case of lay-improprie-
tors, who receive as much in rent as is elsewhere
paid in rent and tithes. Such must continue to be
the case so long as the corn laws shut out the com-
petition of tithe-free land abroad, and the tithe system
forbids the cultivation of any lands that cannot pay
one-tenth of their produce to the church before pay-
ing rent. Were the system abolished, it would soon
be found that lands that are now of no value, would be
rendered productive, paying to the owners a rent of
two, three, or five per cent, of the produce, and gradu-
ally increasing as they should be improved, until it
would probably amount to a tenth, or as much as
would have been claimed by the church at the outset
The effect of this extension of cultivation, would be to
reduce the price of grain so as to prevent the land-
holder from adding the tithe to his rents, and the con-
sumers would be thereby relieved from a heavy tax.
The landholders would, however, benefit by the
change, as those who own lands that are now unpro-
ductive, would be able to obtain a small rent from
104 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGE*.
them, and those whose lands are now productive,
would find that the improved cultivation that would
be the result of relief from the interference of tithe
proctors, would speedily enable their tenants to pay
higher rents. Reduction of price would cause in-
creased consumption, while the extension of cultiva-
tion, and improved methods, would cause production
to keep pace with it, and the tenant would find that
the increased product would enable him to pay a high
rent even while the price of grain was low. The low
price of grain would enable the government to do
away with all restriction on the trade in corn, and
its price would thenceforward be steady, as has beea
the case in this country during periods of peace. (See
page 27.) This would relieve both landlord and
tenant from the vexatious changes that have for
years impoverished both parties, and thus, while the
labourer would be supplied with corn at a lower rate
than heretofore, the situation of both landowner and
tenant would be improved.
The following extract will show the extraordinary
growth of indirect taxation, payable by the labourer,
while direct taxation, or that payable by the landlord,
has been stationary.*
Expenses of the family of an agricultural labourer in 1763, from
London Magazine for 176*2.
Per week. Per annum.
Bread, flour, oatmeal, - - . - 2*. 6d. 6 10.
Roots, greens, leaves, fruit, ... 5 118
Amount carried forward, 7 11 8
* History of the Middle and Working Classes, by J. Wade, Lon-
*, 1833, p. 545.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 105
Per week.
Amount brought forward,
Firing 6<f. candles 3d. soap 2jd. - - 11 J
Milk !>}</. butter IjJcZ. cheese 5d. - - 8J
Flesh 6d. rent 6<2. pins, worsted thread, &c. Id. 1 1
Clothes, repairs, bedding, shoes, - - 1
Salt, beer, exotics, vinegar and spices, - 8J
Medicines, churching, lying in, -
JC20 00
Taxes on the above consumption on malt 4s. 2d. salt 1. Sd.
soap and candles 3s. leather 2s. sundries 2d. total Us. Total
about 1-36. Page 540.
Proper food for the able bodied labourer, with a wife and four
children, per week, with the proportion of the price of each article
of provision occasioned by tax or monopoly. 1833.
Price. Tax and monopoly.
5 gallons of bread, - - 7. 6d. 2*. 6d.
3 Ibs. of bacon at Id. . 1 9 7
21bs. of butter at Wd. 1 8 64
2 Ibs. of cheese at 6d. - 1 3
Tea, - ... 9 6
Sugar, - / ; 7 3}
Beer, 7 quarts, at 2(2. . 1 9 7
1 bushel of coals, 1 2 i
3 faggots, ... 9
Jib. of soap, - .' : . 4 2J
4 lb. of candles, i 4
17s. 5s. 5\d.
By the above it will be seen that in 1762 the tax
upon the consumption of the labourer was only one-
thirty-sixth, while in 1833 it is almost one-third. It
will be observed that a very considerable portion of
this arises out of the monopoly of tea granted to the
East India Company, and of corn to the land owners.
At the time of the first statement, corn was in general
19
1QS ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
cheaper in England than on the continent, and with
a view to raise its price the labouring classes were
taxed for the payment of bounties on exportation,
while importation was prevented by high duties.
When, however, the increased population engaged
in manufactures enhanced the price so as to make it
unnecessary to look abroad for a market, it was
deemed proper to keep up the prohibitory duties, be-
cause corn was cheaper abroad. Thus in 1762 im-
portation was prevented, because corn was too cheap
at home, and in 1834, because it is too cheap abroad.
Mr. M'Culloch estimates the difference in cost
produced by the corn laws at about 20 per cent,
while the above statement makes it 33$ per cent,
but I am disposed to believe that a repeal of those
laws would be attended with very small reduction
of price, because the countries to which a supply
could be looked for, and where it is now low, are
totally destitute of the capital necessary for its cheap
production, on a large scale, in the general market
of the world.
Mr. M'Culloch asserts that corn is cheap in Poland,
because produced by low priced labour. Cheapness
of production is dependent, on that gentleman's own
principles, on the quantity of labour that enters into
it The wages of a labourer, on the Vistula, midway
between Warsaw and Cracow,* are 4d. per day, and
* From a statistical account of the Lordship of Pulaway and
Koupkowola, in the province of Lublin, in Poland. " The subjects,
when called to work with their teams on the estate, beyond the days
of stipulated service, receive six pence a day for agricultural labour,
(ploughing and sowing,) and three pence for other manual work.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 107
the average price of wheat at Cracow, for a period
of 10 years, (Jacob, 1st Rep. p. 94,) 25s. sterling,
while at Warsaw it was higher. It required, then, 75
days' labour to produce a quarter of wheat, which is
obtained in Ohio by the labour of 9 or 10 days.
Where is wheat cheapest, at Cracow or in Ohio ?
Again, we must take, not its cost in Cracow, or in
the heart of Ohio, but the cost of producing it in the
general market of the world ; at Dantzic, or Ham-
burgh; at New York, or New Orleans. To do other-
wise, would be equivalent to comparing the observa-
tions of half a dozen astronomers in different parts
of the world, without an allowance for parallax. Its
average value at Cracow was 25s., but the cost of
transportation, and loss before reaching Dantzic,
were lls. Qd., making 36s. 6d. per quarter, or 4s. Id.
per bushel, nearly as much as the ordinary price in
the United States. The labour of the producer being
aided by capital, as much is thus accomplished by
one man in the United States, as by 8 or 10 in Po-
land. As that country depends for the value of its
products on the foreign demand through Dantzic, the
land that is cultivated in the vicinity of Cracow, is,
in relation to that near the former city, in the situa-
tion of an inferior soil, to the extent of the expense
of transportation and loss; or 11s. 6d. per quarter;
an enormous rent, which must be calculated as a
part of the cost of production.
If they do not work on the estate, but are employed elsewhere, they
are paid from eight to twelve pence for agricultural labour with their
team, and from three pence to six pence for their own work. Jacob,
First Report, p. 171.
108 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAQES.
Such is the poverty of the people of those coun-
tries, that they are totally unable to make the im-
piwrements in their implements, or in their modes of
cultivation, that are necessary. The consequence is,
that the product does not usually exceed three, four,
or five times the amount of seed sown, as may be
seen by the following statements, taken from Mr.
Jacob's reports.
In Pomerania, in 1804, the poverty of the people
was such that they were unable to keep a sufficiency
of stock to supply their lands with manure, and con-
sequently the returns were little more than treble the
seed, as follows :*
Wheat sown, 155,936 tchetwerts. Produce, 996,224
Rye sown, 1,254,960 do. do. 4,383,584
Barley sown, 619,992 do. do. 2,757,688
Oatasown, 1,245,704 da do. 2,975,880
3,276,592 11,113,376
At page 103 he states, that although Volhynia is re-
presented as a district of extraordinary fecundity, he
finds, by the official harvest returns of the Russian
Empire, the return was little more than four times
the seed sown.
Sowed 635,700 tchetwerts ; reaped 2,626,832.
Podolia, also represented as very fertile, yielded
only 3,067,846 from 644,803 tchetwerts of seed.
"The greater part of France, a still much greater portion of Ger.
many, and nearly the whole of Prussia, Austria, Poland, and Rus-
sia, present a wretched uniformity of system. It is called the three,
course husbandry, consisting of, 1st, one year's clean fallow ; 2d,
* Jacob, First Report, p. 34
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 109
winter corn, chiefly rye, with a proportion of wheat commensurate
to the manure that can be applied; 3d, summer corn, or barley and
oats. There are occasional and small deviations from this system.
In some few cases potatoes, in others, peas are grown, in the fid-
low year ; but they are only minute exceptions to the generally esta-
blished system. It is not surprising that under such a system the
produce should not be much more than four times the seed, at which
rate it is calculated, it appears to me rightly, by Baron Alexander
HumboldL"*
It must be evident, that when production exceeds
by so small a quantity what must be retained for
seed, the chief part must be absorbed by the con-
sumption of the producers, leaving but a very small
quantity to be sold. If the demand should be consid-
erable, it could not be supplied except from a very
extensive tract of country. Having neither canals nor
rail roads, the cost of transportation would be enor-
mous, f Capital is as necessary for the production of
wheat or cotton as of cotton goods, and the nations
best supplied with the one will produce the other to
the greatest advantage. No better evidence of this
need be adduced than the present state of the trade
in cotton wool. The two chief competitors for the
supply of the world, are Hindostan, where labour is
lowest, and the United States, where it is highest ;
but the latter having the aid of capital, are enabled
almost to monopolise the trade. It is not at all im-
probable that a few years will see this country among
the first in regard to the production of silk, and pos-
* Jacob, Second Report, p. 140.
t Mr. Jacob states that the cost of transportation in Mechlen-
borgh is so great that a distance of 240 miles would be equal to th
whole value of the corn. Second Report, p. 9.
110 ESSAY OH THE RATE OF WAGES.
sibly absolutely the first. In that it will be necessary
to compete with Hindostan, China, Italy, and France,
the cheapest countries, as to the price of labour, in
the world, but the United States possess advantages
that enable them to compete with any country what-
ever in the production of those articles for which
their soil and climate are fitted, and they need fear
no competition.
The benefit to the labourer from the repeal of the
corn laws, would be not so much in the reduction in
the price of corn, as in the increased amount of com-
modities obtainable for his labour, arising out of the
increased demand for it that would be produced by a
free intercourse with corn-growing countries. That
benefit would be obtained without any sacrifice on the
part of the land owner, whose lands would probably
rent as high as at present. Notwithstanding the enor-
mous deductions from the product of his toil, the
labourer receives a constantly increasing quantity of
the usual articles of consumption, showing an aug-
mentation of the fund out of which he is to be paid ;
but how great would be the increase were he at liberty
to exchange the products of his labour, without the
intervention of custom houses, excise offices, or corn
laws ! Had the true interests of the nation been con-
sulted, taxation would not now be as great as in
1762, and the reward of labour would be as great
as in the United States, if not greater.
In Hindostan the Mahommedan Sovereigns claim-
ed to be owners of the land, and to demand as rent
puch amount as they might judge expedient.
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. Ill
The Company succeeded to all their rights and pri-
vileges, and has not failed to avail itself of them to
the full extent, and not unfrequently has gone far,
very far, beyond the demands of the most oppressive
of the native princes. It would occupy too much
space to give an account of the several modes of
collection adopted in that country, and distinguished
by the names of Zemindary, Ryotwar and Mouza-
war settlements. The meaning and intent of all are
the same, which is to take from the unfortunate cul-
tivator every farthing that can be squeezed out of
him, leaving him in no case more than is necessary
to support life. In the first the collector is the Ze-
mindar, a farmer general, responsible for the amount
assessed; in the second the collection is made directly
from the Ryot or labourer, and in the third the set-
tlement is made with the village collectively. In
order that the reader may understand the mode of
assessing taxes in that country, the following instruc-
tions to the assessors under the Ryotwar settlement
are given :
" The cultivated lands were ordered to be classed into dry, wet,
and garden lands ; each was then to be measured field by field, and
marked 1, 2, 3, &c. Each field to consist of as much land as could
be cultivated by one plough, and the boundaries thereof to be marked
and fixed by the surveyors. No deduction was to be allowed for
land in a field shaded by productive trees ; but for the land shaded
by unproductive trees, a deduction was made. Forts, suburbs, open
villages, court-yards of houses, with the number and species of trees
in each, banks of tanks, rivers, nullahs, ravines, hillocks, roads,
barren lands, wells, salt mounds, and topes or groves, with the num-
ber and species of trees in each, were all required to be particular-
ized. In Palmira topes or groves, the trees were ordered to be
classed into male and female, young, productive, and old or part
bearing. The same was to be done in garden lands generally, taking
112 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
care to notice the number of plants of young trees, and to specify
whether they are cocoa nut, soopari, tamarind, jamoon, lime, orange,
&c., and likewise to enter all plantations of betel, sugar-cane, to-
bacco, red pepper, &c." Rickarda, I. 454.
Under the Zemindary settlement, in the division of
the produce of estates assigned to them, it is fixed, or
rather estimated, that after deducting the expense of
collecting, one-half or tico-fifths of the gross produce
should be left to the Ryots, the remainder constituting
the rent of the state, except one-eleventh to the Ze-
mindars. That settlement is permanent, and some im-
provement having taken place in the condition of the
country, the taxes in Bengal, where it exists, are col-
lected generally in full, but in the commencement the
assessments were so high, that nearly all the Zemin-
dars were ruined. Some idea may be formed of the
enormous amount of taxes, and the consequent low
value of property, from the fact that in 1799, ten
years after the settlement, lands were sold in every
province, the taxes upon which amounted to 777,965
rupees, and produced at the sale 654,215 rupees, not
even one year's purchase of the taxes. The Zemin-
dars having been ruined, and their property in those
estates sold, the present proprietors, who purchased at
reduced prices, are enabled to live. Under the other
settlements the Company are not bound by any fixed
rent, the only limit being the possibility of collection.
" In the despatches of the Court of Directors to their governments
abroad, anxiety is uniformly expressed, lest their right to participate,
according to usage, in the annual produce of the lands, should be
either limited or infringed. From the commencement of the present
century, more especially, it has constituted their main objection! to
the Zemindary settlement Looking, u they naturally do, to tb
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 113
land revenues of India as the only source from whence the public
exigencies can be supplied, they have always dreaded a fixed Jumma
in perpetuity, as debarring them from the means of increased sup-
ply, in the event of future exigencies requiring it The Ryotwar
system has accordingly been preferred, because no bounds are unal-
terably affixed to the amount of the land tax; and because (as they
say,) it provides for their moderate participation with the proprie-
tors at stated intervals in the growing improvement, or extended
cultivation 'of the country." Rickards, I. p. 609.
Any improvement in cultivation produces an imme-
diate increase of taxation, so that any exertion on the
part of the cultivator would benefit the company, and
not himself. One-half the gross produce may be as-
sumed as the average annual rent, although in many
cases it greatly exceeds that proportion. The Madras
Revenue Board, May 17th, 1817, stated that "the
conversion of the government share of the produce
(of lands) is in some districts as high as 60 or 70 per
cent of the whole." Richards, Vol. I. p. 288.
" The following statement is extracted from Colebrook's Treatise
on the Husbandry of Bengal, to show the average gain of a Ryot
from agriculture in the lower province.
16 Anas, 1 Seer 40 Seers, 1 Maund, or 74 Ibs.
" Ten Maunds of rice are a large produce from one Bigha, and a
return of fifteen for one.
M.S. A. M.S. A.
"Cultivators share, 500
u Seed which the proprietor of the land had
advanced, and which is repaid to him with 100
per cent by way of interest, 26 10 J
" Labour of reaping ditto, at the rate of a
sixth of the whole crop, - 1 26 10 J
" Ditto weeding, at 20 days, at 2} seer, 1 10
323 5
1 16 11
" Ditto hulking, with the wastage of 3-Sths, 21 4
35 7
114 ESSAY OJX THE RATE OF WAGES.
" Thirty-five seers and seven-sixteenths of clear rice, at the ave-
rage rate of twelve Anas for the Maund, are worth eleven Anas,
(eleven-sixteenths of a rupee,) nearly; and this does not pay the la-
hour of ploughing at two Anas, (6 cents,) per diem for eight days.
It appears then that the peasant, cultivating for half produce, is not
so well rewarded for his toil as hired labourers ; and it must be fur-
ther noticed that he is under the necessity of anticipating his crop
for seed and subsistence, and of borrowing for both, as well as for
his cattle, and for the implements of husbandry, at the usurious ad-
vance of a quarter, if the loan be repaid at the succeeding harvest,
and of half, if repaid later. We cannot then wonder at the scenes
of distress which this class of cultivators exhibits, nor that they are
often compelled by accumulating debts, to emigrate from province
to province." Rickards, I. 568.
It might be supposed, that having taken one-half
of the gross produce, the cultivator would be permit-
ted to exist on the remainder, but not so. At page
218, Vol. II., Mr. Rickards gives a list of sixty other
taxes, invented by the Sovereigns, or their agents,
many of which he states to exist at the present day.
If they have any other occupation, in addition to the
cultivation of their patches of land, as is very com-
monly the case, they are subject to the following
taxes, the principle of which is described as excellent
by one of the collectors, December 1st, 1812.
" The Veesabuddy, or tax on merchants, traders, and shopkeepers;
Mohturfa, or tax on weavers, cotton-cleaners, shepherds, goldsmiths,
braziers, iron-smiths, carpenters, stone-cutters, &.C., and Bazeebab,
consisting of a number of smaller taxes annually rented out to the
highest bidder. The renter was thus constituted a petty chieftain,
with power to exact fees at marriages, religious ceremonies, to in-
quire into, and fine the misconduct of females in families, and other
misdemeanours, and hi the exercise of their privileges, would often
urge the plea of engagements to the Cirkar, (government,) to justify
extortion. The details of these taxes are too long to be given in
this place. The reader, however, may judge of the operation and
ESSAT ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 115
character of all, by the following selection of one, as described in
the collector's report: 'The mode of settling the Mohturfa on looms
hitherto has been very minute ; every circumstance of the weaver's
family is considered, the number of days which he devotes to his loom,
the number of his children, the assistance which he receives from
them, and the number and quality of the pieces which he can turn
out in a month or year, so that let him exert himself as he will, his
industry will always be taxed to the highest degree.'' This mode al-
ways leads to such details, that the government servants cannot enter
into it, and. the assessment of the tax is, in consequence, left a great
deal too much to the Curnums of the villages. No weaver can pos-
sibly know what he is to pay to the Cirkar, till the demand come
to be made for his having exerted himself through the year ; and
having turned out one or two pieces of cloth more than he did the
year before, though his family and looms have remained the same,
is made a ground for his being charged a higher Mohturfa, and at
last, instead of a professional, it becomes a real income tax." Rick-
mrds, I. 500.
The following will show that nothing is allowed
to escape the notice of the tax gatherer.
" The reader will, perhaps, better judge of the inquisitorial nature
of one of these surveys, or pymashees, as they are termed in Mala-
bar, by knowing that upwards of seventy different kinds of buildings
the houses, shops, or ware-houses of different castes and professions
were ordered to be entered in the survey accounts; besides the fol-
lowing ' implements of professions' which were usually assessed to
the public revenue, viz :
H Oil-mills, iron manufactory, toddy-drawer's" stills, potter's-kiln,
washerman's stone, gold-smith's tools, sawyer's saw, toddy-drawer's
knives, fishing-nets, barber's hone, blacksmith's anvils, jack bul-
locks, cocoa-nut safe, small fishing-boats, cotton-beater's bow, car-
penter's tools, .large fishing-boats, looms, salt storehouse." Rick-
ards, 1.559.
" If the landlord objected to the assessment on trees, as old and
past bearing, they were, one and all, ordered to be cut down, nothing
being allowed to stand that did not pay revenue to the state. To
judge of U-is order, it hould be mentioned that the trees are valua-
ble, and commonly used for building, in Malabar. To fell all the
116 ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
timber of a man's estate when no demand existed for it in the mar.
ket, and merely because its stream of revenue had been drained, is
an odd way of conferring benefits and protecting property." Rich-
ards, I. 558.
" Having myself, been principal collector of Malabar, and made,
during my residence in the province, minute inquiries into the pro-
duce and assessments of lands, I was enabled to ascertain beyond
all doubt, and to satisfy the revenue board at Madras, that in the
former survey of the province which led to the rebellion, lands and
produce were inserted in the pretended survey account, which abso-
lutely did not exist, while other lands were assessed to the revenue,
at more than their actual produce" I. 557.
At page 561, Vol. I., is given a detailed statement
of the produce of an estate in Malabar, for a period
often years, from 1815 to 1824, for the correctness
of which Mr. Rickards vouches :
Rupees.
The total produce was, 8167 1 4
Revenue, 6423 4 10
's share, and expenses of cultivation, - 1743 1 94
In 1824 there was a new assessment upon the betel
and cocoa-nuts, and jack trees, amounting to 680 1 44
While the gross produce was .... 599 74
The assessment exceeded the produce by - - 81 74
By the following remarks, extracted from letters of
the Revenue Board at Madras, it will be seen that in
the Ryotwar settlement, where every cultivator is
separately liable for his own taxes, he is also bound
for the payment of those of his neighbour, in case of
failure. It would really appear, that the object of
those who devised such a system of revenue was to
deprive man of every possible inducement to exer-
tion. " Lasciate ogni speranza, o voi ch'entrate!"
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
would be as appropriate an inscription over India as
over the gates of hell, and an Indian Dante would
perhaps so apply it
"This last mentioned rule of the Ryotwar system, which is to
make good the failure of unsuccessful Ryots, imposing an extra as-
sessment, not exceeding ten per cent, upon their more fortunate
neighbours in the same village, and even occasionally upon thoafc
of the villages in the vicinity, was found to be indispensable to the
security of the revenue under that system. The little profit accruing
to the industrious Ryots wag thus taken by the state, to remunerate
it for the losses it sustained from the failure of the less fortunate or
more extravagant, and while the Ryotwar system dissolved the unity
of interest, and the joint partnership in profit and loss, which for-
merly existed in each village community in all the provinces east
of the Ghauts, and was so beneficial both to the members of its own
municipal body, and to the government, it, in fact, admitted that
their joint responsibility was necessary for the security of the public
revenue, and precluding the Ryots from an equal participation of
the profit, most unjustly obliged them to share jointly the loss."
Rickards.
To this system is very properly attributed by the
Board, the decline of Agriculture.
" To the practice of loading the lowly assessed or industrious
Ryot with the tax of his less fortunate or more improvident neigh-
bour, (condemned by the very officer who adopted it, as both impo-
litic and unjust,) to the consumption of a maximum standard of
assessment much beyond the capability of the country, even at the
period of its greatest prosperity, to the gradual approximation made
to this high standard in the actual demand on more than half the
landed property in Canara, and to the annual variation and conse-
quent uncertainty in the amount of this assessment on individual
Ryots, as much as to any temporary reduced value of produce, or
the imposition of new indirect taxes, are to be ascribed the decline
in agriculture, the poverty among the Ryots, the increased sale of
landed property by the landlords, the difficulty of realizing the col-
lections, and the necessity, before unknown, of disposing of defaulters 1
lands, in satisfaction of revenue demands, which, after fourteen
year* residence in Canara, at length constrained the late collector to
K2
118 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
record kit conviction, that the present tutessment it beyond the re-
Mureea of the province." Rickardt, Vol. II. 263.
In the enforcement of such an extraordinary sys-
tem of revenue, it must be evident that the number
of persons " dressed in a little brief authority" must
be almost endless, and that the unfortuate cultivator
must be almost entirely at their mercy. The Zemin-
dars have not failed to do their share towards the
destruction of the rights of all those under them, as
will be seen by the following extract from Lord
Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings, September,
1815.
u Within the circle of the perpetual settlement, the situation of
this unfortunate class is yet more desperate; and though their cries
for redress may have been stifled in many districts, by perceiving a
uniform indisposition to attempt relieving them, which results from
the difficulty of the operation, their sufferings on that account have
not been less acute. In Burdwan, in Behar, in Cawnpore, and in-
deed wherever there may have existed extensive landed property at
the mercy of individuals, (whether in farm or Jag-hire, in TaJook,
or in Zemindary,) of the higher class, complaints of the village Ze-
mindars have crowded in upon me without number, and I had only
the mortification of finding that the existing system established by
the legislature, left me without the means of pointing out to the
complainants any mode in which they might hope to obtain redress.
In all these towns, from what I could observe, the class of village
proprietors appeared to be in a train of annihilation, and unless a
remedy is speedily applied, the class will soon be extinct. Indeed,
I fear, that any remedy that would be proposed, would, even -now,
come too late to be of any effect in the states of Bengal, for the li-
cense of 20 years, which has been left to the Zemindars of that pro-
vince, will have given them the power, and they never wanted the
inclination, to extinguish the rights of this class, so that no remnants
of them will soon be discoverable." Richards, Vol. I. p. 564.
In 1769, Governor Verelst wrote, that in addition
to the enormous taxes for government, the people
ESSAT Off THE RATE OF 'WAGES. 119
were taxed by the collectors " for every extrava-
gance that avarice and ambition, pride, vanity, and
intemperance can lead them into." Annexed are
extracts from his account of affairs at that period, and
from several others, that will show the continuance
of the same system to the present time.
"Governor Verelst's account, indeed, in 1763, of the conduct of
Zemindars, is one which subsequent investigations nave fully con-
firmed. He adds, ' the truth cannot be doubted, that the poor and
industrious tenant is taxed by the Zemindar or collector, for every
extravagance that avarice and ambition, pride, vanity, or intempe-
rance may lead him into, over and above what is generally deemed
the established rent of his lands. If he is to be mariied, a child
born, honours conferred, luxury indulged, nuzzeranas, (presents,) or
fines exacted, even for his own misconduct; all must be paid by the
Ryot, and what heightens the distressful scene, the more opulent,
who can better obtain redress for imposition, escape, while the
weaker are obliged to submit."- Rickarda, Vol. II. p. 59.
In a report by the J udge of Moorshedabad, dated
1st August, 1810, it is stated, that
"The Zemindar, his farmers, and Amlah, (officers of government
collectively), of all denominations, abuse the powers with which
they are vested, to exact from the Ryot to the utmost extent of his
ability. He is thus often deprived of the means of complaint; and
this system, carried on from year to year, reduces the Ryot to the
extremes of poverty, frequently the cause of the commission of
crimes; not, it is to be hoped, from any inherent depravity, but driven
thereto by necessity, to obtain a precarious and insecure subsistence."
Rickards, Vol. II. p. 64.
The magistrate of Dinagepore, under date of July
24th, 1810, describes the state of affairs as
" A general system of rack-renting, hard-heartedness, and exac-
tions, through faimers, under farmers, Kutkeenadars, (under te-
nants,) and the whole host of Zemindary Amlah. Even this rack,
renting is unfairly managed. We have no regular leases executed
between the Zemindar and his tenants. We do not find a mutual
120 ESSAY ON THE RATE OT WAGES.
consent, and unrestrained negotiation in their bargains. Nothing
like it; bat instead, we hear of nothing but arbitrary demands en-
forced by stocks, duress of all sorts, and battery of their persons."
Vol. Up, 65.
The collector of Rajeshahye, August, 1811, says:
" The Zemindar's only security for the possession of his estate
being the punctual discharge of the government revenue, to screw
this out of the wretched cultivators is his first consideration. With
his miserable pittance of one-eleventh, the under-tenants, farmers,
Ryots, and all the Amlah together, are then left to fight and scram-
ble for the remainder of the produce." Vol. II. p. 68.
The following statements are furnished by the ma-
gistrate of Rungpore:
" One of them, Rajchunder Chowdry, bought a house at Rung-
pore, which cost 4100 rupees, (512). It is a notorious fact, that
Rajchunder Chowdry collected from the Ryots of his estate, to de-
fray this expense, no less a sum than 11,000 rupees, (1375,) under
the bold item of Delan Khurchu, (house or hall money.) The sane
Zemindar expended 1200 rupees, (150) on the ceremonies attending
the birth of his grandson, and collected from his Ryots 5000 rupees
(625) on this account Another Zemindar, Sudasheb Raee, had
his house burnt down. He imposed an addition on the rent-roll of
his estate to defray the expenses of rebuilding it ; but having once
established the exaction, it outlived the case, nnd became a perma-
nent addition to the former rent, under the title of Ghur Bunace,
(house-building.") Vol. II. p. 72.
" Sndasheb Raee celebrated a festival, which lasted three months,
and. cost him 20,000 rupees, (2,500); all of which fell on the ten-
antry of his estate.
* Jyram Baboo, a man of boundless extravagance, used to visit in
great pomp, annually, the villages of his estate, levying contribu-
tions as he went along, under the name of Mangun or Bhukha,
which literally means begging. * I am unprepared, (says the Judge,)
to state the amount of the collections thus made ; the mode in which
they are levied bids defiance to all inquiry. Lest, howeyer, it should
be thought that this practice is confined to one instance, I beg to
observe, that this is the most general of all the modes of illegal ex-
actions practised in Rungpore.' " VoL II. p. 73.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 121
" Moonshee Himayutoollah, once Serishtadar of the judge's court,
and late Dewan of the eollectorship, bought a very large estate in
Dinagepore. In a visit of ceremony to his new tenants, he collected
from them in Mangun contributions, a full moiety of tfye purchase
money. Himayutoollah had also occasion to buy an elephant, and
exacted the cost, 500 rupees, (.62 10.) from his Ryots, it being
4 as essential to their respectability as his own, that he should no
longer mount the back of so mean a quadruped as a horse.'
41 Another Zemindar, Raee Danishnund Niteeanund, has very ex-
tensive estates in Rungpore, Dinagepore, and Moorshedabad. On
his Rungpore estate alone he pays revenue to government of 69,742
rupees, ( 8,742,) and collects a cess on his tenants of one Anna in
the rupee, or 4,358 rupees per annum, ( 544,) to defray the expense
of daily offerings to his idol, or household god, Bunwaree.
u The above, (adds the judge,) are but a few of the many practical
proofs which may be adduced, in support of what I have advanced
relative to the state of the Ryot in Rungpore." Every extra ex-
pense, and every religious or superstitious ceremony, is paid for
by the defenceless Ryot 4 Not a child can be born, not a head re-
ligiously shaved, not a son married, not a daughter given in mar-
riage, not even one of the .tyrannical fraternity dies, without an
immediate visitation of calamity upon the Ryot. Whether the oc-
casion be joyful or sad, in its effects, it is, to the cultivator, alike
mournful and calamitous.' " Richards, Vol. II. 74.
Under such an oppressive weight it cannot be
matter of surprise, that vast quantities of land are
relinquished, from the absolute impossibility of pay-
ing, taxes: the land not being worth a single year's
assessment The following are extracts from a Re-
venue letter to Bengal, from the Court of Directors,
dated August 1, 1821, quoted by Mr. Richards, VoL
II. p. 149.
u The present assessment, he affirms, is not too high ; yet he says,
that the ' Jumma (tax) of estates resigned (that is which their own-
era have relinquished rather than undertake to pay this assessment,)
amounts to nearly six Iocs, (600,000,) or more than one-fifth of tht
whole: "
122 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
" The resignations in Bar filly are upon a similar scale, amount-
ing to near Jive lacs, ( 500,000,) of rupees. In Shahjehanpore, the
proportion of estates resigned appears to be much the same at in Ba-
reitty, and for the same reasons"
The favour of superiors being always to be con-
ciliated by any improvement of revenue, the collectors
are always prepared to avail themselves of any op-
portunity to increase the assessment. In 1813-14,
to 1817-18, a large increase of jumma was made in
Rohilcund, Bareilly, and Shahjehanpore, but in at-
tempting to collect it, " It is officially certified that
the owners of estates, the annual jumma of which
amounted to 1,500,000 rupees, (750,000 dollars,) had,
in despair, abandoned their property, from utter in-
ability to pay their over assessment" Richards, VoL
II. p. 146.
It is a common saying of the Ryots, that " their
skins only are left them," and the reader may per-
haps be already disposed to believe it, but he has by
no means reached the end of the oppressions of this
unfortunate people. Thus far we have dealt only
with direct taxation, but that has been carried so far,
that it would appear almost impossible to find any
means of collecting indirect taxes, which, neverthe-
less, is done. The following extract from the fifth
report of the Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, will show the nature of the indirect taxation,
uniting all that is detestable in the French octroi, and
the Spanish alcabala.
" In addition to the assessment on the lands, or the shares of their
produce received from the inhabitants, they were subject to the du-
ties levied on the inland trade, which were collected by the renters
under the Zemindars. These duties, which vent by the name of
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. .123
Sayer, as they extended to grain, cattle, salt, and all the other neces-
saries of life passing through the country, and were collected by
corrupt, partial, and extortionate agents, produced the worst effects
on the state of society, by not only checking the progress of indus-
try, oppressing the manufacturer, and causing him to debase his
manufacture, but also by clogging the beneficial operations of com-
merce in general, and abridging the comforts of the people at large.
This latter description of imposts was originally considered aa a
branch of revenue too much exposed to abuses to be intrusted to
persons not liable to restraint and punishment It was therefore
retained under the immediate management of the government The
first rates were easy, and the custom houses few ; but in the general
relaxation of authority, this mode of raising revenue for the support
of the government was scandalously abused. In the course of a little
time, new duties were introduced, under the pretence of charitable
and religious donations, as fees to the Chokeydars, or account
keepers' guards, and other officers at the stations, as protection
money to a Zemindar; or as a present to those who framed the
duties. Not only had the duties been from time to time raised in
their amount, and multiplied in their number, at the discretion Of
the Zemindars and the renters under them, but they were at length
levied at almost every stage, and on every successive transfer of
property uniformity in the principles of collection was completely
wanting; a different mode of taxation prevailing in every district,
in respect to all the varieties of goods, and other articles, subject to
impost This consuming system of oppression had, in some instances,
been aggravated by the Company's government, which, when pos-
sessed of a few factories, with a small extent of territory around
them, adopted the measure of placing Chokies, or custom stations,
in the vicinity of each, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of
trade within their own limits, as well as to afford them a source of
revenue. Under the head of Sayer revenue, was also included a
variety of taxes, indefinite in their amount, and vexatious in their
nature, called Moturpha ; they consisted of imposts upon houses, on
the implements of agriculture, on looms, on merchants, on artificers,
and other professions and castes.
"Again, speaking of the Company's administration in reference
to the Nunjah, Punjab, and Baghayut lands above described, the
select committee observe 'The demand on the cultivator was,
124 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
however, by no means confined to the established rates of land tax
Or rent; for beside the Sayer duties and taxes, personal and profes-
sional, the Ryot was subject to extraordinary aids, additional assess*
ments, and to the private exactions of the officers of government, or
renters, and their people ; so that what was left to the Ryot was little
more than what he was able to secure by evasion and concealment"
Rickards, Vol. I. 414.
The manufacture of salt is a strict monopoly, which
produced in Bengal alone, in the years 18223 to
1825-6, an average revenue of 15,785,376 rupees,
or nearly eight millions of dollars. The total reve-
nue in the three presidencies from this source, was
18,000,000 of rupees per annum. Mr. Rickards says,
" comparing the revenue with the cost and charges
in each year, it appears that the former is more than
3$ times the latter." This extravagant charge is
necessarily augmented by the profits of the retailers,
and the salt which is sold by government at 3 rupees
per maund, (equal to a dollar per bushel,) is re-sold
in Calcutta at 5 rupees, ($ 1 67 per bushel,) after
being adulterated with ten or fifteen per cent of dirt.
No one not conversant with the revenue system of
India,, after being informed that one-half of the whole
produce of their patches of land had been taken to
meet the demands of government, could have con-
ceived the possibility of such an assessment upon
an article like salt, by which it should be quadru-
pled in price for the payment of dividends on India
stock! Another of the effects of this oppressive tax,
is to increase the risk of famine, to which this un-
fortunate people are always liable. " The great
impediment," says Mr. M'Culloch, "to the inter-
course between the Bengal and Madras provinces
ESSAY OH THE RATE OF WAGES. 125
is the salt monopoly; the quantity of salt annually
taken being restricted by the government of Ben-
gal. This limits the consumption of salt in Bengal,
where it is actually dear, and by compelling the
inhabitants of Madras to grow corn on poor lands,
precludes the export of the cheap rice of Bengal.
The India government, instead of having improved
of late years in liberality, have actually drawn tighter
the cords of monopoly. The effect of this upon the
export of corn from Bengal to Madras has been re*
markable. In 1806-7, when the salt of Madras was
admitted into Calcutta with some liberality, their ex-
port of grain to the Coromandel coast, amounted to
2,635,658 maunds, (74 Ibs. each.) or about 470,000
quarters; whereas in 1823-4, a year of scarcity, it
amounted to 1,591,326 maunds, or about 284,000
quarters."
In 1804, Lord Wellesley writes, that the "main
and avowed object of the Company's system is an
exclusive appropriation of the labour of the weavers,
and the establishment of a control over that labour,
to enable the commercial officers to obtain the pro-
portion of goods required for the Company at prices
to be regulated by the officers themselves." Rickards,
Vol. /. 84.
Tobacco was monopolised, and the Ryots were
prohibited from cultivating any smaller quantity than
ten maunds, to the injury of those who had been ac-
customed to discharge part of their rent by the help
of a small plantation of one or two maunds. Rich-
ards, 1.91.
Opium is also a monopoly. The average of the
126 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
gross receipts from this source for fourteen years,
ending with 1821-2, was 9,382,263 rupees, and the
cost and charges 990,738 rupees, giving a profit of
850 per cent. ! Since the introduction of Malwa opi-
um, which the company has been unable to monopo-
lise, the profits of this department of trade have very
much diminished.
By the monopoly of the sale of salt to, and the
purchase of opium from, this unfortunate people, the
Company realized a profit of thirteen millions of dol-
lars, a sum almost equal to the whole expenses of
the government of the United States.
The following extract will give a general view of
the state of India under all these exactions:
u Let us suppose England to be divided into small tenures, no!
much bigger than Irish potato gardens; the produce of the soil a
great variety of articles, of which some one or more, come to matu-
rity in almost every month in the year; the present landlords forced
to emigrate, or reduced to cultivate their own lands, or perhaps con-
Terted into Zemindars, with power to exact, flog, fine and imprison
ab libitum ; the land tax fixed at one-half the gross produce, to be
ascertained by admeasurement of every acre, and by valuation, or
by weighing the produce; or, in the event of difference of opinion
with the cultivators of any village or district, by calling in the farm-
ers of a neighbouring district to settle the dispute. From the op-
pressive, as well as vexatious nature of this tax, let us also suppose
the fears and jealousies of government occasion the appointment of
hosts of revenue servants, armed and unarmed, some to make, others
to check the collections; that accounts and check accounts be also
multiplied, to guard against imposition; and that servants required
for these various purposes, be authorized to collect additional im-
posts from the cultivators, or to have land assigned to them, as a re-
muneration for their own services; and that, under colour of their
privileges and grants, excessive exactions are enforced, leaving but
a bare subsistence to the farmers; that this system of taxation should
W liable to increase with every increase of cultivation ; that the de-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 127
falcations of one farmer, or one village, should be made good from
the surplus produce of others; that the spirit of the people should be
BO broken by the rigour of despotic power, as to suffer the govern.
ment with impunity to step forward, and declare itself sole proprie-
tor of all the lands in the country ; and that its avarice and cravings
had so multiplied imposts as to inspire cultivators with the utmost
alarm and dread, whenever changes or reforms were projected in
the revenue administration, lest further additions should be made
to their almost intolerable burdens. Let the reader, I say, consider
these things, and then ask himself if a government assessor, with
every soul in the country thus opposed to his research, is likely to
obtain the requisite information for justly valuing every acre of cul-
tivated land, including every variety of soil, and of products; or if it
could be justly valued, whether the collectors of such a government
were likely to be guided by any better rule, than to extract from
the contributors all that could with safety be drawn into their own
and the public purse. This, however, is but a sketch of the state
of society in Hindostan, of which demoralization was the inevitable
result; where laws, regulations, and even official instructions, are
but a name : where power is really uncontrolled, and usage affords
abundant openings for its arbitrary exercise, the holders of power,
with their numerous hangers-on, will be arrayed on one side as in-
struments of oppression, to which the Ryots, or the mass of people,
have naught to oppose but evasion, falsehood, artifice and cunning.
Some of the worst passions of the human mind, thus called into con.
slant action, become settled habits; and every rising generation
being of necessity, and from infancy, driven to the practice of these
habits, a character of slavish submission, and moral degradation, is
generated, which it is most illiberal and unjust to impute to this
oppressed people, as inherent and incorrigible depravity." Rickards,
Vol. II., 43.
Notwithstanding the horrible picture that is here
presented, the Quarterly Review, for August, 1834,
says, " It is to be hoped that no further encroach-
ments will be made on the authorities who have so
long and so ably administered the government of
India, and whose successful endeavours in diffusing
128 ESSAY OW THE RATE OP WAGES.
happiness among countless millions of a quiet and in-
nocent people, are universally allowed. Placed, as
these natives are, under the immediate rule of able,
upright, and honourable men, taught from an early
age to respect their prejudices and to treat them with
kindness and humanity, no change of the present sys-
tem, we are quite satisfied, could tend to better their
condition, or to promote the tranquillity of this exten-
sive empire." p. 368.
I have made these very copious extracts, believing
that a very large portion of my readers cannot be
familiar with the revenue system of British India, and
that its importance, affecting, as it does, the happiness
of a nation of above one hundred millions, is a suf-
ficient excuse for so doing. Copious as they are,,
they give but a faint idea of the abuses to which it
has given rise, and which can only be understood
by a perusal of the excellent work of Mr. Rickards,,
of whom Mr. M'Culloch says, " his opinion, from the
high station he filled in India, his intelligence, can-
dour, and experience in commercial affairs, is enti-
tled to great weight."
Having perused them, the reader can have little
doubt as to the difficulty in obtaining commodities
to exchange for silver, by the people of India, as
compared with the United States or England nor
can he have much doubt of the fact that the fund
out of which the labourer is to be supported, must
be yery small, when an individual cultivator of some
half dozen acres, the whole produce of which would
not support an American, is compelled to pay one-
half for rent; then to meet a succession of demands
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 129
from those who are placed over him; then to pay
duties on the transport of all he has to sell; and
finally, to sell and buy at prices fixed by the Com-
pany; selling always at the lowest, and buying al-
ways at the highest. That a people so situated, should
be " poor and miserable," is not matter of surprise,
but that they are able to exist at all is wonderful!
The effects of excessive taxation upon a nation are
well described by Mr. M'Culloch " The effect of
exorbitant taxes is not to stimulate its industry, but
to destroy it. No man will ever be really and per-
severingly industrious, whose industry does not yield
him a visible increase of comforts and enjoyments.
If taxation be carried so high as to swallow the
whole, or even the greater part of the produce of
industry above what is required to furnish us with
mere necessaries, it must, by destroying the hope
and means of rising in the world, take away the most
powerful motive to industry and frugality, and, in-
stead of producing increased exertion, will produce
only despair. The stimulus given, by excessive tax-
ation, to industry, has not been unaptly compared to
the stimulus given by the lash to the slave a stimu-
lus, which the experience of all ages and nations has
proved to be as ineffectual as it is inhuman, when
compared to that which the expectation of improving
his condition and enjoying the fruits of his industry
without molestation, gives to the productive energies
of the citizen of the free state." Sup. Ency. Brit, art.
Taxation.
L2
130 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER X.
THE third great disturbing cause is restraint upon
freedom of action and of commerce.
Freedom of action has never been interfered with
in the United States. Every man may travel from
North to South, from East to West, without a pass-
port, and without the necessity of visiting police offi-
ces, so annoying to those who travel on the continent
of Europe. Every man who finds business unprofita-
ble, or employment scarce, may change his residence
until he finds himself suited, without incurring the
risk of being sent back to his parish, as would be the
case in England. There, a constant strife exists as
to the right of settlement, and immense sums are
squandered in law proceedings, to determine whether
parish No. 1 or No. 2 shall support the unfortunate
pauper; and even when a demand for labour exists,
so much apprehension is there of permitting a settle-
ment to be gained, that engagements are made for
eleven months, in order that, before the expiration of
the year, the man may be returned to his parish to
take up a new departure in quest of employment
"The enterprising man who has fled from the tyranny and pau-
perism of his parish, to some place where there is a demand and a
reward for his services, is driven from, a situation which suits him,
and an employer to whom he is attached, by a labour rate, or some
other device against non-parishioners, and forced back to his settle-
ment to receive as alma a portion only of what he was earning by
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 131
his own exertions. He is driven from a place where he was earn-
ing, as a free labourer, 12s. or 14s. a week, and is offered road work
as a pauper at 6d. a day, or perhaps to be put up by the parish au-
thorities at auction, and sold to the farmer who will take him at the
lowest allowance." Rep. Poor-Laws Com. p. 86.
" The Rev. R. R. Bailey, chaplain to the Tower, who has had ex-
tensive opportunities of observing the operation of the poor-laws in
the rural districts, states, ' I consider that the present law of settle-
ment renders the peasant, to all intents and purposes, a bondsman!
he is chained to the soil by the operation of the system. Very fre-
quent instances have occurred to me of one parish being full of la-
bourers, and suffering greatly from want of employment, whilst in
another adjacent parish, there is a demand for labour. I have no
doubt that if the labourers were freed from their present trammels,
there would be such a circulation of labour as would relieve the
agricultural districts.' " Mr. Chadwick's Report.
If he has devised any improvements, he incurs the
risk of interfering with the vested rights of some
corporate body, as in the following instance:
44 At the Thames police office on Wednesday, the captain of the
steam boat Adelaide, which has recently been running between
Hungerford market and Greenwich, for the conveyance of passen-
gers, to the great injury and annoyance of the Thames watermen,
tcasjined 5 under a law of the Watermen's Company, for acting
as master of the steam bont, w a limit beinjj duly npproved and licensed
by the Watermen's Company. It is further understood that this
verdict will go to put a stop to any fyrthm xteam conveyance to
Cfreenvnch, as it is the intention of the Watermen's Company not
to grant a license to any steam boat which shall only run to Green-
wich." Westminster Review, July, 1834.
The following extract will serve to show the effect
produced upon the price of labour by the settlement
laws: West. Rev. No. xlii. p. 40.
" If higher wages were offered from a distant parish to the
labourers in your parish than they now get there, do you not think
they would move out of it ? No, I am quite sure they would not,
because, in addition to the usual parish relief, they have a very large
132 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
charity there : it is some lands bequeathed in Edward the Sixth's
time, for the repairs of the church, the roads, and the use of the
poor. We expend that portion with relation to the poor in clothing,
and coals and rents, and some in educating their children. At times
it occasions desperate swearing to get settlements in the parish,
and at all times it is a very great hindrance to people going out of
the parish. I do not blame them for remaining in the parish, and
sticking to their settlements ; I should do so myself, if I were in
their place."
In the United States, there are no apprentice laws,
and a man may change his trade as often as he
thinks proper ; nor is he compelled to pay for making
himself free of the "Worshipful Company of Merchant
Tailors," or any other company, before he can exer-
cise his skill in any one of our cities. Mr. Gallatin
says :
" No cause has, perhaps, more promoted, in svery respect, the
general improvement of the United States, than the absence of those
systems of internal restriction and monopoly which continue to dis-
figure the state of society in other countries. No laws exist here,
directly or indirectly, confining men to a particular occupation or
place, or excluding any citizen from any branch he may, at any
time, think proper to pursue. Industry is, in every respect, free
and unfettered; every species of trade, commerce, and professions,
and manufacture, being equally open to all, without requiring any
regular apprenticeship, admission, or license. Hence the improve-
ment of America has led not only to the improvement of her agri-
culture, and to the rapid formation and settlement of new states in
the wilderness; but her citizens have extended their commerce to
every part of the globe, and carry on with complete success even
those branches for which a monopoly had heretofore been considered
essentially necessary."
This absence of interference with the affairs of in-
dividuals, produces a state of things so different from
that usually met in Europe, that it is perfectly incom-
prehensible to most of foreigners who write upon the
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 133
affairs of the United States. Thus in Blackwood's
Magazine for March 1835, in an able article on Mr.
Pitt and his policy, is the following passage:
u It is remarkable as a national distinction, and still more remark-
able aa a public advantage, that in England all the great principles
of the life of nations, are in a state of perpetual inquiry. In the
continental kingdoms, the sole object of public interest is the con.
duct of the monarch or the minister. In France a new era has
lately begun, but it is still in the infancy of legislation, and may never
reach the manhood. Even in America, we hear of little more than
the tricks of elections transferred to the tricks of Congress; quar-
rels, among obscure coteries in the villages, expanded into inter-
minable speeches in the legislature ; and the whole annual labour of
American wisdom, compiled for the world in the speech of the presi-
dent, whose whole labour seems to be that of lucky finance, and
whose financial triumphs, in the midst of a new world, demanding
the largest liberality of government to foster the growing powers of
the people, seem to be limited to the saving of so many dollars this
year, within the narrowest scale of national penury the year before.
But in England we have topics of a more deliberate, manly, and
majestic order."
Misconception of the true object of government
was never more clearly displayed than in the above
passage. It is claimed as a national distinction and
advantage, that the great principles of government
are matters of debate, and such it certainly is when
compared with those nations of the continent whose
absolute monarchs forbid inquiry; but it would be
equally proper for the people of Baden, or Bavaria,
or Hesse, to boast their superiority over those of Eng-
land, because the great question of the freedom of
the press, or the right of habeas corpus, happened to
be under debate at this time. Should such a claim be
made, the Briton would feel towards the German pre-
cisely as an American must feel towards the writer
134 ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
of an article like the above. All the important prin-
ciples of government are settled in this country, and
have ceased to be matters of discussion; and notwith-
standing the departure therefrom in the case of the
tariff, it is now so fully understood that the true policy
of the United States is abstinence from meddling with
the affairs of individuals ; or in other words, freedom
of trade and of action ; that there will be every day
less disposition to interfere with it. It never occurs to
any one on the floor of Congress to doubt the expe-
diency of abolishing all restrictions upon navigation,
and thus the reciprocity treaties are deemed by all
an improvement upon the old and barbarous system,
while in England they are as often discussed as the
question of tithes! The true object for which govern-
ment was instituted, is understood to be to give to
every man security of person and property, at the
smallest cost, and with the least possible interference
with his freedom of action ; a very simple theory, but
apparently very difficult of comprehension to one
brought up in the habit of contemplating the very
complicated machinery of an European government.
His view of the object of government is found in the
idea contained in the above, of" fostering the growing
powers of the people" or, in other words, plundering
A. to enrich B.; for such must be the result of all
such attempts to " foster the growing powers of the
people." When the object of government shall be as
we.ll understood in Great Britain as it is in the United
States, the idea will be exploded, and many of the
discussions referred to as being of that " deliberate
and majestic order," will be deemed as absurd and
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 136
unnecessary as would be a repetition of those in re-
lation to tonnage and poundage. Two centuries since,
many very important questions were discussed in the
most "manly and deliberate" manner, but a reference
to those discussions would now excite little other feel-
ing in the mind of the above writer, than that of sur-
prise that the object of government should have been
so little understood. Precisely such is the condition
of the people of the United States. They see the
bar, the press, and both houses of parliament, engag-
ed in the discussion of tithes, corporations, marriage
acts, the union of church and state, the right of dis-
senters to take degrees, the right of Roman Catholics
and Jews to the enjoyment of certain privileges, the
right of exporting machinery, and numberless other
questions, which appear to them absurd and ridicu-
lous, and totally unworthy the period in which we
live. All such matters are settled, and can never be
revived in the United States. There are important
questions peculiar to this form of government, such
as the constitutionality of the tariff the powers of
the states and the executive power that have been
within a few years brought into discussion, and it
may be safely said that some of the debates upon
them are of as " deliberate and majestic" a character
as those of any deliberative body in the world.
136 SSSAT Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER XI.
RESTRAINTS upon the freedom of commerce are next
in order, and to them and to the colonial system has
been owing a large portion of the wars of Great
Britain and France of the last century. Even pre-
vious to that time, during the administration of Col-
bert, they had produced the same effect between
France and Holland.
" Before his time, Holland supplied all Europe with manufactures,
and received in payment for them the raw produce of her poor neigh-
bours. M. Colbert, overlooking the facts, that manufactures cannot
be established in a country until it has acquired a considerable capi-
tal, and until the people of it have become rich enough to buy them,
sought to force the growth of manufactures in France merely by
issuing his famous tariff of 1 667, by which the importation of all
manufactures into France was prohibited. * * Immediately
after the appearance of the tariff of 1 667, the Dutch retaliated by
prohibiting the importation of the wines, brandies, and other pro-
ductions of Fiance. This commercial warfare produced open hos-
tilities in 1672, and a war that lasted six years; and it is to com-
mercial prohibitions and retaliations that most of the wars of Eu-
rope, since 1667, are to attributed." Parnell, p. 74.
The internal trade of the United States is perfectly
free, except that flour, tobacco, staves, and a few
other things are required to be inspected, a species
of regulation which will, doubtless, soon disappear.
Their foreign trade has always been comparatively
free, and even with the tariff at its highest rate, it
was vastly more so than that of England. In the
ESSAY ON THE RATS OF WAGES. 137
early part of their existence as a nation, all duties
were very moderate, but the war of 1812 produced
the necessity of increasing them, and the system of
protection continued it. At present, however, with
the exception of cottons and woollens, paper, su-
gar, lead, hardware, and a few other articles, duties
are very light, and in many cases importations are
absolutely free, so that the grower of cotton may
now exchange for coffee or tea, without paying a
farthing to the government for the privilege. This
country was the first to propose the abolition of all
restrictions upon navigation, and the equalization of
duties upon domestic and foreign vessels ; a measure
to which Great Britain assented only when it could
not be avoided, and even to this hour, as has before
been stated, the advantages and disadvantages of
" the reciprocity system" are matters of discussion in
the House of Commons, and in the newspapers and
magazines of Great Britain !
The necessity of raising a large revenue in Eng-
land, compels the government to impose taxes upon
many of the exchanges that take place, by the aid
of excise laws, which prevent the shoemaker from
exchanging his products for those of the paper maker
or glass blower, unless he will pay the government
For permission so to do. Nor is this the only disad-
vantage. To secure the collection of the revenue, it
has been found necessary to prescribe the modes of
operation in various branches of manufacture, and
thus the brewer, the paper maker, the glass blower,
&C. are prohibited by law from making improve-
188 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
ments, lest the collection of the revenue should be
endangered.
44 By the excise law* prescribing the processes of fabrication, the
manufacturer cannot manage his trade in the way his skill and ex-
pcrience point out as the best; but he is compelled to conform tp
such methods of pursuing his art as he finds taught in the acts of
Parliament. Thus the unseen injury arising from excise taxation,
by its interference with the free course of manufactures, is much
greater than is suspected by the public. The consequence of the
activity and invention of the manufacturers being repressed, is, that
the consumers of goods pay increased prices, not only for the duties
imposed on them, but for the additional expense incurred by absurd
and vexatious regulations; and in addition to this, the goods are
generally very inferior in quality to what they would be if no duties
existed." p. 29, " In the act of Parliament for the collection of
these duties, (on glass,) there are no less than thirty -two clauses of
regulations, penalties, and prohibitions ; all great obstacles in the
way of introducing improvements, vexatious in the highest degree
to the manufacturer, and necessarily obliging him to sell his good*
at much higher prices than what the mere amount of the duty oc-
casions." Parnell, p. 31.
" The zeal for securing revenue has so kept down the trade of
malting, as to have made the consumption stationary for the last
forty years; whereas, there can be no doubt, that if the trade had
not been so harassed by excise rules, checks and penalties, the con-
sumption would have increased with increased population and
wealth, and consequently the revenue derived from it" Ibid. p. 176.
The following extract from a speech of Mr. Pow-
lett Thompson, will show the effect of duties on glass:
" It appears, therefore, that notwithstanding the increase of po-
pulation and general luxury, the consumption has been kept down
by your improvident system, and is actually now less than it was
five and thirty years ago. But here again the duty is far from being
the greatest evil. Let any one turn to the act: he will find thirty-
two clauses of regulations, penalties, prohibitions, all vexations to
the manufacturer, and all to be paid for by the public. I have said
that the duty on flint glass is &d. per pound; the glass, when made,
selling for 1. Bat the excise officer has the power of imposing
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 130
the duty, either when the gloss is in the pot, 3d. per pound, or after
it has been turned out, at &d.; the glass, when turned out, gaining
100 per cent It is found more advantageous to the revenue, to ex-
act the duty on glass in the pot, at 3d.; and in this way the duty is
raised to Id. Nor is this all The manufacturer is driven by this
m/thod into the necessity of producing frequently an article which
he does not want He makes the fine glass from the middle; the
coarser from the top and bottom of the pot He frequently wants
only fine glass, and he would remelt the flux of the coarser parts,
if he had not paid duty upon it; but of course he is unable to do so.
All the glass manufacturers whom I have consulted, agree that the
whole cost of the excise, to the consumer, besides the duty, which
is 100 per cent, is 25 per cent ; and besides, there is great inconve-
nience and oppression from the frauds that are daily taking place.
And observe the effect which is produced upon your trade, both at
home and abroad. A manufacturer who has lately travelled through
France, the Netherlands, and Germany, has assured me that our
manufacturers could advantageously cope with foreigners, were it
not for the duties imposed by the government Labour is as cheap
in this country, our ingenuity greater, and the materials are aim
as cheap: it is, then, the vexatious onerous duty alone that gives the
foreign manufacturer the advantage over the English. But the ef-
fect of the duty goes further; it operates to prevent all improvement
in the article, because to improve experiments must be made ; but a
man with a duty of 125 per cent over his head, is not very likely to
make many experiments. This argument applies especially with
respect to colours. A manufacturer has assured me, that he has
never been able to produce a beautiful red, because the duties have
prevented his trying the necessary experiments, without his incur*
ring a great risk or loss. Thus a miserable duty, amounting to
only 500,000, and upon which a charge of 10 per cent is made for
collecting, is allowed to impede our native industry, and to put a
jtop to all improvements, and be a source of endless oppression and
fraud. I really cannot believe that the legislature will resist such
an appeal as the manufacturers of this article could make to them,
or refuse to relieve them from the gratuitous injury which is inflicted
en them."
Great Britain retains a host of colonies for no con-
140 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
ceivable purpose but to act as drains of her capital.
Canada alone costs her 600,000, or three millions
of dollars per annum, in. addition to the enormous
sums paid in bounties on Canadian timber used in
Great Britain. Canadian wheat is admitted at a
duty of 6<f. per quarter, while that of the United
States, Prussia, and Poland, is shut out by prohibitory
duties.
The West India Islands are compelled to supply
themselves from Canada at prices much higher than
they would pay to the United States, and to make
amends therefor, West India sugar is allowed a
bounty in the home market over that of British sub-
jects resident in India. Millions of pounds are ex-
pended in the protection of colonies, for no purpose
but to enable the colonists to supply their fellow sub-
jects with wheat, lumber, &c., at greatly higher prices
than other persons would gladly sell at In the re-
port of the Poor-Laws Commissioners, are statements
in regard to the number of persons who are born and
brought up to be paupers, in consequence of the inju-
dicious nature- of the system, but they iiave given it
on a very small scale. They might have included in
the same category the whole mass of the colonists, all
of whom are supported at the expense of the labouring
classes of Great Britain. " The history of the colonies
for many years, is that of a series of loss, and of the
destruction of capital; and if to the many millions of
private capital which have been thus wasted, were
added some hundred millions that have been raised
by British taxes, and spent on account of the colonies,
the total loss to the British public of wealth which
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 141
the colonies have occasioned, would appear to be
quite enormous." Parnell, 247.
No exchange for any foreign product can take
place without the payment of a heavy duty, except
hi the case of certain raw materials indispensable to
her manufacturers. With a limited territory at home,
incapable of supplying her population with food, she
refuses to avail herself of the advantages of her po-
sition as a manufacturing nation, to obtain it on the
best terms, and deprives her mechanics of the vast
business that would arise therefrom. Thus by inter-
nal and external regulations, every thing is done to
prevent freedom of action and of trade ; to prevent
her population from employing themselves either at
home or abroad, where they would be best paid ;
and to prevent, by this means, any increase in the
fund for the support of the labourer, while the chief
part of the expenses of the estate is borne by that
fund ; and then great astonishment is expressed at
the increase of pauperism, the remedy for which is
to discourage matrimony ! and that too in a country
in which it has been recently declared by high au-
thority, that " female chastity among the labouring
class is a virtue almost unknown !"* The time is not
* Extracts from the Reports of the Poor-Laws Commissioners:
" Swaff ham Norfolk. A woman in a neighbouring parish had
five illegitimate children, for which she was allowed 10s. per week,
and 6s. for herself." Remonstrating with another, she replies, ' I
am not going to be disappointed in my company with men, to save
the parish/ This woman now receives 14s. a week for her seven
bastards. Had she been a widow with Jive legitimate children, sht
tevuld not have received so much by four or Jive shillings." " It if
*9
142 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
remote, when it will be altogether unknown, unless
the burthens of the labouring classes are alleviated,
considered a good speculation to marry a woman who can brinj a
fortune of one or two bastards to her husband." p. 171.
K An unmarried girl, upon leaving the work-house, after her
fourth confinement, said to the master, ' Well, if I can have the
good luck to have another child, I shall draw a good round sum
from the parish, and with what I can earn myself, I shall be better
off than any married woman in the parish.' " p. 172.
" At Bulkington, the clergyman of the parish, who was interro-
gated as to the proportion of pregnant women -among the poor
whom he married, replied, ' not less than nineteen out of twenty.' "
" At Mantua, ' seventeen out of every twenty of the female poor
who went there to be married, were far advanced in pregnancy.' "
p. 173.
" Several clergymen told me, that four-fifths of the women are
with child, and frequently near the time of their confinement at the
time of their marriage." p. 174.
" I know of many instances in which the mothers have them-
selves been instrumental in having their daughters seduced, for the
express purpose of getting rid of the onus of supporting her." p. 176.
" They are almost always with child when they come to church."
p. 173.
"One day," said one of the witnesses examined by Mr. Chadwick,
" I went into the house of one of the people who work at the chalk
quarries at Northfleet, to buy fossils, and a young woman came in
for a few minutes, whose appearance clearly showed approach to
maternity. When she went out, I said to the woman of the house,
Poor girl, she has been unfortunate.' She replied, ' Indeed she has,
poor girl, and a virtuous good girl she is too. The fellow has be-
trayed her, and gone to sea.' I said, ' She should not have trusted
him until they had been at church.' To tins observation the wo-
man replied, and, let me observe, her own children were all about
her, 'What could she do, poor girl! if she did not do as other girls
40, she would never get a husband. Girls are often deceived, and
bow can they help it?' "
u The causes why illegitimate children are less numerous in ma-
nufacturing towns, are manifold; of these I shall allude but to two
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 143
and the Malthusian doctrines which lead men away
from the true cause of distress are abandoned.
" If once men were allowed to take their own way, they would
very soon, to the great advantage of society, undeceive the world of
the error of restricting trade, and show that the passage of merchan-
dise from one {state to another, ought to be as free as air and water.
Every country should be as a general and common fair for the sale
of goods, and the individual or nation which makes the best commo-
dity, should find the greatest advantage. The distance and expense
of carriage are sufficient reasons for any nation's preferring its own
goods to those of others, and when these obstacles cease, the stranger
is preferable to our own countrymen, otherwise domestic trade is
injured instead of being favoured. For these reasons, trade claims
liberty, instead of those protections by which it has been discou*
raged." Parnell, p. 292.
After the view given of the taxation of India, it
can hardly be necessary to say, that no freedom of
any kind exists there ; nor has existed, except to
the inferior health of the women, and the desperate remedy of
destroying the burden prematurely in the womb. The existence of
these facts will be acknowledged by any one who has seen with
inquiring eye, the actual state of the manufacturing population."
England, Vol. 1. p. 204.
" I requested," says Mr. Brereton, of Norfolk, " the governor of
a neighbouring hundred-house to furnish me with the number of
children born within a certain period, distinguishing the legitimate
from the illegitimate. The account was 77 born 23 legitimate, 54
illegitimate" Bulwer, England, Vol. I. p. 227.
In Mr. Cunningham's work on New South Wales, is a statement
given to him by an English clergyman, " that he considered the
women in his parish more moral than they had been, in consequence
of the increased number of bastards that were born. Before that
time, they had been BO promiscuous in their intercourse, that very
few births took place."
144 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
plunder wherever it was possible to do so. The Hin-
doo may not sell where he pleases nor buy where
he pleases he may not decide how much land he
will cultivate, nor what he will raise he may not
cultivate tobacco, except under restrictions, nor, since
1797, might he cultivate the poppy, except in Bahar
or Benares, until the recent territorial additions have
made it necessary to permit its continuance in Mal-
wa. His fellow subjects in England refuse to receive
any of his productions, (cotton excepted,) unless bur-
thened with excessive duties, while they require that
all their productions, used chiefly by the rich, shall
be admitted at a duty of five per cent., and that he
shall out of his miserable patch of land contribute
more than one-half of the gross proceeds to the sup-
port of the State, and to the payment of his absentee
landlords!
The following extract from the minutes of the
Madras Revenue Board, may be taken as evidence
of the extent of freedom allowed to the Hindoo.
" The amount levied on each Ryot was in fact left to be deter,
mined at the discretion of the European or native revenue officers,
for it was the practice to camptl the Ryot to occupy as much land,
and consequently to pay as much revenue, as they deemed proper-
tional to his circumstances ; he was not allowed, on payment even of
the high survey assessment fixed on each field, to cultivate only
those fields to which he gave the preference ; his task was assigned
to him; he was constrained to occupy all such fields as were allotted
to him by the revenue officers ; and whether he cultivated them or
not, he was, as Mr. Thackcry emphatically terms it, saddled with
the rent of each." Mr. Rickards adds, " that if the Ryot was driven
by these oppressions to fly, and seek a subsistence elsewhere, he
was followed wherever he went, and oppressed at discretion, or
deprived of the advantages he might expect from a change of resi-
dence." VoL I. p. 476,
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 145
CHAPTER XIL
HABITS OP INDUSTRY constitute a very important
item in the consideration of the causes which tend
to increase or diminish the product of labour, and*
of course, the fund out of which it is to be paid.
In the United States every inducement is held out
to industry. The people have the confidence that
they will have the enjoyment of almost the whole
product of their labour undiminished by taxation,
and that moderate exertion, with economy, will lead
to independence. As no people ever had stronger in-
ducements, so none ever pursued their avocations
with more earnestness.
Unfortunately the English System of poor-laws
has been introduced, and from the great temptation
held out to idleness, there is cause to fear that it will
produce most injurious effects, unless carefully watch-
ed. There is also a vast increase of charitable socie-
ties, whose object is to teach people that they can be
supported without labour, and that will be productive
of serious injury. The following remarks of Mr. E.
L. Bulwer are in the highest degree judicious.
** The system of public charities, however honourable to the hu-
manity of a nation, requires the wisest legislative principles not to
conspire with the poor-laws to be destructive of its morals. Nothing
BO nurtures virtue as the spirit of independence. The poor should
be assisted undoubtedly but in what in providing for thcm$d99i*.
146 ESSAY OS THE RATE OF WAGES.
Hence the wisdom of the institution of Savings Banks. Taught to
bear upon others, they are only a burden upon industry."*
Next in order are the people of Great Britain, who
have great reason for exertion, but not the same
confidence that they will have the enjoyment of its
products, or that it will lead them to independence.
Too large a portion of them feel that they must drag
on existence without improvement, and that by avail-
ing themselves of the temptations held out to idle-
ness by the poor-laws, they place themselves little
lower in the scale than the position they must neces-
sarily occupy, exert themselves as they may.
High duties, prohibitions, excise regulations, and
game laws, offer the strongest inducement to engage
in pursuits that are destructive of industry, and lead
to crime.
" It has been well observed, that to create by high duties, an over-
whelming temptation to indulge in crime, and then to punish men
for indulging in it, is a proceeding wholly and completely subver-
sive of everj principle of justice. It revolts the natural feelings of
the people, and teaches them to feel an interest in the worst cha-
racters, to espouse their cause, and to avenge their wrongs. A
punishment which is not apportioned in the offence, and which
does not carry the sanction of society along with it, can never be
productive of any good effect; the true way to put down smuggling
is to render it unprofitable, by reducing the duties on the smuggled
commodities.''!
When such inducements to pauperism and crime
are held out, it is extraordinary that the poor-
rates and criminal calendar have not increased more
England and the English, Vol. I. p, 231.
t Ed. Rev. Vol. XXXI. p. 536,
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES, 147
rapidly than they have done. It is estimated that
the quantity of solid food that can be obtained by
The independent agricultural labourer is - 122 oz.
The soldier has 168 "
The able bodied pauper has vegetables and 151 "
The suspected thief has - - - 181 to 203 "
The convicted thief has 239 "
The transported thief has 330 "
The Poor-Laws Commissioners, (page 228,) state
that " the diet of the work-house almost always ex-
ceeds that of the cottage, and the diet of the gaol is
almost always more profuse than that of the work-
house." The following extracts from their Report
will give some idea of the effect of the pauper sys-
tem upon the labourer and the land owner.
" In Colesbury, the expense of maintaining the poor, has not
merely swallowed up the whole value of the land; it requires even
the assistance of two years rates in aid, from other parishes, to ena-
ble the able bodied, after the land has been given up to them, to tup-
port themselves; and the aged and impotent must even then remain
a burden on the neighbouring parishes."
" Our evidence exhibits no other instance of the abandonment of
a parish, but it contains 'many in which the pressure of the poor
rate has reduced the rent to one-half, or less than half of what it
would have been, if the land had been situated in an unpauperised
district, and some in which it has been impossible for the owner to
find a tenant" Report Poor-Law Commissioners, p. 65.
" In the neighbourhood of Aylesbury there were 42 farms unte-
nanted at Michaelmas last, most of them are still on the proprietors'
hands; and on some no acts of husbandry have been done ever*ince,
in order to avoid the payment of the poor rate."
" In the parish of Thornborough, Bucks, there are at thui time
600 acres of land unoccupied, and the greater part of the other (#'
nanta have given notice of their intention to quit their farms, owing
entirely to the increasing burthen of the poor's rate." A. /. 66.
148 ESSAT ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
" The constant war which the pauper has to wage with aH who
employ or pay him, is destructive to his honesty and his temper ;
as his subsistence does not depend upon his exertions, he loses all
that sweetens labour, its association with reward, and gets through
his work, such as it is, with the reluctance of a slave. His pay,
earned by importunity and fraud, or even violence, is not husbanded
with the carefulness which would be given to the results of indus-
try, but wasted in the intemperance to which his ample leisure in-
vites him. The ground on which relief is ordered to the idle and
dissolute is, that the wife and family must not suffer for the vices
of the head of the family; but as the relief is almost always given
into the hands of the vicious husband or parent, the excuse is ob-
viously absurd. Wherever, says Mr. Laurence, of Herefield, the
labourers are unemployed, the beer shops of the parish are fre-
quented by them." p. 87.
" Applications to the petty session had been made by some la-
bourers who had been refused relief by the overseer, after they had
rejected work at Wrotham Hill, twelve miles off. This hill was
lowered a short time ago, and the work Was let out by contract;
fourteen or fifteen men of this parish might have found employment
at 2. 6d. per day, or 15. a week high pay for winter wages. The
labourers, however, one and all, refused to go, unless the parish
would agree to allow them two days pay, one for going, and one
for returning; in other words, would enable the men to make eight
days of the six, and so raise their wages from 15, to 1 per week."
Rev. H. Bishop's Report.
That pauperism leads to crime, there is abundant
evidence to be found in the excellent Report to which
we have already referred. I shall, however, quote
only a single passage from the evidence of Mr. Gre-
gory, treasurer of Spitalfields Parish.
M Are we to understand, as the result of your experience, that the
great mass of crime in your neighbourhood has always arisen from
idleness and vice, rather than from the want of employment? Yes,
and this idleness and vicious habits are increased and fostered by
pauperism, and by the readiness with which the able-bodied can ob-
tain from parishes allowances and food without labour."
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 149
In Lamb's admirable essays of Elia, is a descrip-
tion of the two races into which mankind is said to
be divided : the lenders and the borrowers. It applies
so well to the situation of the able-bodied pauper and
the miserable workman that toils all day for the sup-
port of his family, and is obliged to contribute a part
of his earnings for the support of the Falstaffs and
the Sheridans of the poor house, that I am tempted to
extract the following :
" The human species, according to the best theory I can form of
it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow, and the
men who lend;" (the men who live by the labour of others, and the
men who live by their own labour;) "the infinite superiority of the
former, which I choose to designate as the great race, is discernible
in their figure, port, and a certain instinctive sovereignty. The
latter are born degraded. ' He shall serve his brethren.' There is
something in the air of one of this caste, lean and suspicious; con-
trasting with the open, generous manner of the other. Observe who
have been the greatest borrowers of all ages Alcibiades and Fal-
staff Sir Richard Steele our late incomparable Brinsley what a
family likeness in all four. What a careless, even, deportment hath
your borrower! What rosy gills! What a beautiful reliance in
Providence doth he manifest taking no more thought than lilies!
What contempt for money accounting it, (yours and mine espe-
cially,) no better than dross ! What a liberal confounding of those
pedantic distinctions of meum and tuum ; or rather what a noble
simplification of language, (beyond Tooke,) resolving these supposed
opposites into one clear, intelligible pronoun adjective! What near
approaches doth he make to the primitive community! to the extent
of one half of the principle at least!"
Other causes in other countries produce similar
effects. Mr. Senior says:
" The established annual holidays in Protestant countries, are
between fifty and sixty. In many Catholic countries they exceed
one hundred Among the Hindoos, they are said to occupy nearly
K
150 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
half the year. But these holidays are confined to a certain portion
of the population ; the labour of. a Bailor, or a soldier, or a menial
servant, admits of scarcely any distinction of days.
" Many of the witnesses examined by the Committee on Artisans
and Machinery, (Session of 1824,) were English manufacturers,
who had worked in France. They agree as to the comparative in-
dolence of the French labourer, even during his hours of employ-
ment. One of the witnesses, Adam Young, had been two years in
one of the best manufactories in Alsace. He is asked, ' Did you find
the spinners there as industrious as the spinners in England?' and
replies, 'No; a spinner in England will do twice as much as a
Frenchman. They get up at four in the morning, and work till ten
at night; but our spinners will do as much in six hours as they will
in ten.'
" 'Had you any Frenchmen employed under you?' ' Yes; eight,
at two francs a day.'
" 'What had you a day?' 'Twelve francs.'
" ' Supposing you had had eight English carders under you, how
much wore work could you have done ?' ' With one Englishman,
I could have done more than I did with those eight Frenchmen. It
cannot be called work they do : it is only looking at it, and wishing
it done.'
" ' Do the French make their yarn at a greater expense?' ' Yes;
though they have their hands for much less wages than in Eng-
land.'
"The average annual wages of labour in England, are three
times as high as in Ireland ; but as the labourer in Ireland is said
not to do more than one-third of what is done by the labourer in
England, the price of labour may in both countries, be about equal."*
I doubt much the correctness of this statement in
regard to the Hindoos. There is no doubt that their
religion leads to enormous waste of time; that men-
dicity is promoted by it ; and that their various pil-
grimages and observances are of a most injurious
character ; but I doubt the correctness of the asser-
tion, that half their time is thus bestowed. Were
* Lectures on Wages, p, 11.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 151
such the case, would it be possible for them to live,
and meet the enormous demands upon them 1 ? A
very important portion of the people of India, are
mussulmen, whose religion does not require these ob-
servances, yet there is no very material difference
in their situation. Mr. Hamilton says, " It may safely
be asserted, that with so vast an extent of fertile soil,
peopled by so many millions of tractable and indus-
trious inhabitants, Hindostan is capable of supplying
the whole world with any species of tropical mer-
chandise; the production being in fact, only limited
by the demand."
Mr. Rickards says:
" They arc decidedly by nature, a mild, pleasing, and intelligent
race; sober, parsimonious, and, where an object is held out to them,
most industrious and persevering. But they are men of high and
gallant courage, courteous, intelligent, and eager after knowledge
and improvement, with a remarkable aptitude for the abstract sci-
ences, geometry, astronomy, &c.; and for the imitative arts, painting
and sculpture."
Since the above was in type, I have received the
Quarterly Review for April, 1835, containing the
address of the Assistant Commissioner for the county
of Kent, under the new poor-laws, giving so excel-
lent a view of the effects of the poor-law system, as
heretofore pursued, that I cannot omit making the
following extract:
" In old times, the English law punished a vagrant by cutting off
his eij ; and, said the ancient law, ' if he have no ear*' (which means,
if the law should have robbed him of both), ' then he shall be brand-
ed with a hot iron ; his city, town, or village being -noreover au-
thorized to punish him, according to its discretion, with chaining,
beating, or otherwise.' The legislature, driven by the progress of
152 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
civilization from this cruel extreme, most unfortunately fell into an
opposite one, wearing the mask of charity. Instead of mutilating
individuals, it inflicted its cruelty on the whole fabric of society, by
the simple and apparently harmless act of raising the pauper a de-
gree or two above the honest, hard-working, hard-earning, and hard-
faring peasant. The change, for a moment, seemed a benevolent
one, but the prescription soon began to undermine the sound con-
stitution of the labourer it induced him to look behind him at the
workhouse, instead of before him at his plough.
" The poison, having paralyzed the lowest extremity of society,
next made its appearance in the form of out-door relief, and it thus
sickened from their work those who were too proud to wear the
livery of the pauper. In the form of labour-rate, the farmers next
began to feel that there was a profitable, but unhealthy, mode of
cultivating their land by the money levied for the support of the
poor. He who nobly scorned to avail himself of this bribe, became
every day poorer than his neighbour who accepted it ; until, out of
this distempered system, there grew up in every parish, petty laws
and customs, which, partly from ignorance, and partly from self-
interest, actually threatened with punishment those who were still
uncontammated by the disease.
" To the provident labourer they exclaimed, ' You shall have no
work, for your dress and decent appearance show that you have been
guilty of saving money from your labour ; subsist, therefore, upon
what you have saved, until you have sunk to the level of those who,
by having been careless of the future, have become entitled more
than you to our relief!'
" ' You have no family,' they said to the prudent labourer, who
had refrained from marrying because he had not the means of pro-
viding for children ' you have no family, and the farmer therefore
must not employ you until we have found occupation for those who
have children. Marry without means ! prove to us that you have
been improvident ! satisfy us that you have created children you
have not power to support ! and the more children you produce,
the more you shall receive!'
" To those who felt disposed to set the laws of their country at
defiance, ' Why fear the laws? the English pauper is better fed
than the independent labourer the suspected thief receives in jail
considerably more food than the pauper the convicted thief receives
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 153
still more and the transported felon receives every day very nearly
three times as much food as the honest, independent peasant ."
" While this dreadful system was thus corrupting the principles
of the English labourer, it was working still harder to effect the de-
moralization of the weaker sex. On returning home from his work,
vain was it for the peasant to spend his evening in instilling into
the mind of his child that old-fashioned doctrine, that if she ceased
to be virtuous she would cease to be respected that if she ceased
to be respected she would be abandoned by the world that her
days would pass in shame and indigence, and that she would bring
her father's gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.
" ' No such cruelty shall befall you,' whispered the poor-laws in
her ear : ' abandoned, indeed ! you shall not be abandoned concede,
and you shall be married; and even if your seducer should refuse
to go with you to the altar, he or your parish shall make you such
an allowance, that if you will but repeat and repeat the offence, you
will at last, by dint of illegitimate children, establish an income
which will make you a marketable and marriageable commodity.
With these advantages before you, do not wait for a teducer be
one yourself!'
44 To the young female who recoiled with horror from this advice,
the following arguments were used: If you do insist on following
your parents' precepts instead of ours don't wait till you can pro-
vide for a family, but marry ! the parish shall support you ; and
remember that the law says, the more children you bring into the
world, without the means of providing for them, the richer you shall
be!'
" To the most depraved portion of the sex 'Swear! we insist
upon your swearing who is the father of your child. Never mind
how irregular your conduct may have been ; fix it upon a father ;
for the words, ' Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neigh-
bour,'' are not parish law what's wrong before the altar, we have
decreed right in the vestry! Swear, therefore ; and though you swear
ever so falsely, you shall immediately be rewarded !'
" I have now endeavoured to explain to you the two extremes of
error under which the English poor-laws have hitherto existed; the
ancient error having proceeded from the vice called cruelty, the
modern one from false virtues assuming the name of charity. Of
these two extremes, there can be little doubt that the latter was the
N2
154 ESSAY OTH THE RATE OP WAGES.
worst. However, it is useless to argue both are now at an end.
The new act reigns in their stead, and we have therefore now only
to consider what this really is. ... Those who are enemies to its
mechanism, tell you that this new act has a grinding propensity;
but so has the mill which gives us our bread. The act truly enough
does grind ; but before we condemn it, let us clearly understand who
and what it is that will be ground by it.
" The act rests upon that principle, which, whether admitted or
not by law, is indelibly imprinted in the head and heart of every
honest person in this country, that no individual, whether able-bo-
died^ impotent, or vicious, should be left to suffer from absolute want.
To this principle of common social justice, there is attached a libe-
ral feeling almost as universal, namely, that the poor of this wealthy
country should not only be barely supported, but totally regardless
of expense, they should receive as many comforts and as much alle-
viation, as can, by any man's ingenuity, possibly be invented for
them, without injuring, corrupting, or demoralizing other members
of society."
The same Article gives an excellent view of
the effect of Foundling Hospitals. That of London
has long since been compelled, while retaining its
name, to resolve that foundlings should not be ac-
cepted, and that " henceforward from none but their
mothers should babies be received. All honest wo-
men are now denied admittance, on the ground that
' the design of the foundation was to hide the shame
of the mothers ;' but those who happen to have chil-
dren without husband, are rigidly examined by the
committee, and if they can succeed in showing that
they are really guilty, a day is appointed on which
they are doomed painfully to produce and abandon
their offspring, to be re-christened, to be re-named,
and, so long as they remain in the institution, never
by their mothers to be seen again."
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 155
It contains also some admirable remarks upon that
provision in the new poor-law which relieves the
father from the necessity of providing for illegiti-
mate children. That clause has excited great feeling,
and " It has not only been argued but preached, not
only senators but divines have boisterously contend-
ed, that in cases of bastardy, to relieve the man from
punishment, and to leave his unhappy victim to shame,
infamy, and distress, is a law discreditable to our
national character, impious, cruel, ungenerous, un-
manly, and unjust."
Upon this head the Assistant Commissioner re-
marks,
" We confess that we feel very deeply the force of these observa-
tions ; at the same time it must be evident that we should have
dreaded (we hope we may say so fairly) to have stated one side of
the question, unless we felt convinced that there was something to
be said on the other. That the virtues of the weaker sex are the
purest blessings which this world affords us, that they were so
intended to be by nature, and that, like all her works, they have
not been created in vain, it is not even necessary to admit. From
our cradle to our grave, in our infancy, our boyhood, our zenith
and our decline, rejoicing in our prosperity, ever smiling in our
adversity, there is, we all know, a satellite attending our orbit,
which, like our shadow, never leaves us, and which too often be-
comes itself a shadow when we are gone ; but as the satellite shines
with borrowed lustre, so does the character of a woman much de-
pend upon the conduct of him whose fate she follows; and if this
be true, how deeply important it is for a nation to take especial care
lest, by too much human legislation, it may (as ours has too often
done) interfere with the wise arrangements of nature, whose motto,
with all her kindness, has ever been, Nemo me impune lacessit !
" Universally adored as woman is, yet it is an anomalous fact,
which no one can deny, that in every climate under the sun man
appears aa her open, avowed enemy and strange as it may sound,
156 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
the more he admires the treasure she possesses, the more anxious he
is to deprive her of it :
4 The lovely toy, so keenly sought,
Has lost its charms by being caught ;
And every touch that wooed its stay,
Has brush'd its brightest hues away!'
Now, if this arrangement were totally incomprehensible to us, yet
surely it would not be altogether discreditable, were we to feel
assured that the mysterious dispensation was benevolent and just.
" We have already observed, that with all her kindness, the punish-
ments by which nature preserves her laws are irrevocably severe.
Bestowing on us, with one hand, the enjoyment of health, with what
severity does she, with the other, punish every intemperance which
would destroy it what human castigation, we beg leave to ask of
some of our opponents, is equal to a fit of their gout ? Compare a
healthy peasant's cheeks with the livid countenance of a gin-drinker,
and who can say that a magistrate's fine for drunkenness is as severe
as hers? What admonition of a preacher is equal to the reproof of
a guilty conscience ? Even the sentence of death is what the meanest
among us has fortitude enough in silence to endure, but the first
murderer's punishment was 'greater than he could bear !' and after
all, what was this punishment but simply a voice crying to him in
the wilderness of his paradise ' Cain! Cain! where is thy brother?' 1
If abstinence be necessary for the recovery of our health, can any
physician enforce it like the fever which robs us of our appetite?
Can the surgeon explain to the man who has broken a limb the ne-
cessity of rest, in order that the bone may knit, as sternly as the
excruciating pain which punishes him if he moves it? What would
be our sufferings if one man were to have the gout for another man's
intemperance ? Or if the effects of gin-drinking were to be borne
equally by all mankind ? Leaving justice out of the case, would it
be a wise arrangement to divide responsibility, and partially at the
expense of the community to absolve an individual for neglecting
the particular duty he has to perform? Now, if in these cases it
be admitted, that Nature, though her lips be motionless, maintains
our real welfare by a judicious system of rewards and punishments,
surely it would follow, that it is probable she would consistently
pursue a similar course in protecting female virtue, on which the
happiness of all individuals, as well as of all nations, mainly depends.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 157
Would it be prudent to intrust it to any but her own keeping ? If
she alone receives the reward which adorns its preservation, is it
not a sensible arrangement that she should likewise be the sole suf-
ferer for its loss ? Could any better arrangement be invented ? In
common affairs of life, do we not invariably act on the same prin-
ciple ? Have we not one officer to command our army in the field,
on purpose to ensure a responsibility which would not practically
exist, were it to be subdivided ? But it is loudly argued ' Nature
is wrong : a woman ought not to be the sole guardian of her own
honour ; let us, therefore, make it, by English law, the joint-stock
property of the sexes let the man be punished for its loss as much
as herself, and under this clever and superior arrangement, which
will make it the interest of both parties to preserve the treasure, it
will remain inviolate; depend upon it, no bankruptcy will take
place!'
M Well this theory has long been reduced to practice, and what,
we ask, has been the result ? Have the lower orders, to whom it has
been exclusively applied, become more or less moral than their su-
periors in station ? Has the fear of punishment had its promised
effect? Has it intimidated the enemy? Has it strengthened or
ruined the fortress? Has it preserved the citadel? Is there now,
as there used to be, but one seducer, or are there two ? Has it be-
come the interest of the woman, instead of opposing, to go over to
the enemy ? For consenting to do so, has not the law almost inva-
riably rewarded her with a husband ? Has it not forcibly provided
for her ? Has not the oath it has extorted from her been frequently
productive of perjury? Before the altar, do the ceremonies of mar-
riage, churching, and christening, respectfully follow each other at
awful intervals, or are they not now all jumbled together in a bag?
Are the peasantry of England a more moral people in this respect
than the Irish, among whom no poor-laws exist? Has it not been
indisputably proved, that our domestic servants are, as to this mat-
ter, by far the most moral among our lower classes; and has not this
been produced by our own unrelenting rule of turning them out of
our houses, in short, like Nature, abandoning those who misbehave?
Has not that severity had a most beneficial effect? Can there be
any harm in our acting nationally as we conscientiously act in our
own homes?
" If," argues the Assistant Commissioner, " it should be impossi-
158 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
ble for the defenders of the old law, and the revilers of the Poor-
Law Amendment Act, satisfactorily to answer these questions,
surely it must follow, that our theory, having been unsuccessful, is
false ; and standing before the world as we do, convicted of being
incapable, on so delicate a subject, to legislate for ourselves, surely
we ought, in penitence and submission, to fall back upon that sim-
ple law of nature, which has most sensibly decreed, that a woman
after all is the best guardian of her own honour, and that the high
rewards and severe punishments which naturally attend its preser-
vation and its loss, are the beneficent means of securing our happi-
ness, and of maintaining the moral character of our country. That
we have erred from a mistaken theory of charity and benevolence
that we have demoralized society, kindly desirous to improve it
that, in scrubbing our morality we never meant to destroy its polish
that, by our old bastardy laws, we nobly intended to protect
pretty women, just as we once thought how kind it would be to
nurse infants for them in our national baby-house the Foundling
Hospital and just as we thought how benevolent it would be to
raise the pauper above the independent labourer it is highly con-
soling to reflect; but the day of such follies has past This coun-
try has no longer the apology of youth and inexperience it is
deeply stricken in years age has brought with it experience, and
by experience most dearly purchased, it enacted, in the Poor-Law
Amendment Bill, the clause to which so much obloquy has attached,
but which we humbly conceive, rests on a foundation that cannot
now be undermined by the weak tools of mistaken sympathy, or
reversed by explosions of popular clamour."
This long extract is given on account of the excel-
lence of the argument and its applicability to all other
cases of regulation. It is incessantly argued, in rela-
tion to the system of free trade, that "Nature is
wrong: that man is not the proper guardian of his
own interests :" and therefore it is deemed necessary
that he should be regulated by law in the manner of
pursuing them. If the able writer of the Quarterly
Review would apply the Assistant Commissioner's
argument to many other questions in political econo-
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 159
my, he would speedily be a convert to the doctrine
of non-interference.
There is no circumstance to which has been at-
tributed more influence upon the industry of a nation
than to the character of the relation between the
owner of the land and its occupant As this is a sub-
ject of considerable importance, it is proposed to
consider it fully in the next chapter.
160 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE Rev. Richard Jones of Cambridge, has pub-
lished the first volume of a series " On the Distribu-
tion of Wealth and the Sources of Taxation," in which
he has collected a great body of facts tending to show
the nature of the relation between the owner and oc-
cupier of land throughout the world. In his preface,
(page xxv.) he says:
" I have begun by analysing rents, because a small progress in
this subject was sufficient to show, that the greater part of the na-
tions of the earth are still in that state which is properly called
agricultural; that is, in which the bulk of their population depends
wholly on agriculture for subsistence; and because in this state of
society, the relations between the proprietors of the soil and its occu-
piers, determine the details of the condition of the majority of the
people, and the spirit and forms of their political institutions"
The Quarterly Review, Vol. 46, p. 82, noticing the
work, confirms this doctrine in the following terms:
" There is no exaggeration in the assertion that it is by these cir-
cumstances almost alone that the position of any nation in the scale
of civilization is practically determined. Nor can any one be sur-
prised that the fact is so, when he adverts to the simple considera-
tion that it is from the land, and the land alone, that nations derive
as well the whole of the food on which they are supported, as the
raw materials out of which, by the exertion of their industry and
ingenuity, they elaborate all the other necessaries, comforts, and
luxuries of life; that, therefore, the class who are possessed, no
matter how or why, of the exclusive property of the land, have it in
their power, by the more or less easy and equitable terms upon
which they choose to admit of its cultivation, either to restrain pro-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 161
Auction of every kind within the narrowest limits, or to permit its
full development to the utmost extent of which human industry is
capable."
It is singular that both of these writers should
have allowed themselves to be so far misled as to
make this relation modify the political institutions
of the world, thus mistaking effect for cause. Had
they examined it more closely, they could not have
failed to see that the political institutions influence
that relation, being the reverse of Mr. Jones's propo-
sition. Property is the creature of government, and
the object of man in the formation of communities, is
to give to each other mutual aid and protection in
the enjoyment of the fruits of labour, or property.
Having associated themselves together, it becomes
necessary to charge some certain person or persons
with the maintenance of order, and to give to those
persons perpetual succession, either by inheritance
or election, as the case may be. Having agreed to
maintain each other in the possession of such proper-
ty as they may obtain, they may resolve that all the
land} they possess are the property of the community
or state, to be held on payment of rent to the state;
or, that it shall be the property of a few individuals,
who shall be entitled to receive the rents, and shall
be liable to the payment of taxes on land; or that it
shall be equally divided among all the members of
the community, they paying a tax upon it. According
to the decision that would be made as to the adoption
of one or other of these modes, there might be in
such a community, Ryot, labour, cottier, or farmers'
rents, and it would then depend upon the subsequent
162 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
action of those who had the control of the movements
of the political machine thus created, whether, under
any one of them, there should be peace and prosperi-
ty, or wars, taxation and poverty. If the ruler or
rulers had entire control of its action, they might,
in the first case, demand such rents, or, in the last,
impose such taxes, as would effectually prevent the
improvement of the community, by absorbing nearly
the whole fruits of their labour, as is done in Hin-
dostan, where no more is left to the cultivator than
is sufficient to provide him the most wretched sub-
sistence. Or, if disposed to let the nation enjoy the
benefits of peace, they might content themselves
with a small contribution as in China. The follow-
ing extracts will show Mr. Jones's views in regard
to those two nations:
" It has been hitherto the misfortune of that country, (India,) to
see a rapid succession of short lived empires: the convulsions amidst
which they were established, have hardly subsided, before the people
have begun to be harassed by the consequences of their weakness
and decay. While any really efficient general government has ex-
isted, it has been the obvious interest, and usually the aim of the
chiefs, to act upon some definite system; to put some limit to their
own exactions; to protect the ryots, and foster cultivation by giving
reasonable security to all the interests concerned in it. The Mogul
emperors acted in this spirit, while exercising a power over the soil,
which had no real bounds, but those which they presented to them-
selves. But as the empire grew feeble, and the subordinate chief-
tains, Mahometan, or Hindoo, began to exercise an uncontrolled
power in their districts, their rapacity and violence seem usually to
have been wholly unchecked by policy or principle. There was at
once an end to all system, moderation, or protection; ruinous rents,
arbitrarily imposed, were collected in frequent military circuits, at
the spear's point; and the resistance often attempted in despair, was
unsparingly punished by fire and slaughter.
ESSAY OPT THE RATE OF WAGES. 163
" Scenes like these, in the ancient history of India, have been
frequently renewed, and succeeded rapidly short intervals of repose.
They were of course disastrous. Half the rich territory of that
country has never been cultivated, though swarming with a popu-
lation to whom the permission to make it fruitful in moderate se-
curity, would have been happiness; and nothing can well exceed
the ordinary poverty of the ryots, and the inefficiency of their means
of cultivation."*
In China, " the arts of government are, to a certain extent, under-
stood by the laboriously educated civilians, by whose hands the af-
fairs of the Empire are carried on; the country has, till very lately,
been remarkably free from intestine convulsion or serious foreign
wars, and the administration has been well organized, pacific and effi-
cient. The whole conduct indeed of the Empire, presents a striking
contrast to that of the neighbouring Asiatic monarchies, the people
of which, accustomed to see violence and bloodshed the common in-
struments of government, express great wonder at the spectacle of
the Chinese statesmen upholding the authority of the state rather
by the pen than the sword. One effect we know to have followed
from the public tranquillity : the spread of agriculture, and an in-
crease of people much beyond that of the neighbouring countries.
While not one half of India has ever been reclaimed, and less still
of Persia, China is as fully cultivated, and more fully peopled than
most European monarchies."t
Here we have the same mode of tenure, but with
the most different results. In the one is a government
oppressive almost beyond imagination, and in the
other the mildest possible form of absolute monarchy.
The whole land being declared to be the property
of the state, it is said by Mr. Jones, [page 140,] that
" The sovereign proprietor has the means of enabling
a body of labourers to maintain themselves, who, with-
out the machinery of the earth with which he supplies
them, must starve" The terms upon which this ma-
* Jones on the Distribution of Wealth, p. 116.
t Ibid. p. 133.
164 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
chinery will be rented, must depend upon the wants
of the party having it to let, and the extent of those
wants will depend upon the character of the govern-
ment. If the master be a Caesar, an Alexander, or a
Napoleon, he will deem his own glory paramount to
the happiness of those who are under him, and will
extract from them the chief part of their earnings, for
the purpose of adding to the number of unfortunates
subject to his control. If, on the contrary, he regard
the happiness of his people as most likely to add to
his glory, he will demand but a small rent, and will
leave the remainder in their possession to become
capital. Of the former character have been most of
the sovereigns of India, and to such an extent has
their oppression been carried, that, although there is
every reason to believe that private property in the
soil*, did, at one time, exist, it has been destroyed,
* Mr. Jones's reasoning in opposition to the existence of any such
rights, is curious.
u Are the Ryots in Rajast'han practically, as he (Colonel Tod)
conceives them to be, freeholders in any sense in which an English
proprietor is called the freeholder of the land he owns? I began in
the text by remarking, that the ryot has very generally a recog-
nized right to the hereditary occupation of his plot of ground,,
while he pays the rent demanded of him: and the question is,
whether that right in Rajast'han practically amounts to a proprie-
tary right or not. Now a distinction before suggested in the text,
seems to afford the only real criterion which can enable us to de-
termine this question fairly. Is the Ryot at rack-rent? has he, or
has he not, a benejicial interest in the soil ? can he obtain money
for that interest by sale? can he make a landlord's rent of it? To
give a cultivator an hereditary interest at a variable rack-rent, and
then to call his right to till, a freehold right, would clearly be little
better than mockery. To subject such a person to the payment of
more than a rack-rent, to leave him no adequate remuneration for
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 165
and the East India Company has declared itself pro-
prietor of the whole land of India. It will be evident,
upon consideration, that it is now of no importance
whether the Company demands fifty per cent, of the
products as rent, and ten per cent additional as taxes,
his personal toil, and still to call him a freehold proprietor, would
be something more bitter than mere mockery. To establish by law,
and enforce cruelly in practice, fines and punishments to avenge
bis -running away from his freehold, and refusing to cultivate it for
the benefit of his hard task master, would be to convert him into a
predial slave : and this, although a very natural consequence of the
mode of establishing such freehold rights, would make the names of
proprietor and owner almost ridiculous."*
According to this mode of reasoning, all that is necessary to do
away with private property in land in any part of Europe, is, that
the taxes shall be raised so high as to prevent the owner from hav-
ing any beneficial interest In some parts of England the poor tax
has risen so high, that property has been rendered totally valueless;
but Mr. Jones would consider it very extraordinary in any French-
man or German, who would deny private property therein on the
ground that the owner had no beneficial interest in it
At page [40], Mr. Jones gives the views of Sir Thomas Munro, by
which it will be seen that he considers the Ryot to be the proprietor,
subject to the claim of the state for rent or taxes.
" Yet with all these views of the difficulty of establishing private
property in land, Sir Thomas Munro declares the Ryot to be the
true proprietor, possessing all that is not claimed by the sovereign as
revenue. This, he says, while rejecting the proprietary claims of
the Zemindars; which he thinks unduly magnified. ' But the Ryot
is the real proprietor, for whatever land does not belong to the so-
vereign belongs to him. The demand for public revenue, according
as it is high or low in different places, and at different times, affects
his share: but whether it leaves him only the bare profit of his
stock, or a small surplus beyond it as landlord's rent, he is still the
true proprietor, and possesses all that is not claimed by the sove-
reign as revenue.' Vol. HI. p. 340."
* Jones on the Distribution of Wealth. Appendix, p, 36.
o2
166 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
or twenty per cent as rent, and forty per cent, as
taxes. In either case, the result must be the same,
as the cultivator can only live, and can accumulate
no capital
It is not to be doubted that they would relinquish
the claim of ownership of the land, if by doing so
there could be a small increase of revenue obtained.
The contrary is, however, what is required.
** It is the high assessment on the land," the members of the
board of revenue observe, " which Colonel Munro justly considers
the chief check to population. Were it not for the pressure of this
heavy rent, population, he thinks, ought to increase even faster than
in America; because the climate is more favourable, and there are
rast tracts of good land unoccupied, which may be ploughed at
once, without the labour cr expense of clearing away forests, as
there is above three millions of acres of this kind in the ceded dis-
tricts. He is of opinion, that a great increase of population, and
consequently of land revenue, might be expected in the course of
twenty-five years, from the operation, of the remission."*
By the following passage it will be seen that the
Company do not so much object to making changes
that cost them nothing.
" In India, the Anglo-Indian government have been creditably
ready to give more security and more civil rights to their Indian
subjects than they before enjoyed ; but when it became a question
of direct sacrifice of revenue, not withstanding the clearest conviction
in their own minds, that the population would be increased, culti-
vation improved, and the wealth and resources of their territories
rapidly multiplied, still the exigencies of the government would not
permit them to remit the actual rents to the amount of 25 per cent,
or 15 per cent, even to insure all these confessed ulterior ad van-
Uges; and therefore they concluded that the state of cultivation, and
the poverty of the tenantry, must continue as they were."t
If, instead of making the whole land the property
Jones on the Distribution of Wealth. Appendix, p. 47,
t Jones on the Distribution of Wealth, p. 174.
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 167
of the state, it be decided that it shall be the property
of a few persons who shall constitute the aristocracy,
the effect of this arrangement will depend entirely
upon the manner in which the government shall be
administered by those who are charged with it If
honestly administered for the good of all, the taxa-
tion for the support of the state will be upon pro-
perty, and as the aristocracy will be the holders
of the whole property of the community, it will be
to their interest to make it as economical as pos-
sible, in order that their rents may not be reduced.
Should they chance to have a warlike monarch, his
nobles would counsel him that upon the continuance
of peace would depend their prosperity, and he would
find himself compelled to practise a little restraint.
No taxation being imposed upon the labourers, until
they should have accumulated some property, they
would be at liberty to employ themselves as they
might think proper, and many of them would turn
their attention to other pursuits than agriculture. If
rents were moderate, the whole body of the people
would find their means improving, and the demand
for manufactured articles would increase so rapidly
as to absorb a large portion of the new population in
their production ; and as the quantity of land could
not be increased, the rent would rise, in consequence
of the general prosperity producing increased demand
for its products, by which the landholders would
benefit in common with the whole body of the peo-
ple. If, on the contrary, rents were high, the expen-
diture of the landlords would be considerable, and
would provide a market for a large amount of the
168 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAOMS.
products of labour in other departments than agricul-
ture : or, capital would accumulate in their hands,
and they would find it necessary to employ it, in
doing which they would increase the demand for,
and the reward of, labour. The labourers, free
from taxation, would find their wages increase with
the demand for their products, and the agriculturist,
ceasing to employ his children upon his farm, would
send them to the cities that they might participate in
the harvest. The effect of this would be to reduce
the competition for land, and lower the rent, by
which the wages of the cultivator would rise to a
level with those of persons otherwise employed.
If, instead of assessing the contributions for the
support of government, on property, by which the
holders of land would be compelled to furnish the
chief part, taxes should be upon consumption, they
would not have the same inducement to counsel the
continuance of peace. The taxes would not be paid
by them, but on the contrary, a heavy expenditure
by government would provide places for themselves
and their children, where they could be supported out
of the moneys paid by the people. The two parties
would then compete with each other, which should
have the largest share of the spoils, and both would
deem it unnecessary to show mercy to the unfortu-
nate producer, because if any thing were left by the
one, it would be taken by the other.
Here are two cases in which the tenure of land is
precisely the same, and the sole difference is in the
spirit with which the government is administered.
In the one the expenses of the protection of person
169
and property are fairly divided according to the
means of the parties, while in tb,e other the burthens
are laid upon the shoulders of those who are inca-
pable of resistance.
The case of Ireland may be adduced as one of a
nation governed according to the latter system.
There, even the land tax does not exist, and the owgt-
ers of property, which rents at two, three, and four
pounds per acre, are almost totally exempted from
contributing to the support of the government. Nearly
the whole revenue of Ireland is raised by taxes on
consumption, and as a large portion of the landhold-
ers are absentees, they escape the payment of them:
Various modes have been proposed for the improve-
ment of the condition of the- people, among which
is the adoption of the English system of poor-laws,
but that would only tend to aggravate the disease.
Another has been to lay a heaVy tax upon the estates
of absentee landlords, to compel them either to re-
turn, or to pay what will be equivalent to the taxes
on consumption that they would pay were they resi-
dent. To this there is a very serious objection, that
it would be an interference with the rights of person
and property. Every man should be equal before
the law, and be at liberty to expend the income of
hi property, whether in land or in the funds, when
and where he pleases. In this consists that security
which is the first and most important consideration
in a state, and should it be interfered with in such
a nation as Great Britain,
" 'T will be recorded for a precedent ;
And many an error by the ame example,
Will rush into the state : it eumot be." Merch* of Ven.
170 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
It is of the utmost importance that in the endeavours
to remedy an existing evil, we do not make a greater,
which would be the consequence of the adoption of
either of these plans.
Lord John Russel has another, by which a portion
of the revenues of the Irish church is to be appro-
priated to the education of the people, without dis-
tinction of religion. To suppose that this can make
any important alteration in the condition of the Irish
people, is as absurd as to suppose that a man whose
whole system is disordered, is to be cured by the ap-
plication of a plaster to his little finger.
There is a very simple mode by which the desired
change could be effected, and it has the advantage
that no man could feel that he had the smallest right
to complain of it. The first step should be to trans-
fer the cost of maintaining a gcvernment for the pro-
tection of property, to the shoulders of those who
possess it, relieving those who have none ; or in other
words, to abolish all taxes on consumption which
are paid by the labourer, and not paid by the land-
lords ; and in their place levy a tax on property to the
full amount that is now paid by Ireland. This would
leave in the possession of the producer a considera-
ble sum now paid in taxes, and much of it would be-
come capital, while the absentee landlord would find
that his residence in Ireland would be, under these
circumstances, quite as advantageous as his present
residence in France, Italy, or Belgium. Second, with-
out interfering in any way with the property in pos-
session of the church, let the tithes be transferred
from the clergy to commissioners for the general
ESSAY Olf THE RATE OP WAGES. 171
improvement of the communications of Ireland; or,
let tithes be abolished, and in lieu thereof a further
tax be imposed on land, to be applied as above stated.
It would be better if they could be abolished without
the necessity of such a measure as that proposed; but
the exhaustion of Ireland is such as renders the ap-
plication of capital in this way absolutely necessary
to make some amends for the drain of its resources
for so long a period. Without such a provision, the
Competition for land arising out of the absence of all
other means of employment, would enable the land-
lord to add the tithes to his rent, and thus make
amends for the land tax that might be imposed. The
application of a sum equal to the tithes of Ireland in
its improvement, for the space of twenty years, (to
which time it might be limited,) would, in connexion
with the measure first above proposed, produce such
a change as would now appear utterly incredible.
The first effect would be to give employment and
wages to all that needed them, and the number would
probably be found much smaller than might be an-
ticipated; the second would be to raise wages; the
third would be to increase the value of produce, and
by so much to lessen the burthen of rent The cul-
tivator would be enabled to improve his mode, and
increase his production. Feeling himself relieved
from the burthen that had been imposed upon him
for the benefit of his landlord and the church, all
cause of agitation would be at an end, and the coun-
try would become quiet. Capital would flow in for
the purpose of giving employment to the cheap la-
boure , which would gradually rise, and rents would
172 ESSAY ON THE KATE OF WAGES.
fell, but the improved modes of cultivation and means
of transport, and the extension of cultivation, would
place the landholders, as a body, on a very different
footing, and one vastly more advantageous, than any
they have ever occupied. Should the English peo-
ple ever feel disposed to do justice, they may tran-
quillize Ireland. Without it they never will do so,
and all attempts, such as we have seen and such as
are now proposed, will prove fruitless.
According to the doctrine of Mr. Jones, the nature
of this relation regulates the character of the govern-
ment. Government is generally (I might almost say
always) in the hands of those who hold the property.
In China there is no restraint by law upon the will
of the Emperor, notwithstanding which, it is deemed
highly necessary to conciliate the good feelings of
the people, who have, by prescription, acquired a
right to hold lands for their own use, or to alienate
them for their own benefit, upon payment of a cer-
tain fixed rent or tax. In Hindostan, where the people
have no rights, and the property belongs to their
masters, the action of the Company's agents is un-
controlled. The Autocrat of all the Russias must
administer his government in accordance with the
wishes and feelings of the nobility. In France, be-
fore the revolution, the nobility were masters, as
they were almost the sole possessors of property.
At present the direction of affairs is in the hands of
the higher and middle classes. In Great Britain it
has been with the aristocracy, who, until a very re-
cent period, were the great holders of property, but
now it is shared with the middle classes. In the United
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 173
States it is controlled by the property holders through-
out the country, infinitely more numerous there than
in any other part of the world. Were the doc-
trine of Mr. Jones correct, it would follow, that the
tenure of land being once fixed, and the character
of the government established, no change could take
place in the latter, until the holders of property should
judge it for their interest to let their lands to their
tenants on more liberal terms : or, in other words,
the character of the government could not be changed
until the government (i. e. the holders of property)
willed it.
The changes that have taken place in England
are thus stated by Mr. Jones :
"Thirteen hundred years have elapsed since the final establish-
ment of the Saxons. Eight hundred of these had passed away, and
the Normans had been for two centuries settled here, and a very
large proportion of the body of cultivators was still precisely in the
situation of the Russian serf. During the next three hundred, the
unlimited labour rents paid by the villeins for the lands allotted to
them were gradually commuted for definite services, still payable
in kind ; and they had a legal right to the hereditary occupation of
their copyholds. Two hundred years have barely elapsed since the
change to this extent became quite universal, or since the personal
bondage of the villeins ceased to exist among us. The last claim of
villenagc recorded in our courts was in the 15th of James I. 1618.
Instances probably existed some time after this. The ultimate ces-
sation of the right to demand their stipulated services in kind has
been since brought about, silently and imperceptibly, not by positive
law; for, when other personal services were abolished at the restora-
tion, those of copyholders were excepted and reserved.
" Throughout Germany similar changes are now taking place,
on the land ; they are perfected perhaps no where, and in some large
districts they exhibit themselves in very backward stages."*
Were the doctrine of Mr. Jones correct, these
* Jones on the Distribution of Wealth, pp. 40, 41 .
P
174 ESSAY O5 THE STATE OP WAGES.
changes could never have taken place, and labour
rents once established, they must have continued to
the present time. Why have they not? Why did the
change in the tenure of land take place earlier than
on the continent? Why is it now more complete?
Simply because the government was more liberal;
because the people of England have always had rights
recognised by the law ; and because those rights en-
abled them to obtain property, and thus to influence
the action of the government, which was therefore
administered more for the general benefit than, in
other countries. Her insular position secured her
against invasion, and the consequence was, that she
enjoyed a degree of security unknown to the rest of
Europe, and at comparatively moderate cost.
In France, the people were regarded as possessing
no rights whatever, and as being of value to their
owners only as producers of rent and taxes. They
were described as taillable et corveeable, a merci el
misericorde. Government was administered for the
benefit of the few, who were exempt from taxation,
while nearly the whole of the product of labour was ab-
sorbed by contributions for the support of the state.
These contributions failed to produce security, and the
kingdom was torn to pieces by factions among the no-
bles, too powerful to submit to law. When a momen-
tary calm took place at home, the country was not
allowed to profit by it, and it mattered little whether the
head of the government was St. Louis, Charles VIII.,
or Francis the First, as the bigotry of the one
produced the same calamitous results for the people
as the egotism of the others. Insecurity of property
ESSAY OPT THE RATE OF WAGES. 175
has restrained production, and a long course of war
and of heavy expenditure, has prevented accumula-
tion, the consequence of which is seen in the fact
that slavery existed in France until the time of Louis
XVI., as is shown in the annexed extract ; and that
a large portion of the kingdom is still in the hands of
metayers.
" Besides the serfs thus gradually assimilated to vassals, there
were other serfs whose state of slavery was as distinct and undis-
guised as that of the Russian cultivators is now : they existed for
sorna time in considerable numbers, and continued to exist in seve-
ral provinces up to the era of the revolution. We will say something
of these before we proceed to the metayers. They were found on
the estates of the crown, of lay individuals, and of ecclesiastics, un-
der the name of mainmortables, which was used indifferently with
that of serf, and appears to have been considered synonymous with
it They were attached to the soil, and if they escaped from it,
were restored by the interference of the tribunals to their owners,
to whom their persons and those of their posterity belonged. They
were incapable of transmitting property: if they acquired any, their
owners might seize it at their death : the exercise of this right was
in full vigour, and some startling instances led Louis XVI. to make
a feeble attempt at a partial emancipation. Proprietors, exercising
their droit de suite, as it was called, had forced the reluctant tri-
bunals of the king to deliver into their hands the property of de-
ceased citizens who had been long settled as respectable inhabitants
in different towns of France, some even in Paris itself; but who
were proved to have been originally serfs on the estates of the claim-
ants. The contrast between the condition of these poor people and
that of the rest of the population, became then too strong to be en-
dured ; but though the naturally kind feelings of Louis appear to
have been roused upon the occasion, he ventured no farther, than
to give liberty to the serfs or mainmortables on his own domains,
and to abolish indirectly the droit de suite, by forbidding his tribunals
to seize the person or property of serfs, who had once become domi-
ciled in free districts. In the edict published by the unfortunate
monarch on this subject, he declares that this state of slavery exists
176 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
in several of his provinces, and includes a great number of his sub-
jects, and lamenting that he is not rich enough to ransom them all,
he states that his respect for the rights of property will not allow
him to interfere between them and their owners, but he expresses
a hope that his example and the love of humanity so peculiar to the
French people, would lead under his reign to the entire emancipa-
tion of all his subjects."*
In our own time we have seen the case of a go-
vernment (Prussia) changing the tenure of land by
a decree. The influence of the land owners was,
however, too great to admit of any very material
change in the distribution of the product Mr. Jones
says:
" The posterity of the emancipated serfs of eastern Europe are
hut out from the possibility of forming a body of capitalist tenants,
fitted to take charge of the cultivation of the domains of the pro.
prietors. Personal freedom, hereditary possession of their allot-
ments, rights and privileges in abundance, the landlords and sove-
reigns are willing to grant; and it would be extravagant to say
these grants are worth nothing : but that which is necessary to
enable the peasants to profit by their new position, that is, an im-
mediate relaxation of the pressure upon them, an increase of their
revenue, proceeding from a direct sacrifice of income on the part
of either the crown or the landlord, is something much more diffi-
cult to be accomplished. In Prussia, the rent charge fixed upon the
erf, now constituted a proprietor, forms, as we have seen, one of
the heaviest rents known in Europe. And among the various
schemes for improving the condition of the peasantry, afloat in the
east of Europe, I know but of one, that of the Livonian nobility, in
which a direct sacrifice of revenue on the part of the landlords is
contemplated as the basis of the expected amelioration.''!
This is in direct opposition to the theory previously
advocated. If the character of the government de-
* Jones on the Distribution of Wealth, pp. 89, 90.
t Ibid. 174, 175.
ESSAY O1T THE RATE Or WAGES. 177
pended upon the tenure of lands, there should be an
immediate change in it, consequent upon the altera-
tion of tenure, which should be felt in an improvement
in the " details of the condition of the majority of the
people." That Mr. Jones does not conceive it to have
produced this effect, is shown by the following pas-
sage, in which he speaks of the observations of Mr.
Jacob.
" He has come to results remarkably similar to those which I had
ventured to suggest from a more distant and general knowledge of
their circumstances. The still predominant influence of labour rents:
the general want of capital among the proprietors: the rapid increase
in the numbers of the peasant cultivators which has been taking
place since their dependence on the landlords has been less servile:
the feeble beneficial effects on agriculture and on the general com-
position of society which in twenty years have sprung from the
strong measures of the Prussian government: the difficulties which
every where oppose themselves to all sudden changes in the old sys-
tem of cultivation : the strong apparent probability that the future
progress in the eastern division of Europe will not, with all the ef-
forts that are making, be much more rapid than that of this country
when emerging from a similar state of things; all these are points
on which I can now refer with very great satisfaction to the local
knowledge and authority of Mr. Jacob, in support of the suggestions
I have here thrown out. See Second Report passim, but more espe-
cially 140 and the following pages." pp. 71, 72.
Mr. Jones, throughout his work, attributes the con-
dition of the people, and the nature of the government,
to the tenure of land, yet the following passage is in
direct opposition thereto, and shows that wherever
security is obtained at moderate cost of government,
there is a disposition to change in the relations be-
tween the landlord and tenant. " Metayer rents, too,
have a constant tendency to spring up and engraft
themselves on ryot rents throughout Asia, wherever
p 2
178 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
the moderation and efficiency of the government is
such as to ensure protection to the property advanc-
ed by the cultivator." p. 137.
There is no nation whatever, in which the tenure
of land is, so far as we understand it, more advanta-
geous than that of China, where the government is
proprietor, and the cultivator a ryot, whose posses-
sion is, however, guarantied upon payment of one-
tenth of its produce to the state. In England the
church alone would take as much, leaving the culti-
vator afterwards to the tender mercies of the land-
lord and the government. Mr. Jones's sympathy, there-
fore, in regard to a large portion of the ryots of Asia,
as shown in the following passage, seems uncalled for.
' An examination into the nature and effects of Ryot rents, re-
ceives an almost mournful interest from the conviction, that the po-
litical and social institutions of the people of this large division of
the earth, arc likely for many long ages yet to come, to rest upon
them. We cannot unveil the future, but there is little in the charac-
ter of the Asiatic population, which can tempt us even to speculate
upon a time, when that future will essentially differ from the past
and the present." p. 142.
The reader can hardly, I think, hesitate to agree
with me, that it is the nature of the government that
influences the tenure of land, and not the tenure of
land that gives character to the government If the
latter be administered for the general benefit, there
will be a steady increase of capital and improvement
in the condition of the people. Such improvement
will be attended with a change in the tenure of lands,
and labour and metayer rents will disappear with
the progress of civilization, being replaced by money
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 179
rents. A further increase of capital will enable the
farmer to obtain a longer lease on condition of mak-
ing improvements, or he will become proprietor of
the land he has been accustomed to rent Were it
otherwise were the doctrines of Mr. Jones correct,
the science of political economy would be without
fixed principles, and among the most difficult of ac-
quisition, when, on the contrary, it is the simplest of
sciences. It teaches that the best system of govern-
ment is that which gives security of person and pro-
perty at the lowest cost, either of money or of free-
dom of action, and its most important maxim is em-
braced in the words " LET us ALOWE." Where that is
the rule of action, and where the expenses of protec-
tion are fairly distributed, there is a constant tendency
to remedy all existing evils, and none more promptly
than those which arise out of the nature of the tenure
of lands.
180 ESSAY ON THE RATE Or WAGES.
CHAPTER XIV.
IT has been seen that the United States are com-
paratively free from those disturbing causes which
impede the growth of capital. With a vast body of
land ; with mines of gold, lead, iron, copper, and coal,
abounding in every direction; circulating capital
alone was wanting to bring them into activity, and
the system has tended to promote its rapid growth.
Secure in person and property, comparatively free
from taxation, unrestrained in action, comparatively
so in all matters of trade, and very industrious, the
people of this country, applying their labour in the
way which they think will produce the largest re-
ward, find their capital rapidly augment; the conse-
quence of which is, that mines are opened in all
directions, new lands arc brought into cultivation,
rail-roads and canals are constructed, and machinery
is applied in every way to increase the produce of
labour. Capital flows from all quarters to this coun-
try, where it can be best paid for, and, increasing
the demand for labour, finds employment not only for
the vast natural increase of population, but for great
numbers who are led to seek here an improvement of
their condition. The fund out of which the labourer
is paid is larger, and his wages are consequently
greater, than in any other country. It is in a very
high degree satisfactory to see that this arises out of
ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES. 181
circumstances peculiar to the United States, and that
there is no reason to believe that any increase which
may take place in the extent of their population can
make it otherwise, while adhering to the present
system.
The following remarks of Mr. Senior on the sub-
ject of the high rate of wages in England, as com-
pared with the nations of the continent of Europe,
apply with still greater force to this country. -In
corroboration of them, is the fact that the only com-
petition to be feared by the United Stales, is that of
those nations in which the rate of wages is highest
not that of Hindostan, Italy, or Poland, but that
of Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands:
" The last remark which occurs to me as connected with the pre-
sent subject, is one which I somewhat anticipated in my first course;
namely, the absurdity of the opinion that the generally high rate of
mages in England unfits us for competition with foreign producer!.
It is obvious that our poicer of competing with foreigners depends on
the efficiency of our labour, and it has appeared that a high rate of
wages is a necessary consequence of that efficiency. It is true, in-
deed, that if we choose to misemploy a portion of our labourers, we
most pay them, not according to the value of what they do produce,
tat according to the value of what they might produce if their la-
bour were properly directed. If I call in a surgeon to cut my hair,
I must pay him as a surgeon. So if I employ in throwing silk, a
man who could earn three ounces of silver a week by spinning cot-
ton, I must pay him three ounces of silver a week, though he cannot
throw more silk than could be thrown in the same time by an Ita-
lian whose wages are only an ounce and a half. And it is true,
also, that I can be supported in such a waste by nothing but an ar-
tificial monopoly, or, in other words, that I shall be under-sold by
the Italian in every market from which I cannot exclude him by
violence. But do these circumstances justify me in resorting to
that violence? Do they justify me in imploring the legislature to
direct that violence against my fellow subjects ? If that violence
182 ESSAY OIT THE RATE OF WAGES.
IB relaxed, but not discontinued, have I, or has the consumer, the
more right to complain? If my estate were water-meadow, I should
lose if I were to endeavour to convert it into corn-fields. But surely
that is no subject of complaint; surely it is no reason for prohibiting
my neighbours from purchasing corn in any adjoining parish. To
complain of our high wages, is to complain that our labour is pro-
ductive to complain that our work-people, are diligent and skilful.
To act on such complaints is as wise as to enact that all men should
labour with only one hand, or stand idle four days in every week."*
It has been shown that in England there is equal
security of person, but not equal security of property,
because the visits of the tax-gatherer are more nu-
merous, and his demands vastly heavier; that there
is less freedom of action, and much less freedom of
trade ; and that industry is repressed by the allure-
ments of poor-laws, which reward idleness, thus pro-
ducing some of the effects which superstition produces
among the natives of Hindostan. The ratio of capital
to population steadily increases, but these disturbing
causes not only retard its growth, but prevent the
capitalist from employing it at home, and induce him
to send it to this country, where the greater freedom
of action and of trade enable him to derive from it a
larger compensation for its use. All these causes
tend to prevent the growth of the fund for the support
of the labourer, whose wages are consequently lower
than they should be, and he is compelled to emigrate;
and thus a large unproductive expenditure by govern-
ment, while it increases the wants of the nation, tends
to lessen its means, by driving abroad its capital and
its population. A long course of peace and economy
would, and will, retrieve its affairs, and even should
* Lectures OB the Mercantile Theory of Wealth, p. 76.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 183
there be no reduction of its debt, the increase of
capital and employment that must necessarily arise
out of the improved system that has been adopted,
and which without doubt will be extended, trill make
its present enormous debt as insignificant, a century
hence, as that of 1750 would now be deemed.
The unfortunate Hindoo labours under all these
disturbing causes. He is secure in neither his person
nor his property; he is taxed to such an extent that
scarcely enough is left to support life; confined in all
his actions and with all trade repressed by the most
grievous monopolies, he finds no inducement to exer-
tion when he knows that it will only produce increas-
ed demands upon him. Under such circumstances,
capital cannot accumulate, and the aids to labour are
of the worst kind. The steam engine, with its wonder-
ful productive power, has hardly been introduced, and
the manufacturers are unable with their unassisted
exertions, to compete with those of Europe or this
country.
The introduction of British capital is prevented,
and v
" Down to the present moment, British subjects commonly hold
lands in India clandestinely, and no men, nor body of men will be
mad enough to embark ten, twenty, or thirty thousand pounds ster-
ling, in stock, machinery, and land, which he can neither openly
buy nor sell, and in a country from which, with or without offence,
he is liable to be banished forever on the briefest notice." W. Re.
vine.
Communications are bad, and rail-roads and canals
are yet to be commenced. In short, there is no con-
ceivable obstacle to the improvement of the people
184 ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES.
that does not exist in that country, and while they
do exist, there can be no hope of change.
The following passage from Mr. Rickards's book
will show the scarcity of capital, and the enormous
compensation that is required for its use:
" Of all the effects, too, resulting from this destructive system,
there is none more obvious than its preventing the possibility of ac-
cumulating capital, through which alone can the agriculture of the
country be improved. At present the stock of a Ryot consists of a
plough, not capable of cutting deep furrows, and only intended to
scratch the surface of the soil, with two or three pairs of half-starved
oxen. This, a sickle used for a scythe, and a small spade or hoe
for weeding, constitute almost his only implements for husbandry,
faggots of loose sticks, bound together, serve for a harrow. Carts
are little used in a country where there are no roads, or none but
bad ones. Corn, when reaped, is heaped in a careless pile in the
open air, to wait the Ryot's leisure for threshing, which is performed,
not by manual labour, but by the simple operation of cattle-treading
it out of the ear. A Ryot has no barns for stacking or storing grain,
which is preserved, when required, in jars of unbaked earth, or bas-
kets made of twigs or grass. The cattle are mostly fed in the jun-
gle, or common waste land adjoining his farm, and buffaloes, thus
supported, generally supply him with milk. Horses are altogether
disused in husbandry. The fields have no enclosures. Crops on
the ground are guarded from the depredations of birds and wild
beasts by watchmen, for whose security a temporary stage is erected,
scarcely worth a shilling. Irrigation is performed by means of
reservoirs, intended to retain the water periodically falling from the
heavens, and of dams constructed or placed in convenient situations.
In some places water is raised from wells, either by cattle or by
hand. A rotation of crops on which so much stress is laid in Eu-
rope, is unknown in India. A course extending beyond the year,
is never thought of by Indian Ryots. Different articles are often
grown together in the same field, in which the object always is to
obtain the utmost possible produce without the least regard to the
impoverishment of the soil. The dung of cattle is carefully collected
for fuel, after being dried in the sun, and never used for manure.
Oil cake is used for manure in sugar-cane plantations, and for some
ESSAY Off THE RATE Of WAGES. 185
other articles; bat corn-fields are generally left to their own natural
fertility, and often worked to exhaustion without compunction. In
some situations near the sea, decayed fish is used as a manure for
rice-grounds; but it is seldom permitted where authority can be in-
terposed, as the stench of it is intolerable. In a country like India,
where the heat of the climate is great, the construction of tanks or
wells, for the purpose of irrigation, is one of the most useful pur-
poses to which agricultural capital can be applied. Wells and tanks
are sometimes constructed or repaired by the labour or industry of
the Ryots, bat most commonly at the expense of government It
has been remarked that where Zemindars have been able to accu-
mulate gains, they never apply them to the improvement of lands
subject to public revenue. Where Zemindars have been known to
construct works of the above description, they are merely designed
to increase the fertility of lands held free. But generally speaking,
so entire is the want of capital in India, as well in arts and manu-
factures as in agriculture, that every mechanic and artisan not only
conducts the whole process of his arts, from the formation of his
tools to the sale of his production; but, where husbandry is so sim-
ple a process, turns cultivator for the support of himself and family.
He thus divides his time and labour, between the loom and the
plough; thereby multiplying occupations fatal to the improvement
of either. In this universal state of poverty, manufacturers always
require advances of money to enable them to make up the article in
demand; whilst Ryots have frequently been known, sometimes for
anticipated payments, and sometimes for their own expenses, to bor-
row money on the security of growing crops, at 3, 4, and 5 per cent
per annum. No fact is perhaps' better established in political econo-
my than that industry cannot, in any of its branches, be promoted
without capital Capital is the result of saving from annual profits.
Here there can be none. A dense, or rather redundant population
occasions in India, as in Ireland, a competition for land; because in
a nation of paupers, land is indispensable as a means of existence.
It is therefore at times greedily sought for in India, notwithstanding
the exorbitance of the revenue chargeable thereupon, for the same
reason that small portions of land in Ireland are occupied under pay-
ment of exorbitant rents to landlords; and this extension of cultiva-
tion in India is often mistaken for an increase of prosperity, when
in fact, it is but the further spreading of pauperism and want
Q
186 ESSAY OPT THE RATE OF WAGES.
Hence the acquisition of capital in India, by the cultivators of the
soil, is absolutely impossible. Either the revenue absorbs the whole
produce of industry, except what is indispensable to preserve the
workers of the hive from absolute starvation; or it is engrossed by
a Zemindar, or farmer, who will not reapply his gains to the im-
provement of lands, within a tax-gatherer's grasp. In this view of
proceedings, effects are presented to our notice deserving the most
serious consideration. It is clear that wherever the wants of govern-
ment, real or imaginary, may call for increased supplies, recourse
will be had to the " improvement" or extension of an impost already
almost intolerable. It is in fact the only available recourse. Uni-
versal poverty leaves no other. Measures will therefore be multiplied
for assessing wastes; for resuming rent-free lands; for invalidating
former alienations; for disputing rights which had been allowed to
lie dormant for half a century; for increasing the aggregate receipts
from lands already taxed, or supposed to be taxed at 50 per cent of
the gross produce; in short, for the most harassing, and vexatious
interference with private property, and the pursuits of private indus-
try. Every improvement or extension of agriculture is thus sure to
be followed, sooner or later, by the graspings of the tax gatherer.
Industry, therefore, will be effectually checked, or only prosecuted
where the demands of government may chance, through bribery,
fraud, or concealment, to be eluded. Or if the necessities of human
life, or increased population, should occasion agriculture to be ex-
tended to waste lands, to be thereafter taxed at the 'just amount of
the public dues,' what is it but the further spread of pauperism and
wretchedness." Rickards, Vol. II. p. 196.
Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that
the fund for the payment of the labourer is small, and
that it does not increase, if it does not even diminish,
in its ratio to population. It is evident that the dis-
advantageous position of the Hindoo does not arise
out of any natural defect, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing quotations from Bishop Heber.
" Since my last letter, I have become acquainted with some of the
wealthy natives, of whom I spoke, and we are just returned from
passing the evening at one of their country houses. This is more
ESSAY Oil THE RATE OP WAGES. 187
like an Italian villa, than what one should have expected as the re-
sidence of Baboo Hurree Mohun Thakoor. Nor are his carriages,
the furniture of his house, or the style of his conversation, of a cha-
racter less decidedly European. He is a fine old man, who speaks
English well, is well informed on most topics of general discussion,
and talks with the appearance of much familiarity on Franklin,
chemistry, natural philosophy, &c. His family is brahminical, and
of singular purity of descent; but about 400 years ago, during the
Mahommedan invasion of India, one of his ancestors having become
polluted by the conquerors intruding into his Zenanah, the race is
conceived to have lost claim to the knotted cord, and the more rigid
brahmins will not eat with them. Being, however, one of the prin-
cipal landholders in Bengal, and of a family so ancient, they still
enjoy to a great degree the veneration of the common people, which
the present head of the house appears to value since I can hardly
reconcile in any other manner his philosophical studies and imita-
tion of many European habits, with the daily and austere devotion
which he is said to practise towards the Ganges, (in which he
bathes three times every twenty-four hours,) and his veneration for
all the other duties of his ancestors."*
" One of their men of rank has absolutely promised to found a
college at Burdwan, with one of our missionaries at its head, and
where little children should be clothed and educated under his care.
All this is very short indeed of embracing Christianity themselves,
but it proves how completely those feelings are gone by, in Bengal
at least, which made even the presence of a single missionary the
occasion of tumult and alarm."t
" I do not by any means assent to the pictures of depravity and
general worthlessness which some have drawn of the Hindoos.
They are decidedly, by nature, a mild, pleasing, and intelligent
race; sober, parsimonious, and, where an object is held out to them,
most industrious and persevering."}
" Of the people, so far as their natural character is concerned, I
have been led to form, on the whole, a very favourable opinion.
They have, unhappily, many of the vices arising from slavery, from
an unsettled state of society, and immoral and erroneous systems
Heber'u Travels in India, p. 229.
t Ibid. p. 230. Ubid. p. 840.
188 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
of religion. But they are men of high and gallant courage; cour-
teous, intelligent, and most eager after knowledge and improvement,
with a remarkable aptitude for the abstract sciences, geometry, as-
tronomy, &c.. and for the imitative arts, painting and sculpture.
They are sober, industrious, dutiful to their parents, and affec-
tionate to their children, of tempers almost uniformly gentle and
patient, and more easily affected by kindness and attention to their
wants and feelings than almost any men whom I have met with."*
" In the same holy city, I had visited another college, founded
lately by a wealthy Hindoo banker, and intrusted by him to the
management of the Church Missionary Society, in which, besides a
grammatical knowledge of the Hindostanee language, as well as
Persian and Arabic, the senior boys could pass a good examination
in English grammar, in Hume's History of England, Joyce's Sci-
entific Dialogues, the use of the globes, and the principal facts and
moral precepts of the Gospel, most of them writing beautifully in
the Persian, and very tolerably in the English character, and ex-
celling most boys I have met with in the accuracy and readiness of
their arithmetic.''!
" I have been passing the last four days in the society of a Hin-
doo Prince, the Rajah of Tanjore, who quotes Fourcroy, Lavoisier,
Linnaeus, and Buffon fluently, has formed a more accurate judg-
ment of the poetical merits of Shakspeare than that so felicitously
expressed by Lord Byron, and has actually emitted English poetry
very superior indeed to Rousseau's epitaph on Shenstone, at the
same time that he is much respected by the English officers in his
neighbourhood as a real good judge of a horse t and a cool, bold, and
deadly shot at a tiger. The truth is, that he is an extraordinary
man, who having in early youth received such an education as old
Schwartz, the celebrated missionary, could give him, has ever since
continued, in the midst of many disadvantages, to preserve his taste
for, and extend his knowledge of European literature, while he has
never neglected the active exercises and frank soldierly bearing
which become the descendant of the old Mahratta conquerors, and:
by which only, in the present state of things, he has it in hip power
Heber's Travels in India, pp. 265, 286.
t fbid. p. 300.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 189
to gratify the prejudices of his people, and prolong his popularity
among them."*
Nothing is wanting but a good system of govern-
ment, and until that can be obtained, it is useless to
send missionaries among them. When they shall
have found that the rule of Christians has brought
with it peace and prosperity; that they are allowed
to live as they should do on the produce of their land;
and that their little savings will enable them gradual-
ly to improve their mode of operation, and benefit
their condition ; then, and not till then, will they be
disposed to avail themselves of the instruction offered
them. They cry for food, and we tender them the
gospel ; they find in it peace, and good will, and
charity, while in their governors, they find nothing
but tyranny and oppression.
* Heber's Travels in India, pp. 354, 355.
190 ESSAY 05 THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER XV.
A SIMILAR survey of all the countries of Europe
would show the same result as that of these three
great nations. Where the disturbing causes are in
full action, as in Ireland and Spain, we find the popu-
lation to be "poor and miserable,"* but in other na-
tions, as those causes cease to operate, or diminish
in intensity, the condition of the people improves,
until at length we arrive at the United States, where
the situation of the labouring classes is confessedly
better than in any other nation whatever.
The most prosperous country of Europe, after
England, was the late kingdom of the Netherlands.
In Holland, the truths of Political Economy were
first acted upon, and they brought with them a copi-
ous harvest of wealth. Security and freedom and
economy were looked to as the sources of riches,
as may be seen by the following passages from a
description of the policy of the republic, written nearly
a century since, in answer to inquiries respecting the
state of trade, addressed to the merchants of Holland
by the stadtholder William IV.
" To sum up all, amongst the moral and political causes of the
former flourishing state of trade, may be likewise placed the wisdom
and prudence of the administration; the intrepid firmness of the
councils; the faithfulness with which treaties and engagements were
* In almost all countries, the condition of the great body of the
people u poor and miserable. 3fi/r Political Economy.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 191
wont to be fulfilled and ratified; and particularly the care and cau-
tion practised to preserve tranquillity and peace, and to decline, in-
stead of entering on a scene of war, merely to gratify the ambitious
riews of gaining fruitless or imaginary conquests.
" By these moral and political maxims was the glory and the repu-
tation of the republic so far spread, and foreigners animated to place
so great a confidence in the steady determinations of a state so wise-
ly and prudently conducted, that a concourse of them stocked this
country with an augmentation of inhabitants and useful hands,
whereby its trade and opulence were from time to time increased."
The following anecdote, given by Lady Morgan,
shows that the same correct views are entertain^
at this time by some of the Belgians. " At Venders,
the King, (Leopold,) observed to the Burgomaster,
" qu'il protegerait toujours 1'industrie." The Burgo-
master replied, " II n'y a pas besoin; 9 a va bien com-
me ca." Princess, Vol. III. 253.
Unfortunately their rulers were not all equally wise,
or equally patriotic, and the desire of personal ag-
grandizement led to war in some instances, while in
others it was forced upon them. The consequences
were enormous expenditure, heavy debt, and its at-
tendant heavy taxation, carried so far, that it was
said that every fish was paid for, once to the fisher-
man and six times to the state.* This contributed to
drive away commerce, and her capital was, and is
* " D'autres examineront peut etre si ces taxes out et6 judicieuse-
ment placets; si elles soot percues avec 1'economie convenable. II
suffit ici d'observer qne les manufactures de laine, de soie, d'or et
d'argent, une foule d'autres ont succombe apres avoir lutte longtems
centre la progression de 1'impot La Hollande n'a sauv6 du naufrage
de ses manufactures, que celles que n'ont pas (He exposees a la con-
courence dea autres nations." La Rickette de la Hollande, VoL II.
p. 73.
192 ESSAY 05 THE RATE OF WAGES.
compelled to seek employment abroad. Notwith-
standing this, there are so many advantages in their
system of public and private economy, that capital
accumulates with sufficient rapidity to enable them
to lend to all the world, and retain at home sufficient
to find employment at wages that are high in com-
parison with those of the rest of the continent of Eu-
rope, for their whole population. Lady Morgan says
of the Belgians, " the cheerful, joyous peasantry, so
well conditioned, so well dressed, so beyond the mise-
ries and privations of the same classes in other coun-
tries." Princess, Vol. III. p. 200.
The proportion of land to population in this king-
dom, as it existed prior to 1830, is much smaller than
in England and France, there being 9,822 persons to
every 10,000 Hectares, while England has 6,930, and
France only 5,200. The system of cultivation is, how-
ever, admirable, and makes amends in some measure
by increased productiveness for the diminished quan-
tity of land, and its population is thereby enabled to
bear an equal taxation with that of France ; the former
paying 14.48 florins, and the latter 14.74 florins per
head. That they are able to do this, is owing to the
possession of the qualities described by the abbe De
Pradt "voulez vous un peuple bon, franc, hospi-
talier, laborieux, econome, ami de 1'ordre et de la
regularity, vous la trouverez dans la Beige."
Taxes are laid chiefly upon land, patents, stamps,
&c.; on an average of eleven years, from 1816 to
1826, only 23 millions of florins out of 88 being the
produce of import and export duties and excise; the
former producing only six millions. Indirect taxes
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 193
being small in amount, it follows that the quantity of
commodities attainable by a given amount of money
wages, must be much greater than cn be obtained
by a similar amount in England. As an evidence of
this, it has been ascertained by Baron Keverberg,
that the maximum of the actual wants of a labouring
man can be supplied at a cosl of 20 centimes, (8
cents,) per day, or 73 florins per annum.
The price of labour was ascertained by the go-
vernment on an average of the ten provinces of
Liege, North Holland, North and South Brabant,
Friesland, East Flanders, Hainault, Antwerp, Gueld-
erland, and Overyssel, to be 75 centimes, or 30 cents
per day. At the coal mines of M. de George, there
are 2,000 workmen employed, whose wages are from
70 centimes to 3 francs, (56 cents,) per day. In
addition, they have the use of houses and gardens,
(of which he has built 260,) at the moderate rent of
one to two francs per week, according to size.* These
wages enable the workmen to command a larger quan-
tity of commodities than are obtainable by the labour-
ers of the rest of the continent of Europe, and inferior
only to those of the United States and Great Britain.
The Netherlands have been the battle ground of
Europe; a necessary consequence of which has been
insecurity of property, that has prevented the accu-
mulation of capita], and its employment in manufac-
tures. The wars of the French revolution disturbed
the commercial arrangements of Holland, and its in-
corporation with France destroyed its commerce
For the above facts I am indebted to the Review of M. Qu-
telet'e work, "Recherchcs Statistiques BUT le Royaume des Pay*
Bam," in the Foreign Quarterly Review, VoL V.
194 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
altogether. Since the return of peace, its system has
been comparatively very free, and notwithstanding
a rapid increase of population, the rate of wages in
commodities was but little inferior to that of Great
Britain.
Until within a very recent period, France has
known little of the benefit of security, either of person
or of property. Constantly engaged in war, her ex-
penses were enormous, and she groaned under an
enormous load of taxation, rendered more burthen-
some by an injudicious mode of collection, and still
more so upon the productive classes by the exemp-
tion of the nobility. Her commerce has been cramp-
ed at all times by monopolies her internal trade
harassed by regulations, to enforce which required
an arrny of douaniers every trade and every occu-
pation the subject of brevets or patents her manu-
facturers limited by law in their mode of proceeding,
and exposed to the risk of having their goods seized
if they departed from the process fixed by law* in
* " Fettered and oppressed in every way, as France was, under
her despotic kings, the spirit of invention and enterprise could never
rise to those high conceptions, which, of late years, have brought
England and America to the summit of prosperity. Manufacturers,
placed under the severe control of men who purchased their offices
from government, and who, therefore, exercised them with rapacity,
could not hazard any improvement, without infringing the estab-
lished regulations, and running the risk of having their goods de-
stroyed, burnt, or confiscated. In every trade, official regulation!
prescribed to workmen the methods of working, and forbade devia-
tion from them, under pain of the most severe punishments. Ridicu-
lous to say, the framer of these statutes fancied he understood better
how to sort and prepare wool, silk, or cotton, to spin threads, to
twist and throw them, than workmen brought up to the trade, and
whose livelihood depended on their talent
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
short, by every means in its power, did the govern-
ment destroy freedom of trade or action, and with it
" To insure a compliance with such absurd regulations, inquisi-
torial measures were resorted to; the residences of manufacturers
were entered by force; their establishments searched and explored,
and their modes of working inquired into. Thus their most secret
methods were often discovered and pirated by fraudulent compe-
titors.
" The worthy Roland de la Platiere, who was a minister during
some part of the French Revolution, and put an end to his life in
the reign of terror, gives a deplorable account of the numerous acts
of oppression he had witnessed. ' I have seen,' says he, ' eighty,
ninety, a hundred pieces of cotton or woollen stuff cut up and com-
pletely destroyed. I have witnessed similar scenes every week for
a number of years. I have seen manufactured goods Confiscated ;
heavy fines laid on the manufacturers ; some pieces of fabric were
burnt in public places, and at the hours of market : others were fixed
to the pillory, with the name of the manufacturer inscribed upon
them, and he himself was threatened with the pillory, in case of a
second offence. All this was done, under my eyes, at Rouen, in
conformity with existing regulations, or ministerial orders. What
crime deserved so cruel a punishment? Some defects in the mate-
rials employed, or in the texture of the fabric, or even in some of
the threads of the warp !
u * I have frequently seen,' continues Roland, ' manufacturers
visited by a band of satellites, who put all in confusion in their es-
tablishments, spread terror in their families, cut the stuffs from the
frames, tore off the warp from the looms, and carried them away as
proofs of infringement; the manufacturers were summoned, tried,
and condemned; their goods confiscated; copies of their judgment
of confiscation posted up in every public place; future reputation,
credit, all was lost and destroyed. And for what offince? Because
they had made of worsted, a kind pf cloth called thag, such as the
English used to manufacture, and even sell in France, while the
French regulations stated that that kind of cloth should be made
with mohair.
" ' I have seen other manufacturers treated in the same way, be-
cause they had made camlets of a particular width, used in Eng-
196 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
the power of improvement. The revolution changed
much of this, and trade between the provinces is now
land and Germany, for which there was a great demand from
Spain, Portugal, and other countries, and from several parts of
France, while the French regulations prescribed other widths for
camlets.'
" There was no free town where mechanical invention could find
a refuge from the tyranny of the monopolists no trade but what
was clearly and explicitly described by the statutes could be exer-
cisednone but what was included in the privileges of some cor-
poration.
" No one could improve on a method, or deviate from the pre-
scribed rules for manufacturing stuff's of cotton, worsted, or silk,
without running the risk of being heavily fined, having his frames
destroyed, and his manufactured goods burnt in the public place
by the hands of the executioner.
" Many inventors were forbidden to reduce their inventions into
practice, when their application for letters patent was not supported
by powerful recommendations, or when they were unable to bid a
high price for the good will of the clerks of office.
" Some merchants of Nantes and Rennes wished to form, on a
new plan, manufactories of wool, silk, and cotton goods. They
possessed new preparations for fixing the colours. As soon as the
establishment was fitted up, the corporation of serge makers con-
tested their right of making woollen stuffs, and the corporation of
dyers claimed the privilege of dying for them. Law proceedings,
carried on for several years, absorbed the capital raised for the pur-
pose of forming a useful establishment, and when at last a favour-
able decision was obtained, all the resources of the manufacturers
were exhausted; thus the serge makers and dyers succeeded in
ruining dangerous competitors!
u The art of snarling and varnishing sheet-iron was found out in
France in 1761 ; but to carry it into execution, it was necessary to
employ workmen and use tools belonging to several trades; the in-
ventor, not rich enough to pay the fees of admission into the cor-
porations to which those trades belonged, went abroad and formed
an establishment in a foreign country." Putsigna on the French
Law of Patent*.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 197
free, except so far as it is interfered with by the
vexatious system of the Octroi : but it left brevets,
patents, monopolies by individuals and the state, in
numerous departments of internal trade, and a sys-
tem of restraints by high duties and prohibition, in
the foreign.
Every thing is the subject of regulation; even " in
some districts of France the period of the gathering
of the product of the vine is regulated by authority."*
When gathered, and when the wine is ready for sale,
it is subjected to heavy duties, altogether amounting
to more than 20 per cent. They are excessive, and
very unequally levied, and produce about 4,800,000,
or near 23 millions of dollars. The octroi, on enter-
ing Paris, is 21 francs the hectolitre, being nearly
equal to the price of the wine itself.
In the Report upon the commercial relations be-
tween France and Great Britain, made by the Com-
missioners, Messrs. Villiers and Bowring, is given a
list of prohibitions upon importation and exportation,
with the reasons of the French government for their
adoption. Of them the Commissioners say, and with
justice,
" It is hardly necessary to remark, that if these reasons for prohi-
bition were pushed to their necessary consequences, all commercial
relations would infallibly cease. If the cheapness of a foreign article
were a sufficient reason for prohibiting the importation, and the
cheapness of a home article for prohibiting its exportation, no ex-
change at all could take place.
" Many of the arguments which are put forward in justification
of prohibitory measures, are mutually destructive of each other.
To keep the price of corn low in the interest of the consumer, U
* Redding on Wines, p. 22.
R
108 ESSAY OH THE RATE OF WAGES.
assigned as the reason for prohibiting exportation; and to raise the
price high in the interest of the producer, as the reason tor prohibit-
ing importation : the two objects are incompatible. Again, one set
of prohibitions are justified because the articles are dear in France
euch as the exportation of wood, timber, charcoal, and others :
another set of prohibitions are advocated because the articles are
cheap in France such as the exportation of silk, rags, bark, &c.
Reasonings wholly opposed to one another, are, in turn, employed.
There is scarcely an argument or calculation, which, if recognised
as applying to some articles, is not opposed altogether to the legis-
lation on others.
" It requires merely to state some of the objections to importa-
tions, in order to show their narrow and anti-commercial spirit.
The introduction of manufactured tin, for example, is opposed be-
cause it might benefit England, which is rich in tin mines ; as if
the importation into France could take place without equally bene-
fiting her. The reasons, too, which are grounded on the superi-
ority of other countries ; as, for example, * dangerous rivalry 1 in the
case of manufactured steel ; ' cheapness' of foreign articles in the
case of shipping ; threatened ' annihilation of the French manufac-
ture' in that of cutlery ; ' extra advantages of the English' in plated
ware ; ' apprehension of the English' in articles of pottery ; ' im-
prudence of admitting English saddlery, as so many persons, re-
gardless of price, prefer it ;' * advantages of machinery' in works of
iron ; all are modes of announcing the superiority of foreign arti-
cles, and the power which foreigners possess of supplying them on
cheaper terms than they can be produced at home.
" There are other grounds of prohibition, by which particular
French manufactures are avowedly sacrificed to the interest of other
branches of French industry. The importation of extracts of dye-
woods is disallowed, for the purpose of encouraging the importation
of the dye-woods themselves; the interest of the dyer, the manu-
facturer, and the consumer, being wholly forgotten. The importa-
tion of iron of certain sizes is prohibited, lest small manufacturer*
thould establish fabrics, and supply the market at less cost than the
larger establishments. Woollen yarn is not allowed to be imported,
because it can be produced in France, though the high price must
be a great detriment to the woollen manufacturer ; and cart iron of
* great variety of sorts is prohibited, on the ground that a suffi-
ESSAY OX THE RATE OF WAGES. 199
ciency may be obtained at home, though the cost is notoriously
more than double that of many articles of foreign cast iron. Mo-
lasses are not allowed to be introduced, because the price in France
is so low, and the exportation so large, on the ground that importa-
tion will lower the prices still more, though the lowness of price
would obviously make importation unprofitable ; and the fact of con.
pidcrablc exportation is the best evidence that prices are low in
France. Rock salt was prohibited in 1791, and the prohibition is
now justified, on the ground that mines have lately been discovered.
The prohibition of refined sugar is supported on the ground that its
admission would not benefit the treasury; but it is clear, if the in-
terest of the treasury were kept in view, that all prohibitions would
be suppressed, or superseded by a system of duties. While some
articles are prohibited because the production is small in France,
and requires protection, others are prohibited (dressed skins for ex-
ample) because the production is great, and engages a large number
of hands." p. 45.
Having thus, by prohibition, endeavoured to pre-
vent the exportation of various articles of French
production that would be required abroad, as well
as the importation of various foreign articles that
could be introduced with advantage, the next step is
to force the export of those productions, which, from
being higher in France than elsewhere, could not
find a market abroad without the aid of government
in the form of bounties on export. That system was
commenced soon after the close of the war, and in
1817 the whole amount paid was 3,500 sterling,
but in 1830 it had advanced to 600,000, or one-
fifth of the whole revenue from duties. The table of
premiums for 1832 shows that it still increases, having
amounted in that year to nearly a million sterling, or
ONE-FOURTH OF THE WHOLE CUSTOM-HOUSE REVENUE.
The increase on the premiums of 1831 is about 60
per cent, and in that of sugar alone, seven millions of
200
francs, the amount paid as bounty on ike export of
15 \ millions of kilogrammes of refined sugar, being
18i millions of francs, while the import duty received
upon 82i millions, was only 39 millions of francs, a
little more than double the bounty.
To show how steady is the growth of such a sys-
tem, the following statements are given :
In 1830 Sugar imported
exported
In 1831 Sugar imported
exported
In 1832 Sugar imported
exported
Kilogrammes.
69,626,936
8,410,780
81,735,374
9,679,034
82,500,000
15,500,000
Franci.
duty 33,535,174
bounty 10,101,678
duty 39,264,743
bounty 11,614,840
duty 39,500,000
bounty 18,500,000
If the whole quantity entered were exported, the go-
vernment would pay, after allowing for the loss on
refining it, nearly double what was received.
Kilogramme!. Francs.
In 1830 Cotton imported 29,260,433 duty 6,334,07fr
goods exported 1,795,008 bounty 851,294
In 1831 Cotton imported 28,229,487 duty 6,020,443
exported 1,979,199 bounty 978,300
By the following, it will be seen that the bounty on
the export of woollens is four times as great as the
duty on the import of wool.
Kilogrammes. Francs.
In 1830 Wool imported, about 8,000,000 duty 4,246,021
Woollens exported 955,617 bounty 1,970,659
In 1831 Wool imported 3,836,207 duty 1,733,002
exported 1,039,257 bounty 2,496,728 '.
On the import of molasses in 1830, the duty re-
ceived was 972 francs, and the bounty paid on ex-
port was 787,988 francs.
The cost of premiums granted to the whale fishery,
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 201
amounted in 1830 to 1142.80 francs per man! but
there were several claims unsettled, which the minis-
ter said would bring the amount to 1500 or 1600
francs ! In addition to this there was a bounty of 180
francs per ton!
In the cod fishery, 12000 seamen are encouraged
at an expense of four millions of francs!
The same system of interference prevails iii re-
gard to the development of the natural resources of
France. No mine can be worked without permis-
sion from the sovereign, and there are instances of
valuable mines remaining unwrought for many years,
in consequence of being unable to obtain that per-
mission.
** By the French law, all minerals of every kind belong to the
crown, and the only advantage the proprietor of the soil enjoys, is,
to have the refusal of the mine at the rent fixed upon it by the
crown surveyors. There is great difficulty sometimes in even ob-
taining the leave of the crown to sink a shaft upon the property of
the individual who is anxious to undertake the speculation, and to
pay the rent usually demanded, a certain portion of the gross pro-
duct The Comte Alexander de B has been vainly seeking
this permission for a lead mine on his estate in Brittany for up-
wards often years." Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXI. p. 408.
Here we see, on the one hand, an enormous ex-
pense incurred for the purpose of inducing the peo-
ple of France to engage in pursuits that would be
unprofitable to the individuals if the nation did not
pay a part of the expense ; while, on the other hand,
an individual is desirous to engage in a pursuit that
will enable him to pay a rent to the state, and is re-
fused permission so to do. This is a fair specimen
of the whole system. By brevets and monopolies
202 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
of every kind, the government forbids the people
from engaging in pursuits that are profitable, while
by the offer of bounties it seduces them to others that
are unprofitable.
Under such circumstances, capital accumulates
slowly. The people, long accustomed to look to the
government to provide them with such improvements
in the mode of transport as may be necessary, are
not prepared to invest their capital in the making of
roads and canals, and even the great city of Paris
has neither the one nor the other to connect it with
its seaport. The extraordinary deficiency in the
means of transportation is well described by M. Cor-
dier, in the passage given at page 92.
The system of centralization pursued by the go-
vernment, has an additional tendency to cramp the
energies of the country. Dupin says, that not a
bridge can be repaired without permission from the
central board at Paris. A report must first be made
from the commune to the arrondissement, thence to
the department, and thence to Paris, where it sleeps
a year or two, and by the time the order returns
through the same channels, the bridge requires to be
rebuilt, instead of being repaired. Every thing, in-
deed, is done in France to prevent improvement, and
we see its consequences in the following view of the
progress of pauperism.
" ' Dans la plupart des communes,' saya M. de Villeneuve, ' les
fbnds affectes aux Bureaux de Bienfaisance, reunis aux produits des
quetes et des dons charitables, sont toujours insuffisans, surtout
pendant la saison rigoureuse. Alors ^administration superieure est
assaillie, de la part des communes et des bureaux de charite, de de-
mandes tendant it autoriaer des impositions extraordinaires pour
ESSAY OIC THE RATE OP WAGES. 203
venir aux secours des pauvres. Dans plusieurs villes, en 1828 et
1829, on a meme employe secretement, a cet objet, des allocations
destinees a d'autres services. L'imperieuse necessite 6tait le motif
et 1'excuse d'actes aussi irreguliers ; ainsi la TAXE DES PAUVRES
(Poor's Rate) tfest dejd forcement introduite, avec le PAUPERISME
ANGLAIS, dans cette pnrtion de la France. * * * L'adminrstration
n'a cesse", surtout dans les annees 1828 et 1829, d'opposer tous ses
efforts au developpement officiel de cette taxe. Mais en vain se
deguise-t-elle sous le nom de travaux de charite ou de supplement
de secours aux Bureaux de Bienfaisance, son existence est consacr6e
de fait, et la force des choses a fait reconnaitre le droit des pauvres
a 1'assistance publique. L'opinion generale, dans le dapartement
du Nord, est prepare a cette innovation dans la legislation francaise.
* * * Les abus speciaux a la taxe des pauvres en Angleterre se
manifestent graduellement. On remarque que, dans les communes
du departement du Nord, le nombre des pauvres est toujours en
rapport avec la quotite des fondations charitables.'
" And yet, observes M. de Villeneuve elsewhere,
' la plupart des administrations de bienfaisance rfosent entreprendre
aucun essai d'ameliorations nouvelles, dans la crainte d'exposer,
par des innovations sans succes, une multitude en proie a toutes les
horreurs du besoin.' vol. ii. pp. 61, 62."*
Another of the effects is thus described by Dupin.
" On a calcule*, que sur 25 millions d'adultes, la
France n'en compte que dix qui sachent lire et
ecrire. II reste done 15 millions d'individus qui n'ont
pas nieme acquis les premiers elemeris de Pinstruc-
tion la plus vulgaire."
The population of France doubles in about 105
years, more slowly than that of any other nation in
Europe, and the growth of comfort is in about the
same ratio as that of population. Even matrimony
is subjected to regulation as far as practicable. It is
* Economic Politique Chretienne. Par M. de Villeneuve Barge-
meat Quoted in Foreign Quarterly Review, p. 89. Am. edit.
204 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
stated by Mr. Browning,* that " no French soldier
can contract marriage without the express permis-
sion of the colonel of his regiment, and as this officer
has a discretionary power on the subject, assent is
by no means general." He states also, that the mar-
ried men in the French army are to the unmarried
as one to twenty-four.
The same inconsistency prevails in this respect
that has been pointed out in relation to commerce by
Messrs. Villiers and Bowring. While matrimony is
forbidden, every facility is given to the disposal of
the fruit of illicit connexions.
" In 1809 the number of foundlings in France was 69,000. Since
the measure of 1811," (ordering a foundling hospital to be establish-
ed in each arrondissement,) " it has advanced to 84,500 in 1815 ; to
102,100 in 1820; to 119,900 in 1825; to 125,000 in 1830; and during
the last four years it has advanced with a still more remarkable
acceleration. At Paris the proportion of foundlings to births was
as one to ten ; it is now little less than one to four. * * The
expense has advanced in a parallel proportion to the numbers. It
amounts at present to 11,500,000 francs per annum; the Paris insti-
tution alone, costing, last year, 1,731,239 francs."t
The people of France being thus reduced to pover-
ty by regulations and restrictions, the government,
by a further regulation, attempts to protect them
against some of the consequences of that poverty,
and accordingly monts de piete are established, whose
object is to protect the poor against usury. By heavy
penalties it is attempted to secure to those institutions
a monopoly of the business of pawn-broking, notwith-
* Political and Domestic Condition of Great Britain, by G. Brown-
ing, p. 43.
t Foreign Quarterly Review, No. XXIX. p. 85. Am. edit
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 205
standing which means are found of evading the re-
gulations. As an evidence how little advantage is
derived from interferences, it is stated that a large
portion of the pawning which takes place is for the
purpose of gambling in the petty lotteries. Thus, in
1829, it was remarked at Brussels, where the same
institutions exist, that when the lottery, termed the
Genoese lottery, was suppressed in that city, the
number of pledges during the succeeding five months
was less by 7837, and of redemptions, more by 3609,
than in the corresponding five months of the previous
year.*
Of the very few rights possessed of old by the peo-
ple, some yet remain, but they are of a character to
do injury by lessening the security of property, and
preventing the improvements that would otherwise
take place. Witness the following : " The droit de
parcours and droit de vaine pature, or common rights
of feeding stock on the plough and grass lands of
private persons, after the harvest and aftermath until
seed and spring time, are equally general, and, al-
though great hindrances to farming improvements,
afford important conveniences to the peasantry."!
Some idea may be formed of the compensation of
the labourer from the allowance to the pauper.
" The means of subsistence, in France, are cheaper, and the liv-
ing in most respects of an inferior kind ; rye, pulse, and maize, with
potatoes and other vegetable diet, forming 99-lOOths of the French-
man's food. Yet, even with this abatement, the average quantum
of relief accorded seems out of all proportion with the measure ne-
* Foreign Quarterly Review, No. XXIX. p. 86. Am. edit
t Ibid. p. 81.
206 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
cessary for the lowest scale of existence. The mean value of food
distributed to each pauper last year, in the fifth arrondissement,*
was 6 fr. 62 c. (the Paris price of sixty-five pounds of the worst
bread), of fuel, 32 c. and of clothing and bedding, 4 fr. 16 c. But
even this allowance is high compared with the practice in the de-
partment of the North, where the average relief of all kinds, and
without discrimination of classes, is only 5 fr. 42 c. and in the ar-
rondissement of Dunkirk only 4 fr. 22 c. We are unwilling to give
our own description of the detitute population of Paris, or of the
more miserable canuts or silk weavers of Lyons ; but the following
passage, abridged from M. de Villeneuve's work, may suffice al-
though somewhat obscure for the manufacturing towns in the
North; viz.
" ' The paupers consist of weavers, unable at times to support
their families, and wholly chargeable to public or private charity in
case of illness, scarcity, or discharge from work ; of workmen, igno-
rant, improvident, brutified by debauchery, or enervated by manu-
facturing labour, and habitually unable to support their families; of
aged persons, prematurely infirm, and abandoned by their children ;
of children and orphans, a great number of whom labour under in-
curable disease or deformity ; and of numerous families of heredi-
tary paupers and beggars, heaped together in loathsome cellars and
garrets, and for the most part subject to infirmities, and addicted to
brutal vice and depravity.*
" More than one-third of the Lille paupers are comprised in the
four last classes ; and if this arithmetic is correct, it cannot be
readily understood how the relief given by the charity-boards can
palliate such extensive privation. ' La mendicite s'exerce publique-
ment par des bandes nombreuses qui alarment les proprietaires
isol6s,' (vol. ii. p. 63;) nevertheless, begging in company is an of-
fence specially punishable with imprisonment from six months to
two years, (Code penal, art. 276). The number of beggars is above
16,000, and forms a tenth of the indigent population."!
The following extracts from the Report of Messrs.
* Proces- Verbal de 1' Assembled generate du Bureau de Bienfai-
ance du 5* Arrondissement Paris, 1834.
t Foreign Quarterly Review, No. XXIX. pp. 89, 90. Am. edit.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 207
Bowring and Villiers, show what are the usual
wages in various parts of France.
" In the iron works at Vandelesse, (Nievre,) the price of labour is
fr. 1.50 per day; (Dupin, p. 293;) at Nevers, for the manufacture of
iron cables, fr. 2; at Fourchambault, (where 2, 386 are employed in
wood cutting,) fr. 1.60 is the average rate; the workmen in the pot-
teries at Nevers gain fr. 1.75 per day; at Nogent, in the manufac-
ture of linen goods, the wages are to men, fr. 2, women, fr. 1J25, and
children, 60c. to 90c. per day; at Mouy in the woollen manufac-
tures, men are paid fr. 1 to 1.50, and boys of 15, fr. 1 ; in the de-
partment de 1'Aube, the weavers of fine cloths get fr. 1.75; stocking
makers, fr. 1 ; cotton spinners, fr. 1.50 per day; reelers and winders,
fr. 1; tanners, fr. 2 to 2.10; at St Etienne, the wages paid to the
miners are, diggers, fr. 3.50; drawers, fr. 3 per day; at Rive de
Gier, fr. 4.25 and 3.50; nailors receive 7c. to lOc. per lb., or from
fr. 1 to 1.50 per 1,000. The tenders on silk worms are paid from
150c. to fr. ] per day. Women employed in reeling silk receive fr. 1
per lb. At the forge of Jarron, (Vienne,) a master founder is paid
fr. 8, a founder, fr. 4 to 5, a labourer, fr. 2, and a boy, from fr, 1 to
155 per day. At Rive de Gier, the labouring makers of coke re-
ceive from fr. 2 to 2.50 per day.
" The ' Fonts and Chaussees' pay their labourers fr. 36 per calen-
dar month. (Dupin, p. 263.)
" M. Dupin, as the result of his observations and investigations
as to the medium price of manufacturing labour, calculates fr. 256
for the northern, and fr. 1.89 for the southern provinces of France;
giving with reference to the whole population, fr. 2.06 as the ave-
rage rate." Bowring and Villiers, p. 180.
In answer to queries addressed by the Commis-
sioners to the workmen of Paris, it was stated that,
" The terrace-makers and labourers live very economically, not
expending more than from 16 to 17 sous per day; in the morning
they repair to the low eating houses, called gargottes, where for 7
ous they get soup, and a plate of meat with vegetables; their CUB-
.408 ESSAY Off THE. RATE OF WAGES.
torn is, to breakfast oa the soup and vegetables, and carry the meat
away with them for dinner. Thus, these Tsous two pounds of
bread, 8 sous and perhaps for wine, 2 sous make 17 sous."
Bowring and Filters' Report, p. 179.
The average given by M. Dupin includes probably
a large body of those descriptions of workmen who
receive the highest wages in the finer departments of
manufacture. By the above statement of Messrs.
Bowring and Villiers it is shown, that in the most
extensive manufactures the wages of men vary from
one to two francs, and that the majority do not ex-
ceed li francs. The proportion which the agricul-
tural population of France bears to the whole, is so-
much greater than in England, that the average
wages must approach much more nearly to those of
common labourers than in Great Britain. To esti-
mate them at 10 per cent, below those of men en-
gaged in the cotton manufacture; say fr. 1.35 (25
cents) as the average rate of the wages of men in
France; would give probably a higher average than
the true one in a nation where, according to M. Du-
pin, two-thirds of the population, or twenty millions*
are deprived of the nourishment of animal food, and
live wholly on chesnuts r maize, and potatoes.
The freedom with which labour circulates in the
United States produces a nearer approach to equality
than in any other country whatever. The adoption-
for France, of the same rule for ascertaining the
rate of wages, would most probably make it appear
higher than it really is in that country, where labour
circulates so slowly as to cause great inequalities..
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 209
It has been proposed to colonize Algiers, for the
purpose of providing a drain for part of her surplus
population. The following extract from M. Pichon,
ex-governor of Algiers, will show how far this colony
would be likely to form an exception to the rule, that
colonies cost more than they produce:
" Dans un systeme de colonization comme on 1'a fait, en appa-
rence, adopter le gouvernement, ce n'est, comme je 1'ai dit, ni
vingt, ni trente mille hornmes qu'il faut, mais cent mille homines;
et cela avec une depense qui, independamment de la depense mili-
taire, se compterait par dixaines de millions, settlement pour dis-
poser completement de la Metidja, et la laisser vacante aux soixante
mille colons dont on a parl6 ; venant d'ou, s'establissant avec quoi,
c'est ce qu'on ne dit pas." Alger in 1830, par M. Pichon, quoted
Westminster Review, Vol. XIX. p. 239.
The colonial system of France is the worst that
now exists. The nation is compelled to pay high
prices for the products of colonies that cost immense
sums to keep, and afterwards enormous bounties to
induce other nations to assist in their consumption.
It is estimated by Messrs. Villiers and Bowring, that
the colonies of France, few as they are, have cost
since the peace not less than 40 millions of pounds
sterling. The addition of a new colony like Algiers
would only increase the evil, for as soon as it was
ascertained what could be produced there, the im-
portation from other quarters would be prohibited,
and a new scale of bounties established.*
* The effect of these regulations and restrictions, bounties and
prohibitions, is well described by the vine-growers of the department
of the Gironde, in their petition to the French Chambers. "La mine
d'un des plus importantes departements de la France; le detresse
des departements circumvoisins; le deperissement general du Midi;
une immense population attaquee dans ses moyens d'ezistence; un
S
210 ESSAY Off THE RATE OP WAGES.
If the " dixaines de millions" that must be raised
to maintain such colonies, were left in the pockets of
the producers, or applied to the construction of rail-
roads, France would advance more in twenty years,
than under the system of colonization in a century.
Were they to be so applied, she would require no
" drain for her surplus population," nor would her
engineers, returning from England or this country,
be called upon for the humiliating acknowledgments
of M. Cordier.
A reference to Mr. Jacob's Report on the corn
trade will show the situation of Poland, and the
Polish provinces of Prussia. Every where he found
heavy taxation in money, as well as in military ser-
vices a people unaccustomed to freedom of action,
and even where they are now free, incapable of ex-
ercising it a total absence of capital the want of
implements of husbandry small stocks of cattle
communications so bad, that, in many cases, the grain
will not pay the cost of transportation every thing,
capital enorme compromis; la perspective de ne pouvoir prelever
1'impot sur notre sol appauvri et depouille; un prejudice immense
pour tous les departements dont nous sommes tributaires; un d-
croissement rapide dans celles de nos consommations qui profitcnt
au Nord; la stagnation generate du commerce, avec tous les desas-
tres qu'elle entraine; toutes les pertes qu'elle produit, et tous les
dommages en materials, en politiques, en moraux, qui en sont Tin.
6 vitable suite ; enfin 1'aneantissement de plus en plus irreparable de
tous nos anciens rapports commerciaux; les autres peoples s'en-
richissant de nos pertes, et developpant leur systome commerciale
sur les debris du notre.
" Tels sont les fruits amers du systeme dont nous avons 6t6 lea
principles victimes."
ESSAY OW THE RATE Or WAGES. 21 1
in short, indicating extreme poverty. A good and
cheap government is alone wanting in that country,
to make it, in time, as populous and as productive as
some of the provinces of Holland, which were for-
merly as little so as any of those of Poland.
In regard to Prussia, I am not possessed of the
statistical information to enable me to speak of it at
length. It is sufficient, however, to know, that since
property has become more secure ; since freedom of
action has been granted and slavery abolished ; since
commerce has become more free by the arrange-
ments in regard to the internal trade of Germany ;
capital increases, roads and canals are being made,
and the situation of the people is steadily improving,
notwithstanding a vast increase of population, which
doubles in 26 years.
Spain has laboured under all these disturbing
causes in full perfection, and its consequence is, that
so entire is the absence of capital employed in facili-
tating the communication between the different parts
of the country, that wheat varies in the same year
from 18 reals, to 53$ reals per quarter. The ave-
rage prices of the following articles from September,
1827, to September, 1828, were as follows.
In Salamanca, In Catalonia.
Wheat, - 18 - - 53*
Barley, 9 - - 20*
Oats, - 6 - - 23
Rye, - 121 - - 31
Garbanzos, - 94 - 68
Oil, - - - 40 - - 31
212 ESSAY ON THE RATE Of WAGES.
"Notwithstanding this enormous difference of price and induce-
ment to exportation, it was calculated that the accumulated surplus
of four or five successive years of good crops in the silos and gra-
naries of these plains, (of which Salamanca forms a part,) amounted
at the close of the harvest of last year, (1828,) to 6 millions of fane-
gas, or one and one fifth millions of Winchester quarters." So defec-
tive are the means of transportation, "that in order to deliver
100,000 quarters at the ports, (135 miles distant) 5,000 carts, with
two oxen each, would be required, making the journey in 8 work-
ing days, transporting, .... 90,000
And 5,000 mules, each making four journeys per month,
with half a quarter, - 10,000
100,000
The same quantity of transportation would be
done on the Schuylkill Canal by one hundred and
fifty canal boats, and as many horses, in the same
time.
In describing the situation of the roads in various
parts of Europe, Mr. Jacob says, "they afford a
practical reason for the people of Andalusia, in Spain,
drawing their supplies of wheat and flour from the
United States, when wheat was there 4*. Qd. per
bushel, while on the plains of Castile it was not more
than Is. Qd. per bushel. Second Report, p. 10.
Catalonia had a Constitution, which exempted it
from the oppressive taxation which caused the de-
cay of the rest of Spain, and enabled its people to
prosper and accumulate capital. Its wealth made it
a desirable object of plunder, and after much blood-
shod, it was deprived of that Constitution by Olivarez.
It was, however, exempted from that most oppressive
of all taxes, the alcavala, and in consequence, it is.
* Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. V. p. 80.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 213
still the richest and most enlightened portion of Spain,
as has been shown during the last thirty years. No
part of the kingdom showed so great an aversion to
submission to the dominion of France, either under
Napoleon or Charles X.
No nation has experienced fewer revolutions than
that of China, and none has enjoyed a peace so dura-
ble as that which has prevailed since its conquest by
the Mantchoos, nearly two centuries since. Person
and property have been secure against those hazards
which have affected them in the Netherlands, in
Italy, and in Germany, the battle grounds of Europe.
Such, however, is the weakness of the government,
that it is incapable either of enforcing its laws against
foreigners, or of affording protection to its own sub-
jects, and the former are set at defiance by the ves-
sels which visit its eastern coast, while the latter are
plundered by pirates which throng the adjacent seas.
Unable to put them down by force, the government
has been compelled to offer them employment, which
has been accepted, until the next favourable oppor-
tunity offers for resuming their old trade. Under
such circumstances, were even the restrictions with-
drawn, the domestic trade of China could not be car-
ried on by sea.
Thus insecure abroad, the people do not find se-
curity at home. Office is generally purchased, and
as is usual in such cases, it is the duty of the holder
to indemnify himself out of those placed under him,
for the cost of his purchase. Such is the case with
judges, and it is not unusual for both parties to fee
214 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
them, in the hope of a favourable decision. " Capital
is so scarce, and so little feeling of security exists, that
money is only lent on pawn, and in that case govern-
ment restricts the rate of interest to three per cent,
per month, above which rate it must have a tendency
to rise."* In describing the great industry of the
people of China, Staunton says, that " they labour
as if it were all for their own profit."! Such is
doubtless the case with the labourers, but it cannot
be the case with the higher classes, or there would
not be a total absence of a moneyed interest. " Such
a deficiency in a country so wealthy, and a people
so industrious, seems to imply in this boasted admi-
nistration some radical defect, some want of pro-
tection for all fortunes that rise above the humblest
mediocrity. There is no system of credit established
between the merchants of distant provinces, no bills of
exchange; no circulating medium except a copper
coin of one-third of a farthing. In this respect China
yields greatly to India, which, amid its political agi-
tation, has formed a great moneyed and banking in-
terest, comprising some individuals of immense for-
tune.'^
Restrictions of every kind abound. " With a firm
hand, they (the Board of Censors,) restrain every
thing within the prescribed form, spare the people as
well as the emperor the trouble of thinking and act-
ing for themselves, and rigorously resist every im-
* Murray's Ency. of Geog. p. 1034.
t Stauntou, Vol. II. p. 143.
Ubid.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 215
provement as highly dangerous."* The people are
not even permitted to select the mode in which they
will make the earth useful to them. " The mountains
(of Kwang-se) are rich in ore, and even gold mines
are to be found, but the policy of the Chinese govern-
ment does not allow the working of them on a large
scale, far fear of withdrawing the attention of the
people from the cultivation of the soiL"-\ No improve-
ment of any description is permitted. " The foreign
trade of China is carried on in large unwieldy
junks whose structure never can be improved, as
the slightest deviation from their present clumsy
structure, would subject the owners to the high duties
imposed on foreign merchants"^. Even the extent of
trade is the subject of regulation. " The viceroy of
the province fixes the number of vessels that shall
sail to each particular country, and the species of
cargo they shall carry."
Wherever Europeans can enter into competition
with them, they are likely to be left behind, in conse-
quence of this opposition to innovation. Of porcelain,
but a few years since, the export was very large, but
it has now almost disappeared from the list of ex-
ports, in consequence of the superiority of the pro-
ducts of England and France.
It has recently been proposed to introduce into
Hindostan the culture of the tea plant. Should it be
done, it is not improbable that at no distant period
* Gutzlaff, I. 34.
t Ibid. I. 28.
t Murray's Ency. of Geog. 1031.
Ubid.
216 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
that country may supersede China in the supply of
it. At present, a very important portion of the cost
of inferior teas, consists in the expense of transporta-
tion to Canton, a distance of about 750 miles, over
thirty of which it is carried on men's backs. All this
could be obviated by permitting foreign vessels to
load at Amoy, but it is conceived better to have the
people employed in carrying tea than in producing
it. Were the exportation from Amoy permitted, the
immediate effect would be an increase in the price
paid to the cultivator, while the total cost would be
reduced. An increased demand would arise out of
the reduction of price, and all the people who are now
employed in the business of transportation, would
then find higher wages in that of production.
Taxation is light compared with that of other coun-
tries. The land tax is one-tenth of the product. Du-
ties are levied upon salt, and foreign merchandise,
and there are transit duties, but in general the articles
consumed by the labouring classes are in a great de-
gree exempted. So desirous, indeed, is the govern-
ment to secure a full supply of food, that vessels
bringing cargoes of rice are exempted from the cus-
tomary charges. In this respect the despotism of
China shames the liberal governments of Europe and
America, which have always selected for taxation
the articles consumed chiefly by the working classes.
Timkowski* states the whole taxation of the em-
pire at 39,667,272 liang, equal to nearly sixty mil-
lions of dollars, or about twelve millions of pounds
' Timkowski. Russian Embassy to China. Vol. II. p. 458.
ESSAY Olt THE RATE OF WAGES. 217
sterling; but it is uncertain whether or not this in-
cludes the local expenditure. Staunton states the
revenue at 200 millions of ounces of silver, equal
to 225 millions of dollars, which, with a population
of 333 millions, would give 68 cents per head. The
Rev. Mr. Jones, on the authority of the Bulletin des
Sciences, May 1829, states it at eighty-four millions
of ounces of silver, of which thirty-three millions are
paid in silver, and fifty-one millions in grain, rice,
&c. Eighty-four millions of ounces are equal to
ninety-five millions of dollars, which, with the present
population of 367 millions, would be but 27 cents per
head.
There is no tax for the support of religion, and
but little for that of the army. The chief part of the
troops labour for their own support, and the calling
is held in little esteem. " They are reckoned far be-
low the civilians, who are thrice as well paid, and
who treat the military officer like a police agent,
which has brought the whole body into disrepute."*
In almost every part of Europe and America, the
most important posts are occupied by marshals and
generals ; but in China, " unlike to the rest of the world,
where labour and military talents, occasionally united
to natural eloquence, were originally the foundation
of all wealth and greatness, while literature was little
more than an amusement, the study of the written
morals, history and politics of China was the only
road not merely to power and honour, but to every
individual employment in the state."!
* Gutzlaff. I. 40. t Staunton. IL 107.
218 ESSAY OK THE RATE OF WAGES.
In regard to industry, they are models for all other
people. " At this season of harvest an active cheer-
fulness seemed to pervade both sexes. They appeared
to be sensible of labouring for their own profit.
Many of the peasants are owners of the lands they
cultivate."* Extraordinary good humour and cheer-
fulness are their characteristics, and there is perhaps
no nation in which decency and regularity are so
universal ;f where crime is less.J Their economy is
equal to their industry.
The population is stated by Mr. Gutzlaff at 367
millions, on a surface of 1,298,000 square miles,
being equal to 290 to each square mile. In the pro-
vince of Ke-ang-se there are 1,126, while in that of
Shen-se there are only fifty to a mile. In the three
presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, there
is a population of 89,470,152 upon 421,673 square
miles, giving an average of 212. Bengal has 316,
Madras 95, and Bombay 105 to the mile.
Mr. Gutzlaff states his belief that the population is
not over-rated, and if his views be correct, it follows
that the quantity of land for each individual in China,
is one-fourth less than in Hindostan. Her lands are
generally fertile, and cultivated in the most extraor-
dinary manner. They are watered by immense
rivers, two of which are 2,000 miles in length, and
numerous canals have been constructed at vast ex-
pense.
We here find a nation increasing rapidly in num-
bers, and forbidden to extend their field of action.
* Staunton, II. 143. t Ibid. 1. 269. I Ibid. II. 39.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 219
They are not permitted to leave the empire, by which
they might transport themselves to new lands; nor are
they permitted to vary their modes of operation, by
which old lands might be rendered more productive,
or by which labour employed in manufactures might
be made to increase the quantity or improve the quali-
ty of the commodities brought to market " Notwith-
standing the paramount importance attached to works
of utility, the Chinese have made no progress in the
application of the mechanical powers; they cannot
even construct a common pump; and all their great
works are the mere result of indefatigable labour per-
formed by a multitude of human hands."*
Population increases rapidly, but production is not
permitted to keep pace with it, and the nation is in
precisely the opposite situation of that described at
page 29, where the ratio of production increases
more rapidly than that of population. Forbidden to
avail themselves of machinery, the amount of produc-
tion is small, and the most untiring industry is re-
quired to obtain the means of support; the necessary
consequence is, that very little remains to become
capital. Even were it, under these disadvantageous
circumstances, to increase more rapidly than it does,
the insecurity that appears to exist would prevent its
investment in machinery, were it not, as it is, forbid-
den to be so used.
Peace and security from invasion, light taxation,
great industry and strict economy, enable the Chi-
nese to obtain a better support than falls to the lot of
* Murray's Geography, p. 1039.
220 ESSAY OW THE RATE OF WAGES.
the Hindoos, but restrictions and insecurity prevent
them from availing themselves of their advantages,
and thus impede the growth of capital. Barrow says
he never saw a beggar. Beggars, however, there
certainly are, but they are always well clothed, and
it is believed that the Chinese are better clad than
any other nation in the world. Infanticide is often
adduced as an evidence of great distress, but Mr.
Morrison, who had as good opportunity as any Eu-
ropean of knowing the facts, declared that he had
never been able to find it.
China possesses every requisite but an enlightened
government for becoming one of the most prosperous
nations of the earth, but the doctrines of her rulers
are in accordance with those of some of our writers,
who would tax machinery for the purpose of limiting
production, and while she thus refuses the aid of
science, her people must continue in a state of
poverty.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 221
CHAPTER XVI.
HAVING thus completed the survey of some of the
most important nations, I propose now to ascertain
as nearly as practicable, with the imperfect means
at my command, what is the actual difference in the
reward of labour, between the United States, Eng-
land, the Netherlands, France, China, and Hindostan.
Mr. Jacob, (First Report, p. 230,) gives a state-
ment of the average prices of wheat of the best qua-
lity in the markets of Europe, during the year 1825,
from which the following prices are taken.
Per Quarter.
S. d.
Amsterdam, 28 10 i . d.
Rotterdam, 28 7 V average, 29 2
Antwerp, 30 00 )
New York, - 28 9
France, - - - - - 35 4
Mr. M'Culloch's Diet of Commerce gives for England, 68 7
The price above given for New York, is exceed-
ingly low; much lower than the usual price; and can
hardly be correct. At page 27 is given a statement
of the average price of flour in Philadelphia in that
year, by which it will be seen to have been $ 4 84,
but the average of ten years was $5 32, which
would give about 35s. per quarter for wheat.
The ordinary average of France was stated by
Count Chaptal, in 1819, at 42s. Wd. per quarter, but
it has probably fallen to the rate mentioned by Mr.
Jacob. The price in Havre in December,
1829, was 52*10 'per 100 kilos. 1832, was 43 per 100 kilai.
1830, 56.10 " " 1833, 40 "
1831, 60 " 1834, 42
T
222 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
being an average of 49 francs, or 42*. Qd. sterling pet
quarter, or nearly the same price stated by Chaptal.
Owing, however, to the difficulty of transportation, the
price varies greatly in the different parts of the king-
dom. Desirous not to over-rate it, the price assumed
shall be that of Mr. Jacob, 35s. 4d., which is a little less
than the average price in Havre for 1832, 33, and 34.
Wheat was at an unusually high price in England
in 1825, and it would not be correct to take that year
for the purpose of making a comparison. I will
therefore take the average for eleven years, from
1820 to 1830, which was 61*. 2d.* The price in
* In 1833, the price of the finest wheaten floor in London, was
50. per sack ; the highest price of the finest wheaten flour in Paris,
was 46 francs per 150 kilogrammes, equal to only '28s. 6d. the Eng-
lish sack of 280 pounds. (Hist Mid. and Working Classes, p. 543.)
These prices are in almost exact accordance with the averages that
are above assumed for England and France. By the following article
it will be seen that the reduction in price that has taken place in
England, has altered materially the proportions above given.
" The highest quotation of white wheat of the first quality at Ham-
burgh, is 80 rix dollars current the last, which answers to 25*. lOd.
the quarter, and the highest quotation of red wheat of the first qua-
lity, is 76.2 dollars current the last, which answers to 24. Id. the
quarter, and therefore the mean price at Hamburgh of white and red
wheat is 25. 3d. per quarter. The highest quotation of white wheat
of the first quality in Mark Lane, is 50s. the quarter, and the high-
est quotation of red wheat of the first quality, is 44s. the quarter,
and therefore the mean price in Mark Lane of white and red wheat,
in 47*. the quarter. It appears, therefore, that wheat is 86 1-8 per
cent dearer in London than in Hamburgh, and that with the sum
of 2 7*., a man may buy 14 1-8 bushels of wheat at Hamburgh,
whereas with the same sum he can buy only eight bushels at London.
"The highest price of Zealand white wheat of the first quality at
Amsterdam, is 175 florins the last, which equals 28*. 3d. the quar-
ter, and the mean price in London being 47*. the quarter, it follows
that wheat is 66 3-8 per cent dearer in London than in Amsterdam.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 223
the United States being 35s. and 78 to 80 cents per
day being the usual wages of a labouring man, the
labour requisite to procure a quarter of wheat would
be nearly - - days, 1 1
Wheat. Labour.
In England, 6ls.2d. 72 cents or 3s. 20
The Netherlands, 29 2 30 1 3d. 23
France, 35 4 25 " 1 * 33*
To make a fair comparison it would be, however,
necessary to ascertain the comparative cost of many
other commodities besides that of corn, by which a
considerable change would be produced in the rela-
tive position of the inhabitants of those countries.
The people of the United States have corn, and
provisions generally, very cheap. Tea and coffee are
imported free of duty, and are sold at a very small
advance upon their cost at the places of production.
Sugar is at a much smaller duty than in France and
England. Fuel is cheap. Most descriptions of manu-
factured goods are higher than in England, particu-
larly those of wool and iron ; and the rate of interest
being higher, house rent is also higher. Making allow-
ance for these differences, it is probable that the Eng-
lish labourer would be required to work sixteen days
" The highest price of red wheat of the first quality at Antwerp,
is 8 3-4 florins current the hectolitre, which is equal to 36*. 5d. the
quarter, and the highest price of red wheat in London being 44*.
the quarter, it follows that red wheat is 20 3-8 per cent dearer in
London than at Antwerp.
u The mean average of the prices of wheat of the first quality at
Hamburgh, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Stettin, is 28. Id. the quar.
ter, and the mean price of wheat of the first quality in London being
47. the quarter, it follows that the mean price in London is 67 3-8
per cent higher than in the above mentioned places." Times, Marck
30, 1835.
224 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
to obtain the same amount of commodities that would
be obtained by the American labourer in eleven days.
In the case of the Netherlands the same remarks
are to be made as in that of the United States. Pro-
visions are cheap, as trade in them is free; and their
great system of canals facilitates the transmission of
domestic and foreign products at small cost, so that
the variations in price cannot be very great. Manu*
factured goods are lower than in the United States,
while provisions are not higher, if so high. Notwith-
standing the difference in money wages, almost as
large an amount of commodities can be obtained by
the labourer as in England. A strong evidence of the
comfortable situation of the people is to be found in the
fact, that the magazines and journals count one sub-
scriber for every 100 persons, while in England there
is only one for 184, and in France only one in 437.*
In France, prohibitions, heavy duties, monopolies,
and restrictions, meet us at every step. Roads are
bad, and limited in extent, and canals and rail roads
are few in number. Transportation is consequently
expensive, and the differences of price are very great.
The domestic trade is interfered with by the octroi,
which prevents the free transmission of merchandise
from one part of the kingdom to another. According
to the price of wheat, the difference in the reward of
the American and French labourer would be as 1 1
to 33$, but taking into consideration the difference in
other articles of consumption, it would be probably
about as 11 to 28.
* Foreign Quarterly Review, March, 1835.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 225
The following extracts will tend to show what is
the rate of wages in India.
u In a late statistical account of Dinagepore, a province of Bengal,
there are statements of the annual expenses of different classes of
society; and among them one of the expenses of a labouring man
with a wife and two children. The amount is only, rupees 22.10.11
or near 3 per annum ; being at the rate of 15 shillings a head.
The article of clothing for this family of four persons is only 6 shil-
lings per annum."*
" Colonel Munro states the average price of agricultural labour
in the * Ceded Districts,' to be about 5s. per month, or 2rf. per day.
He framed tables, dividing the population (about two millions) into
three classes, and ascertained the annual expense of each individual,
for clothing, food, and every other article, to be as follows:
First class, containing about one-fourth of the popu-
lation, average per head, - - - 2
Second class, containing about one-half of the popu-
lation, average per head, - - - 170
Third class, containing about one-fourth of the popu-
lation, average per head,t - - - 18
In estimating them at two rupees per month, it is
believed much more likely to exceed than to fall short
of the average. Mr. Senior (see page 63) estimated
them at from one to two pounds of silver per annum,
or 2$ to 5 rupees per month. By reference to page
114 it will be seen, that wages are spoken of by Mr.
Colebrooke as being two anas a day (about three ru-
pees per month), but that he considers that more than
can be realized by the cultivator. The usual price paid
to the men engaged in the cultivation and preparation
of indigo, is two rupees per month. Assuming that as
the average of money wages, and the price of rice in
the interior, as given by Mr. Colebrooke, at 12 anas
* Committee's Report, p. 9. Quoted by Rickards, I. p. 48,
f Bickarda, I. p. 68.
T2
226 ESSAY oir THE RATE OF WAGES.
per maund of 74 pounds, it would require, in the rice
country, the labour of two months and a half to earn
480 pounds, being the equivalent of a quarter of wheat
In Calcutta the labourer receives three rupees per
month, while servants and mechanics have from four
to six rupees: the average may be three and a half
rupees. By reference to M'Culloch's Commercial
Dictionary, article Calcutta, under the head of Ex-
ports, it will be seen that the average price of the
rice exported was 1 rupee 7 anas per Bazar maund
of 82 pounds, and of wheat 1 rupee 8 anas. By a re-
cent price current the average price of rice was 1.7,
and of wheat 1.6. At these prices, and allowing the
average of wages to be 3^ rupees per month, it would
require the labour of 2i months to obtain 480 pounds
of rice, or as much as would be obtained in the Unit-
ed States by the labour of eleven days.
In Southern India rice is much higher, and it is pro-
bable that a much larger amount of labour may be re-
quired to obtain the same quantity of food. It is proper
to observe that a large portion of the rice of India is
exceedingly inferior in quality, and of course low in
price. Even that which is exported sells at very low
prices in England compared with that of the United
States.*
* The price of rice in the London market (duty paid), 23d June
1831, was as follows:
. . d. . t. d.
American Carolina per cwt. 1 11 to 1 13
(-Bengal, yellow 12 6 13 6
-, 4 , .. white " 14 15 6
But Ind!a ^ t ., u fl n g
(.Patna, " 17 19
Java and Madagascar, " 10 11
IfCuUocVt Cam. Dictionary, p. 908.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 227
The means of ascertaining the condition of the la-
bouring population of China are not such as could be
desired, but Timkowski* has furnished a list of prices
at Pekin, that will enable us to make some compari-
son between their situation and that of similar persons
in Europe.
He says servants in the first houses have, per
month, 3300 tsian^or cash, equal to $ 4 50.
Servants in houses of the second class have, in ad-
dition to their board, from 1000 to 1500 tsian, equal
to an average of $1 75 per month, or $21 per annum.
At page 91 are given the wages of house servants
in Dumfries, at $ 56 to $ 60 per annum. In many
parts of Prussia, under similar circumstances, wages
do not exceed $ 10 per annum.
The prices of provisions are as follows:
Rice, per 20 pounds, .... 400 tsian.
Eggs, per hundred, ..... 400 to 600 tsian.
Cabbages, per hundred, .... 300 to 550 tsian.
Millet Sour, per 20 pounds, ... 275 tsian.
Wages are as follows:
Tiian.
A joiner, per day, 300 equal to 15 Ibs. rice.
A carpenter, do. 200 equal to 10 Ibs. rice.
A paper hanger, do. 200 equal to 10 Ibs. rice.
A working man, do. 130 equal to 6 Ibs. rice.
The average price of bread in Paris for several
years, as given by the police to Messrs. Bowring &
Villiers, was 60 centimes for 2 kilogrammes. The
* Russian Mission to China, vol. II. p. 199.
t Of these 137$ are equal to a franc, or 16| cents.
228 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
wages are also given in the same report, by which
it is seen that
Francs. Bread.
The cabinet maker has per day, 3 to 3.50 equal to 23 pounds.
The carpenter, do. 3 to 3.50 equal to 23 pounds.
Hatter, shoemaker, &c. do. 3 equal to 22 pounds.
Terrace makers & blacksmiths, do. 2 equal to 14 pounds.
In Canton, rice sells at $ 1 40 to $ 1 80 per picul
of 133$ pounds English. Mr. M'Culloch says from
a halfpenny to three farthings per pound, equal to
$1 33 to $2 per picul. A day labourer has from nine
candareens to one mace (say 13 cents) per day, find-
ing himself. His wages will purchase from 9% to 13
pounds of rice, according to quality, being perhaps
25 per cent, less than is obtained by the labourer in
Paris. A mechanic receives one mace (13| cents)
per day, and his board. Allowing 313 days to the
year, he would earn 3200 pounds of the best rice by
his year's work. A brewer or cooper, in Paris, re-
ceives 500 francs per annum and his board.* With
500 francs he could purchase 3610 pounds of bread.
A butcher has 1000 francs.* A pastry cook from
GOO to 900 francs.* The average, being 750 francs,
would purchase 5415 pounds of bread.
I see no reason to believe that the rate of wages
in France exceeds that of China more than 50 per
cent., or that the Chinese labourer could not obtain
as much in 40 or 42 days, as is obtained in France
by the labour of 28 days. The materials for forming
a judgment are, however, very small, and this view
of the case may not prove correct.
* Bowring and Villiera' Report
ESSAT ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 229
CHAPTER XVII.
I PROPOSE now to submit to the reader a scale of
the advantages (or productive powers) possessed by
the several nations to which I have referred, that he
may see at a glance how far it accords with the state
of the labouring classes as described in the last chap-
ter. It is necessary to bear in mind what has been
the situation of the various countries during the last
fifty years, as, although property was secure, and
trade free, in the Netherlands, at the time of preparing
the statements that have been used, it had been far
otherwise at very recent periods, and a long course
of peace and tranquillity is necessary to enable a na-
tion to recover from the effects of such wars as have
been waged in her territory. It is also necessary to
recollect, that although capital abounded in Holland,
a large portion of it was invested abroad, and the
owner of what was thus lent to aid foreign manufac-
turers or ship-owners, was useful at home to the same
extent only as the Irish absentee landlord was of ser-
vice to the people of Paris or Rome.
This table is not offered as being accurate, but
simply as an approximation sufficiently near to illus-
trate my argument.
230 ESSAY OPT THE RATE Of WAGES.
U S. G.B. N't-th. France. China. Hind.
Security of person and property, 100
100
45
50
20
10
Freedom of action, -
100
70
65
40
00
00
Freedom of commerce,
80
50
60
30
00
00
Habits of industry, -
90
80
100
55
100
50
Capital, land included,
90
100
45
50
15
15
460
400
315
225
135
75
Deduct taxation,
20
100
50
50
6
10
440 300 265 175 129 65
It has been estimated that eleven days' labour in
the United States would be sufficient to obtain a
quarter of wheat. Taking the above sum of 440,
and multiplying it by that number of days, the pro-
duct would be 4840, which I propose should represent
a quarter, or eight bushels, of wheat. Say, 1 1 days.
The powers of the English labourer being
300, he would require, to obtain the
same value of commodities, - - 16 days.
The labourer in the Netherlands, 18 days.
The advantages of the French labourer
being only 175, he would require nearly 28 days.
The Chinese would require 38 days.
The Hindoo, whose powers of production
are estimated at only 65, would require 74 days.
These results correspond very nearly with the esti-
mates of the previous chapter, but it is possible that
many persons may be disposed to question the cor-
rectness of the quantities assumed, and which have
produced those results. It has been a matter of con-
troversy whether the amount of taxation in France
was greater than in the United States, while it is
above stated to be more than twice as great. I en-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 231
tertain no doubt of its being as given above, but sta-
tistical information is needed on that and many other
points for the correct formation of such a table.
Again, notwithstanding the tendency of insecurity
and restrictions to produce a want of industry, the
people of China and the Netherlands are set down
in the preceding table as more industrious than those
of the United States and England. Taxation is light
in China, and the common people, feeling themselves
secure, labour with extraordinary assiduity, while
the industry of the class which is possessed of capi-
tal, is restrained by the causes to which I have re-
ferred. It is difficult here to assign proper quanti-
ties to security and industry, but it is probable, that,
taking into view the situation of the two classes, the
former might be increased to 30 or 40, while the
latter might be reduced to 70, 80, or 90. In the
case of the Netherlands, for the same reason, it would
perhaps be proper to reduce industry to 80, and the
sum of the powers of production to 245, which would
make it necessary to give the labour of 20 days in-
stead of 18 as above stated. The increased atten-
tion that is given to statistics will, I doubt not, in a
few years, enable future writers to give much more
accurate views than can now be done, and every
improvement in that science will tend more and more
to prove that the condition of the working classes im-
proves as security is obtained without interference
with their freedom, and without taking from them
too large a portion of the fruits of their labour.
232 ESSAY OK THE RATE OP WAGES.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HAVING thus passed in review several of the prin-
cipal nations, the reader will probably be disposed to
admit that there are abundant reasons for the state
of things that exists, and will now be prepared for a
brief examination of the views of some of the writers
who insist that all the poverty and wretchedness that
exist, arise out of the erroneous arrangements of the
Deity.
Mr. Mill (Elements of Political Economy,) takes
the same view of the influence of capital as that
which will be found at p. 30. He says, "If the ratio
which capital bears to population increases, wages
will rise ; if the ratio which population bears to ca-
pital increases, wages will fall." Being, however, a
full believer in the Malthusian theory, that population
is always disposed to increase so rapidly as to be
threatened with starvation, and only kept down by
the apprehension thereof, he asserts that population
has increased much faster than capital, as " is proved
incontestably by the condition of the population of
most parts of the globe. In almost all countries, the
condition of the great body of the people is poor and
miserable." I do not doubt their poverty, but do
doubt their being as poor as they were, one, two, or
three centuries since, and if they are not so, capital
must, according to Mr. Mill's own theory, have in-
ESSAT ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 233
creased more rapidly than population. That they are
not so, is evidenced by the case of Great Britain; by
that of Prussia, where population is increasing more
rapidly than in any other part of Europe, and where
improvement in the condition of the people keeps pace
with the increase of population ; and by that of the
late kingdom of the Netherlands, whose population
at. its present rate of increase would double itself in
63 years. Even were such not the case, and were
they as poor, or even poorer than they had been, it
would be necessary, before admitting such to be the
natural course of things, to examine how far the
measures of the various governments had tended to
promote or to repress the growth of capital. If upon
such examination it were found, that in some of
them, all the disturbing causes, treated of in the pre-
vious chapters, had been in full operation, and in
others a portion of them, it might well be doubted if
its slow increase had not arisen from those inter-
ferences alone, which are abundantly sufficient to
keep any people " poor and miserable." In accord-
ance with the above doctrine, Mr. Mill asserts, that
" whether, after land of superior quality has been ex-
hausted, capital is applied to new lands of inferior
quality, or in successive doses, with diminished re-
turns upon the same lands, the produce of it is con-
tinually diminishing in proportion to its increase. If
the return to capital is, however, continually decreas-
ing, the annual fund from which savings are made,
is continually diminishing. The difficulty in making
savings is continually augmented, and at last they
must entirely cease." The means of accumulating
u
234 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
capital being thus cut off, it follows that " how slow
soever the increase of population, provided that of
capital be still slower, wages will be reduced so low,
that a portion of the population must regularly die of
want" He says that population does increase more
rapidly than capital, and we must therefore be gra-
dually approaching that state of things which he
describes.
The first dose of capital applied to land, was pro-
bably in shape of a spade, and the next that of a
plough, and it is unlikely that the return in the second
case, was less than in the first. Among the most re-
cent are the cradle and horse-rake, and it is highly
improbable that any farmer will admit that capital
thus applied, pays him less interest than that pre-
viously applied in the shape of a reaping-hook and
hand-rake.
The " inferior soils" of Mill, Ricardo, and others,
mean those which by reason of their inferiority of
quality, or distance from market, are last brought
into cultivation. It is evident that both situation
and quality must enter into the consideration of the
character of land, as that of second, third, or fourth
quality near New York or Philadelphia would be
sooner brought into cultivation, and command a
higher rent, than that of first quality in Ohio or In-
diana. The latter are emphatically the "inferior
soils" referred to, and yet fresh doses of capital are
daily administered to them, and to lands in Illinois,
Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
so far are they from being attended with a "diminish-
ed return," that circulating capital is there worth 12,
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 235
15, or 1,8 per cent per annum, and is used to greater
profit by the borrower than in the older, states, when
obtained at 5 or 6. Those distant lands are brought
into cultivation in consequence of the " doses of ca-
pital" being administered in the form of canals, turn-
pike and rail-roads, by which the transport of their
products is facilitated; but the result would be the
same if the lands were less distant and of inferior
quality, and the capital were applied in the form of
manure, or improved methods of culture. Yet Mr.
M'Culloch refers to the culture of lands in Indiana
and Illinois in support of this theory !
Such theories are so totally opposed to the evi-
dence afforded by all Europe, and particularly Great
Britain, as well as this country, that it is difficult
to account for their production. They would be
amusing, were it not that they are adopted by men
in elevated stations, whose modes of thinking influ-
ence the happiness and prosperity of the people over
whom they are placed. There is no doubt that popu-
lation may increase with great rapidity, and it is
probable that it will increase at a much more rapid
rate than it has done, but if governments can be
induced so to modify their systems as to permit the
labourer to enjoy the product of his labour, his situ-
ation will become more comfortable with every such
increase. Even now it does so in Prussia, the Nether-
lands, and Great Britain, and still more so in the
United States, where the demand for labour and its
reward, are, with a population of fifteen millions,
vastly greater than when there were but five millions.
Such being the case, it is difficult to believe in the
236 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
awful consequences to be apprehended from this
enormous increase ; or to dread starvation, when mis-
government is not carried too far. The disciple of
Mr. Malthus would ask if there can be a doubt as to
the geometrical increase of population, and arithme-
tical increase of food, or that if population should
double in fifteen or thirty years, it would be attended
with the horrible effects that have been predicted.
So the advocate of restrictions upon trade objects to
taking off the duties upon coffee, on the ground that
the increased demand must increase the price at the
place of production, and that the duty will be paid to
the grower, in place of the government The advo-
cates of the corn laws, when the approach of famine
has made it necessary to import a large quantity,
and they see that it is paid for in bullion, deem it
conclusive evidence of the incorrectness of the asser-
tion of their opponents, that a free trade in corn
would promote the demand for British goods. All
are restrictionists, and all equally in error. By pro-
hibiting the trade in corn in ordinary seasons, the one
does all in his power to depress the people of Prussia
and Poland, and keep them in a state of poverty, pre-
venting the accumulation of capital, and the growth
of a taste for British wares, and then uses the fact of
their poverty as a reason why the system should be
continued. By heavy duties upon coffee, the con-
sumption is discouraged, and the owners of planta-
tions are compelled to root up their trees, which
cannot be replaced for several years, and when the
production is thus reduced to the demand, we are
told that the system must be persevered in, lest the
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 237
coffee planter should obtain an increased price fqr a
short period of time, until the production could again
overtake the demand. By enormous taxes and ruin-
ous wars; by every expedient that could be devised;
the people of the eastern continent have been ground
to the earth; unable, in many places, to command
more than the mere necessaries of life, there> could
be no accumulation of capital; their trade restrained
so that in many places corn has not been worth the
cost of sending to market, while the want of capital
prevented improvement of communications; com-
pelled, at in Hindostan, to pay in rent and taxes
more than half the gross product of their lands, and
rendered unable to improve the miserable tools with
which they were cultivated; and after having thus
done all in our power to prevent the growth of
capital, and consequent increase of food, we are
asked if we believe the demand, being doubled in
twenty or thirty years, could be supplied. To this,
the reply would, of course, be in the negative; but if
rulers had been content to leave to the labourer the
product of his labour, allowing his capital to increase,
the population of the earth might now be infinitely
greater than it is, without a deficiency of food, and it
might go on to an extent that would now be deemed
incredible, the condition of the people steadily im-
proving with the increase in number. Even in Ire-
land,* the condition of the people is decidedly better
* "From various criteria of prosperity we have a remarkable tes-
timony to that of Ireland; for whilst the proportion of uninhabited
houses is just the same as in Scotland, that of the houses building
is one in 81 of those inhabited, or exceeding above eleven per cent,
u2
238 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
than it was, and yet in that unfortunate country all
the disturbing causes have been in full action. Every
thing has tended to repress the growth of capital,
and keep them in a state of poverty, preventing them
from either improving their own waste lands, or
transferring themselves to the richer lands of Canada
or the United States. Here, transfers of population
are daily going on to an immense extent, but there,
the like proportion in England. We have often heard a cry, too,
that in consequence of the Union, Dublin had been deserted, and
multitudes of houses become uninhabited. Now, the fact is, that
the proportion of uninhabited houses is less in Dublin than in the
metropolis or either of the sister kingdoms: the uninhabited houses
in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, being respectively one in 11,
17, and 18. So much for clamour, and so much for facts of statis-
tical investigation to put clamour down ; or, if it cannot be silenced,
the light, at least, may exhibit the screech-owl."
The following statement is from a pamphlet by Mr. Pratt, the
barrister appointed to certify the rules of Savings' Banks and
Friendly _Societies, and shows a marked improvement in the con-
dition of the people of Ireland.
" The increase in the deposits of the Irish savings' banks, has
been proportionably much greater than in the English.
"In England and Wales, the augmentations since 1831 do not
exceed 8 per cent, of the gross sum invested, while in Ireland the
increase has been above 25 per cent Of course it will be said that
the condition of the Irish people being inferior to the English, there
exists greater room for improvement in the one case than in the
other, and that this circumstance explains the more rapid expansion
of savings' banks in Ireland. The observation is undoubtedly true,
but it leaves the fact of the increasing prosperity of the sister king-
dom unshaken. It is clear that Ireland is not only in a state of pro-
gressive improvement, but that she is improving at a quicker rate
than this country."
"The exports from Ireland to the singte port of Liverpool in 1833,
were 7,456,692." Speech of Mr. S. Rice, April, 1834.
ESSAY OW THE RATE OF WAGES. 239
such is their poverty, that unless sent by the govern-
ment, they are utterly unable to leave the country;
to be useful to it either at home or abroad.
Having done all in our power to make man " poor
and miserable" to prevent the growth of capital or
any improvement in his situation and finding that
there is a great deal of poverty in the world, we in-
quire the cause, and find it arises out of a mistake in
the Deity, who fitted man to increase in a geometri-
cal ratio, v/hile he permitted the fruits of the earth
to increase in an arithmetical ratio only, thus making
poverty and misery inseparable accompaniments of
the human race. This result is highly satisfactory to
us, as it transfers to the Deity what should rest upon
our own shoulders, and we then invent the starvation
check; discourage matrimony that we may promote
profligacy, and thus check population ; while the earth
is as yet, in a great measure, untouched, and is capa-
ble of supporting thousands of millions in those parts
where cultivation is almost unknown.
All these attempts at interference should be regard-
ed like those with trade, and it is not to be doubted
that the time will come when they will be considered
equally absurd. The trade of population is the only
one that has heretofore been free, and it is to be
regretted that those who are in favour of loosing
the shackles which have bound all others, advo-
cate restrictions upon that which has heretofore es-
caped. As yet we know nothing of the productive
powers of the earth. In the United States food has
increased in the same ratio with population, while
they supply a large portion of the world with other
240 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
productions of the soil, cotton and tobacco. In Eng-
land, within the last century, the improvement has
been immense, arising from improved methods of cul-
tivation, yet she is far behind Flanders, which, " two
centuries since, was a barren waste." There, " the
produce of wheat is often not less than thirty-two
bushels to two of seed; of oats, sixty bushels to three;
and of other grain in proportion, whilst in scarcely
any part of Great Britain does wheat yield moie than
eight or ten times."*
The following remarks, upon the present state of
English agriculture, are from a review of a work on
that subject, by Mr. Lowe, in a British journal for
November last.
" The most fertile soils, miserably tilled, according to the prescrip-
tive rule of ' follow my leader,' are every where found contiguous
to examples of skill and industry which raise abundant crops; and
the contented boor sits down to his starved returns, quite satisfied
with what rude implements, wasteful defects, and ignorant blind-
ness, have permitted him to gather like his predecessors!
" How different would it be, were the opposite course pursued;
were all the British Empire, for instance, as ably and intelligently
cultivated as the Lothians and Lowlands of Scotland ! Were Mr.
Lowe's practical lessons universally acted upon, we should then hear
no more of a surplus population beyond the supply of food; of the
necessity of exporting our hearty peasantry to Australian or other
colonies; of the dreadful sufferings of the labouring poor. The ho-
nest toils of the field would largely supersede the depraving employ-
ment of the workhouse; and the reward of those toils would be
plenty of wholesome food to sustain the humblest classes of our fel-
low-creatures."
Throughout a large part of the Russian, Polish,
and Prussian provinces on the Baltic, Mr. Jacob de-
For. Quar. Rev., Vol. V. p. 375.
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 241
scribes the people as in a state of extreme poverty
totally destitute of capital unable to stock their land,
or to supply themselves with any but the poorest im-
plements, and yet subject to enormous taxation, in
money and military services. Were that taxation
dispensed with, or reduced to a moderate amount,
there can be no doubt that capital would increase,
agriculture would be improved, communications
would be opened, and the lands might become as pro-
ductive as those of Great Britain or the Netherlands.
At page 108 is given a view of the state of agri-
culture in those countries, where it is shown that the
return to the cultivator does not usually exceed four
times the seed. An examination of those statements
would show that similar causes produce similar effects
in Europe and Asia. There is no country of Europe
that so much resembles Hindostan in its fate as Po-
land, and there we find, in the situation of the labour-
ing classes, an almost exact parallel. As many days'
labour are necessary to obtain a quarter of wheat,
with the further disadvantage that the Hindoo scarce-
ly requires any clothing, while the climate of Poland
makes it indispensable.
In an able article on America in the Encyclopedia
Britannica, it is stated, that notwithstanding the dif-
ference in size between the eastern and western con-
tinent, the proportion of the former that is unfit for
cultivation, in consequence of sterility, or absence of
water communications, is so much greater, that the
latter is capable of subsisting an equal population.
The writer then proceeds to estimate the extent of
its ability, and taking Germany as the basis, where
242 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
population varies from 100 to 200 to a square mile,
he assumes 150 to be the limit in latitude 50, ac-
cording to which, and making due allowance for the
superior productiveness of the lower latitudes, he
finds that this continent is capable of subsisting 3,600
millions. The same quantity for the eastern continent
would made 7,200 millions, or eight, if not nine times,
the present population. We know, however, that
agriculture in Germany and in France, where there
are 160 to a square mile, is in a very backward
state, and it cannot be doubted that the application
of capital would very speedily double the product,
and that in many parts of Europe it might be trebled,
quadrupled, or quintupled. Long before the popula-
tion shall have attained the extent above mentioned,
Germany will support 300 persons to a square mile
better than she now does 150. If to that be added
the economy of the products of the earth that is to
arise out of the substitution of steam for horse power;
estimated in Great Britain to be now equal to the
support of eight millions, or one-half of its present
population; and the vast extent of land in Australasia,
it will be seen that the ability of the earth to afford
food is immense, perhaps equal to thirty thousand
millions. It is perfectly true, that if population were
to proceed every where at the rate at which it does
in this country, it would soon attain this extraordi-
nary amount We know, however, that it does not,
and we also know that in every country where the
government will permit it, there is a steady improve-
ment of condition with the increase of population: we
know that the dilliculty is not to supply food, but to find
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 243
a market for it: that in a very large part of Europe
the cultivators are " poor and miserable," solely be-
cause they are not at liberty to exchange their pro-
ducts freely for what they want: that in consequence
thereof, prices have been so much reduced in many
places as to render them totally unable to pay rent:
and with this knowledge we may be content to let
population take its own course, and instead of fetter-
ing it by restrictions, endeavour to improve the con-
dition of the people by increasing their liberty of ac-
tion and lightening their burdens. Let this be done,
and capital will increase more rapidly than popula-
tion, and the surplus of Europe being enabled to
transfer itself to this continent, the whole world may
become a garden. Doing this, we may safely trust
that population will limit itself, and that the wisdom
of the arrangements of the Deity, in regard to man,
will be as evident as it is in every other part of the
creation. We shall find that, as in every thing else,
"laissez nous faire" is the true doctrine: that when
allowed to come into action, there is already estab-
lished a system of checks and balances, action and
re-action, as far superior to that which has haunted
the imagination of some of the writers on population,
as is that which regulates the motions of the planets
to that of a windmill: and that if to man was granted
the power of increase in a geometrical ratio, there
was at the same time implanted a principle which
secures him against its effects, the desire of bettering
his condition ; which, if allowed to begin to act, will
be abundantly sufficient, with the increased fruitful-
ness of the land, arising out of the application of
244 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
capital, to prevent the necessity of the starvation
check.
Mr. Malthus tells us, that wherever food is abun-
dant, population increases rapidly; but it might be as
correctly said, that where population increases ra-
pidly, food is abundant, and we have full evidence
that with increased population, the dangers of famine
are greatly decreased, where man is not too much
trammeled. " A cote (Tun pain, il nait un homme"
is a saying in some parts of the continent, but expe-
rience would show that it would be equally correct
if read thus, " a cote d'un homme, il croit un pain"
or would grow, if permitted. At the time Mr.
Malthus formed his theory, he had but few facts in
regard to civilized man upon which it could be based.
The experience of this country had been too short to
enable him to use it with any advantage, and he was
obliged to argue from the state of man as he exists
in the eastern hemisphere, " checked like a bond-
man," fettered by laws and regulations, and oppressed
by claims for the support of government and of indi-
viduals. To argue from facts thus obtained, is like
constructing a theory of the tides from a collection
of observations on mill dams. I am not aware of a
fact in his book in regard to man in a state of civil-
ization, that goes to support his theory, or that is not
much better evidence that man has been misgoverned,
and his increase repressed thereby, than that it has
been repressed by inability of the earth to afford him
support
The only disease under which mankind labours is
oppression. Let that be removed, and he will speedily
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 245
recover, and show by the increase of population and
consequent division of labour, increased productive-
ness of labour, and growth of capital, that such was
the case. All other medicines must fail, even that of
Dr. Chalmers, who contends that relief from taxation
would do little good, and that the only want is the
extension of education. Relieve the people from op-
pression, and they will educate themselves. If not
disturbed in its growth, capital will increase more
rapidly than population, and with its increase will be
increase of education, and of all comforts, moral and
physical.
246 ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES.
CHAPTER XIX.
I WILL now submit for the consideration of the
reader, the conclusions at which I have arrived.
They are
I. That government was instituted for the protec-
tion of person and property.
II. That the best government is that which secures
the attainment of the object, with the smallest sa-
crifice of freedom of action and of the produce of
labour.
III. That where it is attained at the smallest cost,
there is the most rapid accumulation of capital.
IV. That there is a tendency to the more rapid
increase of capital than of population, when not pre-
vented by human interferences.
V. That the more rapid the increase, the greater
will be the demand for labour, and the more rapid
the increase of production.
VI. That the greater the amount of production,
the larger will be the quantity for each individual
member of the community, if equally divided; but the
extent of the portion actually assigned to the labour-
ing class must depend, first, upon the ratio which
capital bears to population, and second, upon the ex-
tent of the demands for the support of government^
and the mariner in which they are assessed.
VII. That the rate of wages depends on the ex-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 247
tent of the fund assigned for the support of the labour-
ing population compared with the number to be sup-
ported.
VIII. That high wages, or a large " fund for the
support of the labouring class, in proportion to the
extent of that class," are an infallible evidence of
prosperity, and of the rapid increase of capital, and
that the doctrine of Mr. M'Culloch in regard to high
rate of profit is not borne out by the facts.
IX. That nothing is required to secure to the mass
of the people in Europe, a rate of wages equal to
that of the United States, but peace and tranquillity;
security of person and property at small cost; per-
mission to citizens or subjects to exercise their talents
in such modes as they may deem most advantageous
to themselves; cheap government, which, allowing
them to enjoy nearly all the proceeds of their labour,
and having in return their affections, is thereby ren-
dered strong government.
Whether or not we shall ever see such go Tr ern-
ments in Europe, it is very difficult now even to guess,
but it is to be hoped that by slow degrees, rulers will
see that their interests and those of the people are the
same. Whenever they shall do so, the reign of peace
and freedom of trade will commence; population will
increase at a more rapid rate than it has ever done,
and every increase of population bringing with it new
divisions of labour, will insure a higher degree of
perfection, and a more rapid increase of the supply of
the means of support; leaving the theory of starvation,
and the commercial theory of " ships, colonies, and
commerce," to be forgotten together. "National
248 ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES.
prosperity," says Mr. M'Culloeh, " does not depend
nearly so much on advantageous situations, salubrity
of climate, or fertility of soil, as in the adopting of
measures fitted to excite the inventive powers of
genius, and to give perseverance and activity to in-
dustry. The establishment of a wise system of public
economy can compensate for every other deficiency.
It can render regions naturally inhospitable, barren,
and unproductive, the comfortable abodes of an ele-
gant and refined, or crowded and wealthy population.
But where it is wanting, the best gifts of nature are
of no value; and countries possessed of the greatest
capacities of improvement, and abounding in all the
materials necessary for the production of wealth,
with difficulty furnish a miserable subsistence to
hordes distinguished only by their ignorance, bar
barism, and wretchedness."
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 249
CHAPTER XX.
I WILL add here a few words in regard to the dis-.
claimer, by Professors Senior and Whately, of any
consideration of that which I deem the great object
of political economy, and its chief claim to attention,
viz. the promotion of the happiness of nations. The
former says, "it is not with happiness, but with
wealth that I am concerned as a political econo-
mist;" and the latter speaks of the science as one
"whose strict object is to inquire into the nature,
production, and distribution of wealth, not in con-
nexion with human happiness."
The political economist sees that a large portion
of mankind are " poor and miserable." He sees that
the disease with which they are afflicted, is poverty,
and that the remedy for the evils under which they
labour is to enable them to accumulate property, or
articles having exchangeable value. He sees that the
possession of a sufficient quantity of such articles will
redeem them from the " miserable" state in which
they are, and the object of his studies is to ascertain
the causes which have prevented such accumulations
in times past, and to point out the course' by which
they may be promoted in future. As well might a
physician called to a patient labouring under a dis-
order which rendered him "poor and miserable,"
assert that his object was only to remove the disease,
not restore his patient to health, as the political eco-
x2
250 ESSAY QIC THE RATE OF WAGES.
nomist that his science had regard to the wealth, and
not to the happiness of nations. Mr. Senior says truly,
that " in fact wealth and happiness are very seldom
opposed," and as evidence thereof, adduces the great
increase of the duration of life in the course of the
last fifty years, as a strong proof of great increase of
comfort.
The object of the political economist is to ascer-
tain what is the mode in which the labour of a na-
tion can be applied, so as to enable the labourer to
command the greatest amount of comforts with the
smallest sacrifice.* It is obvious that if he can de-
vise a mode by which twelve hours of labour per
day shall enable the workman to command twelve
yards of cloth, instead of half that number, which
he had hitherto had for an equal quantity of time,
he renders him service. By doing so, he does not
compel him to make any greater sacrifice of his
ease than he had before done, but, on the contrary,
enables him, if so disposed, to live as he had done,
with half the labour ; or to live better than he had
done by the devotion of the same quantity of time.
He has his option. Fortunately, the desire to im-
prove his condition prevails to a sufficient extent to
induce the great mass of mankind to continue their
exertions, and with the surplus produce, add to the
* "The great practical problem involved in that part of the
science which treats of the production of wealth, must resolve itself
into a discussion of the means by which labour may be rendered
most efficient, or by which the greatest amount of necessary, useful,
and desirable products may be obtained loith the least possible outlay
of labour" Principles of Polit. Econ. p. 75.
ESSAY Off THE RATE OF WAGES. 251
list of their enjoyments. Every improvement in the
condition of a people, tends to new improvements.
Adam Smith says, that the best labourers are always
to be found where wages are highest, the truth of
which is fully proved by a comparison of those of
Great Britain or the United States, with those of Ire-
land and Hindostan.
It is difficult to imagine a case in which the wealth
of a community can be increased by measures tending
to lessen the happiness of its members. Wealth may
accumulate, even in Hindostan or Ireland, but the
increase is not a consequence of the injudicious mea-
sures of the government. If it do so, it is because
maladministration is not carried quite far enough to
prevent it. The adoption of the measures recom-
mended by the political economist could uot fail to
promote the increase of wealth, as well as an in-
crease of happiness. If the absentee go abroad for
economy; if instead of expending 5000 in Ireland,
he live in Italy for 1000, and the balance be added
to his capital, and judiciously expended by an agent
in the improvement of his lands, or in the promotion
of manufactures, (the only mode in which wealth
can be increased by absenteeism,) then absenteeism
is decidedly advantageous, and tends to promote the
happiness of the community by increasing the demand
for labour, and its reward. It may, indeed, be as-
serted without fear of contradiction, that it is not
possible to increase the wealth of a nation, without
increase of happiness in the community, even if it
consist of slaves. If the cotton planters, by economy
and industry be enabled to accumulate capital, they
252 ESSAY OPT THE RATE OF WAGES.
must find means of investing it, by which the demand
for slaves will be increased, and the price will be
raised. Their increased value then, operates as an
additional reason for care and attention, and we find
accordingly, that the situation of the slave does, as
a general rule, improve with his increased value.
The ingenious author of numerous articles on vari-
ous branches of this science, in the Quarterly Re-
view, avails himself of this admission of Messrs. Se-
nior and Whately, and asserts, " that the amount of
wealth in a country is no measure of its prosperity,
understanding by that term the aggregate of comfort,
ease, and happiness enjoyed by its inhabitants," and
in proof thereof, adduces the following case:
" Let us suppose a country, A., to raise large quantities of com
by the labour of a body of agriculturists, who, from the condition
on which alone they are allowed to cultivate the soil, have but a
bare subsistence left to them, and live in a state of extreme misery.
The corn remaining beyond their consumption, is the property of
the land owner, who exports it in exchange for luxuries and rich
stuffs for his own consumption. Now, there can be no question that
the total wealth of A. is increased by this trade, because for the
wealth exported in the shape of corn, wealth of greater value, in the
shape of luxuries, is imported. But is the trade which thus pro-
duces an increase of wealth in A. of a beneficial character? Does
it tend to increase the prosperity of the inhabitants of A.? Suppose
the trade did not exist, and that the same quantity of corn we first
supposed to be exported, was consumed in maintaining the popu-
lation of A. in abundance, instead of penury ; whatever circum-
stances occasioned this different state of things, of a political or
other nature, it is evident that the condition of the inhabitants of A.
would be vastly superior to what we supposed, than before, though
the total amount of wealth possessed by them would be less." Quar-
terly Review, Vol. LXVL p. 48.
One error in this reasoning is the assumption, that
ESSAY ON THE RATE OP WAGES. 25?
if the produce was not exported, it would remain for
the support of the agriculturists. Another consists in
separating the landlord from the producers. The
whole constitute but one community, and the mass
of enjoyment is undoubtedly increased by the foreign
trade. Suppose, however, that the trade did not exist,
and that the same quantity of corn first supposed to be
exported, were consumed by the landlord in its origi-
nal shape, would the situation of the inhabitants of A.
be improved thereby? Suppose, instead of corn, its
inhabitants were employed in producing peaches and
pine apples, which were consumed by the landlord,
instead of wines and rich stuffs, how would their
situation be improved? Suppose, instead of exporting
it, it were sent to the capital, and there invested in
pictures by Lawrence, Wilkie, or Leslie, would the
inhabitants of A. benefit thereby? Would any of
these changes cause them to live in abundance, in-
stead of penury? They would not. The whole in-
come of the land owner might be spent on domestic
productions, without the smallest increase of comfort
to the labourer. What is to be complained of, is the
manner in which the produce is divided.
The reviewer will, perhaps, allow us another sup-
position. Suppose the exchangeable value of the
labour of the inhabitants of A. were doubled, in con-
sequence of a great reduction of the rents, but that
instead of applying the excess to the improvement of
the condition of their families, the labourers were one
and all to apply it to the purchase of gin, and spend
all their leisure time in the consumption of it> would
their situation be improved ? The result would be the
254 ESSAY 017 THE RATE OF WAGES.
same, a state of " extreme misery," and as good an
argument might be made in the one case against the
reduction of rents, because the additional sum left to
the labourer, might, perhaps, be spent in gin, as
against the foreign trade, because the proceeds of
the corn might come home in wines and rich stuffs,
to be spent by the land owner. If the whole proceeds
over what is required to support the people in the
state described, be consumed, it matters little whether
its consumption be the work of the labourer or the
landlord. The result in either case is the same, as
in both cases the growth of capital is prevented, and
without it, there can be no improvement of condi-
tion.
Suppose the landlord, anxious to improve his in-
come, were to look into " The Wealth of Nations,"
what would he find there ? He would find advice to
economize his expenditure; to let his capital increase;
to improve his estate ; and to make good roads lead-
ing to his market, by which his revenue would be
increased. Suppose he were influenced only by the
desire to improve the condition of the inhabitants,
he would find the same advice as tending to his own
benefit, and to that of all connected with him. He
would not find advice to erect hospitals or alms-
houses; or to distribute the surplus among the people,
to enable them to idle away half of their time ; but
he would be advised to invest it in such manner as
would be profitable to himself; to conform to the dic-
tates of an enlightened self interest ; by which he
must increase the demand for labour, and its ex-
changeable value, thereby offering an incentive to in-
ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES. 255
dustry, and an opportunity of risirig from the wretch-
ed situation to which they ; Heen reduced.
There is no doctrine of politi-a.1 economy, the ob-
ject of which is not to promote happiness, and
Smith would have been perfectly justified in entitling
his book, " AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES
OF THE HAPPINESS OF NATIONS."
THE END.
DATE DUE