HC 105.7 C6 LIBRARY "^ I UNIVERSl-K OP CALIFORNIA SAN DIE»0 THE C0MPLAIN1L0E ,|,4]^Q^ ^ CR '-.,<.,cH6ilY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DfEGU LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA THE FORCES OF NATURE AS AFFECTING SOCIETY. AllGUMENT BEFOIMO Till': CONURESSIONAL COMxMITTEE, A. S. HEWITT, Chairman, CHARLES CAPiLETON COFFIN, January 16, 1879. (FRO M T H K C' O M: ]\^ I T r E E ' S REPORT.) WASHINGTOIS': aOVERNMENT PRINTINa OFFICE. 1879. /^ I ^ c t VIEWS OF MR. CHARLES C. COFFIN, OF BOSTON. Washington, D. C, January Ifi, 1879. Mr. Charles C. CofMn, of Bo.stoi), Ma-ss., appeared before the committee, and, in reply to prelimiuary (juestious by the chairman, stated that he was an American citizen ; that he had been connected with the pre.ss for a good many years ; that as a matter of bnsiness he had been making a study of the labor question, and was pre- pared to give the committee some results which he had arrived at. He said that he had no speculations or theories to otter. The committee was asked to legislate in behalf of labor. Labor-leagues, trades-unions, socialistic agitators, and political speakers asserted, first, that labor alone creates wealth, and, secoiul, that capital is antagonistic to labor. Last Sunday he had been in a church in Washington, and the minister, in the course of his sermon, gave utterance to the sentiment, "Labor and Capital stand glaring at each other ready for a spring," Other sentiments were that labor was op- pressed ; that machinery throws men out of employment ; that the rich are growing richer and the poor poorer ; and that the condition of labor to-day is worse than in the past. Mr. Coffin proceeded as follows : In considering these points I propose to go from cause to effect, in order to ascertain how much ground there may be for these assertions. I shall endeavor to show the so- cial condition of society, past and present ; the earnings and havings of labor and capital, past and present ; what labor and capital together have accomplished ; and some of the causes that have produced the present discontent, and will make some sug- gestions in regard to the future of labor. These complaints are not new. One hundred and ninety-nine years ago John Basset made a speech in Parliament complaining that the English manufacturer could not compete with the Hindoo weaver, who was content with a small copper coin per day, whereas the English weaver demanded from sixpence to a shilling a day. One hun- dred and ninety-three years ago the justices of Warwickshire, England, fixed the prices of agricultural labor, making wages from March to September four shillings per week, and from September to March three shillings and sixpence per week, without board. One hundred and seventy-two years ago Gregory King, in a book entitled "Natural and Political Conclusions," states that there were 880,000 families in the kingdom ; that half of them were able to eat meat twice a week (including the gentry and aristoc- racy), and that the other half ate it but a few times during the year. He also stated that the population of the kingdom was 5,.500,000, and that the wheat raised was^less than 500,000 bushels. This would give but a pint and a half of flour in the year to every man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom; that their living consisted of rye, barley, oats, and pease. Bear in mind that at that time Boston, Albany, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston were considerable towns. Since 18i{0, within half a centnry, there has been the coming in of a new civilization. I propose to take a glance at the conditions of life and society as they were in my boy- hood, in the year 18iW, which I can remember distinctly, in contrast with those of the present time, in order to see whether these demands of labor to- day are reasonable or nnreasonable. The stage-coach then made 75 miles a day. To-day you are whirled 40 miles an hour, and across the continent in a week. The mail then went 75 miles a day. Now you talk with your friend in Chicago and hear the tones of his voice through the tele- ])hone. The broker in Wall street, the pork-packer in Chicago, the cotton-broker in New Orleans manage their business by hourly reports from every commercial center in the world. In those days the country houses as a rule were unclapboarded, unpainted, unplastered, with a yawning chasm in the chimney for a fire-place, and it was a com- mon remark that in winter jteople froze one side while they roasted the other. To-day a majority of country houses are clapboarded, painted, blinded, are neat and comfortable. In the country they have the base-burning stove, and in the city the furnace and steam-heater. The furniture of those days consisted of some common chairs and a lnil.stead made liy a uoiiiiiioii carpfiitcr. Carpt-ts tliere were none. The table ^^aiiiitme coiiHisted of pewter plates and iron hjioous, knives, and forks. The kitchen ware consisted of a iJnfch oven, a frying-pan, a skillet, and a dinner-pot. To-day there is no end of honseliold furniture. In those days the indnstries were car- ried on in the liousehold. There was no industry for females except that of the spiu- ninji-wheel and the hioin. I had tlie curiosity to ascertain Just what a spinner coiiUl do in a day, and I sent np t(» New Hampshire to a sister of mine who used to Ije an ex- pert sjiinner, knowiiij^ that she had a si>innin}i-wheel and some rolls, and I had the exact measurement of the distance which she walked in spinniiifj with a larj^e wheel. A day's work of ten hours would enable her to sjtin 15. 8 miles of thread, and she would walk nearly •") miles in doing it. Now. in one of our manufactories you will see a girl of fifteen minding a machine that spins "2,100 miles of thread in a day — a thread that would reach from Washington to California. In those days the woman who com- menct; the scythe. The Oir.\ii;.MA\. In rej^ard to the i)nrchasinir power of the $10 and the $18; which woukl be able to l)ny the most su[»plies, tlie $10 then or the sir* now ? Mr. Coi'KiN'. 1 will show you that before I get throngh. Now, did the introduction of machinery throw men out of employment? Let us see what was called for to build manufactories, and who were set to work. .First came the inventor, then the eapitalist, who empU)yed brick-makers, stone-quarriers, masons, liod-carriers, wood choppers, lum- bermen, blacksmiths, millwrights, carpenters, joiners, miners, puddlers, coal-heavers, machinists, brass-founders, coopers, tool-makers, the whole fraternity of trades, to buihl the manufactory. Tlien when the manufactory was erected, the operatives were called from the country. Girls in my fathers kitchen who had been receiving 50 cents a week went to the manufactory and there received from $2 to $:? a week. Men were called to be overseers, superintendi^nts, architects, clerks, accountants, machinists, inventors, experimenters, chemists, and dyers. What were they doing before they wc^re thus called forth by capital ? They were on farms, they were in coopers' shops, blacksmiths' shops, carpenters' shops ; they were behind counters, they were doing ordinary work, but they were competent to do something higher and better, and to receive higher pay. Thus we see first, invention ; second, capital setting labor at work; third, labor receiving higher wages and advancing to a higher plane of life ; and fourth, skill commanding a premium. From 1820 to 1830 may be taken as the beginning of uianufactnres. In 1870 the factory system had develojied so that by the census it appears that there were employed in all the manufacturing industries of the country ^jO.^^,!)!):? persons; the capital invested was $'2,118,'208,ono, and the wages paid per annum amounted to $775,587,000. The wages of all farm laborers in this country, by the census of 1870, aggregated $310,286,000 — less than half the amount of wages paid to laborers in the other gainful occupations. The increase in manufactured products has been altogether dispropor- tionate to the growth of jwpulation. From 1850 to 1870 the population increased 65 percent., while manufacturing increased 322 per cent. It is ynoper to say that a part of this increase may have been due to an increase of values, and it is fair to say that manufacturing increased three times faster than population. The Chairman. I do not know how to arrive at that. Of course, values fluctuated very much from year to year. Take the iron business, for instance, and it is well known that there has been a reduction year by year, and so with many other branches of business. Mr. CoFi IN. I make the suggestion on the authority of the notes to the last census. I think there has been so much cheapening in the cost of manufacture as to make the rise in product much less than is generally supposed between 1860 and 1870. The Chairman. I should be very doubtful about it, because you simply take the year 1870 ; that year was before very high prices. I should think it was an average year. Mr. Coffin. Perhaps I am wrong in my statement. The Chairman. I doubt whether it is necessary that you should make any rpialifi- cation of that kind. Mr. Coffin. In 1832 there were 1,200,000 cotton spindles in this country ; in 1845 there were 2,500,000; in 1875, 9,-500,000; and in 187H there were 11,000,000. In Great Britain there were, in 1832, 9,000,000 ; in 1845, 17,500,000 ; in 1875, 37,-500,000. In Eu- rope, outside of Great Britain, there were, in 1832,2,800,000; in 1845,7,500,000; and in 1875, 19,500,000. The total for the world in 1879 is about 71,000,000 spindles. The result has been, that while between 1830 and 1875 our population increased between threefold and fourfold, the amount of cotton manufactured and used increased thirteen- fold, because each person uses three to four times as much as they used to. Coincident with this development came railroad construction. In 1830 we had 29 miles of railroad ; in 1878 we had 81,000 miles. There was not labor enough In this country to carry on this construction, and we sent abroad for it. And hei"e let me call the attention of the committee to the remarkable correlation between emigration and the development of these industries. We had no statistics of emigration ])rior to 1820, and it is stated that the emigrants in one year did not then reach 8,000. Between 1820 and 1830 there was a considerable increase of emigration. In 1830 the number of emigrants was 23,322. I have here a table showing the statistics of emigration in copncction with the number of miles of railroad in oi)eration. The table is as follows : Year. 1830 1831 1832 1833 18:m 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 Emigrants. Miles of rail- roads i u operation. 23, 322 23 22, 633 95 60, 482 229 .58, 640 380 65, 3a5 633 45, 374 1,098 76, 242 1,273 79, 340 1,497 38, 914 1,913 68, 069 2, .302 84, 066 2, 818 80, 289 3, .535 104, 565 4, 026 52, 496 4, 185 78, 615 4, 377 114,371 4, 633 1.54,416 4, 930 234,968 5, 598 266, 527 5,996 297, 024 7, 365 369, 980 9,021 379, 466 10, 982 371,603 12, 908 368, 645 1.5,360 427, 833 16, 728 200, 887 18, 374 200, 436 22, 016 251,316 24, 503 123, 126 26,968 121,282 28, 789 153, 640 30, 635 91,920 31,286 91, 987 32, 120 176, 282 33, 170 193.416 33, 908 249. 061 35, 085 318, 494 36, 827 298, 358 39, 276 297, 215 42, 2.55 395, 922 47,208 378, 796 52, 898 367, 789 ()0, .568 Total .., 9,000,000 It will be seen that we reached the maximum of emigration in 18.54, when the num- ber of emigrants was 427,833, and at that time we had in operation 16,728 miles of railroad. Then we began to decrease in emigration, the next two years being only 200,887 and 200,436. Then in 18.57 it amounted to 251,316. But the construction of railroads was going on rapidly during those years, running down to 1861, when the number of miles in operation was 31,286. From 1862 emigration began again to in- crease, until it again reached its maximum in 1869, when it was 395,922, and then we had 47,208 miles of railroad in operation. In 1871 the emigration was 3o7,789 and the number of miles of railroad in operation 60,568. The total number of emigrants that arrived in this country from lb2U has been a little over 9,000,00U. The C'hairmax. Your proposition is that the railroads of this country were princi- pally built by foreign labor, and your reason for that is that American labor could find something better to do ? Mr. CoFi IX. Yes; that is the proposition. We wanted this foreign labor. American labor went in the first place into the manufactories, but there again foreign labor has superseded it in those branches requiring the least skill and intelligence. The Chairman. Are you aware that the Soutlieru railroails have beeu chielly built by slave labor ? Mr. Coffin. Yes, sir. The Chairman. Then your statement will be limited in the main to Northern rail- roads ? Mr. Coffin. Yes, sir ; but there were comparatively few railroads in the South and no manufacturing industries to call for labor. In order to induce this foreign labor to come here, we advertised our cheap lands, which probably were an attraction, aside from the high wages paid for labor; we advertised our high wages; we advertised our polit- ical institutions ; we advertised our citizenship ; we advertised our freedom. The rail- toad companies sent agents all over Europe and established emigration agencies. While this great development is going on here, a similar development was going on in Europe. Millions there were called from the farm and the shop to do something higher and bet- ter, and to receive higher wages. Everywhere there was an advance of wages, and of course an increase of production. Let us see how three great nations have advanced since 1827. Here is a half century of progress contained in a few figures. I give the foreign trade, the imports and exports, by decades, of Great Britain, France, and the Ignited States. It is an exceedingly instructive table, for it enables us at a glance to see how three great nations, by the use of the forces of nature, through discovery and invention, the employment of machinery to do the work of human hands, have added to the wealth of the world : Ykii-h. Total of imports and exjiorts. Years. Total of imports anil exports. GREAT BRITAIN. FRANCE — Continued. l?-27-'37 $4,948,750,000 1 18.57-'67 $9,2fil,200, 000 1837-'47 (1,771,555,000 I 1867-77 13, 31:'., 600, 000 1847-'57 11,065,280,000 1857-'67 20,379,890,000 l'^7-'77 28,879,205,000 FRANCE. 1827-'37 2,002,400,000 1837-'47 2,978,400,000 1847-57 4,601,800,000 UNITED STATES 1827-'37 2,006,218,000 1837-47 2,285,423,000 1847-'.57 4,2.5.5,074,000 1857-'67 7,103,309,000 1867-'77 11,016,805,000 The total trade of Great Britain has within those five decades increased six times, that of France six and a half times, and that of the United States five and a half times, What are the results ? It has equalized the world's markets, given low prices to the consumer, taken business out of the hands of the few and given it to the many, dis- tributed wealth, elevated the masses, enlarged the area of civilization, and contrib- uted to the comfort and happiness of the human race. The Chairman. Do you not omit to state that pauperism has increased f Mr. Coffin. I am not sure about that. Is it a fact ? The Chairman. You are stating one side of the question, and stating it wonderfully well and in a forcible way, but you have omitted to ascertain the fact that on the other side the allegation is constantly made to the committee that with all this pro- gress one portion of the human race has been placed in a very wretched condition — a hopeless condition almost — that pauperism and want and destitution have increased in England. In this country pauperism was unknown in many of the years which you have described, through which years all have been able to live. Now we have a great mass (variously estimated at from five hundred thousand to two million of per- sons) absolutely sutt'ering for want of the necessaries of life, and living on charity. Mr. Coffin. I can refer you to one illustration. In my native town in New Hamp- , shire, the population never exceeded twenty-four hundred, and in former d ys the poor supported by the town varied from eighteen to thirty individuals ; now t e poor are supported by the county, but I think that not more than three or four ar • credited to the town. Mr. Thompson. Is it a manufacturing town ? Mr. Coffin. No, sir; it is almost wholly agricultural, but it is in a manufacturing community which pays high enough wages to keep agricultural towns even as pros- perous as my owu from growing, by attracting away the labor which agriculture can- not employ. The Chairman. That fact does not meet the main question. The fact of paui)erism being now a strong element in the present constitution of society is admitted. A com- parison, however, would be interesting of the present state of society in England, with its condition, for example, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the poor laws 8 ■were, passed, owing to the fact that the sturdy beggars all over Englaud compelled the people to give theiu relief on the highways, whicli led to the enartment of the ])oor laws. I suppoHe that if you had investigated the relative condition of society in Englaud at that period and at the ]ireseut period, you would find a less percentage of panperisui uow than then. I ask you the question to see ^\ hether you haVe consid- ered that point. Mr. Coffin. I have some facts to present hearing upon it. The CiiAiKMAN. You can get the statistics of English i>auperism from the Blue- Books, and they show that for the last ten years from SdOjOdO to 1,(100,000 ]iersons have been relieved annually at public ex]»ense in England, in a po]»ulatiou of, say, about 30,000,000. That is, that about 3^ pc^r cent, of the population are in a condi- tion to re([uire relief ami jniblic help. That is in a time of prosjierity, so that it seems to be a normal ctmdition resulting from the manufacturing system in England that about 3^ per cent, of the poj»ulation is reduced to a condition of jiaujierism. Now, unless previous to the introduction of the manufacturing system a state of things as bad or worse existed, it would appear that the establishnient of the manu- facturing system has had something to do with its pauperism, and your case would probably break down, although I suspect it to be a fact, that the paupers now have more of the actual comforts of life than those who were not paupers had then. Mr. Coffin. The last English BIue-Book gives the number of persons, exclusive of vagrants, in the several unions and jiarishes under boards of guardians, on January 1 of each year since 1863 — those that receive indoor and outdoor relief. The Blue-Book also shows the amount of relief given. I present the following table: ENerism ? The reverse seems to be the case in England and Scotland. I think that if we were to make diligent search we should find the causes of the present distress in England in other 9 directions. Some of the causes that have produced depression here are operative there, and some are not, .^^hile some that are operative there have «ot been known here En-laud has had no war, uo inflation of currency. DunuR our troubles she swept aw^v our connnerce and became almost wholly the world's earner, mauulact^ urer and banker. She protited by our misfortunes an.l by the disturbances on the continent between Germany, Austria, and Italy in 18.;14,()00, or, at =?5 the pound, $:$,290,000,000, agamst our 81,000 with a arger capita . Iler roads were not constructed in solitudes, and although they uiay not all hive made immediate returns to those who built them, they were of imme- diate value in the development of trade. .,,,.,, x j Among the civuses of the present distress in England, incident to that country and not to this, is the gradual decrease of acreage devoted to the production of food. Here the acreage is constantly on the increase, and there is a steady and rapid advance- ment in the productions of the farm and pasture ; there we find the reverse. I give the following table from the Blue-Book : Jcrmqc in cereal'^. Acres. iftfi. li,4:32.r,o:i 1™'. 11,004,940 1871) ' 6'r«x.s, 11(u-, Imps, - --- — --• ------ ..---• Vermanent pasture. ■^ Acres. .,.„ •2-2,052, 510 S;;::::::::::::::::::::::':::::::::::::::::----'-"----"---" ^^-^-^-^^ Horns in (irrat Biiiain. ,^.^ 2,631,306 ^^i" ... 2,834.241 187*. <■ utile . ,^., 8,731.473 J^L>~, ... 9,957,180 1876 • Sheep. ■ _ ' 33,137,951 ]^''. 32,2.52,570 1876 Sirinc. ,..> 4,221,000 1*^1". .... 3,7.54,000 1870 The acreage in cereals is diminishing, while pasturage and grass land.s are increas- ing. Horses and cattle are increasing, while sheep and swine are diminishiug. Popu- lation is increasing. Since 1863 the acreage of grain has been reduced 3(w,000 acres while the increase of population has been 4,365,000. Of course the food is imported . and the modern inventions in steam transportation enable a nation in tunes of peace to rely on foreign supply ; but it has to be paid for by the operative with money. Having no laudato cult-ivate he can transform his labor into food only through wagers received at the factory. When the supply and demand for goods are equal (and the demand will always bring up the supply) all goes well, but the ^f «* ^f^ ;"p "^^^ *Jj demand is felt at bnce at the factory by reason of the rapidity «* eo'"7"V*;f^^°" X transportation. And with the inability to save which see"\^ «^^^f f J"f, VV/f orm English operative, a few weeks idleness brings that distress which shows m the form ^ Now^f'S^'chiuerv has caused pauperism in England, what shall we say of Italy where there is no m^achinery and where pauperism abounds ? France has a great deal 10 of machinery, not so much as EnijlatKl, l>"it pauperism does not prevail to any extent, ^s-hile in Spain wbere there is no machinery the country is overrun with befrgars. We have no data in this country i)y which we can ascertain to a certainty whether pauperism is on the increase or resent facts to show the rapid progress that is being made in that direction. Fourteen thousand tons of iron twenty years ago would have covered the entire product of wire for the Fnited State.s for all purposes whatsoever. Mr. CoKFix. Besides that, sir, the invention of the cattle barb has made wire fences practicable, and all through last spring they were built at the rate of IbO miles a day, each foot of fence using about 7 feet of wire — all to the gain of the farmer, the iron-worker, and to the preservation of our timber for more im[)ortaut uses. This new civilization has its power in the development of the forces of na- ture. Before the beginning of manufactures there were coal deposits in Pennsyl- vania as there had been from the day of creation. But the time came when inven- tion, capital, and labor together employed the stored-up sunlight of the primeval ages for the benefit of the world. Let us see how coal and water have been employed to do the work of human muscles during the last half century. Take the State of Mas- sachusetts in 187.5 and let us see what was done. The horse-power of the steam-engines of Massachusetts in 187.5 was rated at '20H,l(jG horses, and the water-power at :U8.74H horses, making a total of .')"26,914 horjes, which was equal to the labor of 1,912,608 men, perhaps 300,000 more than the entire pojuilatiou of the State. By the census of l'^70 the horse-power in steam-engines in the whole country was 1,213,000, and in water-power 1,130.000, a total of 2,343,000, which is equal to the labor of 14,05>~,000 men, a horse-power being estimated to the muscular force of six men. I come now to railway transportation. The Massachusetts railway reports for 187G show 1,030 locomotives at work. One of our ablest engineers, Mr. Edward Appleton, has set himself to see what those locomotives would do when compared with the use of horses on common roads, and he estimates (after throwing out the locomotives that are used on tracks that are being repaired and in machine shops) 682 locomotives in use, and that the work performed by them would be e(|ual to 1,519,496 horses on com- mon roads. Taking his formula and applying it to the locomotives of the United States, as given in Poor's Manual, we find that the locomotives in the entire country are doing the work of 29,676,960 horses on common roads. The cost of transportation has greatly decreased since the introduction of railroads, even over canal transportation. Last summer it cost but fifty cents to transport a barrel of flour from Saint Louis to Boston. How far can a barrel be transported on a common road? Not much more than five miles. Even if a man were to make a busi- ness of it, he coTild not transjtort a barrel more than ten miles at that price. Contrast this with 1830, when, on the Erie Caual, the cheapest transportation of that period, it cost $18.32 to transport a ton of frieght from Albany to Buffalo. In 1840 the sjieed of the Atlantic steamships was 8.3 knots per hour, and in 1877 it was 15.6 knots. The consumption of coal in 1840 was 4.7 ; in 1877, 1.9 tons. The Chairm.ax. Do you mean ])er horse-power f Mr. Coffin. To be precise, let me give Mr. Bramwell's statement that within even the last fifteen jears the eech, warning the people to turn cotton out of Phigland because it would bring everybody into the same unfortunate condition as it had brought hira. Mr. Coffin. If you visit Garsed's manufactory in Philadelphia, you will tiiid his engine doing with seven tons of coal the work of seventy thousand men. If we reckon seven tons of coal as costing p2l, and the labor of seventy thousand men at ■'j;! a day, then it is $21 as against .$70,000 of expenditure saved in muscular etlbrt. Does it throw men out of employment? Does it not liberate them from muscular toil '! Does it not leave them to do something better and higher '! Instead of eni])loying their mus- cles they employ their brains. The Chairman. Take the bluing machinery introduced into manufacturing and disjtlacing twenty or thirty men. They have no place to go and use their brains; they ore tnrrf'i out of this particular work and have uo other occupation. What are they to do ? j>ir. iyUFFiN. Under the conditions of life in this world there will always be a re- adjustment of things, and some men are going to be thrown out of employment and forced to seek new fields of labor. That is the operation of physical law, and can no more be changed by legislation than the revolution of the earth on its axis. The Chairman. You-do not deny that imn\ediate distress is produced, but you think that ultimate benetit results? Mr. Coffin. It would cause immediate distress if all niachines were invented at once and came into universal use at once, but neither is true. A machine is always of slow growth. It takes years to bring it to perfection. Take the locomotive, for ex- ample. Stephenson's first machine weighed from three to four tons. How crude it was! It has taken three-quarters of a century to bring it to its present degree of perfection, and it has not reached its ultimate power. The locomotives of the future will accomplish far more work than those now in use. Did the locomotive come into universal use at once? How many men did it throw out of employment the tirst year of its introduction ? Very few, if any. They were wanted on the railroads. Ira])rovements of the last twenty-five years, paiticularly the hydro-extractor, have greatly decreased the labor required to refine a pound of sugar; but the result in the long run has been that everybody nses refined sugar instead of the moist brown sugar we used to have, and I do not doubt that more operatives are employed in the business. Take the reaper for illnstration, invented in 1833. In 184», only one hundred and fifty in use. In 1K5'2, at a trial of reapers in Geneva, New York, there were nine machines by different makers, and so imperfect were they that not one could stop in the grain and start again without backing to get up speed. Nineteen years had pa,ssed .since the taking out of the first patent, and there were not at that time only about eight thousand machines in use. Since then more than two million reapers have been manufactured, and the manufacture is going on at the rate of about one hundred and fifty thousand per annum. If these machines had all been brought into use at once they would doubtless have made a great disturbance of manual labor; but, as I have said, no machine ever does so come. I have shown that before the capitalist can start his manufactory he must build it, and that he calls a great number of men from other employments. The moment that they left one employment for another read- justment began, and it was so gradual that there was no immediate distress. I have yet to find proof that the use of machinery causes any considerable distress; but, on the other hand, I will show you that for the lack of it there hasbeen terrible distress. China has no machinery — no railroads. All labor in that country is muscular, and yet we have seen several provinces depopulated by famine, notwithstanding the eftbrts of the govern- ment to relieve the distress. It was an impossibility. There was food enough in the world ; we could have supplied it in abundance ; but if we had sent millions of bushels of grain to Shanghai or Pekin,the starvation would have gone on all the same for want of railway transportation. Take the famine in the East Indies a few years ago as an illustration. The British govei-nment piled the docks at Madras with mountains 13 of food ; it employed all rbe cait.> it could obtain : Imt with all the nieaiiM at their coui- iiiand it was found imi)ossi))le to relieve the distrews, and the 7, Odd, (KHI, and tlie Massachusetts fire and life conii>anie8 $140,000,000, making a total of !|4 14,047,1 100. It is jtrobable that the assets of all the insurance comjianies in the country will aggregate about $800,000,000. In lailroads, the stocks and bonds in 1^78 amounted to $4,4i:?,00O,O()0. Of course there is a large amount of indebtedness on them. As to national and State securities, the amount of national securities in 1877 was $2,000,000,000 State securities in 1^70 868,000,000 County securities in 1870 157,955,000 The securities of TiO towns in li^Tti (according to the American Almanac, page 382) 644,119,000- Total :{, 730, 074, 000- The national bonds held abroad are said to be no more than $200,000,000, and our total indebtedness held abroad is supi)osed to be about $.')00,000,000. The aggregate capital in banks and insurance, railroads, national, State and other bonds, tlius gives an aggregate of about thirteen thousand million dollars. In 1870 the census gave the value of property in the United States at thirty tht)nsand sixty-eight millions. A writer in an English statistical journal, in June, 1877 (Mr. Bouve), says that the wealth of England is increasing at the rate of twelve hundred and fifty million dollars per annum. Mr. Gladstone says that the development since 1800 is greater than that from .Julius Ca-sar to that date. Mr. Edward Atkinson has shown you that labor takes 95 to 98 per cent, of the earnings, leaving to capital from 2 to 5 per cent. I have nothing to say on that point, and therefore pass it. But capital is liable to utter annihilatioots, increase of 18 per cent. ; rents, increase of 25 per cent. ; board, increase of 49 per cent. The average increase of the cost of living is 14^ per cent. I will run over a few of the articles that are given here in the table showing the average retail prices. These are as follows : Flour (superior and family), rye flour, corn-meal, codfish, rice, beans, tea, coflee, sugars, 17 molasses, soaps, btarcli, beef (innip steak), imitton, pork, Iiam, lanl, maiikt-rfci, butter, cbcf.se, potatoes, milk, eggs, coal, wood (lianl and piue), shirtings, siieeting.s, canton- llannel, and so on. The CiiAiRMAX. He arrives at his average by dividing all tliose articles into the total amount, I suppose. Mr. CoKt'ix. I do not know how the average has been obtained. The CiiAiKMAX. That would be the ordinary way of obtaining it; yet the staple articles alone ought to be the ones he would take in order to arrive at a decision on that point. Mr. Kick. Do you think, Mr. Chairman, that the staple articles show an increase ? The Chaikmax. My experience is that .such is not the fact. Indeed I may .say that my own books show that at no time since the concern in which I am interested has existed have the jirices of pork and llour been as low as they are to-day. Mr. Rick. Those are the two things that enter most largely into daily consumption. The Chairman. My couclusiou is that pork and Hour are cheaper now than they have been since Id'il. Mr. CoFi-ix. The figures given in this table for flour in 1.%1 are: In 1860, $7.61 ; in 1672, §10.75 ; in 1878, ,$8.6:5. The CHAIRM.A.N. Flour is rated very high there, it seems to me ; but then he has possibly given the retail prices. Mr. Coffin. The " Haxall" llour is probably here given. The Chairman. That llour is not in general use. That which we use at our works is the New York State superfine flour. It is a grade -which we buy now at a little less thae $5 a barrel, and we buy pork at 8 cents a pound. It is incredible, but we are doing it. Mr. Coffin. From this exhiliit we see that so far as labor in Massachusetts is con- cerned the increase of earnings since 1860 is 24.4 per cent, and the increase of expense 14.5 per cent.; this on a basis of sixty hours per week against .seventy-six and one-half hours per week in 1860. The Chairm.\n snggested the propriety of some such revision of the figures just read as would show more definitely the facts which they purported to substantiate. As a case in point, he referred to the matter of sugar, npou which in 1860 there was a very low tariff, while now we have a very high taritf ; the effect of this upon the price and necessarily npon the expense of living to the workiugman, being one of the points which required more explicit demonstration. Mr. Coffin. I concur fully in the suggestion. The .showing here given is based upon sixty hours per week as against seventy-six and a half hours in 1860. In this connection I give a statement taken from the Charleston News and Courier of January 8, in regard to prices in that city and the effect of resumption. It is as follows : "The United States is now standing on a gold basis, and every transaction measured by that. To this the country has been tending for three or four years. On January 1, 18/8, in Charleston, a pound of bacon, a pound of lard, a bushel of corn, a pound of sugar, a gallon of molasses, a pound of coffee, a bushel of salt, a pound of rice, and a barrel of flour, bought at wholesale prices, cost altogether $7.31. These same things can be bought to-day for .S5..55. The reduction is J4 per cent. That is, every dollar now earned goes as far in buying necessaries of life as a dollar and a quarter went a year ago. Wherever wages have not been reduced since last January, they who earn them are really getting a fourth as much more as they were get- ling then." Referring again to New England, we find that in 1845 farm hands received ten dol- lars per month, with board in summer, and lived in enforced idleness in winter. In 1878 they received from sixteen dollars to eighteen dollars per month, with board, though they had not, probably, much more to do in the winter season now than they h id in 1845. Mr. Rice. In many sections they are kept working in the winter upon the bottoming of chairs and in many other kinds of labor sent out from the factories. The shoe busi- ness also is carried on more extensivelj' in the winter than in the suunuer. Mr. Coffin. The shoe busine.ss is spasmodic. The hands have more work in the iR"inter than in the summer, as a rule, I think. 1 wjsh to call attention to the fact that no farmer. East or West, could now afford to pay to a laborer who can only use his muscles even such wages as he could afford to pay in 1845. The crop would cost too nuich to export, too much to be freely n.sed at home. In point of fact he does pay more wages per day, which shows that the demand for laV)or has not fallen off; he raises each bushel of grain at a less cost for labor. Ma- chinery enables him to reconcile these two conditious. The complaints of distress that reach this committee come from laborers ; but there is another class in the community who have not asked for relief, whose distress is quite as great as that of those who ask that the government shall give them employ- ment. I refer to that large class, made up in a great degree of womeu, who have seen 2 cor 18 their afcunmlatt'd earnings swept away by courts of insolvency or oi)euly repudiated by Ko\ereiyn States. It Ih hard to conceive of any conilition more unfortunate thau that of the men and women wiio, without any fault of their own, relyinjj on the pro- tection <>ivtn by law to de])ositors in trust companies and savings banks, lind tiiat the laws are ]»owerless to protect them from the losses inflicted upon them ; of those who, with implicit confidence in the pledges of municipalities, hud that they have no re dress ujiou default of jjayment ; aiul of those who, relying ujjou the honor and integ- rity of sovereign States, upon the guarantees of legislatures, the signatures of governors and tieasurer-, discover ultimately that State honor is but a synonym for repudiation. Mr. Kick. You are lefening now to that class of people who have accumulated a little money. Mr. CoFiiN. Yes, sir ; I am referring to those who have saved a little. The reason why I introduce it is that, while one class complains of distress, there is another class which, it seems to me, are ely exist. I am glad that it is so. I am glad that men in the lower strata of .society are not satisfied Avith things as they are, bnt are reaching out after something liigher and better. The idea that men must have more than bare existence has so permeated society that penal, reformatory, and charitable institutions now have cora- lorts that were unheard of a half century ago. Mr. Houamy I'riee* states that it has been ofdcially announced that the present cost of maintaining one thousand paupers in London is live times greater than it was in 1815; The 15ritish blue-book shows the advance made since l8(V.i. In the table already given we saw that the total number of persons relieved in England in IHd:} was i,142,()'er person ; while in 187(5 the number relieved was 85,330. at a cost of $(i5.11 i)er individual. It is evident that the diiterences do not arise from any corresponding increase in the jtrice cf provisions; and I think it is equally clear that they do arise from the increase of articles now regarded as necessary to human comfort. We have seen the bank circulation increased from $5.77 per individual in 1630 to $18.14 iu 1874. With increase of production there was increase of consumption. We issued promises to pay, and purchased our carriages and pianos and pictures, and went on till prudence became improvidence. We took it for granted that things were to go on just as they were going. We became extravagant in everything ; rich and poor alike lived up to and beyond their means. To-day we are compelled to study econ- omy, to deny ourselves things that we formerly enjoyed, and hence the widesj)read restlessness and discontent, and hence the appeal to Congress to give emi^loyment to the unemployed. I need not enter upon the question of the power of Congress in the premises. I have only this to say in connection, that any restriction of the hours of labor; the removal of the poor of the cities to farms; the coustructicm of public works that are not needed will not give any permanent relief. If the government has works that need to be carried on, very well, let them go on ; but it is just as wise to employ men to remain idle as it is to employ them to do that which we do not need. In any case the tax- payers must foot the bill. The CiiAir.MAN. Suppose that in a community there are many families who do not want to be idle and would be glad to work on the Western farms, who can find no em- ployment here at their own business, and want to go to the West — do you not think it would be advantageous to the nation if those people could be transferred from the place in which there is no work to a place where there is work ? Mr. Coffin. I do, but I do not think it is the province of the government to do that. The Chairmax. Do you mean to say that the government should not do it because the question is a difficult one, or that we should not do it on jyolitico-economic grounds? Mr. Coffin. I think it is a question of political economy. The Chairman. Do you know that there have been and are at this time governmental colonization schemes, such as this one, in operation ? Mr. Coffin. Other nations have put the principle in operation, but, in so doing, they have assumed to be paternal. Our owu government is founded upon a principle the reverse of that idea ; this is a government of the peo])le. The Chairman referred, by way of illustration, to the Canadian policy iu offering inducements for immigration, the effect of which was apparent to-day in taking from Great Britain her surplus population. He knew of no moral principle which would prevent a nation encumbered with too many bees in a hive from assisting, out of the accumulated property which all had gathered together, those of its people who were willing and desirous to cultivate new lands and make new homes within its borders. The question of constitutional power in the case of our own government was quite another consideration, but, with reference alone to the abstract principle involved, he failed to see why the people of a nation could not be assi.sted in this way when, other- wise, they would be compelled to stay at home unable to produce an equivalent for that which they consumed. Mr.'CoFFiN. I think that any such scheme, if carried out, should be through that humane sentiment of the community, which manifests itself iu voluntary contributions and diffuses anu>ng men a spirit of brotherhood. The Chairman. I understand you to say that it would be better to have it left to individual action rather than to the government, because iu the hands of the latter it would not be an economical or wise mode of doing it. *Political Economy, page 237. 21 Mr. Coi'Kix. I think it would not lie a wise mode of doing it. The CiiAiKMAX. But you do not object to its being done ? Mr. CoKFiN. Not at ail. Under a monarchical form of government it might com- mend itself most forcibly. The CiiAiKMAN remarked that if the necessities of the government were snch as to require a prompt decision, he inclined to the opinion that he would not be influenced bj' any consideration as to whether the government was that of a uujnarchy or a gov- ernment of the people; that if individual action proved itself inatle([uate to meet the case, he would have the government as-sume the resjionsibility, and would deal with the evil without hesitation, just as a surgeou would with a disease which required to be wholly eradicated. Mr. Coffin. I have duly a few suggestions to make. I wish to say that I have no fears for the future of American industry. I entertain a profound conviction that America is about to enter upon a career of unparalleled i)rosi)erity. The Chairman. I wish you would make that point clear, because I have been criti- cised rather freely for expressing a similar oi)inion in New York a few months ago. Mr. Coffin. I will endeavor to do so briefly. In the first place, America possesses all the priuuil conditions to this end in a degre(f not enjoyed by any other nation. We have a continent to ourselves, whereas Great Britain has a less area than the States of Illinois and Iowa. We have every variety of soil and climate, with capacity to pro- duce breadstutfs far beyond our own wants. We have unparalleled resources in the forces and materials of nature, in our rivers, and exhaustless beds of coal and iron. Under the fostering care of our fathers we have encouragement to make iron and steel, steam and water do tlie work of human hands far beyond encouragements given by any other government ; for this country stimulates invention by its patent laws, securing to the patentee the exclusive right to his invention for a term of years on payment of $30, whereas in England it used to cost nearly $\ ,000 to secure a patent. What is the result? In this country the number of patents taken out aggregates about thirteen thousand per annum against about four thousand in England. We have an army of inventors. The result w;is seen at Paris last summer, where the United States stood at the head in usef in inventions. Through the superiority of our inventions we are beginning to secure an exjiort trade, which, though at present is not very large, is continually increasing and prom- ises to have a very great development. It is not confined to one department of in- dustry, but applies to all. , The Chairman. What is to prevent the prompt introduction of imjjroved machinery into the other countries who are the rivals of this country ? They have heretofore been slow to take advantage of their opportunities in that respect, I admit, but the indications are that they are now doing so very rapidly. Mr. Coffin. I will answer that by narrating a fact within my knowledge. Year before last, one of the largest boot and shoe manufacturers in Switzerland, after visit- ing the Centennial Exhibition and seeing our boot and shoe machinery, obtained a full set of the machinery aiul took it to Switzerland. He found when he got the machines over there that his own workmen could not make use of them, and he was forced to send over to America to procure American workmen. Tbe Chairman. But how long is that condition of things likely to continue ? It is only a question of a generation, I take it, as to when the people there shall have ac- quired the facility of managing American machinery. The Swiss make watches of the finest and most intricate patterns, and they certainly can learn to make a shoe. Mr. Coffin. We can go ahead faster than they can follow. The copyist cannot sur- pass the thing copied. Improvements that do not form part of a progress of indige- nous origin, improvements adopted from abroad and not continually fed from home invention may make a nation second, but cannot make it flrst. An art maybe brought from abroad,\and that is the theory on which protective tarifl's rest, but it cannot flourish until it has so become part of our life as to get its growth from within. The Chairman. But, as I have said, the question is only one as to the length of time necessary to acquaint them with the processes which at first are necessarily novel and difficult to them. Take, for instance, the thousand little inventions, such as " Y'ankee notions," that are produced out of steel. What is to prevent the English, for instance, from doing just what we have been doing ? Mr. Coffin. There is nothing to prevent them, but there are conditions which give this country the pre-eminence : First, there are our physical conditions. F(n- instance, in the matter of coal, we find it in this country widely distributed, and by that means •we are enabled to start manufactories all over the continent. It lies convenient of access for that pur]>ose. The Chairman. Are we any more fortunately situated in that respect as compared with England? Mr. Coffin. Y'es, sir. We do not have to raise it from so low a level ; "we can pro- duce our coal cheaper. The Chairman. That depends upon where you go to procure your coal. 22 Mr. CoKKiK. From some miaes we can procure it cheaper; in tho^ miues around Cliiittaiiooga, for instance. The Chairman. There you get the bituminous coal at a h)W price ; hut that is very far in the interior; and, in point of convenience of access to the seaboard, I do not see what advantage it has over the Welsh coals, which are produced as cheaply as any coal in America. Mr. Coriix. Then we have exhaustless quantities of iron; but I will not enter into that matter. I will take cotton as better illustrating the point. To-day, I suppose, about 2 per cent, of the cotton lands of the country are under cultivation. By the report of the commission of Parliament, made, I think, in 187.i (and which is found in the Parliamentary reports), the statement is made, in regt^rd to the cotton supply, that at least OU per rent, of the raw material of Great Britain must ever come from the United States. Last year the amount was 67 per cent., and the yearly aggregate has been constantly increasing. It has been shown by our manufacturers that it costs about five dollars to take a bale of cotton from a cotton-field in the South and place it in England. I look forward to the time when, in the South as well as in New England, there will be a large development of cotton manufactures, e8i)ecially of the coarser ([ualities of the goods and cotton-yarn. Of those who buy cotton cloths, the average in the market of the world to-day is about twenty yards for an individual. The CUAIHMAX. For the whole world ? Mr. CoFFix. That is the average among tho,se who purchase ; about twenty yards per annum would be required for each individual. It is stated that not more than live hundred million of the people on the globe. are now using machine-made cotton. Those engaged in manufacturing confidently expect that the time is not far distant when at least one thousand millions will use cotton cloth in some form. There is no other fiber that can compare with it in cheapness. The consumption increases both in civilized and uncivilized lands. England now has nearly all the foreign trade in her hands. The exports of cotton manufactures in 187G were as follows : Yaliie. Yarn.san(l twist Pounds.. 2:i2, 254, 627 £12,781,733 Piece goods Yards . . 2, fi(!7, 423, 176 l.i7, 271, 400 Priuted Kools Yards.. 9!t0, 147,278 92,272,310 Cotton thread Pounds.. 9,635.363 1,763,586 Cotton .stockinfTS Doz. pairs.. 1, 105,666 364,054 Mixed goods, chiefly cotton Yards.. 11,83.3,900 429, 405 In contrast, our own export was equivalent to only about 7(),000,000 yards. It is a well-known fact that American cotton goods are superior in their make to the English ; that English manufacturers are using American trade-marks ; that English manufacturers have carried " sizing," to an extent vrhich has become prejudicial ; that their excuse is that they cannot compete with American manufacturers in the making of substantial goods. It seems to me morally certain that we shall take a portion of the present trade of England from her hands, and that we shall secure our fair share of the increase. On the other side of the globe, in China and the other countries, there is a popula- tion variously estimated at from two hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty millions. Before the war in 1860, for instance, our exports to China were about four million yards. England sent out to China in the same year about thirty-three thou- sand pieces of goods (the number of yards has not been stated), and our export was larger than that of England. The war swept that trade entirely away. Last year we sent out to China eleven millions of yards and England sent oiit three hundred and seventy-eight millions of yards. That is the beginning of a volume of consumption ■which has yet to develop itself in China. That is a trade which it is possible for the American manufacturer to obtain wholly. The Chairm.vx. Do you know the rate of wages for workingmen in China? Mr. CoFi'ix. I have not the data, but I know it is very low. I know from personal observation that a very large number of people procure but a bare existence. The Chairman' was understood to remark that on the plains in China the rate (meas- ured by the money of the United States) was a little over two cents a day. [To Mr. Coffin.] Do you know anything about the facility with which the Chinese workmen learn to do anything that our people do? Mr. CoFFix. Yes, sir. They are exceedingly imitative. The Chairmax. Do you not foresee that when the demand of the Chinese for cottdn goods has been largely increased they will utilize their facilities for the manufacture of cotton ? Mr. CoFFix. I do not. The Chairmax. Why not ? Mr. Coffin. Because they have not the land for the purpose. The Chairmax. What would be the cost of freight to China on a bale of cotton goods ? 23 Mr. Coi'iiv. I do not know that the freight on a bale of cotton would be much less than that upon an equal weifjht of cotton <;oods. The C'liAiKMAX. Suppose, then, that when we were about to send them our goods the Chinese would say, "We will not take the goods; we will take the cotton itself" ; would not the result be that they would take the cotton and make the goods for less money than they would pay to get the cotton ? Mr. Coi'i'iN. 1 do not think that capital would ever go to China to make Chinese manufactures. The Chairman. Will not capital go where it can make the most money? Mr. Coil i\. I admit that it will go where it can make the most money and get it home safely. The CiiAir.MAX here remarked that in a letter recently received by a friend of his from Mr. Hague, the geologist, now engaged in China in surveying, the statement was made by that gentleman that he had found on the. banks of a luivigable river a bed of coal and iron ore of the very best quality, where labor was abundant at two cents a day, where the ]>eople are a strong, stalwart race, capable of doing good work, and that there was no difficulty whatever in ))roducing pig-iron at four dollars a ton in our money. Under these circumstances he (the Chairman) was more a|)prehen8ive of dan- ger than sanguine of any i)ossil»ility of good to us from the urposes precisely) distingnished from tools by the fact that tho power, instead of l)ein<;' furnished by the hand that ynides, is sn])]»lied from some other source, which nnvy be a treadle or crank, and may be a eteam-enyine or water-wheel, (/i. (/., the old liiacksmith gave power to his hammer by his arm and directed his arm by his will. It is hardly a tignre of speech to say of the Nasmyth steam-hammer that the boiler sn))])lies tiie ])owcr and the haml of the engineer, raised one stej) in the scale, becomes itself the intelligeiicc which controls.) The popular mind makes a dis- tinction between those im))rovomi>nts of the three first kinds, which better utilize the muscnlar force of man, ami those im]>rovements of the fourth kind (including discov- eries in chemistry and jthysics), by which tlie forces of nature are utilized. But for the purposes of this in(|uiry tin; distinction cannot be made, because greater intelligence, more skillful organizations of labor, and better tools are the result of or form i)art of the mental progress of civilization as much as the invention of machinery does; and it is jtrobable that their results in greater product from a day's labor have been larger than the results from the use of machinery in the modern sense of the word. And al- though the phrase "labor-saving" is popularly applied to machinery alone it belongs equally to all four lines of progress. If the welfare of the community requires that all progress shall be stopped which will enable the worker to produce more to-nn)rrow than he did yesterday, or enable a given product to be obtained by less labor, then prog- ress not only on the fourth line, but equally on all must l>e forbidden. Civilization would not do this if it could, for it will not destroy itself; with man to stop is to rust, to recede. It could not if it would, for the mind of society cannot tie itself up in in- action ; and if it once did it, it could not long stay in fetters of which itself kept the key. Since this tendency certainly cannot be (and I am sure that it ought not to be) repressed, let us see what questions arise in its progress. During the last thousand years the production in the industrial arts in civilized countries lias increased vastly faster than the population. The comforts and con- veniences of life have vastly increased. In other words, each household has more and better material things to use and to consume than it had formerly; the increase in consumption has kept pace with the increase of ])roduction. I mean taking it in the long run. This is quite ditiVrent from the (luestion of increase of wealth. The large manufacturer of to day may not grow rich — nniy not accumulate — any faster than the master workman of five hundred years ago. The laborer, at the end of his career to-day may have laid up nothing, but it is a good f^eal that during his life he has lived iu a wooden house with a carpet and decent furniture produced by the manufacturer instead of in a hovel with a dirt Hoor and logs to sit on. This iucn^ased production he has consumed. He has not destroyed it as a tire destroys ; he has worn it out in enjoy- ing it, and this is the fate of most things that are produced for the use of man. In- creased consumption and production is therefore intrinsically a public benefit, even where the producer grows no richer. This is seldom denied. The outcry sometimes made against increased production refers to a production in excess of the consumption. This trouble does not come (necessarily) because production grows, but because con- sumption does not; and an increa.se in the latter is as legitimate a way of meeting the diiificulty as a diminution of the former; more legitimate and more natural because it is iu the direction of the invaiiable and irresistible progress of mankiml and not in opposition to it ; and improvements in society must take place along a natural line of progress and not contrary to the logic of events. At any given time there are two methods of increasing production. One is to du- plicate the ])roducing establishments, making no change in their character; they will nuiuufacture more, but at the same cost per piece. The other is, by some of the means already described to increase the production from a given number of operatives. The first has the apparent advantage of employing more labor, but is only an apparent advantage, for if the increase exceeds the natural growth of population and wealth, (. c, if it increases faster than the number- and means of the consumers, there will be failures, stoppages, and hands thrown out of employment. Historically this has been the case at the periods of great industrial depression. The high price of iron and con- sequent prohts eight years ago led many men independently to put up new works, and -when one found himself just ready to supply the unsatisfied demand, he discovered a dozen others equally ready, and this meant disaster for all, and the operatives just drawn to this industry were thrown out of work. And so with other branches. So with railroads. The impetus of apparent or real great demand showing itself iu great profits carried the pendulum too far. The other method is to increase the production of an establishment of a given size and given number of operatives by improvements in organization or machinery. This means larger production at the same cost for the total and a smaller cost per piece, /. c, it means a cheaper product. No^v a cheaper product always means a larger cousump- 28 tioti ; partly because people will .spend at Ici.'wt as iniicli as they can aliord, and if thinj^s are cheaper will buy more of the same kind, or with the surplus money will buy other thing's; it is not desire nor inability to liud soniethiu;^ desired which limits expenditure with mankind, but want of means. More than this, the cheaper a thing becomes the lar<;er the circle of ])ossible and therefore certain pnrcha.sers and cou- sumcrs, and wants grow by indulg<*nce. The tendency of this kind of increase in pro- duction tlieit'fore is, of itself, to increase the consumption which will support it and ■will maintain it. The improvements wliicii lead to this increa«ie do not, either in theory or in fact (the illustrations have been given at length already), tend to dimin- ish the total cost of production, but only the cost per piece. The cost of transi>orta- tion recpiired by a population of l()(),(l()()souls is to-day tenfold what it was 100 years ago. The railroad from New York to Washington costs for its construction and for its daily operation many times as nnich as tin; stage-team of fifty years since But it will do much more work, ('. v., is so much more productive, that the cost of each passenger or ton of freight hauled one mile has amazingly diminished. Almost every railroad that is started occupies a field where the existing work of transportation would not pay the increased expense of the new method, but it is projected upon the theory that the diminished cost per piece, so to speak, will increase the demand so as not only to com])ensate for that diminution in cost, but to far increase it ; will lead the inhabitants not ouly to sj)end as much but a great deal more in transportation than before. ISo much for the effect of im])rovements in existing industries. Kut besides that the same disposition to invent and improve leads to new industries. Sometimes strictly new industries, as in the ca,so of printing, vulcanized rubber, photography, telegraphy, gas-making, steam transportation, and a host of other things; sometimes virtually new industries are made commercially practicable by a reduction in cost of some neces- sary thing or process. Many branches of trade and business to-day would be impos- sible without steam transportation and telegraphs. The habits and powers of business men have been greatly modified by the sleeping-car. The IJessemer process for making steel not only employs, certainly in this country, far more men than the old process, but it has made possible manj'' things which the old process forbade from the high cost. The steel rails have cheapened transportation. And the engineers say that a little more rednctitm in the cost of production will make it available for ship-building. The fallacy of those w'ho object to improvements in labor-saving machinery and processes lies in the false assumption that as many articles would be made by the old and expensive method as by the new and cheap one. This is absolutely untrue in theorj' and in fact. One other ])<)int. The concentration of mannfacturing operatives in large towns is not the result of the invention of power-driven machinery, but long preceded it. Five hnndred years ago Florence was a city of artisans. In Queen Elizabeth's time certain industries were concentrated in certain localities. Forty years ago, when hosiery was made on hand frames in the workmen's homes, it came from a few towns. Philadelphia was long full of hand looms worked at home. On the other hand. New England was dotted all over with little industries wherever a village waterfall fur- nished power. The moment industry got beyond the supply of a purely local demand, such as supports the village blacksmith, it became concentrated in large centers, where one master employed many journeymen or piece-workers, and the product passed through the hands of the merchant and the avenues of commerce Ijefore it reached the consumer. The distinction between the village industry, where the man was half artisan, half agriculturist, and could support himself tilling the soil when his trade was dull, and the urban life wh -re the man must iind work in his tra le or suiter, pre- ceded the use of power-driven machinery. This, however, increased the concentra- tion of operatives and of production in a particular locality. It also gave rise to the factory system, properly so-called, /. e., the collection of the work-people in one build- ing, instead of having them work at home on piece-work; but the etl'ects of that sys- tem belong to a diflferent inquiry. Now the moment that production in one town exceeded the consumption of that town, agencies for its distribution must be set up. When increased production calls for or is intended to lead to increased consumption, there must be means for taking the products from the factory and ottering them for sale to the ultimate consumer. The merchant and the carrier must come in. Commerce must be equal to the- increased work pur upon it, for if it is not, the whole fabric breaks down and the j)roduct is not consumed. Whether the merchant has grown in his ability to do this as much as the manufacturer has improved in his art, and what means should be taken to improve him, are foreign to this inquiry ; the work of the mechanic and the manufacturer stops with the productior, and schooling of children, which could not be enforced against ojieratives doing piece-work at home, can be en- forced in a factory, and the necessary discipline of a large establishment requires more regular habits of the workman. Let me add one more remark about the factory system. It enables less skillful labor to be used under more intelligent oversight. The practised hand is less important than the quick brain. The number of foremen in proportion to the number of oper- atives constantly increases. The financial view of education is beginning to be felt. And it is not the apprentice system but the technical schools that will furnish the supply of overlookers. I think I see an improving tendency in this direction. The Chairman. Yon think that the great mass of mankind is much better off now than they were, and that that is the way in which the increased production has been iised up, in making mankind more comfortable, prosi)erous, and hajipj' ? Mr. Coffin. Yes, sir. The Chairman. Do you think that if the ownership of very large masses of this increased wealth was in a few hands, that fact would in any degree invalidate the proDosition which you now lav down that the great mass have been made more com- fortable ? Mr. Coffin. I think that it would. The Chairman. Do you think that if this great increase of wealth were nominally owned by one single individual — a great king or emperor, or call him by whatever name you like — if he had the ownership of the whole of it, it would materially affect the comfort and enjoyment which the great mass of the people derive from it ? Mr. Coffin. I think it would diminish it very much. The Chairman. What could he do with it ? Mr. Coffin. I do not know what he could do with it, but I do not think that his monopoly of it could contribute to the universal happiness of free beings. All his- tory shows that it could not. In a free society the laws imposing restraint should be as few as possible consistent with the general welfare of men. The question which you have put is an abstract question, and it is not likely to call for any practical solu- tion in this country. The Chairman. Would you restrain men in the acquisition of property. Mr. Coffin. No, vsir. The Chairman. Then if you do not restrain the acquisition of property, would you