UC-NRLF SB EME S17 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. So much dangerous or sentimental rubbish is being talked to work- ing men in these days, that it is a pleasure to come across a book like this. The author is a friend of the working classes in the best sense. He is an employer of labour who feels that he has other duties to perform to his hands besides paying them wages. He speaks with the authority of experience, and also with sym- pathy. Saturday Review. Are not only a contribution to practical political economy, but furnish material for estimating the difference between the present and past condition of the labouring classes. Its facts and teachings all go to prove that the drastic ideas of the levellers would in the end be fatal to true progress and subversive of the principles on which alone society can exist. The author deals in an agreeable and informing manner with labour, leisure, luxury, progress, and the acquisition of property by the work- ing classes ; and the working classes cannot do better than study his simple chapters on political economy. Times. The facts he brings forward are important, thoroughly to the pur- pose, and are the results of close and long continued observation of the ways and conditions of working men ; whilst the arguments deduced from them are sound and eminently practical. The general tendency of his teaching is, that the future of the work- ing class lies in their own hands ; that, though much may be done, as, indeed, much has already been done, by wise legislation to ameliorate their condition, by far the largest share of the work can be effected by themselves alone. To approach the status of the class immediately above them, they must acquire the qualities and virtues of that class. They must be- come more sober, more self-respecting, more provident, and more self-denying. ll OPINIONS OF THE PEESS Till this transformation is effected all help from without is little better than thrown away. In the chapter 'On the Acquisition of Property by the Working Classes ' he enters into more definite details. He sets before working-men, as the ultimate goal, co-operation. For this, too, the moral qualities above named must be acquired. He advises distributive co-operation, in the first instance, as intrin- sically advantageous, but, still more, as the fittest school for the acqui- sition of those qualities and aptitudes which will enable them eventually to undertake with advantage productive co-operation, like that carried on by the Rochdale Pioneers, but which has so often failed in other cases from want of business habits and especially of self-control among the members. It is true that in 1881 the number of co-operative societies had grown to 1,118, with 1,083,000 members, capital 6,850,0007., and sales equal to 24,400,000?. 'An enormous and most encouraging advance during twenty years, 'says Mr. Wylie, 'nearly one-fourth of the working classes being now co-operators. * The bulk of these societies, however, exist not for producing mer- chandise, but for selling it. ... The want of success in productive co-operation is very easily accounted for. * To conduct a manufacturing business properly requires a larger amount of intelligence than the mass of the working people possess. ' But their great want a want shared by other classes as well is in the morality necessary for the accumulation and guidance of sufficient capital, and, above all, to enable them to combine and act harmoniously together.' He is no advocate of any further shortening of the working hours of adults, at any rate, for the present. He shows that British workmen, while receiving higher wages than in any other country in Europe, work shorter hours than any other workmen in the World, America not excepted. And he says, ' I have no hesitation in advising working men, and particularly trades unionists, to strive for the three following much more important advantages, before they seek further to reduce their hours of labour, viz., First : More leisure for their children that is, to keep them longer out of the factory, and longer in school in short, to let them begin life with better health and better education. * Second : More leisure in the households, by keeping their wives and daughters more from factory work, and letting them attend more to the domestic duties, their natural sphere ; and third, more leisure for them- selves and families in time of sickness, and in the decline of life.' The Economist. OPINIONS OF THE PKESS in He is entitled to speak with an authority that deserves to be listened to with more than ordinary respect. His book is the result of wide observation and careful study, and is pervaded from beginning to end with a wise, practical common sense which is of infinitely more value than the most brilliant speculations of the merely theoretical professor of what has not inaptly been called 'the dismal science.' It is one of those books, indeed, which deserves to be issued in a popular form, and to be read by all classes of society. Mr. Wylie writes with great force and lucidity, and in our opinion has here furnished the solution to some of the most important problems of the day. The Scottish Review. Rightly described as dealing with Political Economy in its ' prac- tical ' form, not as a mere theory on paper. He is a true friend of the working man and an optimist. Altogether it is the most satisfactory book, of the kind, that we have met with, The Oxford University Herald. No more opportune time than the present could have been chosen for the publication of this book, and we trust the good, solid advice it contains will not be without its effect in agitating the thinking faculties of those social economists who are much too ready to favour the fantastic theories which seem to have acted on the masses like a beautiful optical illusion. He commences his task with one clear and definite purpose before him, and, with all the force of which he is master, endeavours to plant it firmly and securely in the minds of his readers. His one thought which this book is written to lay down, amplify, and prove, is that any improvement in the condition of the working classes rests principally with themselves, and is mainly dependent upon their advancement in intelligence and morality.' Never has the moral aspect of this great social problem been so strongly and effectively discussed before. To our mind the chapter on ' Luxury ' is the most interesting of the whole work. The subject is presented in a novel light, and it is so severely practical that it demands careful perusal and deep reflection. Having gone carefully and connectedly through the details of his subject, the reader feels that he has traversed an unbroken chain of evidence leading him to an irresistible conclusion that there should ' be a more extended possession of property,' and that the first duty of the working man should be the acquisition of property. The Dumfries and Galloway Courier and Herald. The keynote of Mr. Wy lie's advice to the industrial classes is, 'help yourselves.' . Mr. Henry George has recently been advocating legislation which would give a different meaning to this same piece of advice. a2 IV OPINIONS OF THE PRESS lie would have the labourers ' help themselves ' to the property of their neighbours. Mr. Wylie, however, shows up the fallacy of the communistic panacea, whereby the vicious and intemperate would be enabled to squander at the expense of the thrifty and industrious. He advocates self-help as the chief means of amelioration. If for no other reason, Mr. Wylie's pages would be valuable as counteracting the pretensions of those who profess to abolish the in- equality of property, and all its attendant evils, by a single, simple legis- lative enactment, who vainly imagine that they can change human nature by Act of Parliament. Mr. Wylie deserves our thanks for this opportune contribution to the practical political economy of the day. The Literary World. Brings prominently before the readers, not only the average income of the working classes, but the way in which it is spent. This volume should be in the bands of every employer of labour and of every man who reflects a little on the sad position of many of his neighbours, especially at the present time of difficulty in finding occupation. Mr. George proposes to give the land of England to the people ; we show the people a way of keeping the rent of land in their pockets instead of pouring it down their throats. British Trade Journal. Many well-meaning people start trying to improve the position of the working classes without having the slightest idea of the causes which bring about distress or the means which exist for elevating their social condition. Mr. Wylie's collection of lectures on ' Labour, Leisure, Luxury ' will form a good handbook for such beginners. If Mr. Wylie's book teaches a few people that statistics are not only useful but also interesting reading, he will have done good work. The Charity Organisation Review. Full of good advice to workmen and employers. The Graphic. There is some good-sense in Mr. Wylie's * Contributions to Present Practical Political Economy,' and various statistical facts are presented in a forcible way, and with judicious comment. The Spectator. The teaching is sound and thorough, and is set forth with clearness and precision. The author speaks out with characteristic Scotch plainness. Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper. It is evident that he has carefully studied the present condition of our artisans, as well as the varied panaceas which have been put forth by leaders of their own class, and by others also. OPINIONS OF THE PKESS V Mr. Wylie looks at things from his own point of view. Good sense and moderation prevail throughout. Mr. Wylie, while in favour of many political reforms, would respect the rights of all classes. The Nonconformist. Intelligent men might do far worse than follow the advice of Mr. Wylie. The Inquirer. The appearance of this valuable book is certainly opportune. It will meet with cordial assent to almost every proposition it contains. We ask our readers earnestly to get hold of this volume for them- selves. The paper is invaluable. The Social Reformer. We believe the book to be an honest and not unsuccessful attempt to deal with certain social questions in such a way as to be at once instructive and profitable to the working classes to whom these pages are primarily addressed. The book itself seems to us to be in two ways a sign of the times. First, that a large employer of labour, such as Mr. Wylie apparently is, should care to address his workpeople and neighbours on such topics as those treated in this book, is itself a hopeful sign ; and next, the way in which, and point of view from which, the topics are handled, are also characteristic. One main purpose of the writer is to point out how questions of political economy in every direction run up into, and are conditioned by, questions of morality, and that it is impossible satisfactorily to treat the former, while leaving the latter out of sight. This is a point of view with which, in the main, we most cordially concur. The chapter on ' Luxury,' the third of these essays, seems to us the most original and the most important chapter in the book. Almost anyone might read it with entertainment and advantage. An American economist has lately expressed a wish that there might arise a new Adam Smith to write for our benefit a treatise on the Economics of Consumption.' Mr. Wylie has furnished us with at least one serviceable chapter in this direction. He has the root of the matter in him, and will prove in many ways a safer guide than some more pretentious Apostles. The Guardian. As resident partner in the great dyeing and printing works situate in the busy village of Kenton, near Dumbarton, where Tobias Smollett first saw the light, and having in his employment a large percentage of the 5,000 operatives who form its inhabitants, he has had exceptional yi OPINIONS OF THE PEESS opportunities for studying their industrial and domestic life. The London Daily Telegraph. It is refreshing to come upon the remarks and opinions of a man who has a practical knowledge of the subject, and who never in all the cures he suggests loses sight of the fact that he is dealing, not with a machine that will act in strict conformity with mathematical rules, but with human nature and all its countless complications, uncertainties, and possibilities. On another important point Mr. Wylie speaks with no uncertain sound, and that is the individual responsibility of: each human creature for the making or the marring of his own well-being. Mr. Wylie treats of labour, leisure, luxury, progress, and the acquisi- tion of property by the working classes, and on all these heads he says wise and kindly things, and gives advice that deserves consideration because it comes from one who knows what he is talking about. The Glasgow Herald. Some masters are content to look upon their employes as so many ' machines ' from which a certain amount of work is expected, but Mr. Wylie sees in them human beings endowed with passions like himself, whom force of circumstances has made hewers of wood and drawers of water. He knows that the water must be drawn and the wood hewn, but he is determined that the yoke shall be as light and easy as possible, and that some sweetness and comfort shall be infused into the life of the labourer. This is Mr. Wylie's creed, and in endeavouring to carry it into prac- tice he has just published a treatise on 'Labour, Leisure, and Luxury,' a contribution to present practical political economy, worthy the closest attention of all sections of the community. Such are the truths that Mr. Wylie has been seeking to inculcate among his own people for the last few years, and now that he appeals to a wider field we can only wish him ' God speed ' in the good work. The North British Daily Mail. Mr. Wylie writes with a complete knowledge of his subject. He has no interest in making ' points,' indeed, he is too much in earnest to care about ' points.' All he says is said out of a full and anxious heart. He has been brought into continual contact with a considerable section of the working and manufacturing classes of Scotland, and it is no more than justice to say that he has been induced to make a dili- gent study of their position and prospects from motives of genuine philanthropy. OPINIONS OF THE PKESS Vll We cannot believe that any intelligent working man will read Mr. "VVylie's thoughtful pages without being forced to the conclusion that lie is addressed in no selfish class-spirit, but that the writer has his best and truest well-being at heart. Mr. Wylie is entirely practical. He is not a dreamer of dreams like Mr. William Morris, or a social revolutionist like Mr. Henry George. With both of these visionaries he thinks that there is a noble future for the artisan and wage-earning classes of this Kingdom. But he has no confidence in any millennium to be brought about, like the trans- formation-scene in a pantomime, by the wave of an enchanter's wand. Amid the many wild and impracticable theories floating about, and never more audacious and menacing than at this particular juncture, it is refreshing to meet with a volume so replete with tranquil encourage- ment and wise and temperate counsel, set forth in kindly and eloquent words, and suffused with a spirit calculated to disarm jealousy and enmity. Mr. Wylie is a capitalist and an employer of labour, but he has likewise shown himself to be, on disinterested grounds, a friend to the working man. Tlie Glasgow Evening Citizen. It is always pleasant to find in the employer of labour a teacher of that wisdom which seeks to inspire the army of workers- -first, to efforts of self-conquest, and then to the achievement of those economic victories which are the result of intelligent, patient, and honest in- dustry, thrift, and temperance, from which spring the flower and fruitage of social virtue. The book is not the production of the mere literary essayist, setting forth the results of his explorations through the well-packed shelves of his library. Mr. Wylie is a practical man. The Glasgow Weekly Herald. The racy and popular form in which he has cast the earlier parts of this work render the rather deep subject of political economy highly interesting to the general reader. The Glasgow News. It is refreshing to receive so much common-sense as is embodied in this treatise, after the vast amount of Georgian vapouring recently presented on every hand. The Glasgow Evening News. A series of lectures and articles originally produced at different times, but carefully revised and brought up to the present date so far AS their statistics are concerned. , Mr, Wy lie's economic principles are sound, and the advice he gives to working men is good and practical. The Scotsman, Edinburgh. Vlll OPINIONS OF THE PEESS This is a really important contribution to political economy. Working men can be strongly recommended to go and study it. They cannot have better advisers than Mr. Wylie. The Edinburgh Courant. The sooner the working classes learn that legislative socialism has no scientific support, and that the new gospel is contradicted alike by the laws of expediency and justice, the brighter will be the prospects of democracy. As a protest against the new creed that men should be provided for according to their needs rather than their deserts, nothing could be more timely than the publication of a book entitled ' Labour, Leisure, and Luxury,' by Mr. Wylie, who has done good service as an economist. It is indeed a valuable contribution to economic science. Its fundamental merit consists in bringing men's thoughts back to the old-fashioned doctrine, the soundness of which is admitted by the deepest sociological teaching of to-day, that national evil has its root in individual evil, and that the former can only be reached through the latter. The Edinburgh Evening News. The statistics they contain being brought up to 1884. The author urges with much force and propriety the more scientific application of 'labour,' dwells with emphasis on the use and abuse of ' leisure,' and, while cheerfully admitting the material progress of the working classes during the last forty years, protests against the ' luxury ' and the enormous loss thereby sustained through excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquor. He has a 'particularly interesting chapter on 'The Acquisition of Property by Working Men.' The economic principles advocated throughout the volume are sound in every respect. We cordially commend this book as essentially one for the present era of social reform. The Liverpool Mercury. The author is the resident partner of one of the largest and best- known Turkey-red dyeing and printing firms in Scotland a firm, by-the bye, which has been previously represented in literature. Mr. Wylie has, however, followed one train of thought throughout the series. He is one of those who believe that over-production ' should be converted into increased leisure and increased luxury for the producers. To say this is to say that he earnestly desires to see wealth and poverty approximate ; he does not believe that political economy hafe said its last word if it leaves us with the few very rich and the many abjectly poor. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ix This experience has led him to the conclusion that, although legis- lative enactment and outside philanthropic effort may do much, the improvement of the economic condition of the working classes rests principally with themselves, and is mainly dependent upon their advancement in intelligence and, above all, morality. It is worth while to point out that this is really the lesson which the English Trade Union delegates to the Labour Conference in Paris urged upon their revolutionary Continental brethren. We hope Mr. Wylie's book will be widely read by capitalists, and still more widely by the working classes. It is a good antidote to the rash utterances of a number of people who are just now doing some mischief by talking nonsense. The Man- Chester Guardian. The book is well worth reading by all who are interested in social reform. The Sheffield and liotherham Independent. He is evidently in earnest. The work will be found of real value to the student of political economy. On the whole, Mr. Wylie's book may be regarded as a valuable con- tribution to modern Sociology. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The author is resident partner in a well-known firm one of the largest employers of labour in Dumbartonshire and has always taken :a deep interest in the industrial and domestic life of the families under his charge. And he is no theorist. He has no quack nostrums to propound no simple and sovereign panacea for poverty and crime. He is thoroughly acquainted with his subject, and pre-eminently practical. To improve, to elevate the economic conditions of the working classes is his great aim. But it is by themselves mainly that this amelioration is to be effected by the old-fashioned agencies of thrift and sobriety and self- denial and not at once, by leaps and bounds, but gradually and by slow degrees. It is a ' wholesome ' and seasonable work. Well for the workman who makes it his manual of economics, and we heartily wish it a large circulation. Tlie Dumbarton Herald. His book is the best antidote to the pernicious communistic theories which are so much in vogue in the present day. We trust that it will foe widely read and studied by working men. Stirling Journal and Advertiser. We thoroughly recommend this little volume to the working man, The Perthshire Advertiser. X OPINIONS OF THE PEESS The working classes, especially, would benefit from a perusal of his thoughtful papers. The work is one which we can commend to the- notice, not only of the working people, but also of those who are- striving to help them to help themselves. The Derby Mercury. Fine, thoughtful, well-informed, instructive, and suggestive essays. His counsels, warnings, appeals, are well founded, and have a force,. a directness of aim, a weight, which at once strike the thoughtful reader. Mr. Wylie is the real friend of the working classes, though he does show that the amelioration of their position is mainly in their own hands. Self-reform he shows to be at the basis of all true reform, and without this, Acts of Parliament will do, and can do little for us.. This volume is as wise as it is comprehensive, and as solid as it is- entertaining. No political club ought to be without it, for it discusses in a calm,, temperate, and honest spirit some of the most pressing and most important questions in practical political economy. Working men will find the volume one of the most helpful that they have ever read. The Oldham Chronicle. Persons who desire to obtain an elementary knowledge of the re- sults of labour and industry may study with advantage the three L's as here discussed, which are to workmen what the three E's are to- scholars. The Inverness Courier. In its present form, we are afraid, this inestimable book will not find its way into the hands of the class Mr. Wylie is desirous of benefiting. A cheaper edition is what some philanthropic individual should' scatter over the country. Is on a par with Smiles's * Thrift,' and we trust * Labour, Leisure, and Luxury ' will have as large a sale as that work. No mechanics' institute or reading-room should be without Miv Wylie's book. Oban Times. Quite up to the level of the most recent thought and information. We can speak very highly of the real worth and permanent value of the- book. Talking patiently as if to an audience, and backing up every state- ment, when necessary, with statistics, the author really manages to im- part a mass of most earnest thought and profitable counsel to his- hearers. The Ayr Observer and Galloway Courier. We can cordially recommend Mr. Wylie's volume to the notice of working men, as it is a substantial contribution to practical political OPINIONS OF THE PRESS xi economy, a true understanding of which is so much needed at the- present time. The Dundee Courier and Argus. An exceedingly able and suggestive work. Certainly no social reformer, or person who desires to understand the failings and needs of the working classes, should fail carefully to study this valuable contribution to modern sociology. Lincoln, Boston, and Sp aiding Free Press. Mr. Wylie is obviously gifted with literary talent very far beyond the average, combined with a power of observation and a faculty of logic which result in the production of matter at once polished and convincing. The Nottingham Daily Guardian. ' He does not seek ' to dive deeply into the past nor far into the future, but to define as exactly as possible the political economy of the present, to measure as nearly as need be the elevation to which our working classes have already attained, as compared with their immediate past, and to point out to themselves, and all interested in their welfare, their next steps still further upwards. This volume may be said to be a full armoury of thoughts and facts for the writer and the lecturer. The Warrington Guardian. The book is interesting, instructive, and valuable. We can do no more than heartily commend the volume to our readers, especially those of the working classes. TJie Leicester Chronicle and Leicestershire Mercury. It is a work with the tenets of which we entirely agree. No Government can do for the people what they can do for them- selves. The task of self -reform is well within the reach of all, and Mr. Wylie, following in the steps of William Cobbett and Samuel Smiles, points out how it may be done. We hope the book will have a large circulation. The Mining World and Engineering Record. The questions indicated in the title are treated of in an interesting style, very different from the ordinary run of works on this subject, and a working man desirous of acquainting himself with the principles of political economy could not obtain a better book for the purpose than the one before us. The Bradford Daily Telegraph. A healthy remedy for the false and dangerous teaching that the ad- vancement of the working classes in the social scale is to be effected by legislation, or at least by operations conducted from without. A sound adviser and safe guide to the class which he addresses. The book is well worth perusal, and if its advice were taken and its. xii OPINIONS OF THE PRESS principles adopted by the working classes, the millennium would approach within measurable distance of at least that class of society. The Colliery Guardian. A welcome contribution to present practical political economy, and ought to be widely circulated amongst, and studied by, the classes for whose enlightenment it was written. The Bristol Mercury and Dally Post. An earnest tone underlies the whole, and the writer speaks with the authority of one who has studied his subject thoroughly, and who has besides dealt practically with the problems of labour and wealth. The Aberdeen Daily Free Press. His contributions to political economy have been well received, and we heartily recommend the present, volume. It is full of sound practical common sense, and is worthy of the most careful perusal. The arguments are irresistible, the facts and figures being conclusive, and in this noble work we wish him every success. The Helenslmrgh and Gareloch Times. It is permissible to hope that he may live to see ripening under his eyes the golden harvest of his teaching. The Glasgow Evening Times. Those who have no sympathy with the pernicious doctrines of So- cialism and Communism, will welcome this contribution to present practical political economy. The writer is practical, and if his suggestions were adopted, they would conduce to the well-being of the whole community. The Halifax ^Guardian. LABOUB, LEISURE AND LUXUBY A CONTRIBUTION TO PRESENT PRACTICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY BY ALEX. WYLIE of Glasgow ' My heart rejoiced ia all my Labour ; and this was my portion of all my Labour 'Eccles. 'And add to these retired Leisure, That in trim gardens takes his pleasure' MILTON 'Luxury is indeed possible in the future innocent and exqui- site Luxury for all, and by the help of all' RUSKIX NEW EDITION LONDON LONGMANS, GKEEN, AND CO. 1887 All rights reserved PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND COi, NEW-STREET SQUARK LONDON DEDICATED TO THE MEMOEY OF ONE BTEOVE TO IMPEOVE THE CONDITION OF THE WOEKING CLASSES AND MADE THE POOR HEE CAEE M860994 PEEFACE TO POPULAR EDITION. THE teaching of the most erroneous and subversive doctrines regarding property has been increasing and bearing fruit to an alarming extent. If the need was great for the dissemination of sound views regarding the various problems of our complicated political economy in 1884, when this treatise was first published, it is even more so now. A popular edition of ' Labour, Leisure, and Luxury ' was from the first contemplated, as the treatise was written prin- cipally for the benefit of the working classes. The author has all the more confidence and pleasure in putting such an edition into their hands seeing that this con- tribution to ' Present Practical Political Economy * has been -so universally approved and commended by the Metropolitan and Provincial Press, and the issue of a cheap edition to bring it within the scope of workmen's income has been so strongly urged. The, issue of this edition has been taken advantage of to bring all the statistics as nearly as possible up to date, and thus place in the hands of our operatives a concise compendium of information regarding all the important items of our present political economy, selected from sources beyond their means and with practical suggestions carefully deduced from them. As- it deals largely with the extraordinary social and eco- nomic, progress of the subjects of our gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria during the fifty years of her beneficent reign, it is the source of much congratulation to the Author that it is being issued in popular form in her Jubilee year, and of earnest hope that it may contribute in some small degree to still further in- crease, the loyalty, prosperity, and amicable relationships of all classe^ in her dominions. CORDALE, EENTON : February 1887. PREFACE. IT has never been sought more strongly than at present to impregnate the minds of our working classes with the idea that the improvement of their condition is to be effected by means apart from themselves. I have therefore deemed this a fit time to publish in one treatise several articles written at different times, the main purport of which is to show that, whatever aid may be derived from legislative enactment or outside philanthropic effort (and I admit that there may be much), the improvement of their economic condition rests principally with themselves, and is mainly dependent upon their advancement in intelligence and, above all, morality. No one would view with more satisfaction than myself the realisation of the sanguine theories of many social reformers who write of the glorious future of the working classes, but a long and practical acquaintance with the subject has more and more convinced me that their elevation, like everything else that is good and lasting, must be by slow degrees, and by the permeating influences of education and religion. Intelligence and morality shape the political economy of a people more than the material and physical conditions which surround them, and its form is ever varying. Our present political economy is very different from that of the Ashantees or Patagonians very different even from our own of fifty years ago. This treatise does not seek to dive deeply into the past nor soar far into the future, but to define as exactly as possible the political economy of the present, to measure as nearly as need be the elevation to which our working classes have already attained as compared with their immediate past, and to point out to themselves and all interested in their welfare their next steps still further upwards. Amongst them, I am happy to know, are thousands unsur- passed for intelligence and morals by any in the land, and PKEFACE vii capable of taking their place in industrial associations far ahead of their times, but they are * bound in the bundle of life* with immensely greater numbers who are now, and will be for many years to come, incapable of united action by themselves, and requiring the strong guidance of the capitalist, or, to use the good old-fashioned word, ' the master. 7 It is all very well to theorise and plan about things as they should be, but we must first recognise existing conditions, and then strive to better them in the full light of this knowledge. This contribution to the political economy of the day the result, as I have said, of an intimate practical acquaintance with the subject will, I hope, help in some small degree to dispel those communistic ideas, so prevalent in neighbouring countries, from the minds of our working classes, and incite them and their friends to renewed efforts for a better national life in no revolutionary or theoretical, but in a thoroughly conservative and practical spirit. The chapter on * Labour ' appeared in ' Meliora, a quarterly review of social science, a good many years ago, and formed a small contribution to the public opinion which has found ex- pression in the extension of factory legislation and the early closing movements ; that on ' Luxury ' in * Fraser's Magazine ' for October 1872. The chapter on ' Leisure ' was delivered as a lecture at the inauguration of the Renton Literary Society in 1881 ; that on * Progress ' at the inauguration of the Renton Mechanics' Insti- tution in 1882 ; and that ' On the Acquisition of Property by the Working Classes ' as a lecture in the ordinary course of said Institute in 1883. Renton, of classical memory, as the birthplace of Tobias Smollett, is a village of about 5,000 inhabitants, some of whom find employment in the ship-building yards of the neighbour- ing town of Dumbarton, but the great majority in the Turkey- red dyeing and printing works belonging to the firm of which the writer is the resident partner, who has thus had special facilities, greater than in a larger and more widely scattered community, for studying intimately the industrial and domestic life of a mixed manufacturing population, about two-fifths of whom are Irish. The treatise is specially concerning the manufacturing classes, who now form the great majority of our workers, but the general principles enunciated are applicable to all. CONTENTS. CHAPTEK PAGE I. LABOUR . . .1 II. LEISURE 1 III. LUXURY . .35 IV. PROGRESS 73 V. ON THE ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY BY THE WORKING CLASSES 87 CONCLUSION . . . . * 108 APPENDICES . . 113 CHAPTER I. LABOUR. ' ALL things are full of labour ; man cannot utter it : the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor "the ear filled with hearing.' l Worlds wheel around worlds in endless course. The earth, a globular atom in the circling universe, rolls on, content not to be merely coalescing with the common mass, but maintaining its individuality by energetic rotation, and bearing on and within it multitudinous forms of action its inorganic forma- tions, with their inexpressibly gradual upheaval or subsidence ; its organic forms rising and decaying with unvaried constancy ; its atmosphere bearing to the appointed place the rain torrent ; its rivers rushing to their goals ; its mighty ocean resisting not the unseen influences, the tidal flow and ebb, currents and counter- currents, evidencing its subjection to the great and universal law \ the myriads of its animated forms moving rest- lessly over its surface, and presenting scenes of unceasing activity ; and the din of human toil, mingling with all nature's various sounds, with the roar of the cataract, the torrent's rush, the murmuring of many streams, the voices of breeze and storm over all lands, the dash of waters on every coast, the deep music of the lone ocean, and the varied sounds of bird and beast in the wilderness and the solitary place, as- cends, a low and never-ceasing hum, to the arch of heaven continually. ' Thou shalt labour ' is the law of man's life. Ceaselessly, resistlessly, like the great power which works out the stupen- dous circle of all inanimate labour, operates the mighty prin- ciple of human impulsion. Inexorable, it acts through life, and will act throughout eternity. In spite of himself man must labour ; if he would he cannot rest. Like a planet, he has been launched into existence, possessing a power which he himself cannot annihilate ; which, if regulated aright, will 1 Eccles. i. 8. 2 LABOUR make him part of the grand, harmonious, concentric system ; if not, will hurry him off at an abrupt tangent till he dash himself to destruction. Like the power of gravitation, draw- ing down the swollen volume of a great river's waters, or impelling the majestic march of the ocean's tides, this force may for a time be partially resisted ; but, ever gathering larger weight, it either tosses all obstruction out of its natural course, or, sweeping away its impotent object in another direc- tion, involves all in dire ruin, in confusion worse confounded. A mighty and wonderful agent in the hands of the Great Worker has been this principle of human energy, acting in the hundreds of generations which have passed as shadows over earth's surface. Although in the great arena of universal labour it has lifted, as it were, but a grain of sand in helping to work out one of the stupendous plans of the Omnipotent, yet in the sphere of this world's work it has done much. It has become one of the most potent and active of earthly agencies. The last to be introduced, at first isolated and insignificant, it has increased with the increase of the human race, and now forms the complement of the forces carrying out the great cosmical operations ; and, dominating and con- trolling many of the others, it has now assumed its rightful position as chief. By its agency, in part, the glorious ameliora- tion of the material, which shall accompany the advancement of the spiritual, world in ' the latter days ' is fast progressing. But the good God, who has appointed to everything, ani- mate and inanimate, its full share of labour, surely intended that in the performance of it all His living, and especially His intelligent creatures, should find their enjoyment. Labour has this ' profit,' and a valuable one it is, in itself. In almost all countries, under almost all climates, we find men thoroughly appreciating it for this, its first, reward ; with enough of satis- faction in working for their * mere good pleasure ' to induce to active, continued exertion. It would have been as easy for the ' All Giver ' to have provided for us all necessaries, comforts, and luxuries directly, as indirectly, through the instrumentality of our own labours, and to have removed from us all instant compulsion to exer- tion by advancing the operations of nature a single step farther. To fallen man this would have been a curse more bitter than that by the sweat of his brow he must earn his bread. God has wisely given those things as the reward of, and inducement to, that which is itself necessary ; has wisely given LABOUR 3 the objects and furnished the immediate necessity for the exercise of our physical and mental powers. Only a very slight further modification of our surroundings would have been sufficient to have annihilated the many inexorable physical necessities which now summon us to a life of labour but in- asmuch as the whole material world has been left just in such a nicely-balanced condition as to demand for its utilisation the healthy exercise, and no more, of all our faculties, it is evident that in the Creator's design the grand object of all labour is the improvement of the labourer. By its own labour everything tends to the perfection of its kind. Besides the simple pleasure in work, for which alone it is often undertaken, and the material value which productive labour creates, our facul- ties are silently but surely taking to themselves from every action which they perform aright that which is superior to both. When work is finished, when its tangible produce is consumed, and the evanescent joy in the performance of it has vanished, more lasting results still remain with the labourer more power and superior skill (which is aptitude for perform- ing again the same work more easily and successfully) remain with the members of the body which have been exercised ; keener intellect from the exercise of the mental faculties ; superior morality with the striving soul. Labour, under what- ever name known, is the only means of human improvement. Idleness or sloth, the attempt and it can be no more than an attempt to evade the universal law of labour, is only a short pause, during which all that is good in humanity is rot- ting, and evil powers are germinating which will soon spring up and urge to fearful activity ; just as the same water which, when flowing along in its river course, an emblem of the beau- tiful and joyously free, cherishes the noble vegetation of trees and flowers, confers upon its country health and wealth, and bears the gallant ships that pass thereby ; when stagnating in the level marsh seems at first quiescent, then fosters every dank and putrid thing, and spreads unwholesome malarious vapours over earth's surface. Sloth is a part of that sinister bent which pervades the whole character of fallen man, and impels him to act contrary to the laws of his nature. We must admire the goodness which did not leave it at our own option, but forced upon us by the stern compulsion of physical wants to act in accordance with this great law of our being, to comply naturally and easily with the inexorable neces- sity, to taste the pleasure which the exercise of our faculties 4 LABOUR confers, to apply this only means for our improvement ; and our working classes, who are so immediately and peremptorily under this compulsion, should ponder well the advantages which it secures to them. All that has been said of the benefits of labour refers to it when temperate and well directed. If there is decreed unto us the inexorable law of labour, most ample provision has been made by our Creator, the whole economy of nature has been adapted to secure to us seasonable rest. Compound man, pos- sessed of many faculties, each and all ready for use, requiring for the formation of the complete man that they shall be used, is not exhausted with the exhaustion of any one of his divers powers, but is prepared, and even disposed, to exercise the others, and is thus beneficently furnished with recreation the pleasant, grateful rest of his tired, but not over-fatigued, with the active, delightful employment of his fresh faculties. To it we hope all work shall become more and more assimilated. The wise man tells us that ' There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour/ 1 ' Happiness is health.' And not on the workman only, but likewise on his work, does his de- light in it act beneficially. It may be laid down as a rule that the highest excellence in any work, whether mental or physical, can only be attained by aid of the workman's plea- sure in it. Of mind and body, the best and strongest, most vigorous and graceful, efforts are put forth, not under the pressure of overwhelming and harassing tasks, but as the spontaneous, exultant efforts of a system attuned by the ease of nerve and muscle springy and elastic with the latent power, eager for use, stored up in them by rest ; of a system per- meated with the feeling of joy, or at least calm satisfaction, in exerting itself. But intemperate labour destroys all the delight which a man should find in his work ; instead of improving the faculties exercised by it, it grinds them down, impairs, and prematurely destroys them ; instead of giving health and strength, and making bone and sinew active and skilful, instead of develop- ing the mental powers, instead of quickening and exalting the virtues and graces of the soul, it strongly helps to make the body stunted, diseased, and deformed to superinduce a sleep- less, raving insanity, or, by softening and enfeebling the brain, 1 Eccles. ii. 24. LABOUR 5 imbecility and idiocy. It deadens and corrupts the soul. God only knows how much of refinement and love, how much of all that most truly ennobles man, has been, ' as with an iron nerve, put down ; ' how much of wit and knowledge and in- genuity and genius annihilated, or altogether subverted ; how much of athletic vigour and superb gracefulness changed into feeble deformity by over-exertion ; how much of comfort and happiness swept as by an avenging angel from the lot of poor humanity ; how many of those good things for which itself was undertaken wasted and lost ; how many persons hurried to premature graves ; how many more obliged to toil on through their dreary lives without a glimpse of that joy which awaited only the bidding of relaxation to rush in like a flood ; how many, endowed with splendid mental powers, have found their light of reason overclouded or wasted down into drivel- ling idiocy ; how many poor toiling wretches have had all their virtue and all their hope crushed out by this, in many cases self-imposed, evil. We are often told it is one of the practices of our day to write and lecture of men whose ambi- tious souls fix upon some great aim, impossible of realisation to ordinary wills dazzling, glorious the attainment of which, ever before their mind's eye, becomes the one object of their lives ; adamantine resolve to succeed, the spring of all their action. We are told that by years of toil, toil from which common mortals would shrink, toil hard, unrelaxing, despotic, they do succeed ; but it is seldom revealed to us, it seldom can be revealed, at what heavy, heavy cost the prize has, in many instances, been purchased. The unthinking multitude, who see the outward halo of triumph around the heroes' heads, clap hands, and shout, ' Well done ! well done ! ' The ambitious, toiling far down on that same ladder which has led up to fame and fortune, look up and see them exalted, as they think, near the heavens, among the gods. They take example and encouragement, and seek to imitate by fierce effort. Many who take upon themselves to show to youth the way of ' suc- cess in life ' point up to where they sit, their labour done, and bid their pupils emulate. The successful themselves often think that they have triumphed gloriously. But if some divine power would raise up in their minds' chamber of ima- gery the glowing picture of what their lives would have been if moulded by the influence of temperate, though earnest, labour, contrasting it side by side, step by step, character produced by character produced, with what their lives have 6 LABOUR been, the steel-nerved men would weep at the contrast, and execrate the poor, worthless shadow of which they have pos- sessed themselves. And if the multitude who cite them as examples, and the fewer who make of them their pattern, could see how many sink to rise no more in their intemperate efforts ; how many toil on without success, their too great eagerness marring the very ends at which it aims ; how many subvert what would otherwise have been noble lives public opinion and practice would be greatly modified. ' Our Creator/ says Dr. Southwood Smith, ' has given us a frame capable of a certain degree of labour capable of putting forth a certain degree of energy and no more. If we disregard the limits which He has put to our capability of exertion, that beautiful and delicate mechanism, upon the action of which our life depends, must be deranged must break.' Dr. James Copland states : 'There is nothing which can be more injurious, both mentally and physically, to the middle and lower classes of society than prolonged labour. I believe that three-fourths of the disease to which human life is liable in the metropolis actually arises from this cause.' R. D. Grainger, Esq., gives the following testimony : { I would say, without fear of con- tradiction from any quarter worthy of attention, I would pledge all I know of the constitution of the human frame to the assertion, that protracted labour is nothing else than another term for sickness, suffering, and death. There is no exception to this rule.' And mark that overwork tells upon the growing child, whose bone is but gristle, in a tenfold degree. In many employments not under Government super- vision the overwork of British children is still an evil to be strongly deplored. The overwork of children in school is just now occupying a great deal of attention in England, 1 though I am not aware that there is much complaint in Scotland. But the proper temperate exercise of the faculties during the period of child- hood is a matter of supreme importance for the whole of their after life, and the physiology of each individual child should be carefully studied, so that no harassing tasks, either physical or mental, should be imposed upon him. Dr. Lankester, of London, says : ' I find that there is in this metropolis a sacrifice of a thousand lives annually through the practice of keeping shops open for a greater number of hours than the 1 See Note 1 in Appendix to ' Labour.' LABOUE 7 human constitution can bear. But this is not all. Where a thousand persons die annually from this cause, there are at least eight thousand whose health suffers from it.' In this, as in many other forms of employment throughout the country, the more delicate and sensitive strength of the woman is largely overtaxed. 1 A great many of our tradesmen and other male labourers, such as bakers, tailors, shoemakers, 'bus drivers,