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 "^^^
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 liilDrary 
 Insti-tute of Industrial Relations-. 
 
 University of Callfoi'nla 
 Los Angeles 24* California'
 
 1/7 
 
 THE 
 
 LABOUE QUESTION
 
 LONUOX : fUINTKl) »Y 
 
 SPOi-riSWOOOB AND CO., N KW-.sTltK.ST .SQPARB 
 
 VM) I'AIII.IA.MKXT KTnKKT
 
 LECTUEES 
 
 ON TH !■: 
 
 LABOUR QUESTION 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS BEASSEY, M.P. 
 
 AUTHOK OF ' ■WOIiK A>fD WAGES* AND 'BRITISH SEAMEN ' 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 
 
 1878 
 
 III i-i'ihli ;-,'v,v
 
 HI) 
 H^Ol 
 
 1878 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In OFFERiiVG to the public the following collection of 
 addresses on the Labour Question I publish nothing 
 that is new. I venture, however, to believe that the 
 encouragemeut, which I have received, in my labours 
 in the exposition of sound doctrines on work and wages 
 to the rank and file of the armies of industry, may 
 induce more competent teachers to work in the same, 
 field. The soil is fruitful ; but it demands the labour 
 of the husbandman.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 I.BCTUKK 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 ly. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIIX. 
 
 Labour and Capital ...... 1 
 
 The Nine Hours Movement. . . . . . 8 
 
 Wages in 1873 25 
 
 Public Elementary Education in the United 
 
 States . . . . . . . . 74 
 
 The Duties of the Church in relation to the 
 
 Labour Question ...... 93 
 
 Co-operative Production . . . . . . 101 
 
 The South Wales Colliery Strike . . . 168 
 
 On the Influences affecting the Price of 
 
 Labour in England at the Present Time . 178 
 
 On Canada and the United States . . . 197 
 
 Work and Wages in 1877 209 
 
 Labour at Home and Abroad . . . . 229 
 
 On the Comparative Efficiency of English and 
 
 Foreign Labour ...... 243 
 
 On the Rise of Wages in the Building Trades 
 
 OP London ........ 264 
 
 APPENDIX 
 INDEX . 
 
 295 
 
 329 
 
 902302
 
 LECTUEE I. 
 
 LABOUR AND CAPITAL. 
 
 Address delivered m the Workmen's Hall, Birkenhead, 
 October 3, 1871. 
 
 If.B. — This and the succeedimj Paper were prepared at the request of the 
 Executive Committee on Labour and Capital of the Social Science 
 Association. 
 
 I AM here to-night at the request of Mr. Frederic Hill Social 
 and other members of the Social Science Association. Associa- 
 It has been thought that something should be done on 
 the part of the Association to prevent the recurrence 
 of the deplorable industrial conflicts of which we are 
 daily witnesses, and it has been proposed : 
 
 1. To tender the good offices of the executive 
 committee as mediators in cases where a desire has 
 been expressed for their friendly intervention. 
 
 2. To deliver lectiu-es in various parts of the country 
 on those branches of political economy which bear on 
 the question of wages. 
 
 Connected as I am with this rising community, I 
 have undertaken to deliver an address in your Work- 
 men's Hall. 
 
 I shall begin this attempt to elucidate the Avao-e ^^^^ of 
 question by reminding you of tlie universally accepted f^e Conti- 
 
 neut.
 
 2 Lithour ft/I'/ Ctipififl. 
 
 axiom of ecoiioiiiical science, that the rate of wages is 
 invariably regulated by the relative proportions of the 
 capital available for the payment of wages and the 
 number of workmen seeking employment. The only 
 limit to the fall of wages is the cost of living. His 
 wages must be at least sufficient for the maintenance of 
 the workman. Thus the rate of wages being essentially 
 dependent on the relation between supply and demand, 
 it is not possible for a trade combination in the long run 
 to exercise a controlHng influence on the price of labour ; 
 though I readily admit that by concerted action work- 
 men might often obtain an advance of wages at an 
 earlier date. Our operatives have but a faint conception 
 of the rise of wages which has taken place, in recent 
 years, abroad, in countries where trades unions do not 
 exist, and where the improvement in the workman's 
 condition is attributable solely to the increased demand 
 for labour. I take a few figures from the tables given 
 in a report prepared by Mr. Phipps on the industrial 
 classes in WUrtemberg. From these it appears that 
 the average increase in the rate of wages in eight 
 branches of manufacture and industry, during the last 
 thirty years, amounts to from 60 to 70 percent. In 
 the building trades the rate of wages has advanced 
 from 80 to 90 per cent., and this advance is fully ex- 
 plained by the unusual activity in the trade. As a 
 general average, 69 per cent, might be taken as the 
 increase in Germany, in the daily wages, for the different 
 classes of out-door labourers. 
 Wages in Tumiug froui EuroDc to the United States, the 
 
 the United ,. f -n t i 
 
 States. wages of skilled workmen average from 9<s. to 15^. a
 
 Liiboiir and Capital. 8 
 
 day, and those of unskilled workmen from 2.9. Qd. to 
 75. 6d. It cannot be supposed that so great a difference 
 between the reward of labour on the opposite shores 
 of the Atlantic is due to the superior organisation of 
 trades unionism in the United States. In New England 
 there are powerful combinations among the artisans, 
 but none among the agricultural labourers ; while, on 
 the other hand, as compared with the same class in 
 England, the condition of the common labourer is, 
 of all others, the most improved by emigration to 
 America. And let it be observed that, as agriculture 
 is the most flourishing, so it is the most important 
 of all the industries of the United States. The annual 
 value of the production of the leading industries has 
 been estimated by Mr. Wells at 1,365,000,000/. To 
 this total agriculture contributed 658,590,000/. The 
 demand for labour, to bring under cultivation the vast 
 tracts of land still unoccupied, is such that it has nevei- 
 yet been satisfied. Hence a rise of wages, in strict 
 conformity with an economical law. 
 
 It is in the power of workmen to raise wages most Native 
 effectually by elevating the standard of comfort, in India. 
 which they are content to live. A desire on the part 
 of the working classes for the fuller enjoyment of the 
 blessings of civilisation not only tends to their moral 
 advancement, but promotes the material progress of 
 the country. On the railways of India it has been 
 found that the great increase of pay, which has taken 
 place, neither increases the rapidity of execution, nor 
 adds to the comfort of the labourer. The Hindoo 
 workman knows no other wants than his daily portion 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Labour and Capital. 
 
 of rice ; and tlic torrid climate renders weather-tiglit 
 habitations and ample clothing alike unnecessary. 
 The labourer, therefore, desists from work, as soon as 
 he has provided for the necessities of the day. Higher 
 pay adds nothing to his comforts : it serves but to 
 diminish his energy and industry. 
 Keduced The Organisation of the trades unions of this coun- 
 
 laboar. try is at the present moment engaged in an effort to 
 reduce the hours of daily labour. I am not prepared 
 to deny their right to refuse to work except on certain 
 conditions. The limitation of hours, for which the 
 workmen in Newcastle have been contending is, under 
 certain circumstances, a reasonable concession. The 
 strength of their claim in that, as in all similar cases, 
 depends on the profits realised by their employers, a 
 question upon which it would be presumptuous in me 
 to offer an opinion. It is sufficient to say that, as- 
 suming that the rate of wages represented something 
 less than the fair share of the remuneration which is 
 due to labour, this increase of pay could scarcely 
 assume a more desirable form than the reduction of 
 the hours of manual toil. 
 Competi- While, however, I admit in a general sense the 
 
 foreign desirability of a reasonable limit for the hours of toil, it 
 is superfluous to observe that workmen are bound to pay 
 due regard to the practical conditions of the problem. 
 It is of no avail that English artisans combine to 
 obtain an improvement in their lot, when multitudes 
 of foreign artisans are prepared to accept the terms 
 which they have rejected. Great objections have been 
 raised to the course adopted by llie masters at 
 
 workmen.
 
 Labour and CiipitaL 5 
 
 Newcastle in seeking to attract foreign labour to their 
 "workshops. The English workmen object to the 
 foreigner being bronght to England to work for lower 
 wages than the Englishman would accept. What 
 would the Englishman say, I venture to ask, if foreign 
 labour were imported and paid at higher rates than 
 are given to the English workman ? Yet this latter 
 case was exactly what occurred in the commencement 
 of railway enterprise in France. An engineering 
 establishment was formed at Eouen, and Mr. George 
 Harrison, now at the head of the Canada Works, 
 was a member of the staff. The mechanics who 
 constructed the locomotives, and were afterwards 
 employed as engine-drivers, were almost exclusively 
 Englishmen, and the wages they received were higher 
 than the wages of the French mechanics. On the rail- 
 way itself English navvies were employed, in large 
 numbers, at double the pay the native workman was 
 thought worthy to receive ; yet there were no riots nor 
 remonstrances, on the part either of the mechanics or 
 the labourers in France, in consequence of the intro- 
 duction of the English workman. 
 
 The trades of England would do well to appoint 
 representatives to examine the position of the work- 
 men in the corresponding trades abroad. I wish that 
 Mr. Odger and other leading champions of the rights 
 of labour would, for a while, lay aside their aspirations 
 for political fame, and take post at Geneva as the 
 watchful sentinels of British labour. Our workmen 
 are not sufficiently alive to the necessity which exists 
 for the utmost cflbrt and ingenuity, to enable capital
 
 Ltihou)' (ind ( 'apltid. 
 
 iuvL'slc'd in England to hold its own in tlie iiidu.slrial 
 campaign. 
 
 c.) opera- If co-operation were more largely introduced into 
 
 British industry, tlie workmen would liave a standard, 
 by which they could determine the rate of wages in 
 their respective trades. They would know tliat they 
 could not expect from their employer a rate of pay 
 exceeding that which was given in a co-operative estab- 
 lishment, where the workmen themselves sat in judg- 
 ment on the relative claims of capital and labom\ 
 
 Courts of Somc advantage too may be expected from courts 
 
 tSu? ' ^ of conciliation, on the plan recommended by Mr. Mun- 
 della and Mr. Eupert Kettle. These courts of con- 
 ciliation are an imitation of the Conseils des Prud- 
 hommes in France. Each council is there established 
 by decree of the Government, and consists of a 
 president, a vice-president, who are not necessarily 
 either employers or workmen, and six members elected 
 by employers and workmen. The general aim is to 
 obtain a settlement of trade disputes by judges who 
 are the equals of the disputants. 
 
 The proceedings are inexpensive, the judges are 
 unpaid, and a delegation of the council, consisting of 
 one employer and one workman, sits in judgment 
 almost daily. In 95 out of 100 cases brought before 
 these tribunals a reconciliation is effected between 
 the parties. Though a[)peals are permitted to the 
 superior courts of law, they are rarely made. 
 
 Social di- \^ ^g mclancholy to think how true it is that one- 
 
 visiou 
 
 between \i^,\{ the world kuows uot how the other half lives. In 
 
 employers r i t n^ 
 
 and em- Qur oTeat citiGS the tendency of the diiierent classes to 
 
 ployed. °
 
 Labour and Cup'ital. 7 
 
 occupy separate quarters brings many social evils in its 
 train — want of sympathy, inclifierence, it may be hos- 
 tility, between the poor and rich. It is much to be 
 lamented that our successful employers of labour are so 
 anxious to withdraw from the scene of their labours, 
 and become country gentlemen, members of Parliament, 
 or residents abroad. The love of field sports, which 
 makes country life so attractive, the patriotism, which 
 sends the man of business to the House of Commons, 
 are doubtless admirable traits in the national character ; 
 but the withdraAval of the personal influence of the 
 employer, just when it is becoming most valuable, is 
 much to be regretted. In the continued residence at 
 Birkenhead of the distinguished man of business, Mr. 
 Laird, who so ably represents the constituency in 
 Parliament, you have an example Avhich I hope may 
 be more often followed. More frequent and familiar 
 interchange of thought would break down the barriers 
 which divide the different orders and conditions of men, 
 and a kindlier spirit would pervade the atmosphere in 
 wliich we live.
 
 TJic Nine I fours Movement. 
 
 LECTUEE II. 
 
 THE NINE HOURS MOVEMENT. 
 
 Dkliveked at the Lecture Room, Nelson Street, Newcastle, 
 October 11, 1873. 
 
 N.B. — 77ic strike for a reduction of the hours of labour to tiine per day 
 had been settled on the same day. 
 
 Howdis- J APPEAR to-iiiffht, iiot as a capitalist, not as an 
 
 piites may '--' '■ 
 
 be ad- employer of labour, but as a philanthropist. I owe 
 much to the industrial classes, and freely acknowledge 
 their claims on me. The hard struggle in which you 
 have been engaged is now happily at an end. While 
 I hope that all the bitterness of feeling, which such a 
 conflict must inevitably arouse, will be removed, I also 
 desire that the memory of the sacrifices which the long 
 cessation of business must inevitably impose, not only 
 on the workman but on his employer, will dispose both 
 sides to seek for a more rational and friendly means of 
 adjusting future differences. I shall venture to recom- 
 mend three suggestions to your favourable notice: — 
 I. That the industrial classes in this country ought to 
 watch with greater care the fluctuations of the labour 
 market abroad. II. That the creation of some esta-
 
 The Nine Hours Movement. 9 
 
 blishments, in every branch of industry, on the co-opera- 
 tive principle, would supply a standard rate for wages 
 to which the workman might with confidence refer. 
 III. That it is most desirable to establish in every im- 
 portant centre of industry a court of conciliation, or 
 some other organisation of a kindred nature. 
 
 Let me explahi more fully the practical effect of the Eeduced 
 suggestions which I have made. Here, in J^ewcastle, labour. 
 you have been contending for a reduction of the hours 2riS***^° 
 of labour. Now, shorter hours are an increase of pay 
 in another form, and assuming that the profits of the 
 trade, in wliich you are engaged, justify a rise of 
 wages, there cannot be a more legitimate mode of 
 raising wages than by reducing the working hours. It 
 must, however, be remembered that trades which can 
 only flourish by successful competition with the 
 foreigner, must, to a certain extent, be regulated with 
 reference to the rules estabhshed abroad. In the 
 United States the usual hours of labour are ten a day. 
 Constant efforts have been made to obtain a reduction; 
 but hitherto no concession, as regards time, has been 
 granted, without a corresponding diminution of wages. 
 In Massachusetts engineering establishments run ten, 
 and cotton and woollen factories eleven hours a day. 
 In Germany, France, and on the Continent generally, 
 the working hours are longer than with us. 
 
 A reduction in the hours of labour does not neces- Hours of 
 
 ... -, . , . . , labour at 
 
 sarily involve a correspond nig reduction in the amount MuMiiau- 
 of work performed. A little more diligence will easily 
 enable a workman to get through as much work 
 in nine hours as in ten. A few years ago M.
 
 10 The Nine nourf< Movement 
 
 Dolfuss, the great manufacturer of Muhlhausen, offered 
 to reduce the working hours in his estubhshments to the 
 extent of one hour a day, witliout reduction of pay, 
 provided his workpeople woukl undertake to do an 
 equal amount of work in the shorter day. In a month 
 after the offer was made the hands in the employ of M. 
 Dolfuss had succeeded in making the production of the 
 shorter day equal in amount to the production of their 
 former longer hours. On this subject some interesting 
 information has been collected by Mr. Eedgrave, as to 
 the rate at which machinery is habitually run in the 
 principal seats of textile manufacture on the Continent. 
 As a general result, it appears that, in proportion as the 
 hours of labour are lengthened, the rate at which 
 In Eussia. machinery is run is reduced. In Eussia, where the 
 longest hours of labour prevail, machinery is run at a 
 slower rate than in any other country in the world. 
 It may be inferred from these illustrations that it is in 
 the power of the workman, by increased exertion when 
 at work, to make short hours of labour — speaking, of 
 course, within reasonable limits — as profitable to his 
 employer as the longer day. He must take care that 
 he does not, by working shorter hours, so increase the 
 cost of production in England that competition with 
 foreign industry becomes impossible. If this should be 
 the result of shorter hours, the English workman would 
 soon fmd his employment diminish, and a return to 
 longer hours might become necessary, in order to recover 
 the business which had been lost. 
 
 It has indeed been justly urged that in an industiy 
 in which machinery is tlie principal instrument of
 
 The Nine Hours Jlovement. 11 
 
 production, no exertions on the part of the operative 
 Avill compensate for the loss sustained by the restriction 
 of the hours of labour. The solution of this difficult 
 problem must in the end, I anticipate, be found in the 
 employment of additional labour. It is impossible for 
 the human machine to keep pace with machinery 
 made of brass and iron. But why should not the 
 machine, which never tires, be tended by two or three 
 artisans, relieving each other as one watch relieves 
 another on board ship ? In driving the machinery of 
 steam-ships it has been found necessary, on all long 
 voyages, to have three sets of engineers and firemen, 
 who are on duty eight hours in the twenty- four. Why 
 should not the day be divided into three periods of 
 eight hours, or the working day be extended to sixteen 
 hours, two sets of men being employed ? The change 
 arising from the increased and increasing use of 
 machinery seems to render corresponding modifications 
 in the application of labour to industrial production 
 essential. Sooner or later I confidently believe that 
 the system already adopted at sea will be applied, 
 mutatis inutandis^ to the management of machinery 
 ashore. 
 
 There is no cause to fear that the workman will Piecework, 
 decline to put forth his best skill and greatest energy 
 wdien encouraged to do so by the hope of reward. In 
 my small personal experience I have seen much to 
 confirm the opinion, expressed by Adam Smith, that 
 ' workmen, when they are liberally paid by the i)iece, 
 are very apt to overwork themselves, and ruin their 
 constitution in a few years.' Quite recently I looked
 
 12 The Nine I/our.i Moveinenl. 
 
 through tlie report of tlic Engineers' Union. On 
 examining the hst of members deceased during the 
 previous year, I was grieved to observe so many 
 premature deaths, so few occurring at or near the age 
 which in Scripture is given as the allotted term of 
 years of frail humanity. Though it would, in the pre- 
 sent condition of trade, be simply impossible to enter- 
 tain the notion of a further reduction of hours, I 
 hope to see the day when the progress of mechanical 
 invention, and habits of greater diligence on the part 
 of workmen, may enable them to earn as good a day's 
 w^ages, and do as much work for their employer, in 
 eight hours as in nine. In order, however, to accom- 
 plish so great a reform, the trades union must no 
 longer interpose, enforcing upon all w^orkmen a regu- 
 lated diligence, and preventing them from making the 
 best use of their powers. Overwork is equally un- 
 desirable in a moral and an industrial point of view. 
 Adam Smith has truly said that ' the man who works 
 so moderately as to be able to work constantly, not 
 only preserves his health the longest, but, in the course 
 of the year, executes the greatest quantity of work.' 
 On the other hand, much listlessness and idleness may 
 be seen in the workshop. I look forward to a time, 
 when there may be more continued attention to 
 business during the w^orking hours, and when the 
 w^orkman shall receive a proportionate reward in 
 shorter hours of labour. 
 HiKh ^s the number of hours in the working day ffives no 
 
 wages may ^ . 
 
 not involve accuratc uicasurc of the amount of work accomplished, 
 
 high price . ,. . 
 
 of labour, go tlic rate of wa>o-es affords no mdication of the actual
 
 Tlie Nine Hours Movement. 1 3 
 
 cost of labour. Cases have been recently quoted of 
 English workmen on the railways in France earning 
 double the pay awarded to the French labourer, and 
 yet executing for the employer a greater amount of 
 work, in proportion to the wages they received, than 
 the native workman. It must, however, be remembered 
 that this remarkable result was due to the superior 
 physical energy and skill of the English navvy as 
 compared with the French agricultural labourer. If 
 the Enghsh artisan receives higher wages than the 
 foreigner, he must, like the navvies in France a quarter 
 of a century ago, in the earlier days of railway enter- 
 prise, earn his higher wages by a corresponding 
 superiority in energy and skill. In railway experience 
 it has been repeatedly proved that an increase in the 
 rate of wages will often produce a more favourable 
 result to the employer than the lower rate. Indeed, 
 in a rude climate, the power of the manual labourer 
 cannot be fuUy developed, unless he is supplied with a 
 more generous diet than that upon which the agricul- 
 tural labourers in some parts of the country support 
 themselves. 
 
 The success, which marked my father's career, has 
 become matter of notoriety. I venture to assert that 
 no employer ever dealt more liberally with labour. 
 A rise in the prevalent rate of wages was an almost 
 invariable result of the commencement of railway ope- 
 rations in any county in England, or in any country 
 abroad. On one occasion an estimate was submitted 
 to my father for a contract, for which a sharp com- 
 petition was exj^ected. The prices had accordingly
 
 14 The Nine /Join's Jforrntt'uf. 
 
 been cut down 1o an uiiiisiuilly low figure. He there- 
 upon asked liow it was proposed to cany out the work 
 for such inadequate prices. In reply it was stated that 
 the calculation was based on the assumption that a re- 
 duction of wages could be negotiated. On receiving 
 this explanation my father desisted from idl further 
 examination of the estimate, saying that if business 
 could only be obtained by screwing down w^ages he 
 would rather be without it. A similar feeling I believe 
 to be generally entertained by employers. The dear- 
 ness of labour in England has stimulated inventive 
 genius and administrative skill, and the continued 
 success of our trade should be attributed, not only 
 to the energy of the British workman, but to those 
 improvements in the processes of manufactm^e, the 
 merit of which should be equitably apportioned among 
 our men of science, oiu" scientific employers of labour, 
 and those skilful workmen, not few in number, Avho 
 have exercised their ingenuity wdth success in per- 
 fecting or abridging the tasks in which they have been 
 engaged. 
 Wages at While tlic Comparative cheapness of fuel and the 
 
 -Essen, . -, , • 1 /> 
 
 abundant supply of u'on and other raw materials of 
 industry have been an immense advantage both to 
 capital and labour in England, it must be acknow- 
 ledged that, in economy of production no less than in 
 design, foreign competition treads closely on our heels, 
 English workmen only imperfectly realise the serious 
 odds against which our industrial establishments con- 
 tend. It requires much skill in the employer, much 
 energy in the workman, to compensate for the difference
 
 Tlte Nine Ilour.s Movement. 15 
 
 in the wages. Perhaps the most successful engineering 
 establislnnent on the Continent is M. Krupp's at Essen. 
 Between 8,000 and 10,000 men are employed. Day 
 workmen and helpers receive only Is. 2^d. to 1<§. ^^d. 
 a day, while the wages of smiths, piiddlers, carpenters, 
 and masons average 21. 86'. to 6/. 155. a month. These 
 wages would not satisfy the English artisan, yet they 
 are the highest which are paid in any part of Germany. 
 This low rate of wages is to be explained partly by the 
 cheapness of provisions ; and here let me remind you 
 that the comparative cheapness of provisions abroad 
 goes a long way to compensate foreign competitors for 
 the higher price of coal and iron. Moreover, the mode 
 of living adopted by the artisans in Germany is more 
 frugal than English habits will permit. A writer in the 
 August number of the Revue des Deux Mondes states 
 that at Essen 1,500 of the workmen live together in a 
 barrack, where they have an eating room in common. 
 In this barrack the workmen can procure food and 
 lodging for the small sum of lOii. a day. The writer 
 proceeds to state that the favourite beverage of the 
 workmen at Essen is coffee, and suggests that their 
 preference for a cup ' which cheers, but not inebriates ' 
 to intoxicating liquors is worthy of imitation in other 
 countries. In spite of the development of industry in 
 this country, the constantly increasing employment, 
 and gradual increase in the rate of wages, we have 
 to deplore the existence side by side with this pros- 
 perity of a miserable and, we are too apt to think, 
 inevitable pauperism. Do not the statistics of the con- 
 sumption of intoxicating liquors, the expenditure of
 
 16 Tlie Nine J J ours ]\f(>r<'ment. 
 
 100,000,000/. a 3'car on drink, indiciite an excessive 
 indulgence in the use of stimulants ? 
 Causes 111 England the facilities of communication, wliicli 
 
 teiuliiii^ to . , 
 
 equalise railways have aflbrded, have had a marked efTect in 
 equalising the cost of labour throughout the country. 
 The difference in the rates of pay of the operatives 
 employed in shipbuilding on the Thames, the Mersey, 
 the Tyne, and the Clyde, has diminished, and will con- 
 tinue to diminish. Inequalities in the cost of living tend 
 to disappear, and differences in the rental of land, ac- 
 cording as the available area is large or small, and in the 
 cost of materials, will be the only elements of cost in 
 which equahty will be impossible. That which has 
 already occurred in England will be repeated over a 
 wider area. If wages in England, taking into account 
 the amount of labour performed for the money paid, 
 and the cost of living, give to the English artisan a great 
 advantage over the foreigner, foreign labour will be at- 
 tracted to the English workshop. On the other hand, 
 the cost of the voyage to the United States has been 
 so materially reduced that the higher rates of pay 
 wliich the workman receives on the other side of the 
 Atlantic cannot but affect the price of labour here. 
 The cost of living has increased so much, since the war 
 between the North and South, that it is doubtful 
 whether the married workman has derived any ad- 
 vantage from the increase in his wages. Should his 
 position become much improved by a reduction in the 
 cost of living, without a corresponding reduction in 
 his wages, a large number of our skilled operatives will 
 be attracted to a field of labour where employment is
 
 The Nine Honvf^ Movement. 17 
 
 fo be obtained on betler tcnns. This has occurred, in 
 point of fact, in South Wales, where reductions of 
 wages have had the effect of increasing the emigration 
 of miners to America. With a more easy means of 
 communication, a more perfect solidarity must gradually 
 be established between the industrial classes through- 
 out the civilised world. Tlie international combinations 
 of the operatives may do something to check the influx 
 of foreign labour into England. But they can only 
 effect that object by giving an additional impetus to 
 the ascending movement, of late years much more 
 rapid on the Continent than with us, in the scale of 
 wages. It is almost superfluous to remark, that the 
 rise of wages on the Continent will be an advantage to 
 British industry, by making the competition with the 
 Continental manufacturer more equal than before. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the importance of a Messrs. 
 
 Brings, 
 
 knowledge of the markets and of the state of trade to 
 the industrial classes ; and it has been suggested that 
 the course of business should be carefully watched. 
 An inspection of the employer's books would doubt- 
 less be a still more effectual means of obtaining 
 this knowledge. This inspection is permitted in 
 Messrs. Briggs's co-operative colliery. Theirs is a 
 noble experiment which merits a full measure of 
 success. It is clear, however, that such an arrange- 
 ment as that experimentally adopted by Messrs. 
 Briggs could not in practice be extensively applied. 
 In many branches of trade the returns are in the high- 
 est degree fluctuating. A cycle of years of extreme 
 depression is followed by a period of corresponding 
 
 c
 
 1 1^ The Aliie Uours Movement. 
 
 prosperity. During the years of bad trade workmen 
 are employed at rates of wages wliicli involve con- 
 siderable loss to the employer, who looks for his 
 compensation to the good years of large profits. If 
 the workmen were continually informed of the profits 
 of their employers, they would be apt to exact 
 their full share of reward in the good years. They 
 might not be equally ready to submit to sacrifices in 
 the succession of years of bad trade. So in the case 
 of the peculiarly hazardous business of a railway con- 
 tractor. In some of his contracts the profits will be 
 large, in others the loss will be of serious amount. 
 The large employer, taking a general view of his 
 affairs, and setting the good contracts against the bad, 
 contents himself if the general result is satisfactory. 
 Is it likely that the navvy, who works equally hard 
 both on the bad contracts and the good, would be 
 content to suffer a reduction of pay on the bad 
 contract, and to see his fellow-workmen, employed 
 elsewhere, but working no harder, receive double the 
 pay awarded to himself? Is it not, on the contrary, 
 certain, that while the navvy upon the unsuccessful 
 contract would object to such a reduction of pay 
 as would protect the employer from loss, the navvy 
 employed on the more remunerative undertaking, if 
 he were made aware of the profits, would press with 
 urgency for some share in the gains of his employer, 
 in the form of an increase in his pay ? Such being the 
 practical difficulties in the way of opening the ledger 
 of the capitalist to the inspection of the operative, 
 what other means are available for enabling the work •
 
 The Nine Hoiir.^ Movemoil. 1 1' 
 
 man to determine the fair I'ate of wages, in liis own 
 branch of business ? The poUtical economy of the 
 wages question, and the general principles which 
 determine the rate of w^ages, are simple enough. The 
 difficulties, which beset the question, lie entirely in the 
 practical application of the principles to the facts. 
 The facts are, unhappily, unknown to the working men. 
 They have to struggle in the dark, and have no means 
 of estimating correctly the profits of their employers. 
 The last great strike in the coal trade in Lancashire 
 occurred during the depression caused by a financial 
 panic. The consumption of coal had been much 
 reduced. Foundries and engineering works received 
 no orders ; because the railways, with a few exceptions, 
 were in a state of collapse. The loss of employment, 
 and the mildness of the winter, had especially told on 
 the consumption of coal in the metropolis, where vast 
 stocks had accumulated. It was therefore to the 
 interest of the coal-owners to cease for a time to raise 
 coal from their mines. They, however, thought it 
 more just to the miners in their employ, to propose a 
 reduction of 10 per cent, in their wages. The reduced 
 wage was peremptorily refused, and the men went out 
 on strike. A resolution more favourable to the 
 interests of their employers could not have been 
 formed. I was present on the scene as a disinterested 
 spectator. Mr. Mundella, who has won an honour- 
 able name by his humane labours, was anxious to be 
 the messenger of peace. Unhappily his endeavours 
 to mediate were unsuccessful, and the workmen con- 
 tinued the strike until their resources were exhausted. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 'JliC, Niin' J/oiii:-; Movement. 
 
 It is precisely in sucli a case as tliis that tlie co-o[)era- 
 ti\e associations, working side by side with i)rivate 
 enterprise, could difluse anioiig the workmen in the 
 trade a knowledge of tlie state of affairs, which would 
 make such a mistake as that committed at Wigan 
 impossible. 
 Risks of Co-operation would teach our industrial population 
 
 to appreciate the dillicultics and hazards attending the 
 investment of capital in business. I have had an 
 opportunity of seeing what they are. I can assure the 
 working man, whose stock in trade is secure amid all 
 the fluctuations of commercial life, because it consists 
 of his individual experience and dexterity, of which no 
 reverse of fortune can deprive him, that the more 
 precarious tenure by which capital is held — capital 
 which lias only been amassed after long years of thrift 
 and untiring exertion — ought to mitigate the envy, 
 which the rare instances of great success in commercial 
 enterprise may arouse. In the difficult vocation of a 
 railway contractor, the fluctuation and anxieties, of 
 which I speak, are felt with pecuhar severity. I know of 
 one great contract, in which a firm with three partners 
 lost 750,000/. I could enumerate other contracts, in 
 which, though the actual loss was not so serious, the 
 result was even more disastrous, in proportion to the 
 limited extent of the operations. 
 Education The difliision of education under the recent Act 
 
 co-opera- will, doubtlcss, assist the industrial classes to overcome 
 the difficulties of co-operative organisation ; and, when 
 a higher scale of education is given to the people than 
 the purely elementary instruction which is now pro- 
 
 tion.
 
 The Nine Hours Movetnent. 21 
 
 posed, the gi'eat quality of self-help will be more highly 
 developed. Under the Austrian Education Act of 
 1870, the necessity of compulsory attendance is ac- 
 cepted, and in addition to the bare elements of know- 
 ledge which are to be taught in England, the educational 
 course comprises the history and geography of tlie 
 child's native country, physical science, geometry, and 
 singing. Seligious instruction is entrusted in the first 
 instance to the communion to which the parents belong. 
 If the religious bodies neglect their duty, it is under- 
 taken by the State. With such an example before 
 them, our people will not long rest content with the 
 present scheme, and will expect a higher education 
 than the State as yet has provided. 
 
 In times of commercial depression, the importance Courts cf 
 
 . . concili;i- 
 
 of establishing friendly means of adjustmg the rival tion. 
 claims of capital and labour is underrated. When the 
 rapid increase of production is checked, and more 
 when the rate of production is diminished, the com- 
 petition among the industrial classes for employment 
 makes it impossible for labour, however skilfully orga- 
 nised, to exact any concessions from capital. It often 
 happens, in periods of unsuccessful trade, that mills 
 are kept running, mines are being Avorked, and that 
 engineering establishments are in ojieration, although 
 the results may involve the employer in serious loss. ^ 
 In such cases production is continued, partly for the 
 sake of sparing to the workmen the suffering arising 
 from suspension of industry, partly also with the hope of 
 a return of more remunerative trade. It will be readily 
 understood that, under such ad\'erse circinnstauces.
 
 22 The Nine Hours Movement. 
 
 the employers cannot possibly entertain demands for 
 an augmentation of wages. The case is reversed in 
 periods of commercial prosperity, wlien an increasing 
 production in every branch of industry affords em- 
 ployment to every individual who is able to work. 
 The competition of unemployed labour is no longer 
 felt, and labour will naturally begin to seek for an 
 increased reward. The certainty that these claims 
 will arise is a strong reason why some effort should 
 be made to establish friendly and impartial tribunals, 
 by which they can be review^ed. Education will pro- 
 bably do much to develop the usefulness of courts 
 of conciliation. It may be, as the Economist says, 
 that a court of conciliation can never adjust a real 
 quarrel. But it is certain that it may do much to 
 prevent a quarrel from arising. If the workmen were 
 satisfied that an employer could not make a concession 
 without suffering serious loss, they would not stand 
 out for impossible conditions. The constant meeting 
 of employers and representatives of the operatives at 
 the same table must naturally facilitate peaceful nego- 
 tiation, where a desire for peace exists on both sides. 
 With constant discussion, coming events will cast their 
 shadow before, and disputes are not likely suddenly 
 to arise. Again, employers will acquire the habit of 
 giving more unreserved explanations as to the condition 
 and prospects of trade. 
 
 It seems to me that in England we should do well 
 to study the state of society in Switzerland, as described 
 by Mr. Bonar. In Switzerland the personal relations 
 between employers and employed are far more intimate
 
 The Nine Hours Movement. 23 
 
 and cordial than with us. Persons of every grade of 
 society sit side by side in the cafes and places of amuse- 
 ment. The admission of workmen into the communal 
 councils, where they share with their employers the 
 responsibilities and honours of public life, while it 
 encourages a wholesome spirit of independence, does 
 much to establish a mutual feeling of sympathy and 
 regard. Sometimes a want of cordiality in the de- 
 meanour of the employer is misinterpreted, as indicating 
 a want of sympathy and kindness of heart. A little 
 more facility of manner towards faithful and deserving 
 workmen would often encourage sentiments of loyal 
 goodwill beneficial alike to the master and the man. 
 When I had the privilege of accompanying my lamented 
 father on visits of inspection to works under construc- 
 tion, I was ever deeply impressed by his genial manner 
 towards his old followers. He used to recognise many 
 of the old navvies, even some whom he had not met 
 for years, and address them by their Christian names. 
 He would never omit to shake hands cordially with 
 old gangers and sub-contractors, and when he met 
 them on the works he would generally pull up for a 
 few minutes to talk over old times, and ask after 
 mutual acquaintances who had been employed on 
 former contracts. A small manifestation of kindness — 
 how little it costs ; how much it is valued ! In con- 
 clusion, let me congratulate the workmen of Newcastle 
 on their generally well-regulated conduct in the trying 
 ordeal through which they have lately passed. It is 
 by meritorious self-restraint, by urging with moderation 
 and fairness demands which they deem to be just, that
 
 24 The Nine Hours Movenienf. 
 
 the claims of tlio ()])eratives on the sym[)athy of all 
 classes of society can alone be establislied. Believe 
 me, your recent conduct has won for you many friends ; 
 and the abihty which has marked the conduct of your 
 leader, Mr, Burnett, will increase the desire already 
 universally entertained to see labour more directly 
 represented in the House of Commons. I for one do 
 not want to see working men in that House as the 
 exponents of new constitutional doctrines. There may 
 be an ideal perfection in a republic ; but under the 
 limited monarchy, under which it is our happiness to 
 live, w^e possess every substantial guarantee for freedom. 
 Working men waste their joowers when they aspire to 
 become the leaders of political revolution. No patron 
 of the working classes, on the other hand, however 
 generous or friendly he may be, can urge their claims 
 and explain their wants to the legislature and the 
 country like one of themselves ; and the working man 
 may rest assured that a w^ell-selected champion of his 
 order will never speak in the House of Commons to 
 an indifferent, an inattentive, or an unsympathetic 
 audience.
 
 ZD 
 
 LECTUEE III. 
 WAGES IN 1873. 
 
 Address read before the Social Science Association, 
 AT Norwich, October, 1873. 
 
 In the following Address I shall devote myself to the 
 task of reviewing, I hope in an impartial spirit, the 
 most recent phases of the labour movement. The great 
 advance of wages is a conspicuous feature of modern 
 Enghsh industry, and is obviously due to the rapid 
 growth of the general trade of the country. The long 
 depression following on the panic of 1866 has been 
 succeeded by a period of unprecedented activity in 
 every branch of our export trade. The demands upon 
 the labour market have far exceeded the supply ; and 
 the artisan and labourer have not been slow to take 
 advantage of the situation. Between 1866 and 1869, 
 the value of the exports of the produce and manufac- 
 tures of the United Kingdom had remained stationar}'. 
 It rose from 190,000,000/. in 1869, to 256,257,000/. 
 in 1872. Such a leap was not possible, without im- 
 posing a strain upon the powers of our labouring popu- 
 lation, which must inevitably have led to a material 
 alteration in the rate of wages. 
 
 It is often alleged that the recent advance of wages
 
 26 War/e,s 171 1S7^. 
 
 is attributable to a series of successful strikes. It can, 
 however, be sliown, that a strike against a falling market 
 is never successful, and that trades unions, as an 
 organisation for the purpose of raising wages, can 
 rarely do more than assist the workman to obtain an 
 advance, at a somewhat earlier date than that at which 
 the competition among employers would have brought 
 about the same result. I may quote the unfortunate 
 strike in South Wales, at the commencement of this 
 year, as a signal instance of the inability of trades 
 unions to cope with the superior resources of employers, 
 when firmly united together. 
 South It may be worth while briefly to recapitulate the 
 
 strike, uiost important incidents of the South Wales strike. 
 
 1872 
 
 In June 1872, the miners had proposed to apply for 
 an advance of 20 per cent, on their wages. They 
 were, however, advised by the executive council of 
 their Union to limit their demand to an advance of 
 10 per cent. The advance was granted, and three 
 months later the men asked for an additional 10 per 
 cent. Their application was refused, and shortly after- 
 wards the masters gave notice of a 10 per cent, 
 reduction. The men thereupon desired that their case 
 should be referred to arbitration. This request was 
 refused by the masters, who were so fully convinced 
 of the strength of their own case, that they offered to 
 submit their books for the inspection of the workmen. 
 The miners were unwilling to avail themselves of this 
 offer ; and, encouraged by large promises of support from 
 Mr. Halliday and Mr. Pickard, they went out on strike. 
 Without venturing to apportion to eithei- of the
 
 Wages in 1873. 27 
 
 contending interests their precise share of responsibility, 
 it is clear that the ironmasters were alone in a position 
 to know whether their business was sufficiently remu- 
 nerative to make it possible to dispense with a reduction 
 of wages ; and it was stated by Mr. Crawshay that he 
 had taken a contract for 2,000 tons of rails at 9/. 2^. 5c?. 
 per ton nett, and that he lost money by selling rails 
 at that price. Mr. Crawshay expressed an opinion, 
 founded on the statements made by his workmen in 
 daily interviews, that, but for the interference of the 
 Union, they would have been satisfied with the expla- 
 nations which he had given them, and returned to their 
 work. Meanwhile, it had become a point of honour 
 with the masters to prove to their workmen that they 
 were able, when acting in concert, to fight a successful 
 campaign against the united forces of the Miners' Union. 
 The miners, on the other hand, were in the em- 
 barrassing position in w^hich workmen are always placed 
 whenever they are engaged in similar disputes. They 
 had to struggle in the dark, without any independent 
 information as to the profits realised by their employers. 
 The responsibility of the Executive Council of the 
 Miners' Union, during the labour crisis in South Wales, 
 was immense. Although the miners connected with the 
 Union were only 10,000 in number, by their cessation 
 of labour, 50,000 of their fellow-workmen, engaged in 
 various branches of the iron trade, were thrown out of 
 employment. The ' strike pay' distributed by the ColHers' 
 Union amounted to a total of 40,000/., a sum quite in- 
 significant, by comparison with the amount of 800,000/., 
 which the men would have earned, had they continued
 
 28 Wages in 1873. 
 
 at Mork ; and yL't tlie burden of sustaining a vast popu- 
 lation proved eventually insupportable. In point of 
 fact, the men were only enabled to continue the struggle 
 by the assistance of the tradesmen of the district ; and 
 when, at length, the latter found themselves unable to 
 continue the supply of the necessaries of life on credit, 
 surrender was inevitable. 
 
 The reaction against the International Society 
 among the working classes in Belgium originated in a 
 similar cause. In 1871, during the strike in Flanders, 
 the International was unable to fulfil its promises of 
 support, and it has consequently lost credit with the 
 operatives, many of wliom, as we are informed by Mr. 
 Kennedy, have withdrawm from the Society. It was 
 the same with the miners at Waldenbnrgh, in Silesia, 
 where 6,000 men went out on strike. After all their 
 savings had been exhausted, they received a grandi- 
 loquent despatch from the Central Council at Berlin, 
 urging them to emigrate en masse. A few obeyed the 
 advice. The majority who remained were compelled 
 to surrender, being consoled by the assurance that the 
 most valiant armies must sometimes yield to superior 
 numbers, and that they had won for themselves the 
 admiration of Germany. 
 
 Almost to the last tlie originators of the strike in 
 South Wales opposed the generally felt desire to return 
 to work. Never, perhaps, was the magical powder of 
 eloquence over an imperfectly educated audience more 
 conspicuously displayed than at the meetings, held by 
 the workmen, towards the close of the South Wales 
 strike. Men, who had gatliercd together for the
 
 }Va<jesin 1873. 29 
 
 express purpose of negotiating a peace with tlieir em- 
 ployers, were turned aside against tlieir own judgments 
 by the eloquent exaggerations of orators, who were 
 interested in the continuation of the struggle. 
 
 Overwhelming, indeed, is the influence of speech 
 over the uninstructed mind. Well may Carlyle ex- 
 claim : ' lie who well considers, will find this same 
 right of speech, as we moderns have it, to be a truly 
 astonishing product of ages ; and the longer he con- 
 siders it, the more astonishing and alarming. I reckon 
 it the saddest of all the curses that now lie heavy 
 on us.' 
 
 In the event, as I have said, the workmen returned 
 to their work on the terms which their masters had 
 originally proposed. Happily they had not long to 
 wait for an improvement of their position ; and, in less 
 than a fortnight after the close of the strike, the work- 
 men received an advance of 10 per cent, on the reduced 
 wages which they had accepted. 
 
 The defeat of the miners in South Wales offers, 
 as I have already said, one more illustration of the 
 inability of workmen to force a concession from em- 
 ployers possessed of abundant resources, when the state 
 of trade is such, that a concession cannot be made with- 
 out involving the employer in direct pecuniary loss. 
 We have evidence that this fact is becoming generally 
 recognised. The inability of trades unions to control 
 the rate of wages was frankly admitted by the members 
 of the International Society in their last congress, when 
 the working men were informed that hereafter, if they 
 wished to secure any substantial advantages for labour,
 
 30 Wages in 1873. 
 
 there must be a strike, en masse^ of all the working men 
 of every country in the world. 
 
 While I feel bound to assure the working man of 
 the certain frustration of his expectations, if he seeks 
 to obtain from capital impossible concessions, I am at 
 the same time ready to acknowledge that a strike will 
 sometimes make an impression on employers, even in 
 cases in which the demand for an increase of wages is 
 not immediately conceded. If the trade, in which the 
 workmen on strike are engaged, is prosperous for the 
 employer, cessation of production means loss of profit. 
 The apprehension of a recurrence of such loss may, on a 
 future occasion, induce concessions ; though the wage- 
 earning classes may rest assured that, in the long run, 
 and without the assistance of trades unions and the 
 disastrous interruptions to their business occasioned by 
 protracted strikes, the competition among employers, 
 to secure the services of workmen, will infallibly lead 
 to a rise of pay, proportionate to the amount of profit, 
 derived from the particular industry with which they 
 are connected. It was a noteworthy feature in the 
 South Wales strike, that the men never had recoiu'se to 
 physical violence. I attribute their good conduct in 
 this regard in part to the influence of Mr. Halhday and 
 his colleagues. 
 Committee I uow pass to the gravcr subject of the recent rise 
 p^of 3 in the price of coal. It will be remembered that, on 
 the motion of Mr. Mundella, a Committee of the House 
 of Commons was appointed in the last Session to inquire 
 into this subject. After a long investigation the Com- 
 mittee reported, as might have been expected, that, in
 
 Wages in 1873. 31 
 
 tlieir judgment, the rapid development of the iron 
 industry was the primary cause of the advance in tlie 
 price of coal. It appears fi'om statistics, compiled 
 under the direction of the Committee, that the total 
 production of coal in 1869 was 107,000,000 tons, of 
 which 79,000,000 were used in manufactiu-es. The total 
 production m 1871 w^as 117,000,000 tons, of which 
 85,000,000 were used iu manufactures. It will thus 
 be seen how large a proportion of the total quantity 
 of coal raised is consumed in manufactures, and specially 
 in the manufacture of iron. In 1867, 567,000 tons of 
 pig kon were exported, 4,193,000 tons of pig iron were 
 converted into rolled iron, 1,317,000 tons of rolled 
 iron were exported, and 28,331,000 tons of coal were 
 used in the manufacture of iron. In 1872, 1,333,000 
 tons of pig iron were exported, 5,390,000 tons of pig 
 iron were converted into rolled iron, 2,055,000 tons of 
 rolled iron were exported, and 38,229,000 tons of coal 
 were consumed iu the manufacture of iron. 
 
 In the evidence, which he gave before the Com- 
 mittee, Mr. Lowthian Bell stated that the greatly in- 
 creased demand for the manufactiure of iron, although 
 not the sole cause, was one of the causes, of the rapid 
 advance in the price of coal. 
 
 In his district the iron trade gave a great stimulus 
 to the coal trade. ' But,^ he observed, ' all industry 
 throughout the country has been, and still is, in a 
 flourishing condition. The manufacture of alkali in 
 the North, the increase of railways, the substitution of 
 steam for sailing vessels, all added to demands on an 
 output not very greatly increasing.' It is to be observed
 
 32 
 
 Wages in 1878. 
 
 that the rise in tlie price of iron ])re('e(lcd the rise in 
 tlie price of coal. Mr. Lowthian Bell quoted figures, 
 fj-om which it appeared that, in September 1871, forge 
 pig iron was selling for 50.^., while coke was selling for 
 from 10s. to 125. a ton. In July 1872, the forge pig 
 iron rose to 1205. — more than double the price of nine 
 months before — and coke, follovv^ing the advance in 
 iron, rose from 37^. 6^/. to A\s. a ton. 
 
 The Committee rightly observe, in commenting 
 upon these figiu^es, that, although the disturbance in the 
 proportion between the demand and the supply of coal 
 might not appear sufficient to explain fully the great 
 rise of prices, yet a comparatively small deficiency in 
 the supply of an article of paramount necessity may 
 produce a disproportionate increase of price, through 
 the eager competition of buyers, 
 Eise of Other reasons for the rise in the price of coal have 
 
 PoweU^*^ been urged, and among these more especially the re- 
 Dyffryn. ductiou iu the hours of labour, and the great advance 
 of wages. The advance in the wages paid to miners is 
 in truth extraordinar3^ In a large colliery, in which I 
 have an interest, I will give the advance in the weekly 
 wages of some of the principal trades.^ The weekly 
 wages of hewers in 1869 were 24,9. f)d. ; they have risen 
 in 1873 to 485. 9(i. The wages of timbermen in 1863 
 were 25.s. ; in 1873 they Avere 535. id. Haulers, in 
 1869, 205.; in 1873, 3l5. M. Landers, in 1869, 2l5.; 
 in 1873, 365. 9c?. Labourers in 1869, 155. ; in 1873, 
 245. a week. The average wages of all the men em- 
 ployed were 205. \ld. for 1869, as compared with an 
 average of 365. 86?. per week in 1873.
 
 Wages in 1873. 33 
 
 A similar rise of wages has been established in increased 
 other parts of the country, of which I have no personal working 
 knowledge. Wages have risen, since 1870, 48 per 
 cent, in Northumberland, and 50 per cent, in Durham. 
 The requirements of the Mines Regulation Act have 
 involved an additional expenditure, estimated by some 
 authorities at 12.^ per cent, upon the cost of produc- 
 tion. It was estimated by Mr. Pease that the total 
 cost of working, in the colheries with wliich he was 
 connected, had increased 50 per cent, between 1870 
 and 1872. Mr. A. Macdonald, the President of the 
 Miners' National Association, confirming the opinion 
 of Mr. Pease, estimated that the cost of getting coal 
 in Northumberland had increased, between 1868 and 
 1872-73, from 60 to 65 per cent., while the selling 
 price had risen 120 per cent. 
 
 It might be easily made to appear that the rise of Rise in 
 wages was the principal cause of the advance in coal. TOafand 
 But the case would be imperfectly presented for ex- Toifi^^^ 
 amination, if the profit derived from the working of the 
 pits were not taken into view. The colliery, to which 
 I have already referred, had for years been worked 
 at a serious loss — there being no dividend for the 
 proprietors in the years 1870 and 1871. Indeed, the 
 prospects were so gloomy in the latter year, that some 
 of the shareholders in the undertaking made over their 
 interest to their co-proprietors at a considerable dis- 
 count. At length, however, the tide suddenly turned, 
 and in 1872 an ample dividend was earned; while 
 there is every prospect that the results of the present 
 year may be still more favourable. 
 
 D 
 
 iiers.
 
 34 Wage.<< in 187:3. 
 
 My individual experience abundantly confirms the 
 opinion expressed by the Committee of the House of 
 Commons, to the effect that the prices of coal, which 
 prevailed for years before the present rise commenced, 
 were so low that they did not afford a reasonable 
 profit to the owners of collieries in general, or such 
 remuneration as the workmen might, having regard to 
 the hazardous and arduous nature of their labour, 
 reasonably expect. The rise in the rate of wages has 
 not, under the exceptional circumstances, been unrea- 
 sonable ; and it is certain that the real order of events 
 has been, first, the rise in price of iron, then a rise 
 in the price of coal, and lastly a rise in the rate of 
 wages. On the other hand, great as the profits in the 
 coal trade have been, it is a question whether the last 
 two years have compensated the coal-owners for the 
 former protracted era of stagnation, and, in many cases, 
 of serious loss. 
 
 In a letter addressed to the Times, early in the 
 present year, in which the case of the masters was 
 ably argued, Mr. Laing narrated the history of the 
 Blaenavon Company. Owing to various causes, that 
 concern had been worked for several years without 
 profit. Only within the last three years had it become 
 a profitable undertaking ; and yet all through a long 
 period of adversity an amount of 3,000/. to 4,000/. 
 a week was paid in wages, at the same rate as by the 
 most prosperous iron works ; and the capital sunk by 
 the original proprietors was the means of creating 
 a town, and supporting a population of 9,000, in a 
 secluded mountain valley of South Wales.
 
 Wages in \S13. 35 
 
 WJiile the present unprecedented [u-osperit}' may 
 continue for a year or two years at the most, yet in 
 process of time, tlie influx of capital into the coal trade, 
 attracted by the present high profits, will infallibly 
 lead to some reduction of price. New coal pits are 
 being sunk. Old pits are being improved. More 
 workmen are being trained in the business of mining. 
 Hence we may look with confidence to an augmentation 
 of the output, and to a sufficient supply for the ordinary 
 demands of consumers. The insufficient profits of 
 former days cannot be attributed to the unreasonable 
 standard at which wages were maintained. The 
 excessive competition in the supply of coal was the 
 true cause of the unfortunate position of the trade. 
 And as in the former period of depression, so in the 
 sudden, and it may be short-lived, prosperity of the 
 present day, the rates of wages must be regarded, not 
 as a cause, but as a consequence, of an abnormal 
 position of affairs. 
 
 Complaints have been urged as to the effects of 
 shortening the horn's of labour ; and it is certain that, 
 if a comparison be made between the amount raised 
 and the total number of individuals employed, a less 
 quantity is raised than in former years. It must not, 
 however, be forgotten that high wages have attracted 
 many untrained hands to the coal pits. It would be 
 presumptuous in me to express an opinion as to the 
 precise number of hours which -would constitute a fau' 
 working day in a coal pit. Mr. Macdonald, who has 
 had actual experience as a working miner, declares 
 that the present earnings could not be obtained with 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Wages in} S7''j. 
 
 less than eight hours of work a day, and that no man 
 who laboured assiduously for that number of hours 
 could Avork continuously six days a week at coal-mining. 
 It will be the duty of those, to whom the miners are 
 in the habit of looking for guidance, to watch with 
 care the coLU'se of trade. They know that the iron 
 manufactiu'es of this country cau only prosper, so long 
 as we are able to sell our iron abroad at cheaper rates 
 than those demanded by foreign producers. 
 Double- There are some who think that a limitation of the 
 
 tern.' ^^^' hours of labour is in itself an evil. I cannot share in 
 this view. Because some may make an luiwise use of 
 their newly acquired advantages, that is no reason for 
 returning to a former state of things, when, in the 
 general depression of trade, an undue pressure was 
 brought to bear upon the working man. ' No doubt,' 
 says Sir Arthur Helps, ' hard work is a great police 
 agent. If everybody were worked from morning till 
 night, and then carefidly locked up, the register of 
 crime might be greatly diminished. But what would 
 become of human nature ? Where would be the room 
 for growth in such a system of things ? ' 
 
 The use of leisure requires education, and that 
 education was not imparted to the mechanics, miners, 
 and puddlers of former generations. 
 
 Among the various proposals for maintaining the 
 production of collieries, while conceding to the indivi- 
 dual workman the advantage of a reduction in the 
 number of hours of daily labour, the double-shift 
 system of working promises a most satisfactory result. 
 My friend Mr. (now Sir George) Elhott, is pushing
 
 Wage^ in 1873. 37 
 
 the system of ii successsiou of labour in collieries, with 
 very advantageous results to all parties concerned. 
 Comparing a Durham collier}^, worked on the double- 
 shift system, w^ith a colliery in Glamorganshire, worked 
 by one set of miners, he ascertained that twice the 
 quantity of coal per day was being raised in Durham. 
 The prejudices of the miners in South Wales against the 
 double-shift have presented a serious obstacle to its intro- 
 duction. Sir George Elliott hopes that this may even- 
 tually be overcome by the influence of Mr. Macdonald 
 and other representatives of the men, whose superior in- 
 telligence will enable them to appreciate more readily 
 the advantages of new and improved systems of working. 
 
 Among various improvements, which may tend to Coai-eut- 
 reduce the price of coal, we may look with confidence chinery.' 
 to the increased use of coal-cutting machinery as a 
 substitute for manual labour, and to the discovery of 
 methods by which the consumption of fuel may be 
 reduced. The experiments, which have been tried with 
 the machines invented by Captain Beaumont, R.E., and 
 others, have been eminently satisfactory ; and these 
 machines are now being made in large numbers in 
 Glasgow and Birmingham. 
 
 Our domestic consumption is undoubtedly wasteful ; Economy 
 and the inventor of an effective improvement in the sumption 
 form of grate in common use will be a real benefactor 
 to his fellow-man. Already we have, in the cooking- 
 stove for yachts, the invention of Mr. Atkey, of Cowes, ^^r. 
 a highly successful apparatus. A letter from Mr. Vale, stove. 
 ex-President of the Liverpool Architectural Society, 
 addressed to the Time!^ in August last, describes a cook-
 
 38 Wages hi 1^1^. 
 
 ing stove for a party of nine persons and a crew of 
 thirteen men, which measured only one foot four inches 
 by one foot four inclies in area, and one foot nine inches 
 in height, the actual fuel-space being less than one 
 cubic foot. The fuel required in his yacht for one 
 day's consumption was forty-seven pounds of coke at 
 twenty shillings a ton, and the cost per head per day 
 amounted to less than one ftirthing. 
 
 In his lecture, dehvered at Bradford during the 
 
 meeting of the British Association in the present year, 
 
 Mr. Siemens described Captain Galton's ventilating 
 
 fireplace as a most valuable invention. 
 
 Captain ' The chicf novelty and merit,' he said, ' of Caiitain 
 
 Galton's "^ . . . . ^ 
 
 fireplace Galtou's fireplacc consists in providing a chamber at 
 the back of the grate, into which air passes directly 
 from without, becomes moderately heated (to 84° Fah.), 
 and, rising in a separate flue, is injected into the room 
 under the ceiling with a force due to the heated ascend- 
 ing flue. A plenum of pressure is thus established 
 within the room whereby indraughts through doors and 
 windows are avoided, and the air is continually renewed 
 by passing away through the fireplace chimney as usual. 
 Thus the cheerfulness of an open fire, the comfort of a 
 room filled with fresh but moderately warmed air, and 
 great economy of fuel, are happily combined with un- 
 questionable efficiency and simphcity : and yet this 
 grate is little used, although it has been fully described 
 in papers communicated by Captain Galton, and in an 
 elaborate report made by General Morin, le Directeur 
 du Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers of Paris, which 
 has also appeared in the English language.'
 
 Wages in 187o. 39 
 
 Economy in the use of coal for the manufacture Bessemer 
 
 ,.../., -1 , process. 
 
 or iron is a tar larger question than economy, however 
 desirable in itself, in the consumption for domestic 
 purposes ; and, as an illustration of what may be 
 achieved in this direction, I will quote some ex- 
 tracts from a letter from Mr. Bessemer, detailing the 
 results which have actually been attained through his 
 most valuable discoveries. 
 
 The average quantity of coal required to make a 
 ton of pig iron is about two tons of coal to a ton of pig ; 
 and as pig iron forms the raw material for the several 
 processes of manufacturing both malleable iron and 
 steel, we may treat the pig simply as the raw material 
 employed, and consider only how much coal is required 
 to make a ton of finished rails. About two tons of coal 
 are required in order to convert pig iron into iron 
 railway bars. 
 
 To produce one ton of steel rails by the old process 
 of making steel in Sheffield, a total consumption of ten 
 tons eight cwt. of coal is required ; and the conversion 
 of iron bars into blistered bars occupies from eighteen 
 to twenty days. 
 
 To make Bessemer 's steel from pig iron into steel 
 rails requires about five cwt. of small coal, in the form 
 of coke, to melt the pig iron in the cupola ; two cwt. 
 to heat the converting vessel and ladle ; two cwt. for 
 the blast engine, which converts five tons of pig iron 
 into fluid cast steel in twenty minutes ; and, lastly, 
 for rolling the ingots into rails, sixteen cwt. of coal, 
 making a total consumption of twenty-five cwt. of coal, 
 in producing one ton of Bessemer 's steel rails from pig
 
 40 Wages in 1873. 
 
 iron. Thus, coniinoii iron rails take two tons of coal ; 
 SliefTield cast steel rails, ten tons eight cwt. ; Bessemer's 
 steel rails, one ton five cwt. 
 
 But we must also consider other points in connec- 
 tion with these figures, in order to arrive at a correct 
 estimate of the saving of coals, effected by the introduc- 
 tion of steel, as a substitute for iron. 
 
 Although the cost of Sheffield steel entirely shut it 
 out of the market for rails, it must be borne in mind 
 that it was extensively used for wheel tires, slide bars, 
 piston rods, and other parts of locomotive engines ; and 
 here a saving of over nine tons of coal per ton of steel 
 has been effected. Further, it must be borne in mind 
 that at stations where rails are rapidly worn, the saving 
 by the use of steel, as a substitute for iron, must not 
 be simply estimated as a saving made on one ton of 
 each material. For instance, at the London and North- 
 western station at Crewe, the iron rails are so rapidly 
 worn, that they required to be reversed every four 
 months, each rail being completely worn out in eight 
 months. Bessemer's steel rails were first used at this 
 station, and after being in constant use for seven years, 
 they were removed in consequence of rebuilding the 
 station ; one side only of the rail having been used, and 
 this was not quite worn out. During the seven years, 
 therefore, that those rails were down, one ton five cwt. 
 only of coal had been employed in the production of 
 each ton of rail used at this station ; whereas ten sets 
 of iron rails would have been entirely worn out in that 
 period, each set consuming two tons of coals in its 
 roanufacture, or equal to twenty tons of coals for iron
 
 Wages z^i 1873. 41 
 
 rails, as against one ton five cwt. of coals for steel rails; 
 and these, when turned, would be equal to another 
 seven years' wear on the side not used. 
 
 The above is, no doubt, an extreme case, but the 
 same sort of thing goes on everywhere where steel is 
 used, though in a lesser degree. It has indeed been 
 admitted by competent persons, that the rapid destruc- 
 tion of iron rails would have caused a complete collapse 
 of the Metropolitan railways by continued interference 
 with the traffic, while removing the worn-out rails, had 
 not steel been employed. 
 
 It should further be borne in mind that the extra 
 strength of steel over iron admits of a reduction of one- 
 third of its weight in all structures, previously made in 
 iron. Thus, a further saving is effected in the fuel 
 consumed for a given work. 
 
 The rapidity with which Bessemer's steel is coming 
 into use will be appreciated, when it is stated that the 
 report of the jury at the London International Exhibi- 
 tion showed that the entire production of steel in 
 Great Britain, prior to Bessemer's invention, amounted 
 to 51,000 tons per annum ; while the quantity of Bes- 
 semer's steel made in Great Britain during the twelve 
 months ending June 1873 amounted to 481,000 tons, or 
 nearly ten times the amount of production prior to the 
 invention. Had this quantity of steel been made by the 
 old Sheffield process, it would have consumed, accord- 
 ing to the foregoing figures, 4,401,000 tons more coal 
 than was actually employed in its production. Should 
 this enormous increase in the manufacture continue in 
 the ratio of the last five years, we may five years hence
 
 42 
 
 Wage-« in 1873. 
 
 Economy 
 of fuel in 
 marine 
 engines. 
 
 Siemens' 
 furnace. 
 
 have triple llie quantity of steel made in tliis country 
 with a corresponding saving of fuel. 
 
 In steam vessels a remarkable economy of fuel has 
 of late been attained. In his lecture at Bradford Mr. 
 Siemens said : ' A striking illustration of what can be 
 accomplished in a short space of time was brought to 
 hght by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, over 
 which I have at present the honour to preside. In 
 holding their animal general meeting in Liverpool in 
 1863, they instituted a careful inquiry into the con- 
 sumption of coal by the best engines in the Atlantic 
 steam service, and the result showed that it fell in no 
 case below 4g lbs. per indicated horse-power per hour. 
 Last year they again assembled with the same object in 
 view in Liverpool, and Mr. Bramwell produced a table 
 showing that the average consumption by 17 good 
 examples of compound expansive engines did not 
 exceed 2^ lbs. per indicated horse-power per hour. 
 Mr. E. A. Cowper has proved a consumption as low 
 as 1^ lb. per indicated horse-power per hour in a 
 compound marine engine, constructed by him with an 
 intermediate superheating vessel. Nor are we likely 
 to stop long at this point of comparative perfection, for 
 in the early portion of my address I have endeavoured 
 to prove that theoretical perfection would only be 
 attained if an indicated horse-power were produced 
 with ^.-^ lb. of pure carbon, or say ^ lb. of ordinary 
 steam coal per hour.' 
 
 The furnace invented by the Messrs. Siemens is an- 
 other highly successful contrivance. In melting one ton 
 of steel in pots, 2 J tons of ccke are ordinarily consumed.
 
 Wages in 1873. 43 
 
 In Messrs. Siemens' furnace a ton of steel is melted 
 with 12 cwt. of small coal. 
 
 When such results as this have been secured by a 
 few inventors, what may we not ventiu^e to expect 
 from the concentration of many ingenious minds on the 
 important problem of economising coal? 
 
 It remains to consider how far tlie apprehensions, The iron 
 
 ... r' 1 r- n 1 ^rade 1840 
 
 entertamed m many quarters tor the future of the to 1872. 
 British iron manufacture, are justified by actual expe- 
 rience. When we look back upon the past, the growth 
 of British commerce cannot fjiil to reassure those who 
 are most inclined to look doubtfully on the future of 
 our industry. Some statistics of the increase in the 
 exports of iron and steel were given in a recent number 
 o^ Iron. Our exports of iron in 1840 amounted to 
 268,000 tons, of the value of 2,526,000/. The quantity 
 in 1850 was 783,000 tons; in 1860, 1,442,000 tons; 
 and in 1870, 2,716,000 tons. The value in the latter year 
 amounted to 21,080,000/. In 1872 the quantity was 
 3,383,000 tons, of the value of 36,000,000/. We are 
 sometimes assured that Belgium threatens our iron- 
 masters with serious competition, but in Belgium the 
 ore must be carried 100 miles or more to be smelted. 
 The coal-pits are worked in many cases with consider- 
 able difficulty, and a Belgian workman does little more 
 than half what an Englishman can accomplish in the 
 same space of time. Sometimes we are told we shall 
 lose our position in the Eussian market. The Eussian 
 Government are doing their utmost to encourage the 
 manufacture of iron at home, though there is httle 
 demand for pig iron in that country. The Eussians have
 
 44 ]}'<(^/es in J87o. 
 
 liad no exjjerieiice in puddling. Skilled mill mid forge 
 men are scarce. Few of those obtainable have had 
 any experience in the use of mineral fuel, and great 
 difficulty is experienced in consequence of the objection 
 of the Eussians to piece-work. Lastly, we are threatened 
 with competition from the United States. The pro- 
 duction of pig iron in the States may now be estimated 
 at 2,500,000 tons, an increase of 1,000,000 tons on the 
 production five years ago, and yet the ii'onmasters of 
 the United States, who are protected by a duty of 
 nearly 3/. a ton on railway iron, have hitherto been 
 unable to supply the entire demand at home. There 
 cannot be a doubt as to the ultimate consequences of 
 the comparative exhaustion of our own supplies of 
 raw material ; but we may hope that the tariffs, which 
 now throw obstacles in the way of legitimate trade, 
 will in time be removed, and that, as ]\Ir, Mattieu 
 Williams has suggested, we may be enabled to avail 
 ourselves of the natural resources of America for 
 obtaining our supplies of raw material, just as we 
 already derive large supplies of hematite iron ore from 
 Bilbao. 
 United At the present time the United States, not content 
 
 tariff with their natural advantages, impose an almost pro- 
 hibitory tariff on our exportations. There is a party 
 in America opposed to protection, but hitherto the 
 superior organisation and greater determination of the 
 manufacturers interested in the maintenance of the 
 tariffs have overpowered all opposition. At the last 
 annual meeting of the American Institute of Mining 
 Engineers at Philadelphia, the Honourable D. Kelley,
 
 Wages in IS1?>. 4:b 
 
 who delivered the opening address, asserted tluit, by 
 its dereliction of duty in not protecting the labourer of 
 Great Britain against competition, the Government of 
 this country have fostered anarchy in Ireland, while 
 the hfe of the labourer in England and Scotland has 
 been robbed of all its joys. ' The millions of sturdy 
 men,' he declared, ' represented by Bradlaugh, Odger, 
 Joseph Ai'ch, and the travelled and humane patrician, 
 Sir Cliarles Dilke, know that the world owes every man 
 a hving, and that it is only by protection that the 
 means of living can be secured to the people.' So long 
 as such a feeling prevails there is little hope of our 
 ironmasters obtaining free access to America. 
 
 The progress of the American iron works is the American 
 
 . . . . competi- 
 
 more creditable, because great difficulties are experi- tion. 
 enced in obtaining a sufficient supply of labour. Men 
 come over from England, having had theu' expenses 
 paid, on condition of taking an engagement for a period 
 of five years. As soon as their bargain is performed, 
 they generally fnid it impossible to resist the attractions 
 of an independent farm in the Far West. Their places 
 must be supplied by other workmen, obtained by the 
 same costly means from the mother-country. The 
 difficulty of obtaining skilled workmen has had a great 
 effect in America in stimulating the invention of labour- 
 saving machinery. As scientific manufacturers the 
 American ironmasters can doubtless hold their own 
 against the world. In finished iron the Americans 
 have been highly successful. Bridge- work, locomo- 
 tives, wheels and tires, and machinery, are produced at 
 prices which may compare not imfavourably with our
 
 46 W(tJ/<'.s ill 1 87^. 
 
 rcabody owii. As till illustnitioii ol" American inwiiuily and 
 
 Company, 
 
 enterprise, which came under my immediate notice on 
 the occasion of a recent visit to the States, I may point 
 to the Peabody Eille Company's estabhshment at Pro- 
 vidence, Ehode Ishmd. During the Rebelhon the 
 Company was fully employed in the manufacture of 
 small arms. The cessation of the struggle put an end 
 to the demand for military weapons. With the fertility 
 of resource which distinguishes American industry, the 
 manual skill of a large body of workmen especially 
 apt in the production of tools or machinery composed 
 of numerous small and interchangeable parts, and the 
 valuable and ingenious plant belonging to the Company, 
 are now employed in the production of sewing machines. 
 Three hundred machines are turned out every day, 
 and the sale is constantly increasing. The wages of 
 the 500 operatives employed are most liberal. The 
 monthly pay-sheet amounts to 25,000 dollars, giving 
 an average of 40^. a week throughout the factory. 
 The leading workmen, five or six in number, to whom 
 the work is let by the piece, or rather by sub-contract, 
 earn nearly 600/. a year. The superior mechanics 
 earn 125. to 145., labourers 45. to 65. a day. The 
 supply of highly-skilled labour is limited, but ordinary 
 mechanics can always be obtained. On an average, 
 one skilled mechanic a day makes application for 
 employment. 
 
 The success of the Peabody Company affords sig- 
 nificant evidence that the cost of production is not' 
 augmented in equal proportion to the high rates of 
 pay. At tlie time of my visit they were negotiating a
 
 Wrf(/es ill IST^. 47 
 
 contract for the sup])ly of 100,000 rifles to the Roiima- - 
 niaii Government, at the rate of G3s. per rifle ; and 
 they had to com{)ete for tlic contract against all the 
 makers of Birmingham and Liege. Tliis Company had 
 also in prospect an order for 200,000 rifles from the 
 Turkish Government. The success, with which the 
 Americans have reduced the cost of production by the 
 invention of machinery, gives us ground for caution lest 
 our old supremacy be shaken by tlie energy and talent 
 of the New World, while it also gives us reason to 
 hope that the elTects of the exceptionally high rates of 
 wages now prevailing may be mitigated, by substituting, 
 wherever it is possible, mechanical for manual labour. 
 
 Meanwhile there is nothing in the present condition Monopoly 
 
 - -■ . . „ . ... cannot be 
 
 oi our trade to justiiy serious misgivings, as to our retained. 
 power of continuing a successful competition with 
 foreign producers. It does not follow that, because 
 we have lost a monopoly of a particular branch of 
 trade abroad, the skill of the English workman must 
 have deteriorated, or the cost of production have been 
 unduly enhanced by the rise of wages. Foreign 
 countries may have imported from us a particular 
 commodity at a former time, solely because they were 
 inexperienced in the process of manufacture. When 
 my father was executing the Eouen and Havre Eailway 
 he imported the rails from England, although he had 
 to pay an import duty at the French custom-house, 
 amounting to a considerably larger sum than the 
 selling price of the rails at home. The former 
 almost incredible difference between the price of 
 English and French rails no longer exists ; because that
 
 48 }V(/</e.^ in 187:"). 
 
 special braiuili of industry is now as well understood 
 in France as in England. So, too, in the case of the 
 employment of English contractors for the execution 
 of public works on the Continent. An opportunity 
 was offered to them in the origin of the railway system 
 on the Continent ; because in those early days of 
 railways there were no native contractors sufficiently 
 acquainted with the art of making railways to venture 
 to compete with the English invaders. Their in- 
 telHgent observation of our methods of construction 
 soon enabled the contractors on the Continent to tender 
 in competition with the English ; and for many years 
 past all the railway works in France have been carried 
 out by Frenchmen. It does not follow that the English 
 contractor has lost his former skill. The true inference 
 is that the French, who had been previously in a 
 position of inferiority solely from lack of experience, 
 were enabled, as soon as they had gained that ex- 
 perience, to execute the work required, without the 
 assistance of foreigners. 
 
 The development of our commercial relations with 
 France, since the negotiation of the Treaty of Com- 
 merce, affords convincing proof of the great capabilities 
 of our manufacturing industry. Since 1860 the 
 exportation of iron, wrought and unwrought, to France, 
 has increased in value 540,000/. 
 The iron Lookiug therefore to the present condition of our 
 
 trade in . ^ . . . . . ^ . ... 
 
 1871-2. iron trade, there is nothing to justity serious misgivings. 
 According to the last report of the Commissioners of 
 Customs, the average value of the pig iron exported in 
 1870 was 21. 19.9. 2d. per ton ; in 1871, 3/. 1.9. 8d ; in
 
 ■ Wages in 1873. 49 
 
 1872, 5/. Os. lid. ; and yet the demand for pig iron 
 continued unchecked. Tlie increase in the quantity 
 exported in 1872 over 1871 was 28 per cent. The 
 increase in the price ranged as high as 108 per cent. 
 
 While the export of pig iron attained to the figures 
 I have quoted, the total increase in the exports of iron 
 and steel manufactures did not exceed 6*7 per cent. 
 Indeed, the manufacture of steel actually fell off from 
 a value of 683,000/. in 1871 to 623,000/. in 1872, a 
 result the more remarkable as compared with the 
 increase in pig iron, because the price of steel had not 
 advanced in the same proportion as the rise in pig 
 iron. The price of the latter article had risen, as I have 
 said, from 3/. Is. 8^. to 5/. Os. lid. per ton; while 
 unwrought steel had only advanced from 30/. 12s. 3/i. 
 to 32/. 18s. Id. per ton, and steel manufactures from 
 52/. 8s. Id. to 55/. 4s. lOd. per ton. 
 
 Hence it would appear that a demand once created 
 for an article of the first necessity, such as iron, is not 
 easily checked, even by a very marked advance of 
 price. 
 
 It must, however, be remembered that, when the 
 course of trade has been changed, and consumers, 
 alarmed by the high prices in our market, have been 
 taught to look for their supplies elsewhere, the position 
 once lost is not easily recovered. The superiority of 
 our artisans in skill and industry has assisted our manu- 
 facturers to compete successfully in the past. The 
 same success will not be maintained in future, un- 
 less our employers and workmen continue, as before, 
 
 E
 
 50 Wa(jes in 1873. 
 
 to use their united efforts to reduce the cost of produc- 
 tion. 
 Ship- Perhaps no branch of industry has been more suo 
 
 Luilding. ^ . . -^ 
 
 cessfully prosecuted in this country than ship-building ; 
 and the extensive use of iron for ships of the largest 
 type makes it a point of great interest to ascertain 
 how far the cost of building ships has been affected 
 by the recent advance of wages. I am informed by 
 an eminent firm of shipbuilders, that, at the close of 
 1871, shortly after the reduction in the hours of 
 labour from fifty-nine or sixty hours a week to fifty- 
 four, an agitation was commenced amongst all classes 
 of men for an advance in their rates of wages, which 
 has been, in some shape or other, conceded to them, to 
 the extent of from 7^ to 15 per cent. In reaUty, this 
 was the natural consequence of the reduction in the 
 hours of labour; although at the outset the leaders of 
 that movement professed that they had no desire to 
 raise the rates of wages. 
 
 The reduced hours of labour increased the cost of 
 production of all articles, and led to the necessity for an 
 advance in the rates of wages. In point of fact, the 
 advantage of the reduction in the hours of labour being 
 conceded, on social and moral grounds, the necessity 
 for some corresponding advance in wages followed as a 
 matter of course, and was perhaps not unreasonable. 
 The two causes combined have resulted in an increased 
 cost of production, so far as labour is concerned, of 
 from 20 to 25 per cent. The cost of building first-class 
 steamers and first-class marine engines has, in conse-
 
 Wages in 1873. 51 
 
 quence of the rise in wages and materials, been increased 
 from 30 to 40 per cent. 
 
 The actual diminution, by the nine hours move- 
 ment, in the amount of work turned out with a given 
 plant should, in theory, be only in proportion to the 
 reduced number of the hours of work, or, say, about 
 one-tenth. It is in reality from 15 to 20 per cent. 
 
 From an eminent firm on the Clyde, I learn that on 
 riveters' and smiths' piece-work there has been an in- 
 crease of 20 per cent, and 10 per cent, respectively, in 
 the last two years ; on the other hand, in fitters' piece- 
 work there has been a decrease of 10 per cent. The 
 price of first-class steamers in 1871 was about 24/. per 
 ton. At present the cost would be from 30 to 35 
 per cent, higher. While the building of sailing ships 
 decreased in 1871 and 1872, in 1873 there has been 
 an increase in the number built. The building of 
 steamers has not been so brisk in 1873 as in 1871 or 
 1872, a marked falling-ofi* in orders having taken 
 place since the beginning of this year. 
 
 On the Thames I find that piece-work is at least 
 15 per cent, dearer now than in 1869 and 1870. The 
 operatives, employed in attending to large self-acting 
 machines, which require little manual labour, are only 
 working fifty-fom* hom*s instead of sixty hours. Again, 
 there has been a large increase of overtime, since the 
 nine hours movement commenced. Wages for over- 
 time are higher than for ordinary time. An hour and 
 a half's pay is given for every hour's work, and many 
 men refuse employment, unless a certain amount of 
 overtime is given to them. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 Wages in 1873. 
 
 With these recent reports from shipbuilders it may 
 be useful to compare the general progress of ship-buikl- 
 ing in the United Kingdom, in the last ten years. The 
 tonnage of the ships built increased from 328,000 tons 
 in 1867 to 475,000 tons in 1872. There has been no 
 increase in the registered tonnage in the interval. 
 The vast increase in the proportion of steam to sailing 
 vessels will fully explain the apparently stationary con- 
 dition of the mercantile marine, if tested solely by the 
 amount of tonnage. It is equally reassuring to find 
 that, in the estimation of foreigners best qualified to 
 form an opinion, the extent of oiu* merchant navy 
 excites profound admiration. M. Bal, director of the 
 Bureau Veritas, in giving evidence before the French 
 Parliamentary Commission of inquiry into the condition 
 of the French Mercantile Marine, said that to him it 
 seemed almost incredible that England, which has 
 only 27,000,000 inhabitants, had 6,903,300 tons of 
 shipping, whereas all the other maritime Powers com- 
 bined had only 6,648,000 tons. 
 
 In the United States, until the quite recent, and 
 still but partial, revival of the trade, the decline of ship- 
 building had been very remarkable. In a country 
 possessed of fewer natural resources, thesufiering, which 
 would have been entailed on the particular industries, 
 would have been almost insupportable. According to 
 Mr. Wells, 15,000 men were employed in New York, 
 in 1860, in building and repairing marine steam-engines. 
 In 1870, 700 hands found employment in the same 
 branch of industry.
 
 Wages in 1873. 53 
 
 In France, it would seem, from the report of Mr. 
 West, that a wooden ship costs from 3/. to 4Z. a ton 
 more than a similar sliip built in England or Canada ; 
 and in regard to iron steamers, the price of wrought 
 iron in France for ship-building purposes is so much 
 higher than in England as to make competition im- 
 possible. 
 
 Amid the many difficulties of the present time, 
 English employers may perhaps take comfort by look- 
 ing abroad, where they will generally find that the 
 same problems with wdiich they have to deal are pre- 
 senting themselves, and often in a still more aggravated 
 form. 
 
 Passing from ship-building to engineering, I have Wages iu 
 ascertained that in an establishment on the largest ing works. 
 scale, in which the cost of production has been reduced 
 to the utmost, the expenditure was increased in 1871 
 over 1870, for wages, 2*73 per cent., and for materials, 
 2-59 per cent. Again, the increase in 1872 over 1871 
 was, for wages, 7*97, and for materials, 7 '94 per cent., 
 thus showing that the most liberal application of capital, 
 the most ingenious machinery, and skilful administration, 
 had failed to compensate for the great advance in the 
 rate of wages. 
 
 I may also quote the following details from a report 
 received from an engineering establishment, with which 
 I am connected. 
 
 The average wages of some of the most important 
 trades in our employ in 1871, 1872, and 1873, were as 
 follows : —
 
 54 
 
 Wages in 1873. 
 
 Trade 
 
 Year 1871 
 
 Year 
 
 1872 
 
 Year 1873 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 8. 
 
 d. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 Fitters . . . . 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Turners 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 Planers 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 Slotters 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 Drillers 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 Moulders 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Dressers 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Coppersmiths 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Smiths 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 Strikers 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 Patternmakers 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Joiners 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 Carpenters . 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 Painters 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 Platers (boilermakers) 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Riveters „ 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 Holders-up „ 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Platers (ship yard) 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Riveters „ 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Holders-np ., 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Labourers . 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 In reply to my inquiry, as to the effect of tlie nine 
 liours movement, I am informed that, while wages have 
 considerably advanced, no increase of activity has been 
 exhibited on the part of the men. Indeed, less work is 
 now performed in an hour than formerly, when ten 
 hours constituted an ordinary day's work. 
 
 The rise of wages has been very considerable in the 
 last two years. The price of locomotives has, in conse- 
 quence of these various causes, increased from 25 to 30 
 per cent. An ordinary passenger engine, which might 
 have been built in 1871 for 2,200/., cost in 1872 2,400/., 
 and in the present year the price would be 2,600/. In 
 modern marine engines the cost of materials and labour 
 is about equal. An engine, which might have been
 
 Wages in 1873. 55 
 
 built in 1871, at 40/. per horse-power, would have cost 
 ill 1872 46/. In the present year the price has 
 advanced from 55/. to 60/. per horse-power. 
 
 In one of the largest steel and iron works in the 
 North I learn that the wages of skilled hands are now 
 from ten to sixteen shillings a day, and have increased 
 25 per cent, since 1870. 
 
 Lastly, I am informed that there is no appreciable 
 difference in the dress or appearance of the working 
 man in the town in which my works are situated, that 
 there is more money and more time spent in the public- 
 house, and that time in the morning is not so well kept 
 now as it was before the nine hours movement com- 
 menced. It is suggested to me that the improvement 
 in wages and the shortening of the time came too 
 suddenly upon the working man. 
 
 It is sometimes difficult to overcome a feeling of 
 depression as to the future of our mechanical industry. 
 But, when we look to the progress made in the past, 
 there is no ground for discouragement. The value of 
 our exports of steam-engines in 1866 was 1,760,000/., 
 in 1872, 2,995,000/. The value of our exports of 
 machinery of other sorts was, in 1866, 2,998,000/. ; in 
 1872, 5,606,000/. The past has been prosperous, and 
 there is no reason why a cloud sliould overshadow tlie 
 future of oiu: industry, if only the time-honoured rule 
 be observed, of giving a fair day's work for a fair day's 
 wages. 
 
 I now proceed to examine the situation of allairs Wages in 
 among our Continental rivals. Valuable materials for Tiid^GeT- 
 sucli investigation are furnished to our hands by tlie ™'^"^'
 
 56 Wages in 1873. 
 
 recently-published reports of our Secretaries of Lega- 
 tion, and by a most important pamphlet prepared by 
 Mr. Eedgrave. From these authorities we learn that, 
 in the last ten years, wages at Verviers, a great centre 
 of industry in Belgiinn, have gradually increased by 
 20 per cent., and that the working hours are shorter 
 than they were. At Ghent the rate of wages has 
 risen GO per cent, in the last fifteen years. The average 
 prices of the necessaries of life show an increase in 
 Belgium of 50 per cent, in the last thirty years. Beef 
 and mutton are now 8c/. per pound, and bread is about 
 '^d. the four-pound loaf. The rise of wages has, how- 
 ever, been greater in proportion than the increase in 
 the cost of lodging, clothes, and food. 
 
 In Prussia, Mr. Plunkett states that there is an 
 universal tendency to reduce the hours of labour, and 
 to raise the rate of wages. The Breslau Chamber of 
 Commerce reports that, in consequence of the increased 
 cost both of labour and raw material, the prices of 
 cotton carded yarn had advanced 10 per cent, on the 
 best and 16 per cent, on the ordinary qualities. In the 
 Silesian cloth trade, in 1871, prices rose 15 per cent. 
 
 In the spinning and weaving factories in Silesia, 
 according to Dr. G. Eeicheuheim, who is quoted by 
 Mr. Plunkett, the increase in the rate of wages in the 
 last ten years has been about 30 per cent, for female 
 weavers, while in the case of male labour it is more 
 than double. The same complaints are made, which 
 we hear in this country, as to the effect of higher pay 
 in rendering the operatives less careful in their work, 
 and more insubordinate than formerly.
 
 Wages in 1873. 57 
 
 In "Belgium, alFU^e manufacturers are of opinion 
 that the Enghsh operatives are far superior to the 
 Flemish. An Englishman, being better fed, possesses 
 greater physical power, produces as much work in ten 
 liours as a Fleming in twelve, and, understanding the 
 machinery which he works, can point to the cause 
 of an accident ; whereas in Ghent half-an-hour is con- 
 stantly lost in seeking for the reason of a stoppage. 
 Although the rates of wages are lower, and the hours 
 of labour longer, English manufacturers have but little 
 to fear from Belgian competition. 
 
 Mr. Egerton states that in Eussia thirteen hours a Russia. 
 day is the average length of the hours of labour, children 
 generally working the same time as men ; and yet there 
 is no country in which there is so great a waste of 
 labour. In mills where the best and newest machinery 
 is used, it is necessary to limit the earnings, which, if 
 large in amount, would be expended in drinking. In 
 England a spinner will, with his assistants, attend to 
 2,000 spindles. In Eussia, he rarely has 1,000, and 
 generally only 500 spindles under his charge, 
 
 Mr. Goshng says of the Swiss workman, that he is 
 inferior to the British workman in physical strength 
 and energy. 
 
 The French manufacturers insist strongly on the France, 
 greater cost of production in their country as compared 
 Avith England. They estimate the cost of wages per 
 week for the hands employed upon 10,000 spindles at 
 59Z. 10.§., as compared with 41/., which would be the 
 corresponding amount in an English factory. ' The 
 value of the English workman,' says Mr. Eedgrave,
 
 58 Wages in 1873. 
 
 ' still remains pre-eminent, although the interval be- 
 tween him and his competitors is not so great as it was ; 
 he has not retrograded, but they have advanced.' We 
 see too much of intemperance in England, but there is 
 much reason to complain in Belgium and the manu- 
 facturing districts of France, where the cheapness of 
 intoxicating liquors is a fearful temptation to the 
 working classes. 
 
 The progressive development in the skill of our 
 factory operatives has been clearly shown in the com- 
 parison, instituted by Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, of 
 the tasks, now performed, with the amount of work 
 allotted to the hands, as ascertained by the Factory 
 Commission of 1833. Messrs. Bridges and Holmes 
 estimate that the proportion of spindles in 1833 was 
 112 to each hand, while the corresponding number 
 at the j)resent day would be 517 spindles. The speed 
 of the mule has been so much increased, that more 
 stretches are now made in 10. 5 hours than formerly in 
 twelve. In 1848 a female would have had only two 
 looms, now she will attend to four. The speed of the 
 power looms in 1833 varied between 90 and 112 ; it 
 now varies between 170 and 200 picks a minute. Not- 
 withstanding all the improvements of mechanism, the 
 cotton-weaver of the present day is subject to a greater 
 strain than his predecessor of forty years ago. 
 
 From a consideration of all these facts, we have 
 reason to congratidate employers in England on the 
 possession of a body of workmen superior to those of 
 any other country. We may also assert, on their 
 behalf, that in no other country of the Old World is
 
 Wages in 1873. 59 
 
 the same solicitude displayed for the welfare of the 
 workmen. 
 
 I observe with regret the frequently repeated mani- 
 festations of disaffection on the part of the working classes 
 on the Continent towards their employers. Lord Bra- 
 bazon, in his able report on the condition of the indus- 
 trial classes in France, quotes some painful illustrations 
 of the entire want of confidence between class and class 
 in that distracted country, where 'Communistic prin- 
 ciples have done so much to alienate the affections of 
 the workmen from their employers,' and where a large 
 proportion of those engaged in manufacturing industry 
 live in a condition of wretchedness and misery, of 
 which, I venture to hope, very few of those who can 
 command regular employment in this country have 
 any experience. At Elboeuf we are told of a certain 
 manufacturer who, during the period of dearth, bought 
 a large quantity of provisions, with a view of reselling 
 them to his workmen at a low rate, but who was 
 obliged to renounce his humane project ; because the 
 workpeople imagined it was a pretext for making 
 money out of their misery. At Lyons, where no social 
 distinctions keep asunder the numerous small em- 
 ployers from the employed, the sympathy, which for- 
 merly existed between the owner of the loom and his 
 assistants is no longer found. 
 
 While in England we are happily doing away with Boigium. 
 the great evil of employing young children in our fac- 
 tories, all the Chambers of Commerce in Belgium unite 
 in deploring the increasing moral and physical degene- 
 racy of the working classes, owing to the premature
 
 60 Wages in 1873. 
 
 employmeut of children. In the Belgian factories for 
 spinning and weaving flax, cotton, and wool, children 
 from ten to twelve years old are very generally admitted, 
 and work twelve hours a day. In the Belgian coal-pits 
 there are 8,000 children under fourteen years of age, 
 of both sexes. Of children between ten and twelve, 
 2,400 are employed, 700 above and 1,700 below 
 ground. 
 
 In 1866, out of their total population of 4,827,000 
 more than one-half were unable to read or write. The 
 necessity for the employment of children is best proved 
 by the description, given by Mr. Kennedy, of the posi- 
 tion of the Belgian operatives at Alost and Tirmonde, 
 where a fiirst-class hand earns 28/. a year, while the 
 smallest sum on which a man can exist is 20/. a year. 
 Indeed, existence is only made possible by the earn- 
 ings of the children in factories, and by the possession 
 of a small garden in which vegetables are raised. 
 
 In the English factories, where a larger proportion 
 of women are employed than in the factories abroad, it 
 has recently been proposed that the number of hours 
 of labour should be limited by law. The proposal is 
 supported by Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, on the 
 ground that, by exciting a spirit of rivalry between them, 
 women can be goaded on to over- exert themselves in a 
 manner which would not be observed among men. A 
 woman, we are told, who can mind four looms without 
 an assistant has a certain position, and becomes an 
 object of attention. 'Hoo's a four-loomer, hoo'slike to 
 be wed,' will be commonly remarked of such an one. 
 
 The Association of Employers, though differing on
 
 Wages in 1873. 61 
 
 almost every other subject from Messrs. Bridges and 
 Holmes, suggest that women should be excluded from 
 factories for three months after their confinement. 
 Great evils have been found, by experience, to ensue 
 from the too early return of the mothers to factory 
 labour. Let us venture to hope that another Session 
 of Parliament will not be allowed to pass by, without 
 placing on the Statute Book a legal prohibition against 
 a practice which is universally condemned by those 
 most competent to form an opinion. 
 
 The demand for a reduction of the hours of labour, 
 which has been so strongly and successfully urged by 
 certain classes of our operatives, is not universally sup- 
 ported either at home or abroad. 
 
 The average length of a working day in Switzer- Switzer- 
 land is twelve hours, exclusive of the time for meals. 
 The general tendency is to a reduction of hours, and 
 laws have been passed, limiting the length of the 
 working day in some cantons to twelve hours. These 
 changes are, however, almost entirely due to the efforts 
 of local politicians. A proposal of this nature re- 
 cently made in Zurich, and sanctioned by the Cantonal 
 Legislature, was eventually thrown out by the popular 
 vote. 
 
 At Eoueu, Mr. Eedgrave found no strong desire Eouen. 
 for a diminution of the hours of labour in the cotton 
 factories. The operatives were chiefly solicitous for a 
 rise of wages. On this subject the majority of the work- 
 people abroad seem to entertain similar views. Messrs. 
 Bridges and Holmes, in their report on the condition 
 of operatives in English factories, say that the work-
 
 62 Wages in 1873. 
 
 people are by no means unanimous. Among the 
 women especially, many are apathetic, and some are 
 positively opposed to a limitation of the working hours. 
 
 Lowoii. In i\^Q United States, at Lowell, near Boston, I 
 
 ascertained by personal inquiry on the spot, that the 
 working hours were sixty per week, and that no indi- 
 cation had yet been given of a disposition among the 
 operatives to reduce the hours. 
 
 Though there may be reason to regret that the 
 working class have not reaped more substantial and 
 universal benefits from the recent additions to their 
 wages, we have at least the satisfaction of knowing 
 that there has been some decrease in the amount of 
 pauperism. 
 
 Emigra- Mcauwhile the tide of emigration has never ceased 
 
 tion. 
 
 to flow. The proportion, too, of English and Scotch 
 to Irish has, of late years, much increased. In 1872 
 the wide labour-field of the United States absorbed 
 199,000 out of a total number of 252,000 emigrants 
 from the United Kingdom. In the same period 33,000 
 sailed for the ports of British North America. The 
 United States ofier many advantages to the newly- 
 arrived emigrants. The homestead law gives, for a 
 merely nominal sum, the right to a homestead and 
 160 acres of land to every individual, who is actually 
 a citizen of the United States, or has declared his 
 intention of becoming such. 
 Wages in lu examining the various circumstances which tend 
 
 statls! to raise the price of labour in England, the prevaihng 
 high wages in the United States, and the increased 
 facilities for emigration, must ever be kept in view.
 
 Wages in 1873. G3 
 
 The nominal rate of wages in America may indeed 
 frequently convey a delusive idea of prosperity ; yet it 
 cannot be doubted that the thrifty, skilful, and indus- 
 trious artisan has large opportunities of advancement in 
 the New World. 
 
 A great majority of the emigrants go out to join 
 some friends already satisfactorily established. When 
 this is not the case, it is essential to the emigrant's 
 success that he should have accumulated not merely 
 a sufficient sum to defray the cost of his voyage 
 across the Atlantic, but enough to enable him to travel, 
 if necessary, far into the interior, and to visit, it may be, 
 several rapidly rising cities in the West, before finally 
 settling down. The artisan who is able to maintain 
 himself for some months after landing at New York, 
 and to make a wide exploration of the country, will be 
 sure in the end to find a favoiurable opening. 
 
 Many examples of the prosperity of the working 
 classes came under my own observation on a recent visit 
 to America. The workpeople are paid as far as possible 
 by the piece. The monthly pay-sheet at the Merrimac 
 Mills, at Lowell, where 2,600 hands are employed, 
 amounts to 75,000 dollars, which gives an average of 
 thirty dollars a month, or 305. a week. The majority 
 of the workpeople are Americans, but there are many 
 from Canada and the Old Country. The proprietors 
 of the mills have established several lodging-houses 
 for the unmarried women in their employ. At each 
 of these houses some thirty women are lodged. The 
 house is placed under the supervision of a respectable 
 matron. The cost of living is 3i dollars a week, and
 
 G4 Wages in 1873. 
 
 female operatives can earn from 145. to IGs. a week 
 over and above the cost of their board and lod<nnfir. 
 Tlie men pay for board 2^. a day, and their wages vary 
 from 7^. to IO5. a day. 
 
 At the Lonsdale Company's Cotton Mills, near Pro- 
 vidence, in a factory containing 40,000 spindles, one 
 spinner attends to 1,408 spindles. In weaving^ one 
 weaver attends to from four to six looms. In England, 
 the proportion would be, on the average, one hand to 
 every three looms, working at a higher speed than 
 they have attained in America. Male weavers were 
 earning from 44^. to 525., and female weavers from 
 4O5. to 445. weekly. Spinners earn from 45. to 65. a 
 day. Women pay for board and lodging in lodging- 
 houses, provided by their employers, 125., and men 
 I65. a week. The operatives, earning these wages, are 
 better able to save money than the operatives in our 
 own country ; and many of the hands at the Lonsdale 
 Mills have 1,000/. to their credit in the Savings Bank. 
 At the great Harmony Mills at Cohoes, near Albany, 
 where 4,000 hands are employed, two-thirds are emi- 
 grants to the States, principally English and Scotch, 
 although there are many Germans and some French. 
 The general wages are for women from 35. to G5. a 
 day, for men from 65. to IO5. a day. The cost of Hving 
 is moderate, and assuming that a female operative earns 
 285. a week — by no means a high average — she has 
 I65. a week to spend on dress and luxuries. At 
 Cohoes a weaver attends to four, five, or six looms, but 
 the machinery is not worked at so high a rate of speed 
 as in Lancashire. The mule is never worked at a speed 
 exceeding three stretches a minute.
 
 Wages in 1873. 65 
 
 In Quebec wages have of late been rapidly ad Canaia. 
 Artisans can now command 85. a day, and 
 labourers employed in unloading ships, whose employ- 
 ment, however, is uncertain in summer, and in winter 
 wholly ceases, earn 10s. to 125. a day. A man with 
 a family can live well on As. a day The long winter 
 is the great drawback to the prosperity of the working 
 class in Canada. Quebec has its Wapping, its exten- 
 sive suburbs, chiefly occupied by the working classes . 
 and there is no external indication in these quarters of 
 a condition of life superior to that attained by the 
 majority of our working men at home. In the Ottawa 
 district, in Canada, the young farmers are able to find 
 employment in winter by leaving their homes, and 
 going up to the forests to cut timber. They earn 305. 
 a week, and they are boarded in addition. In the 
 spring the lumberer returns home with a considerable 
 sum of money saved. He carries on his farming 
 operations throughout the open season, and returns to 
 the forests in the autumn. The life is toilsome, and 
 involves a long separation from the fireside at home ; 
 but the perseverance of a few years will result in the 
 accumulation of a valuable capital for farming opera- 
 tions, and secure to the settler his future indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 Ottawa is one of the rising towns of Canada. Its 
 prosperity is derived from the timber trade, and from 
 its beino' the seat of the Government. Wa^es in 
 Ottawa were last year (I speak of 1872) extravagantly 
 high. Masons were earning 14.?. a day. All classes of 
 artisans employed in building were paid from 10s. to 
 
 p
 
 66 Wages in 1878. 
 
 Vis. a day. For four or five months, however, in winter 
 building operations are suspended. Provisions are 
 cheap, and house-rent is the only costly item. 
 
 At Hamilton, in Upper Canada, the wages for 
 artisans are 85. a day. House-rent is about 2 85. a 
 month. The expense of fuel in winter is nearly equal 
 to the sum paid for house-rent. Food is cheap. A 
 stock of salt beef can be laid down for the winter at 
 the price of l-l^cZ. a pound. The agriculturists in the 
 Hamilton district are in a prosperous condition. Every 
 settler travels in a hght waggon, drawn by a pair of 
 serviceable horses. The population seemed robust and 
 healthy. 
 
 In other parts of the Dominion the physical and 
 material condition of the people was less satisfactory. At 
 Charlottetown, in Prince Edward's Island, the universal 
 vehicle is drawn by one horse instead of two, as at 
 Hamilton. It was sad to see the population generally 
 so pale and thin, and, in appearance, sickly and out of 
 health. The reason is not obvious for this marked 
 physical deterioration of the descendants of Scotch, 
 Irish, and English settlers. Probably the long winter 
 is, to a great extent, the cause. The impossibility of 
 active outdoor operations at that season, and the con- 
 sequent temptation to spend the day in smoking and 
 drinking in overheated rooms, is extremely ]:>rejudicial 
 to the health of the population. At Pictou, in Nova 
 Scotia, the inhabitants appeared more robust. The 
 wages for ordinary shipwrights are 8.9. a day, and 
 taking into consideration the cost of living, the working 
 classes are as well off as in any part of Canada. 
 
 In comparing the American and English operatives
 
 Wages in 1873. G7 
 
 or rather the English operatives when transplanted to 
 the States, with the hands who have remained in the 
 Old Country, it would seem that there is, as a rule, a 
 higher development of skill in the individual operatives. 
 The difference is attributable to the conviction that the 
 present high rate of wages in the States could not be 
 maintained, unless the utmost skill and diligence were 
 put forth. 
 
 The results which have followed from the reference Trades 
 of disputes relating to wages to arl:)itration are a sign 
 of the happiest augury for the future relations between 
 employers and employed. It has been urged, on the 
 part of the employers, that the working class will only 
 accept the decision of arbitrators when it is favourable 
 to themselves. In this, as in other respects, the organi- 
 sation of the unions has proved beneficial. The influence 
 which the more enhghtened workmen, acting as mem- 
 bers of the executive committees of the unions, possess 
 over their less instructed fellow-workmen, have been the 
 means of securing obedience to every decision arrived 
 at after careful investigation, conducted in an impartial 
 spirit. Such influence becomes more important when 
 the members of the trades unions are for the most 
 part uneducated men. It is always more difficult for 
 an employer to negotiate or to argue with a boiler- 
 maker than with a fitter. The executive councils of 
 the unions have entitled themselves to the gratitude 
 of the employers of labour, by accepting the use of 
 machinery, the substitution of which for manual labour 
 becomes more and more indispensable with every 
 advance in the standard of wages. 
 
 v 2
 
 68 Wages in 1873. 
 
 It is not by encouraging useless strikes, or by 
 making an attempt, which in the end must always be 
 defeated, to sustain a vast body of woi^kmen and their 
 families, when not in the receipt of wages, that the 
 wire-pullers of the trades unions will best serve the 
 interests of their clients, or enhance their personal 
 influence among them. There is a wide field of use- 
 fulness open to these captains of our great hosts of 
 workmen, in which success is to be attained, not by 
 war, but by diplomacy. The state of the trades, in 
 which their clients are employed, should be carefully 
 watched, and every variation in the prices quoted, 
 every fluctuation in the cost of the raw materials should 
 be noted. And here I may frankly admit that the 
 proposal of the International for a universal strike con- 
 tained a few grains of wisdom ; for it is clear that, if 
 the cost of producing an article in England were so 
 much enhanced by an advance of wages, that the foreign 
 manufacturer would be enabled to undersell us in 
 every market, it would be an act of self-destruction for 
 English workmen to insist upon a rise, which would 
 have the inevitable effect of depriving them of 
 employment. 
 
 In such a case an advance of wages can only be 
 possible where the workmen in the competing countries 
 agree to act in concert ; or where, by superior skill or 
 machinery, the more highly paid workman is able to 
 turn out a larger amount of work. 
 Export It has been already pointed out that in England we 
 
 s^tzer- have to contend against competition of t^vo kinds : — 
 I. against the cheaper labour of the Continent on the 
 
 laud.
 
 Wages in 1873. 60 
 
 one side ; and IT. against the superior natural resources 
 of America on the other. While we occupy at the pre- 
 sent time a highly favoured position, which has been 
 attained not merely by the skill of our workmen, but 
 by the administrative skill of their employers, and 
 the gradual accumulation of an ample capital in 
 their hands, the race with other great manufacturing 
 countries is very close. The Swiss have entered into 
 competition with our own manufacturers, both in the 
 home and foreign trades. The exports of textile 
 fabrics from Switzerland, as we learn from Mr. Gos- 
 ling's report, have risen from 12,485,000/. in 1860, to 
 26,464,000/. in 1871, an advance of 112^ per cent. 
 In this total the exports to the United States have 
 risen from 509,000/. in 1862, to 2,159,000/. in 1872, 
 in other words, over 324 per cent. In cheap silks and 
 ribbons the Swiss are able to compete with the British 
 producer in the English market ; and, to sum up the 
 case, in the Avords of Mr. Gosling, * the advantages of 
 Switzerland in competition with Great Britain are the 
 use of water-power as a substitute for steam-power 
 to the extent of upwards of 80 per cent., low wages, 
 long hours of labour, and a minimum expenditure for 
 management.' On the other hand, as an inland country, 
 Switzerland has to pay heavy freights, the workmen 
 are inferior in activity to oiu: own, buildings for ma- 
 chinery are more costly, and, from want of capital, 
 production is on a smaller scale than here. The 
 balance, however, in the opinion of Mr. Gosling, was 
 greatly in favour of Switzerland, and could not fail to 
 become greater from day to day.
 
 70 Wages in 1873. 
 
 Such being tlie case as regards textile industry, 
 Mr. Lowthian Bell lias recently pointed out, that, iu 
 ores of the finer descriptions, the resources of the United 
 States are unhmited, while in coal our own wealth is, 
 in comparison, poverty. There is but one bar to the 
 boundless production of minerals in the New World, 
 tliat is to say, the want of hands to manufacture them. 
 Liissiiiie. A large number of the working class in Germany 
 
 have been fascinated by the fanciful theories of Lassalle. 
 His system is founded entirely upon the pernicious 
 principle that the State is to do everything, and the 
 jjeople nothing for themselves. Karl Marx, as the 
 successor of Lassalle, is the ruling spirit of the German 
 socialists, and has become a prominent figure from 
 liis connection with the International. The socialist 
 journals in Germany delight to reproduce the pro- 
 gramme and doctrines of that society. They make 
 noisy professions of atheism. They applauded the in- 
 surrection of the Commune in Paris. They disavow the 
 warlike policy of Germany, and have endeavoured to 
 substitute the community of class interests for the 
 community of race, language, and country. It must 
 not, however, be supposed that the number of these 
 unpractical visionaries is proportionate to the noise 
 w^hich they make in the world. The influence of 
 socialistic doctrines is not so great in England as on the 
 Continent, and it is weaker in America than in England. 
 I hope, tlierefore, that no disposition may be manifested 
 here to abandon the hopeful work of social, moral, 
 and material progress for the pursuit of visionary and 
 impossible schemes.
 
 Wages in 1873 71 
 
 The amelioration of the condition of the poor is 
 not to be brought about by destroying the ancient 
 fabric and foundations of our social and political 
 system. It is easy to destroy, but most difficult to 
 restore, the institutions created by past generations, 
 in which there lived men not less great, and wise, 
 and good than the most gifted of our own contem- 
 poraries. 
 
 English workmen are less easily deluded by tall 
 talk and sophistry than the more excitable populations 
 of the Latin race ; and I would earnestly invite them to 
 apply their practical sagacity to the difficult yet hopeful 
 experiment of co-operative industry. 
 
 To return once more to the familiar axiom, the Education 
 
 and 
 
 price of labour, hke that of every other commodity, manual 
 must mainly depend upon the relation between supply 
 and demand. The wages of skilled workmen have 
 risen, because skilled workmen are scarce. How shall 
 we increase their number and improve their skill ? The 
 answer is, by bringing recruits into our industrial army 
 from a class of society which has hitherto exhibited too 
 strong a prejudice against manual labour. The same 
 aversion to handicraft of every kind exists in the United 
 States and Canada. In America a skilled workman 
 earns thirty dollars, a clerk only fifteen dollars a week. 
 It is almost as difficult for a clerk to obtain a situation 
 in JN^ew York as in London. A skilled workman can 
 always command employment. It is unnecessary to 
 dwell on the evils that must ensue from a dispropor- 
 tionate increase in the non-productive classes of the 
 community. Lord Bacon has truly said that a popula-
 
 72 Wages in 1873. 
 
 lion is not to be reckoned only hy nninbers, 'for a 
 smaller number that spend more and earn less do wear 
 out a greater number that live lower and get more.' 
 My father's advice was often sought by parents anxious 
 for the future of their sons. His counsel always was, 
 tliat a young man, whose destiny it must be to make 
 his way unaided through the world, sliould begin by 
 learning a trade. It is a laudable ambition in a parent 
 to endeavour to raise his family to a better station in 
 life. He cannot bestow on his cliildren too high an 
 education. But a wise man will be on his guard, lest 
 the enjoyment of such advantages should render those 
 occupations distasteful which afford the most secure and 
 ample livelihood to those whose lot it is to labour. When 
 justly appreciated, the condition of the skilled artisan 
 should be as much esteemed as that of any other 
 class of the community. He whose life is passed in 
 useful service to his fellow men, whatever his special 
 calling, holds an honourable station, and social 
 dignity will ever be most effectually maintained by 
 those who are the least dependent upon the favours of 
 others. 
 
 In conclusion, I would tender a few words of 
 advice to my fellow-countrymen of the so-called work- 
 ing classes, for whose welfare I am bound to feel the 
 deepest solicitude. Their just claim to share in the 
 benefits arising from a thriving industry has of late 
 been liberally recognised. The earnings in many 
 trades have been unprecedented. It should not be 
 forgotten that forethought is an especial duty in a time
 
 Wages in ISIS. 73 
 
 of prosperity. At no distant period, the progress of 
 our cominerce may sustain at least a temporary check. 
 It will be sad indeed if the receding tide leaves be- 
 hind it lai'ge multitudes of our highly-paid workmen 
 without the slightest provision to meet a period of 
 adversity.
 
 74 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 Read before the Hastings Historical Society, 
 December 1873. 
 
 Among the many interesting lessons whicli may be 
 learned by the Enghsh traveller in the United States, 
 none are more instructive than those which may be 
 acquired from a careful observation of the provision 
 made for the education of the people. The democratic 
 principles upon which the Gov^ernment is established, 
 and which confer upon every citizen political power 
 and responsibility, impose a corresponding obligation 
 on the State to provide education for the people. The 
 obligation has been nobly fulfilled. In the most advanced 
 outposts of civilisation, on the farthest limits of the 
 settled territories of the United States, the construction 
 of the railway, and the establishment of the school are 
 considered as the primary duties of the community. 
 Every district is compelled by law to provide the 
 necessary accommodation for the school population ; 
 and public opinion is so strongly pronounced in favour 
 of an efficient system of popular education, that legal 
 penalties are not required.
 
 States. 
 
 Elementary Education in the United States. 75 
 In England we have, until lately, been far behind Educa- 
 
 . , ^ tional eta- 
 
 the United States in relation to that most essential tistics, 
 element of civilisation, popular education. The Ele- united 
 mentary Schools Act of 1870 should have preceded, 
 not followed, the Eeform Bill of 1866. It is now too 
 late to recall the past ; and it will rather be the object 
 of every enlightened patriot to do what in him lies to 
 promote the success of the great work of education, 
 which the Government has at length taken in hand. 
 With this object in view, let us proceed to examine the 
 educational institutions of America. 
 
 In my recent short journey, I was fortunate in 
 having the opportunity of seeing the most perfectly 
 organised educational institutions in America : the 
 public schools at Boston. I will commence with a 
 summary of the more important educational statistics 
 of Boston. The population, according to the census of 
 1870, numbered 250,701 persons, of whom 45,970 
 were between five and fifteen years of age. The aver- 
 age number of pupils, belonging to day-schools of all 
 grades, during the year 1871-2, was 36,000; and the 
 average daily attendance was 33,500. Thus the average 
 percentage of attendance at all the day schools w^as 92*5. 
 The schools at Boston are divided into three classes, 
 namely, primary schools, grammar schools, and the 
 Latin school and English high school. The average 
 attendance at the primary schools was 13,614 ; at the 
 grammar schools, 18,312 ; at the high schools, 1,430. 
 The ratio of the number of pupils belonging to the 
 schools to the school population is 78 per cent. ; and 
 as there is a law of the State of Massachusetts for
 
 76 Public Elementary Education 
 
 enforcing compulsory attendance, which, thougli mildly 
 administered, is backed up by a strong public opinion, 
 it may be assumed that the number of children attend- 
 ing school in Boston represents tlie highest practicable 
 result attainable by the enforcement of a strict law of 
 compulsion. Dividing the children under instruction 
 at the primary schools into a classification according to 
 age, there were, of children of the age of five years, 
 2,447 ; six years, 3,275 ; seven years, 3,319 ; eight 
 years, 2,772 ; nine years and over, 2,747. In the 
 grammar schools the number of pupils between eight 
 and ten years of age was 3,027 ; between ten and 
 twelve years, 5,947; between twelve and fourteen years, 
 4,941 ; between fourteen and fifteen years, 1,596 ; over 
 fifteen years, 1,110. Boys cannot be admitted to the 
 public Latin school or the English high school before 
 the age of twelve years. The age of admission into 
 the girls' high and normal schools has been fixed at 
 fifteen years. The schools are in session ten months in 
 the year, and the pupils are strictly classified according 
 to their attainments. 
 
 When we compare the educational statistics of 
 Boston with the state of public education in England, 
 at the date immediately preceding the passing of the 
 Elementary Education Act of 1870, we see how great 
 are our own deficiencies, and what a formidable task 
 lies before us, if we aim, as we ought to do, at the 
 standard which has been reached in America. Accord- 
 ing to the last report of the Committee of Council on 
 Education, there were 1,336,000 scholars on an aver- 
 age in daily attendance at school in England and
 
 in the United States. 77 
 
 Wales. The accommodation supplied by the existing 
 Parliamentary schools would be sufficient for 2,295,894 
 scholars ; and it is assumed by the Educational Depart- 
 ment that 3,500,000 of the population of Great Britain 
 ought to be daily in attendance at elementary schools. 
 The general diffusion of education of a superior order 
 through a large population cannot be accomphshed 
 immediately, nor without a large expenditure. In 
 their liberal appropriation of the local resources for the 
 maintenance of educational institutions, the people of 
 Boston set us a good example. They have never 
 shown an ignorant impatience of the taxation imposed 
 for this purpose. The cost of the public schools of 
 Boston in 1870-1 was, in round figures, 300,000/. 
 Eather more than half the total expenditure was 
 applied to the payment of the salaries of the teachers. 
 The returns prepared by the School Committee of the 
 city show a great increase of expenditure, as compared 
 with the year 1867-8, when the total amount was 
 under 200,000/. The two heads of expenditure which 
 show the largest increase are the salaries of the teachers 
 and the cost of new school-buildino-s. The increase is 
 not attributable solely to the larger attendance at the 
 schools. The expenditure in educating each individual 
 child has increased from thirty shillings per scholar, 
 in 1867-8, to thirty-five shillings in 1870—1, an aug- 
 mentation which proves the determination of the people 
 to make large sacrifices, in order to improve the 
 standard of public education. The average expen- 
 diture per scholar in attendance at the inspected 
 schools in Great Britain in 1872 was 1/. 7s. Qd. If it
 
 78 Public Elementary Education 
 
 be the will of the English people, as I trust it niiiy be, 
 to secure equal educational advantages for the rising 
 and coming generation, they must be prepared for 
 a proportionate taxation. The total income of our 
 public elementary schools in 1872 was as follows : — 
 
 
 £ 
 
 Endowments 
 
 89,917 
 
 School Board Rates . 
 
 5,085 
 
 Grovernment 
 
 . 755,049 
 
 Voluntary Contributions 
 
 . 557,273 
 
 School Pence 
 
 . 707,283 
 
 Other sources 
 
 31,466 
 
 Total . 
 
 . 2,146,073 
 
 School I ^ow proceed to give a resume of the general 
 
 twnsr regulations of the public schools of Boston. The 
 teachers are reminded, in the first portion of the 
 regulations, of their duty, ' in all their intercourse with 
 their scholars, to strive to impress upon their minds, 
 both by precept and example, the great importance 
 of earnest efforts for improvement in morals and in 
 manners, as well as in useful learning.' The morning 
 exercises of all the schools commence with reading by 
 the teacher of a portion of the Scriptures, to be followed 
 by the Lord's Prayer, repeated by the teacher alone. 
 The afternoon lesson is closed with appropriate singing. 
 Instruction is given in good morals daily in each of the 
 schools, and the principles of truth and virtue are faith- 
 fully inculcated upon all suitable occasions. It is the 
 duty of the instructors, as far as practicable, to exercise 
 a general inspection over the pupils in respect of their 
 moral conduct both in and out of school, and also while
 
 in the United States. 79 
 
 going to the school and returning home. Tlie morn- 
 ing lessons of the grammar and primary schools com- 
 mence at nine, and close at twelve o'clock, with a 
 recess of twenty minutes in the middle of the session. 
 The afternoon lessons commence at two, and close at 
 four o'clock. Every scholar must have some kind of 
 physical exercise each forenoon and afternoon. In 
 order to keep ahve the patriotism of the citizens of the 
 United States, annually, on the school-day next pre- 
 ceding February 23, each master is required to as 
 semble his pupils, and read extracts from Washington's 
 ' Farewell Address to the People of the United States ; ' 
 combining therewith such patriotic exercises as he may 
 think advisable. 
 
 According to regulations in force for the manage- 
 ment of the primary schools of Boston, each school 
 should contain, as nearly as possible, 49 pupils, which 
 is intended to be the standard number. The actual 
 average number is 4fi'7. The number of pupils in the 
 grammar schools is much larger, varying from a maxi- 
 mum of 1,016, to a minimum of 359. The number of 
 teachers in the grammar schools is increased in such 
 proj)ortion, that the whole number of pupils to a teacher 
 is limited to 45. The subjects of instruction in the Subjects of 
 primary schools are suited to the tender age of the tion. 
 children, and include reading, spelling, arithmetic, and 
 singing. Reading is taught by Leigh's phonic exer- Leigh's 
 cises ; and the School Committee say that, ' Six years exercises. 
 of careful experiment in several schools in Boston have 
 shown the best results from this system. Pupils learn 
 the sounds belonging to phonic type very readily ; and,
 
 80 Public Elementary Education 
 
 as those sounds are imclianging, the labour is much less 
 than in gaining the mastery of a less number of letters, 
 most of which are liable to variations.' Within six 
 months, the ordinary pupils get through the second 
 reader — a point which was never reached by the 
 pupils taught in the old method in less than eighteen 
 months. ' Is it not much,' they ask, ' to add a year to 
 the practical duration of human life ? ' We had the 
 pleasure of witnessing the process of instructing a class 
 of very young children in reading, by Leigli's method. 
 The task of the pupils appeared to be lightened in a 
 remarkable degree. Instruction in the art of reading 
 monosyllables appeared rather to resemble a lesson in 
 singing. In the grammar schools of Boston, the 
 common branches of an English education are taught, 
 including writing, spelling, grammar, arithmetic and 
 mental arithmetic, geography, natural philosophy, sing- 
 ing according to Hullah's method, and drawing. The 
 latter accomplishment has been only recently introduced 
 into the pubhc schools of Boston. The services of a 
 very able master from the School of Science and Art at 
 Kensington were secured ; and all the teachers in the 
 public schools were placed under his instructions. As 
 the teachers have acquired a knowledge of art from 
 him, they have in turn imparted what they have them- 
 selves acquired to the pupils under their charge. 
 
 The importance, from a political point of view, of 
 maintaining a high standard of instruction in the 
 grammar schools, has been fully appreciated in the 
 United States. The Boston School Committee, in their 
 report, declared that the condition of the grammar
 
 in the United States. 81 
 
 schools must always be a subject of solicitude. For the 
 great mass of pupils, these must of necessity be the sole 
 means of education. They are the academies and col- 
 leges of the poor. ' When,' as they properly observed, 
 ' we remember that the fabric of free government rests 
 upon the support of all our citizens, and tliat the 
 ignorant and the vicious have equal political power 
 with the wise and good, w^e feel the responsibility that 
 belongs to teachers and supervisors of instruction, and 
 are impelled, not only to urge the bringing of all youth 
 within the reach of good influences, but to provide for 
 them the best and amplest training attainable.' 
 
 The public Latin school of Boston — one of the Latin 
 
 IT 1 • 1 • T • school. 
 
 institutions already enumerated — is designed to give 
 thorough general cultiu'e to boys intending to pursue 
 the higher branches of learning, or preparing for 
 professional life. Each candidate for admission must 
 be at least twelve years old ; he must be able to read 
 English fluently and correctly, to spell all words of 
 common occurrence, and to write well and readily from 
 dictation. He must understand mental arithmetic, the 
 simple rules of written arithmetic, with reduction and 
 fractions, both vulgar and decimal. He must be able 
 to explain the terms most used in geography, and to 
 state the leading facts. He must have a suflicient 
 knowledge of English grammar to parse common prose. 
 The studies at the Latin school embrace the followino; 
 subjects and authors : — English : Scott, Goldsmith, 
 Campbell, Wordsworth, Covv^per, Tennyson, Leigh 
 Hunt, Sterne, Beattie, Morris, Hazlitt, Gray, Addison, 
 Moore, Burns, Hood, Shelley, Eogers, Milton, Pope, 
 
 G
 
 82 Public Elementary Education 
 
 Thomson, Collins, Colerivlge, Keats, Burke, Tyncliill, 
 Dryden, Spenser, Thackeray, Lamb, Euskin, Shake- 
 speare, Macaulay, Junius, Marvell, George Herbert, 
 Byron, Carlyle, Channing, Ben Jonson, and Bacon. 
 American : Hawthorne, Longfellow, Irving, Bryant, 
 Prescott, Holmes, Lowell, Whittier, Emerson. French : 
 Eacine, Corneille, Moliere, Eousseau. Latin : Ciesar, 
 Ovid, Quintus Curdus, Virgil, Cicero, Lucian, Plutarch, 
 Sallust, Horace, Tacitus, Lucretius. Greek : Honier, 
 Isocrates, Euripides, Demosthenes, Plato, Thucydides, 
 Sophocles, and Aristophanes. The list of studies in- 
 cludes arithmetic, algebra, plane geometry, logarithms, 
 plane trigonometry, physics, mechanics, chemistry, 
 astronomy, music. 
 
 The Latin school, as may be inferred from the list 
 of studies and authors, affords to the pupils a thoroughly 
 liberal education. At this school, the eons of all the 
 wealthiest citizens of Boston are educated, side by side 
 with youths of their own age, who come from a very 
 different grade of society. No disadvantage is found to 
 arise from these social inequalities ; and, doubtless, the 
 democratic institutions of the country contribute greatly 
 to facilitate the fusion of all classes of society in a 
 common institution for a common object. From the 
 harmonious intercourse of all classes in the pursuit of 
 learning, may we not learn some lessons, to be applied 
 with advantage to ourselves ? Here, in England, from 
 the earliest age, the various grades of society are kept 
 apart ; and thus it happens that so little is done to 
 redress the inequalities of fortune by social kindnesses 
 and by extended sympathies. If the children of the
 
 in the United States. 83 
 
 rich and the poor knew more of each otlier in earher 
 life, artificial distinctions would be less strictly regarded. 
 In Switzerland it is tlie great object of tliose in easy 
 circumstances to ignore all social distinctions, and to 
 keep tlie workman and the employer on a footing of 
 social equality. 
 
 Tliongli poor the peasant's hut, his feasts though small, 
 He sees his little lot the lot of all : 
 Sees no contigaous palace rear its head, 
 To shame the meanness of his humble shed. 
 
 In such a community as our own, a wider diffusion 
 of educational advantages would have the happy effect 
 of assuaging the bitterness of envy, and imparting to a 
 greater number the advantages of our advanced civili- 
 sation. As no other means exist for obtaining an 
 equally perfect preparatory education, the Latin high 
 school has become one of tlie most important contribu- 
 tories to the Harvard University. Almost all the 
 young gentlemen of Boston receive their education at 
 the Latin high school, and at Harvard. 
 
 The English hig;]i school is another valuable educa- English 
 
 »""" "'& 
 
 hi oh 
 
 tional institution in Boston. It has been established school. 
 to afford to tliose boys who have completed the course 
 of study prescribed for the grammar schools, the op- 
 portunity of pursuing more advanced studies, and of 
 completing a liberal course of education in English 
 literature. Candidates for admission must be twelve 
 years of age, and must pass a satisfactory examination 
 in spelling, reading, writing, English grannnar, arith- 
 metic, modern geography, and the history of the United 
 States. The school holds one session daily, from 9 a.m. 
 
 o 2
 
 84 Public l-'Jcnii'iilary Edncatinn 
 
 until 2 r.M. The following subjects are inclutled in the 
 scheme of studies. In mathematics : intellectual arith- 
 metic, book keeping, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, 
 navigation, and descriptive geometry. In English 
 literature : a course of reading from the best authors, 
 history, antiquities, philology, and composition ; and 
 in French : grammar, conversation, and composition. 
 The elements of German are also taught. In physical 
 science, the scheme embraces navigation, astronomy, 
 with the practical study of the stars, and the explana- 
 tion and use of instruments, mechanics, chemistry, 
 mineralogy, anatomy, and physiology. The English 
 high school of Boston, in its character, aims, and orga- 
 nisation, is unique. There is no other school of the 
 same type in America. It is intended to offer to those 
 who are preparing for a commercial career the advan- 
 tages conferred in the Latin school on students pre- 
 paring for a professional career. It is intended to erect 
 new and beautiful buildings in Boston for the high and 
 Latin schools, the former to contain a thousand, the 
 latter five hundred pupils. 
 Girls' high One otlicr educational institution yet remains to be 
 described — the girls' high and normal school. This 
 institution affords to girls who have completed the 
 course of studies pursued at the grammar schools the 
 opportunity for higher intellectual culture, by a "thorough 
 course of advanced study. It qualifies for teachers 
 those who desire to make that calling their profession. 
 Candidates for admission must not be less than fifteen 
 years of age. They must pass a satisfactory examina- 
 tion ill spelling, reading, waiting, aiithmetic, English
 
 in ihe United States. 85 
 
 grammar, geograpliy, and history. The course of 
 study extends over a period of three years, and includes 
 physical geography, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, 
 natural philosophy, astronomy, geology, chemistry, 
 mineralogy, and botany, music, drawing, English lite- 
 rature, French, German, Latin, intellectual and moral 
 philosophy, history, penmanship, book-keeping, and 
 instruction in the theory and practice of teaching. 
 
 The School Committee of Boston, while highly 
 commending the general course of study pursued in 
 the normal school, as an education for the pupils 
 themselves, complain that the institution has been a 
 failure as a seminary for training up teachers. They 
 speak strongly of the advantages of the higher branches 
 of education in all circumstances and in all countries, 
 especially in the United States, where there are few 
 persons whose position is secure against the hazards of 
 commerce, and no one can predict the coming fortunes 
 of any family. ' The delicately nurtured girl may be 
 obliged by some turn of affairs to become a teacher, 
 and the energetic daughter of poorer parentage may 
 become the possessor of wealth. If they have been 
 judiciously trained, they can exchange places without 
 great difficulty.' Hence they rejoice ' that the children 
 of the rich and poor should meet under one roof to 
 receive a training that is best for all.' 
 
 While the School Committee urge the importance 
 of improving the system of educating the girls, so as 
 to adapt it more effectually to the preparation of the 
 students for their intended vocation as teachers, the 
 excellence of the education given in the normal school,
 
 80 Public Elementury Eihication 
 
 from every other point of view, is iiiuleniablc. An 
 inspection of the examination pa[)er8 in the sciences, 
 mathematics, history, and modern languages, will show 
 what a high standard of attainments has been reached. 
 
 A visit to the schools of Boston, imd especially to 
 the normal schools, will present to the traveller one of 
 the most interesting spectacles which can fall under 
 his notice in Ameiica. He will observe the size and 
 convenience of the buildings, the happy faces, good 
 behaviour, and intelligence of the pupils, the graceful 
 manners and intellectual power of the teacheis, as 
 evinced in their demeanour, their conversation, and 
 their power of teaching. 
 
 In America the system of pupil-teachers is unknown. 
 The normal schools afford tlie only opportunity of 
 preparing teachers for the elementary schools and the 
 grammar schools. In a paper by Miss Brady, read 
 before the Social Science Association, we are informed 
 that the majority of the teachers in the high schools 
 are men who make teaching a profession. The others 
 are women, most of whom teach only for a period of 
 from two to eight years preceding marriage. Women 
 teachers are now employed in preference to men. 
 With the same experience and attainments, they teach 
 better than men, and manage their pupils with more 
 tact. Few women, however, are as yet fitted to teach 
 in the higher departments of study. They do not 
 generally succeed, at the head of a school, in managing 
 their women assistants as well as men. Women do 
 not so readily submit to the authority of other women 
 as they do to the authority of men. They have not as
 
 in the United States. 87 
 
 much influence in a community as a man lias. They 
 are not so readily received as visitors in tlie famihcs, 
 and this social influence is found to be of great ad- 
 vantage in giving character and popularity to the school. 
 Where women do precisely the same work as men 
 they get less pay, but a more enliglitened spirit on 
 this subject is beginning to prevail. Teaching in 
 America is for the most part a temporary occupation, 
 followed chiefly by young people between the ages of 
 eighteen and tliirty. How much tlie schools lose by 
 the immaturity and inexperience of the teachers it is 
 difficult accurately to estimate ; but that they gain 
 by the freshness and vigour of these young minds is 
 unquestionable. The teachers take a far higher posi- 
 tion in society than teachers occupy in most other 
 countries, and the success of the public schools is mainly 
 due to this cause. 
 
 It may be worth while to mention that the number Teachers. 
 of teachers in the schools of Boston is 951, of whom 
 123 are males and 828 females. The total expenditure 
 for the salaries of teachers is 16,000 dollars, ffivino; an 
 average income of 200/. a year. Their profession is 
 more liberally paid than in tliis country, though a con- 
 siderable allowance must be made for the additional 
 cost of living. 
 
 It has been already pointed out that in America the 
 teachers are obtained from a higher grade of society 
 than that which has hitherto supplied the teachers in 
 our own elementary schools. An experiment has open 
 tried by the Bishop of Chicliester, under whose auspices 
 Bishop Otter's college has recently been re-opened, to
 
 88 Public Eleinentary Education 
 
 attract candidates from the same class in our own 
 country. 
 
 On tliis subject some most apposite remarks from tlie 
 last report of Mr. Cowie, some time Inspector of the 
 Training Colleges and now Dean of Manchester, will be 
 read with attention. 'The special training,' he says, 
 ' of our teachers is for a wide, necessary, and somewhat 
 humble work, but one of immense importance. It is 
 laying the foundation of knowledge, developing the 
 powers of all the children of our humbler classes, 
 giving them the key of knowledge, initiating them into 
 the vast field of self-improvement, which is open to 
 all ; teaching them to benefit by the experience of past 
 generations as well as of their own, to be able to ex- 
 press their own ideas intelhgibly, and to reason, and 
 reflect, and draw their own conclusicms.' 
 
 ' Although such objects of education are represented 
 by the homely names of reading, writing, and arithme- 
 tic, it ought never to be forgotten thati^eading — intelli- 
 gent reading — is the entrance to the accumulated stores 
 of human wisdom ; writing is eventually the power of 
 expressing ideas, by which a man is brought to think 
 what he means to say, and to judge whether he has 
 expressed himself with accuracy ; while arithmetic is 
 the logic of the million ; it is, when intelligently taught 
 and thoroughly mastered, the power of calculation, i.e., 
 of predicting and verifying consequences.' 
 
 Let no one say that there is not, in education in 
 these subjects, in the hands of a clever teacher, ample 
 scope for the highest aims. We may, with Lord 
 jkicon, summarise the scope of education in a single
 
 in the United States. 89 
 
 phrase : ' Reading inaketh a full man, conference a 
 ready man, and writing an exact man.' 
 
 If our children in our elementary schools were well 
 prepared for the business of life, we should have a 
 shrewd intelhgeut people who could not be imposed 
 upon by quacks, whether social or political, and we 
 should look with confidence to the solid improvement 
 of the social condition of the labouring classes, and to 
 their general loyalty and steadiness of character. 
 
 Those whose task it is to render the children of the 
 poor fit for the stern battle of life, must, with rare 
 exceptious, be content to follow the path of duty un- 
 seen, unheard, and only appreciated within the limited 
 circle of their parish or their town. It behoves them, 
 therefore, to learn that difficult lesson for a man con- 
 scious of ability, how ' to banish the canker of ambi- 
 tious thoughts.' They may, however, remember that, 
 inasmuch as the power to do good to others is the 
 worthiest aim of human ambition, the humblest teacher 
 may not go altogether unrewarded. 
 
 At a time when compulsory education is constantly Truancy. 
 under discussion iu this country, it cannot but be 
 especially interesting to watch the result of experi- 
 ments in other countries. By an Act passed in 1850, 
 the cities and towns of Massachusetts were empowered 
 to secure the attendance at school of children between 
 the ages of six and fifteen years. The offence of 
 ti'uancy was made punishable by a fine or by commit- 
 ment to a house of correction. In 1852 the term of 
 commitment was limited to one year, and three truant 
 officers \\ere appointed. Complaints against truant
 
 90 Public Elementary Education 
 
 children are lieard, not in open court, but in a ])rivate 
 room, and the proceedings are divested as far as pos- 
 sible of a criminal character. Generally the parents or 
 friends of a truant avert the judicial sentence by placing 
 the child in some educational institution. 
 
 In 18G2, children wandering about the streets 
 were subjected to commitment to the House of Eefor- 
 mation for two years. It was found that the increased 
 stringency of the law had exercised a most salutary 
 effect. In 1866, pursuing the policy already adopted, 
 with so much advantage, a committee was appointed to 
 inquire into the working of the law. They recom- 
 mended that the law should be extended, so as to include 
 additional numbers of nesflected children. But the com- 
 pulsory powers, so far as Boston was concerned, were 
 at the same time withdrawn. The mistake which had 
 been committed was soon acknowledged, and in 1867 
 the compulsory powers were restored. The revival 
 of the former legal powers has been attended with 
 eminently satisfactory results. 
 
 The only complaint now urged relates to the cha- 
 racter of the House of Eeformation at Deer Island, 
 which was intended as a penal establishment, and not 
 for juvenile delinquents who have been convicted of 
 no offence against the law. The truant children are 
 charged vvdth no crime. They are simply children 
 suffering from neglect, in circumstances exposing them 
 to the influences of ignorance and crime. The truant 
 law is designed for their relief, and to give them the 
 nurture, care, and education of a home and a school. 
 It is, therefore, argued that a separate establishment
 
 171 the United States. 91 
 
 should be })rovided for the reception of the children 
 committed for truancy. 
 
 The description which has been given of the prin- 
 cipal schools maintained in Boston, at the public expense, 
 will have awakened many reflections in an English 
 audience. We admire the number and completeness 
 of the schools. We are gratified to find that the most 
 serious of the difficulties we apprehend or have actually 
 experienced in this country — I mean the unwillingness 
 of the parents to send their children to school, and the 
 inability of children to remain long enough to acquire 
 a liberal education — have been scarcely perceived in 
 the United States. We are amazed at the willinorness 
 of the public to sustain institutions so costly. But we 
 apprehend that it would be impossible to imitate in this 
 country the good example of the American people. 
 It is clear that the success of the public schools in 
 Boston is partly due to the fact that they are equally 
 used by all classes of the community. The sons of 
 gentlemen of the highest standing are educated in the 
 Latin high school, where a better education can be 
 obtained than at any private seminary. Happily, a 
 general disposition is manifested among all classes to 
 avail tliemselves of the opportunity of obtaining a 
 superior culture. Hence, the high schools are not 
 regarded with the same jealousy Avliich would be felt if 
 they were frequented only by the privileged few. All 
 are willing to add to the efficiency of schools from 
 which they hope, sooner or later, to derive some personal 
 advantage. It is not impossible that the creation of o;ood 
 public schools in every town and county in England
 
 92 Elementary Education in the United States. 
 
 might, in lime, lead to tlie general use of such schools 
 by all classes. Should such a change take place, it 
 would materially tend to remove class prejudices, and 
 to abolish unnecessary, and sometimes painful, social 
 distinctions. We in England should aim at the stan- 
 dard of excellence which has been reached in Boston, 
 where every child is gathered into the fold, and care- 
 fully instructed in the rudiments of learning, and where 
 the development of education in the highest branches 
 is diligently pursued. In the cities of New York and 
 Boston, it is delightful to see the streets and omnibuses 
 crowded in the afternoon with boys and girls, of 
 the age of fifteen, sixteen, and upwards, carrying each 
 a package of books, on their way homewards from 
 school. The conversation of these young learners often 
 relates to the studies of the day, and leads to many 
 earnest and animated discussions. Without popular 
 instruction, free government is impossible, and house- 
 hold suffrage a delusion : while in an educated people 
 there will be no credulous belief in the fanciful theories 
 of socialism, nor shall we have cause to fear lest the 
 blessings of political liberty be recklessly abused.
 
 93 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 THE DUTIES OF THE CHURCH IN RELATION 
 TO THE LABOUR QUESTION. 
 
 Read before the Hastings Church of EnCxLand Christian 
 Association, December 1873. 
 
 I iiAVE selected for the subject of my address this 
 evening ' The Duties of the Church in Eelation to the 
 Labour Question.' Tlie problem is most important, 
 and the solution full of difficulty. Many clergymen 
 doubtless would prefer to remain silent rather than 
 offer advice to their flocks on these matters. Such an 
 alternative cannot, however, be accepted. The need for 
 the advice of the minister of religion on every question of 
 real difficulty, whether in relation to things secular or 
 to things spiritual, is most felt by the least instructed 
 members of the Church. It is in the rural districts 
 especially that the impartial advice of the clergyman, 
 too often the only educated gentleman in the parish, is 
 most essential. It is not possible for the work of the 
 Church to be carried forward among an ignorant and 
 needy population, unless the clergy can contribute to 
 the relief of bodily as well as spiritual wants. The 
 parson, like the missionary, must acquire a spiritual 
 influence, by showing his superior knowledge and judg- 
 ment in relation to matters affecting the daily life, and 
 lying within the comprehension and observation of the 
 people.
 
 94 The Duties of the Church 
 
 Difficulties I ]iavc stated tliat tlie iiitcTvcntioiiof tlie clerixvman 
 
 ot rural >-» 
 
 cKrgy. as ail udviser is more likely to be sought by a rural than 
 an urban community ; and it is equally certain that tlie 
 mediation of the clergyman presents exceptional diffi- 
 culties in the case of differences arising between the 
 farmers and the labourers in their employ. The clergy- 
 man in the country is mainly dependent on the landed 
 proprietors and the well-to-do farmers for those volun- 
 tary contributions which enable him to carry on the 
 work of education, to reheve the wants of the poor, to 
 maintain the fabric of the church, and to conduct the 
 services with appropriate order and dignity. To make 
 a stand against the prejudices or the interests of his 
 most powerful friends is a task which may require, on 
 the part of the minister of a country parish, a high 
 degree of moral courage, and possibly of self-sacrifice. 
 Oil the other hand, if the clergyman should unconsci- 
 ously permit his judgment to be biassed by the desire 
 to conciliate those from whom it is disadvantageous to 
 differ, and if he should accordingly fail to do justice to 
 the legitimate claims of the poorer members of his 
 flock, he will no longer retain that influence over their 
 affections without which it is impossible to carry for- 
 ward his more important and essential work. Great 
 difficulties of this kind have been of late experienced in 
 Norfolk and Suffolk, and, as I am informed, in parts of 
 Oxfordshire also ; localities which I mention more par- 
 ticularly, because I have received information from 
 clerical friends in those districts, relating what has passed 
 in their own parishes, which will serve to illustrate the 
 state of affairs elsewhere. In Norfolk the agitation
 
 in Relation to the Labour Question. 95 
 
 among the labourers for an increase in their wnges has 
 been opposed by many among tJie local clergy. I am 
 unable to offer an opinion as to the claims of the agri- 
 cultural laboui'crs in that part of England to an increase 
 of pay ; but this is certain, that the ex parte statements 
 of a band of agitators had excited high expectations 
 among labourers, and that tliey experienced the most 
 bitter disappointment whenever they found the clergy 
 uniting with the farmers to oppose their demands. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that much harm may be done 
 by reckless misrepresentations, addressed to an unthink- 
 ing and imperfectly instructed auditory. The same 
 easy means of winning the popular favour has been 
 adopted by the demagogues of every age. Shakespeare, 
 in liis Henry the Sivth, has drawn a picture of Jack 
 Cade, which might pass for the portrait of many of liis 
 successors in the nineteenth century : — 
 
 ' Tom King,' Cade is represented to have said, ' is 
 brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England 
 seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny ; the three- 
 hooped pot shall have ten hoops ; and I will make it 
 felony to drink small beer ; all the realm sliall be in 
 common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass ; 
 and when I am king, as king I will be — ' 
 
 All. — ' God save your Majesty! ' 
 
 Cade. — ' I thank you, good people : there shall be 
 no more money ; all shall eat and drink on my score ; 
 and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may 
 agree like brothers, and worship me, their lord.' 
 
 Agitation, however, among the labouring class 
 should not in all cases be discouras-ed. Previous to
 
 96 The Datie-'i of the Church 
 
 the Education Act of 1870, and before a stimulus liad 
 been given to the dormant energy of tlie agricultural 
 labourers by the exhortations of Mr. Arch, the popu- 
 lation of our more secluded districts were in a lamen- 
 table condition of apathy and dependence. 
 
 If, then, it be the duty of the Church to offer dis- 
 criminating advice to the poor upon the labour question, 
 where are the clergy to look for a sure foundation, 
 upon which they may venture to justify an authorita- 
 tive opinion on the merits of a controversy which, in a 
 practical point of view, is of the highest importance ? 
 It is the duty of the clergy to insist on a large and 
 generous view of the claims of the working man on the 
 one hand, and, on the other, to encourage the poor to 
 live contented Avith the lot in which by Providence they 
 have been placed. The latter duty — the duty of sub- 
 mission — it is not at all times easy to perform. All 
 men cannot be leaders, and few among the ambitious 
 critics of those in authority know anything of the re- 
 sponsibilities and the difficulties of their rulers. This 
 painful lesson of subordination it is the duty of the 
 Church to inculcate ; and in the midst of the vague 
 aspirations which influence the masses of the working 
 people in our day, many will be found to rebel against 
 such teaching. ' Socrates,' says Lord Bolingbroke, 
 ' used to say that, although no man undertakes a trade 
 he has not learned, even the meanest ; yet everyone 
 thinks himself qualified for the hardest of all trades — 
 that of government. He said that upon the experience 
 he had in Greece. He would not change his o])inion 
 if he lived now in Britain.' That which is true of poli-
 
 in Ilelation to tlie Labour Question. 97 
 
 tical government is not less true of industrial and com- 
 nercial organisation. The guidance of autliority and 
 superior judgment are essential, where the skill and phy- 
 sical powers of vast numbers of men are to be combined 
 for the purposes of manufacturing ])roduction, or for 
 the execution of the great conceptions of the architect 
 or i\\e engineer. Agricultural operations are generally 
 conducted on a humbler scale ; but here, too, the 
 directing mind and the resources of capital are equally 
 essential to success. 
 
 The advisers of the rural poor in matters spiritual Wages 
 
 -,,,,-,, , settled by 
 
 must not only teach them the duty of contentment and general 
 subordination, but must also be prepared to offer them 
 counsel wdiere they are seeking to improve their 
 worldly position. The last may appear to present in- 
 surmountable difficulties, and a delicate and hazardous 
 task assuredly it is. Fortunately for the clergy, the 
 general principles which determine the rate of wages 
 are amongst the most clearly-established doctrines in 
 the science of political economy. The accuracy of 
 the rules laid down by Adam Smith has been con- 
 firmed by the long and wide experience of the largest 
 employers of free labour ; and the able waiters who 
 have followed their great teacher into the same field 
 of inquiry have, in the main, repeated his doctrines, 
 their own contributions to the literature of the sub- 
 ject consisting chiefly of additional illustrations. 
 
 It must be the earnest desire of those, to whom is 
 committed the spiritual instruction of the people, to 
 protect the masses of our labouring poor from the pres- 
 sure of misery and want. A struggling and necessi- 
 
 H
 
 98 The Duties of the Church 
 
 tous peasantry ^vill be too much absorbed, in tlie luird 
 stnijTo'le for existence to receive or to understand tlie 
 spiritual exliortations of their pastors. The general 
 principles of the science of political economy cannot be 
 applied to special and local circumstances, unless the 
 progress of trade, the modification in prices, and the 
 comparative cost of labour in other places, be from 
 time to time ascertained. It is accordingly essential to 
 a complete understanding of the problems which may 
 arise in connection with the demand for increased 
 wages, that those to whom the working people are 
 disposed to look for advice should carefully watch the 
 course of events. The Economist must be studied as 
 well as the ' Concordance.' A technical knowledge 
 of manufacturing industiy is not required in order to 
 form an opinion as to the validity of a claim for an 
 advance of wages. The collation of the facts adduced 
 by the contending parties, and the formation of a sound 
 judgment on the merits of the question at issue, require 
 a fair and impartial mind, rather than special technical 
 experience. Most valuable services have been ren- 
 Mr. Rupert dercd by Mr. Eupert Kettle, a County Court judge, and 
 a gentleman without any practical knowledge of manu- 
 facturing industry, in composing the differences between 
 masters and workmen in the coal and iron trades. 
 There is no reason why the same work of practical 
 beneficence should not have been performed by a 
 clergyman. It may be that these inquiries, from their 
 very nature, are far removed from the sphere of thought 
 in which most clergymen are engaged ; and it would 
 be unreasonable to expect that the remarkable capacity
 
 in Relation to the Labour Question. 99 
 
 for apprehending these subjects, disphiyed by Mr. 
 Kettle, should be found in every minister of the Church. 
 On the other hand, in so large a profession there must 
 be men of the most diverse qualifications. Some may 
 be specially gifted for contemplation, others for preach- 
 ing, others for practical beneficence in the ordinary 
 affairs of the word. Each of these has his own work 
 to do. Only let it be recognised that a clergyman 
 should not necessarily be limited to the pulpit, the 
 study, and the schoolroom ; and that occasions may 
 arise when he will be truly in his place when occupied 
 in assisting his people in the solution of the practical 
 difficulties which occur in daily life. The advisers of 
 the working man, if it at all times clearly appear that 
 their counsel rests on a sound basis, will have no cause 
 to fear that they will lose their influence by giving a 
 verdict against the workmen. Mr. Thomas Hughes 
 and Mr. Kettle have not ceased to be trusted counsel- 
 lors ; because they have been strictly impartial. The 
 labourers of England well know that — 
 
 Thrice is lie armed that hatli his quarrel just, 
 And he but naked, thougli locked up in steel, 
 Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. 
 
 There is another lesson to be learned, more espe- 
 cially by those on whom has been bestowed the blessing 
 of means. Say what we may on the political economy 
 of the subject, however strongly we may justify on 
 legal and political grounds the strenuous defence of the 
 rights of property, to the poor and needy who cannot 
 understand political economy, legal principles, nor 
 politics, there must be an apparent injustice in the 
 
 H 2
 
 100 The Church and the Laboiir Question. 
 
 unequal distribution of wealth among the various classes 
 of society. The wealthy can only make their advantages 
 tolerable to the poor, by freely applying their resources 
 to purposes which are beneficial to society at large. 
 The most persuasive teachers of socialism are those 
 whose wealth is employed in the gratification of vicious 
 tastes, in sensual indulgence, in selfish pleasure, or in 
 personal ostentation. The vindication of the rights of 
 property can only be successfully undertaken by those 
 who follow that wise opinion of Lord Bolingbroke, 
 tliat ' a life dedicated to the service of our country 
 admits the fidl use, and no life should admit the abuse, 
 of pleasures ; the least are consistent with a constant 
 discharge of our pubhc duty, the greatest arise from it.'
 
 101 
 
 triides. 
 
 LECTUEE VI. 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE PRODUCTION. 
 
 Address to tue Annual Conference of the Co-operative 
 Societies, held at Halifax, April 6, 1874, 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to insist on the vast develop- 
 ment of our Co-operative organisation. The tabular 
 return, recently presented to Parliament, on the motion 
 of Mr. Morrison, one of the most earnest and judicious 
 friends of co-operation, sets forth the statistical result 
 in a most remarkable enumeration. The number of Co- co-opera- 
 operative Societies in England and Wales is 746 : the [4°air 
 number of members 300,587 ; of whom 60,000 were 
 admitted, and 32,000 withdrew in 1872, The share 
 capital amounted at the end of 1872 to 2,784,000/,, 
 and sums of 10,176,000/, were paid and 11,379,000/, 
 were received during the year in cash for goods. The 
 disposable net profit realised from all sources amounted 
 to 807,748/. 
 
 The enormous sums I have enumerated give proof 
 that the principle of Co-operation, in its application to 
 the Distribution of Commodities among consumers, is 
 convenient and practicable, and effects a considerable 
 saving of expense. 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be doubted that the co-opera- 
 tive system tends to diminish the business of tiiat large
 
 102 Co-operative Production. 
 
 class who eari) their hvelihood in the retail trade of the 
 coimtr3\ As the co-operative system is more and more 
 generally adopted, many, who might have earned an 
 income as shopkeepers, must seek out another career. 
 In the transition stage some suffering may be ex- 
 perienced by individuals. I trust, however, that 
 changes will proceed gradually ; and that there may 
 be ample time for the absorption into other channels 
 of the labour and capital displaced by co-operation. 
 
 Further, it is to be observed that the retailers may, 
 by a better system of trading, find themselves able to 
 afford their customers the same advantages which they 
 now receive at the co-operative stores. Eetail prices 
 have been enhanced by the unwholesome system of 
 long credits. The business of tlie individual retailer 
 has generally been so small, that a livelihood could be 
 earned ovUy by making a high profit on a limited 
 number of transactions. If the retailer's business were 
 concentrated in fewer hands, and the credit system were 
 abolished, if the sound commercial principle were 
 adopted of looking for a large aggregate gain by 
 means of small profits but quick returns, and by 
 making a small percentage on a large turnover, the 
 public might find that the exceptional advantages it 
 now offers need not be confined to the co-operative 
 system. 
 
 The main purpose of the friends of the co-operative 
 movement is not so much to concentrate the whole 
 business of supplying the public at a few stores, under 
 the control of that special organisation which they 
 direct, as to secure to the great body of consumers the
 
 Co-operative Production. 103 
 
 means of obtaining the necessaries of life at the lowest 
 practicable cost, and of the best quality. So long as 
 this object is attained, it matters not whether it be 
 accomphshed through the co-operative associations, or 
 by the agency of the ordinary retailer. 
 
 The management of the Co-operative Store is a task 
 not without difficulties. The members who Avithdrew 
 from these societies in 1872 — the returns for 1873 are 
 not completed — were half as many in number as those 
 who joined. The retailers may, therefore, reasonably 
 infer that they are competing with rivals, who have 
 serious problems to solve. Instead, therefore, of idly 
 complaining, they must meet the competition of the 
 Co-operative Stores by an improved organisation of 
 their own trade. 
 
 If they succeed in holding their own, as I confi- 
 dently anticipate that they will, the community will be 
 the gainers, and there can be no other feeling but one 
 of good-will for those, who are competing with each 
 other, to promote the advantage of the general body of 
 consumers. 
 
 I pass from co-operative distribution to Co-opera- 
 tive Production. The equitable distribution of profits 
 between labour, capital, and the inventive faculty, which 
 creates, and the commercial and organising faculty, 
 which conducts a business, is the most important, as it 
 is undoubtedly one of the most difiicult, of the social 
 problems of our age. 
 
 There are doubtless many persons in this hall, who inequniity 
 
 '' , , of wealth. 
 
 tliink that, in the actual organisation of productive in- 
 dustry, there is a disproportionate assignment of profits
 
 104 Co oj^erative Production. 
 
 to capital. As instances of individual success are 
 multiplied, so this conviction of tlie injustice of the 
 existing order of things in the commercial world will 
 be strengthened and confirmed. Whatever political 
 economy may teach, however easy it may be to explain 
 the operations of trade, between wealth and necessity 
 there still exists a contrast, which mingles with the 
 possession of riches a dark alloy, and cannot but make 
 the burden of the poor man harder and heavier to bear. 
 We may be able to prove that the capital of the large 
 capitalist ordinarily receives but a moderate return, and 
 indeed is freely employed on easier terms than a needy 
 man would exact ; but it is not less true that, measured 
 by the strict necessities of life, an accumulation of 
 wealth must, under all circumstances, be a super- 
 lluity. The sentiments, so naturally aroused by the 
 spectacle of this ungracious contrast between wealth 
 and poverty have found an illustrious, though not un- 
 prejudiced, exponent in the poet Wordsworth : — 
 
 Slaves canuot breathe in England — yet that boast 
 
 Is bnt a mockery ! when from coast to coast, 
 
 Though fettered slaves be none, her floors and soil 
 
 Groan underneath a weight of slavish toil, 
 
 For the poor many, measured out by rules 
 
 Fetched with cupidity from heartless schools, 
 
 That to an idol, falsely called ' The Wealth 
 
 Of Nations,' sacrifice a people's health. 
 
 Body and mind and soul ; a thirst so keen 
 
 Is ever urging on the vast machine 
 
 Of sleepless Labour, 'mid whose dizzy wheels 
 
 The power least prized is that which thinks and feels. 
 
 Socialism is the protest of labour against the un- 
 equal distribution of the profits of production ; but
 
 Co-operative Production. 105 
 
 the system of absolute equality is against the law of 
 nature. Whatever poets, sentimentalists, and agitators 
 may say, there cannot be equality in a society com- 
 posed of individuals unequally endowed in knowledge, 
 natural aptitude, and in physical and mental power. 
 But while there cannot be equality, there must be justice. 
 
 Viewing the subject in the light indicated in these Co-opera- 
 observations, I earnestly wish success to the experiment auction. 
 of adapting the co-operative principle to productive 
 industry. In a co-operative mill, or workshop, or 
 farm, the producers unite the double functions of 
 capital and labour. The handicraftsman sits in 
 judgment on the claims of the capital provided by his 
 ow^n thrift and past labours, and while he is not likely 
 to appropriate an inadequate rate of interest to a fund 
 obtained from such a source, he cannot, at the same 
 time, apportion too much to capital, without doing an 
 injustice to himself in another capacity. 
 
 If it be practically developed on an extensive scale, 
 co-operative production ought to save many disputes 
 concerning the rates of wages. In the co-operative 
 establishments there cannot, in the nature of things, 
 be any contention between a body of workmen and 
 an individual, whom they regard with unfriendly eyes 
 as a selfish monopolist. Nor will the benefits be 
 confined to co-operative establishments alone. They 
 will ameliorate the relations between employers and 
 employed in cases where, as it commonly happens, the 
 confiicting interests of capital and labour are represented 
 by different individuals. All contentions on the ques- 
 tion of wages will be more easily adjusted, when the
 
 1 OG Co-operative Production. 
 
 capitiilist is enabled to refer the labourer to the rates 
 of wages prevaiUng in co-operative establishments, 
 where they have been determined, not by a single 
 individual, suspected of being without sympathy for 
 the labourer, but by those very men who, in the 
 capacity of workmen, become the earners of wages, 
 fixed and paid by themselves. 
 A Stan- The desideratum in all laboui" disputes is a standard, 
 
 waoos re- sct up by au impartial tribunal, by which it may 
 qiiiioc. readily be decided what constitutes a fair rate of wages. 
 When co-operative production has been introduced 
 into all branches of industry successfully, and on a 
 sufficiently extensive scale, we shall then have the 
 universal gauge or measure of the workman's rightful 
 claims. From the day when the workman will take 
 his part in the deliberations which accord to capital 
 its fair rate of interest, and to the wage-earner his due ; 
 from the day when the workman may count with 
 certainty on a just and equal participation in the profits 
 of every enterprise in which he is engaged, in proportion 
 to his merits ; we may venture to hope that strikes 
 will cease, and that workmen will be content to devote 
 themselves to the successful prosecution of the industry 
 in which they find their employment. If it should 
 appear an exaggeration of the powers of human nature 
 to adopt the principles on which Fourier insisted, and 
 to regard all labour as a pleasure ; it is possible to 
 conceive conditions in which labour would appear 
 more alluring and attractive than hitherto. The 
 labourer might have more satisfaction in working 
 under the direction of persons selected by himself.
 
 Co-operative Production. 107 
 
 than he now experiences under the authority of an 
 employer, upon whom he is entirely dependent as the 
 distributor of wages. 
 
 It has been asserted by prominent advocates of the 
 labour interest that among capitalists there is a universal 
 desire to acquire wealth, and but little disposition to 
 pay due regard to the rights of others. There may be 
 cases in w4iich these allegations are true, but they do not 
 correctly represent the general tone and temper of the 
 employers of this country, among whom a higher spirit 
 prevails than some ill-natured critics are ready to allow. 
 
 In France and Germany similar representations 
 have gained many credulous converts. In those 
 countries, and especially in the former, there is much 
 hostility between masters and men. Even when kind 
 and considerate acts are done, they are regarded with 
 suspicion, and are not accepted as the fruits of a 
 generous impulse, or as meriting grateful recognition. 
 
 Happily there is no such hostility of class and 
 class in this country. That it does not exist is con- 
 clusively proved by the support given by multitudes of 
 working men at the recent general election to Conser- 
 vative candidates, who, among other claims to favour, 
 are supposed to be the chosen defenders of the rights of 
 property. 
 
 One thing may unhesitatingly be affirmed, that the 
 disposition to be liberal towards workmen is developed, 
 as a general rule, in proportion to the extent of the 
 business and the capital of the employer ; that there is 
 the most intense love of gain among certain smaller 
 employers ; and that some of the least generous
 
 108 Co-operative Production. 
 
 members of the class are those wlio liiive luuat recently 
 raised themselves from the capacity of workmen to that 
 of employers. This is easily explaiued. Those who 
 have been nursed in ease and security from care, may 
 well afford to deal in a more generous mood with their 
 dependents. 
 
 It has been alleged that in England the class of 
 ml!nox!i persons is gradually being diminished, who without 
 otiand. large means enjoy the advantage of holding a position 
 of independence. Theirs is an order essential in a 
 happily constituted society, as the connecting link 
 between the rich and poor. They are defenders of the 
 rights of property, while their modest and frugal 
 households present no painful contrasts to the condition 
 of the less independent wage-earners among whom 
 they hve. It is said that the monopoly of capital is 
 gradually leading to the extinction of the small farmers 
 and shopkeepers, and that there is a gloomy prospect 
 of a society, in which a painful gulf will separate the 
 privileged few from the mass of the community. What 
 does the recent Census teach on this subject ? It is true 
 that the number of large farms is increasing, and the 
 acreage of farms under one hundred acres diminishing, 
 but the process of change is slow. The number of 
 farms of 200 acres and upw^ards, in 1851 and 1871, is 
 within a fraction the same ; and it is a most remarkable 
 circumstance that, while the average size of the farms 
 in seventeen representative counties of England was 
 ascertained to be 152 acres, the average size of the 
 farms of the United States, according to the Census of 
 1870, was 154 acres.
 
 Co-operative Production. 109 
 
 There is in the United States a boundless territory- 
 available for agricultural occupations, and the laws 
 offer every facility for the purchase and transfer of 
 land. We may therefore safely infer that, as there is 
 a remarkable coincidence in point of size between the 
 farms of England and the United States, the acreage 
 has in each case been determined by considerations of 
 convenience. If smaller holdings had been found to 
 offer equal advantages, no obstacle would have been 
 raised on the part of the landowners to a more minute 
 subdivision. 
 
 The average size of farms has been determined by 
 long experience, and has been settled as between 
 landlord and tenant by a countless number of inde- 
 pendent negotiations, each party to the bargain looking 
 mainly to his own interests in the transactions. Hence, 
 so far at least as agriculture is concerned, there appear 
 no sufficient grounds for the assertion, that there are 
 impediments here — which are not found elsewhere — to 
 the existence of a class of farmers cultivating small 
 holdings, but not furnished with capital enough to do 
 justice to a large extent of land. 
 
 No doubt it would be a benefit to society that 
 capital should be distributed among a greater number 
 of individuals ; and it is because co-operative pro- 
 duction would tend to promote that result that its 
 development is so earnestly to be desired. 
 
 Let me not, however, be misunderstood. There 
 is a power for good in large accumulations of capital 
 in the hands of a single individual, if he be steadfastly 
 determined to make a right use of his resources. It is
 
 1 1 Co-operative Production. 
 
 by such men that some of the most judicious operations 
 have been caiTied out in this country for developing 
 the mineral resources of an untried district, for the 
 advancement of agriculture by costly drainage, for the 
 comfort of the poor by the erection of convenient 
 dwelling-houses, for the improvement of our towns 
 and cities by the destruction of unwholesome habitations 
 and the erection of dwellings furnished with all the 
 contrivances of modern sanitary science, and for the 
 extension of the boon of railway communication into 
 thinly-peopled districts. Works such as these, however 
 profitable in the long run, generally involve a protracted 
 lock-up of capital; and the ordinary investor, who 
 cannot afford to lose for a long period the interest upon 
 a comparatively slender capital, is slow to undertake 
 them. 
 Difficulties Apart, liowcvcr, from such exceptional cases, 
 
 of co-oper- ^ ^ 
 
 ative the argument in favour of a more equal partici- 
 
 oroanisa- 
 
 tion. pation in profits may be admitted as theoretically 
 
 incontrovertible. The Co-operative system of produc- 
 tion leads us towards that consummation which is 
 so devoutly to be wished. At the same time, while 
 highly commending the system in principle, it cannot be 
 denied that in its practical application there are grave 
 difficulties. 
 
 In deliberation the opinions of many counsellors 
 serve to establish sound conclusions in the mind ; 
 but when you proceed to carry out a decision thus 
 arrived at, when you have to govern and administer, 
 all experience proves the infinite superiority of indivi- 
 dual over corporate management. ' There be three
 
 Co-operative Production. Ill 
 
 points of business,' says Lord Bacon — ' the preparation, 
 the debate or examination, and the perfection. Wiiere- 
 of, if you loolv for despatch, let the middle only be the 
 work of many, and the first and last the work of few.' 
 
 The following opinion of Mr. Erastus Bigelow, of 
 Massachusetts, quoted by Mr. Harris Gastrell, may 
 be cited in support of the view I have ventured to 
 express : — 
 
 ' The Corporation system has been a serious 
 hindrance to the proper diversification of our manu- 
 factures I will point out briefly some of the 
 
 disadvantages. When men who are occupied with 
 other pursuits decide to invest capital in manufac- 
 turing corporations it is usually done on grounds of 
 general confidence. They invest, because others are in- 
 vesting. They believe, without exactly knowing why, 
 that such investments are safe, and will be profitable ; 
 or they follow the lead of some friend, in whose know- 
 ledge and judgment they confide. They do not act 
 on their own acquaintance with the nature and require- 
 ments of the business ; for such an acquaintance can 
 be made only by careful investigation or actual ex- 
 perience. The natural consequence of all this is that 
 capital for the extension of old or the projection of 
 new manufacturing enterprises can seldom be ob- 
 tained at those times when it is most needed and micjht 
 most profitably be employed. This single feature of 
 the system is fatal to any true and healthy progress 
 under it. 
 
 ' The capital thus raised must be expended. An 
 agent is employed and enters on his work. Those
 
 112 Co-operative Production. 
 
 capitalists who have invested under the stimulus of 
 higli profits are impatient for results, and urge him 
 to hasty action on ill-considered plans. A sudden 
 and unnatural demand for operatives is thus created, 
 raising the rate of wages and greatly enhancing the 
 cost of goods. Lastly, unity of purpose and action, 
 without which no business can be successfully 
 prosecuted, can hardly be expected under the divided 
 responsibilities of a large corporate organisation.' 
 Losses in A ready means of applying the principle of limited 
 
 stock Corn- liability to all descriptions of business was created by 
 panies. ^^^^ Joint Stock Companies Act of 18G2. That enact- 
 ment gave great facilities, for the sale of their property 
 to Joint Stock Companies, to men at the head of large 
 concerns, who were tired of hard work, and anxious to 
 hand down to their families an inheritance, secured 
 from the risks and fluctuations of trade. 
 
 While there were many seeking to exchange the 
 wear and tear of business for the comparatively easy 
 life of the country gentleman, there was a large 
 body of inexperienced and sanguine investors, who 
 had deluded themselves with the belief that it was 
 possible to conduct the most intricate operations of 
 industry successfully, without experience and without 
 that constant personal devotion to administrative details, 
 which the individual manufacturers whose property 
 they had purchased had found it essential to bestow. 
 
 It is well known that in numerous instances the 
 purchasers have sustained a serious loss. In some cases 
 the prices paid have been excessive, and the failure has 
 resulted from the exaggeration of the capital account.
 
 Co-operative Production. 113 
 
 In other and more numerous cases tlie explanation is to 
 
 be found in the imperfect control exercised by a board 
 
 of Directors, assisted by a salaried manager, as compared 
 
 with the administration of the individual employer's. 
 
 Even in the choice of an a^ent, representative, or Business 
 
 » ' ^ ' of a rail- 
 
 manager, a private individual has advantai^es over a ^ay con- 
 
 ° ' ^ . ° tractor 
 
 board. Take the case of a railway contractor. The comd not 
 contracts for a long line of railway are subdivided, for managed 
 
 I f, ■, . , I. -, , . . by a com- 
 
 tne purposes oi the supervision oi the work, into sections pany. 
 rarely exceeding eight to ten miles in length. If the 
 works are unusually heavy, the sections are shorter in 
 proportion. A sub-agent is placed in charge of each 
 section, and an experienced agent has the general direc- 
 tion of the whole contract. The principal contractor 
 for the undertaking, by paying frequent visits of in- 
 spection, has opportunities of becoming acquainted 
 with every sub-agent in his employ. He observes the 
 progress made on his section. He can test his capabi- 
 lity of dealing with every kind of practical engineering 
 difficulty, by moving him from railway to railway, and 
 putting him in charge of work in districts totally dis- 
 similar in their physical character and resources. 
 Gradually those employed in a subordinate capacity 
 have an opportunity of showing their powers ; and yet 
 while there is ample scope for individual merit, the 
 supervision of the agent, having the general charge, 
 will prevent the mistakes of a subordinate from pro- 
 ducing very serious consequences. Thus, with the 
 lapse of time, and without any grave risk of loss, the 
 contractor may form an opinion as to who are his most 
 trustworthy sub-agents, and can select principal agents 
 
 I
 
 114 Co-operative Production. 
 
 from among tlicir number witli confidence ; because 
 their powers will have become thoroughly tested in a 
 subordinate capacity. Here it will be obvious that 
 long experience and continuity of management are 
 essential. A board will make appointments upon the 
 faith of testimonials. The private individual will trust 
 to personal observation. 
 
 Again, administrative success depends upon the 
 knowledge and management of details. The art of 
 organising large bodies of workmen will only be ob- 
 tained by previous experience on a smaller scale. The 
 general supervision of subordinates will be most eifec- 
 tually exercised by one, who, by close observation on 
 the spot, whether in the tunnel, the workshop, or the 
 factory, has learned how to discharge in his own person 
 the duty he has delegated to others. The greatest 
 commanders and administrators have ever been con- 
 summate masters of detail. Napoleon's arrangements 
 for the marches undertaken by his vast armies are 
 admirable for the forethought and the care wisely 
 bestowed upon details. A council or a board, only 
 occasionally meeting, cannot manage a business ; and, 
 unless efficiently represented by their officers and ser- 
 vants, they are practically powerless. In a commercial 
 point of view, great profits in productive industry 
 are generally obtained by infinite small economies. 
 Directors in a board-room can effect nothing in this 
 way. Every economy of expenditure must be suggested 
 by close and constant observation of the processes by 
 which materials are prepared, and labour apphed to 
 the execution of the work.
 
 Co-operative Production. 115 
 
 In the or<ranisatioii of co-operative p^-ocluction it Managers 
 
 t^ i ^ must be 
 
 is essential to secure the services of individuals com- liberally 
 
 paid. 
 
 petent to take the general management. The manual 
 operations will be skilfully and probably more diligently 
 performed in a co-operative establishment. The per- 
 sonal interests of the workmen will be so directly ad- 
 vanced by their application and perseverance, that they 
 will naturally work hard. But their best efforts will 
 fail to ensure a satisfactory result, unless the general 
 organisation is perfect also. 
 
 This organising faculty is a rare gift, and it must 
 be combined with long experience and excellent judg- 
 ment, or the commercial result cannot be satisfactory. 
 Many there are who possess, in an eminent degree, 
 inventive skill. Others have powers of persuasive 
 speech, which enable them for a time to command 
 great influence in financial circles. When, however, 
 they come to deal with practical questions, they fail. 
 Mechanical and scientific ability will not command 
 success unless united with prudence and tact. High 
 diplomatic qualities are often required in the con- 
 duct of negotiations, both with the trade out of 
 doors and with the workmen employed. Above all, 
 there must be integrity and high-minded resolution to 
 withstand the temptations that come from the love of 
 money, and operate so strongly on the minds of men 
 of slender means and great ambition. 
 
 We have the most conclusive evidence that the 
 administrative powers, of wliich I speak, are as rare 
 as they are essential, in the handsome salaries which 
 men possessing such qualifications often obtain, not 
 
 I 2
 
 116 Co-operative Production. 
 
 only as managers of large joint-stock companies, but m 
 the employ of private firms. When shall we find co- 
 operative shareholders ready to give 5,000/. a year for 
 a competent manager ? And yet the sum I have named 
 is sometimes readily paid by private employers to an 
 able lieutenant. 
 
 It is because there has been in co-operative estab- 
 lishments a reluctance to pay what is necessary to enhst 
 first-rate ability in the management of the business, 
 that their operations have hitherto been attended Avith 
 very partial success. I believe that only personal 
 experience of the difficulties of the task would induce a 
 body of workmen to reserve from their earnings a sum 
 sufficient to secure the services of competent leaders. 
 Co-oppra- I would, therefore, earnestly dissuade those inte- 
 
 duc^tion°" rested in co-operative production from attempting to 
 ^!!'^r'f^^ii commence on a larc^e scale a business difficult to 
 
 on a small & 
 
 manage. ^ would suggest a more practicable as well 
 as more prudent policy. A moderate capital is easily 
 obtained. Large funds are not rapidly procured. 
 Where only a few hands are engaged, the government 
 may be conducted on a purely democratic basis. 
 Where the energies of a multitude are to be combined, 
 there must be an enlightened despotism. 
 
 In the case of a co-operative establishment, the 
 persons entrusted with plenary powers must, as a 
 matter of course, be subject to the control of the con- 
 tributors of the capital ; but their control should be 
 exercised only at stated, though sufficiently frequent, 
 intervals. It was rightly pointed out by Mr. Morrison, 
 in the debates at the last Conference of Co-operative 
 
 scale.
 
 Co-operative Production. 117 
 
 Societies, that, without the concentration of manage- 
 ment among a limited number of persons, it would be 
 impossible to preserve the unity of tradition and admini- 
 stration, which are essential to establish the reputation 
 of a factory or workshop, and to secure for the articles, 
 therein produced, the high prices consumers are always 
 ready to pay for goods of undoubted quality. 
 
 The appointment of the manager by popular elec- 
 tion, — the electors being the hand workers, who are 
 to serve under the chief, selected by themselves, — 
 is quite compatible with continuity of management. 
 In a trading concern the acting partner or manager, 
 who has personal control, is rarely obtained by here- 
 ditary succession. It is seldom that a man of commer- 
 cial genius has a worthy successor in his son. Hence it 
 may be anticipated that the elective principle will be 
 at least as well calculated as the hereditary to protect 
 the workmen from the disasters which must inevitably 
 be caused by incapacity in the management. 
 
 Co-operative Societies of production would doubt- 
 less have been established far more rapidly, unless 
 there had been formidable difficulties to be surmounted. 
 The most recent Eeport shows that the number of these 
 societies may almost be counted on the fingers. Though 
 some of the experiments actually tried have been 
 successful, the failures have been more numerous than 
 the successes. The Paisley Manufacturing Society, the 
 Hebden Bridge Fustian Society, the Eccles Quilt Manu- 
 facturing Society, the Lurgan Damask Manufacturing 
 Society, are examples of co-operative production suc- 
 cessfully conducted ; but they are on a small scale.
 
 118 Co-operative Prodaction. 
 
 ;nul [)n)l)ably their success is partly attributable to the 
 wisdom of the promoters in not attem])ting more 
 ambilious uudertakiiigs. The Printing Society of Man- 
 chester is a greater efTort, and it is highly flourishing. 
 It is possible that the business is of a kind which de- 
 pends less on the administrative ability of the manager 
 than on the individual exertions of the workmen. 
 The Co-operative Printing Society recently established 
 in London has however failed to command a remune- 
 rative business. 
 Ouseburn. Tlic most important experiment in co-operative pro- 
 
 duction hitherto attem})ted in this country is that of 
 the Ouseburn Engine Works. But this Company has 
 sustained a severe loss ; and, strange to say, there has 
 been a strike for higher wages on the part of the work- 
 men employed in one department of the concern. The 
 occurrence of a strike in a co-operative establishment 
 proves the difficulty, though not the impossibility, of 
 conducting an undertaking on a democratic system, 
 when you have to deal with many classes of workmen, 
 possessing different and unequal qualifications. 
 
 The adjustment of the rates of wages in a case in 
 which some members of the co-operative body must be 
 paid at considerably higher rates than others, requires 
 on the part of the latter no common measure of self- 
 denial. It is sometimes hard to recognise the superior 
 merits of others, even when we have the means of 
 forming an independent opinion on their claims ;• but 
 when workmen, brought up in one trade, are required 
 to assign much higher wages to artisans practising 
 another trade, of the exact nature and difficulty of
 
 Co-operative Production. 119 
 
 wliicli they have no experience, they are naturally 
 prone to doubt whether a sufficient reason exists to 
 justify a distinction, inevitably involving a personal loss 
 to themselves. 
 
 Thus, the inequahty in the earnings of different 
 trades, and of the same trades in different countries, is 
 a common cause of dissatisfaction among those who 
 receive the least liberal rates of pay. It does not follow 
 that the complaints are reasonable. Where there are 
 no special circumstances to redress the balance, such an 
 inequality ought to be removed ; but in most cases it 
 will be found that the condition of those who are in 
 receipt of lower wages is more enviable than that of 
 their rivals in other respects. Compare the hardy 
 peasant with the tired denizen of a dismal alley in a 
 great city, to whom the returning spring brings with 
 it none of the glad sights and sounds which surround 
 the country village as with a sweet enchantment. The 
 rustic labourer has a garden gay with flowers. The 
 leafy shades protect him from the noon-tide glare, and 
 his ears are soothed by the melodious minstrelsy of 
 Nature : 
 
 The moan of doves in immemorial elms, 
 And murmuring of innumerable bees. 
 
 His labours are performed in the free fresh air. They 
 are varied and interesting. They tend to invigorate 
 rather than to exhaust his physical powers. The term 
 of his life is longer. His health is more easily pre- 
 served. 
 
 The charms of rural life, as sung by the poet, 
 and painted by the brush of a Linnell or a Birket
 
 120 Co-operative Production. 
 
 Foster, arc to some iiadnvs inexhaustible. The golden 
 corn, the piirjile heather, the sunny foreground, and 
 the mellow distance, — how great a contrast between 
 a landscape so composed, and the dull red walls and 
 close canopy of smoke, in which the factory o])erative 
 is confined ! Can any difference in the rate of wages 
 fully compensate for the privations that he suffers ? 
 
 To return, however, to the Ouseburn Company, 
 the causes of the early losses were frankly and ably 
 ex])lained by Dr. Eutherford in his speech delivered on 
 the occasion of the visit of this Congress to the works, 
 at their last conference. Orders had been booked at 
 too low a price. The manager, by whom the directors 
 were advised, was much at faidt. The head of the un- 
 dertaking should have been, as Dr. Eutherford so justly 
 urged, a practical engineer, as well as a philanthropist. 
 To secure the serxices of a competent manager the re- 
 muneration required should have been measured, not by 
 a few hundred, but by a few thousand pounds. The 
 history of the Ouseburn works is an illustration of the 
 jjrinciples already laid down. The early feilure is at- 
 tributable to the want of that experience and technical 
 and practical knowledge, which can only be supplied 
 by the appointment of a highly qualified engineer. 
 When such a man has been found, all will go well with 
 the Ouseburn Company. 
 
 There has been a Quixotic idea among co-operators 
 that a percentage on the price charged to customers 
 should be returned. The policy of competing for 
 business by underbidding rivals, placed in exactly the 
 same relative position, in regard to the cost of materials
 
 Co-operative Production. 121 
 
 and labour, should be followed with the greatest caution. 
 Keen competition in every department of our trade has 
 already brought down profits to the lowest point. The 
 aim of the co-operators should be to follow the example 
 of those sagacious and experienced men of business, 
 who always insist on full prices for their work, and 
 endeavour to protect themselves against competition by 
 superior excellence in the quality of their produc- 
 tions. 
 
 The valuable Eeports of Her Majesty's Secretaries 
 of Legation describe many successful applications of the 
 co-operative principle which may prove encouraging 
 to English enterprise. 
 
 It is stated by Mr. Ford that the Executive Com- Co-opera- 
 
 •^ tion in 
 
 mitfee of the Tailors' Union in New York, on notifying United 
 the cessation of a strike, in which the trade had been 
 engaged in 1869, declared that their policy would 
 thenceforward be to abandon the system of strikes, and 
 to fight with the stronger weapon of co-operation. 
 
 The CO- operative principle has been adopted by 
 those strange religious sects, the Mormons, Shakers, 
 Economists, and Perfectionists. However we may differ 
 from their creed, it must be admitted that they have 
 attained to great success in the organisation, of labour. 
 The Mormons at Salt Lake City have transformed ' a 
 wilderness into a garden,' and I can speak from personal 
 knowledge when I say that the Shakers are excellent 
 farmers. 
 
 Co-operative foundries have been established in 
 New York and Massachusetts. There is an Iron 
 Foundry at Troy, in New York, which was started in
 
 122 Co-opcratice Production. 
 
 May 18G6, Avitli u cai)ihil of 2,700/. iniid-ui). The 
 sliares ^vcre fixed at 20/., and limitud in miinber to 
 2,000. In the first year thirty-two men, in the second 
 seventy-five, in 18G9 eighty-five men were employed 
 in the works. A dividend of 10 per cent, was made 
 in the first year, and 30 per cent, more was paid on 
 labour, Tlie second year the dividends on stock and 
 labour amounted to 89 per cent. In 1869 they reached 
 100 per cent. The most skilled trades earn, owing to 
 their steady employment, 35 per cent, more than the 
 same classes of workmen would earn at similar wages 
 in any private foundry. Great economy has been ef- 
 fected in the use of materials, and the strictest disciphne 
 is enforced. Up to the date of Mr. Ford's report, all 
 the profits due to individuals had been paid to them in 
 shares, with the view of applying the additional capital 
 to the enlargement of the works. 
 
 The co-operative movement, thus happily begun, 
 has been followed up with energy and spirit. Mr. 
 Archibald, our Consul-General in New York, writing 
 in 1872, says: 'During the past year, co-operative 
 concerns have been organised in several departments 
 of business, but with far greater success in indus- 
 trial than in commercial matters. The Working Men's 
 Manufacturing Company, with a capital of 25,000/., 
 has been formed at Emmaus. It is to be conducted 
 on the co-operative principle, and will erect extensive 
 works, including a foimdry, forge, and two machine 
 shops, employing at the commencement about 200 
 hands.'
 
 Co-operative Production. 128 
 
 111 Austria, the majority of the printers, tliough in vienua. 
 theory advocates of the views of Lassalle in favour of 
 Government workshops, in practice have adopted the 
 sound doctrine inculcated by Schultse Dehtzsch, the 
 eminent German economist, that every man should trust 
 to self-help, rather than place his dependence on the 
 Government. The printers of Vienna have established 
 a co-operative press ; and Lord Lytton states in his 
 report that 1,500 printers were, in 1869, negotiating 
 for the purchase of another office. 
 
 Mr. Jocelyn, in his report of 1869, refers to the Sweden. 
 progress of co-operative production in Sweden, and says 
 that this most difficult form of labour organisation has 
 been particularly successful in that country. He at- 
 tributes this fortunate result to a spirit of independence 
 higlily honourable to the Swedish workmen. They 
 will wilhngly risk their savings for the sake of seizing 
 an opportunity of rising from a dependent position to 
 the freedom of co-operative industry. It has been 
 found in Sweden that the smaller undertakings of this 
 nature are the most prosperous. Where, on the other 
 hand, many are associated upon an equal footing for 
 the promotion of manufactures requiring unusual skill, 
 there is great danger of the whole becoming de facto 
 the property of a few of the original founders, while 
 the rest sink back into the condition of simple workmen 
 under their command. 
 
 While the effi^rts to establish co-operative pro- 
 duction in this country have not thus far been attended 
 with a large measure of success, the importance of the
 
 124 Co-operatice Production. 
 
 principle at stake is so great, that I should deprecate 
 most earnestly the abandonment of further attempts in 
 the same direction The wiser course will be to avoid, 
 as it has been already suggested, commencing under- 
 takings on a large scale. When the business is of a 
 kind that cannot be carried out advantageously on a 
 moderate footing, the co-operative principle should be 
 applied to the execution of sub-contracts for portions 
 of the work, to the supply of a part of a large order, or 
 to the execution of a single process in a complicated 
 manufacture. 
 
 When a railway contract has been taken, the prin- 
 cipal contractor usually subdivides the works, and lets 
 them out to sub-contractors. On a long line of railway 
 every cutting, bridge, tunnel, embankment, and station 
 is executed by one or more separate contractors ; and 
 thus the co-operative system may readily be applied to 
 the construction of every section of the largest under- 
 taking, after it has been sufficiently subdivided. The 
 same remarks apply to ship-building and many other 
 branches of industry, where the subdivision of the work 
 will give ample scope for the application of the co- 
 operative system, combined and organised under an 
 employer of superior administrative skill and large 
 resources at the fountain-head. 
 Snivcon- It may be interesting to men, who are engaged in 
 
 a great effort to organise a new and better system for 
 the application of capital and labour to production, to 
 hear some details of the methods adopted by the English 
 contractors, who have been engaged in the execution 
 
 tracts.
 
 Co-operative Production. 125 
 
 of great railway contracts both at home and abroad. 
 lu the conduct of these works, the main object in view 
 has been to give to tlie workmen a personal interest in 
 the performance of an adequate quantity of work, in 
 return for the wages received. In the case of the con- 
 tractor, it was especially important to attain this object 
 by making it the interest of the labourer to do his fair 
 share of work, rather than by placing reliance on a 
 close personal inspection of his conduct. With the 
 development of railway enterprise, the practice was 
 adopted of inviting English contractors with competent 
 resources to undertake railway and other w^orks, not 
 only in their own country, but in every quarter of the 
 globe. The difficulties of supervision of necessity in- 
 creased with the enlarged area of their operations, and 
 it was essential to devise some plan by which it should, 
 if possible, be made an advantage to every individual 
 concerned to perform his share of the common task to 
 the best of his ability. 
 
 Thus the system of sub-contract and piece-work, 
 originally adopted by the pioneers of railway construc- 
 tion, was extended to every operation where it was 
 possible to apply it. The general character of the 
 arrangements may perhaps be best explained by the 
 selection of an example taken from actual practice. 
 On the contract for part of the London and South- 
 western Eailway, between Basingstoke and Winches- 
 ter, there was an unusual proportion of excavation, 
 amounting to some 3^ millions of cubic yards on a 
 length of eighteen miles. Not only were the works
 
 120 Co-operntive Production. 
 
 of ca licavy and costly nature, ])ut the time allowed, 
 for the completion was so short as to render the utmost 
 diligence and energy necessary. The operations were 
 carried on night and day, and 1,100 workmen w^ere 
 employed. 
 
 There was one cutting of unusual dimensions near 
 Winchester, which, in the deepest part, was from 90 
 to 100 feet in depth. Here, in spite of severe and 
 unfavourable weather, the works were pushed on with 
 the utmost diligence and determination. This was done 
 even at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice ; because the 
 contractor was anxious, above all things, to maintain 
 and increase the good reputation he had already begun 
 to establish, and of which he was w^isely jealous as the 
 surest guarantee for his future success. At Micheldever 
 there was one immense embankment, about 85 feet in 
 height ; and at Popham Beacons there was a short cut- 
 ting, not more than 10 chains in length, intervening be- 
 tween two tunnels, of such a depth that 100,000 cubic 
 yards were excavated in order to make the cutting. 
 
 The whole of these works were executed by sub- 
 contract. The amount of work let to a particular 
 sub-contractor was determined by the appreciation 
 formed by the principal contractor or his agent of the 
 ability of the individual to carry out the work. A man 
 of superior qualifications was allowed to take a sub- 
 contract for an amount of work, increasing in magnitude, 
 in proportion to the confidence entertained in his ability, 
 Some of the sub-contractors would take contracts for 
 work costing in the total 15,000/. to 20,000/., and 
 employing from 150 to 200 men.
 
 Co-operative Production. 127 
 
 Frequently the sub-contractor would again let his 
 work to the navvies at so much a yard. They worked 
 in what were called butty gangs, or parties of from six 
 to twelve men. The navvies would take a contract 
 under a sub -contractor for excavating so many yards of 
 earth at so much per yard ; and they would divide the 
 earnings equally amongst each other. Disputes would 
 frequently arise between the butty gangs and the sub- 
 contractors upon the question of measurement, and in 
 such cases the resident agent or representative of the 
 principal contractor was required to arbitrate. 
 
 When the work was organised in the manner I have 
 described, the function of the principal contractor was 
 rather that of a practical engineer, superintending the 
 execution of the works by a number of smaller con- 
 tractors. The principal contractor, being responsible 
 to the engineer for the faithful performance of the con- 
 tract, would watch very closely the work done by the 
 sub- contractors, and see that it was executed in such a 
 manner as to satisfy the requirements of the engineer ; 
 but he was not directly the employer of the workmen 
 or the navvies. 
 
 The policy was to avoid, as far as possible, engaging 
 a large number of workmen by the day, and to pay 
 every man concerned in proportion to results. 
 
 If little labour, little are our gains : 
 Man's fortunes are according to his pains. 
 
 The system of sub-contract was carried so far, that 
 I have been informed by Mr. Harrison, the experienced 
 contractor, from whom I have derived the facts already
 
 128 Co-operative Production. 
 
 quoted, that tlic vciy scafTokling, raised for the purpose 
 of putting together tlie iron-work of the bridges of the 
 Severn Valley Eailway, was mostly erected by sub- 
 contractors. A carpenter woidd take a sub-contract 
 for the erection of such scaffolding, fixing his price by 
 the cubic foot. 
 Pioce-work Sub-coutracts are mucli approved in tlie best ship- 
 buikiin'r. building yards. The following observations, coming 
 from one of the most eminent ship-builders in the United 
 Kingdom, will be perused with interest by students of 
 the labour problem, whether from a speculative or a 
 practical point of view. 
 
 The opinions of the writer, from whom I quote, 
 fully substantiate the conclusions drawn by my father 
 from a large experience in a totally different field of 
 industry : — 
 
 ' The book and pamphlet on " Work and Wages," 
 you kindly gave me, have interested me very much, 
 and directed my attention particularly to the past and 
 present of my trades. I say " particularly," as, although 
 I knew roughly how they stood, your writings set me 
 to make out with considerable, if not perfect, accuracy, 
 some statistics which I felt sure would interest you as 
 much as myself. I have, accordingly, put these into 
 shape, premising you are at liberty to use them in your 
 " work," but without mentioning names or otherwise, 
 further than as illustrating your views. The busi- 
 nesses, in which I am directly or indirectly engaged, 
 are ship-building, engineering, forging and founding — 
 in fact, everything to complete steamships from the 
 roughcast of malleable iron. I have seen no reason
 
 Co-operative Production. 129 
 
 to regret keeping these several departments under sepa- 
 rate heads and management. 
 
 ' I pm^pose, however, now taking up iron ship- 
 buikling only, as being much the largest department, 
 and to compare two distinct periods or years — 1868 
 and 1873. In 1868 we had no piece-work. Between 
 then and 1873 we introduced it, with some httle 
 difficulty, into the iron department and blacksmith 
 work. We have not yet succeeded in bringing it into 
 play in the ship-carpenter and joiner, and some minor 
 branches, but we bide our time. Fully half our pays 
 go to piece-work, leaving the balance for time payment. 
 It is because we only build high -class passenger steam- 
 ships, that we continue to pay so large a number of 
 men by the day rather than by the piece. I may 
 observe that the wood department runs much higher 
 in proportion to iron than in yards mostly devoted to 
 sailing ships or cargo steamers. The steamships we 
 built in 1868 and 1873 were almost identical in style 
 of finish though differing in tonnage. We had much 
 trouble about 1868 with our iron hands. It w^as difficult 
 to get men, the demand exceeding the supply. The 
 introduction of the piece system, that is to say, the pay- 
 ment by results, led to hard, or at least fairly hard 
 work, on the part of the skilled men, and to ingenuity 
 on their part and ours to save unskilled labour by the 
 introduction of machinery. The result has been that 
 skilled and unskilled men make 50 per cent, to 75 per 
 cent, more earnings. We get the work per ton of iron 
 in the ships about 20 per cent, cheaper ; and, from a 
 much smaller number of men being required, the supply 
 
 E
 
 130 Co-operative Production. 
 
 is a2:)proximately equal to the demand. Since we intro- 
 duced piece-work we can estimate to witliin a fraction 
 what the iron and bUicksmith work will cost, and we 
 could never do so before. Here I would observe tliat 
 all this has been accomplished with working time in 
 1873 reduced to 54 hours per week, whereas in 18G8 
 the men worked GO hours a week. As to the skilled 
 hands — and they are all highly skilled men — in the 
 wood departments, we had to pay higher wages in 1873 
 for 54 hours' work than in 1868 with 60 hours'. We 
 have, however, met this by the introduction of ma- 
 chinery. Our joinery and cabinet department is now 
 Hke an engineer's shop, with tools for every description 
 of worh. I may say in every part of our work, during 
 the past three or four years, we have been introducing 
 " steam " and other appliances where we could ; and 
 there has been generally sharper supervision and atten- 
 tion on the part of those in charge, and our manager 
 over them. 
 
 ' I may now come to results. In 1868 we launched 
 nine steamships, in round numbers aggregating 13,000 
 tons. I take gross new measurement in each case, 
 for the purpose of comparison. The wages bill was 
 78,963/. ; average number of men and boys employed, 
 1,776. In 1873 we launched seven steamships, in 
 round numbers aggregating 18,500 tons ; wages bill, 
 91,838/. ; average number of men and boys employed, 
 1,550. In 1868 the average wage earned per week of 
 60 hours was about 17s. Id. In 1873, per week of 
 54 hours, about 22^. 9fZ. In 1873 the cost per ton, 
 gross new measurement, in wages only, was fully 20s.
 
 Co-operative Production. 131 
 
 cheaper than in 1868, but tliis reduction is clue to the 
 piece-work departments. We consider it something 
 to have met the increase in wages and diminution 
 in lioiu"s of the " time-workers " by the means already 
 mentioned. 
 
 ' I am not clear that these time-workers work 
 harder whilst they are at it tlian they did before the 
 advance in wages and the decrease in hours, but we 
 may have gamed something from sharper over-looking. 
 As I have said, we have eifected considerable econo- 
 mies by the introduction of steam machinery and other 
 labour-saving appliances. 
 
 ' The piece-work system keeps us clearer of dis- 
 putes and trouble with our men than we were under 
 the old method ; and men and employers ahke make 
 a better result. I look to " payment by results " as a 
 system calculated to put an end to many trade distur- 
 bances, but trades unions are opposed to it. As ours 
 is practically a non-union yard, we hope in time to 
 overcome the obstacles in our way, and to make the 
 one system universal. Piece-work in the iron depart- 
 ment of ship-building is now general in the Clyde 
 district. 
 
 ' As this year will complete my thirtieth in the 
 employment of labour, you will see that my experience 
 of it is somewhat large.' 
 
 On theoretical grounds I would advocate strongly 
 the adoption of the co-operative principle pure and 
 simple ; but I would also commend to those interested 
 in the cordial aUiance of labour and capital the methods 
 of payment so successfully applied by Messrs. Briggs,
 
 1 32 Co-opcratice Production. 
 
 and Fox, Head and Co., as worthy of attentive exami- 
 nation, and as aflbrding, if only a partial, still a much 
 easier, solution of tlie labour problem than that joro- 
 posed by the advocates of a purely co-operative system. 
 Fox, Head ^he principles of the scheme of Messrs. Fox, Head 
 
 and Co. 
 
 and Co. have been explained by tliemselves in a cir- 
 cular, addressed to their workmen, in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 ' This scheme has been prepared and adopted for 
 the purpose of preventing the occurrence of disputes 
 between employers and employed, which often arise, it 
 is believed, from a mistaken estimate on the part of 
 the employed, of the amount of profit capable of being 
 made. Hence a tendency to dissatisfaction with current 
 rates of wao-es. 
 
 ' The principles of the scheme are as follows : 
 
 'That every person employed shall have a pecu- 
 niary interest in the success of the business, and the 
 profits to be made ; that interest being as far as possible 
 in proportion to the services rendered. 
 
 ' That the labour employed, whether of workmen, 
 clerks, foremen, managers, or partners, shall be remu- 
 nerated by wages or salaries at the rates customary in 
 the district. 
 
 'That the capital employed shall be remunerated 
 by a specified rate of interest. 
 
 ' That the works and plant upon which the capital 
 has been expended shall be kept up in a perfect state 
 of repair, and that to cover renewals and depreciation 
 a reasonable allowance shall be made out of the profits 
 of manufacture.
 
 Co-operative Productlun. 133 
 
 ' That a fund shall be created and maintained as a 
 provision against loss by bad debts. 
 
 ' That these provisions being satisfied, any surplus 
 profit shall, at the end of each year, be ascertained and 
 cert.fied, and the amount thereof divided into two 
 equal parts — the one to be paid to the capitalist, and 
 the other to be divided amoni? all those enj^asred in the 
 manufacture, in proportion to the amounts earned by 
 them during such year in wages and salaries.' 
 
 In the establishments to which I refer, and which 
 are so well known to all who take an interest in co- 
 operative production, the employers have endeavoured 
 to give to the workmen a direct personal advantage 
 from the success of the business, while retaining in 
 their own hands the absolute power of directing the 
 general policy and management. Keenly alive to all 
 the evils arising from divided responsibility, and the 
 admission of workmen inexperienced in commercial 
 affairs to an equal authority with their employers, they 
 have sought to protect themselves from the ill effects of 
 corporate management, and yet give to the workmen 
 a full share of the profits, in jDroportion to their skill 
 and diligence. 
 
 It is some eight years since Messrs. Fox, Head and 
 Co. brought out their scheme. In that interval, amid 
 the many fluctuations to which their trade is always 
 subjected, they have paid between 6,000/. and 7,000/. 
 to their workmen by way of bonus ; and the result 
 has been eminently satisfactory to the employers. 
 They think they have a superior class of workmen, and 
 that they stay longer at the works. They obtain the
 
 134 Co-operative Production. 
 
 best prices for tlicir inaiiiifactures. They have no 
 disputes, and pay no contributions to standing coni- 
 niittees or coiurts of conciliation. The employers are 
 well content with the arrangements they have made ; 
 and the conduct of the workmen sliows that a feeling 
 of mutual satisftiction prevails. 
 
 Messrs. ii ig jjQt necessary to describe in detail the system 
 
 adopted by Messrs. Briggs. In August of last year 
 (1873), they distributed among 1,754 workmen em- 
 ployed by their Company, upwards of 14,250/., as 
 their share of j^rofits for the previous year. It is stated 
 by Mr. II. C. Briggs that several miners received 
 f->OL eacli ; and that, since the distribution, they have 
 iiad applications from their workmen for about 700 
 additional shares in the Company ; though they were 
 asking 10/. premium on the shares, on which only 
 12/. lO.s'. have been paid. About half the sum paid as 
 bonus has been thus returned to the Company by the 
 workmen in premium on the shares applied for. For 
 several years a workman director has sat on the board, 
 who is qualified by holding one share in the Company, 
 and by the receipt of weekly wages. This representa- 
 tive of labour is annually elected by the votes of share- 
 holders actually in receipt of weekly wages. Formerly 
 one of their most bitter opponents, the Messrs. Briggs 
 believe tliat the insight he has lately gained into the 
 difhculties of conducting large industrial undertakings 
 will effectually deter him from renewing the strife of 
 former days. 
 
 M. Godiu. Monsieur Godin, of Guise, has adopted the following 
 
 scheme of paying his workmen, with a view to giving
 
 Co-operative Production. 135 
 
 tliem an interest in the success of the business in which 
 they are employed. Capital, invention, and labour 
 being alike essential to the production of wealth, the 
 problem to be solved is the apportionment of the 
 profits equitably among the several interests concerned. 
 In determining the rate of interest due to capital, the 
 workmen, in the opinion of M. Godin, should be pre- 
 viously consulted ; and the rate should be determined 
 with due regard to the risks of trade and other circum- 
 stances. In the scheme, adopted in the establishment 
 of M. Godin, capital receives a clear 15 per cent, in- 
 terest ; the workman is paid his ordinary wages ; and 
 provision is made to cover the charges for adminis- 
 tration and mechanical inventions. These necessary 
 expenses having been provided for, the balance over, 
 if any, is regarded as the net profit ; and it is appor- 
 tioned, one-third to the reserve fund, and the re- 
 maining two-thirds to capital and labour, in propor- 
 tion to the fixed amounts, payable to each from the 
 earnings, before the net profits were ascertained. The 
 practical operation of the system may be illustrated 
 by an example. Assume that the sums payable had 
 been — 
 
 Wages 9,000 
 
 Interest on 40,000Z. at 15 per cent. . 6,000 
 General charges 1,000 
 
 £16,000 
 
 Then if 2,400/. be the net profit, one-third, or 
 800/., equal to 5 per cent, on the fixed expenditure, is 
 set aside to reserve ; and the balance of 1,G00/. is ap-
 
 J3G Co-operative Production. 
 
 propriated to capital and labour, in proportion to their 
 respective shares iu tlie fixed earnings. Thus the sum 
 of 900/. is added to the earnings of the wage-receivers, 
 the sum of 600/. is payable as bonus to the capitalist, 
 and 100/. to the management. Under the system 
 usually adopted, capital would have claimed the whole 
 of the 1,600/. 
 
 The evils of a general pay-day are well understood 
 by persons at the head of great industrial establish- 
 ments. The drunkenness and disorder, the wasted 
 earnings, the subsequent irregularity of attendance, 
 are the familiar yet regretable incidents of a general 
 distribution of wages to a numerous body of workmen. 
 M. Godin pays his workmen every fortnight. He 
 has divided them into sections, and each section is 
 paid separately. The pays take place three times a 
 week, and one section only of the workmen is paid on 
 the same pay-day. By this arrangement, the irregu- 
 larities, inevitable when a general distribution of wages 
 takes place, are avoided. The small proportion of 
 men, receiving their pay on any one pay-day, are kept 
 in order by the example of steadiness afforded by their 
 fellow-workmen, who are not disturbed by a recent 
 payment of money. 
 
 With these encouraging examples before them, 
 many employers may be glad to follow the same course. 
 Any plan, by which workmen may be made to realise 
 that they row in the same boat with their employers, 
 should not be lightly set aside. It is good policy to 
 forego a portion of the profits of a prosperous year, 
 in order to avert the calamity of a strike, with all its
 
 Co-operatice Production. 137 
 
 attendant evils of loss of profit, and bitterness and strife 
 between masters and men. 
 
 Capital and labour are essentially necessary and 
 interdependent elements of production ; and the man 
 of business, not less than the philanthropist, must desire 
 to see the representatives of the two interests closely 
 allied. 
 
 I remind this Conference of these and other efforts 
 to combine the principle of co-operation with the 
 undoubted advantages of undivided responsibility in 
 the administration of a large undertaking, because I 
 am satisfied that the corporate system is not always 
 applicable. 
 
 Where no special personal influence is needed, for 
 the purpose of securing clients and customers, and 
 where the internal economy of an establishment can 
 be conducted by a regidar routine, there will be no 
 practical disadvantage in the management of a board 
 or council. But when no transaction can be com- 
 pleted without long and difficult negotiations ; when 
 an undertaking is of a kind that cannot be conducted 
 in accordance with fixed rules, and the emergencies, 
 which must from the nature of the case arise, are 
 always unforeseen, and must be met on the spot by an 
 administrator, upon whose skill and conduct all will 
 depend — in such a case, the co-operative system, pure 
 and simple, becomes impossible ; and the ingenuity of 
 masters and workmen, wishing to work together in 
 friendly alliance, should rather be employed to devise 
 schemes, whereby the equitable distribution of profits 
 among the workmen may be combined with the
 
 138 Co-operative Production. 
 
 necessary concentration of authority in tlieir em- 
 ployer. 
 
 There must always be peculiar advantages in the 
 personal supervision (to borrow a French expression) 
 of an experienced ' chief of industry.' The earlier 
 railways of this country were completed with great 
 expedition. There was an anxious demand for im- 
 proved arterial commiuiications by the new method, 
 the superiority of which was universally acknow- 
 ledged, so soon as it had been proved practicable. 
 In those days the difficulties of the pioneers of the 
 railway system were great. Tlie best methods of sur- 
 mounting the engineering problems encountered were 
 not yet perfectly ascertained. In driving a tunnel 
 through a quicksand, in forming a high embankment, 
 or excavating a deep cutting in treacherous and 
 yielding soil, in carrying a line of railway over the 
 trembling bog, the contractor sometimes endured the 
 mortification of seeing the labour of weeks destroyed 
 in a moment. 
 
 When in trouble and anxiety, when a difficulty 
 in the execution of the works presented itself, his 
 representatives on the spot would seek for the valu- 
 able advice of their chief. In such an emergency 
 he assumed the management of the works : and his 
 was in fact the directing mind to which his subor- 
 dinates referred, and by which they were guided. Nor 
 did they ever recur to him witliout obtaining valuable 
 counsel, the fruits of a wider and more varied ex- 
 perience than their own. It would, in fact, have been
 
 Co-operatice Prodaciion. 139 
 
 impossible for any individual to accumulate the same 
 knowledge, without having the same exceptional 
 opportunity of keeping a continual watch over a large 
 number of operations simultaneously in progress. 
 
 In a time of discom^agement the personal visits of 
 the master, the w^ords of kindness to the disheartened 
 workmen, the novel yet practical suggestions evolved 
 from a fresh and vigorous mind, brought to bear upon 
 a problem which had baffled the men more imme- 
 diately concerned, would never fail to cheer up the " 
 industrial army, and arouse them to new, and in the 
 end, always victorious efforts. 
 
 These details will have sufficiently explained the 
 relations in which the railway contractor, or any other 
 large employer, should stand to the members of his 
 numerous staff. To me it seems that no board or 
 council could ever take the place of an individual 
 fitted by character and experience for his work, 
 when such operations as I have described are to be 
 carried out successfully. The inspiration given to 
 subordinates under trying circumstances, the stores of 
 knowledge and experience of the engineering art, the 
 confidence imparted to engineers and directors and 
 shareholders by the personal reputation of their con- 
 tractor — these were advantages inseparable from purely 
 personal management and responsibility, and they 
 never would have been obtained from the cumbrous 
 machinery of a board. Cases in 
 
 For complicated undertakings co-operative orga- operative 
 nisation will rarely prove effectual. A council of war praS-^^*^ 
 
 able.
 
 110 Co-operative Production. 
 
 never figlits ; and no difficult task in the field of peace- 
 ful labour can be brought to completion witliout a 
 trusted leader. 
 
 M. Eenan, in his interesting essay, La lleforme 
 intellectuelle et morale., confirms these observations from 
 the results of French experience. 
 
 ' Eappelez-vous ce qui a tue toutes les societes 
 cooperatives d'ouvriers : I'incapacite de constituer 
 dans de telles societes une direction serieuse, la ja- 
 lousie contre ceux que la societe avait revetus d'un 
 mandat quelconque, la pretention de les subordonner a 
 leurs mandants, le refus obstine de leur foire une 
 position digne.' 
 
 One more suggestion, and I close my remarks on 
 this aspect of the case. In many descriptions of enter- 
 prise the commercial result cannot be ascertained until 
 after an interval of time has elapsed, too long to be 
 tolerable to a body of workmen dependent on their 
 weekly wages. I again choose an illustration from 
 the experiences of the railway contractor. Take the 
 case of a concession for a long line of railway on the 
 Continent. The first conception of the project will 
 probably come from some local engineer. He makes 
 a rude preliminary survey of the country to be tra- 
 versed. He comes to England with his rough studies 
 to seek the financial aid and larger professional expe- 
 rience of one of our eminent engineers or contractors. 
 The negotiations proceed, and the English promoters 
 make a second and a more careful examination of the 
 scheme, involving a repetition of the original survey. 
 Plans and an estimate are prepared at considerable ex-
 
 Co-operative Production. 141 
 
 pense, and negotiations are thereupon commenced with 
 the Government within* whose territories the proposed 
 railway will pass. Weary months, and sometimes years, 
 elapse before a decision is obtained. Let us assume the 
 decision to have been favourable, and that a concession 
 has been granted. Then follows the execution of the 
 works, which, if the length of the railway is con- 
 siderable, may probably occupy a period of three 
 years. While the construction is progressing, financial 
 arrangements must be made in order to form a company, 
 to take over the concession from the contractors, and 
 to raise the capital for the line by public subscription. 
 The subscription may possibly be only partly successful. 
 In that event, the contractor must meet a large propor- 
 tion of the expenditure from his private resources. 
 Before he has succeeded in disposing of his proportion 
 of the shares or bonds allotted to him, a European 
 war may have broken out. In that case, an in- 
 definite period must elapse before the securities are 
 realised. 
 
 This is no imaginary picture. In the business 
 with whicli my name is identified, the history of every 
 transaction is a repetition of the story I have narrated. 
 It is not an exaggeration to say that an interval of ten 
 years ordinarily elapsed between the opening of com- 
 munications with the original promoters and the final 
 payment for the construction of the works. You may 
 easily imagine the hazards and uncertainties of an 
 enterprise of this nature. No true friend of the work- 
 ing classes would recommend them to risk their liard 
 earnings in such adventures.
 
 1 12 Co-operatlce Production. 
 
 The general business of the country, liowever, 
 is of a more stable and metlK^dical character, and 
 better adapted for tlie application of the co-operative 
 principle. 
 
 And now let us pass on to consider other develop- 
 ments of the co-operative principle, second only in their 
 importance to co-operative production, and perhaps 
 more practicable in execution. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of 
 adopting every means of enabling the labourer to lay 
 out liis scanty resources to the best advantage. The 
 co-operative stores furnish him with supplies on the 
 most advantageous terms. 
 
 But this is not the only object at which we ought 
 to aim. Economy in consumption is scarcely less de- 
 sirable. Take, for example, the consumption of fuel. 
 Captain Galton has expressed an opinion, based on 
 much investigation, that five-sixths of tlie coal con- 
 sumed in our houses is absolutely wasted. If we had 
 a more effective description of grate than that in ordi- 
 nary use, instead of consuming 32,000,000 tons per 
 annum for domestic purposes, our consumption would 
 be reduced to 5,000,000 tons. Captain Galton says 
 that with only moderate economy not more than from 
 12,000,000 to 16,000,000 tons need be used. This 
 economy in the household consumption of coal would 
 enrich the nation to the extent of from 20,000,000/. to 
 30,000,000/. annually. 
 
 The co-operative societies shoald exert themselves 
 to bring into use among the working classes the very 
 best grate and cooking range that can be contrived.
 
 Co-operative Production. 143 
 
 The merits of that invented by Captain Galton are well 
 worthy of their attention. 
 
 As in the use of fuel, so in the art of cooking, there Co-opcra- 
 might be effected an almost incalculable economy of kitchen.s. 
 food, if our English housewives were as skilled in 
 cookery as the peasantry of France. The co-operative 
 associations should organise the means of imparting a 
 complete knowledge of culinary matters to the mass of 
 the population. In all great towns workmen's restau- 
 rants might be established on a large scale. The more 
 extensive the arrangements, the more easy it would be 
 to introduce the utmost possible economy. The mid- 
 day meal might be eaten by many artisans and factory 
 operatives at the restaurant itself ; and for others who 
 wished to enjoy the comforts of their own firesides, 
 dinners and suppers might be cooked at the restaurants, 
 and taken home to be eaten. Abroad, arrangements of 
 the kind indicated have been long established in every 
 large town, and especially in France and Italy, and they 
 have been found to work most conveniently and econo- 
 mically. 
 
 As an example of the great results which can be Mr. Coi- 
 accomplished in a well-managed restaurant for working 
 men, the following details are given relating to the 
 establishment created by Mr. Colman, M.P., for the 
 benefit of those employed in his extensive manufactory 
 of starch and mustard. 
 
 ' When first started,' to quote from a letter recently 
 received from Mr. Colman, ' the aim was rather to 
 meet a want felt by the w^orkmen. It wns not calcu- 
 lated that the Carrow Works Kitclien would pay its way.
 
 ]44 Co-operative Production. 
 
 The firm, tlicrefore, still bears the cost of rent, coals, 
 and gas, as well as the general charges of wear and tear 
 on utensils, but not the wages of the attendant. 
 
 ' Yet. while it cannot be said that the kitchen is 
 entirely self-supporting, it may with equal trutli be said 
 that, by making the tea and coffee rather weaker, or 
 with a reduced price of meat and sugar, neither of 
 which seems altogether an improbable event, all ex- 
 penses would be paid. 
 
 ' The Carrow Works Kitchen was commenced in 
 March 1868, and is for the use of the Carrow work- 
 people exclusively. The bill of fare consists of coffee 
 served at 5.45 a.m., when the workmen are assembling 
 for work, and a second supply at 8.30 (the breakfast 
 time). On two mornings in the week we provide tea 
 instead of coffee at 8.30. 
 
 ' For the early breakfast at 5.45 we find the men 
 prefer coffee to tea, as more nourishing. Some of them 
 say they should take beer in preference to tea before 
 coming to work, but they should like coffee better than 
 either. Our object in providing this early coffee, is to 
 check the habit of drinking beer in the morning. We 
 only commenced the early breakfast six months ago, 
 but it seems likely to be very popular. The price 
 for tea or coffee is Id. a pint, with milk and sugar. 
 
 ' The dinners consist of four different kinds, but 
 only one kind is prepared on the same day : — 
 
 ' I. A ^-Ih. of roast meat with gravy and vegetables 
 and a " Norfolk dumpling " (i.e. a halfpenny- worth of 
 boiled bread) is served for 4c?. 
 
 ' II. A stew of English meat and vegetables, with 
 dumpling, 'dd.
 
 Co-operative Production. 
 
 145 
 
 'III. A stew of Australian meat and vegetables, 
 with dumpling, 2d. 
 
 ' IV. A pint of soup, Id. 
 
 ' We use the Australian cooked meat, which is im- 
 ported in tins, and only requires to be warmed up. 
 We have used about 60^. worth, during the last year, 
 of the Australian meat. 
 
 ' As to the increase in the consumption, it is, in 
 round numbers, as follows : — 
 
 Tea and Coffee, 
 
 
 Pints 
 
 Dinners 
 
 April 1, 1868, to March 31, 1869 . 9,677 
 
 13,990 
 
 1869-70 20,645 
 
 11,107 
 
 1870-71 27,017 
 
 13,977 
 
 1871-72 . . . . . 30,313 
 
 13,473 
 
 1872-73 55,210 
 
 20,957 
 
 1873-74 76,117 
 
 25,776 
 
 ' The kitchen is nearly self-supporting. 
 
 ' The following is a list of the principal items of 
 expenditure for the year 1872-3. The accounts for 
 1873-4 are not yet made out. 
 
 Paid. 
 English meat 
 Australian meat 
 Dumplings 
 Coffee . 
 Tea . 
 Sugar 
 Wages 
 Sundries 
 Flour . 
 
 £ 
 
 a. 
 
 d. 
 
 . 86 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 . 63 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 . 24 12 
 
 9 
 
 . 42 
 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 . 41 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 . 80 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 35 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 . 15 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 . 3 
 
 4 10 
 
 £383 
 
 10 
 
 Oi 
 
 Milk . 
 Vegetables . 
 Rent . 
 Coals and Gas
 
 146 
 
 Co-operative Production. 
 
 lQ72-72>.— Received :— 
 
 Tea, Coffee, 
 Pints Pints 
 
 Dinners 
 
 £ a. c 
 
 >4,805 30,405 
 
 2,852 at 4>d. v 
 1,717 „ Sd. 
 
 
 
 
 7,255 „ 2d. 
 9,133 „ Id. 
 
 [ 397 11 < 
 
 
 20,957 Dinners. , 
 
 
 
 Dr. 
 To cash received 
 
 Cash Accounts. 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 397 
 
 s. d. 
 
 11 
 
 
 397 
 
 11 
 
 Or. 
 
 By payments 
 Balance in hand 
 
 • 
 
 £ 
 
 383 
 14 
 
 8. d. 
 10 Oi 
 ll| 
 
 
 £397 
 
 11 
 
 Dr. 
 Stock in hand . 
 Cash in hand 
 
 . 
 
 £ 
 11 
 14 
 
 5. d. 
 11 91 
 Hi 
 
 £25 12 9 
 
 M. Godin. 
 
 Balance in favour of kitchen, towards paying for milk, 
 vegetables, rent, coals, and gas.' 
 
 The results attained at the Carrow Works must be 
 admitted to be eminently satisfactory. By an excellent 
 organisation, mainly due to the kind-hearted and 
 intelligent exertions of Mrs. Colman, a great boon has 
 been conferred on a multitude of workmen ; and the 
 only contribution required from the employer has been 
 the personal attention devoted to the initiation of the 
 system. 
 
 Among many recent efforts to ameliorate the con- 
 dition of the working classes, one of the most original
 
 Co-operative Production. 147 
 
 and spirited has been made by Monsieur Godin, the 
 founder of the familistere, or general dwelling-house, 
 for his operatives and their families at Guise. The 
 principles of the scheme, and the mode in which the 
 attempt to develop these principles has been conducted, 
 are set forth by M. Godin in his interesting volume, 
 entitled, ' Solutions Sociales,' from which the following 
 details are extracted. The originality of the plan and 
 the general idea, underlying the whole conception of 
 the founder of the institution, that the condition of 
 the masses can be elevated only by their mutual action 
 for the common good, will be essentially acceptable to 
 the friends of the co-operative movement. Whether 
 the familistere is a judicious application of the principle 
 is another question. 
 
 There have been many isolated efforts in France 
 and Belgium to improve the habitations of the working 
 class. At Miilhausen especially a large number of 
 houses for workmen have been erected, constituting 
 what has been called a Cite Ouvriere. M. Godin 
 objects that tlie dwellings erected at Miilhausen are too 
 cramped in dimensions ; that the workmen having been 
 encouraged to purchase their cottages, the founder of 
 the Cite Ouvriere has lost all power of direction and 
 control ; that the rooms originally barely sufficient for 
 the wants of a family are sublet as lodgings ; that pig- 
 sties are constructed in the tiny garden attached to 
 each cottage ; and that, thus dirt and noxious odours 
 are allowed to pervade the suburb. M. Godin, not 
 without some justification, finds fault with the term 
 Cite Ouvriere ; and he, perhaps justly, says that the 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Co-operative Production. 
 
 name implies the separation of those, who. ])y tlieir 
 labours, are tlie creators of wealth from those who 
 enjoy the use of that wealtli by inheritance or by 
 successful speculation. 
 
 A more favourable opinion of the Cite Ouvriere of 
 Miilhausen has been formed by Lord Brabazon, who 
 says, in his able paper on the industrial classes in 
 France that, * the condition of the lease granted to 
 the workman, allowing him, after a certain number of 
 years to obtain the freehold of his house, has an immense 
 moral influence. His self-respect increases, and he is 
 enlisted on the side of order. The absence of super- 
 vision removes a fruitful source of irritation.' The 
 cites ouvrieres erected for the workmen of Paris, though 
 possessing every advantage of space, air and light, have 
 never been popular, because the strict discipline main- 
 tained, — as, for example, the closing of the gates at 
 ten o'clock at night, — ^is an irksome restriction to the 
 excitable and pleasure-seeking population of the French 
 capital. 
 
 The criticisms applied to the Cite Ouvriere at 
 Miilhausen may be applied with greater reason to 
 London and the great towns of our own country. The 
 rich gather together in the most eligible situations. 
 The price of land in certain positions becomes so 
 enormous, that it is impossible to erect houses at rates 
 which, while not exceeding what workmen can afford 
 to pay, will be remunerative to the owners and builders. 
 Hence the working class are compelled to occupy more 
 remote suburbs. They live in daily contact with no 
 other class but their own, and a consequent danger is
 
 Co-operative Production. 149 
 
 incurred of social disunion. This state of things is prac- 
 tically inevitable under our existing system ; but it is 
 not the less a regretable incident of tlie great increase 
 in our population. 
 
 M. Godin suggests that it is a paramount obligation 
 of the wealthy to organise means for securing to the 
 masses a larger measure of the luxury and comfort 
 created by their toil and labour. 
 
 The tendency of modern industry has been, and 
 will continue to be, towards the concentration of 
 capital in large private or corporate establishments, 
 and to production by machinery, in substitution for 
 manual labour. The use of machinery, necessarily 
 operates unfavourably to the interests of small manu- 
 fiicturers without the resources of capital. This general 
 tendency of our industrial organisation has been pro- 
 moted by the railway system. Consumers have been 
 enabled to obtain their supplies from the cheapest 
 markets, irrespective of those considerations of trans- 
 port, which in former times more than neutralised the 
 advantages of different localities for special branches 
 of trade. Before the introduction of railways, it was 
 essential to obtain the more bulky articles from the 
 local producer. iJ^ow, the consumers are enabled to 
 go to the localities where the articles required can be 
 produced of the best quahty, and at the cheapest rate. 
 
 The attention of the employers has hitherto been 
 concentrated on the organisation of the factory and 
 the workshop, on the great scale required in the 
 present day, in order to carry on competition in manu- 
 factures with success. But, though much has been
 
 150 Co-operative Production. 
 
 done to organise tlie i)roduction, iiotliing lias been 
 done to organise the consumption and the use of 
 products. 
 
 The problem of domestic consumption has been 
 solved in the opinion of M. Godin, by the erection, 
 close to his workshops at Guise, of an edifice which he 
 calls a social palace. It is a vast barrack, capable of 
 containing 900 inhabitants. The building is several 
 storeys in height, and consists of three large courts, 
 surrounded by galleries communicating v^ith the rooms. 
 Each room is let separately, so that the lodgers can 
 regulate the rents in exact and constant proportion to 
 their requirements. The unmarried and the married, 
 according to the number of their family, can occupy a 
 greater or lesser number of rooms. The building cost 
 40,000/. and the capital expended has been divided into 
 shares of small amount, with the view of inducing the 
 workmen to purchase them, and thus to become their 
 own landlords. The rents of the rooms give a return 
 of 3 per cent, upon the capital, and the profit upon the 
 sale of provisions gives an additional percentage of the 
 like amount. 
 
 M. Godin quotes the principles advocated by 
 Fourier as the foundation of his system. By grouping 
 many families together, each individual is enabled to 
 undertake, for the general service of the community, 
 that special function in which he excels. Cooking, 
 and all the domestic duties may thus be performed by 
 persons specially selected. At the familistere there 
 are general kitchens for the whole establishment, from 
 which the meals ordered by lodgers are supplied. The
 
 Co-operative Production. 151 
 
 children, as soon as they can leave their mothers, are 
 brought up first of all in inftint schools, and then in 
 more advanced schools, where they receive an excellent 
 education. 
 
 It is contended that under this system the working 
 men enjoy by combination many of those advantages 
 which must otherwise be the exclusive privilege of 
 wealth. Cooking is often badly done for the rich, 
 a fortiori., it is to be expected that it will be unskilful 
 in the homes of the poor. To command the services 
 of efficient persons, whether in the capacity of nurses 
 or cooks, is regarded by M. Godin as among the 
 greatest advantages of ample resources. By combi- 
 nation the occupants of the social palace at Guise are 
 enabled to place their children, even at a tender age, 
 under the care of well-trained nurses, and to obtain 
 their own food properly cooked. 
 
 Where the working men live apart from each other 
 in small houses they are necessarily widely scattered. 
 They are at a distance from their work, and their 
 children are so far from school that their attendance is 
 always difficult, and often most irregular. 
 
 In case of illness the services of a medical man 
 may not be easily obtained, and medical comforts 
 cannot be provided, as they can be in an establishment 
 having a well-equipped dispensary for the general use 
 of the inmates. 
 
 The social palace at Guise stands in the midst 
 of extensive and well-kept pleasure grounds on the 
 banks of the Oise. It has an excellent theatre, where 
 dramatic representations and concerts are frequently
 
 152 Co-operative Production. 
 
 given by associations, formed for llie purpose by the 
 operatives. 
 
 The internal management is carried on by com- 
 mittees, composed of twelve men and twelve women. 
 The men devote themselves specially to questions 
 relating to the amelioration of the condition of the 
 workmen, the rates of wages, and the formation of 
 provident societies. The women supervise tlie quality 
 of the provisions supplied from the co-operative stores 
 and butchers' shops connected with the social palace. 
 They also superintend the management of the chil- 
 dren and the arrangements for preserving order and 
 cleanliness. 
 
 It is alleged that there is an entire absence of 
 crime in this singular community ; and that public 
 opinion, the more sensibly felt when all dwell together 
 under the same roof, has raised the tone of conduct 
 and morals above the standard generally maintained 
 among persons of the same class, living in private 
 dwelhngs. 
 
 A system of domestic economy, not widely dis- 
 similar from that adopted at the familistere, has been 
 extensively followed in the United States by the well- 
 to-do classes. To avoid the difficulties and extra 
 expenditure of a separate household, many married 
 couples permanently reside at the large hotels.' They 
 secure similar advantages, and suffer similar incon- 
 veniences, to those experienced by the inhabitants of 
 the social palace at Guise. The want of privacy and 
 retirement, the loss of much that we should value and 
 cherish in family life, are grave disadvantages, insepa-
 
 Co-operative Production. 153 
 
 rable from the quasi-coWegmiQ system of which the 
 operatives of M. Godiu have been induced to make a 
 trial. 
 
 Life in common is more congenial to some dispo- 
 sitions than to others. It would probably succeed 
 better in France than in England. On the other hand, 
 there are many serious drawbacks in a too great 
 isolation. On the whole, I venture to give an opinion 
 that, as a marked success w^ould seem to have attended 
 the experiment at Guise, it deserves the most attentive 
 consideration on the part of our working people in this 
 country. They have already proved the value of the 
 co-operative system for obtaining their supplies. The 
 so-called social palace is a further development of the 
 same principle. In numerous cases it might be found to 
 oifer most important advantages of comfort and economy. 
 
 The co-operative principle may be beneficially Dramatic 
 applied not merely to productive industry or economy tions. 
 in consumption, but to the scarcely less difficult and 
 important work of providing higher amusements for the 
 people. In Vienna the dramatic art is still maintained 
 at a high standard. The theatres are a favourite resort 
 of the people, and the representations include pieces 
 calculated to raise the moral tone and improve the taste 
 of an audience. The novelties latterly introduced into 
 the English theatre tend to degrade the stage. With 
 many illustrious exceptions, it may be said that inferior 
 plays and players have been too easily accepted ; and 
 that some stage managers have sought to make money 
 by appealing to those lower tastes, which cannot be 
 indulged without injury to the national character. I
 
 154 Co-operative Production. 
 
 should be glad to see an elTort made by those, who 
 have led the way in other co-operative undertakings, 
 to apply themselves to the cultivation of the musical 
 and the dramatic arts. 
 
 The choral associations are a delightful and most 
 elevating source of amusement in every town in 
 Germany. Already, in many of our manufacturing 
 towns, music is being widely and highly cultivated. 
 The drama may offer greater difficulties, chiefly on the 
 score of expense ; but the means at the disposal of co- 
 operative associations might be applied to a limited 
 extent, yet with great advantage, to promote a taste 
 for dramatic representations of the better sort among 
 the people. 
 
 The English have been reproached, perhaps not 
 unjustly, as a nation destitute of resources for amuse- 
 ment. Indulgence in eating and drinking has been 
 the only recreation the uninstructed labourer has been 
 capable of appreciating. It is a lesson many of us have 
 yet to learn, that time given to innocent pleasure is not 
 wasted ; and that there are other things besides fame 
 and money, for which it is worth our while to Hve. To 
 use the happy phrase of Mr. Goschen, ' a livelihood is 
 not a life.' It is not well to concentrate aU the 
 thoughts on work, and take no pains to provide pure 
 and elevating enjoyment. 
 Education. I am not here to speak of poHtics. But Mr. Glad- 
 stone and ]\Ir. Forster, and their supporters in the last 
 Parliament, are entitled to gratitude for a measure of 
 infinite value to co-operation in the passing of the 
 Education Act. Whether this or that provision be
 
 Co-operative Production. 155 
 
 approved or disapproved, the substantial result must 
 be to qualify all the working men of the rising genera- 
 tion to embark their savings, with more confidence than 
 before, in a society for co-operative production. Until 
 they have mastered the art of book-keeping, and have 
 acquired the habit of reading those trade reports afford- 
 ing the only clue to their true position, the co-operative 
 workmen are too dependent on the opinions of others. 
 Being ignorant, they are inclined to be suspicious ; and 
 they are reluctant to reward generously services they 
 are unable to appreciate. 
 
 At the same time, I sincerely hope that the progress 
 of education in England may not be attended with the 
 regretable consequences that have followed from a 
 wide diffusion of knowledge in other countries. 
 
 In the United States, the result of universal edu- 
 cation has been to make the native-born Ameri- 
 cans averse to manual labour. The dignity of the pen 
 is so much more highly regarded than that of the 
 hatchet or the hammer, that the youths of America 
 universally prefer to take very moderate pay as clerks, 
 rather than earn the wages, double their own in amount, 
 which are given to skilled artisans. The false estimate 
 they have formed of the prestige of a sedentary occu- 
 pation is due to their education. Even in Germany it 
 has been found that foremen in workshops, notwith- 
 standing their higher responsibilities, do not receive 
 proportionate wages ; because the general diffusion of 
 education has made most artisans competent, and has 
 made all desire, to undertake duties of supervision, and 
 thus escape the indignity of manual labour.
 
 1 56 Co-operative Production. 
 
 Education in Greece being practically gratuitous, 
 thousands of men think themselves fitted for some call- 
 injT more intellectual than that of the manual labourer. 
 Hence it is, that while every deputy in the Eepresenta- 
 tive Chambers and every member of the Government 
 is besieged with applications for the smallest posts in 
 the public service, the labour market is largely supplied 
 from Crete and Turkey. 
 
 The remedy must be to withdraw a part of the 
 subsidy now given to the University, and to apply the 
 funds to insti'uction in the practical arts. The mental 
 energies of Greece should no longer be devoted to 
 purely intellectual, to the exclusion of practical work. 
 
 Arguing from these examples, it may be appre- 
 hended that the advances of national education may 
 not be an unmixed benefit to a people hitherto pre- 
 eminent in the practical arts ; unless public opinion be 
 firmly set against the tendency to regard the labour of 
 the hands as derogatory. 
 Swiss An infinite number of plans might be proposed to 
 
 ameliorate the condition of the people. The Govern- 
 ment may, without weakening the spirit of independence, 
 introduce the system described by Mr. Gould, and 
 adopted with so much advantage in Switzerland, of 
 establishing a people's bank, under the guarantee of the 
 State, in every village. In the Swiss banks deposits of 
 the smallest amount, even of a few pence, are received. 
 Intending depositors bind themselves to pay into the 
 bank a weekly sum. The minimum is fixed at 9.',(i., and 
 the maximum at 21. The payment is to be continued 
 during three consecutive years. Interest is allowed at 
 
 banks.
 
 Co-operative Production. 157 
 
 4 1 per cent, on all sums above 45. The rate allowed 
 in our own savings banks is too low. It might be 
 raised without loss to the Government, and a higher 
 rate w^ould materially increase the inducements to save. 
 
 Every description of banking business is transacted 
 by the Swiss banks ; but the special feature is, that loans 
 are made to depositors on the security of their deposits, 
 provided the loan does not exceed 75 per cent, of the 
 amount at credit. Interest is charged at 6 per cent. 
 At the end of three years the deposits are returned 
 with the accrued interest, and a proportionate share of 
 the profits of the bank. The amounts so returned may 
 be re-invested in the bank in 4/. shares, bearing 4.i per 
 cent, interest, and entitling the holder to a participation 
 in the profits. The first of these banks was founded 
 so recently as 1865, and they have been most successful. 
 
 A mode of perfecting another great social reform has Co-opera- 
 been put forward by the Committee of the Charity Or- ing socle-' 
 ganisation Society on Dw^ellings for the Labouring Classes. *'^^" 
 They have recommended that the Government should 
 endeavour to afford facilities for providing better habi- 
 tations for labourers. Many private agencies exist for 
 this purpose. The Peabody donations, which now 
 amount to 600,000^,, may be quoted as a crowning 
 instance of individual munificence; while the Metropo- 
 litan Association, the Industrial Dwellings Company 
 established by Sir Sydney Waterlow, which has in- 
 vested nearly 250,000/. in the erection of workmen's 
 habitations, and the London Workman's Dwelhngs 
 Company, founded in 1862, may be selected as ex- 
 amples of extremely beneficial, and, at the same time.
 
 158 Co-operative Production. 
 
 fairly remunerative orgauisations. The societies here 
 mentioned have paid steady dividends of 5 per cent. 
 By wise arrangements it is asserted that the work of 
 reconstruction need not be unprofitable. The valuable 
 sites in the centre of large towns are not economised 
 as they ought to be. It is stated by the Metropolitan 
 Association that, whilst the population of Westminster 
 is only 235 persons to the acre, in the dwellings they 
 provide, including in the area large court-yards and 
 gardens attached, the population is upwards of 1,000 to 
 the acre ; and that the rate of mortahty is, nevertheless, 
 only two-thirds of the average of the whole of London. 
 The Committee of the Charity Organisation Society 
 are of opinion that large powers for the compulsory 
 purchase of condemned property should be conferred 
 on some suitable authority, — in the metropolis, a central 
 municipal authority — and that the land purchased 
 should be offered for sale or lease to private or associated 
 building agencies. They quote, as an instance of the 
 conspicuous success of such a poHcy, the action taken by 
 the municipality of Glasgow, under a Local Improve- 
 ment Act passed in 1866. Avaihng themselves of their 
 powers, the civic authorities have borrowed and ex- 
 pended upwards of 1,000,000/. in the purchase of pro- 
 perty, a portion of which had been resold, while the 
 greater part was let, and yielding 24,000/. a year. 
 The building had been conducted throughout by pri- 
 vate agencies. At the outset a rate of sixpence in the 
 pound had been anticipated, and a loss of capital of 
 200,000/. The rate had actually been kept at sixpence 
 only for one year. It remained at fourpence for two
 
 Co-operative Production, 159 
 
 years ; and had since been reduced to threepence, with 
 the prospect of an early reduction to twopence ; while 
 the capital loss was not now expected to exceed 50,000/. 
 at most. 
 
 Equal success has marked similar efforts in Edin- 
 burgh and Liverpool. The Artisans and Labourers' 
 Dwelhngs Act of 1868, which the country owes to 
 Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, has already produced excel- 
 lent results, and under its provisions improvements in 
 Liverpool have been carried out. The Act originally 
 contemplated four purposes, — compulsory repair, re- 
 moval, compensation, and building. The powers of 
 compensation and reconstruction were removed by the 
 House of Lords. The Committee of the Charity Orga- 
 nisation Society recommend that those powers should 
 be restored. Their recommendations have been 
 adopted in the recent Act brought in by Mr. Cross at 
 the instance of Sir Ughtred J. Kay-Shuttle worth. 
 
 The recent rise in wages and prices presses with a Else of 
 heavy burden on every individual ; and unless there ship 
 were a concurrent rise of prices abroad, we should have ^^ ^°^* 
 a gloomy prospect in view for the future of England. 
 No other country is so dependent on the superiority of 
 its workmen, both for excellence and economy of pro- 
 duction. In no other population is the proportion of 
 those who hve by the fertility of the soil so small, by 
 comparison with the classes who live by the application 
 of skilled labour to the manufacture of goods for foreign 
 markets. In the anxiety and the inconvenience ex- 
 perienced from the advance in wages, people are dis- 
 posed to attribute the concessions, made most reluctantly
 
 IGO Co-operative Production. 
 
 to the demands of workmen, to some arbitrary cause, 
 such as the superior organisation of trades-unionism. 
 They mistake a manifestation of power for the actual 
 sources of power and strength. 
 
 There has been much outcry at the recent increase 
 in prices and in wages. There is nothing new to 
 economic science in our recent experience. All the 
 oscillations in the labour market can be fully explained 
 by the long-recognised law of political economy — that 
 the rates of wages, like the price of commodities, are 
 regulated by demand and supply. I will illustrate the 
 operation of this rule in one department of trade, that 
 of ship-building. The tonnage of the new vessels built 
 in the United Kingdom in 1862 was 310,900 tons ; in 
 1865, 607,000 tons; in 1871, 391,000, and in 1872, 
 475,000 tons. In the latter year, therefore, there was 
 a great increase upon the tonnage of the first year in- 
 cluded in the period under review ; while in the infla- 
 tion of the ship-building trade, which reached its climax 
 in 1865, the amount of tonnage built was doubled in 
 three years. 
 
 It is clear from these considerations that there has 
 been a permanent increase, and occasionally an enor- 
 mous increase, in the demand by ship-builders for the 
 supply of the highly-skilled labour required for their 
 trade. In the meanwhile the total number of artificers 
 employed exhibits no corresponding augmentation. 
 In the period embraced in the recent census, 1861-71, 
 the number of shipwrights and shipbuilders has been 
 slowly increased from 39,058 to 40,605 men. 
 
 Arguing from the reports published by the Econo-
 
 Co-operative Production. IGl 
 
 mist of the state of the ship-building trade on the Clyde 
 and the Mersey, we may reasonably assume that in 
 1873 there was no diminution of activity. The aggre- 
 gate tonnage of ships built on the Clyde was in 1870 
 189,800 tons ; in 1871, 196,200 tons ; in 1872, 224,000 
 tons; in 1873, 261,500 tons. Of this tonnage, six 
 steamers, of 18,200 tons and 3,300 horse-power, were 
 built for the North German Lloyd's; five steamers, 
 of 13,325 tons and 2,100 horse-power, for the Penin- 
 sular and Oriental Company; three steamers, of 11,250 
 tons and 1,500 horse-power, for the Anchor line ; 
 three steamers, of 10,500 tons and 1,800 horse-power, 
 for the German Transatlantic Company of Hamburg. 
 
 The demand for the supply of labour has been 
 more urgent, not only through- the activity in building 
 new sliips, but also through the numerous alterations 
 of old vessels. It lias been ascertained that there is 
 much economy in point of horse-power and fuel from 
 an increase in the length of the ships and the adoption 
 of compound engines. It should be observed, further, 
 that the repairs constantly required for our vast fleet 
 of merchant ships must necessarily be very extensive ; 
 and in many ports more workmen by far are employed 
 in repairs than in building additional tonnage. 
 
 In this marvellous activity ample explanation is 
 given for the rates of wages prevailing in Liverpool, 
 in London, and the Clyde, where ship-carpenters are 
 sometimes earning eight shillings a day, and other 
 trades in proportion. Many masters are competing 
 against each other for the services of but few men. 
 The case would be rapidly changed, if there were more 
 
 M
 
 102 Co-operative Production. 
 
 men and less employment. Capitalists should con- 
 sider whether they themselves are not to blame, ere 
 they impute to the labourers the responsibility for an 
 augmentation in the cost of production. Our work- 
 men, too, should pause, before they proceed to make 
 further demands. It is a question for them to con- 
 sider how far the advance of prices has neutralised the 
 benefits they derive from higher wages. 
 
 I have the misfortune to be the holder of shares in 
 one of our largest lines of steamships ; and the recent 
 history of the company affords a striking instance of the 
 need for the admonition I have ventured to address to 
 incautious capitalists. 
 
 Within a short space of time the company in ques- 
 tion has doubled the tonnage of its vessels, which are 
 all powerful ocean-going steamers of the first class, in 
 dimensions, speed, equipment, and as a necessary con- 
 sequence, in price. In 1873 the company were sup- 
 plied with nine steamers from the Clyde alone, one 
 being a vessel of 4,820 tons and 650 horse-power — 
 while the total tonnage and horse-power constructed 
 for them amounted to 28,895 tons and 4,500 horse- 
 power. This was the largest amount ever supplied to 
 a single company in one year. For the same company 
 three steamers of the largest class were built last year 
 by Messrs. Laird Brothers, at Birkenhead. 
 
 The construction of this great fleet for one concern 
 alone must have exercised a most appreciable influence 
 on the rates of wages in the ship-building yards on the 
 Clyde, and made it sometimes difficult to obtain the 
 labour required for other similar contracts. But the
 
 Co-operative Production. 1G3 
 
 shareholders of this company now learn that the policy 
 of increasing their fleet has been, in a commercial point 
 of view, injudicious. Their trade has not increased 
 with the increase of their fleet, and they would have 
 fared better had they been content to keep their under- 
 taking within its former limit and scope. Here, there- 
 fore, two consequences have followed from the errors 
 of certain capitalists. The course they have pursued 
 has tended to keep up, if not actually to raise, the 
 price of labour ; while they have sustained a con- 
 siderable loss from the depreciation in the value of 
 their shares. In the case I have quoted as a warning 
 and illustration of the consequences to be apprehended 
 from errors of commercial judgment, the price of 
 labour cannot be assigned as the direct or indirect 
 cause of misfortune ; and similar instances might be 
 indefinitely multiplied to prove that many great re- 
 verses, which chequer the history of our commerce, 
 must be traced, not to the rapacity of the workmen, 
 but to rash speculations. 
 
 While I am anxious to do equal justice between 
 Labour and Capital, and to vindicate the conduct of 
 workmen when unfairly accused, it is my duty to 
 remind the working classes in England that their 
 employers are engaged in the closest competition with 
 all the manufacturing countries of the world. The 
 markets of the United States, almost monopolised in 
 former times by British productions, are now princi- 
 pally supplied with American goods. The tariff, 
 established since the war, presents a formidable barrier 
 to importations from England, If those duties were 
 
 K 2
 
 164 Co-operative Production. 
 
 removed, the diflerence in tlie cost of labour would, 
 doubtless, at the present time, secure for England her 
 former position. But it must also be remembered that, 
 assuming the cost of labour in the United States to be 
 25 per cent, in excess of the cost in this country, the 
 addition to the value of the product does not exceed 
 5 or 6 per cent. ; and, if the duties imposed in the 
 United States on all raw materials should be repealed, 
 and if, as we may reasonably anticipate, the cost of 
 living should be materially lessened, the cost of pro- 
 duction under those more favourable circumstances 
 would be so much reduced, that the present advantages 
 of the British manufacturer would cease, and there 
 would no longer be a sufficient margin to cover the cost 
 of exportation from this country to America. 
 
 I cannot conclude these observations on the condi- 
 tions of the labouring classes, without reference to the 
 important influence which must eventually, and it may 
 be very rapidly, follow from the increasing facilities of 
 communication between distant centres of industry. 
 Foreign travel, in former times, was the exclusive 
 privilege of the wealthy ; but when the working men 
 begin to circulate more freely from country to country, 
 the class interests which they have in common will 
 inevitably tend to bring them together, and make them 
 regard with stronger aversion those national struggles 
 in which, from motives of personal ambition, their 
 rulers in past ages have been too ready to engage. 
 Already we see in Germany a party being formed 
 whose sympathies are for France. The originators of 
 the movement are the artisans in the two countries ;
 
 Co-operative Production. 16b 
 
 and, as their numbers will probably increase, they may 
 exercise a valuable influence in promoting the blessed 
 wdrk of reconciliation. 
 
 So, too, between England and the United States, Relations 
 
 " ^ between 
 
 the solidarity of the two peoples is a surer guarantee England 
 
 -' . and the 
 
 for a close and permanent alliance than the most United 
 
 11 • n ^• ^ States. 
 
 elaborate contrivances oi diplomacy. 
 
 Our eminent writers appeal with equal success to 
 Anglo-Saxon readers in both hemispheres ; and when 
 they visit the United States they are welcomed as men 
 of whom the American people are proud, because 
 they have conferred distinction on the whole English- 
 speaking race. Our early history, our language, our 
 literature, are common to both nations. They are 
 links which should unite us together as no other 
 people can be united. I have elsewhere spoken of the 
 workmen of the United States as the competitors 
 of the English. I trust that their rivalry may be 
 always generous. 
 
 As union is most earnestly to be desired between 
 the same classes in different countries, so it is not less 
 desirable between different classes in the same country. 
 If it is hard for the privileged few to appreciate the 
 difficulties of the masses around them who are staggering 
 forward in the battle of life ; it is still harder, we may 
 rest assured, for the poor to appreciate the peculiar 
 trials of the rich. We may plead for princes their 
 isolation, and for the nobly born the absence of many 
 powerful motives which fire the ambition of men of 
 modest station, and lead them forward to a career of 
 usefulness and distinction. We may urge on behalf of
 
 16G Co-operative Production. 
 
 tlie ricli that tlioy are a tempting prey to designijig 
 men, and can seldom earn the gratitude reserved for 
 those who are beheved to practise the virtue of self- 
 denial ; but we may rest assured that the mass below 
 them, contending for bare existence, have little sym- 
 pathy for trials that to them must appear artificial 
 and self-imposed. 
 
 Whatever the poor may feel towards the rich, the 
 duty of the rich towards the poor is too plain to admit 
 of misconception. Whether moved by considerations 
 of policy, or by the nobler impulses of humanity, it 
 must be the subject of our universal solicitude that no 
 class of society should be exposed to the fatal influences 
 of despair. 
 
 Multitudes there must be in every city contending 
 amid waves that threaten destruction ; and when, with 
 anxious glances they seek a refuge from the storm, 
 can they descry the happy isles in which they may 
 repose ? The land, if seen, is f^ir away, their bark is 
 sinking, and their only hope the aid of those who have 
 already gained the shore. 
 
 An idea prevails in certain quarters abroad that 
 there is no sympathy between the affluent classes in 
 England and the masses of their less fortunate fellow- 
 countrymen. Much more truly may it be affirmed 
 that in no other country is the same deep interest felt 
 in the welfare of the poor. There are philanthropic 
 organisations innumerable for giving aid to all who are 
 in sorrow. The ill-paid clergy, the decayed gentle- 
 woman, the widow, the orphan, the sick, the destitute, 
 whether in mind, body or estate, are all cared for,
 
 Co-operative Production. 167 
 
 and in most cases partially, in some effectually re- 
 lieved. The almoners of this generous bounty are 
 among the best and noblest in the land. Many of their 
 names are familiarly known. A still greater number 
 are engaged in the same good work, of whom the world 
 never hears. The purest charity will often be found 
 among those who are most exposed to the temptations 
 of ease and pleasure. It is because this sympathy 
 exists, that in England we have as yet been spared the 
 miseries of social disunion ; and from this, the most dire 
 calamity which can befall a nation. Heaven grant we 
 may remain for ever free !
 
 .168 
 
 VIL 
 
 LETTER ADDREJSSED TO MR. SHIPTON ON 
 THE SOUTH WALES COLLIERY STRIKE. 
 
 Having been consulted in April, 1873, by the trades 
 
 societies in London, as to the probable issue of the 
 
 pending struggie in South Wales, I made inquiry on 
 
 their behalf, and embodied the results in the following 
 
 letter, which, it is believed, was not without effect in 
 
 reconciling the colliers to the terms insisted upon by 
 
 the coal-owners : — 
 
 ' 24 Park Lane, W., April 30. 
 
 ' Deak Sir, — In fulfilment of my promise to you, I 
 have had interviews this morning with two gentlemen 
 largely interested in the coal-fields in South Wales. 
 While differing as to the expediency and practicability 
 of arbitration, they share the same opinions as to the 
 necessity for a reduction of wages to the extent of 15 
 per cent., as stated in the last offer of the masters. 
 
 ' I am convinced that the masters will adhere to 
 their present terms, and that they could not make 
 a more favourable proposal without serious loss to 
 themselves. 
 
 ' I have reason to believe that the coal-owners in 
 South Wales feel deeply the interruption to their former 
 cordial relations with their workmen ; and that they
 
 Letter on the South Wales Colliery Strike. 16 y 
 
 rtre prepared, as soon as the men have returned to 
 work, to make a proposition for a sliding scale of wages, 
 varying with the fluctuations in the price of coal, and 
 other circumstances. The adoption of a well-considered 
 scale of wages, based on the selling price of coal, will 
 obviate the risk of the recurrence of the present de- 
 plorable struggle. 
 
 ' In my conference with you yesterday, I referred 
 to the fluctuations of wages and profits in collieries. 
 For a long period anterior to the year 1870 the owner- 
 ship of coal was an unsatisfactory investment. It is 
 equally certain that large profits were made in 1871 
 and the two succeeding years. The unusual profits 
 attracted a large amount of new capital to our coal- 
 fields, and the high prices led to diminished consump- 
 tion. The supply of coal has now overtaken the 
 demand. Prices have fallen in consequence to such a 
 point that the reduction of wages, now demanded by 
 the masters, must be accepted by the workmen as a 
 dire necessity of the situation. Better times are doubt- 
 less before us, and the adoption of a sliding scale will 
 secure to the workmen their fair share in the increasing 
 profits of the business. 
 
 ' The figures, which were given by Mr. Hussey 
 Vivian in his speech at Bridgend in February, clearly 
 show that the men have participated fully in the ad- 
 vantages derived by their employers from the im- 
 proved position of the coal trade. The advance in 
 wages between June 1871, and August 1873, amounted 
 to 117 per cent. The advance in the price of coal 
 during the corresponding period was about 100 per
 
 170 Letter addressed to Mr. Shipton 
 
 cent. The culminating point in the price of coal was 
 reached in 1873. Happily for the pubhc, the excep- 
 tional prices were not long maintained. The subse- 
 quent fall in the value has been extraordinarily ra])id. 
 Steam coal fell from 22^. a ton in October, 1872, to 
 125. 6g?. a ton in December last. At the present time 
 the price of coal is only 31-|- per cent, higher, while the 
 wages of the men, after the reduction now proposed, 
 will be 50 per cent, higher than in 1870. In a tabular 
 statement published in the Western Mail in February 
 last it was shown that, whereas, in 1870, the average 
 wages in the collieries enumerated amounted to 45. 2d. 
 a day, the earnings would now be 65. 8^c?. a day, as- 
 suming the reduction of 10 per cent, then proposed to 
 have been accepted and that an equal quantity of coal 
 was cut. 
 
 'It cannot, therefore, be said that the men have 
 derived no substantial and enduring advantages from 
 the high prices and large profits of the years of inflation 
 through which we have lately passed. 
 
 ' I most earnestly advise the colliers of South Wales 
 to return peaceably to their work. The course of 
 events in the sphere of industry and commerce is go- 
 verned by irresistible laws. You cannot have exces- 
 sively high prices without unduly stimulating production. 
 When the supply of an article exceeds the demand for 
 it, the price must fall, and with the fall there must be 
 a diminished profit, or, it may be, a most serious loss 
 to the employer, and a reduction in the wages of the 
 workmen. 
 
 'It is an invariable rule that, in a falling market.
 
 on the South Wales Colliery Stnke. 171 
 
 the fall in the price precedes the reduction in the wages 
 — always a disagreeable necessity to the employer no 
 less than to the workman — and that the diminution in 
 the wages is not proportionate to the fall in price. In 
 a rising market, the increase in the price precedes, as 
 a general rule, the advance of wages, and the work- 
 men, always contented when wages are rising, not un- 
 frequently acquiesce for a certain time in an advance 
 which may not be fully proportionate to the rise in 
 prices. There is, however, in prosperous times, great 
 competition for labour on the part of the employers ; 
 and hence it is certain that in the long run the work- 
 man will secure his full participation in the prosperity 
 of his employer. 
 
 ' For the reasons I have stated, strikes can seldom, 
 if ever, produce an amount of good sufficient to com- 
 pensate for the evils they entail. But if at any time 
 the workmen in South Wales can derive benelit from 
 an organised conflict with their employers, it certainly 
 is not now, when the depression of trade is such that 
 no advantage can be gained by the prosecution of 
 manufacturing operations in iron. The firm determi- 
 nation of the employers to keep their works closed 
 affords most Conclusive evidence that no loss is suffered 
 by the adoption of such a course. In a time of pros- 
 perity a general lock-out is impossible. Employers 
 would never be foimd united in their determination 
 to deprive themselves of the opportunity of making a 
 profit. 
 
 ' I owe much to the working class. I am grateful 
 to them, and I heartily sympathise with them in their
 
 172 Letter on the South Wales Colliery Strike. 
 
 many difficulties and trials. But I should not show 
 
 myself their true friend in the present instance if, in 
 
 answer to the inquiries you have addressed to me, I 
 
 were to advise any further prolongation of the hopeless 
 
 struggle. 
 
 ' Always faithfully yours, 
 
 'Thomas Brassey.'
 
 173 
 
 YIII. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCES AFFECTING THE PRICE 
 OF LABOUR IN ENGLAND AT THE PRESENT 
 TIME. 
 
 Published in the International Review, New York, 1876. 
 
 At the present time, trade in England is depressed movement 
 
 , , of wages 
 
 to a degree almost unexampled in the history of British in Eng- 
 commerce. As a necessary consequence, the tendency 
 of the rate of wages in the principal manufacturing 
 industries is in a downward direction. All our accu- 
 mulated experience in the development of productive 
 industry, in the age in which we live, does but confirm 
 the principles laid down in 1776 by the author of ' The 
 Wealth of Nations,' and by Mr. Eicardo in 1817. 
 ' Labour,' he wrote, ' is dear when it is scarce, and 
 cheap when it is plentiful.' 
 
 In the relations between labour and capital in Legisia- 
 England, it is satisfactory to observe the gradual abate- i87o. 
 raent of hostile feelings. The solicitude of the employers 
 for the welfare of the working class has been exhibited 
 in a most practical form in the recent amendments of 
 the laws relating to trade combinations. The improve- 
 ments effected are summarised in the following passage
 
 174 On the Influences affecting the 
 
 from an article in the Times newspaper, quoted in the 
 Annual Register: — 'By an Act passed in the session of 
 1875, all breaches of contract between masters and 
 workmen cease to be, in the eye of the law, criminal 
 offences. Damages may be recovered from workmen 
 for breach of contract of service, and the Courts may, 
 at the request of a defendant, order specific performance 
 of his contract in place of damages, with the alternative 
 of a short term of imprisonment, in default of his new 
 undertaking. But criminal and penal proceedings can 
 no longer be taken.' 
 
 By another Act of the same session, trade combina- 
 tions ceased to be subject to indictment for conspiracy, 
 except in cases where the objects of the compact were 
 themselves legally punishable. It is now admitted by 
 the warmest advocates of the rights of workmen, that 
 the state of the English law, as it affects the industrial 
 classes, no longer presents any grievances of which they 
 have reason to complain. 
 Moderate The most Substantial grievance of the British work- 
 
 trade in man is of a nature which cannot be removed by legisla- 
 K°ngdom. tiou. lu the United Kingdom, after centuries of active 
 enterprise in the pursuit of commerce, capital has 
 been accumulated in a more ample store, in proportion 
 to the population, than in any other country in the 
 world. The result is that the ordinary rate of interest 
 is lower in England than in any other money market 
 in Em-ope. The average rates for the year 1875, in 
 the open market, were as follows : —
 
 Price of Labour in Eihjland. 
 
 175 
 
 
 
 
 Avorage rate of Interest 
 
 for 1876. 
 
 London . . . . .3 per cent. 
 
 Paris 
 
 
 
 . H „ 
 
 Vienna 
 
 
 
 , ^ 
 
 
 Berlin 
 
 
 
 ' 3| 
 
 
 Frankfort 
 
 
 
 • 3i 
 
 
 Amsterdam 
 
 
 
 . H 
 
 
 Brussels . 
 
 
 
 . . 31 
 
 
 Hamburg 
 
 
 
 . 3f 
 
 
 St. Petersburg 
 
 
 
 • H 
 
 
 Money being abundant, and the rate of interest low, 
 outlets for investment are eagerly sought for. It is in 
 London that foreign countries, in a state of impending 
 bankruptcy, have of late conducted their principal 
 borrowing operations ; and their appeals to a credulous 
 and ill-informed pubhc have not been made in vain. 
 If, in any trade or business, whether in commerce or 
 agriculture, in mines or in ships, at home or in the 
 remotest regions of the earth, a return has been anti- 
 cipated, ever so little beyond the low nominal rate of 
 interest, eager and credulous people have hitherto been 
 only too easily induced to embark their capital. A 
 large proportion of the annual savings of the country 
 has thus been squandered away in injudicious specula- 
 tions ; and, even when capital has been attracted to a 
 legitimate trade, if the profits have, for ever so short a 
 time, exceeded what may be called the normal rate of 
 interest, over-production has ensued, and the period of 
 short-lived prosperity has been followed by a long 
 depression, A serious fall in the value of manufac- 
 tured goods has been inevitable ; and the workmen, 
 whose wages have been unduly advanced by exces-
 
 17G On the Influences affecting the 
 
 sive demand for their labour in prosperous times, 
 have been compelled to submit to a reduction, or to 
 suffer the more cruel alternative of entire loss of em- 
 ployment. 
 state of ^Yhe recent history of the iron trade presents a 
 
 iron trade. '' ^ 
 
 strikino; illustration of the course of events which has 
 here been sketched out. The circular of Mr. Muller, 
 of Middlesborough-on-Tees, quoted in the Commercial 
 Eeview for 1875, published in the Economist, contains 
 the following passage : — 
 
 ' The year 1875 has been a period of hard struggle 
 in the iron trade. The crisis has been felt more 
 severely than those of 1837 and 1866, because the 
 iron trade had not at that time attained the dimensions 
 it now occupies ; nor were former crises preceded by 
 such extraordinary prosperity and injflation as had been 
 developed during 1871-2 and 1873. 
 
 ' In the course of three years a great amount of 
 capital had found its way into the iron and coal trades, 
 helping to bring up the means of production and manu- 
 facture to the level of the exceptional demand then 
 existing, but which could scarcely be expected to 
 continue. When, therefore, this demand slackened, 
 and prices declined, the burden was felt first by under- 
 takings which had been established on the basis of 
 extreme ideas. It is this great and sudden prosperity 
 which has been so baneful in its effects on all classes of 
 society, from the workman upwards. When, in due 
 time, the tide turns, and the reaction sets in, outside 
 capital begins to be nervous and fidgety, and tries 
 to get out as fast as possible. A wholesome reaction is
 
 Price of Labour in England. 177 
 
 thereby often magnified into a disastrous crisis, a short 
 epidemic in business, which, while removing much that 
 is weak, injures also much that is worth preserving.' 
 
 A very large proportion of the total quantity of 
 coal raised is consumed in the manufacture of iron. 
 After a long period of depression, the price of iron rose 
 in 1871, to use the language of Mr. Gladstone, not by 
 steps, but by strides, not by strides but by leaps and 
 bounds. In September, 1871, forged pig-iron was 
 selhng for 505., while coke was selling for from lOs. 
 to 125. a ton. In July, 1872, the forged pig-iron rose 
 to I2O5., more than double the price of nine months 
 before, and coke, following the advance in iron, rose to 
 from 375. Qd. to 4l5. a ton. These high prices implied 
 a high rate of profit ; and forthwith everybody engaged 
 in the iron and coal trades applied his utmost energies 
 to the increase of production ; while new capital for 
 the development of these industries was obtained, with 
 accustomed facility, from the inexperienced investors 
 who abound in an old country. The great pressure 
 thus brought to bear on the laboiu^ market naturally 
 caused a rapid advance of wages. 
 
 Such an inflation of prices and wages was inevitably South 
 and promptly followed by corresponding reaction. As strike. 
 prices fell, the masters required that the men should 
 accept reduced wages, and a long conflict naturally 
 ensued. The most severe engagement was fought in 
 South Wales, and it may be interesting to record some 
 of the principal incidents of the struggle. 
 
 In the years 1871 and 1872 the price of coal had 
 been increased about 100 per cent. The culminating 
 
 N
 
 J 78 On the Injiuences affecting the 
 
 point was reached in 1873. Happily for the consumers, 
 tlie exceptional rates were not long maintained. The 
 subsequent fall in the value was extremely rapid. 
 Steam-coal fell from 22^. a ton in October 1872, to 
 125. Q>d. a ton in December, 1874. In May, 1875, 
 the price of coal was only 39^ per cent, higher, while 
 the wages of the men were 60 per cent, higher than in 
 1870. In 1870, the avemge wages in the collieries 
 were 4s. 2c?. a day. In 1874, the average earnings were 
 6s. ^\d. a day. After a prolonged resistance, the work- 
 men in South Wales were compelled to surrender. A 
 deduction of wages was fixed at 12 per cent, for three 
 months, and it was agreed that any further change in 
 the rate should be regulated by a sliding scale, depend- 
 ing on the selling price of coal. A joint committee of 
 workmen and masters was appointed, to prepare a 
 scheme for the proposed sliding scale. 
 
 Thus, after a disastrous struggle representing a loss 
 in wages to the workmen estimated by Lord Aberdare 
 at 3,000,000/. sterling, the truth of the doctrine, laid 
 down by Adam Smith, was once more confirmed, that 
 it is only when trade is in a progressive state that 
 wages can be increased. Strikes in a rising market 
 are generally successful. Strikes against a falling- 
 market inevitably terminate in disaster to the workmen. 
 ' The condition of the labouring poor is hard in the 
 stationary, and miserable in the declining state. The 
 progressive state of trade is in reality the cheerful and 
 the hearty state, to all the different orders of society. 
 The stationary is dull, the declining melancholy.' 
 
 An able writer in the Commercial Keview, published
 
 Piice of Labour in England. 179 
 
 in the Economist iu March of the present year, makes 
 feome observations, which ehicidate and confirm the 
 great principles laid down in the quotation cited above 
 from Adam Smith, * Decreasing employment,' he says, 
 ' has compelled the adoption of lower wages, and has 
 enabled the employer to obtain more and better work, 
 for the money paid, than was possible during the ex- 
 ceptional period of 1871-3. Indeed, it must be re- 
 membered that our great iron and coal industries have 
 been rendered unprofitable, not merely because wages 
 rose inordinately, but because, as the wages rose, the 
 quantity and quality of the work given for more money 
 became less and less. The workshop became, in no 
 small degree, the paradise of negligence and incapacity, 
 evils to be cured only by the sharp physic of privation.' 
 
 In the finished iron and engineering trades, the 
 workmen have succeeded, within the space of a few 
 years, in reducing the hours of labour to nine a day, 
 and they have obtained a substantial advance of wages. 
 In our own establishment, the Canada Works at Bir- 
 kenhead, the hours have been reduced, in accordance 
 with the rule which has come into force universally 
 in the United Kingdom ; while the wages have been 
 advanced since 1871, in the case of the fitters, from 
 hs. to 5^. 6(i, per day; smiths, from 5^. 4(i. to 65. 26?.; 
 platers, fi'om 5s. 6d to 6s. Ic?., and other trades in 
 proportion. 
 
 Being anxious that the present condition of the Mr, 
 
 Pottfir s 
 
 iron and coal trades iu England should be impartially letter. 
 exhibited to American readers, I have asked Mr. 
 Potter, the editor of the Beehive, the leading journal 
 
 N 2
 
 180 0)1 the Injiuences affecting the 
 
 on tlie afliiirs of our trades unions, to state tlie case 
 from his point of view. Tlie following is a letter of 
 great interest received from him : — 
 
 'May 12, 1876. 
 
 ' Dear Sir, — I find it is not easy to obtain the infor- 
 mation as to the wages in the coal and iron trades you 
 have asked for. 
 
 ' First. Nearly every district in which coal is got 
 differed in amount of wages in 1871, the period when 
 the advances in the coal and iron trades began. 
 
 ' Secondly. In each district the advances were at 
 different times and of different amounts. 
 
 • Thirdly. The highest amount of wages obtained 
 by the men differed in the different localities. 
 
 ' Fourthly. Some started from a low level and at- 
 tained to a high standard. 
 
 ' Fifthly. In arbitrating for reductions — and all the 
 arbitrations in the coal trade were for a reduction — the 
 actual wages, either as a starting point, or at any stage 
 of the advance, were scarcely ever mentioned, the per- 
 centage of advance and increase being almost the only 
 thing alluded to. This practice, as you will see, fixed 
 nothing, either as a starting point or resting point, 
 over the whole scale, in rising or descending. 
 
 * In the coal trade the highest wages are earned in 
 Northumberland and Yorkshire. Advances in miners' 
 wages began to take place towards the close of 1871. 
 In West Yorkshire the advances were about 59 per 
 cent, on the prices paid in 1871 ; in South Yorkshire 
 57^ per cent., in Lancashire 60 per cent., whilst in 
 Cheshire and the Oldham districts the advances were
 
 Price of Labour in Etujland. 181 
 
 considerable, more perhaps thau 100 per cent., but the 
 point from which they rose in tltese districts was very 
 low. In Durham the advances were 57 per cent., in 
 Northumberland 57 per cent. But in Scotland, where 
 wages were very low, the advances reached 140 per 
 cent. In North Staffordshire the advances were 55 
 per cent., and in Cumberland 54 per cent. 
 
 ' The general reductions have brought wages down 
 in all the coal districts to very near the old level. But 
 it should be borne in mind that, where the coal is used 
 for manufacturing purposes, the wages have been better 
 maintained, as in Yorkshire, and certain parts of Lin- 
 colnshire, and Derbyshire ; whilst in other districts, 
 where the consumption has been in connection with 
 the iron trade, they have gone down. There are places 
 where perhaps 15 per cent, is yet retained, whilst in 
 other places there is scarcely anything over the wages 
 of 1871 ; and if the increased cost of living be taken 
 into account, the gain all over has not been much, 
 and the downward tendency still continues. 
 
 ' In this matter it might not be amiss to bear in 
 mind that the miners' unions are of recent date, the 
 greater number having been estabhshed within the 
 last five years. They have done a great deal in 
 regard to the general improvement of their condition ; 
 but their discipline is by no means perfect, and there 
 is much to be done among them in the work of 
 organisation. 
 
 ' It is also worth noticing that in the trades where 
 the unions have been more perfected, wages have not 
 been affected by the state of trade. The Amalgamated
 
 182 Oil the Influences affecthuj the 
 
 Engineers, the Iron Founders, the Steam Engine Makers, 
 the Iron Ship Builders, and the Boiler Makers, have 
 not been reduced at all. These trades have obtained 
 advantages during the years of briskness of trade, par- 
 ticularly in regard to reduction of hours of work, but 
 nothing has been 'given up by them, owing to the 
 present slackness of trade. 
 
 ' I may state that coal-heavers' wages, which are 
 the best of the colliers, will not average more than 55. 
 per day, whilst some of the day workers go down to 
 3.S. per day. It should also be borne in mind that 
 miners cannot well work more than five days a week. 
 
 ' It will not be far from the mark, if we say that 
 the wages of miners in 1871 were 45. per day, though 
 in some branches they were much more. What they 
 were at the highest will be seen by the percentages 
 stated in this summary. The following paragraph 
 appears in the Times of to-day, which will show the 
 condition of miners' wages in Warwickshire : 
 
 ' " The Proposed Reduction in Warwickshire Miners^ 
 Wages. — At a mass meeting of Warwickshire miners, 
 held on Wednesday night, at Bedford, the masters' 
 proposition for a reduction in wages was considered. 
 The meeting unanimously passed a resolution to the 
 effect that their present rate of wages is only 3c?. per 
 day in advance of the rate of 1871, and that their 
 present working hours are as long as those of competing 
 districts. The men, therefore, hoped the reduction 
 would not be insisted on, it being now impossible for 
 them to procure the common necessaries of life." '
 
 Price of Labour in Eiujland. 183 
 
 Turning from manufactures to the cultivation of Agncui- 
 
 ° . tural 
 
 the soil, it is satisfactory to know that the agricultural wages. 
 labourer has shared in the generally improved condition 
 of the labouring classes in England. 
 
 Until within a recent period, the condition of the 
 rural population in many districts was a dishonour to 
 a country abounding in riches and resources of every 
 kind. The blessings of education and political intelh- 
 gence had not been extended, even now they are but 
 partially enjoyed, among the inhabitants of the secluded 
 villages and hamlets of the agricultural districts. In 
 their complete ignorance of any other condition of life 
 than that which they had inherited from their fore- 
 fathers, they had no definite aim or plans for the im- 
 provement of their lot. They endured their poverty 
 with dogged submission. At length, however, the 
 rural labourer found a powerful and eloquent advocate 
 in the person of Mr. Joseph Arch. By arguments 
 based upon a more or less accurate appreciation of the 
 facts, but, in the main conclusive, the labourer was 
 urged to ask for an advance of wages. The demands 
 made were not extravagant. In Suffolk, for example, 
 the men asked that their wages should be increased 
 from 13s. to 145. a week. This modest request was 
 met, on the part of the farmers, by the formation of 
 a counter association, and ultimately the labourers 
 throuijhout an extensive district were locked out. 
 
 The course adopted by the employers was con- 
 demned by all impartial and thoughtful men. In one 
 of his characteristic and sensible letters to the Times,
 
 184. On I he liijluences (tffectuuj the 
 
 tlie ]>islio]:> of Mancliester stated the case a^rainst the 
 fanners in plain and forcible terms. ' Could a man,' 
 he asked, 'at the present prices of the necessaries of life, 
 maintain himself and his famil}^, he would not say in 
 comfort, but even witli a sufficiency of food, fuel, and 
 clothing, to enable him to put his whole strength into 
 his work, on a smaller income than 155. or 16.s. a week?' 
 If the farmers said they could not afford to pay this 
 rate of wages with their present rentals, and could prove 
 this statement, then rents must come down, an unplea- 
 sant ' thing to contemplate, for those who would spend 
 the rent of a oOO-acre farm on a single ball, or upon a 
 pair of high-stepping carriage-horses. But, neverthe- 
 less, one of the things was inevitable.' 
 
 The farmers succeeded for the time in their resist- 
 ance to the demands of the labourers. They and their 
 families performed the manual labour on their farms, 
 which had hitherto been carried on by hired workmen. 
 The results, however, of the labour movement in the 
 agricultural class have been considerable, The la- 
 bourers were defeated in their pitched battle with the 
 farmers ; though they subsequently obtained consider- 
 able advances in all those districts of England where 
 the lowest wages had hitherto been given. Space does 
 not permit me to follow up the labour movement in all 
 its ramifications, in Dorsetshire and other counties. 
 Mr. Henry The actual positiou of the agricultural labour market 
 
 Taylor. ^ . . , . 
 
 is, however, summed up, from a unionist's point of view, 
 in the following letters, received from Mr. Joseph Arch, 
 and from Mr. Henry Taylor, the Secretary of the Union 
 of Agricultural Labourers, in reply to an inquiry.
 
 Price of Labour in England. 185 
 
 which I ventured to address to them, ou behalf of the 
 International Review. 
 
 The following is from ]\ii\ Taylor : — 
 
 ' May 9, 1876. 
 
 ' I would say that we have no official statement as 
 to rates of wages in the rural districts, and in speaking 
 of the rises during the past tliree years, we can only 
 generalise. Having made myself intimately acquainted 
 with the various counties in which our cause exists, I 
 feel justified in saying that at least 35. per week has 
 been gained on the old wages prior to this movement. 
 In North Lincolnshire the wages run as high as 2l5., 
 and, coming southward, they are as low as 135. or 14.s. 
 In Norfolk, 145. or 155. is about the day price for 
 ordinary labourers, some receiving 135. Carters obtain 
 more by l5., or in some cases 25., than ordinary men ; 
 but, of course, their work entails more hours, as well 
 as Sunday duties. Suffolk is about I5. under Norfolk. 
 Cambridge and Bedfordshire about the same, or 
 tending rather downwards. In Wiltshire there are a 
 large number who work for 11 5. : in fact, we have men 
 on strike at present against that wage. Hampshire 
 about 135. Oxfordshire the same. Warwickshire 
 from I85. to 135. A few miles' separation often makes 
 a great difference in wages. Of course, manufacturing 
 towns or public works make the difference frequently. 
 But in other cases there is a difference of I5. or 25.,' 
 which is simply attributable to the spirit of the men, 
 who in most cases are too ignorant to know aught of 
 the labour market, or are altogether too spiritless to 
 move, and otherwise invoh'ed in poverty. In most
 
 186 On the Influences affedlmj the 
 
 cases, where the union is in force, wages are better — 
 other conditions similar — than where there is no union. 
 This can of course be understood. The men are of 
 more courage, because excited to move, have assistance 
 to move, and are directed in their movements. But, 
 migration apart, the men would get better terms if 
 they demanded them ; but in many cases they are too 
 timid. This is removing, however. I said there had 
 been a rise of 3s. all round. I wish to keep within the 
 mark ; but I believe 45. is nearer truth. And this is 
 not all. The piece-work prices are much improved. 
 They determine the bargain before performing the 
 work, unlike the old custom. And then, I am assured 
 that the independence of the men, and the liability of 
 their moving, have caused the employers to be much 
 more cautious and respectful in their attitude to them.' 
 
 Mr. Taylor enclosed a letter, as a sample of the 
 correspondence in which he is hourly engaged, which, 
 omitting names, I give as a typical case : — 
 
 ' May 8, 1876. 
 ' Dear Sir, — We saw in the English Labourer that 
 Mr. Miller goes to Canada the 24th of this month, and 
 that he wishes to take members of the union with him. 
 We gave our names in to our secretary, and thought 
 to go in March. I am working for ten shillings a 
 week, and I hope I shall have the good luck to go, for 
 I am tired of England, for we are half-starved. If the 
 men would all be union men it would be better for all ; 
 but they hang back so here, and they that has joined 
 more than half has left the ranks. They say Mr. Arch
 
 Price of Labour in England. 187 
 
 ought to come among us and cheer them up. I think 
 myself if the speakers was to come often, our branch 
 would soon grow stronger. Dear Sir, I hope you will 
 send by return, and tell me whether it's free emigration, 
 and whether we can be sent free. There are five of us, 
 one boy 14 and a girl 9, and an older daughter, who 
 is very weakly. She earns her living by sewing. If 
 we are to go, please send the tickets at once, as I 
 have many things to do before we go.' 
 
 The following is from Mr. Joseph Arch : — Mr. Arch. 
 
 ' Barford, Warwick : May 13, 1876. 
 
 ' The wages of the farm labourers have been advanced 
 in every county, where our Association has gone, from 
 two to three shillings per week, viz. from 9^. to 12s. and 
 in some parishes more, say 13^. and 14^. as in Dorset. 
 In other counties they have risen from 10^. to Vis. and 
 145. as in Norfolk. In my own county, Warwickshire, 
 the increase has been from lis. to 15^. and 16s. ; in 
 Wiltshire, from 9s. to 12s. and 13s. ; and in Lincoln- 
 shire, from 12s. to 16s. Qd. and 18s. In other counties, 
 where the power of unionism has been felt, the above- 
 named wages have been obtained, and, as a rule, 
 retained, employers being only able to effect a reduc- 
 tion where the labourers have been disorganised. It has 
 been computed that four millions sterling more have 
 been paid to the labourers during the last four years 
 than were paid in the four preceding years. I cannot 
 vouch for the statement as correct, because I have not 
 gone into details on that point, but I have every reason 
 to believe that it is true. The increased pay obtained 
 has brought more comforts to the houses of the labourers
 
 188 On the Influences affecting the 
 
 than tliey ever enjoyed before. Better wages have 
 reduced pauperism in the rural districts, the number of 
 paupers being about 323,000 less, and the poor rates 
 Ijaving fulleii from 8^?. to 3M. in the pound. At Guild- 
 ford, Blandford, Warwick, and in every district where 
 tlie better pay has been given, the like results have 
 followed ; of course in proportion to tlie intelhgence of 
 the county, as the men are better educated in some 
 counties than in others. Take Sussex, where the 
 education of the labourer has just ])een what the squire 
 and parson have allowed it to be, where any Eadical 
 publication was denounced as sedition. That despotism 
 has had its day ; and I hope, sir, that in the paper you 
 are about to submit to the intelligent Americans, you 
 will not forget to mention that, with increased wages 
 and home comforts, the English labourer has increased 
 in intelligence.' 
 
 It is necessary, in order to com])lete this statement, 
 to refer to the situation in which the farmers are placed. 
 While wages have advanced, they have had to contend 
 with the most disastrous seasons within the memory of 
 man. On January 14, 1876, Mr, Clare Sewell Eead, 
 M.P. for West Norfolk, made a speech on the situation, 
 which was quoted in the Economist. ' He and his 
 friends had only a poor crop of corn ; their roots were 
 the worst he ever remembered to have seen grown in 
 Norfolk. The hay crop had been exceedingly light, 
 and had been secured in very bad order: and even 
 the straw, which they thought of great value, was so 
 indifferent, that, when it was threshed, it broke all to
 
 Price of Labour in England. 189 
 
 pieces. Wlien he came to speak of prices, he con- 
 sidered tliey were ruinously low, having regard to the 
 yield per acre. Prices did not apparently depend upon 
 the amount of corn which was grown in the country, 
 but upon the quantity of the grain which foreigners 
 were pleased to send us, and which would increase 
 year by year. If the farmers had another year like 
 that of 1875, he fancied they would see even longer 
 and more dolorous faces than those now before them. 
 Farmers might stand one such brunt, but they could 
 hardly face another. If he were to sell every bushel 
 of corn which he grew m 1875, the proceeds would 
 not much more than pay his labour bill and half his 
 rent ; and as he should have to expend a further 
 amount for artificial manures, he would leave the 
 meeting to guess upon which side his banking account 
 would be hkely to stand after he had paid his rent, as 
 he had done that day.' 
 
 Philanthropic men have sought to reconcile the Co-opera- 
 apparently hopeless conflict between capital and labour, 
 by the introduction of the so-called co-operative system. 
 The nature of the experiment will be too familiar to 
 your readers to make it necessary that a detailed expla- 
 nation should be given. It wiU be sufficient to point 
 out where the principle has been adopted with success 
 and where it has been marked by failure. It has been 
 successful where the business to be done was easy to 
 manage. At the co-operative retail stores, great reduc- 
 tions of price and inprovements of quality have been 
 secured to the consumers. Co-operation has been a 
 failure in its application to productive industry. In
 
 190 On the Influences affecting the 
 
 a large factory, or mine, or foundry, where the labours 
 of hundreds or thousands of men must be combined, in 
 order to carry out extensive and complicated operations, 
 discipline must be maintained, and the reasonableness 
 of the orders given must be accepted without debate 
 by those engaged in subordinate capacities. Tlie 
 government of a factory, like the command of a 
 regiment, must be an autocracy. Hence it is that the 
 principle of associated effort has been found inapplicable 
 to productive industry. 
 
 There is another reason why co-operative manu- 
 facture has been a failure. Capital is required for such 
 undertakings. Competition has reduced the profits of 
 manufacturers so considerably, that an establishment 
 unprovided with the newest and most costly machinery 
 must show an adverse balance. Unfortunately, the 
 savings of the working classes are . not sufficient to 
 enable them to provide the capital necessary for busi- 
 ness on a large scale. It would be unfair to the intel- 
 ligent and industrious working people of England to 
 ignore the many laudable efforts they have made to 
 raise their material and their social condition. The 
 benefit societies, the Post-office savings banks, in which 
 the savings of the poor are accumulated at the rate of 
 a million and a half a year, the building societies, and 
 the co-operative associations, attest the prudence and 
 the thrift of multitudes, who cannot save money with- 
 out self-denial. On the other hand, the returns of the 
 consumption of spirits and beer in the United Kingdom 
 show that the surplus earnings of prosperous times are 
 largely consumed in pernicious indulgence. The con-
 
 strike. 
 
 Price of Labour in England. 191 
 
 sumption of British spirits increased from 24,000,000 
 gallons, in 1871, to 30,100,000 gallons, in 1875 ; while 
 the number of bushels of malt consumed was increased 
 in the same period from 54,000,000 to 62,000,000. 
 It has been computed that 100,000,000/. a year are 
 annually expended in the United Kingdom in drink. 
 If any appreciable proportion of this vast and deplorable 
 outlay were devoted to industrial investment, the work- 
 ing classes might become more independent than they 
 are of the aid of the capitalist. 
 
 There is, however, another, and a more practicable, Erith 
 form of co-operation, namely, that of payment by 
 results. During the past w^inter, this subject has ex- 
 cited much interest, in consequence of the protracted 
 strike of the workmen belonging to the Amalgamated 
 Society of Engineers who were in the employ of 
 Messrs. Easton and Anderson, at Erith. It had been 
 urged by the officers of the Society, first, that the 
 practice of piece-work placed the men under the 
 tyranny of what was called the 'butty,' or piece- 
 master, system, and that the workman under this 
 system did not get his share of the results, as it was 
 monopolised by the piece-master ; secondly, that it 
 frequently happened that workmen found at the end 
 of a job on which they had been engaged, that they 
 were in debt to their employers, inasmuch as they had 
 not earned the full amount of their weekly rated 
 wages, and were forced to pay the deficiency ; thirdly, 
 that the results were, when equally distributed, small 
 in amount, and that earnings were reduced by the 
 system, as wages were brought down by this process
 
 192 On the Tnjiaences affecting the 
 
 to the lowest possible point. These allegations have 
 been carefully examined by Mr. Stark, Fellow of the 
 Statistical Society, of London, and the result of an 
 inquiry shows that, of 97 employers from whom in- 
 formation was obtained only 15 pay through a piece- 
 master ; that a deficiency hardly ever happens ; and 
 that the additional earnings vary from 15 per cent, 
 to 75 per cent, on the weekly ratings ! The lower 
 earnings are exceptional, and are confined to small 
 concerns. The weekly ratings are higher in districts 
 where piece-work most obtains than where it is never 
 practised ; and the percentage additions on piece-work 
 balances are highest in those shops where the weekly 
 ratings of the men are also on the highest scale. It 
 would therefore appear that the best workmen are 
 found where piece-work is the established practice. 
 
 While piece-work is strongly resisted by the Associa- 
 tion of the Amalgamated Engineers in its corporate 
 capacity, and by a certain proportion of the workmen 
 is much disliked, in many important districts the men 
 who have learned its value to the able and industrious 
 mechanic would strenuously oppose any proposal to 
 limit its operations. 
 Piece- Piece-work has been stronsjly advocated by the 
 
 ■work. _ ^ f '' 
 
 most generous friends of the working classes. Among 
 their number, I would specially refer to Mr. Mundella. 
 In a speech, delivered in London, on March 20, he 
 delivered the following opinion on the subject: — 'He 
 was an advocate of piece-work : of the 240,000,000^. 
 a year of English exports, he believed he was right 
 in saying that fully 90 per cent, were made by the
 
 Price of Labour in England. 193 
 
 piece. Of textile manufactures they exported, in 1874, 
 120,000,000/. worth, f^nd these had all been paid by the 
 piece. So it was with iron and steel, to the extent of 
 31,000,000/. ; ai]d also with coal, cutlery, haberdashery, 
 and other small articles, all of which, so far as prac- 
 ticable, were produced under tlie piece-work system. 
 There was more piece-work, he maintained, done in 
 England than in any other country in the world ; and 
 the more it was extended the better for the workmen, 
 whether they liked it or not. Scamping was as often 
 done under the day-work as under the piece-work 
 system ; for the master could push the men under both, 
 and urge them to " slip " it. The question on that 
 point was, what amount of money was the master pre- 
 pared to pay, and what superintendence did he give as 
 to quality? Piece-work tended to regularity of work, 
 and the weak were better off by it : for in slack times 
 these were, under a day-work system, the first to be 
 dismissed. In conclusion, he made his earnest protest 
 against any attempt to resist piece-work, when it was 
 honestly practicable.' 
 
 Another authority on the labour question, Mr. 
 Frederic Hill, brother of Sir Eowland Hill, who holds 
 a high permanent position in the Post Office, and is 
 an entirely disinterested observer, remarks, in a recent 
 address : — ' The stimulus to ingenuity and exertion 
 given by piece-work is, I have no doubt, one cause of 
 the general superiority of English workmen over those of 
 the Continent. It is well known that the rate of wages 
 here is considerably higher than on the Continent ; 
 and yet English manufacturers are seldom induced to 
 

 
 194 On the Infiuences affecting the 
 
 transfer their establishments to tlie Continent in the 
 hope of getting their work done more cheaply ; because, 
 owing to the greater energy and activity of Englishmen, 
 their higher wages are fully compensated for by greater 
 production. In nothing, perhaps, has this English 
 superiority been more manifest than in the railway 
 work of navvies ; in which, under the gang or " butty " 
 system, the rule of payment according to the quantity 
 of work done, instead of by time, is, I believe, almost 
 universal ; and we have the satisfaction of knowing 
 that the example thus set to Continental workmen has 
 produced the happy effect of raising their wages and 
 permanently benefiting their condition.' 
 
 The comparative efficiency of the English and the 
 foreign workman has been much discussed in the pre- 
 sent hard times, as it always is when trade is depressed. 
 The truth is, that there is little difference between the 
 amount of work performed for a given sum of money 
 in any of the manufacturing countries of Europe. The 
 English workmen became idle when their wages were 
 raised and their hours of labour curtailed ; but I have 
 faith in their skill and physical power, and in their 
 common sense. They are not likely to allow themselves 
 to be beaten in a fair and open competition. The best 
 evidence of the excellence of the British workman is 
 afforded by the high tariffs which, in many countries, 
 where the wages are low and the hours of labour 
 longer than with us, it is thought necessary to impose, in 
 order to give effectual protection to native industry. If 
 there were no protective duties, our iron- work would be 
 extensively imported into France, Eussia, and the United
 
 Price of Lahonv in England. 195 
 
 States, whence now it is only excluded by prohibitive 
 imports. 
 
 The present depression of the iron trade is not 
 confined to England. The Economist gives a gloomy 
 picture of the state of this trade on the Continent. 
 In Germany also there has been over-production. 
 Wages have risen as rapidly as in England. Good 
 workmen have become careless ; and the general 
 standard of diligence and workmanship has declined. 
 In Belgium more than half the blast furnaces are 
 standing idle. Such a description as this is even more 
 discouraging than that given of the trade in England. 
 ' Our faith,' then, ' is large in time.' The growing 
 mechanical genius of some countries may make them 
 independent of England, but other markets will open 
 out elsewhere. We know not what may be the future 
 demand for our productions in Japan, in China, and in 
 Africa. 
 
 It is idle to find fault with trades unions. When 
 men came to be employed together in numbers so vast 
 it was natural that they should combine to promote 
 their mutual interests. It is better to recognise these 
 organisations, and to make use of the facilities they 
 afford for negotiation and agreement between employers 
 and their workpeople. 
 
 Even in the most prosperous times there are mul- 
 titudes who have to fight a hard battle in the daily 
 struggle for hfe. Side by side with the colossal for- 
 tunes accumulated in successful enterprise, it is sad to 
 see so many human beings without suflicient food or 
 raiment. The affluent may strive to satisfy the con- 
 
 2
 
 196 Influences affecting Price of Labour in England. 
 
 scientioiis scruples of tlicir position by lavish doles to 
 the poor. But this is not enough. Indiscriminate alms 
 create more misery than they relieve, and their distribu- 
 tion requires an amount of careful inquiry that is not 
 commonly bestowed. To the rich it is easier to be 
 lavish of th(ur money than to devote their time to tlie 
 practical work of charity. The poor, however, have a 
 claim to both ; and a fidl and generous recognition of 
 that claim can alone dispel the bitterness and the envy 
 which an ostentatious display of wealth cannot fail 
 to excite. 
 
 In discussing the condition of the labour question 
 in England, it has been impossible to suppress all allu- 
 sions to the industrial competition between our country 
 and the United States. We are now rivals only in the 
 arts, the sciences, and commerce. The people of England 
 and the United States are bound together by many 
 ties, by their common ancestry, by their language and 
 literature, and by the laws and the liberties they enjoy. 
 The natural attachment, which ought to unite them, 
 was never more sincere ; nor are there any clouds on 
 the farthest horizon to overshadow the pleasant pros- 
 pect of amity and peace between the great Anglo- 
 Saxon nations.
 
 19^ 
 
 LECTUEE IX. 
 ON CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. 
 Delivered at the Hastings Mechanics' Institute in 1873. 
 In the following Lecture it is proposed to invite your statistics 
 
 1 • n ^ c • p 0^ emigra 
 
 attention cliieny to the prospects oi emigrants from tion. 
 Europe to North America. As the principal field of 
 emigration for the redundant population of the Old 
 World, America is a country of surpassing interest. 
 
 We are only too famihar with the difficult problem 
 of pauperism. Our pauper population may be num- 
 bered by hundreds of thousands — a truly melancholy 
 spectacle, when seen side by side with the wealth and 
 luxury of our age and country. 
 
 The pressure has been partially removed by the vast 
 emigration which has taken place from our shores. 
 
 Between 1815 and 1871, both years inclusive, 
 7,266,000 persons emigrated from the United Kiug- 
 dom. Of these 1,424,000 went to the American 
 colonies, and 4,671,000 to the United States. Emigra- 
 tion was most active between the years 1850 and 1854. 
 Since the latter date it has fluctuated with the com- 
 merce of the country, having always been most con- 
 siderable in years when it lias been most difficult to 
 obtain steady employment at home. Of late there has
 
 198 On Canada and the United States. 
 
 been a considenible decrease in tlie iiiiinbcr of Irish 
 and a corresponding increase in the number of Enghsh 
 emigrants. In 18G4 tlie numbers of English and Irish 
 emigrants were 56, CIS and 115,428 respectively, or in 
 the proportion of 33 to 67 ; in 1869 they were 90,410 
 and 73,225, or in the proportion of 55*27 to 44 '7 8. 
 Nevertheless, as compared with tlie population of the 
 country, Irish emigration is still much greater than 
 cither the English or the Scotch. The proportion in 
 1871 was — 
 
 Irish , 
 
 . 1-31 per cent, of the population, 
 
 English 
 
 . "45 „ „ 
 
 Scotch 
 
 . -57 
 
 Canada. In 1870, of the whole number of emigrants 198,843 
 
 went to the United States, and only 32,671 to British 
 North America. It is to be regretted that so many of 
 the most valuable of our population have ceased to be 
 British citizens ; but it is, as the Emigration Commis- 
 sioners observe, an inevitable consequence of the 
 extent of our emigration. Canada cannot at present 
 absorb more than from 30,000 to 40,000 emigrants 
 a. year. There are two special obstacles to extensive 
 emio;ration to Canada. The first and most serious is 
 the severity of the climate. The winter lasts at least 
 two months longer than in the States, and it is far 
 more severe, putting a stop to all agricultural occupa- 
 tions. The other difficulty is the want of railroad 
 communication with the remote but fertile districts in 
 tlie Far West. In the Eed Eiver Settlement, Indian 
 corn, wheat, barley, -oats, flax, hemp, turnips, tobacco, 
 (Sec, can be readily grown ; but there is no means of
 
 On Canada and the Lnited States. 199. 
 
 taking the produce to market. A project has been set 
 oil foot for estabhshing a line of railway through the 
 Canadian Dominion to the shores of the Pacific. It is 
 doubtful if it could be carried into execution without 
 an Imperial guarantee. In the present state of public 
 opinion at home on these subjects such a guarantee 
 would be given with reluctance ; and no assistance 
 would be granted by the Imperial Government to the 
 numerous subordinate railways, which it would be 
 necessary to construct as tributaries to the main artery 
 of communication. 
 
 As a set-ofF against the drawbacks, which have been 
 aUuded to, Canada has the advantage of cheap food ; 
 while the wages for all who can find employment are 
 as high as in the United States. 
 
 Skilled farm hands earn from 30/. to 40/. a year, 
 with board. Common labourers earn from 5s. to Qs. 3c?. 
 a day, and skilled artisans from Gs. to 16s. a day. 
 It should be observed, by way of caution, that employ- 
 ment cannot be obtained at these rates during the five 
 or six winter months. 
 
 The prices of some of the principal articles of food 
 are as follows : — The four-pound loaf of white bread 
 costs hd. to M. ; salt butter, b\d. to 6c/. per pound; 
 meat, 3^c/. to hd. and Qd. ; cheese, A\d. to lid. ; 
 potatoes, \s. to 2s. per bushel ; eggs, 6c?. to 9(7. per 
 dozen ; milk, per quart, 2^d. to 36?. ; beer, 2d. to 5c?. 
 per quart ; tobacco. Is. to 2s. per pound ; and other 
 articles in proportion. 
 
 While the facilities for obtaining land in most of the 
 Canadian provinces are not equal to those accorded
 
 200 On Canadd and the United States. 
 
 to emigrants in the United States, tlie price of land 
 cannot be considered immoderate. The lands in the 
 Province of Manitoba jmd the North-West Territory- 
 are held by the Dominion Government, which at present 
 gives free grants of IGO acres, on the condition of settle- 
 ment. Dominion lands in other provinces are sold at 
 45. 2c?. an acre. 
 
 The physical geogra[)hy of the North- West Territory 
 may be appreciated, when it is mentioned tliat a light 
 gig may be driven for a thousand miles, in a straight 
 line, in the open prairie, over land well adapted to the 
 production of wheat. 
 
 It may be interesting to you to know that in 
 1821 no less than 702,000/. were remitted by emigrants 
 from the United States and Canada to their friends 
 in the Old Country, of which the sum of 310,000/. 
 was in the form of prepaid passages. The al:)Ove 
 remittances are believed to have been made almost 
 exclusively by Irish emigrants to their relations in 
 Ireland. 
 United Turning to the United States, the vast area of 
 
 States. o _ .... 
 
 country comprised within its limits may be divided 
 into three great regions : — 
 
 1. The Mississippi slope, between the Alleghanies 
 and the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 2. The Mississippi basin, between the Alleghanies 
 and the Eocky Mountains. 
 
 3. The Pacific slope, between the Eocky Mountains 
 and the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 These three divisions embrace an area of 3,034,459
 
 On Canada and the United States. 201 
 
 square miles, of which 2,867,185 square miles were 
 originally in the hands of the Government. 
 
 Under the liberal system, introduced under the ^ome- 
 
 *' ' stead Law. 
 
 Homestead Law, the settlement of the wide tracts still 
 unoccupied is proceeding with marvellous rapidity. 
 
 Any individual who is a citizen of the United 
 States, or has taken the initiatory steps to become a 
 citizen, can secure a grant of 160 acres of land upon 
 the mere payment of office fees, amounting to from 
 21. to 4/. To obtain a complete title, the land must 
 be cultivated for five consecutive years. Only one 
 homestead privilege is allowed to a single individual ; 
 and thus the evil effects of an excessive monopoly of 
 the soil are avoided. 
 
 The rapid extension of railways has supplied the Forpijmera 
 
 p / . ^^ in United 
 
 ready means of access to great distncts of the West, states. 
 which must otherwise have remained desert, and has 
 materially increased the tide of emigration. Already 
 the emigration from Europe has led to the formation 
 of vast communities in the United States, which pro- 
 mise to become, at no distant day, flourishing nations, 
 retaining the distinctive language, customs, and national 
 characteristics of their forefathers in the Old World. 
 There are now resident in the State of Xew York 
 ahnie 110,000 English, 530,000 Irish, and 317,000 
 Germans. The City of New York is the second largest 
 Irish and the third largest German city in the world. 
 
 In order that some appreciation may be formed of Wages. 
 the prospects of emigrants in the States, I will quote 
 from the recent report of Mr. Archibald, the British
 
 202 
 
 On Canada, and the United States. 
 
 Consul in New York, the rates of wages paid in tliat 
 State, and compare with the earnings of the labourer 
 the cost of some principal articles of food. 
 
 Let us take a few representative trades in the great 
 manufacturing industries. Weavers in cotton mills 
 earn 32^. a week, or 39 per cent, more than the corre- 
 sponding wages in England. The average excess of 
 wages paid in the cotton mills, in 1869, over the rates 
 in Great Britain was nearly 40 per cent. In woollen 
 mills, weavers earn on an average 34s. 4^. a week ; 
 and the wages of all the various classes of operatives 
 averaged 25 per cent, above the corresponding rates in 
 England. 
 
 In iron foundries and machine shops the weekly 
 wages of some of the principal trades are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Iron moulders 
 Macliinists (ordinary) 
 Boiler makers 
 Do. lielpers . 
 Riveters 
 Blacksmiths . 
 Engineers 
 Millwrisrhts . 
 
 The average excess of wages 
 
 £ s. 
 
 3 7 
 
 2 15 
 
 3 2 
 
 1 15 
 3 1 
 3 10 
 
 2 17 
 
 . 3 18 
 
 n this industry over the 
 corresponding wages in England is 86 per cent. 
 
 In agricultural industry experienced hands earn in 
 summer, without board, 95. 2d. a day, and in winter 
 6s. Ordinary hands earn in summer 7s. 5c?., and 
 in winter 4s. 4,d. The wages of able seamen, shipped 
 at the port of New York, are 6/. 12s. a month, nearly 
 double the usual rates in En^jland.
 
 On Canada and the United States. 203 
 
 The demand for good domestic servants is always 
 greater than the supply. Female cooks of very ordinary 
 skill obtain from 3/. IO5. to 5/., and housemaids from 
 54.9. to GO5 a month. 
 
 The iDurchasincr i)ower of money in New York is ^"rehas- 
 
 ^ 01 J jiig power 
 
 seriously diminished by tlie high price of labour, the of money. 
 protective tariff, and tlie large issues of inconvertible 
 paper currency. House rent, fuel, woollen clothing, 
 and medicines are 100 per cent, dearer than in England. 
 Articles of hardware are GO per cent., earthenware and 
 glass ware 20 per cent., cotton clothing, sugar, and tea 
 10 per cent, dearer. On the other hand, salt pork, a 
 description of food largely consumed by the working 
 classes, is about 25 per cent, cheaper, while beef, bread, 
 butter, and cheese average about the same in both 
 countries. The average cost of living for a skilled 
 labourer with a family exceeds by about 70 per cent, 
 that of the same class in England. 
 
 Of unskilled labourers those who fare best in 
 America are domestic servants, and they are the 
 largest depositors in the savings banks. 
 
 Mr. Archibald entertains the opinion that the diffi- 
 culties originating in the high rates of wages have been 
 successfully overcome in America in many important 
 trades. More work is got out of labourers, whether 
 skilled or unskilled, than in England. There is vastly 
 less drunkenness and waste of time. An eminent 
 American ship-builder, who has recently visited the 
 shipyards of England, has stated that oin* joiners' 
 work costs twice as much as the same work in 
 America.
 
 204 Oti Canada and the United States. 
 
 Prospects The prospect of becoming proprietors of land, the 
 
 grauts. greater social equality, the advantages of education for 
 children free of cost, and the political privileges conse- 
 quent on naturalisation, will always offer irresistible 
 attractions to large numbers of our fellow-countrymen. 
 The most energetic and skilful of their number will find 
 opportunities of advancement which do not exist at 
 home. The British Consul at Baltimore has given two 
 illustrations in point. The son of a tenant of 4 acres 
 upon the estate of a nobleman in Ireland emigrated to 
 the States in 1848. At first he worked as a labourer in 
 a foundry, but afterwards he became a gardener. In 
 1870 he transmitted to Ireland money enough to pur- 
 chase his landlord's castle ; and at the same time he 
 owned a sugar plantation on which he had spent 40,000/. 
 He had also a fine farm and a handsome town residence. 
 In another case an emigrant from a British possession, 
 who cannot write his own name, has become by steady 
 industry worth over 20,000/. He is not a penurious 
 man, but on the contrary charitable in the highest 
 degree. These cases, however, are exceptional ; and 
 those who are fairly well-off in the Old Country will 
 not find it easy to improve their condition by emi- 
 grating to America. 
 
 The best field for the emigrant is the Far West. 
 But in the new settlements in the wide solitudes of the 
 prairies many of the amenities of our advanced civili- 
 sation are necessarily wanting. 
 Social con- I uow procccd to offcr a few observations on the 
 American social Condition of the American people. The universal 
 reop e. diffusion of education is one of the happiest features of
 
 On Canada and the United States. 205 
 
 American life. Attendance at school is the universal 
 practice, and in many States has been made compulsory 
 by law. The schools at Boston, and all those connected 
 with the manufacturing establishments, which I had an 
 opportunity of visiting, are altogether admirable. The 
 buildings, the system of instruction, the teachers, all 
 are models truly worthy of imitation in England. The 
 teachers in the normal schools for girls, and in the lower 
 schools for boys and girls, were young women of sin- 
 gular grace and refinement ; and their intellectual 
 powers were abundantly manifested in the manner and 
 the matter of their teaching. The difficulty of inter- 
 mixing children of all grades of society in the same 
 school, which has been regarded wath so much appre- 
 hension by some members of the London School Board, 
 has not been felt in America. 
 
 It is doubtless to the general education of the people Education, 
 that we may attribute the failure in America of the 
 advocates of those Socialistic heresies, which find a too 
 ready acceptance in Europe. The general education 
 of the people is essential to good government in a 
 republic. In America, however, the authority of the 
 Government is but little felt by the masses of the 
 people ; and, happily, they are too intelligent to re- 
 quire either its guidance or control. 
 
 In the States the pursuit of commercial enterprise, 
 as is natural in a new country, in which there are 
 comparatively few persons who have inherited indepen- 
 dent means, absorbs the whole energies of the people. 
 Hence, while there is no ignorant class, and instruction 
 of a high order is widely diffused, the number of those
 
 206 On Canada and the United States. 
 
 who have devoted themselves to literature as a pro- 
 fession or an occupation is comparatively small. Tlie 
 want of a literary profession is most manifest in the 
 inferior quahty of the periodical literature. The news- 
 papers especially, while all the mechanical arrange- 
 ments of the establishments are admirable, are often 
 deficient both in hterary power and political wisdom. 
 It must not be inferred from these remarks that there 
 are no good newspapers and no literary culture in 
 America. Our most eminent authors are read as ex- 
 tensively as at home. The taste for reading is almost 
 universal. 
 
 In some cities, and especially in Boston, where the 
 influence of the neighbouring Harvard College has 
 been most valuable, all classes, including in an eminent 
 degree the mercantile community, are highly cultivated. 
 Perhaps no character in society is more charming than 
 the cultivated merchant, who possesses both the re- 
 finement, the knowledge, and the graceful imagination 
 of the man of letters, combined with the practical ex- 
 perience of the man of the world. This felicitous com- 
 bination is often found in Boston society. 
 
 I must not dismiss this branch of my subject with- 
 out rendering my humble but sincere tribute of praise 
 to the ladies of America. They have taste in dress, 
 personal beauty, charming manners, and high cultiva- 
 tion. The general impression, which must remain 
 with all who have mixed largely in American society, 
 must be highly favourable to our fair cousins on the 
 further shores of the Atlantic. 
 
 Nothing is more interesting to us to know, nothing
 
 On Canada and the U?iited States. 207 
 
 is so difficult to ascertain, as the real state of public Reeling in 
 
 ^ America 
 
 feeling in America towards Eno-land. In some quarters towards 
 
 ° _ °_ -1 , England. 
 
 doubtless the old jealousy exists. The Irish section 
 of the population of the United States cherish an 
 hereditary and unreasoning hostility towards England. 
 It is not agreeable to draw an indictment against a 
 nation ; but our experience of the difficulty of main- 
 taining the authority of the Government in Ireland is 
 not without its counterpart in the experience of the 
 great American Eepublic. It seems impossible to in- 
 fuse into the minds of the Irish people, even by the 
 largest concessions of political liberty, that natural love 
 of order and allegiance to their Government which are 
 essential in a free state. 
 
 While, therefore, it must not be supposed that 
 England has no enemies in America, we may confi- 
 dently believe that among the more numerous and 
 influential sections of the American people there is a 
 strong attachment to the Old Country. Time is necessary 
 to remove completely a long-standing jealousy. But 
 I have been assured by those who know America well 
 that, if England were unjustly assailed by a combina- 
 tion of the Continental Powers, a feeling of sympathy 
 would immediately be aroused in the United States, 
 and that we should find in that country a faithfid and 
 most powerful ally. The attachment to the Queen, so 
 deeply and universally felt in the United States, is a 
 proof of the many close and indissoluble ties which 
 bind the two countries together. 
 
 The reference of the ' Alabama ' claims to arbitra- 
 tion may be accepted as a happy omen for the future.
 
 208 On Canada and the United States. 
 
 Surely it gives us cause to hope that tlie benign in- 
 fluences of Christianity are beginning to exercise a 
 stronger control than heretofore over the evil passions 
 of mankind, when the two great nations of tlie Anglo- 
 Saxon race — both too professing the Protestant faith — 
 have led the way in accepting a peaceful adjudication 
 upon questions in dispute which, in a former age, would 
 not have been settled without an appeal to arms. 
 
 It is alleged that in accepting an arbitration we 
 have destroyed the prestige of our own country. I 
 differ from this opinion. I am no lawyer, but I am 
 convinced that we were in the wrong. The ' Alabama ' 
 had been constructed, not only in violation of our own 
 statute law but in defiance of the Queen's recently 
 issued ^Proclamation. It was surely inconsistent to give 
 to such a vessel a hospitable reception in our colonial 
 ports. All our diiferences being now adjusted, it is the 
 duty of every English and every American patriot to 
 exercise whatever private or public influence he may 
 possess in order to preserve an intimate alliance be- 
 tween the two countries. The United States have 
 received from us their religion, laws, language, and 
 literature. They have given in return to innumerable 
 emigrants from our shores a hospitable reception and 
 happy homes. These are mutual benefits, of which 
 the wise and thoughtful men of both nations will 
 never be unmindful.
 
 200 
 
 LECTUEE X. 
 
 WORK AND WAGES IN 1877. 
 Trades Union Congress, Leicester, October 1877. 
 
 Before I enter upon more important topics, I desire 
 to express my high appreciation of the honour of being 
 invited to address the Delegates from tlie Trades Unions 
 at their annual Congress. Connected as I am with the 
 employers of labom-, you cannot expect me to come 
 here to encourage an aggressive movement against men 
 of ray own order. All that you can ask from me is 
 that I shall hold in my hands the equal scales of justice 
 as between capital and labour. 
 
 I liave before had occasion to vindicate the character 
 of the English workman from unmerited strictures. I 
 hear the same charges renewed to-day, and again I ask 
 for evidence to prove that the English workman is 
 deteriorating ; and first, let us ask ourselves, has the 
 volume of our trade diminished while that of other 
 nations has increased ? 
 
 This question may be satisfactorily ans^vered by Progress 
 a reference to Mr. Leone Levi's History of British commerce. 
 Commerce. It is there shown that while we export 
 produce and manufactures of the value of 6/. 35. 2d. per 
 head of our population, France export's at tlie rate of 
 
 p
 
 'J 10 WorJi- awl Wa(jes in 1877. 
 
 '11. 1 8.S. 8f/., and Italy at the rate of 1/. 4.9. M. per head. 
 Our trade doubled itself in the fifteen years 1855-70. 
 The exports and imports in 1870 amounted to 
 547,000,000/., and the progress has been so well sus- 
 tained through the period of depression, from which 
 we have not yet by any means emerged, that in 1876 
 tlie total amount had grown to 631,000,000/. Mr. 
 Levi very truly observes, in commenting on these re- 
 markable figures, that what gives an o[)en market to 
 British merchandise all over the world is its universal 
 adaptation to the wants of the populations of every 
 chmate. Luxuries are useless to the masses of mankind, 
 but calico, iron, and hardwares are necessaries even to 
 the least civilised peoples. The demand for these 
 articles of universal necessity would not be supplied 
 almost exclusively from England unless our labourers 
 were, as he says, ' really good workers.' Wages may 
 be higher here than elsewhere, but the labour per- 
 formed is cheaper, from its greater effectiveness, and 
 from the saving of unnecessary supervision. 
 French Let US uow examine the effects of recent treaties of 
 
 treay. commcrcc ou international European trade. A valu- 
 able paper on this subject was read by Mr. Leoni Levi 
 in December last before the Statistical Society. Let us 
 take the trade between the United Kingdom and France 
 as an illustration. By the treaty of 1860 France en- 
 gaged to abolish all prohibitions, and to admit certain 
 articles of British manufacture at duties not exceedinor 
 30 per cent, ad valorem, to be further reduced to not 
 exceeding 25 per cent, in October, 1864. Great Britain, 
 on the other hand, consented to abolish duties on
 
 es on 
 Co) 
 tine at. 
 
 Worl' and Wage.<^ in 1877. 211 
 
 Frencli silks and other manufactured goods, and to re- 
 duce the duties on French wines. What have been the 
 results of the treaty ? It is true that our imports from 
 France have risen from 17,000,000/. to 47,000,000/., 
 but our exports to France, in spite of the heavy duties 
 to which our goods are subjected, have increased to 
 the extent of 185 per cent. 
 
 These figures show both the growth of our trade Fiucrua- 
 generally and the ample share of advantage which we wag 
 have secured under commercial treaties. That success 
 could not have been attained except by the co-operation 
 of skilful labour with well-directed capital. The Eng- 
 lish workman may, therefore, claim to share with his 
 employer the merit due to that combination of cheap- 
 ness of cost with excellence of quality, wdiich has secured 
 for us the pre-eminence we enjoy in the export trade 
 of the world. Grave faults are imputed to our working 
 classes, and their conduct in many instances deserves 
 censure. But, wdien we look abroad, we hear exactly 
 the same complaints under the same circumstances. 
 For information on the relations between labour and 
 capital in foreign countries I would refer more especially 
 to the admirable reports of our Secretaries of Legation 
 and Consids. Sir Henry Barron's report on Belgium 
 in 1872 describes the condition of that country in a 
 period of unexampled prosperity. A great rise in 
 wages had taken place, but the improvidence of the 
 people was aggravated with their prosperity, and there 
 was an actual decrease in the deposits in the savings 
 banks. Pig-iron doubled in value in six months ; but 
 the prices of labour and materials rose to such exorbi- 
 
 p 2
 
 212 Work and Wages in 1877. 
 
 tiint rates as to absorb tlie "whole profits of the trade. 
 The zinc, glass, and woollen industries have passed 
 through crises of equal severity, 
 Germany. In Germany, during the period of universal inflation 
 
 between 1871 and 1872, wages were advanced not less 
 rapidly than in England. It was a period of immense 
 profits all round. The make of iron was increased 
 from 1,500,000 tons in 1871 to 2,250,000 tons in 
 1872. In the prices of coal and pig-iron there was 
 an advance of 100 per cent. The rise of wages in all 
 branches of trade was 37 per cent, over the average of 
 former years, and the prices of all the raw materials 
 of industry were 50 per cent, higher. Unhappily, this 
 great prosperity brought about no permanent improve- 
 ment in the condition of the industrial classes. The 
 cost of living was increased to such a degree that the 
 workmen were but little better off than before, and 
 money was more freely expended in intoxicating 
 . liquors. 1 must confine myself to a single example in 
 order to show what alternations of misery and want 
 were experienced in Germany. The case is taken 
 from the report of Mr. Savile, Chief Clerk of the 
 Treasury Department of the United States, and is pub- 
 lished in a volume on Labour in Europe arid America^ 
 compiled by Mr. Young, Chief of the Bureau of 
 Statistics of the United States. Mr. Savile describes 
 how, at Chemnitz, a great manufacturing centre, the 
 advance of wages from 1870 to 1872 was accompanied 
 by a still greater advance in the cost of living. When 
 the commercial reaction ensued wages fell 25 per cent. ; 
 but there was no corresponding fall in the price of 
 food, and widespread misery was the inevitable conse-
 
 Work and Waged in 1877. 213 
 
 qiience. The meagre dietary of the people did not 
 mclude meat more than ouee a week. A few touclies 
 will sometimes produce the most striking effect in a 
 picture ; and an audience of English workmen will 
 probably appreciate most fully the low standard of 
 hving to which the people had been reduced, when it 
 is mentioned that Mr. Savile refers in hopeful terms to 
 the establishment of a market at Chemnitz for the sale 
 of horse-meat, which, being comparatively cheap, gave 
 them more for their money, or enabled them to get 
 meat oftener than formerly. 
 
 In the large towns of Germany there is a widespread 
 though morbid spirit of disafiection to the political and 
 the social organisation under which they live. The 
 Socialist agitation is described as a purely negative 
 opposition to the existing order of things, and to every 
 proposal of reform. It opposes popular education, and 
 it is indifferent to pohtical progress. The only excep- 
 tion to this negative policy is the tendency to encourage 
 strikes. 
 
 It is not necessary to insist at greater length on the 
 existence of troubles elsewhere. The burden we have 
 to bear is not lightened because a heavier load is imposed 
 on others. I shall, therefore, proceed to examine the 
 statement, which is so often repeated, that labour is 
 dearer in England than on the Continent. 
 
 It is assumed that, because the scale of wages is Belgium. 
 higher, there is a corresponding difference in the net 
 cost of production. It is certain, however, that low 
 wages do not necessarily imply cheap production. 
 The melancholy condition of certain branches of trade 
 in Belgium has been already adverted to, and yet in
 
 214 
 
 Work and lV(i(jt\'i in 1877. 
 
 American 
 competi- 
 tion. 
 
 Belgium the wages of the mill operatives have been 
 reduced so low us scarcely to cover the cost of sub- 
 sistence in cheap seasons, and to leave the workman 
 with an inevitable deficit in dear seasons. Not more 
 than 40,000 workmen in the whole country have 
 accounts at the savings banks. 
 
 Hitherto I am convinced that, in those trades where 
 we are exposed to foreign competition, the English 
 workman has, in the main, performed an amount of 
 work fully proportionate to the difference of wages in his 
 favour ; and the fact that we are running a close race 
 in some branches of trade with a country, where higher 
 wages prevail than those earned in England, is a ])roof 
 that the cost of labour is not correlative with the scale 
 of wages. 
 
 A recent return of the import duties levied on 
 articles of British produce shows conclusively that 
 foreign producers, notwithstanding the nominal cheap- 
 ness of labour abroad, are afraid of free competition 
 with our own manufacturers. The following are a few 
 figures taken from the return in question : — 
 
 Articles 
 
 Russia 
 
 Gei-many 
 
 Belgium 
 
 France 
 
 United 
 States 
 
 Cotton yarns . 
 
 Jute (canvas and sacking) 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Pig ... . 
 Bar ... . 
 Eails for Eailways . 
 
 Per cent. 
 38 
 10 
 
 17 
 50 
 
 28 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 7 
 5 
 
 free 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 7 to 19 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 5 
 5 
 
 Per cent. 
 11 to 26 
 
 27 
 
 35 
 
 35 to 50 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 75 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 42 
 67 to 100 
 46 to 83 
 
 The United States afford very striking evidence of 
 the extent to which the influence of a high rate of 
 wages on the cost of production may be neutralised 
 by superior organisation, by superior industry in the
 
 Work and Wayes in 1877. 
 
 215 
 
 worker, and by the substitution of mechanical for 
 manual labour. The small arms for the Turkish army 
 have been largely supplied from the United States. 
 The ability of tlie Americans to compete with the 
 makers in this country in the manufacture of an article, 
 in which so much labour is employed, is a very signi- 
 ficant circumstance. In cases where the raw material is 
 the largest factor in the total cost — as, for example, the 
 timber in a wooden ship — it might have been readily 
 understood that we, who have no virgin forests, should 
 have been unable to build wooden ships as cheaply as 
 they can be produced in Canada or New England. 
 But in the case of small arms there are no circumstances 
 which are specially favourable to the United States ; 
 and Mr. Stanley James, quoted by Mr. Young, cal- 
 culates the wages of mechanics in the Eastern States and 
 the large cities of America generally as 100 per cent, 
 higher than in England. 
 
 With regard to the comparative rates in the prin- Wages in 
 cipal trades in the United States, Mr. Lowthian Bell, in states. 
 his report on the iron exhibits at tlie Philadelphia 
 Exhibition, gives the following table of daily wages as 
 the result of many inquiries in 1874 : — 
 
 Trades 
 
 United States 
 
 North of 
 England 
 
 Highest 
 
 Lowest 
 
 Average 
 
 Good men 
 
 Carpenters . 
 Smiths 
 Bricklayers 
 Machinists . 
 Engiuemen 
 
 s. d. 
 
 12 3 
 
 13 2 
 18 10 
 11 3 
 
 5. d. 
 
 5 7 
 
 6 2 
 
 7 6 
 
 7 
 
 s. d. 
 
 9 
 9 5 
 12 3 
 8 3 
 6 6 
 
 s. d. 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 6 6 
 5 10 
 5 6 
 
 In America, as in England, it will be observed that
 
 216 Work caul ir(/^6'.b- in 1877. 
 
 the building trades are disproportionately paid. The 
 reason is the same in both cases : the demand is essen- 
 tially local, and wages are given, which could not be 
 sustained, if the price coidd be determined upon a 
 balance of demand and supply distributed over a wider 
 area. In all trades, which are subject in any degree 
 to the influence of foreign competition, the American 
 workmen are conscious of the necessity of working 
 hard and well, in order to keep up the high wages 
 which they are at present earning. I do not shrink 
 from telling the representatives of English labour, whom 
 I see before me, that any rules and regulations whereby 
 the native vigour of the British workman is restrained 
 must in the end prove fatal in their consequences. No 
 doubt the effects are less baneful, in a commercial 
 point of view, in the building and other trades, which 
 are not brought face to face with foreign competitors. 
 But, if improved dwelhngs are urgently needed for the 
 working classes, the unwisdom of imposing rules and 
 restrictions, tending to augment the cost of building, 
 must be pateut to all. 
 America Til CSC remarks may be enforced by a reference to 
 
 Mr. Lowthian Bell's comparison, made in 1874, of the 
 net cost of labour in the coal mines in the United States 
 and England. The American miners earned on the 
 average 9s. a day. They worked for ten hours, and 
 extracted six tons of coal. The average earnings of the 
 English miners were 5s. 2d. a day, spending about 
 seven hours in the pit and six in actual work. This 
 was equal to Is. 2d. per hour, for whicli the quantity 
 worked was al)out 11 c\\t. Miners in the United 
 
 miners.
 
 Work and lVa<je^ //i 1877. 217 
 
 States got about 13 cwt., and were jjaid thirteeu- 
 pence an hour. It is admitted that this comparison is 
 not complete, unless the relative facility of extraction is 
 taken into consideration. The work is generally easier 
 in xVmerica than in England. Still the fact remains 
 that, while the daily earnings in America were greater, 
 the hours were longer, and more work was done for a 
 given sum of money. 
 
 Provided the necessity of keeping down the cost, so Chemnitz, 
 as to be able to compete with other producers, is duly 
 recognised, and the cost of living is not raised to such 
 a point that the workmen are actually poorer than 
 before, as in the case already quoted of the manufac- 
 turing population of Chemnitz, the working classes are 
 clearly justified in seeking to better their condition. 
 If they prefer to avail themselves of the advantages 
 derived from an increased demand for their labour, by 
 shortening the hours of work, with a view to secure a 
 little more leisure — leisure which, wisely used, will tend 
 to raise their intellectual and moral condition — they 
 are not more deserving of reproach than the successful 
 employer, who wisely prefers to give less time to busi- 
 ness and more to nobler things. In either case it is 
 a question of fitness of opportunity. Most certain it is 
 that a state of apathetic resignation is a condition very 
 detrimental to the interests of capital, and truly melan- 
 choly to the labourer. In Mr. Young's volume the 
 manufacturing population of Silesia is described as 
 destitute of any aspiration to better their condition in 
 life, while the monotony of their daily toil produces an 
 inordinate longing for enjoyment. The United States •
 
 218 Work and lVa(jed in 1877. 
 
 • Consul thus describes the people of Chemnitz : ' A 
 stupid nature and dull ambition, with the inborn idea 
 that they will labour all their lives, as their fathers 
 did before them, make the working class of some por- 
 tions of Germany perpetual slaves to poverty, and the 
 day is very far off when they shall be emancipated 
 from thraldom.' It is because it is so important to 
 inspire workmen with the hope of bettering their con- 
 dition that I have always advocated the principle of 
 payment by results. My father entertained the lirmest 
 convictions on this point. I know that many trades 
 unions object to it, on the ground that payment by the 
 piece leads to overwork and bad workmanship. The 
 answer to this is, that whatever may be the particular 
 form of payment, wdiether it be by piece-work, contract, 
 gratuity for extra diligence, or percentage upon profits, 
 it is essentially necessary to give to the workman a 
 personal motive for exertion. This must come from 
 the prospect of participation in the profits which have 
 been earned by his labour. His share in those 
 profits should, of course, be proportionate to the 
 amount of labour which he has contributed. 
 
 The success of the most flourishing establishments 
 is generally due to the personal supervision of the pro- 
 prietor, and to the liberality with which the profits of the 
 business have been shared with the foremen and work- 
 men. The celebrated Mr. Krupp has been a generous 
 employer, and his success is largely due to his wise 
 liberality. 
 Rate of I need not refer to the practices of intimidation 
 
 England, and picketing. Against such offences we appeal to the
 
 Work and Wajcs in 1877, 219 
 
 law ; and I propose to coniine myself to the labour 
 question in its commercial aspects. Have you ever con- 
 sidered how extremely moderate are the rates of interest 
 on English investments ? You cannot have a mere con- 
 clusive proof of this assertion than that which is afforded 
 by an analysis of the dividends paid on railways. The 
 share and loan capital of the railways of the United 
 Kingdom forms an enormous total of 630,000,000/. 
 The average amount of dividend or interest returned 
 for 1875 is represented by the modest figure of 4*54 
 per cent. The rates of interest on preferential capital, 
 being more uniform than the dividends on ordinary 
 shares, afford the most accurate gauge of the ordinary 
 returns on English investment, which present no specu- 
 lative features. The most secure form of preference is 
 that known as debentures or debenture stock. The 
 process of converting terminable loans into debenture 
 stock has of late been going forward with rapid strides. 
 The amount increased from 67,000,000/. in 1831 to 
 123,000,000/. in 1875. In the same period the rate of 
 interest on these investments was reduced from 4-25 
 to 4-18 per cent. The fact that debentiu-e stocks, 
 bearing only 4 per cent, interest, can be issued by 
 our railway companies, at the rate of 16,000,000/. 
 a year, must be a positive proof to the working 
 classes that they are not overcharged for the use of 
 capital. 
 
 This fact might be established upon evidence of a 
 still wider and more conclusive kind than that afforded 
 by the prices of railway securities. We might refer, 
 for example, to the average Bank rate of discount.
 
 waives. 
 
 '2'20 Work and Wa^je^ in 1877. 
 
 The rate for each year smce 18G7 has been as follows : 
 2^, 21 3 ., 34, 2|, 4|, 4:f, 3|, 31, and 2| per cent. If 
 the secure profits of business had beeu greatly in excess 
 of the Bank rates, tliere would have been less money on 
 deposit, and higher rates would have beeu charged for 
 banking accommodation. 
 Demand Hcrc let uic remind you of the elementary truth in 
 
 and supply *' '' 
 
 regulate political cconomy, that it is when capital is relatively 
 abundant and labour relatively scarce that wages tend 
 to rise. Eeduce the supply of capital, and the reward 
 of labour must inevitably fall. Capital, except where 
 it is invested in the permanent form of land, or the 
 plant and appliances of a manufacturing establishment, 
 is absolutely free to flow into any channels which the 
 investor may select. It will flow abundantly into those 
 countries where, under equal conditions as regards 
 security, the highest rates of interest are obtainable. 
 There is an international competition for the use of 
 capital. The New World, which offers to the working 
 man an El Dorado of high wages, is bidding high for 
 the use of the capital accumulated in the older countries 
 of Europe. No less than 75,000 miles of railway have 
 been constructed in the United States. A very large 
 proportion of the enormous capital required has been 
 raised in Germany and the United Kingdom upon terms 
 much more favourable to the capitalist than are obtain- 
 able here. Setting aside the speculative stocks, the 
 rates of interest obtainable in the United States, as 
 compared with the United Kingdom, on a first-rate se- 
 curity, may be taken to be as six to four. Fortunately 
 for the English workman, there are some considerations
 
 Work and Wages m 1877. 221 
 
 apart from tlie rate of interest Avhich make in his 
 favour. If these did not exist, the depletion of capital 
 in this country would become a very serious question. 
 
 I have spoken of the faults of the workmen. But 
 in fairness I am bound to say that the present depres- 
 sion of trade cannot be wholly laid to their charge. If 
 we examine the recent labour movement liistorically, 
 it will be seen that in order of time the inflation of 
 trade preceded the inflation of wages. The demand 
 upon the labour market became in consequence more 
 and more urgent ; and when, by the natural operation 
 of supply and demand, the labourer had gained the 
 command of the situation, he, in many instances, 
 assumed a dictatorial tone, and gave a smaller return 
 both in quantity and quality of work for the increased 
 wages that were earned. The capitalist, however, must 
 bear his share of responsibility. 
 
 In the discussions on the state of trade and the 
 causes of the prolonged depression throughout the 
 commercial world the exorbitant price of labour is 
 continually referred to. We hear but little, on the 
 other hand, of the share of blame which rests upon the 
 capitalists, the employers of labour, and the investors 
 and lenders of money, who overstock the markets and 
 cause goods to be sold at ruinous prices, and who, by 
 encouraging speculative building, have raised the wages 
 of tradesmen to their present level. I offer no opinion 
 as to the sufficiency of the wages now paid in the 
 building trade ; I merely point out that the scale has 
 been sustained, not by the restrictive action of the trades 
 unions, but by the active employment of capital in this
 
 222 Work au(J W<ijj<^.<^ in 1877. 
 
 braiK'li of business. For the sake of brevity, it will 
 be necessary to confine ourselves almost exclusively 
 to an examination of the recent history of the iron 
 trade. 
 Iron trade In America the panic in the iron trade ben;an to 
 America, manifest its approach In 1873. Mr. Lowthian Bell tells 
 us that the ironmasters complain that the construction 
 of railways had been encouraged, in the period more 
 immediately preceding the panic, by the action of 
 Congress. Millions of acres of the public lands had 
 been given to the companies, as an inducement to make 
 railroads which were not needed. Upon this there 
 supervened a disastrous crisis. The unduly rapid exten- 
 sion of railways caused an excessive demand for rails. 
 The supply not being equal to the demand, and a heavy 
 protective tariff being imposed on imported rails, the 
 American ironmasters realised immense profits, and they 
 rapidly increased the rolling capacity of their mills to 
 an extent not warranted by the permanent prospects 
 of trade. The consumption of rails in 1872 was 
 1,530,000 tons, of which 1,000,000 tons were made in 
 America. In 1875 the capacity of the rail mills had 
 been augmented to 1,940,000 tons. In the interval, 
 however, there had been a panic in railways, and the 
 consumption of rails had been reduced to 810,000 tons. 
 The capacity of the mills, therefore, had been increased 
 to two and a half times the requirements, and a collapse 
 ensued in the iron trade, from which there is no imme- 
 diate prospect of recovery. 
 British The experiences of the American ironmasters were 
 
 iron trade. ^ 
 
 repeated in the contemporary history of the British iron
 
 W,ni' rnifl Wa^jes m 1877. 
 
 ooo. 
 
 trade, thougli tlie fluctuations were less violent. The 
 course of events is succinctly narrated in Mr. Lowthian 
 Bell's report. The increased demand for coal and iron 
 commenced in 1871. The increase amounted to 6^ 
 per cent, for coal and 22 per cent, for iron. In pig- 
 iron there was an increased production of 664,000 
 tons in 1871, and of 110,000 tons in 1872 ; the totals 
 being for 1870 — coals, 117,000,000 tons, and pig-iron, 
 6,627,000 tons. The supply was still deficient, and the 
 price of pig-iron rose to 122.s. Qd. in August, 1872. 
 In 1873 the average price of 115.9. was maintained 
 throughout the year ; yet the production, in spite of the 
 inducement to make the utmost possible quantity, fell 
 off to the extent of 175,000 tons. The difficulty of 
 obtaining fuel was the cause of the diminution. So 
 brisk was the demand that coke, which could be had 
 for 125. in 1870, rose to 4:2s. a ton in 1873. British 
 consumers were obliged to compete as purchasers of 
 fuel with foreign consumers. Meanwhile labour rose 
 at the blast furnaces 50 per cent., and the cost of pro- 
 duction was increased fully one-third. In 1874 the 
 reaction set in rapidly, and Cleveland pig-iron receded 
 from 1155. to 675. Qd. In 1875 the price fell to 545., 
 the average for the year being 6O5. ; but by this time 
 a considerable economy had been effected in the cost 
 of the manufacture, and there was a small margin of 
 profit. In 1876 there was a further reduction of wages, 
 and if the trade was nevertheless unprofitable it was 
 due to causes independent of the cost of labour. To an 
 unbiassed mind this brief retrospective narrative will 
 scarcely support the assumption that the violent dislo-
 
 224 Work- and Wage.^ in 1877. 
 
 cations wliicli luive occurred were attributable to the 
 action of the workmen. 
 
 In every country and in every hne of business tlie 
 same tendency to over-trading has been manifested. 
 There is a striking instance in the case of the steam 
 communication between Liverpool and New York. 
 New companies have been estabhshed, and the fleets of 
 the older firms have been enlarged. The construction 
 of numerous costly vessels on the banks of the Clyde, 
 vessels which experience has shown to have been super- 
 fluous, had more effect in making labour scarce, and 
 therefore dear, than all the machinations of the local 
 trades unions. 
 Joint- Again, the manufacturing industry of the country, 
 
 especially in coal and iron, has been injured by the 
 abuse of the facilities, afforded by the Joint Stock 
 Companies Acts, for the conversion of private into cor- 
 porate enterprises. Mr. Gladstone has denounced in 
 telling language the folly of investors, who deluded 
 themselves with the belief that they could expect, as 
 shareholders in a company, to reap all the profits, which 
 had before been earned by trained and experienced 
 manufacturers, who had spent their early lives in learn- 
 ing, and their maturer years in the administration, of a 
 complicated industry. In most cases the companies, 
 on taking over the business from the vendors, expended 
 large sums in additional plant and buildings. In order 
 to find employment for their enlarged establishments, 
 contracts were taken "vvith no regard to price. The 
 administration was often entrusted to directors without 
 technical or practical knowledge, who could not know 
 
 stock 
 com- 
 panies
 
 Work and Wages in 1877. 225 
 
 whether the tenders they were submitting were based 
 on sound calculatoins. 
 
 The same rashness lias been disphiyed in the Reductions 
 management of railways both in America and England. 
 You will have observed the recent remarks of Mr. 
 Sherman. It was to meet the loss consequent on an 
 imprudent lowering of rates that the men employed 
 were asked to submit to the reductions of wages, which 
 led to the recent strike and the conflicts of lamentable 
 violence which have taken place. 
 
 In England, as it was pointed out by Mr. Moon at 
 the last half-yearly meeting, the accounts of the North- 
 western Company show a lower rate of profit per 
 train-mile than in any year since 1861. What is the 
 cause ? Is the working man responsible ? No. The 
 cost of coal has been reduced by \s. ^d. a ton. In the 
 locomotive establishment there has been a saving of 
 50,000/., and it is only through the reduced prices of 
 labour and materials that the effects of over-com- 
 petition, for which the capitalists were responsible, have 
 been counteracted, and the former rates of dividend 
 maintained. 
 
 This discussion of the labour problem must be 
 brought to a close with a few general remarks on Trades 
 Unions. It has been recently said by Sir Edmund 
 Jiecket, who gives expression to views very widely 
 entertained, (1) that trades unions are a combination to 
 do less work for the given wages ; (2) that they teach 
 the fatal doctrine that it is the business of working men 
 to do no more than the least they can be paid for. 
 
 These grave charges may be true in a measure, 
 
 Q
 
 unions. 
 
 22G Work and Wayes in 1877. 
 
 but they are not the whole truth. With regard to the 
 second charge, if it be true that bad workmanship is 
 advocated by trades unions, it must at least be admitted 
 that the national reputation is still high for the pro- 
 duction of many important articles of a quality far 
 superior to tluxt obtained abroad. In textile industry 
 the quality of our woollens, prices being taken into 
 consideration, is unrivalled. In ship-building, machinery, 
 and hardware we have an admitted superiority. We 
 are practically monopolists of the unsubsidised traffic 
 through the Suez Canal. 
 Trades Tlic existcuce of tradcs unions must be accepted as 
 
 a necessary consequence of the new phases into which 
 productive industry has entered ; and the only prac- 
 tical question is, how to direct this important and ex- 
 tensive organisation into a useful channel. The working 
 classes must always be more or less in a state of un- 
 certainty as to the profits which their employers may 
 from time to time be realising. This must, however, 
 be known, in order to decide whether they have a right 
 to demand an advance of wages, or, what is the same 
 thing, a reduction in the hours of labour. The organisa- 
 tion of the trades unions may be usefully employed for 
 the purpose of obtaining reliable information from inde- 
 pendent sources, both at home and abroad. As a 
 practical suggestion, I venture to add, do not grudge 
 an ample salary to a competent adviser. 
 
 The useful action of the trades unions need not be 
 confined to the single question of wages. They may be 
 employed to organise mutual efforts for improving the 
 social condition of the working class. By their agency
 
 Work and W<uj<^s in 1877. 227 
 
 building societies may be established, co-operative dis- 
 tribution extended, and, what is far more difficult, co- 
 operative production may be organised. You may help 
 to provide rational amusements for the masses, you may 
 facilitate technical education. You have shown in the 
 present Congress that you appreciate your responsibili- 
 ties in the watchful observation of legislative measures 
 affecting the welfare of the people. You may act as 
 peace-makers in the negotiation of terms of agreement 
 between masters and men ; you may use your influence 
 in securing the observance of the conditions of a treaty, 
 or acquiescence in the decrees of courts of arbitration. 
 
 As a Member of Parliament I may claim that the 
 course of recent legislation, in so far as it affects work- 
 ing men, has been marked by a generous spirit. I 
 should like to see imprisonment for debts to the amount 
 of less than 50/. abolished, as recommended by Mr. 
 Lowe. I approve of the extension to seamen of the 
 Employers and Workmen's Act. When the Bill for 
 regulating the liability of employers for injuries to 
 their servants is again brought forward, I am sure that 
 Parliament will be considerate towards the workman, 
 I am glad to learn that the Factories and Workshops 
 Bill, which will be a prominent feature in the next 
 Session, commands your hearty approval. 
 
 Let me conclude by expressing once more my 
 gratitude for your kind invitation to be present at this 
 Congress. To possess your confidence is an honour of 
 which I am very sensible. It is one of the most 
 regrettable incidents of the organisation of industry 
 on a large scale that the personal relations between 
 
 ft 2
 
 228 Work caul ]]'ayc>s in 1877. 
 
 employers and their workmen have become less intimate 
 than before. In my own case the discontinuance of 
 my father's business has deprived me of opportunities, 
 which I should have greatly prized, of associating with 
 the working class. Many prejudices may be removed 
 by an lionest interchange of ideas, face to face, in a spirit 
 of conciliation, and with a mutual and sincere desire to 
 reach the truth and to maintain justice.
 
 221) 
 
 XL 
 
 LABOUR AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
 
 A Lecture at the Central Hall, Leicester, October, 1877. 
 
 Having discussed Trades Unionism on two previous English 
 occasions during the present Congress, I shall confine France. 
 myself this evening to otlier subjects, which may pro- 
 bably be interesting to an audience composed of tlie 
 representatives of the great trades of tlie country. I 
 need not say that I come here imbued with no pre- 
 judices against the English workman. I cannot but 
 remember that when my father went over to France, 
 as the pioneer of the business of the railway contractor 
 in that country, he owed his success, in a great measure, 
 to the superior qualities of a body of five thousand 
 English workmen who followed him to the Continent. 
 It may not be inappropriate to mention that the works 
 of the railway connecting Paris and Eouen were let 
 to the contractors in many separate contracts. Every 
 bridge, tunnel, culvert, cutting, embankment, and 
 station formed the subject of a distinct competition, 
 the English estimates being the lowest in every in- 
 stance. Though much of the work was new to them, 
 the French had had considerable experience in some 
 important branches of construction, and especially in
 
 230 
 
 Ldlioxr at Home and Abroad. 
 
 Wages in 
 France. 
 
 In 
 Eelgium. 
 
 tlie building of timber bridges across the Seine. But 
 there were other important elements of economical pro- 
 duction which were altogether new in their experience ; 
 I mean the pluck, and energy, and skill of the British 
 workmen. When those five thousand men, of whom I 
 have spoken, first commenced to excavate cuttings and 
 to pile up embankments, the French held up their 
 hands in amazement at Herculean labours which they 
 were incapable of imitating. The meagre diet of the 
 French labourers rendered them physically incapable 
 of vieing with the Englishmen. 
 
 The industrial classes in England still retain many 
 advantages, in regard to their standard of living, over 
 the operatives of continental Europe. The physical 
 condition of a large portion of the French population 
 has not materially changed during the last twenty- 
 five years. It is stated in Lord Brabazon's report that 
 there are nine million families in France, of whom 
 one million are in easy circumstances. The inhabitants 
 of towns in France constitute about two-fifths, in 
 England four-fifths of the entire population. The food 
 of the French workman is inferior to that to which 
 the Englishman is accustomed. In Eouen and many 
 other manufacturing towns the dwellings of the labour- 
 ing classes are wretched. The condition of the female 
 weavers of France is thus described by Monsieur Jules 
 Simon : ' They are miserably lodged, clothed, and fed ; 
 and with all this they are obliged to work twelve hours 
 a day.' 
 
 In Belgium, again, where wages are extremely low, 
 the working classes are as a consequence wanting in
 
 Labour at Home and Abroad. 231 
 
 strength and vigour. The employer would secure a more 
 advantageous return for tlie money expended on labour 
 if the workmen were more liberally paid. Mr. Grattan, 
 the British Consul at Antwerp, gives a melancholy 
 description of the condition of the working classes of 
 Belgium. ' The standard of wages,' he says, ' taking all 
 things into consideration, is undoubtedly insufficient to 
 satisfy the legitimate wants of the working population.' 
 The average wages of mill operatives do not exceed 
 \s. Sd. a day. ' The working days will hardly exceed 
 250 in the year ; making a maximum earning of 20/. in 
 a year, or about 8^. a week. Adding, in the case of the 
 married operative, with a wife and three children, 10c?. 
 a day, earned by some member of the family, a weekly 
 amount of 14^. will possibly be realised. The ex- 
 penses of the family, calculated at the lowest possible 
 rate, in ordinary seasons, fully absorb the earnings. 
 In dear seasons the expenditure will exceed the earn- 
 ings by at least 4^. a week. Beer, meat, and sugar 
 are not included in the dietary. Diminish the family 
 by one child, or add one-third to the wages of the 
 operative, and it still remains next to impossible to 
 make both ends meet. There are probably from ten to 
 twenty thousand working men's households in Belgium 
 in this sad position.' Tliis description sufficiently 
 proves that the wages of many trades in Belgium have 
 been reduced to the minimum required for the meagre 
 subsistence of the people. On the other hand, it is 
 certain that the industry of Belgium has not escaped 
 the depression experienced elsewhere. My conclusion 
 is, that to minimise wages is by no means the most
 
 232 Lahoiir at Iloine and Abroad. 
 
 effectual method of securing economy of production. 
 It is a cheaper and a liap})ier rule to give a fair day's 
 wages for a fair day's work. I forbear to touch upon 
 the social aspect of the subject. Tlie prosperity of 
 trade must be a thing little to be desired if it could 
 only be attained at the price of misery and destitution. 
 Cost of The last report by Captain Tyler on the railways 
 
 Kaiiways. of the British Empire throws some light on the relations 
 between wages and the cost of production in this 
 country. While there have been considerable advances 
 in the wages of all classes of workmen employed in the 
 construction of railways, the average cost per mile of 
 railway open has remained for many years approxi- 
 mately the same. It was 34,099/. in 1858, and 34,100/. 
 in 1870. The average had risen to 38,000/. in 1875 ; 
 but, as Captain Tyler remarks, the more recent rail- 
 ways have, with the exception of the Metropolitan and 
 some others, been constructed at a much lower rate of 
 cost per mile than the figure of 34,000/., which was 
 given as the average from 1858 to 1870. The inference 
 is, that the pressure of the higher price of labour has 
 stimulated in the utmost degree the contriving and 
 organising faculties of employers. More machinery 
 has been used, an ever-widening experience has sug- 
 gested more effective and economical methods of work, 
 and profits have been reduced to a minimum. 
 
 We are passing through an era of commercial 
 depression. It is said that the trade of this country 
 has been prejudicially affected by the rise in the price 
 of labour. It is however, to be observed that the 
 same reaction has occurred in countries where the
 
 Labour at Home and Abroad. 233 
 
 lowest rates of wages prevail. In the iron trade (as it iron trade, 
 is shown in the commercial history of 1876 published 
 by the Economist) the state of aflairs in Germany and 
 Belgium — countries of low wages — is most unsatisfac- 
 tory. In France the railway iron trade is dull, Creuzot 
 being described as almost deserted. In the United 
 Kingdom, though the depression has been extreme, 
 there was an increase of production m 1876 in the 
 Cleveland district and in Scotland ; and the indications 
 for the future are decidedly more hopeful. 
 
 The high price of labour has not been the sole 
 cause of commercial depression. In 1876, according 
 to the circular of Messrs. Fallows, operatives worked 
 steadily throughout the year. Colliers' wages had fallen 
 12i per cent. ; but the workmen must not forget that 
 the market value of coal had fallen at least 20 per cent. 
 
 The reduction in prices in the coal and iron trades 
 may be appreciated from the following figures : — 
 
 
 1872^3. 
 
 187&. 
 
 Common engine-coal at pit 
 
 7s. 6(Z. 
 
 2s. Gd. 
 
 Ordinary pig-iron at works 
 
 . 6Z. to 7Z. 
 
 21. 5s. to o^, 
 
 StafFordsliire bars 
 
 16L 
 
 81. 
 
 Best Bessemer rails . 
 
 . 16^. 10s. 
 
 61. 15s. 
 
 The profits derived from the inflated prices just 
 quoted gave sudden and colossal fortunes to the em- 
 ployers and unexampled wages to the workmen ; but 
 the cost of production speedily exhausted the spending 
 power of the consumers, and we see the inevitable 
 result in the number of furnaces standing idle, and in 
 the present reduction of wages. It may not be super- 
 fluous to point out that a very considerable proportion of
 
 23-1 Labour at Home and Abroad. 
 
 the profits of the employers ia the iron and coal trades 
 was applied to the sinking of new pits and the exten- 
 sion of works, which have ever since remained but 
 partly employed, the capital invested having thus been 
 wholly unproductive. Nor must it be forgotten that, 
 by the Mines Regulations Act and the Workshops Act 
 rules have been established which, while they are 
 doubtless beneficial, necessarily entail expense. It is 
 said, indeed, that the first-named Act has resulted in 
 an increase in the cost of getting coal to the extent of 
 Is. or Is. Qd. per ton. As an able writer in the Pall 
 Mall Gazette has truly remarked, the cost of these im- 
 provements must be borne by the consumer ; and the 
 restricted demand of the last three years has shown that, 
 during the period of depression, the consumer has been 
 unable to satisfy the calls that have been made upon him. 
 Over-pro- British trade has suffered at least as much from 
 
 reckless competition as from exorbitant wages. All 
 the foreign markets have been overstocked with British 
 goods. In order to encourage sales in a glutted market, 
 prices are reduced. To cover the reduction in prices, 
 manufacturers exercise their ingenuity to produce a 
 showy article of inferior quality. The reputation of 
 British goods in China has been almost ruined by the 
 use of size to give a fictitious appearance to cotton 
 goods. Sir Brooke Robertson, the British Consul at 
 Canton, in a recent report, has pointed out in the 
 most forcible language the necessity for restoring the 
 character of British industry in the East by an aban- 
 donment of these practices. 
 
 I have pointed out how the returns upon capital
 
 Labour at Iloine and Abroad. 235 
 
 liave been diminished ut least as much by rash specii- Foreign in- 
 lation as by the aggression of trades unions. The 
 contractors for loans to foreign States not entitled to 
 financial credit have worked the London Stock Ex- 
 change until the supply has at length been exhausted. 
 The misplaced confidence of tlie public has been 
 destroyed by the revelations of the Committee ap- 
 pointed to investigate the subject. A field no doubt 
 there is for the reproductive employment of the savings 
 of the Old World in the development of the resom^ces 
 of the New. Many a brave and laborious settler in the 
 Far West of North America, or in the wilds of Aus- 
 tralia, could convert to profitable use a well-timed loan 
 of 100/. from the imeraployed deposits in the custody 
 of the London bankers. But how are you to bring 
 together the lender and the borrower ? 
 
 There must be, as it has been said, more prudence Short 
 in the application of capital ; and the exaggerated 
 profits of 1871 cannot be revived. The trades unions, 
 on the other hand, must acknowledo;e that this is not 
 all. It has been proposed by the trades unions that 
 the depreciation of prices should be arrested by a limi- 
 tation of supply, and that the mill operatives should 
 work short time. Such a suggestion must be received 
 with extreme caution, lest, l^y makincj production more 
 costly, you raise the price of British goods in the 
 neutral markets to such a point that you are undersold 
 by the foreign manufacturer. Again, if, by restricting 
 its use, you prevent the money invested in costly machi- 
 nery from being reproductive, the result must be that 
 capital will be diverted from manufacturing to other
 
 230 Labour at lloine and Abroad. 
 
 bmnches of business, where a more satisfactory return 
 can be obtained. Factories, steanisliips, railways, are 
 created by the savings of the pubhc, who are perfectly 
 unfettered in tlieir choice of investments. Tliere are 
 cases in which it is the wisest course, in the interest 
 alike of capital and labour, to compensate for low profits 
 by selling a greater quantity of the commodity. In 
 other cases of overtrading, the appropriate remedy is 
 a temporary limitation of production. There are no 
 abstract rules for all the varied contingencies which 
 may arise in the industrial world. Each case must be 
 dealt with according to circumstances. It is equally 
 the duty of the workman and of his employer to watch 
 closely and continuously the course of events, with a 
 view to select a fitting opportunity for the advancement 
 of prices or the improvement of wages. Every alteration, 
 whether of prices or wages, is a question of expediency 
 and opportunity. 
 Conditions In all classes an advance of wages must be made 
 
 iinclGr 
 
 which subject to two conditions : (1) The cost of English 
 be raisST labour must not be permitted to exceed the cost of 
 foreign labour. (2) The scale of prices cannot be 
 raised beyond tlie capacity of the consumer to bear 
 them. On the other hand, if the working men offered 
 no resistance to the downward pressure, the reduction 
 would continue, until wages had been reduced to the 
 minimum required to cover the cost of subsistence. In 
 England, if the workman were to make such a sacrifice, 
 the employers would reap no substantial or lasting 
 benefit. So keen is the competition in every branch 
 of trade, that the full benefit of tlie reduced price of
 
 Labour at Home and Abroad. 2o7 
 
 labour would be given to tlie consumer. If labour 
 ■were cheaper in England than it is, the workman would 
 share with the whole body of consumers the advantages 
 of a reduction in the cost of living, which would go far 
 to compensate for the reduction of wages. 
 
 Much of the objection wliich exists in the public Cost of 
 
 '' living m 
 
 mind towards trades unions rests, as it must be con- England, 
 fessed, on the general reluctance to see any effort made 
 to raise the price of labour ; but if it be inexpedient 
 to seek for an advance of wages, all those requirements 
 or prejudices, which make the cost of living of the 
 working classes clearer in this country than on the 
 Continent, may with equal justice be condemned. The 
 British workman has a prejudice against brown bread, 
 and insists on eating white bread. If he were 
 content with brown bread, he would Hve more cheaply. 
 But what is the effect of this prejudice ? It is that the 
 British workman will prefer to labour more, and live on 
 white bread, rather than labour less, and live on brow^n 
 bread. It is needless to give further details in illustra- 
 tion. All political economists are agreed that a high 
 standard of living is an encouragement to industry, and 
 that a low standard of living tends to indolence. A de- 
 mand for higher wages is only the aspiration to a higher 
 standard of living in another form ; and, provided that 
 it be recognised that for the higher wages an equivalent 
 must be given in better work and more work, there 
 can be no abstract objection to the demand. A rise in 
 w^ages, without an equivalent increase in work per- 
 formed, is only possible where there is a margin of 
 profit available for division among the workmen. It
 
 Workmen 
 in United 
 
 238 Labour at Iloiiie and Abroad. 
 
 is, as it has been sliowu above, the business of trades 
 unions to gather materials for forming a judgment as 
 to whether such a margin exists. Wliere it does not 
 exist, and the workman knows tliat he must do more 
 work or better work in order to secure an advance of 
 wages, the aspiration for a higher standard of Hving is 
 distinctly beneficial both to capital and labour. 
 
 I pass from the abstract rules of political economy 
 states. ^Q |-|jg practical results of high wages, as exhibited in 
 the social condition of the industrial population of 
 the United States. During the period of prosperity 
 anterior to the recent collapse of- trade in the United 
 States, I am inclined to believe that the working man 
 in America, like his fellow-labourer in England, spent 
 nearly the whole of his earnings on the maintenance of 
 his family and household. If, however, his savings 
 were not appreciably greater, his standard of living 
 was much higher than that of the corresponding classes 
 in our own country. In New York the dwelhngs of 
 the workmen were often crowded to excess, and the 
 same remark is applicable to some of the towns of New 
 England ; but, for the most part, the working people 
 of the United States inhabited comfortable houses and 
 enjoyed an abundance of good food and clothing. Their 
 children enjoyed the advantage of an admirable system 
 of public elementary education. The circumstances of 
 81 workmen, including carpenters, masons, shoemakers, 
 and mill hands, were examined by the Bureau of Statis- 
 tics in the State of Massachusetts in 1874. The results 
 are given as follows : —
 
 Labour at lloine and Abroad. 
 
 239 
 
 EXPENDITURE 
 
 Rent 
 
 Fuel 
 
 Groceries 
 
 Meat and fish 
 
 Milk 
 
 Clothing, boots, and shoes 
 
 Dry goods 
 
 Religion and books 
 
 Sundries 
 
 Tota: 
 
 ^146.58 
 51.19 
 
 350.88 
 
 108.28 
 25.47 
 
 114.65 
 28.27 
 23.18 
 38.76 
 
 ^886.76 @ 4s. 2rf.— 184?. 
 
 The earnings were as follows : — 
 
 The father .... 
 The children .... 
 
 . ^619.18 
 . 310.78 
 
 
 Total 
 
 Number of rooms occupied 
 Persons in family 
 Children at school . 
 
 . ^929.96 @ 4s. 2d.- 
 
 . 5 
 . 6 
 . 2 
 
 -195?. 
 
 Five houses were reported as unpleasant in situa- 
 tion, eight were moderately, the rest well furnished, thir- 
 teen contained pianos, and three had organs. All the 
 families, save three, were ' well dressed.' Yet, with all 
 these comforts, not to say luxuries, only sixteen had 
 deposited money in savings banks. 
 
 The advantages enjoyed by the working classes in 
 the United States are, in my opinion, seriously dimin- 
 ished by the protective policy of the country. The 
 trade is confined to the home market ; and the fluctu- 
 ations must be more frequent and more violent than 
 in a country which has commercial relations with the 
 whole world. In the case of a country which has a 
 large export trade, the demand for goods, if dull in 
 one market, will probably be brisk in another. Under
 
 240 Labour at Home and Abroad. 
 
 a free-trade policy employment will accordingly be 
 more regular. No condition can be more trying to tlie 
 workin<T classes than the alternation of hiu'h waives and 
 certain employment with intervals of complete inactivity. 
 We have had much experience of this evil in England. 
 It is aggravated in America by the existence of the pro- 
 tective tariff, which makes manufactures so dear as to 
 render exportation impossible. 
 
 The depression of trade in the United States has 
 brought more suffering on the working classes in that 
 country than the English operatives have endured, 
 although I fully recognise the claims of our fellow- 
 countrymen to our sympathy. This is shown by the 
 reports received from my old friend Mr. Thomas 
 Connolly. In a letter, republished in the Economist, he 
 says that in Pennsylvania, which has a population of 3^ 
 millions, there are more people out of work than there 
 are in all England. A few indi\idual cases may be 
 quoted. A steel-roller at Distin's saw factory, who 
 came out from Sheffield at 7 dollars a day, is now 
 working, two days a week, at 3.j dollars a day. The 
 men on the Delaware and Western Eailroad had to 
 submit to three reductions in 1876, wliich brought 
 down the wages of good workmen to 4s. 10<i. a day. 
 The only emigrants who are now required in the 
 United States are agricultural labourers, and men who 
 can buy land and settle on it. 
 
 The most serious difficulties of the w^orking classes 
 in England arise from : — 
 
 I. Overcrowding in our densely peopled cities. 
 
 II. An excessive supply of labour in certain industries.
 
 Labour at Home and Abroad. 241 
 
 The gifted author of The New Republic has de- 
 scribed ill feehng terms the unlovely conditions in 
 which the dwellers in great cities are in too many cases 
 compelled to exist. ' Consider,' he asks, ' how the 
 human eye delights in form and colour, and the ear is 
 tempered to harmonious sounds ; and then think for a 
 moment of a London street — think of the shapeless 
 houses, the forest of ghastly chimney pots ! ' 
 
 I venture to hope that the Industrial Dwellings Act 
 carried through Parliament by the Home Secretary, at 
 the instance of my friend and colleague, Sir Ughtred 
 J. Kay- Shuttle worth, will fulfil the expectations of its 
 promoters ; although the difficulty of accomplishing 
 the work on an extensive scale is great. 
 
 I cannot bring these remarks to a conclusion 
 without expressing my deep satisfaction that there are 
 so many men and women, some young in years and 
 great favourites in high society, with every temptation 
 to live a life of pleasure, who devote night after night 
 to the organisation of workmen's clubs, to the further- 
 ance of the co-operative movement, and who are 
 earnest advocates of your cause, in classes of society 
 which have no practical knowledge of your aims and 
 objects or of your condition of life. I tread, I know, 
 on delicate ground in suggesting to the audience, whom 
 it is now my privilege to address, that in every state of 
 life — at least, in every state in which man can earn an 
 independent livelihood — there are special consolations, 
 and that certainly the wealthy have no monopoly of 
 happiness. It is, however, the universal conclusion of 
 all philosophy and experience, of men of every age 
 
 K
 
 242 Labour at IJoine and Abroad. 
 
 and in every station, that happiness is not confined to 
 the narrow circle of those who possess all the material 
 elements of human felicity. 
 
 Order is Heaven's first law ; and this confess'd, 
 Some are and must be greater tlian the rest, 
 More rich, more wise ; but Avho infers from hence, 
 That such are happier, shocks all common sense. 
 
 Condition, circumstance, is not the thing, 
 Bliss is the same in subject or in king ; 
 In who obtained defence, or who defends. 
 In him who is, or him who finds a friend. 
 
 The vindication of the rights of property, and the 
 scientific explanation of the causes of the accumulation 
 of wealth in some fortunate individuals, are themes 
 which I cannot now discuss. It is enough to say, that 
 to the wise man riches are a weighty responsibility, 
 and to the weak man a sore temptation. Wliile 
 the follies of the one are contemptible, the anxieties 
 of the other may sometimes deserve the sympathy 
 of the independent artisan. Far as they are apart, 
 the various classes of society depend on one another. 
 In their union consists our national strength and in- 
 dividual happiness. It was to promote that union that 
 I came among you, and I go away with many grateful 
 memories of my visit to Leicester.
 
 243 
 
 XII. 
 
 ON THE COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF 
 ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LABOUR. 
 
 Lecture deliveked at Hawkstone Hall, Westminster Bridge 
 Road, January 21, 1878. 
 
 At tlie present time trade is dull in almost every 
 department, and merchants, manufacturers and the 
 pubhc, disheartened by a long period of depression, 
 are oppressed with a vague dread of foreign compe- 
 tition. It is asserted that the English workman has 
 become relatively more idle, and less skilled, and that 
 the cost of production has become so great that our 
 goods are being displaced by the exportations of rival 
 manufacturers abroad. Admitting that labour in this 
 country has certainly become dearer and probably less 
 efficient than before, and that it is the duty of the 
 working classes and their advisers to grapple with the 
 difficulties of the situation by practising thrift, and by 
 working better, I think it right to point out that the 
 same complaints which are rife in our own country at 
 the present time are heard in every great seat of 
 manufacturing industry abroad. 
 
 While, however, the depression in the trade of Fail in 
 other countries has been even more marked than that 
 experienced in this country, the fact remains that there 
 has been a decline in the markets for the chief com-
 
 244 Oil the Conqjdrative Efficiency of 
 
 modities of our export trade, wliich is described in a 
 recent number of the Economist as stead}^ continuous, 
 and serious. The piice of pig-iron has fallen from 805. 
 a ton in 1874 to 5l5. Qd. at the close of December, 
 1877. The price of coal is IS.s-. Gc/. as compared Avith 
 30,9. a ton at the end of 1874 ; of copper, 6G/. as 
 against 83/. IO5. a ton, and tin, ^()l. as compared with 
 94/. per ton three years ago. There has been a corre- 
 spoudhig fall in the prices of textile fabrics. Such a 
 state of things is calculated to awaken gloomy fore- 
 bodings for the future prosperity of our country, in 
 which so large a proportion of the population is depen- 
 dent on manufacturing industry. But we are not alone 
 in our misfortunes. The iron trade is in a state 
 of unprecedented depression in France and Belgium. 
 In Germany it is described by Dr. Leo de Leeuw, the 
 eminent statistician, as one of the most prostrate indus- 
 tries of the Empire. 
 Recent It has been represented that the falling off in our 
 
 advance of • -, -, 
 
 wages on u'ou trade has been caused by the inflation of prices, 
 
 the Con- ^ .^. ., ^ • n 
 
 tinent. and that that mffation is due chiefly to the rise of 
 wages. If we have suffered from this cause in Eng- 
 land, the same difficulty has presented itself on the 
 Continent. The Zeitschrift fur Schweitzerische Staiistik 
 has lately published some very valuable papers by Dr. 
 de Leeuw, the following extracts from which have re- 
 cently appeared in the Times : ' In Germany between 
 1867 and 1872, the wages of file-smiths were advanced 
 from 60 to 100 per cent. ; file cutters got advances in 
 the same period equal to 90 per cent., in some in- 
 stances even more ; and the pay of workers in other
 
 Eiiijlish and Forciyn Labour. 2i5 
 
 trades was augmented by from 25 to 50 per cent. Yet, 
 according to the unvarying testimony of the employers, 
 the actual wages earned in 1872 and subsequent years 
 were scarcely in excess of the wages earned before 1867. 
 The workmen took the difference in idleness and dissi- 
 pation ; in most establishments it became the rule to close 
 from Saturday night till Tuesday morning, and it was 
 only on Wednesdays that work was fairly resumed.' 
 
 Let us examine the condition of the textile indus- Textile 
 
 . ■^ • n • rrn r" ii- a' ' industries. 
 
 tries from a similar point or view. Ihe tailing on in 
 the exportations has led to numerous and doubtless 
 inevitable reductions in tlie wages of tlie operatives. 
 These reductions have been resisted, and the obstinate 
 resistance of the working people has been severely con- 
 demned. It has been said that the influence of the 
 trades unions threatens us with a permanent depres- 
 sion of our trade, and that our spinners and weavers 
 no longer execute their task as well or as cheaply as 
 the operatives of other countries. The Board of Trade 
 returns, however, do not show any diminution in the 
 exports of cotton, hnen, or woollen goods during the 
 past year. There is stagnation in trade, but no falling 
 away in the aggregate value of our exports. Are the 
 industries of other countries in an equally strong posi- . 
 tion? I think not. In France, the exports in 1876 France. 
 showed a decrease in value of 12,000,000/., when 
 compared with those of 1875 ; and this falling off 
 constitutes, as it is scarcely necessary to point out, a 
 larger percentage on the export trade of France than 
 on the export trade from England. The total exports 
 of British produce only, in 1875, were valued at
 
 246 On the Cunipdratlce l\()icieucy of 
 
 223,405,000/. Tlie total ex]K)rts from France were 
 154,905,000/. in 1875, and 142,795,000/. in 18TG. 
 Mr. lied- Sonic niost interesting facts, as bearing on the coni- 
 
 repoi-t. parative efficiency of En^jlisli and foreign labour in tlie 
 textile industries, are given in the last report of Mr. 
 Eedgrave, the Inspector of Factories. The number of 
 spindles for each person employed in the cotton fac- 
 tories was 78 in the United Kingdom, and only 60 in 
 France. The proportion of adult males employed in the 
 cotton factories of the United Kingdom is 40, and in 
 France 50 per cent, of the total number of operatives. 
 ^ii*- The report of Mr. Baker, the colleague of Mr. Eed^-rave, 
 
 Baker's . ^ ' ^ . . 
 
 report, contaius extracts from the 'Annual Eeview of the 
 Cotton Trade' for the season 1875-76, published by 
 Messrs. Ellison & Company, of Liverpool, which oug]it 
 to be reassuring to those who take a too melancholy 
 view of our commercial prospects. ' Oddly enough,' 
 observes Mr. Baker, 'while om- manufacturers have 
 complained so heavily of foreign competition, and have 
 resorted to various means to produce goods at cheaper 
 rates, the manufacturers abroad have been complaining 
 of English competition in the strongest terms.' Complaints 
 of the competition of cheap Manchester goods, offered 
 at prices never known before, are heard m Sweden and 
 Norway, Prussia, Saxony, Baden, Wiirtemberg, Alsace, 
 Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Ital3\ In 
 Baden it is reported that trade is expected to improve 
 ' when politics are more settled, for then Manchester 
 may find an outlet for her goods elsewhere.' In 
 Switzerland, where the thrift and good conduct of the 
 operatives have been so highly commended, the com-
 
 Englidh and Foreiijii Labour. 247 
 
 petition of English yarns and goods is spoken of as 
 'ruinous not only in the home market but in foreign 
 coinitries to which Swiss goods are exported.' In 
 Belgium, that land of low wages and a low standard of 
 living among the operatives, sales are said to have been 
 less easily made in consequence ' of the competition of 
 English goods offered at low prices.' Here, too, 
 mannfacturers look forward to the settlement of the 
 Eastern Question, and the diversion of Manchester 
 goods, which it is expected will follow that event. In 
 France, a really satisfactory trade is considered impos- 
 sible nntil the pressure of English competition is relaxed. 
 
 The Times correspondent, from whom I have already statistics 
 
 Collected 
 
 quoted, gives the following extract, which abundantly by Ur. Leo 
 confirms Mr. Baker's encouraging view of the capabili- 
 ties of British industry : ' One of Dr. Leo de Leeuw's 
 most striking comparisons is that between an English 
 and a German cotton factory, the former situated in 
 Lancashire, the latter in Saxony. The English concern 
 is one of 63,900 spindles, the Saxon establishment 
 contains 22,000. In the larger factory 202 workpeople 
 are employed, at a total wage outlay per week of 
 ]7G/. The 130 employes of the smaller mill earn 80/. a 
 week. Thus, while the average earnings of the Saxon 
 operatives were not more than ll^. l^d. per week, their 
 English fellows, including of course women and children, 
 earned IG5. \^d. each, a difference of more than 40 
 per cent. ; and the week of the English factory hand, be 
 it remembered, is many hours shorter than that of the 
 German Arheiter. But the English establishment is 
 nearly three times the size of the Saxon, and while the
 
 248 On the Comparative Efficiency of 
 
 former is worked with 3"1 employes to every tliousaiid 
 spindles, tlie latter requires 5'9'J to every thousand 
 spindles, nearly twice as many. To put the matter iu 
 another shape, if both factories were of the same size, 
 each containing 64,000 spindles, the annual disburse- 
 ments of the German concern in wages would amount 
 to 12,000/. against 8,800/. for the English establishment 
 — a saving in favour of the latter at the rate of 3,200/. 
 a year. If this comparison were carried further, it 
 would doubtless show, in other respects, to the disad- 
 vantage of the Saxon cotton-spinning ; for if it costs 
 more to build houses in Germany than in England, it also 
 costs more to build mills, and increased rents must tell 
 as heavily on the manufacturer as the householder. 
 With these facts before us, we need not be surprised to 
 learn the further fact, that cotton-spinning in Saxony is 
 fast becoming an extinct trade. It must not be sup- 
 posed that wages in Germany and Switzerland are still 
 as high, labour still as inefficient, as they were for some 
 time after the war of 1870-71. The bitter sufferings 
 of the last two or three years have taught some usefid 
 lessons. Capitalists are less reckless, workmen more 
 moderate, than they once were ; but the cost of living 
 is as yet not greatly diminished, and house rent yields 
 with exceeding slowness to the pressure of the times. 
 Millowners and merchants continue to curtail their 
 operations.' 
 Hostile The apprehension with which British competition is 
 
 tfiriffs IVTr 
 
 Fawcetfs regarded is clearly indicated in the protective policy 
 
 ^® "^"' which every manufacturing country still maintains. 
 
 From the return obtained last session by Mr. Fawcett, I
 
 English and Foreign Labour. 
 
 249 
 
 quote a few figures to show the obstacles which British 
 industry has to siu'mount. The tariff in the subjoined 
 table is calculated in percentages ad valorem : — 
 
 
 
 COUN 
 
 TRIES 
 
 
 Articles 
 
 
 
 
 
 Eussia 
 
 Germany 
 
 Belgium 
 
 United States 
 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Cotton Yarns 
 
 38 
 
 7 
 
 7 to 19 
 
 75 
 
 Linen „ 
 
 35 
 
 u 
 
 Free 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 Woollen „ 
 
 13 
 
 i 
 
 2 to 4 
 
 85 
 
 Iron — 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bar 
 
 50 
 
 Free 
 
 5 
 
 i^7 to 100 
 
 Pig 
 
 28 
 
 Free 
 
 5 
 
 46 to 83 
 
 When we examine the relative proportions in which 
 English and foreign productions are exchanged in 
 these countries, we shall see no reason to justify the 
 hostile tariff which is maintained against our importa- 
 tions. It is in the neutral markets offered by the non- 
 manufacturing countries, where our producers, trained in 
 the bracing air of keen competition, compete so success- 
 fully with the artificially reared industries of other coun- 
 tries, that the advantages of our free-trade system are 
 most conclusively displayed. 
 
 The barrier of hostile tariffs must be taken as a clear 
 indication that the capabilities of English industry are 
 appreciated much more highly by those with whom we 
 compete abroad than by the pessimist critics at home. 
 Small importations of goods of a special type or quality 
 lead to a cry of alarm, as if our home market had been 
 monopolised by the dreaded foreigner. The people who 
 think these things seem to have no conception of the 
 immense superiority of English industry, in point of
 
 250 On the CoiftjMirdtire J^/Jiciency of 
 
 extent, over that of every other competing country. 
 Textile in- Consider, for a moment, the relative ])osition of our 
 
 dustrics 
 
 compurod. tcxtilc industry. In Enghuid the number of spindles 
 at the end of 1874 was 39,000,000. The correspond- 
 ing figures were — for Germany, 5,000,000 ; Austriti, 
 1,500,000; Switzerland, 2,900,000; Belgium, 800,000; 
 and France, 5,000,000. 
 
 In an article on foreign competition which has lately 
 appeared in the Times, it is clearly shown how difficult 
 it woidd be for foreign competitors to displace lis to any 
 material extent. A capital of several hundred millions 
 must be sunk in producing annually the 140,000,000/. 
 of goods exported from this country. But even 
 100,000, 000/f. would not be easily found in the whole 
 civilised world, outside of England, for the erection of 
 new works to compete with our manufacturers. It 
 would take years to accumulate the amount of capital 
 necessary for such a purpose. 
 
 Again, the displacement of labour would not be less 
 difficult. Highly trained operatives are not made in a 
 day, and there is no redundant supply of mechanical 
 labour at the present moment in other countries. 
 Again, the complexity, variety, and minute subdivision 
 which are necessary in manufacturing enterprise on a 
 large scale, give to England a conspicuous advantage. 
 Our country is a vast workshop, fitted with the most 
 complete appliances of every sort. 
 shi?*"^^ The recent strike among the shipwrights on the 
 
 Wrights on Clyde is one of the most regrettable incidents in the 
 
 the Clyde. "^ ^ _ _ 
 
 labour movement of the past year. Ship-building has 
 been a most progressive and distinctively national fea-
 
 Enyllsh and Fore'ujii Labour, 251 
 
 tiirc ill the modern industry of our country, and on the 
 banks of the Clyde it has been carried to the highest 
 degree of perfection. The finest ships for war and 
 commerce, which are to be found in the fleets of our 
 maritime rivals, have been built on the Clyde. During 
 the past year there has been a serious falling off in the 
 amount of tonnage built. The fluctuations in the ship- 
 building on the CI . de have been recently detailed in 
 Engineering. ' The amount of shipping launched 
 during 1877 was the lowest that has been recorded 
 during the last ten years, in all 228 vessels, of an aggre- 
 gate of about 168,000 tons; whereas in the year 1868 
 the total tonnage launched amounted to about 170,000 
 tons. From that year onwards there was a somewhat 
 steady rise each year, until we come to 1874, when the 
 largest total ever yet reached was launched, namely, 
 266,800 tons. The falling ofi", as compared with the 
 launches in 1876, is nearly 37,000 tons, and fully 
 60,000 tons as compared with the year 1875, while it 
 is nearly 100,000 tons as compared with the turnout 
 in 1874, a sort of annus mirahilis in the Clyde sliip- 
 building industry.' 
 
 Strange to relate, it was at a time of such unprece- 
 dented depression that the ship-wrights made a demand 
 for an advance of wages. Their request was refused, 
 and they went out on strike. All the other trades 
 connected with ship-building followed their example. 
 No less than 10,500 men were, in consequence, thrown 
 out of work. The loss in wages amounted to 150,000/. ; 
 while the loss to the employers has been estimated at 
 300,000/. Eventually the dispute was referred to
 
 252 On the Coinpai'iitivc J'JjJlcie/wij of 
 
 arbitration. In this case the workmen were clearly in 
 error. The yards were f iili of orders, but the contracts 
 had been taken at low prices. Shipowners had been 
 tempted to lay down new ships only by the low prices 
 at which they could be built. Profits had been 
 reduced to a minimum. In numerous instances a 
 loss would have been sustained, even if wages had 
 remained at the rates current when the contracts were 
 taken. It is not true, however, to say that the mis- 
 conduct of the shipwrights is the only cause of the 
 depression in ship-building. Neither has the business of 
 ship-building been transferred from our own to other 
 countries. The construction of iron steamers, which 
 has languished in this country, has been almost entirely 
 suspended abroad. In point of fact, the amount of 
 ship-building has for some years been in excess of the 
 demand in the carrying trade. Several large companies 
 have pursued a reckless course in adding too readily to 
 their tonnage. Hence, even if the workmen had dis- 
 played a more reasonable and tractable spirit, the 
 ship-building trade must have been comparatively un- 
 profitable and inactive. 
 
 The suffering due to the general depression of the 
 ship-building trade was, nevertheless, needlessly aggra- 
 vated by the strike. The remonstrances addressed by 
 the writer of the article in the Economist of December 
 29, to the operatives in the textile industries, may be 
 addressed with equal justice to those employed in ship- 
 building and all other branches of industry under the 
 like conditions. 
 
 The operatives know that there is a stagnation of
 
 Ewilisli and Forehjn Labour. 25. j 
 
 trade. They know that tlie immediate consequence of 
 a diminished demand is a reduction of prices, and that 
 wlien prices fall a fall in wages must ultimately follow. 
 To prevent the depreciation in prices they advocate a 
 diminution of production. They say, 'Let us work 
 short time and keep wages at the old rate.' Assuming 
 that an excess of tonnage had been built, the ship- 
 wrights on the Clyde miglit have argued that it was for 
 the interest of all concerned to suspend for a time 
 the construction of new ships. But this remedy, as the 
 Economist points out, is costly in the extreme. In the 
 cotton trade, where the average earnings of a ftxmily of 
 operatives are GO*', per week, a reduction of one-third 
 of the time involves a loss of at least 18.s. a week. 
 Yet this solution is preferred to a reduction of 10 per 
 cent., or 65. per week, as proposed by the masters. It 
 is fiu-ther to be observ^ed that as it has been by cheap- 
 ness of production that England has attained such a 
 decided pre-eminence in the export trade, so it is by 
 that further economy of production, which might be 
 effected by a temporary reduction of wages, that our 
 power of competition would be most securely main- 
 tained, and new markets opened out. 
 
 Let us apply these general principles to the par- 
 ticular industry of ship-building. We are engaged in 
 a close competition in the carrying trade by sea, for 
 all the less valuable descriptions of goods, w^ith the 
 mercantile marine of JSTorthern Europe. By availing 
 tliemselves of an interval of depression to build sailing 
 ships and steamers at an exceptionally low rate, our 
 shipowners might have created a considerable tomiage
 
 254 On the Compardiice EJlcienci/ of 
 
 witli a smaller capital than before. With cheaper 
 shijis they could afibrd to accept lower rates of 
 freight, and could thus compete Avith the foreigners 
 in bi"anches of the carrying trade, from which they 
 have hitherto been excluded. First-class sailing ships 
 can now be built at from 12/. 10.9. to 13/. a ton, with 
 a full outfit ; while cargo steamers, with compound 
 engines, can be built at from 15/. to 17/. per gi'oss 
 register ton. The present time, therefore, presents an 
 opportunity to capitalists who can afford to await the 
 turn of the tide ; and orders will be given because 
 prices are low. Is it not more advantageous for the 
 workmen to accept employment at reduced rates 
 rather than to remain idle, or partially idle, during 
 an interval which may, perhaps, be of considerable 
 duration ? If the men insist on the wages they were 
 earning in the highly prosperous period of inflation 
 through which we have lately passed, their employers 
 can make no reduction on the former prices for ships ; 
 and at those prices it is quite certain that at the present 
 time only a few ships, for certain special trades, would 
 be constructed. 
 
 While I have endeavoured to remove needless 
 apprehensions for our industrial future, I am far from 
 saying that no errors have been committed by masters 
 and men. There are many delusions which the sharp 
 lessons of adversity may tend to dissipate. ' The present 
 bad times,' as the Economist has truly said, ' are their 
 own most permanent and certain cure.' 
 Kaiiway In this poiut of view, perhaps nothing can be more 
 
 riots in . . . . „ , 
 
 America, mstructive than an examination or the state oi the
 
 English and Foreig^i Labour. 
 
 255 
 
 labour market in the United States. It has been ably 
 described by Mr. Pliinkett in his recent report on the 
 railway riots in America. In that country there has 
 been an universal indulgence in the extravagance of 
 living which has been so justly and so severely criti- 
 cised in England. Every household, from the top to 
 the bottom of the social ladder, has been more or less 
 recklessly managed. While the prices of almost all Cost of 
 kinds of food have been no higher than in England, it the United 
 was considered in America that 24,9. a week were the 
 lowest possible wages for which a labourer could 
 support himself and his ftimily. It was an inevitable 
 result of this extreme dearness of labour that all 
 articles in the production of which labour was an 
 important factor were extremely costly. Take, for 
 example, the two important items of fuel and house 
 rent. A comparative statement, from Dr. Young's 
 ' Labour in Europe and America,' gives the following 
 ficfures : — 
 
 
 Germany 
 
 United 
 Kingdom 
 
 New 
 England 
 
 Middle 
 States 
 
 Western 
 
 States 
 
 Coal, ton 
 
 Four-roomed tenements . 
 
 Six 
 
 D. c. 
 6 70 
 5 90 
 9 90 
 
 D. c. 
 
 3 48 
 
 4 14 
 
 5 97 
 
 D. C. 
 
 8 95 
 5 85 
 
 7 45 
 
 D. C. 
 
 5 43 
 10 22 
 14 52 
 
 D. C. 
 
 6 30 
 
 9 12 
 
 16 90 
 
 Mr. Minot, the author of a paper on Local Taxa- Personal 
 tion, read before the recent American Social Science gance. 
 Convention at Saratoga, attributes the increase of 
 personal extravagance to the Legal Tender Act. It 
 was decreed that a piece of paper, on which the 
 Government has inscribed a promise to pay, should be 
 accc]:)ted as a dollar. The wliole countrj^ acquiesced
 
 25G On the Comparative Efficiency of 
 
 in the fiction. Everybody who had a gold or silver 
 dollar soon found that he had two dollars for the one 
 in pa[)er ; and everybody computed his property as 
 having at least double the value, and began to Hve 
 accordingly. 
 
 Since 1873, however, a change has come upon the 
 spirit of this dream ; and, with a quickness of appre- 
 hension which could hardly have been displayed in an 
 old country, the American people are adapting them- 
 selves to the altered situation. 'Incomes, wages, and 
 expenses,' to use the language of Mr. Wells, ' are 
 being scaled down.' Profits are reduced. The rate 
 of interest on capital has fallen. The future prosperity 
 of industry, we are told, is to depend more upon 
 economy than upon large profits. The American 
 labourer has to make up his mind that he will not be 
 so much better off than the Eiuropeau labourer. It will 
 be harder for him to cease to be a labourer, and to 
 become an employer of labour. 
 
 Details as to the fall of wages are given by Mr. 
 Plunkett, from several sources. At Cincinnati, in 
 Ohio, in 1872, the rate paid to the common labourer 
 was one dollar 50 cents, or six shillings per day. The 
 present rate is one dollar a day. This gives a reduc- 
 tion of 33 J per cent. The reduction in the wages of 
 mechanics has been about equal to that in the wages 
 for unskilled labour. Turning to the cost of living, 
 the reduction has been fully proportionate to the 
 difference in wages. Since 1872, coal has fallen 50 
 per cent., house furnishing goods have declined in 
 value fully 40 per cent., furniture 35 per cent., glass-
 
 English and Foreign Labour. 257 
 
 ware 35 per cent., cutlery 25 per ceut., and crockery 
 20 per cent. Table expenses having remained the 
 same, the reduction in the cost of living in the last 
 five years is not less than 30 per cent. Hence, \vith 
 wages reduced only about 35 per cent., the working 
 men who are fully employed are not severe sufferers. 
 
 The leaders of our Trades Unions, who too often 
 commit themselves, in unprosperous times, to a 
 stubborn resistance to a reduction of wages, may 
 study the?e figures with much advantage. They 
 will see that the maintenance of high rates of wages 
 all round is not an unmixed benefit to the people at 
 home, while it must certainly affect, prejudicially, our 
 power of competition abroad. A general advance of 
 wages means a general rise of prices ; and it is obvious 
 that if that advance of prices be such that the increase 
 in the cost of living up to a given standard absorbs 
 the increase in wages, the rise of wages has conferred 
 no practical benefit on the workmen. Conversely, the 
 fall in wages may be fully compensated, as in America, 
 by a proportionate reduction in the cost of living. 
 
 Mr. Archibald, our Consul-General in New York, 
 gives some tables which show the fall that has taken 
 place in wages in every State of the American Union : — ■ 
 
 The percentage of reduction of railroad wages from 1873 
 to 1877 on seven different lines was as follows : — 
 
 
 Percentage of Eeduction 
 
 Average 
 
 Conductors 
 
 20 
 
 46 18^ ... 22 28 
 
 8 
 
 24 
 
 Brakemen . 
 
 19 
 
 38 23 14^ 20 26 
 
 
 23 
 
 Firemen 
 
 91 
 
 25 12 ... 41 31 
 
 9^ 
 
 21 
 
 Switchmen 
 
 23 
 
 23^ 33^ 19 33^ 26 
 
 12 
 
 23 
 
 Trackmen . 
 
 48 
 
 40 33^ 33^ 44 30 
 
 
 37
 
 258 
 
 i>n the Coniparative Efficiency of 
 
 The percentage of reduction for other classes of labour is 
 shown in the following statements : — 
 
 BuUding Trades. 
 
 
 Daily Wages 
 
 
 Per cent, of 
 Decrease 
 
 
 1873 
 
 1877 
 
 
 
 D. C. 
 
 D. C. 
 
 
 Masons .... 
 
 4 00 
 
 2 60 
 
 37i 
 
 Masons' labourers 
 
 2 50 
 
 1 50 
 
 40 
 
 Plasterers . . . 
 
 5 00 
 
 2 50 
 
 50 
 
 Carpenters . 
 
 3 50 
 
 2 50 
 
 28i 
 
 Common labourers 
 
 Id. 75c. to 2d. 00c. 
 
 1 25 
 
 28i to 37i 
 
 Contractors' Men. 
 
 
 1873 
 
 1877 
 
 Percent, of 
 Decrease 
 
 
 D. C. 
 
 D. C. 
 
 D. C. D. C. 
 
 
 Stone Masons on rail- 
 
 
 
 
 
 road work .... 
 
 3 00 
 
 to 3 50 
 
 150to2 00 
 
 50&43 
 
 Stone Cutters 
 
 4 50 
 
 5 00 
 
 ... 2 50 
 
 44 50 
 
 Carpenters on railroad 
 
 
 
 
 
 work 
 
 2 50 
 
 3 00 
 
 ... 1 25 
 
 50 59 
 
 Blacksmiths (excep- 
 
 
 
 
 
 tionally skilful) . . 
 
 
 4 50 
 
 ... 2 50 
 
 ... 44 
 
 Blacksmiths, ordinary- 
 
 
 3 00 
 
 ... 150 
 
 ... 50 
 
 Blacksmiths' helpers . 
 
 
 2 00 
 
 ... 1 00 
 
 ... 501 
 
 Tracklayers .... 
 
 
 2 00 
 
 1 12 1 25 
 
 44 37 
 
 Engineers, steam shovel 
 
 
 
 
 
 (per month) . . 
 
 118 00 
 
 125 00 
 
 ... 60 00 
 
 48 52 
 
 Firemen, steam shovel 
 
 
 
 
 
 (per day) .... 
 
 
 2 50 
 
 ... 1 50 
 
 ... 40 
 
 Summary. 
 Railroad wages — 
 
 The average percentage of reduction varied from 21 per 
 cent, for firemen to 37 per cent, for trackmen. 
 Building trades w^ages — 
 
 The average percentage of decrease varied from 28^ per 
 cent, to 50 per cent.
 
 English and Foreign Labour. 259 
 
 For other classes of labour, as specified — 
 
 The average reduction was nearly twice as great as the 
 average railroad reductions. 
 
 In the oil refineries and yards about New York, where 
 a great many men of different trades are employed, 
 including coopers, ship carpenters, house carpenters, and 
 machinists, the reductions of wages since 1873 have 
 been abont 25 per cent. 
 
 These figures should convey a most instructive 
 lesson to our working people. I have on many occa- 
 sions shown that the cost of ]:)rocluction cannot be 
 determined by the nominal rate of daily wages ; and I 
 have never been alarmed for the future of the indus- 
 try of the United Kingdom, simply because wages on 
 the Continent of Europe were so much lower than in 
 this country. I have been much more impressed with 
 the capabilities of the manufacturers of the United 
 States. In America labour has, until a recent period, 
 commanded the highest rates of wages. The scarcity 
 and the cost of labour have stimulated to the utmost 
 the ingenuity of our intelligent and enterprising kins- 
 men across the Atlantic, who have all tlie qualities of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race and a boundless field for their 
 development. Labour-saving machinery and mechanical 
 skill generally have thus been brought to great perfec- 
 tion. With high wages, and all the obstacles to trade 
 which an extreme protectionist system presented, the 
 cost of many articles has been brought down to a level, 
 which has enabled American manufacturers to compete 
 successfully with our own producers. I will give a 
 striking case as an illustration. It might have been 
 supposed that the rifles required for the Turkish armies
 
 260 On the Comparative Efficiency of 
 
 would liave been made by tlie comparatively cheap 
 labour of Liege or Birmingham. That, however, has 
 not been tlie case. A contract for rifles, amounting 
 to 17,000,000 dollars, the largest single contract ever 
 taken in America from a foreign nation, was given to 
 the Providence Tool Company by the Turkish Govern- 
 ment. The Tool Company were three years in pre- 
 paring to begin the work upon the contract, and now 
 employ 2,500 men, who turn out 200,000 Martini- 
 Henry rifles per year, or 600 finished rifles in a day. 
 ' One of the side businesses of magnitude' — to quote 
 from the Polytechnic Review — ' which have grown 
 principally out of this contract is that of the Excelsior 
 Box Company of Providence, which is busy making 
 10,000 boxes per year for the Tool Company, in which 
 to ship their guns to Turkey. The machinery for the 
 manufacture of these boxes was perfected by an inven- 
 tion for the purpose. The Company have still two 
 years in which to complete the number of these boxes 
 that they contracted to make, by which time, also, the 
 Tool Company will have completed their immense con- 
 tract with the Tm'kish Government.' 
 
 The mechanical industry of the United States has 
 been developed with equal success in other branches. 
 The locomotive manufacturers of Pennsylvania have 
 supplied engines to all the railways of South America, 
 and I believe to our own Australian Colonies also. It 
 would seem at first sight incredible that om^ engine 
 builders should have been beaten in a neutral market 
 with no hostile tariflf. Anyhow, it would have been 
 expected that, if we were beaten, it would have been
 
 English and Foreign Labour. 261 
 
 by Belgians or tlie German makers, who command an 
 ample supply of labour at comparatively low rates. The 
 contrary, however, has happened ; and it is a country 
 where labour is paid at rates imknown in the Old World 
 whicli has supplanted us. We have been conquered by 
 the mechanical skill of the employer in devising labour- 
 saving machinery, and by the industry and energy of 
 the workmen, who, if they have earned high wages, 
 have worked longer and more industriously than many 
 among "our own mechanics have been disposed to do. 
 I am not afraid of high wages, but I have a fear lest the 
 foundation of our industrial prosperity should be under- 
 mined by restraints on the characteristic energy of our 
 people. If our workmen allow themselves to be 
 deluded with the notion that by working at half speed 
 they will prevent over-production, British industry 
 cannot contend successfully against the free and vigor- 
 ous efforts of our kinsmen in America. The only result 
 of such a suicidal course must be that the people, who 
 impose no artificial restrictions on their powers, will 
 take our place in every open market. 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to say that I offer in no 
 narrow and selfish spirit these suggestions to the conside- 
 ration of my fellow-countrymen, whose lot it is to labour 
 and to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. I 
 contemplate, with more equanimity than some students, 
 perhaps, of economical science, the increasing participa- 
 tion of other nations in trades which once seemed 
 destined to be the mono}X)ly of the United Kingdom. 
 Would it be a thing to be desired that our island should 
 become the universal workshop of mankind? Would
 
 262 On the Comparative Efficiencn of 
 
 it add to the felicity oC its inluibituuts tluit the popula- 
 tion of this huge metropolis should be doubled in 
 number ? Would you wish to see all Lancashire and 
 Yorkshire honeycombed with coal-pits, every hill 
 crowned with a monster manufactory, and the black 
 country of Wolverhampton enlarged to twice its 
 present limits ? Is it not better that we should share 
 with other nations in the development of those indus- 
 tries which, however admirable they may be, as illus- 
 trations of the skill and energy of man, inevitably involve 
 the destruction of much that is fair and lovely in nature ? 
 A life without t,rees, and flowers, and blossoms, which 
 no breeze fi-om the hills or the sea ever refreshes, is a 
 life imjDcrfect, and wanting in the purest and the best 
 pleasures which it is given to man to enjoy. 
 
 I heard a thousand blended notes 
 
 While in a grove I sat reclined, 
 In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts 
 
 Bring sad thoughts to the mind. 
 
 To her fair works did Nature link 
 
 The human soul that through me ran ; 
 
 And much it grieved my heart to think 
 What man has made of man. 
 
 Let US, then, abandon the vain idea that it is an 
 irreparable misfortune for our country to share with 
 others in the development of the commerce of the 
 world. Let us study the situation in a spirit of gene- 
 rosity to the foreigner and of justice to our own people. 
 Montesquieu has well said : ' L'esprit de commerce 
 produit dans les hommes un certain sentiment de justice 
 cxacte, oppose, d'un cote, au brigandage, et de I'autre, h.
 
 English and Foreign Labour. 263 
 
 ces vertiis morales qui font qu'on ne discute pas toujours 
 pes interets avec rigidite, et qu'on pent les negliger poiu: 
 ceux des autres. Le commerce rend les hommes plus 
 sociables, ou, si Ton veut, moins forouches, plus indus- 
 trieux, plus actifs ; mais il les rend en meme temps 
 moins courageux, plus rigides sur le droit parfait, moins 
 sensibles aux sentiments de generosite.' 
 
 It may be that the young men and women of the 
 present and of coming generations may be required to 
 go forth in augmented numbers to earn their livelihood 
 in other lands. Such a contingency may be contem- 
 plated without regret, if our sons and daughters carry 
 with them an affectionate memory of the mother- 
 country. In the Antipodes, or the New World, under 
 the Union Jack, or it may be beneath the Stars and 
 Stripes of the American Union, I see before me a 
 glorious vision of the growth of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
 I see new nations rising up, speaking our language and 
 educated in our literature, bound to us and to one 
 another by the closest ties ; and I see, in this wider 
 distribution of our race, more individual happiness, and 
 a surer basis for our greatness as a nation than in the 
 concentration of a redundant population within the 
 narrow limits of their ancestral island home.
 
 2G4 
 
 LECTUEE XIII. 
 
 ON THE RISE OF WAGES IN THE BUILDING 
 TRADES OF LONDON. 
 
 Read bkpoke the Royal Institute of Britisu Architects, 
 February 4, 1878. 
 
 The present Paper has been prepared in compliance 
 with an invitation of long standing, which I esteem it 
 a great honour to have received. The delay in the 
 preparation of the following statement is due to the 
 pressure of many engagements, and to my protracted 
 absence on a voyage of circumnavigation. Even now 
 I should have been quite unable to have performed my 
 task, without the aid and co-operation of others. I 
 have little spare time for such an investigation, and I 
 have no technical knowledge. Under these circum- 
 stances I appealed to gentlemen whom I knew to be 
 thorouglily conversant with the subject, and I grate- 
 fully acknowledge their readiness to assist me. Being 
 anxious to collect the information required from 
 impartial sources, I applied to Messrs. Hunt and 
 Stephenson, the well-known surveyors. As represen- 
 tatives of the builders, I communicated with my old 
 friends, Messrs. Lucas Brothers ; and lastly, with a 
 view to obtain a fair statement on behalf of the w^ork- 
 men, I asked the co-operation of Mr. Howell. These
 
 Wages in the Building Trades of London. 265 
 
 gentlemen, therefore, are in point of fact the anthors 
 of the following Paper. If it [xjssesses any impor- 
 tance as a contribution to the sum of knowledge on 
 that labour movement which constitutes one of the 
 most urgent questions of our time, it is to the practical 
 authorities whom I have quoted that its value must be 
 attributed. 
 
 To the Council of this Institute belongs the credit 
 of suggesting that a review of the alterations in the 
 rates of wages in the building trades should be pre- 
 pared. It is only by bringing into view the fluctua- 
 tions in prices during a tolerably extended period that 
 the relation between cause and effect can be satisfac- 
 torily traced, and principles laid down for the future 
 guidance of masters and men. It was tridy said by 
 Lord Bolingbroke, that ' history is philosophy teaching 
 us by examples how to conduct ourselves in all the 
 struggles of public and private life.' 
 
 I begin by giving a statement of the increase of 
 wages and reduction of working hours in the building 
 trades in London from 1837 to 1847. The current 
 wages of building operatives in London from the year 
 1836 were hs. per day of ten hours, or 30.^. per week 
 of sixty hours. This rate was generally adopted, but 
 it was not universally paid in all branches of the build- 
 ing trades until 1847. In fact, it was only established 
 as the standard rate by dint of protracted efforts, 
 extending over a period of several years. Masons 
 and bricklayers were the first to secure the advance. 
 The carpenters, plasterers, and painters followed their 
 example.
 
 266 On the Nise of Wa(je.s in the 
 
 III the >ear 1847 u movcnieiit was set on foot 
 for a reduction of one hour and a half on Saturdays, 
 the men leaving work at four o'clock. This agitation 
 seems to have originated from the idea of the Saturday 
 half-holiday which had been promoted by Lord Shaftes- 
 bury and other eminent philanthropists. After a com- 
 paratively short struggle, the hour and a half was con- 
 ceded ; and it soon became general for all branches of 
 the building trades to leave work at four o'clock on 
 Saturdays. Only one master persisted in refushig this 
 boon, and he was ruined for his obstinacy. 
 
 In the year 1858 an effort was made to obtain a 
 reduction of time to nine hours a day. The men were 
 offered a rise of Qd. per day, which was accepted, and 
 the nine hours' agitation was abandoned. The rate of 
 5s. 6cZ. per day was not universally conceded in all 
 branches of the building trades for some years, 
 although the leading firms gave it to the majority of 
 their workmen. 
 
 In 1857 an agitation was recommenced for the 
 Saturday half-holiday. This was abandoned in 1858, 
 and a limitation of the hours of work to nine hours a 
 day was accepted instead. In 1859 the movement in 
 favour of the half-holiday was again resumed, and the 
 demands of the men being refused, a strike ensued, 
 wdiich was followed by a lock-out of the whole of the 
 building operatives in London. Eventually, in 1861, 
 the masters introduced the hour system, payment being 
 made at the rate of 76?. per hour. A reduction in 
 time was obtained of two hours on Saturdays, the men 
 working through the dinner hour, but leaving work at
 
 BailditKj Trach',^ <>f London. 267 
 
 1 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. as formerly. In 18G5 a rise of a 
 halfpenny, making the wages l\d. per hour, was granted 
 without a strike. In 1 866 another rise of a halfpenny 
 per hour was granted, making the rate 8c?. per hour. 
 
 After a strike and partial lock-out in 1872 the 
 masters granted a further advance of a halfpenny, 
 raising the rate of wages to ^id. per hour. There was 
 a simultaneous reduction in time of four hours per 
 week ; the men leaving work on the first five days of 
 the week at five o'clock, and on Saturdays at twelve. 
 The hour for commencing work w^as at the same time 
 fixed at half-past six on Mondays. In 1873 another 
 rise of a halfpenny per hour was granted without a 
 strike, making 9c?. per hour, and the working hours 
 were fixed at 9.', per day, or 52^ hours per week. 
 
 In 1876 a memorial was sent to the master builders, 
 asking for an advance of wages from ^d. to 10c?. per 
 hour. This demand being refused, on June 30, 1877, 
 the masons struck, and the strike is still pending. It 
 w^ill be seen from the foregoing statement, which 
 embraces a period of 30 years, that there has been a 
 reduction since 1847 of seven hours and a half in time 
 — that is to say, from 60 hours per week to 52^ hours. 
 The current wages in 1847 were at the rate of hs. per 
 day of 10 hours, or 305. per week for 60 hours' work. 
 In 1877 the current wages were 1/. 12^. A^d. for 52| 
 hours' work, being an increase of wages amounting to 
 95. 4:^6?. per week. This represents a rise of 31^^ per 
 cent, on the original scale of wages, at the rate of 305. 
 per week, and of 1 2^ per cent, in time value, or a total 
 advance in 30 years of 44 per cent.
 
 268 
 
 On the Rise of Wa(/es in the 
 
 Mr, Howell fuitlicr states that greater care is taken 
 to ensure regularity of employment. Tiie masons and 
 carpenters have better sheds or workshoi)s. Wherever 
 it is possible, the bricklayers engaged in cutting arches, 
 splays, or similar work, are under cover in wet weather. 
 On the other hand, it is said that large contracts are 
 finished more rapidly. Hence the men have to look 
 out for fresh jobs oftener than they had to do 30 years 
 ago. The time also is kept more strictly. A workman 
 must be at his work at six o'clock precisely. No five 
 minutes' allowance is now given. The workmen are 
 equally prompt in dropping their tools as the clock 
 strikes five. 
 
 Messrs. Lucas have prepared a memorandum giving 
 the various wages by the day or the hour both for 
 labourers and mechanics. It will be seen upon 
 examination that these figures, although stated in a 
 different form, correspond exactly with those contained 
 in Mr. Howell's Paper : — 
 
 Memorandum of the Cost of Materials and Labour, etc., 
 in the Building Trades. 
 
 Dato 
 
 Wages per day of ten 
 hours 
 
 
 Mechanics 
 
 Labourers 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 5. d. 
 
 Sept. 1853 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Sept. 4, 1853, to Marcli 22, 1861 . 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 3 4 
 
 March 23, 1861, to Sept. 27, 1865. Pay- 
 
 
 
 
 ment by the day was discontinued and 
 
 
 Per 
 
 hour 
 
 the men were paid at the rate per hour of 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 4i 
 
 Sept. 28, 1865, to May 4, 1866 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 4i 
 
 May 5, 1866, to July 5, 1872 . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 4| 
 
 July 6, 1872, to Aug. 1, 1873 . 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 5i 
 
 Aug. 2, 1873, to present time . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 5|
 
 Building Trades of Land cm. 
 
 2G9 
 
 The present working hours are — 
 
 Monday . 
 
 . 9 hou 
 
 Tuesday . 
 
 . ^ . 
 
 Wednesday 
 
 . n » 
 
 Thursday . 
 
 . ^ . 
 
 Friday 
 
 . 91 „ 
 
 Saturday . 
 
 . 5L „ 
 
 Total . 
 
 . 52L 
 
 as compared with GO liours for tlie summer and 47 
 hours for the winter season, commenring 6 weeks 
 before and ending 6 weeks after Christmas. 
 
 This shows an increase of 50 per cent, upon the 
 wages of meclianics, and 6-i per cent, upon those of 
 labourers. In addition to this, there is a loss in time 
 of 7i hours per week. The men now only work 52. ^j 
 instead of 60 hours — a reduction of 12.^ per cent, in 
 time; the mechanics receive 395. 4.^c?. for the 52 _^ 
 hours, instead of 30.s. for 60 hours ; and the labourers 
 also work 12.^ per cent, less time and receive 26s. 2d. 
 for 52 J, hours as agiiinst 18^. for 60 hours. It is a 
 remarkable circumstance that the most important ad- 
 vances have been obtained by the unskilled workmen. 
 The lower the original rate of wage the greater lias 
 been the advance. This is clearly shown in the fol- 
 lowing table prepared by Mr. Stephenson : —
 
 270 
 
 On the Rise of Wages in the 
 
 Memoranda with Reference to the Comparative Cost of 
 Wages and Materials for Builders^ Work in IS()5 and 1875. 
 
 Wiigt'S 
 
 In 1865 
 per Hour 
 
 In 1875 
 per Hour 
 
 Incroaso 
 
 
 d. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 Excavators 
 
 4f 
 
 H 
 
 28 per cent. 
 
 Bricklayers 
 
 Masons .... 
 
 It 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 20 „ 
 20 „ 
 
 ,, .... 
 
 Carpenters 
 
 Joiners .... 
 
 8' 
 
 n 
 
 91 
 9 
 
 20 „ 
 20 „ 
 20 „ 
 
 Smiths .... 
 
 n 
 
 9 
 
 20 „ 
 
 Plasterers .... 
 
 n 
 
 9 
 
 20 ., 
 
 Painters and Glaziers 
 
 7 
 
 81 
 
 22 „ 
 
 Plumbers .... 
 
 ^ 
 
 10 
 
 171 „ 
 
 General Labourers 
 
 4i 
 
 5f 
 
 35 ;, 
 
 Scaffolders 
 
 4 
 
 6i 
 
 28 „ 
 
 Plumbers' Labourers . 
 
 4f 
 
 6i 
 
 28 „ 
 
 It might have been expected that in trades where 
 the Unions were most completely organised the greatest 
 advances wonld have been secured. But this has not 
 happened. While the number of the unskilled labour- 
 ers is not limited by any necessity for a preliminary 
 apprenticeship, it is they who have reaped the greatest 
 benefit by the increased demand for labour. The rise 
 in tlie rate of wages is doubtless due partly to the 
 increased cost of living. The pay of those labourers, 
 whose wages were nearest to a mere subsistence-level, 
 has been most sensibly influenced by the changes which 
 have led to an increase in the cost of articles of the 
 lirst necessity. The price of labour, as I have so often 
 reminded employers, in the very terms used by the 
 father of Political Economy, is determined, not by the 
 dictation of Trades Unions, but by its relative scarcity. 
 In the instance before us, we see that the advance has
 
 Building Trades of London. 
 
 271 
 
 been most conspicuous in tlie case of labourers who 
 have no trades' union organisation. Are we not, 
 therefore, justified in the conchision that Trades Unions 
 in the long run exercise but a small influence over 
 the rates of wages, in comparison with the inevitable and 
 natural operation of an altered relation between the de- 
 mand and supply of the necessary commodity of labour ? 
 
 Let us now proceed to ascertain how far the cost 
 of building has been influenced by the increased cost 
 of labour. First, let us consider the cost of materials. 
 Messrs. Lucas observe, ' The cost of materials fluctuates 
 from time to time, but as a whole we find that the 
 average cost is about the same as formerly, the reduc- 
 tion of duty on bricks, timber, glass, &c., being in our 
 favour.' 
 
 Mr. Stephenson has kindly prepared a Memorandum 
 showing the difference in the prices of materials in 
 London between 1865 and 1875. Bricks and Portland 
 stone are cheaper. In timber there is some increase, 
 and in other articles there is a considerable augmenta- 
 tion of price. 
 
 Bricks 
 
 Grey Lime 
 Roman Cement 
 Portland Cement 
 Portland Stone (at) 
 
 Deptford) . j 
 Yorkshire 3 inch 
 Middling Dautzic I 
 
 Fir, average price J 
 
 Archangel Deals . . 
 
 Petersburg Deals . . 
 Lead, Milled Sheet . 
 
 Glass, Plate and Sheet 
 
 34s.per 1000 
 
 10s. per yard 
 Is. per bushel 
 Is. %d. „ 
 
 2s. 1 (Z. per foot cube 
 
 63s. per 100 feet 
 
 75s. per load 
 
 f 1 il. per standard 
 \_ head 
 121. 5s. 
 21s. per ewt. 
 
 27s. per 1000 
 
 lis. per yard 
 Is. per bushel 
 2s. 2d. „ 
 
 2s. per foot cube 
 
 83s. per 100 feet 
 
 80s. per load 
 
 16^. per stan-"1 
 dard head J 
 lil. 10s. „ 
 24s. per cwt. 
 
 f 20 per cent, rc- 
 \ duction 
 10 per cent. 
 
 26 per cent. 
 f 4: per cent, rc- 
 \_ ductioii 
 
 30 per cent. 
 
 7 per cent. 
 
 16 per cent, mean 
 
 Ditto 
 
 14 per cent 
 
 /" Advance about 
 
 ^^ 20 per cent.
 
 272 On the Rise of Wages in the 
 
 The increase of wages, according to Messrs. Lucas, 
 ouglit to liave been more than covered by the introduc- 
 tion of machinery for many building operations, for 
 hoisting all materials, instead of carrying by hod, and 
 raising by hand labour; for grinding mortar and for 
 the execution of all kinds of carpenter's, joiner's, and 
 mason's work. They say, however, that their experience 
 shows that the cost of building has actually inci eased 
 from 20 to 30 per cent., and this increase is entirely 
 due to the small amount of work now done by the 
 men, compared with what they did some few years 
 ago. As an illustration of this, they refer to the new 
 station, hotel, locomotive works, and goods' sheds at 
 York, which they have recently erected for the North- 
 Eastern Eailway Company. These works were of great 
 magnitude and Avere superintended by one of the 
 most experienced and able members of their staff. The 
 materials were bought for less than the estimated price, 
 and the introduction of steam-power to an unusual 
 extent — in fact, whenever it could be used — effected 
 an immense saving upon the labour. But all these 
 advantages were more than neutralised by the indolence 
 of the men. A conspicuous instance is quoted. The 
 labour upon the brickwork, winch would formerly have 
 cost 385. per rod by piece-work, was estimated at a price 
 which Mr. Harrison, the Engineer of the North-Eastern 
 Bailway Company, considered liberal for such work, 
 namely, 3/. o.*?. per rod. The actual cost was a little 
 more than 5/., or 1/. 17s. per rod more than Messrs. 
 Lucas received from the Company. Li this case, there- 
 fore, a loss of 55 per cent, was sustained upon the esti-
 
 BnihUiui Trades of London. 273 
 
 mate for labour. If, iKnvever, the men had done a fair 
 and proper amount of work tlie cost would have been 
 as follows : — 
 
 With wages at the price formerly paid, at 
 
 the rate of Gc?. per hour . . £1 18 per rod. 
 
 Add 50 per cent, for increase of wages at 
 
 present time . . . . 19 
 
 £2 17 
 
 In point of fact, the actual cost, as before stated, 
 was a little over lOOs. per rod, and this notwithstanding 
 all tlie additional advantage of the possession of steam- 
 power. This illustration proves beyond all doubt that 
 the men at the present time do very little more than 
 half the work for 9(f. per hour that they formerly did 
 for Qd. 
 
 These experiences of a large building firm are 
 corroborated, fi'om a different and perhaps a more 
 impartial point of view, by Messrs. Hunt and 
 Steplienson. An opportunity of applying an accurate 
 test to determine the depreciation or appreciation in 
 the cost of buildings has recentl}" occurred, Mr. 
 Stephenson having been called upon to make a close 
 professional estimate of the cost of re-erecting an ordi- 
 nary dwelling-house which had been built in 1865 for 
 the sum of 5,000/. The building in question was 
 demolished to make room for a Metropolitan Eailway 
 Extension, and it was ascertained that it would cost no 
 less than 5,624/. to rebuild it in 1875. The following 
 are some very interesting details as calculated by Mr. 
 Stephenson : —
 
 274 
 
 On tJie Rise of Wages in the 
 
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 Having given the results of the experience of large 
 employers in this country, it may be interesting to 
 you to knovr that the diminished industry of foreign 
 o^Deratives under the same conditions has been even
 
 Building Trades of Lojidon. 21 h 
 
 more conspicuous. The following paragraph recently 
 appeared in the Times newspaper: — 
 
 ' At the time when prices were most inflated the 
 work and wages of masons in Berlin were submitted to 
 a crucial test. Between 1868 and 1873 the wages of 
 this class of operatives were increased by 50 per cent. 
 In the former year a certain number of masons were 
 accustomed to dress G18 stones of a particular descrip- 
 tion in a week. In 1873 the same number of men 
 dressed in the same time no more than 304 stones, less 
 than half; and as they were paid as much for the 
 smaller as the greater quantity, it follows that the cost 
 of building a house in Berlin had more than doubled 
 within a period of six years. A similar process has been 
 going on, with more or less rapidity, in most of the 
 cities of Germany and Switzerland. Professor Gustav 
 Kohn^ in a pamphlet recently published {Deutsche Zeit- 
 und Streit-Fi'agen. Heft 77. Vertheurung des Lebensun- 
 terhaltes in der Gegenwai% von Gustav Kohn. Berlin^ 
 1876), compares the cost of building in London and 
 Zurich, and although there is no great difference be- 
 tw^een the two places in the price of materials, he arrives 
 at the conclusion that it costs twice as much to erect 
 and finish a house in the Swiss city as in the metropolis 
 of Great Britain, and to this difference he attributes the 
 fact that rents are so much higher in the latter place 
 than in the former. In order to arrive at a just con- 
 clusion, he eliminates from his comparison the business 
 and fashionable quarters, where the question might be 
 complicated by the elements of expensive sites and 
 lieavy ground rents, and chooses in the most outward 
 
 I 2
 
 270 On t/tc Hi.sc of War/rs hi the 
 
 periphery of tlie town a locality which is to Zlirich 
 what Wimbledon is to London. If the result of the 
 Professor's investigations is to be trusted, a dwelling 
 that at Wimbledon is rented at 40/. a year could not be 
 obtained at Ziirich for less than from 1,500 francs to 
 2,000 francs a year. And as wages, the cost of materials, 
 the value of money and of land, are a})proxiraately the 
 same in both places, it follows that the difference in 
 rents must arise from the superior .skill of English 
 builders and the greater efficiency of English labour. 
 This is the conclusion of Herr Kohn, based as well on 
 induction as on his own personal observation and 
 inquiries.' 
 
 Mr. Howell contends that the net cost of building 
 has not increased in proportion to the advance of 
 wages. He points to the use of machinery in some 
 branches, to the introduction of better appliances in 
 others, and to the development of greater skill in 
 special branches. As a rule, he considers that the 
 foremen are much superior in ability and character to 
 the majority of those, who previously had charge of 
 large undertakings. As an instance of work being done 
 more cheaply, he refers to a statement, made to him 
 by a mason of considerable experience and skill, to the 
 effect that each of the blocks of the fluted columns at 
 the British Museum cost, on an average, 5/., whereas 
 now he would be glad to undertake any number of 
 them at 3/. 10s. each. 
 
 This reduction in the price of stonework for the 
 British Museum would, however, only be possible upon 
 the piece-work system. The introduction of piece-work
 
 Buildhii) Ti'u/e.s of London. 277 
 
 is earnestly desired by the masters ; but, as Messrs. 
 Lucas remark, " By the rules and regulations of the 
 trades miions no set-work or piece-work is allowed, 
 the great object being to obtain the largest amount of 
 pay for the smallest amount of work and the least num- 
 ber of working hoiu's ; and with every increased rate 
 of wages they go for a decreased number of hours' 
 work in the day, and do a less amount of work in the 
 hour, so that the ])ublic are hit all round,' 
 
 In concluding their most valuable Paper, Messrs. 
 Lucas say : ' We believe the reduction of the hours of 
 labour and the half-holiday a mistake. Any man 
 wanting a holiday can always have it, and the old time 
 of 60 hours per week in the summer months is not too 
 much in such a generally healthy business. It appears 
 absurd to lose the summer months and not make hay 
 whilst the sun shines. In the winter time it might, 
 perhaps, be better upon outdoor works to commence 
 after breakfast, say at eight o'clock, and leave off at 
 half-past four, with half-an-hour for dinner, making 
 eight hours per day, or 48 hours per week, or an 
 average for the year of 57 hours, and 21. %s. dd. per 
 week wages ; and we have not the slightest doubt that 
 the men would gladly fall into such an arrangement, 
 but for the interference of the trades unions. It is 
 clearly to be understood that the foregoing observations 
 apply to architectural buildings only, and not to con- 
 tracting and engineering works. These are mainly 
 carried out upon the plan adopted by tlie late Mi*. 
 Brassey, that of set-work. A certain amount of pay is 
 offered for a given amount of work. The men are paid
 
 278 
 
 On the Rise of Wci'jes hi the 
 
 \\)v any woik done in excess of tlie minimum amount 
 allowed, and tliis is tlie only fair and satisfactory course 
 to be adopted in the building trades in the interests of 
 the men, the masters, and of the public generally.' 
 
 Having given in detail the successive advances in 
 wages, and sliowii the increase in the cost of building, 
 it will be interesting to inquire how far the condition 
 of the operatives has been substantially improved by 
 the rise in the rates of wages. Has there been any 
 appreciable improvement in their food and in their 
 dwellings? Is their leisure time profitably and inno- 
 cently employed? Mr. Howell has supplied a com 
 plete statement on this subject. We will take first 
 the article of meat. The rise in the price of meat is 
 concisely shown in the subjoined table : — 
 
 Date 
 
 Average Prices 
 
 Beef— 
 l^er stone 
 
 Increase 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Mutton — 
 per stone 
 
 Increase 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 1847—1853 . 
 1853—1867 . 
 1867—1873 . 
 1874—1875 . 
 1876—1877 . 
 
 5. d. 
 
 4 2i 
 
 5 Oi 
 5 6 
 5 8i 
 5 11 
 
 S. d. 
 
 10 
 
 1 4 
 1 6 
 
 1 9i 
 
 20 
 30 
 35^ 
 
 so' 
 
 s. d. 
 
 4 5 
 
 5 9 
 
 6 4 
 6 5 
 6 9 
 
 5. d. 
 
 1 4 
 
 1 11 
 
 2 
 2 5 
 
 30 
 43 
 45 
 60 
 
 In round figures, the price of meat, wholesale in 
 the market, has increased, in the case of beef about 40 
 per cent., mutton about 50 per cent. Pork has in- 
 creased proportionately, and bacon at a higher rate 
 still. The price obtained for beasts at the Annual 
 (;attie Shows from 1847 to 1877 is as follows : From 
 1847 to 1856 inclusive, the average price ranged from 
 4.S'. per stone for seconds, to 55. 7^d. for prime cattle. 
 From 1857 to 18(36 inclusive, the average price ranged
 
 Building Trades of London. 279 
 
 from -is. Id. for seconds, to Qs. 2d. for prime qualities. 
 From 1867 to 1877 inclusive, the average price ranged 
 from 55. 6|(i. for seconds, to 8-s'. Ihd. for prime meat. 
 During the latter period the quahty of meat has greatly 
 im})roved. On the other hand, the poorer classes have 
 had to pay more per pound for inferior meat than the 
 wealthier classes have paid for johits of the best 
 quality. The retail price of meat to working people 
 has been increased not less than 75 per cent., or 
 oftener 80 per cent., and butchers are more careful 
 than formerly not to cut to waste. Hence, there are 
 fewer pieces called ' block ornaments.' This is 
 equally true as regards slices of bacon. Poultry and 
 fish have advanced in price nearly, if not quite, in the 
 same ratio as meat. Babbits fetch even a higher 
 price in proportion. As for hares and other game, the 
 poorer classes seldom taste such things. They know 
 nothing of them, except what they see at the poulterers' 
 shops. 
 
 Take next the items of bread, vegetables, clothing, 
 and rent. The price of British wheat has varied from 
 hOs. Qd. per quarter in 1848 to 745. 8d. in 1855, the 
 highest quotation during the past thirty years. Since 
 1864 it has varied from 40^. 2d. to 64s. bd. in 1867. 
 The average prices quoted for the last five years have 
 been: In 1873, 61^. Sd.; 1874, 44^. 2d.- 1875, 
 455. Bd. ; 1876, 505. M. ; 1877, 5l5. dd. The ordi- 
 nary baker's bread in the poorer districts is now 7d. 
 and 7id. per 4-lb. loaf. It has not been so low as Qd. 
 per loaf for some years. Very inferior bread is nomi- 
 nally cheaper, though actually it is the dearest, in
 
 2S0 (hi the Rise of Witijcs in the 
 
 proportion to the solid iioiirislmu'iit it (•oiitaiiis. The' 
 prices of potatoes and otlier vegetables, as .sold at the 
 greengrocers' shops, have gone up diuing the past 
 thirty years as much as 1 00 per cent. Potatoes, which 
 were formerly sold at a halfpeimy per pound, and then 
 at the rate of 3 lbs. for 2d., are now lid. per pound, 
 being an increase of over 100 per cent. Cabbages, 
 which could be bought at a halfpenny each, are now 2d. 
 or 2^d. Turnips, which were formerly sold at 2d. per 
 bimch, are now from 5c?. to Qd. The price of parsnips 
 has advanced from a halfpenny to three halfpence; 
 and all other kinds of garden produce are equally 
 enhanced in price. Coal, butter, and cheese are most 
 important items, especially the two former. Many 
 thousands of the working-classes purchase their coal 
 by the cwt., or in sacks. For some years past the lowest 
 price charged per cwt. has been Is. 6rf., or 30-S'. per 
 ton. In 1&72-73, the price went up to 505. per ton. 
 The coal consumed by the work-people is generally 
 very inferior, and the purchasers are robbed in Aveight 
 and measure. Those who live in apartments have 
 seldom room- for more than a sack at a time ; but in 
 newer houses room is provided for half a ton or a ton. 
 The article of butter has ranged from l6'. Qd. per lb. 
 to Is. lOd. for inferior qualities, which are described 
 as little better than mere grease. The consumption 
 of salt butter has diminished of late years, and 
 Brittany butter has been substituted. Cheese, which 
 in days gone by was cheap, is now rather a luxury. 
 It is not used by poor people as it was formerly. The 
 only articles on which there has been a reduction ai'e
 
 Buildiiiij Trades of London. 281 
 
 sugar and tea; but most working people concur in 
 saying that tea, as sold at the grocers, is not so good 
 as formerly. House rent has greatly increased. 
 Apartments of two rooms on a floor have gone up 
 from 4*'. %d. and 5*. 6^. to 8^. Qd. and 95. per week. 
 The rent of single rooms has risen from 2*. ^d. and 
 3*. 6(i. to 5^. and 5s. Qd, Small houses are very 
 scarce. For a liouse with four rooms and a wash- 
 house the rents have advanced from G-s. or 65. 6c?. 
 to 10s. or lis. Peabody's Buildings and the Model 
 Dwellings are full to repletion ; and so great is the 
 demand for accommodation, tliat enough names are 
 down on the books to fill several more blocks of 
 houses. Boots and shoes are dearer, and the leather 
 is not so good. These articles are of the first impor- 
 tance to working people, who have to work out of 
 doors, or walk long distances. Clothing has also gone 
 up in price, although not in the same proportion as 
 other articles. Apparel, however, is usually bought 
 ready-made by machinery, and as machine-sewing is 
 inferior to hand-sewiug, clothing is less durable. 
 Cottons and flannels are cheaper, but stuffs and home- 
 spuns are dearer, at retail prices, and the quality is 
 much depreciated. Almost every little article of 
 domestic consumption has increased in price. Though 
 the increase in cost may only amount to a halfpenny, 
 the advance is often equivalent to a rise of 40 to 50 
 per cent, on a small item. It is the universal com- 
 plaint of the wives of workmen in the present day that 
 they have a difficulty in ' keeping house,' in conse- 
 quence of the dearness of everything. The working-
 
 282 On the lliae of Wtujes in the 
 
 classes obtniu their supplies under peculiar disad- 
 vantages, from being obliged to buy in small quanti- 
 ties, at hucksters' shops, or what are called ' general 
 shops,' where they pay the best price for very inferior 
 articles. The poorer the neighbourhood, the greater 
 the difficulty in obtaining articles of good quality ; and 
 yet the prices charged are very nearly equal to those 
 charged for the best qualities in the best establishments. 
 
 The well-managed Co-operative stores of the Xorth 
 of England have provided a most effective means of 
 supplying the wants of the working-classes. In the 
 metropolis co-operative organisation has been but slowly 
 and imperfectly developed. Perhaps the very number 
 of the population has made co-operation more difficult. 
 Less cohesion, less interdependence, and less mutual 
 sympathy will be found in the multitudinous masses of 
 the metropolis, than in the more compact populations 
 of our northern cities, where similarity of employment 
 and a more uniform social status bind the people 
 together, and both dispose and enable them to com- 
 bine more readily for a common object. Mr. Howell 
 concludes by stating that, with all the drawbacks which 
 he has enumerated, the majority of workmen's houses 
 are far superior to those of the same class thirty and 
 even twenty years ago. There is an air of comfort 
 and cleanliness, as a general rule, in the homes of the 
 artisans and mechanics, which shows progress and 
 improvement ; and there are fewer wretched homes 
 even in the poorest localities than of old. 
 
 I have given in eMenso Mr. Howell's statement as 
 to the economic condition of the operatives in the
 
 Building Trades of London. 283 
 
 metropolis. It affords much food for reflection. It 
 lias been shown in tlie tables prepared by Messrs. 
 Hunt and Stephenson, Messrs. Lucas, and Mr. Howell, 
 -that, during the period embraced in our review, wages 
 have advanced 50 per cent, for mechanics, and 64 per 
 cent, for labourers. In the same period, however, the 
 cost of living has increased in such proportions that 
 the wives of the workmen have experienced an ever- 
 increasing difficulty in making both ends meet. Mr. 
 Howell, indeed, describes a general improvement in 
 the interior of the workmen's houses ; but that 
 amelioration is probably due to advancing civihsa- 
 tion, rather than to the increased spending power of 
 the people. Improved taste, more refined habits, and 
 a more restricted indulgence in intoxicating liquors 
 would have converted a great number of the miserable 
 hovels of thirty years ago into comfortable dwellings, 
 even though wages had remained at the former rates. 
 Tlie consumption of beer and spirits has, we know, 
 increased of late years to a melancholy extent. There 
 is reason to believe that a considerable proportion of 
 the increased wages of the unskilled labourer has been 
 misapplied in self-indulgence. Mr. Howell's remarks 
 as to the improvement observable in the dwellings 
 must be understood to apply almost exclusively to the 
 mechanics ; and we may venture to hope that the 
 majority of the skilled workmen have made a good 
 use of their increased wages. 
 
 The recent report of Mr. Plunkett on the railway 
 riots in America gives most interesting details on the re- 
 lation between wages and the cost of living in the United
 
 28i On the Rise of Wage.s in the 
 
 States. In America, Avith every advance in wages 
 there has been a corresponding rise of prices, while, 
 owing to the fall in prices which has followed the 
 recent reductions of wages, working men in reguhir 
 employment have suffered no piivation of the neces- 
 saries of life. Workmen are perfectly entitled to take 
 advantage of every turn of the market in their favour ; 
 but it is a delusion to suppose that a general advance 
 in the rates of wages, accompanied, as it must be, by 
 a corresponding advance in prices, is pui'C gain to 
 themselves. 
 
 In connection with this subject, I must once more 
 express my conviction that an exaggerated impression 
 prevails of the power of the trades unions to advance 
 wages by the mere completeness of their organisation, 
 apart from other influences, which are more effective 
 and more natural in their operation. In every con- 
 troversy with the masters the trades unions occupy a 
 prominent position as the spokesmen and advocates of 
 the workmen ; but the trades unions cannot possibly 
 force the employers to carry on their operations at a 
 loss, neither can they compel the public to buy an 
 article or to build a house at a price which they 
 cannot afford to pay. The wages of mechanics in the 
 building trades have been rapidly raised and are now 
 kept up solely by the constant demimd for labour in 
 those trades. The active prosecution of building 
 operations seems somewhat inconsistent with the 
 general depression in almost every other branch of 
 trade. The cause of this apparent anomaly is to be 
 found in the faihu'e of Joint iStock undertakings and
 
 Jjul/d/ih/ Trdde.'^ of London. 285 
 
 the revelations of the ForeiLjii Loans Committee, Until 
 a recent period, a large proportion of the savings of the 
 country were being absorbed in the conversion of 
 private manufacturing and trading establishments into 
 corporate undertakings, and large sums were lent to 
 weak and almost unknown Governments, who had 
 succeeded in alluring the too credulous public by 
 the offer of high rates of interest. Experience has 
 shown that Boards of Directors, with little personal 
 interest in their work, and no technical knowledge, 
 cannot take the place of an individual manager having 
 a large stake in the result, and qualified by technical 
 training and long experience to conduct a difficult 
 business. The Joint Stock mania has now happily 
 subsided, and it would be impossible, in the present 
 temper of the public mind, to introduce on the Stock 
 Exchange, with any prospect of success, a loan to a 
 needy foreign State of the second rank. In the 
 absence of other opportunities for investments, the 
 savings of the country are now being applied to 
 building operations. In the suburbs of the metropolis 
 and in the environs of our provincial towns, long rows 
 of houses are rising up built with borrowed capital. 
 Timid people, who are afraid of employing their money 
 in more distant operations,- are satisfied with the security 
 offered by a mortgage on houses erected in their own 
 neighbourhood. They possess, in the form of a mort- 
 gage on buildings, a tangible security, and one the value 
 of which they perfectly understand. Building has 
 accordingly been carried on with unrelaxed energy, 
 and possibly in excess of the wants of the public.
 
 286 On the Rise of Wages in the 
 
 Meanwliilo, tlie dornaiid for mechanics and labourers 
 has been sustained at a time when industrial operations 
 generally liave been contracted. Thus we see a strike 
 amongst the masons for an advance of w^ages at a time 
 when the only strikes which are taking place in otlier 
 trades are strikes acjainst a reduction. 
 
 Is the present activity of the building trade likely 
 to continue ? This is a question which well merits the 
 attentive consideration of our workmen. Is it not an 
 inevitable consequence of the continued depression of 
 trade, that the savings of the country, which have 
 lately been invested so freely in mortgages on new 
 buildings, must be temporarily reduced in amount ? 
 If this be so, the demand for labour will slacken, and 
 wages must ultimately fall. It is further to be observed, 
 that the depression of trade, which has been so serious 
 in this country, has been still more marked abroad. 
 There are large multitudes of skilled men Avithout 
 employment on the Continent. If they are introduced 
 into this country, the English workman has no more 
 right to complain or to resist than the workmen in 
 France, who quietly suffered my father to take over a 
 body of 5,000 English navvies to make the railway 
 from Paris to Eouen. The bricks in the tunnels 
 under the city of Eouen were all laid by London 
 bricklayers. 
 
 It was argued at the recent conferences of the 
 International that a general rise of wages can only be 
 obtained by a combination among the workmen of all 
 nations. The country in which production is dear will 
 be driven out of the market by the production of other
 
 BiuhliiKj Tntdcs of London. 287 
 
 countries, in which work is done at a cheaper rate. 
 The same principle apphes to the building as to every 
 other trade. Hitherto, owing to the difficulty of com- 
 munication, the rates of wages have been determined 
 by local circumstances. Eailways have tended to 
 diminish these local inequalities ; because the supply of 
 labour can now be drawn from an ever-widening area. 
 In the ship-building yards on the Thames, the great 
 mass of the joiners are Scotchmen, and there is but a 
 slifi^ht difference between the wa2;es on the Thames and 
 on the Clyde. It is as easy to introduce masons from 
 Hamburg as to bring joiners from Scotland. There 
 need be no fear of the competition of foreigners with 
 Englishmen, if only the latter will be true to them- 
 selves. All workmen labour at a disadvantage in a 
 foreign land, and I refuse to believe that foreigners 
 will ever be allowed to gain a permanent footing in this 
 country. 
 
 The substitution of payment by time for payment 
 by results is a most unfortunate iimovation. Piece-work 
 under adequate supervision is the only system which is 
 equitable alike to the employer, the workman, and the 
 public. There can be no objection to mechanics earn- 
 ing 7.9. or 8.§. a day, provided they have fairly earned 
 their high wages by a just amount of work. The 
 employer will raise no objection to the payment of 
 liberal wages provided he knows what he will be 
 required to pay, and how much work will be done day 
 by day. On the other hand, it is utterly wrong that 
 good men and bad men should be paid at an uniform 
 rate of 10c/. per hour. It is a system which could only
 
 288 On the Rise of Wcujes in the 
 
 have been forced upon tlio ])uildiiig trades by the 
 unusual scarcity of labour. Such a system is only 
 enforced by that evil spirit of jealousy, described with 
 so much power by Dante, in the 17th canto of the 
 Pargatorio : 
 
 fi clii, per esscr suo vicin soppresso, 
 
 Spera eccellenza, e sol per questo braraa 
 Ch' ei sia di sua grandezza in basso messo : 
 
 Jl clii podere, grazia, onore, e fama 
 Teme di perder percli' altri sor raonti, 
 Onde s' attrista si, che '1 contrario ama : 
 
 The passage is thus translated by Longfellow : 
 
 There are, who, by abasement of their neighbour, 
 Hope to excel, and therefore only long 
 That from his greatness he may be cast down ; 
 
 There are, who power, grace, honour, and renown 
 Fear they may lose because another rises. 
 Hence are so sad that the reverse they love. 
 
 The depression in trade to which I have already 
 referred may lead to a contraction in building opera- 
 tions; and it woidd be well that the opportunity should 
 be embraced for setting the relations between employers 
 and employed in the building trades on that equitable 
 basis on which business in every other branch of 
 trade has been conducted. No industrial organisation 
 can be sound in which, to use the words of Mr. Herbert 
 Spencer, ' duty done and income gained do not go 
 hand in hand, and the failure will be great in propor- 
 tion as the dependence of income upon duty is remote.' 
 
 The conclusions to be drawn from our investigation 
 may be summed up as follows : — 
 
 I. During the last thirty years there has been an
 
 Building Trades of London. 289 
 
 increase in wages of 44 per cent., and in the cost of 
 building of 20 to 30 per cent. 
 
 II. The advances of wages have been largely 
 absorbed in the enhanced cost of living. 
 
 III. The increase in wages has been caused by 
 unprecedented activity in the building trade. 
 
 IV. The prospect of a more satisfactory organisation 
 of the building trades depends on the adoption of an 
 equitable system of payment by piece. 
 
 I have narrated the story of the rise of wages in the 
 building trades with strict impartiality. Many of those 
 present regard the trades unions with a dread which 
 I do not share. I can fully understand why it is that 
 the trades unions are not viewed with especial favour 
 by the master builders, who have been perpetually 
 thwarted. It is hard to have to yield to the dictation 
 of irresponsible men, and to be required to pay wages 
 at rates never contemplated at the time when contracts 
 have been entered into. Isympathise with those who have 
 suffered many losses and vexations, but I must point out 
 that if the unions connected with the building trades 
 have given trouble, it has been the consequence of a 
 great and sustained demand for labour. For years 
 past no skilled mechanic in the metropolis has ever 
 known what it is to be without employment. Our 
 ancient and noble capital has been extended with 
 extraordinary rapidity. Large numbers of successful 
 men in commercial or professional careers, in the pro- 
 vinces or abroad, have been attracted to London, and 
 made it, year by year, more and more the centre of 
 British society in all its various grades, and a phice of 
 
 u
 
 290 On the RUe of Wagen in the 
 
 meeting for persons of every taste and pursuit, whether 
 artistic, scientific, or literary. The man of plea- 
 sure and the severe student can here always find 
 congenial companions and gratify their special tastes. 
 It may appear that wages have been advanced under 
 the pressure of the trades unions, but competition 
 among the masters for labour, of which there was an 
 insufficient supply, has been the primary cause of its 
 enhanced value. If the demand for buildings were to 
 abate in any sensible degree, the price of labour would 
 fall in proportion. The instance which I have quoted 
 at Zurich shows what advances will take place in the 
 price of labour under the same conditions in which 
 the London builders have been placed, and that, too, 
 in a land of exceptionally cheap labour. 
 
 Complaints are urged of the indifference of the 
 trades unions to the interests of the public. JSFo doubt 
 such organisations have been established to promote the 
 interests of a class, and not for the general good of 
 society ; but my experience of the motives and actions 
 of the leaders of the trades unions has led me to 
 believe that, although their energies are concentrated on 
 the single object of improving the position of their 
 clients, they do not seek to promote their objects by 
 violent measures. I attended the late Congress of the 
 trades unions at Leicester. I was the only man of my 
 own order who did attend, and I can bear testimony 
 to the admirable manner in wdiich the proceedings 
 were conducted. The programme of subjects for dis- 
 cussion was reasonable and appropriate. The questions 
 which it was proposed to ventilate in Pariiament were
 
 Building Trades of London. 291 
 
 fitting topics for parliamentary debate. There was a 
 creditable freedom from class prejudices. Contrast the 
 proceedings at Leicester with the debates of the Inter- 
 national Society on the Continent, or the recent demon- 
 strations in New York, where nonsensical declamation 
 was applauded which would never have been listened to 
 in this country. Have any of the trades unions of Lou- 
 don ever maintained that, ' To protect the useful classes 
 against the avarice of capitalists, or the derangements 
 of trade, the various branches of useful industry 
 should be instituted by the governments upon equitable 
 principles, and thereby furnish employment to those 
 who might be otherwise idle ? ' Has it ever been 
 resolved at a mass meeting in this city, ' That the time 
 has arrived for all working people to resist by all legal 
 means the oppression of capital and the robbery which 
 it perpetrates on labom' ? ' My view is, that we have 
 in the English working people a body of men less 
 likely to be led away by visionary ideas, less ready 
 to listen to vague and envious denunciations, more 
 strongly influenced by a sense of duty and more law- 
 abiding, than the corresponding classes in any other 
 country. With all these merits, however, they are not 
 exempt from human infirmity. The principle of self- 
 interest is strong with them, as it is with their masters, 
 and it is not always enhghtened. They seek to sell 
 their labour to the highest bidder, just as the masters 
 demand the best price which the very keen competi- 
 tion amongst themselves allows them to secure. 
 
 While I have pointed out the inevitable and disas- 
 trous consequences of a too aggressive action on the pai t 
 
 V 2
 
 292 On the Rise of Wages in the 
 
 of the operatives, I am not an advocate of a too 
 acquiescent temper of mind. The industrial capacity 
 of workmen cannot be developed, unless they live in 
 reasonable comfort, in houses in which they take a pride, 
 provided with adequate sustenance, and encouraged 
 by the prospect of bettering their condition. It is not 
 in countries where the standard of living is lowest, 
 and the pleasures of hope are denied, that production 
 is most rapid and economical. ' La pesanteur des 
 charges,' said Montesquieu, ' produit d'abord le travail ; 
 le travail I'accablement ; I'accablement I'esprit de 
 paresse.' 
 
 I conclude witli one practical suggestion. The 
 Labour problem will find its natural solution in an 
 increased supply of labour. It is for this purpose that 
 a handful of foreigners has been lately introduced ; but 
 would it not be more easy and more satisfactory to 
 train up the youth of our own country in greater num- 
 bers to be skilled handicraftsmen ? It seems to me that 
 the reluctance to perform manual labour is a great and 
 growing evil ; an evil which has its origin, not so much 
 in a dislike to hard work, as in that false social system 
 which gives to the man at the desk a higher rank than 
 it accords to him who stands in a fustian jacket at the 
 mason's bench. I am a warm friend to popular educa- 
 tion, but let us guard ourselves against its attendant 
 risks, and take care that the educational advantages 
 "which we are now giving to the people are not per- 
 verted. 
 
 Mr. Plunkett quotes from the Philadelphia Times 
 some very pertinent observations : ' What a terrible
 
 Buildiny Trddeis of London. 293 
 
 satire upon our boasted free school system is conveyed 
 in the word " educated " ! Our cliildren have their 
 poor little brains crammed full of all kinds of impossible 
 knowledge of names, and dates, and numbers, and 
 unintelhgible rules. There is absolutely no room left to 
 hold any of the simple truths which former generations 
 deemed more important than all the learning of the 
 books. The result is, that they leave school ignorant 
 of what is most essential, and outside of the schools 
 there is no provision for their learning anything.' 
 
 It is by a courteous bearing in all the relations of 
 life that the privileged classes can best testify their sense 
 of the real dignity which attaches to honest labour, and 
 show their conviction that the skilful labour of the 
 hands is not inconsistent with culture and refinement.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Discussion on Mr. Brassey^s Paper — ' The Rise of Wages 
 in the Building Trades of London.' 
 
 The Chairman (Mr. Gr. E. Street, R.A.), in opening- the Dis- 
 cussion on Mr. Brassey's Paper, said : — I am sorry to find 
 that Mr. Brassey is unable to be here to-night in order to 
 share in the Discussion. I dare say we have a good many 
 strangers who are not members of the Institute, and in order 
 to facilitate the wish of any who may desire to join in the 
 Discussion, I will ask them to send up their cards, and I will 
 call upon tliem in the order in which they do so. We have 
 Mr. George Howell present, from whom Mr. Brassey obtained 
 some valuable statistics ; and perhaps, if he has no objection, 
 he will, as a representative of the working-classes, open the 
 Discussion. 
 
 Mr. George Howell. — I did not expect to be called upon 
 to open the Discussion. I thought that opportunity would 
 fall to some member of the Institute. I certainly did give 
 Mr. Brassey a number of facts for his Paper, and he has 
 acknowledged that I did my best to give them exactly as 
 tbey were, so that the Institute might be able to come to a 
 proper conclusion. It seems to me there is not a better body 
 in London to deal with this question than architects ; they 
 hold, as it were, a neutral position between builders and con- 
 tractors on the one side, and the men upon the other. With 
 regard to the facts of the Paper, their accuracy has been 
 acknowledged by the architects and by a large building firm 
 to whom they were referred, so that it will not be necessary 
 to go into them. There are one or two clerical errors, which
 
 296 Appejidiv. 
 
 I will hand to the Secretary, but tliey are not important. 
 The more important point that arose out of Mr. Brassey's 
 Paper was the alleged want of earnestness on the part of tlie 
 men at their work. Now, Sir, it will not be necessary to 
 enter into a long argument to prove that a large part of this 
 dispute turns upon piece-work. The architects of London 
 know full well that in building operations it is almost impos- 
 sible to apply the principle of piece-work throughout a build- 
 ing. There are certain departments in which it can be 
 applied ; but I ask any architect who knows anything of his 
 business, how it is possible to apply the principle of piece-work 
 with regard to the brick-work of large buildings ? Tliere 
 may be instances in which it may be applied, such as arches ; 
 but to apply the principle of piece-work, or task-work, or 
 anything of that kind, it must assume the particular form of 
 a number of men combining, and taking a portion of the 
 work and dividing the profits among them. Absolute piece- 
 work — that is to say, each man doing his own work and re- 
 ceiving payment for his portion — is next to impossible in 
 many operations in the building trade, and particularly in 
 regard to the bricklayers' part of it. It can be done to a 
 certain extent with the masons and amongst the joiners, but 
 taking the building trade throughout there are many difficul- 
 ties in tlie way of its application which cannot be got over. 
 I contend that the principle of piece-work can only be applied 
 where the man can bring his own eneigies to bear upon the 
 work, or a particular portion of i<", and complete that work by 
 himself. He is then responsible to himself alone for the 
 amount of work done, and to the master for the way in which 
 it is done. A tailor and a shoemaker can do this, and in 
 some parts of the building trade it can be done also ; but 
 many of the difficulties on the part of workmen with regard 
 to piece-work, so far as I have been able to understand them, 
 have arisen from the difficulty of applying the principle 
 throughout the building. I have had experience both as a 
 man and as a foreman, and to some little extent as a master, 
 but I have not yet been able to see my way clear to the 
 application of the principle of piece-work during the entire
 
 Appendiv. 297 
 
 progress of the building. I will now ^o to the other ques- 
 tion, which, I think, is one of the most disastrous allegations 
 that is, or can be, made against the British workman — viz., 
 that he skulks at his work, and does not endeavour to give a 
 fair equivalent for the wages he receives. Now, Sir, I am 
 prepared to admit that there is in human nature (and I am 
 afraid that applies to all human nature, and not particularly 
 to the working man) the desire to get as much money as pos- 
 sible for as little work as possible. Every man in his own 
 particular way strives to get as much money as he can for the 
 least amount of work. Allow me to explain. It depends 
 entirely upon the way you apply that principle. If a man 
 has a certain amount of work allotted to him, and he shirks 
 it, and still tries to grasp the money for it, it will not 
 apply. What I affirm is, that this statement, in the 
 sense in which it is used against the workinof men of this 
 country, is untrue with regard to them, just as much as 
 it is untrue with regard to all other classes of the com- 
 munity. The difficulty of testing what amount of work 
 a man should do is not a small one. Take the occupation 
 of brick-laying. A great number of people with whom 
 I come in contact have got hold of a notion that the 
 proper number of bricks for a bricklayer to lay per day is a 
 thousand, and that he ought to do that each day. I need 
 not say to any practical man, whether builder or architect, 
 that in some cases a bricklayer can do this without great 
 pressure, but that in others he cannot. It would, in some 
 cases, be harder work, in the more complicated parts of a 
 building, to lay three hundred bricks, than a thousand in 
 others. Everything depends upon where they have to be laid, 
 and the style in which the work has to be done. The diffi- 
 culty of gauging the amount of work is so great that much 
 misapprehension has arisen. When collecting these facts for 
 Mr. Brassey, I talked to a number of men as to the amount 
 of work done by individuals twenty- five and thirty years ago 
 and now, and the answer I have had in almost all cases with 
 regard to skilled men has been, that their work to-day in 
 quantity and quality will bear comparison with that done at
 
 208 Appendix. 
 
 any former period of their lii story. The only exception has 
 been where there has been a kind of nigger-driving, such as 
 tbat formerly practised in the outlying districts by persons 
 called 'sloggers' and 'jerry-builders.' There was a time 
 wlien a few men were paid sixpence per day to ' run ' the 
 other men, so as to cause them to run up a certain quantity 
 of work in a given time, but that has been abandoned. The 
 men to-day are usually allotted their work according to their 
 trades, and I venture to say further — and I say it in the pre- 
 sence of men who are competent to ju/lge — that if the work- 
 men of London do not do tlieir duty to-day, the fault is not 
 so much with them as with the incompetent foremen put over 
 them, although even this is not so general as it used to be. 
 A foreman should know the quantity of work that every man 
 should do, and the aggregate amount of work that the men 
 coml)ined should do ; and it is his duty to see that every man 
 is put in his proper place. If the men are properly arranged 
 in places suited to their special skill and ability, I venture to 
 say to-day that the men will be able to do as much work, and 
 would do it as well, as they have ever done at any former 
 period of their history. With regard to the particular fact 
 stated by Mr. Brassey that occurred at York — I do not wish 
 to say one word that maybe construed as disrespectful to the 
 gentleman who supplied that statement — but I venture to say 
 that it is very difficult indeed for a body of gentlemen, upon an 
 ex parte statement such as that, to come to any definite or 
 proper conclusion. There are many circumstances that would 
 have to be taken into consideration, and it would be necessary 
 for a man competent to judge to know the details before 
 coming to a proper decision. Why, Sir, I have had to test a 
 ^reat number of those conclusions printed by Mr. Grreg, Mr. 
 Thornton, and other gentlemen, with regard to trades unions, 
 and I venture to say that ninety-nine out of every hundred 
 of the allegations made against these societies are not true in 
 the sense in which they are stated. I say that after having 
 examined them. Here is cne of them, quoted by Mr, Greg 
 and ]Mr. Thornton, and bandied aljout all over the country 
 with regard to laying bricks with both hands. Why, it has
 
 Appendix. 209 
 
 l*een a matter of wonder to me liow any body of men, or how 
 any single man with any knowledge whatever of building 
 operations, could talk about ' one-handed bricklayers ;' and 
 yet Capital and Labour printed some absurd story, taken 
 from an American paper, on this subject of 'one-handed 
 bricklayers.' What is the absolute fact ? Practically it is as 
 difficult for a man to lay bricks with both hands as it is for a 
 clerk to write with both hands. It is only in very few in- 
 stances that a man is able to lay down his trowel and take 
 up tlie bricks with both hands, and that is on wide walls, 
 footings, and the like ; vrliere he can do this, there is no nde 
 against it. Supposing he were eternally in the habit of put- 
 ting down his trowel and of taking up the bricks with both 
 hands, those of you who have never handled a trowel except 
 in kid gloves know little of the result. Bricks are hard and 
 gritty, and not only so, but it is necessary to have them 
 thoroughly saturated with water, especially in walls where 
 cement has to be used. Now, the inevitable result would be 
 this, that in course of time the thumib and fingers of the hand 
 which has to hold the trowel would become so chapped that 
 the thumb would be nearly useless. He then could not easily 
 go on with his work, and the result would be that instead of 
 gaining in quantity he would lose in quantity and correspond- 
 ingly in skill also. The difficulties of putting down and 
 taking up the trowel are small things in themselves; but a 
 practical man knows them, and he will smile at the absurdity 
 of such an allegation against the trades unions. I do not 
 mean to say that trades unions have not some stupid rules : 
 in the past many stupid rules have been got rid of; but let 
 us attack the rules tliat are absurd, and not waste our time 
 in going off into side issues. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Hill, Visitor. — As the author of a Paper 
 on ' The Freedom of the Labour Market,' which I had the 
 honour to read in the Grand Juiy Room of St. George's 
 Hall, Liverpool, before the Historic Society of Lancashire 
 and Cheshire, when the late Sir William Brown, Bart.,M.P., 
 presided, I venture now to make a few remarks. In that 
 Paper I ventured to make allusion to the strike of the
 
 300 Appendix. 
 
 operative masons when that magnificent pile, the Law Courts 
 of Liverpool, was being erected, and I made bold to state 
 that that strike contributed to the failure of the contractors 
 for the masonry. I am sure that it is a very important 
 question for the members of trades unions to consider 
 whether it is not desirable that something like fair play 
 should be shown as towards masters by men. As a Lancashire 
 man, I am a great admirer of fair play, and I believe there 
 should be more consideration for the masters shown than has 
 hitherto been the case. It is quite true that capital can do 
 nothing without labour, but it is capital that calls labour 
 into exercise — the designer (such as our wortliy Chairman) to 
 plan, and the skilful hand to execute. If we thought more 
 and strove more for the union of Capital and Labour, and 
 accomplished it, I believe that the interests of this country in 
 a commercial sense would be fully maintained. As regards 
 the rise of wages in the building trade, you must not forget 
 that there is an important factor which has been altogether 
 ignored here, and that is the lessened purchasing value of 
 money. You are well aware that in the present day you 
 cannot lay out a sovereign as you did a quarter of a century 
 ago. Perhaps clothing may be a little cheaper, but articles 
 of consumption and rents are dearer ; and these prices are 
 not regulated as the members of trades unions attempt to 
 regulate their prices, by artificial regulations or restrictions 
 of their own. They are the result of the universal law of 
 supply and demand. You may as well try and make water 
 go up a hill without hydraulic pressure as to cause wages to 
 rise unless there is a demand for the labour that earns them. 
 In 1859 there was a strike of the builders in London; and, 
 if you will permit me, I will read you a few extracts from my 
 Paper referred to : — 
 
 ' A principle to be just and equitable, the converse of it must 
 hold good ; and is it reasonable to expect such a total abnegation 
 of self-interest on the part of the hirer required in bis contract 
 to pay a fixed and uniform rate of wages, determined by a small 
 clique, irrespective of the ability of the men, or the state of the 
 labour market at the time, which, like all others, ought to be
 
 Appendix. ;^0l 
 
 regulated by the universal law of supply and demand, when the 
 hired are at liberty to transfer their industry where, and in many 
 cases when, they choose, or with a very brief notice ? 
 
 ' The egregious impropriety of this is apparent if duly 
 reflected upon, and how often the period selected for a strike 
 is when the employer is saddled with a heavy contract, extend- 
 ing over a long space, and taken on the basis of a fair steady 
 rate of wages, and, in addition, materials rising, with a certainty 
 of a penalty being incurred if not fulfilled in the stipulated time.' 
 
 I have taken a great interest for many years in tlie welfare 
 of working- men, for I am the son of a working' man, and 
 having been at the bench in my native town of Preston in 
 my early youth, I may claim to speak with some knowledge 
 of the question. I remember, when a lad of seven years, on 
 going to school, I was attracted by a demonstration in Canal 
 Street, Preston, and it turned out to be a lot of people 
 coming out on strike. They were crying out against im- 
 provements in the machinery for cotton-spinning — the self- 
 acting mule — forgetting that ' necessity is the mother of 
 invention.' That is a lesson to those in our day whose 
 tendency is to work in the inverse ratio of the amount of 
 their earnings. The more you pay a man beyond what is 
 his legitimate value — because there are bricklayers and brick- 
 layers — the more you may outrage every true principle of 
 political economy. There are men who are skilled, and who 
 are entitled to good wages ; but an attempt at levelling will 
 be disastrous in every respect. 
 
 ' It is notorious to every watchful reader, that combinations 
 or strikes can be almost invariably traced to the acts of an 
 individual called the secretary of a club, or trades union, whose 
 word is law ; and when his fiat has gone forth, none of its mem- 
 bers dare say, " What doest thou ? " If proof be needed on this 
 head, I will quote the manifesto dated July 25, 1859, of Mr. 
 George Potter, Secretary of the London Operatives Building 
 Trades, viz. : — 
 
 ' " The Master Builders having refused to concede the nine 
 hours as a day's work, the Conference of the United Building 
 Trades have been directed by the members of the movement to
 
 302 Appendiv. 
 
 call upon a firm to cease work. Having done so, tliey now appeal 
 to 3'ou to aid iliera in supporting the men now on strike at Messrs. 
 Trollope & Sons. It is earnestly hoped that no workman will 
 go in to supplant them till they have obtained their object — ' It is 
 expected that every man will do his duty.' " 
 
 ' So far as the great body of the building operatives were 
 concerned, they wore ignorant of the parties whom they were 
 called upon to obey, as shadowed forth in the document just 
 read, nor has it yet publicly transpired who were the members of 
 this secret conclave. The object of the strike, to get ten hours' 
 pay for nine hours' work and to give additional employment, is 
 too fresh in your memories to demand ivora me more than a passing 
 notice.' 
 
 What I would recommend is, that you should teach the 
 children in our elementary schools the principles of political 
 economy. I trust that working men will consider their 
 position. I who have pleaded the cause of charity in the 
 Metropolis and elsewhere, tell 3^ou that charity is twice 
 blessed : ' it blesseth him who gives and him who takes ; ' 
 but I would say distinctly that the 1 50l. taken on Saturday 
 by the operative masons on strike from the Bricklayers' 
 Union could not have a blessing attached to it. It was a 
 premium, not to idleness, but to neglect of work. I believe 
 there is a dignity in labour, and the more you labour the 
 more you will conduce to the greatness of this country, and 
 the more you will promote your own moral worth and 
 comfort. 
 
 Mr. Horace Jones, Fellow. — I regret not to have been 
 present on the last evening, when Mr. Brassey's Paper was 
 read, but in the interval I have had the pleasure of perusing 
 it ; and, whilst there is much in it that one cannot help 
 appreciating and admiring, yet it is not so perfect as I 
 expected it would be from Mr. Brassey's well-known talent. 
 He seems to have been hardly the physician who sees the 
 cause of the disease, and relieves if not cures the patient. 
 One of the speakers struck a very important key-note when 
 he spoke of the enhanced price of provisions, but even he 
 omitted the importation of gold and silver, which is a factor
 
 Apjteiidiv. 303 
 
 in this question. Now, between 1865 and 1875 there has 
 been an accumulation of bullion, of gold and of silver, in the 
 country of between 40,000,000^. and 50,000,000^., and that 
 must necessarily give some increased price to almost every 
 article. A great many articles have been kept down in 
 price by the application of machinery, which often utilised 
 the labourer at the expense of skilled workmen ; but it is a 
 natural thing that the workman should have his wages 
 increased, and we know how liberal contractors are. They 
 are always liberal enough to put 25 per cent, upon the men's 
 wages without being asked for it ; and I have no doubt that 
 is the origin of strikes. There is another thing that need 
 never have occurred if something like the old spirit prevailed 
 which used to animate the master tradesman of fifty or sixty 
 years ago. He hid two or three apprentices, skilled work- 
 men, in his own trade, whom in all probability he paid weekly, 
 whether in good work or in bad, fine weather or foul weather, 
 all the year round ; and with half a dozen of this class of 
 men, and his sons, and two or three apprentices, he readily 
 defied any strike. It is this class of men, and none more 
 likely, that must have carried out the designs of such archi- 
 tects as Sir William Chambers and Sir Christopher Wren, 
 for the names of master masons and plasterers, &c., are found 
 in books of the period relating to these works, because in 
 that day they did not occupy the ignoble position in their 
 craft that they do in ours. There was one point that oc- 
 curred to me in listening to Mr. Howell, and that was as to 
 the motives with which men labour. I have faith enough to 
 believe that many go about their work with a feeling quite 
 irrespective of what they are to be paid when it is done. 
 Some men, I thoroughly believe, do their work fairly and 
 properly. There is one peculiarity I should like to mention, 
 which is this : that though there is an importation during 
 these fifteen years of so large an amount of gold, there has 
 been no corresponding increase of taxation between 1865 and 
 1875. In the former year the rate was '21. lOs. per head, 
 and in the latter 2l, 10s. 5d. 
 
 Mr. George Potter, Visitor.— Before I come to the Paper
 
 304 Appendix. 
 
 read by Mr. Brassey, I should like to say a few words in 
 reply to tlie gentleman whose opinions have been so generally 
 endorsed in this room — Mr. Hill. J^y what he says it would 
 appear that working men are always trying to secure rights 
 for themselves regordless of the rights of others, and he gives 
 you an example which fortunately, I suppose, it happens I 
 am here to listen to. He tells you how the great Lock-Out 
 occurred in 1859 through one man, and that man myself. 
 It is well that he should be corrected in this mistake, because 
 I am sure there are many here who know very differently. 
 [The statement of Mr. Hill is embodied in what he read.] 
 Although I played a humble part in that Lock-Out, yet it 
 only occurred after due deliberation through every branch of 
 the building trade. Two alternatives were presented — either 
 to cease work or continue work. A large majority of the 
 building operatives through their delegates declared in favour 
 of ceasing work. I, with many of the other leading delegates, 
 was opposed to that, and urged as far as we coidd the advisa- 
 bility of continuing to work until a proper settlement might 
 be made. So much for the great Lock-Out of 1859 taking 
 place through the dictation of one man and that man myeelf. 
 [Mr. Hill. — Was not your signature attached to any docu- 
 ment ? ] [The Chairman. — I hope you will abstain from 
 personal remarks.] I do not wish to throw any acrimony 
 into this Discussion, but when it goes forth that I was the 
 cause of that strike twenty years ago, I think the actual facts 
 should be stated. In the same way it is quite right that a 
 body of British architects should understand that it is not 
 true, and that no strike can occur of any magnitude without 
 the sanction of the trade in which the strike takes place. 
 It is not in the power of any secretary or any officer to create 
 a great strike. I hope that misstatement, now that it has 
 been corrected, will never be repeated, because it is likely to 
 mislead those who want amicably to arrange the differences 
 between capital and labour. The question is too great to be 
 led away by such one-sided statements. Now, Mr. President, 
 there is very much in Mr. Brassey's Paper that we can all 
 agree upon. He is a man who has given considerable
 
 Appendix. 305 
 
 att(Mition to this matter and al)lo to give an opinion, 
 because lie always tries to speak without prejudice. But 
 we must always remember that there are two stand-points to 
 the ([uestion : the one that of the capitalist and the other 
 that looked at from the side of labour. Tlu-ough these two 
 stand-points, of course, the questions are generally decided. 
 Now it is not correct to say that trades unions are opposed 
 to capital. You never hear any of the leading men amongst 
 them denouncing capital. Unwise things may be said to 
 that effect, but they are not correct. It is necessary that 
 capital should exist, and that labour should work for it and 
 share the rewards produced by the united residt. All differ- 
 ence arises on the point of what share of that residt should 
 go to capital and what to labour. You have mentioned that 
 within the last thirty years the wages of the building opera- 
 tives have advanced 4-1 per cent. I do not think that is a 
 very exorbitant advance. If you trace out the facts, you will 
 find that in the same period capital has gone up 250 per 
 cent, and therefore the other advance of 44 per cent, is not 
 an imreasonable one. We must never forget that the men 
 have as much desire to get as much as they can for as good 
 work as they can do, as the master has to get a good profit 
 for his outlay. The question is, as I said before, What is 
 the fair profit and what is the fair wage ? Is it to be sup- 
 posed that the workmen should remain to-day as they were 
 thirty years ago ? Would the architects be as satisfied as 
 they are with their work ? Certainly not. I consider that 
 the improvement which has taken place among the building 
 operatives must be as much calculated to benefit the capital- 
 ist and employer as it is to benefit the workmen themselves. 
 As to the employers' interests being more neglected — I main- 
 tain the contrary. You charge us with suggesting that every 
 man should be paid alike : nothing of the kind is done. The 
 trades unionists are a minority, and in fixing a minimum 
 they find that men outside can work for whatever wages they 
 like, and there is not a master builder or architect but knows 
 that in the building trade there are a great many men who 
 work under 9r7. an hour, which is the minimum as it is also- 
 
 X
 
 306 Appendix. 
 
 tlie maxiinum. It is seldom, you know, that a master pays 
 mere than the minimum price to a skilled artisan. ^Yhat I 
 wnnt to enforce upon the jNfeeting is this, that the master 
 builders always know the best men and are willing- to take 
 them at the minimum price. It is far more profitable to 
 have a good workman at 9c^. than an inferior man at Id. or 
 ^d. Everybody knows now, that when it is represented that 
 we desire all to be paid alike, it is a fallacy. Mr. Howell 
 very forcibly put the question of piece-work, and showed that 
 in many branches of the building trade it is impracticable. 
 Joiners can do it, as for example, in making sashes, of which 
 when finished tJiose engaged upon them can divide the pro- 
 ceeds. But here is the point, that if it is found they have 
 earned too much they must do the next job cheaper, or they 
 must go back to day-work, when they will be expected to do 
 as much as when working might and main, having a pro- 
 spective benefit in view for themselves. Hence two practical 
 evils evidently arise out of that — either reduced wages and 
 harder work, or more work expected from the day-time system. 
 Consequently where piece-work is taken up it ought to be on 
 a fixed scale, that shall not be altered by the will of the fore- 
 man or the desire of the employer. Now a word about over- 
 time. I have worked in a shop when I have at last actually 
 gone to sleep upon the shavings, working from five in the 
 morning to eleven at night, and whilst I was sleeping my 
 employer had to pay me. Was that right ? and there were 
 scores of men in the same case. I say overtime was unprofit- 
 able to the master, a curse to the man, and a nuisance to 
 society, and therefore in doing away with systematic overtime 
 we hit a blow at a bad system. When you look at the dif- 
 ferences between masters and men, you must understand that 
 it is not always the men who are in the wrong. Why do not 
 you tell us something about the extraordinary differences of 
 the contracts of master builders ? You tell us of the dift'"er- 
 ences in wages — why not in this ? Look at the great job now 
 in progress — the Law Courts. We all know that the highest 
 estimate was 1,000,000^., and that the lowest was 720,000^. 
 — nearly 300,000/. less, and the man is now executing the
 
 Appendix. 307 
 
 contract. If the man could do that and pay fair wages and 
 find o-ood materials, and have the work profitably done to 
 himself, what must have been the man's profit upon the 
 million sterling'? Taking a smaller case — the building of 
 a Board Scliool for 10,000L, I find there is a diff'erence of 
 2,000/. in one estimate. One man will do it for 10,000L, 
 another for 8,000/. If the lowest can give good wages and 
 find proper material, then I say it is right we should under- 
 stand where the difference is. I quite agree with Mr. Jones 
 that the old relations between masters and men are dying 
 out. When I first came to London one master might only 
 do one branch of the building trade and employ a few men 
 and apprentices and pay them what they were worth. Now 
 you have giant firms that override the small builder, and 
 they pay foremen and middle men to come between employer 
 and employed, putting man against man, setting one part of 
 society against the other, and then you complain of the evils 
 this sort of thing creates. Surely if the old system of re- 
 lationship between master and man has disappeared, the day 
 system been destroyed, the hour and minute contract intro- 
 duced, upon what understanding, I ask, will the future work of 
 this country be carried on ? Let me tell you that honest Eng- 
 lish artisans do not desire to oppose their masters, or vex, or 
 annoy them. They are, as far as I know them, willing to 
 work as well as they can ; but they desire some small advan- 
 tages from the great increase of wealth and the great pro- 
 gress of civilisation. These are the reasons why the men try 
 to get their labour dignified, their homes comfortable and 
 liappy, and themselves physically strong, artistically trained, 
 and technically educated, to enable them to execute their 
 work in a satisfactory manner to their employer and with 
 advantage to their country. 
 
 Mr. Lucas, Visitor. — I should be sorry to say one word 
 against the operatives. We have profited largely by them, 
 and they, as a rule, have behaved extremely well to us, and 
 it is only from the sense of duty I feel towards you and to- 
 w^ards the public that induced my firm to supply ]Mr. Brassey 
 wuth the information lie called upon us to give. That in-
 
 308 Appendix. 
 
 formation lias not been disputed. All ]Mcs.<r.s. ^(jwcll and 
 Potter may say, if they talked till Doomsday, will not alter 
 the fact that the men do not now do a day's work. Mr. 
 Howell has suggested that the cause of the small amount of 
 work at York was probably due to a bad foreman. Now I 
 have only to mention the name of that foreman — Mr. 
 Clemeuce, one of the most able men of his class, and who 
 has satisfactorily carried out many of the largest works that 
 we have ever undertaken — to show you that in this supposi- 
 tion Mr. Howell is mistaken. [Mr. Howell. — I did not 
 refer to him personally.] Not to him personally, but to the 
 foreman. No doubt, it is a painful thing to JMr. Howell and 
 to Mr. Potter to have to disclose this, but not more painful 
 than it has been to me ; but still the information tliat I give 
 to Mr. Brassey, I am bound by, and am prepared to pi'ove, 
 even though it may appear to you, as it did to me, past 
 belief. It is not only that it refers to the particular work 
 under consideration, but to all out-door work in the building 
 trade — not shop work, because as you well understand, the 
 great bulk of work in the shops is done by machinery; 
 neither does it refer to engineering works. Now Mr. Howell 
 talks of being a working man, and Mr. Potter does the same; 
 but, gentlemen, I would ask — what am I but a working man? 
 I began life — as your President, Mr. Barry, well knows — 
 working for six shillings per week. I never liad a shilling but 
 what I worked for, and I attained my present position step 
 by step, by using such ability as I had to the utmost, and by 
 making the best friends I could of my employers. But 
 whatever ability a man may have for his business, and what- 
 ever his sense of honour, and however desirous he may be to 
 become a man amongst men, I defy him to rise to such a 
 position under the rules and regulations of trades unions. 
 It may seem like an attempt to speak boastingly, although 
 nothing could be further from my wish, but I do not hesitate 
 to say that my position has been made by my own energ}-, 
 and by my own freedom of labour. I have given you, 
 throuo-h Mr. Brassey, a statement showing the cost of labour 
 and work done, at %d. per hour, and the cost at its
 
 Appendix. 309 
 
 present rate of 9cZ. ; and the ref^ult, which is arrived at from 
 books most accurately and carefully kept, and to an examina- 
 tion of which I invite any of yom- Council, is broadly that 
 there is now little more than half the work done for 9d. that 
 there was formerly done for 6cZ. — a fact which I am prepared 
 to prove. The only way, in my opinion, to adjust this is by 
 the use of additional machinery and by piece-work. I do not 
 for a moment desire to run down the value or the rate of 
 labour. It is perfectly immaterial to the master what he 
 pays a man, provided the public will repay him (the master) 
 for it. But will the public do this ? You are told by one of 
 their own spokesmen that it is natural for all men to do as 
 little as they can ; but I deny Mr. Howell's assertion that it 
 is the feeling of all men to do as little as possible for the 
 largest sum of money they can get. I feel that I owe my 
 success in life to the great industry and to the good example 
 of my parents. They never allowed their children to be idle, 
 but I maintain that it is now the system with the workmen 
 — and what an example for their children for the next genera- 
 tion ! — to do as little as they can for as large a sum of money 
 as they can obtain, and for the shortest period of time ! I 
 should like to put this to the wives of the men — and it is an 
 exact simile. What would a woman think if she went to a 
 baker's shop for a quartern loaf, and found that its cost was 
 9d. instead of Qd. ; and not only that, but that they gave her 
 a half-quartern instead of a quartern for her Qd. ? That is 
 practically the case with us. We pay more and get less, and 
 in tliese proportions. I quite agree with IMr. Potter, and I 
 think his proposition a reasonable one, that piece-work should 
 be set at such a price that the men can well earn good wages 
 and live. I do not know that the Council of the Institute of 
 British Architects could be better employed, with the assist- 
 ance of their experts, the surveyors, if they would do so, than 
 in framing, as between the masters and the men, what would 
 be fair prices for labour. Let me assure Mr. Howell and Mr. 
 Potter that I will give the men all I receive for their labour, 
 less 10 per cent, for my capital and risk, and for my personal 
 attention to the business. I venture to say that the em-
 
 310 Appendix. 
 
 ployerrf are the best friends of the men. No firm in the trade 
 has ompk^yed more men than we have done, and neither my 
 brother nor myself ever said or did an unkind thing to a 
 workman. We have always endeavoured to treat them in the 
 best possible manner. I will give you an instance of the 
 prejudicial effect of the existing state of things upon brick- 
 working and masonry. The moment a man gets to a point when 
 you cannot get anything fair from him the profession will set 
 their wits to work as to how they can best do without him. My 
 firm is now carrying out a large dock, the walls of which would 
 formerly have been built in brick-work and stone-work. At 
 jiresenb we are using upwards of half a million yards of con- 
 crete in the place of brick and stone. What does this mean ? 
 Tt means a million in money in brick-work, or 2,000,000^. of 
 masonry lost to the workmen. It is all done in concrete, and 
 so it will go on. We have a work adjoining the Charing 
 Cross Eailway Station, where it was intended to use a quantity 
 of stone, all of which has now been done away with. I am 
 quite sure that no professional man would wish to have a 
 stucco front, which, as a rule, is done either to save money or 
 to cover over some scamping brick-work, if he could use stone. 
 And why cannot he ? Because the cost of labour is so 
 enormous. No doubt this difBculty will be met, as in the 
 case of joiner's work, by the introduction of more and more 
 labour-saving machinery ; but what I want to impress upon 
 the men and their representatives is, that it is utterly im- 
 possible — I do not care who the master is, and no one can be 
 more anxious for the welfare of the men than myself — that 
 things can go on if third parties are allowed to interfere 
 between masters and men. It is just like a third person 
 coming and dictating between man and wife. Constant 
 interference produces constant ill-feeling and quarrelling. 
 The same thing applies to the interference of the leaders 
 of trades unions. You never know where you are. If you 
 can settle what is a day's fair work, keep to that by all 
 means. I do not care if it costs a sovereign, neither will the 
 public, if they get value for their money, but I do not 
 hesitate to tell Messrs. Howell and Potter that the public
 
 Appendix. 311 
 
 feel that they are not getting vakie received, and tliat this 
 must therefore end in the stoppage of works. Mr. Howell 
 suggested that it Mas all nonsense about men using two 
 hands to their bricks, but it is not nonsense, for I know it to 
 be a fact. Mr. Potter also asserted that it was all nonsense 
 about the men having the same rate of wages — I know it is 
 not nonsense, as T know this also to be a fact. They do claim 
 the same rate, and instead of 9c?. being the minimum, it was 
 agreed by masters and men together that it should be the 
 maximum for first-class liands. It is unfair as an all-round 
 scale. I am very glad to find that they are ashamed of this 
 claim, and have withdrawn it — if it is withdrawn. The idea 
 of Jseeping men at the same rate does not mean bringing the 
 bad to the level of the good, but the good to the level of the bad. 
 I do not hesitate to assert that there are as good mechanics 
 in this country as anywhere in the world ; but the men must 
 put their confidence in their employers in the same way that 
 we do in those from whom we obtain our contracts, and the 
 men must in a measure be led by us. With regard to the 
 cost of their labour, I have stated that I am quite prepared on 
 behalf of my firm to give them all that I receive for their 
 labour, less 10 per cent, for the interest of my capital and 
 risk, and for my personal attention to the work. If not 
 satisfied with that, then I would suggest to Messrs. Howell 
 and Potter — and they have enormous influence over working 
 men — that it would be wiser and better, instead of sacrificing 
 an enormous amount of money in these constant strikes, 
 if you think you are not getting a fair share of our profits, 
 to form a co-operative building society of your own. You 
 might become masters, and I will venture to say that you 
 would not be in business a month before you would upset 
 your trades union rules. So far from opposing you, I would 
 help you to try what you could do. I assert boldly and fear- 
 lessly that the masters, as a rule, know too well the value of 
 good men not to treat them fairly and properly, and it is 
 the desire of the masters to pay them not only liberally but 
 handsomely. At the same time they must get a fair return 
 for their money, and in the building trade this applies as well
 
 312 Appead'u. 
 
 as ill evcryl]iin<^ else. It is stated that there is a great dan- 
 ger lliat piece-work may be 'scamped,' but that is a matter 
 of siiiK'rvision. I do not think it is dignified of tlie men 
 to say that it will be ' scamped,' for they mnst be scamps who 
 ucamp it. I do not believe it woidd be more scamped than 
 it is now. The difficulty that we have is the unfair position 
 we are placed in. I know — and no one knows better — that 
 we cannot estimate the cost of labour. We cannot contract 
 for it without putting on such an enormous margin that will 
 either lose us the contract, or in all probability, if that 
 margin is absorbed, will be doing an injustice to the public. 
 I tliink that it ought to be known, and it is very simple to a 
 man who understands his business, what is a fair day's work 
 for a man to do. Mr. Howell suggested that a man in a day 
 will place a certain number of bricks. I can go round with 
 any of my people and say, ' I think that work is worth three 
 guineas a rod,' but we have had to discharge men because it 
 has cost about 51. a rod, and this the most simple kind of 
 work — the result being simply astonishing. This is known 
 even to householders. Sir Henry Hunt spoke to me about 
 it, and expressed very much the same opinion, that he could 
 not now justify the cost of the work with the labour. I do 
 not think we have sent out an account this year in which 
 we could justify the cost of labour included in that 
 account. That is a painful thing for me to assert, and I 
 thoroughly believe that JNIr. Potter knows it to be true. 
 [Mr. PoTTBK. — You ought not to say that.] No doubt there 
 has been a great success in our trade ; we know that half 
 Loudon, with its suburbs, has been rebuilt within recent times. 
 Look also at the great engineering works and railroads, and the 
 enormous amount of business, all created and carried out 
 during our own time ; but I want to warn the men that these 
 works, although they have not come to an end, are not what 
 they have been. It is not for them now to trifle with the 
 public, although we admit that they ought to receive every 
 consideration. They should have a fair share of the profits 
 with their masters, but it ought to be settled what is a fair 
 day's work and what is a fair day's wages. I am sure that
 
 Appenaix. 313 
 
 every employer wishes to pay them fuirly, but to continue as 
 we are going on now is utterly impossible. What has kept 
 up the enormous cost of provisions ? Why, it is clear to my 
 mind — the enormous cost of labour — and it is those with 
 fixed incomes who feel the burden. It is not the builders 
 and the men who have had all the advantage of this increased 
 cost and wage. If you persuade a ploughman that he should 
 not plough so much land, and that he should demand more 
 money for the lesser quantity of work, of course the cost of 
 provisions must rise. I venture to lay before the men in all 
 kindness, and with the best possible feeling, that it is to our 
 mutual interest to adopt piece-work, provided that we can 
 agree to a fair price, and that all piece-work, when done, 
 should be well done, and a credit all round ; and let me pay 
 such a price that the men may feel a pride in their work, and 
 turn round to a ' scamper ' and say, ' Be off, or we will expose 
 you.' That is the tone and feeling that ought to exist 
 amongst working men. That was the tone and feeling when 
 I was young. I have worked as hard as any of you, and I 
 defy any man in the union or outside it to say that I have 
 not been a kind and considerate master. I am prepared to 
 give them a fair share of the profit, and nothing distresses 
 me now more than to see the error they have run into. My 
 remarks do not apply to a large number of men in my employ. 
 I have a very large number who have been with me from the 
 time they were boys, and now they are getting old men, and 
 their sons are in the firm and doing well. On our large 
 engineering works we have no difficulty in getting the w^ork 
 done. I have never attempted to screw a man down because 
 he has earned too much. If he has made the best use of his 
 time he deserves his reward. As to the hours of labour, 
 there is no firm, perliaps, more responsible for their shorten- 
 ing than mine. I thought it was desirable to let the men 
 work only nine hours, and I am prejjared to say I made a 
 mistake. I judged the men by myself, and thought that if 
 they had a half-holiday and an hour less to work each day, 
 they would work with increased will duiing the remainder of 
 the time ; but it has not proved so, and I do feel very strongly
 
 314 Appendix. 
 
 tliat it has been a mistake, both for the masters and for the 
 men, and also for the public, to knock off work in the sum- 
 mer time, which is tlio only time we can work on certain 
 out-door buildings. I am prepared to give my men the same 
 rate of wages in the winter time and shorter hoiu's if they 
 take full advantaoe of the summer. If I consider them in 
 this way, I do not think it unreasonable to expect that they 
 should consider me in return. If I have said one unkind 
 word about the men, I have not intended to do so : I have 
 spoken from a sense of duty and more in their interest than 
 my own. I have now arrived at a position that it will affect 
 few men less than myself what decision they may come to, 
 but with all friendship and affection I give them the advice 
 I give to my own boys — ' While you do work, work well, 
 and what j^ou do, do well.' 
 
 Mr. I' Anson, Fellow. — This discussion has been very in- 
 structive. The temperate way in which Mr. Howell and 
 Mr. Potter made their remarks struck me very much. Mr. 
 Potter admitted that trades unions had indulged in fallacies 
 and errors which they are learning now to put on one side. 
 I cannot agree with him in reference to the question of piece- 
 work. I have seen a great deal of brick-work executed and 
 I cannot conceive any work more capable of being done on 
 piece-work than brick-work. As regards Mr. Potter, I cannot 
 but admire much the sentiments which appeared to actuate 
 him ; but he is too theoretical. No doubt it is the combination 
 of capital and labour which produces all our great work, and if 
 it were possible to exactly adjust what each party should 
 take — as his share of profit — that no doubt would be the 
 right way of adjusting it, but that is extremely difficult and 
 quite theoretical. Now the practical solution is the supply 
 and demand. I think there is no better illustration of the 
 power of supply and demand than in the case of the labour 
 of domestic servants, which is familiar to us all. There has 
 been no strike among them, and their wages have increased 
 certainly 50 per cent, within thirty years. It is simply a 
 question of supply and demand. If you want servants you 
 know the difficulty of getting them, and the wages you must
 
 Appendix. 315 
 
 now pay them-- especially good ones — and the pay is in pro- 
 portion to their efiiciency. I do not ask the men, neither do 
 I counsel them, to trust altogether to their employers. They 
 might trust to the benevolence of such a master as the 
 gentleman who had just sat down, but I ask them to trust 
 to themselves. They have a perfect right to get the best 
 wages they can for their work, but it is an utter fallacy to 
 create rules which bring all men down to the same level, and 
 I\lr. Potter did not contradict this. [Mr. Potter. — We all 
 contradict it.] Then that is a most satisfactory declaration 
 to hear expressed in this room. Every one present must be 
 gratified to hear that. [Mr. Howell. — There is no such 
 rule in any trades union in the Kingdom. Mr. Potter. — 
 We do not care how much you pay a man. We do not fix 
 his wages.] I know an Alderman of the City of London, 
 one of the Delegates to the Philadelphia Exhibition, who 
 was interested principally in the stationery trade, and he 
 came back impressed with the feeling that our stationery 
 manufacture was leaving England for America. The wages 
 are higher, but there are no restrictions. A man may work 
 as long as he likes and as much as he likes, and it is the 
 absence of these restrictions that is enabling that country to 
 supersede us in that branch of the trade. For the first time 
 it seems to me that the masters have been taking quite the 
 right course in the masons' strike. They have not refused 
 the men in any way. They have simply found the men 
 would not work for what they consider a price remunerative 
 to themselves, and they have exercised their unquestionable 
 right to get their labour from elsewhere. The whole world 
 l<elongs to us. We may invite other workmen here. The 
 world is ours, and throughout the whole civilised world we 
 have a perfect right to get our labour in the cheapest way 
 we can. [A Voice. — The workmen will emigrate.] Then it 
 comes to a question of supply and demand. If the masters 
 cannot obtain labour cheaper abroad, they must simply pay the 
 wages the home people demand, and I do not blame the men 
 for getting them ; but do not let them obstruct other men 
 wh-o are willing to come and do just as good a day's work,
 
 olG Appendix. 
 
 nor let tbem impose rules which make all men equal. Let 
 there he free trade in labour on the part of the men as much 
 as on the part of the masters. That is, I think, the right 
 princii^le, and I hope and believe lliat tliat principle has 
 prevailed in the late strike, and that we shall hear no more 
 of the masons striking. 
 
 Lord Houghton, D.C.L., &c., Hon. Associate:— I have 
 had the honour before of meeting Mr. Potter upon one in- 
 teresting occasion, in which there was a Committee appointed 
 by the British Association to determine as far as possible 
 upon scientific grounds the relations of capital to labour. 
 We issued a little tract upon the subject which was the result 
 of our investigation. We had the pleasure of meeting gentle- 
 men of the same order of thought, including ]Mr. Lloyd Jones 
 and others — most intelligent men who understood the subject 
 perfectly, and we had more than once the opportunity of dis- 
 tinct conference between the persons powerfully representing 
 the other, side. The saddest part of that investigation, I think, 
 was this, that those gentlemen produced the same arguments 
 without being able to support them by any considerable 
 amount of new facts. What I mean by new facts is this : 
 they were not able to show us that these continuous strikes 
 which have taken place throughout this great commercial 
 country can be said to have paid themselves. When we con- 
 sider the immense amount of money that has been sacrificed 
 in these strikes, and what is much more unsatisfactory, the 
 enormous amount of loss among the people which has been 
 brought about by this enforced abstinence from labour, we 
 come to the conclusion that although there must have been, 
 and no doubt has been, a very considerable and legitimate 
 increase of the profits of labour in several trades and profes- 
 sions, yet nevertheless there is every reason to believe much 
 the same amount would have accrued if those agitations 
 had not existed. I have no word to say in relation to the 
 immediate effect of the masons' strike, fiu'ther than that in 
 my own sphere of life I do see the greatest disinclination of 
 persons to spend money upon subjects connected with build- 
 ing in consequence of the uncertainty brought about by strikes.
 
 Appendix. 317 
 
 The warning which has been given us is a very serious one, 
 and I think it is more serious than could have been under- 
 stood by the last speaker, Avhen he spoke of the importation 
 of foreign labour. Mr. Street, our chairman, knows well 
 enough what the relations are of foreign labour and how diffi- 
 cult it is to acclimatise that labour. There is a difficidty 
 about it which will always be very great, and I do not think 
 tliat much benefit will arise in that direction. I do believe 
 that the remedy really will be in the advance of education — 
 education which shall instruct the people in the true princi- 
 ples and necessities of political economy. Surely w^e have 
 had most serious warnings. Look at the present state of 
 business. Look especially at the state of the coal and iron 
 trades. Look at the condition of South Wales. With these 
 things before us these gentlemen must surely see that there 
 must be something paradoxical in their position, though I 
 quite believe that they are honestly sincere, yet they may 
 nevertheless in some cases be misled. It is a very grave but 
 very interesting fact that although there has been an effort 
 made the other day in America, where the Democratic. Cabi- 
 net used their power with an intensity and severity which 
 Government cannot assume in this country, that outbreak of 
 a socialistic character was put down by the common sense of 
 the people, although at a considerable sacrifice. With regard 
 to the building trade, surely it is one in which the difficulty 
 of this question must press upon you as strongly as possible. 
 What was said by one gentleman in regard to the additional 
 employment of machinery and the use of composite material 
 with the concrete is of deep import to working men. These 
 new things are being adopted every day ; and I am certain 
 within a few years, if this agitation does go on, you will find 
 an entire change in the construction of the building trade of 
 this country which will throw out of work a large portion of 
 the skilled labour that now could find employment. 
 
 Professor Kekr, Fellow. — I gather from the speeches of 
 Mr. Howell and Mr. Potter, as representatives of the working- 
 classes, that they are willing to appeal to the body of archi- 
 tects as impartial and intelligent enough to be invited to give
 
 318 Append{:c. 
 
 their verdict upon the broad question now at i-^sue. I will 
 not take upon myself to speak for the l)ody of architects or 
 for the mass of the men in this room ; bnt I have to suo-g-est 
 three propositions. I think architects at lar<^e, who, I may 
 say, are most impartial jiidg^es on tliis question and most 
 anxious that justice should be done on both sides, would be 
 in the first place perfectly prepared to countenance and en- 
 courage trades unions for all good pui-poses, because we our- 
 selves know how good a purpose it serves for our own profession 
 to be bound together in unity. But there are two things no 
 architect will ever countenance as regards the policy of trades 
 unions as a matter of fact. The first is the attempt, whatever 
 form it may assume, to equalise wages. That is a thing no 
 architect would ever thinlc to be either just or judicious. 
 Secondly, he would not countenance the monstrously cum- 
 brous, awkward, and wicked policy of strikes. There never 
 can be an excuse for a strike in this world. On that, I be- 
 lieve, we would all agree. I am sorry these gentlemen should 
 be in a minority, but I am afraid that is inevitable in the 
 Institute of Architects. A strike is an act of open war, in- 
 ternecine war, war ci outrance; and the object with which 
 it is initiated is to destroy most et!ectually for the occasion 
 the whole ground-work of peace policy. Now if there is any- 
 thing which has benefited this country during recent times it 
 is the peace in which we have been fortunately allowed to 
 exist ; and if there is anything which will benefit the working- 
 classes it is the pursuit of an undeviating policy of perfect 
 peace. Common sense exists in this country almost in excess ; 
 at all events, we may certainly say that common sense may 
 probably always be relied upon ; and the common sense of 
 the public is against those who fight. I have ventured to 
 suggest — and the common sense of architects may be taken 
 as representing the common sense of the public — that we 
 shall never agree either to an equalisation of the wages of 
 workmen, or to the policy of strikes. 
 
 Mr. Chatfield Clarke, Fellow. — I do not quite sympa- 
 thise with the tone of our friend who has just sat down. I 
 think it would be a great mistake if any representatives of
 
 Appendix 319 
 
 working" men left this room without feeling that architects 
 are able not only to a certain extent to understand the posi- 
 tion tliey occupy, but to appreciate it. Of course, in common 
 with many of the other speakers, I cannot shut my eyes to the 
 fact, as an architect, that there has been a decadence in the 
 kind of work and in the quantity of work that one sees on 
 one's buildings. With regard to the question of labour, I 
 hold that the working man, as a free agent, has a perfect 
 riii'ht to combine with his fellow men to raise his wa^es to 
 any extent, where no intimidation is exercised upon the indi- 
 vidual man himself. I put that as a sort of limitation upon 
 the bent and genius of Professor Kerr's argument. Further 
 than this (though I rejoice to believe that arbitration is the 
 true ground for masters and men to meet upon in any ques- 
 tion of difference of wage), I still believe and maintain that 
 supposing the masters will not meet tlie men or the men 
 the masters, a strike or a lock-out may become a necessity. 
 Therefore, I do not go so far as to say that a strike is a crime. 
 However much we may regret the injurious character and 
 operation of strikes, we cannot say that they are in any sense 
 a crime, but rather that they are the unfortunate residt of 
 the antagonism between labour and capital, where neither party 
 has met the thing in quite the right spirit. Do not think 
 that I believe the effect of strikes has been good : I believe 
 they have been most prejudicial ; but, on the other hand, I 
 think we ought to show tlie widest and deepest sympathy 
 with the working men in their efforts to raise tlieir position 
 in the social scale, and we ought to try and place ourselves 
 in their position and recollect what that position is, and that 
 monetarily they have nothing to live by except by increasing 
 their waoe to the y-reatest extent. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Gates, Fellow. — I am able to offer a very 
 apt illustration of the manner in which the working man 
 endeavours to elevate the standard of his position, to increase 
 the amount of his earnings, and to better his condition : an 
 enterprising contractor in the west country, having large 
 demand for worked granite, and desiring to introduce that 
 admirable material extensively in the works on whicli he was
 
 :>20 Appendix. 
 
 engagcfl,ha(l to soino extent heen supplied from certain (piar- 
 ries where for perhaps sixty years the masons had worked 
 piece-work. With a view to developing this trade, he became 
 the occupier of the quarries, and made arrangements for em- 
 barking a considerable capital in the works, premising that 
 the labour would be carried on as heretofore ; but no sooner 
 had this capitalist desired to take labour into partnership 
 with him, and to ensure the development of the profitable 
 employment of labour and of capital, than the local society 
 gave him notice that no more piece-work should be done, but 
 all day-work was insisted on at one rate of wages. And this 
 is a fair illustration of the course the working man thinks 
 most adapted to advance his interests. [Mr. Howell. — Was 
 that notice given by a union ?] I apprehend by the Society 
 of Grranite Masons. [Mr. Howkll. — We cannot test facts of 
 this description without the name.] My correspondent does 
 not specify the name of the society, but the quarries referred 
 to are the Dartmoor Granite Quarries. The notice was re- 
 ceived from a society. The result of this action taken by 
 the masons or the society on their behalf, has been that my 
 informant has been compelled to abandon the intention he 
 liad formed of developing the working of these quarries, and 
 where perhaps 300 men might have had full and continuous 
 employment, paid for in such a manner that each man's skill 
 and physical power would have received its commensurate re- 
 ward, without limit imposed on the extent of earnings, and a 
 corresponding benefit would have been conferred on the whole 
 locality — only some thirty men are now engaged in the 
 preparation of pitching, the commonest form of labour, and 
 this because, under the system insisted on by the men, the 
 cost of production of work such as curbs, ashlar-plinths, moulded 
 work, &c., like finished work, would cost some 25 or 30 per 
 cent, more than under the old system. The same correspon- 
 dent writes that for the execution of certain limestone welling, 
 he, as on previous occasions, invited the masons to take it 
 piece-work, but they objected, saying the society would not 
 allow it, but only day-work. Further, when he attempted to 
 measure what a man had done, to ascertain if he was earning
 
 Appendic. '62 1 
 
 his pay, he was told that this was not allowed, and tliat it' 
 persisted in, a strike would ensue. I contribute these facts for 
 the consideration of Messrs. Howell and Potter — facts which, 
 unfortunately for the well-being and prosperity of the working 
 man, are rather the rule than the exception. 
 
 Mr. Tkoi-lope, Visitor. — I have known this trade for forty 
 years. I think the whole question was raised at once by the 
 first statement of Mr. Howell, who, when speaking for the 
 men, said that the object of every man was to get the most he 
 could and to do the least he could. That has been the point 
 between the union and the employers of labour for the last 
 twenty years. Allusion has been made to the strike of 1859, 
 and ours was the firm struck against. I will tell the Meeting 
 how that was brought about. We had some masons at work ; 
 my brother saw one man continually doing next to nothing, as 
 he thought, and he said to the foreman : — ' That man is 
 always idling — discharge him.' The foreman said, ' I cannot ; 
 he is a shop steward, and if I discharge him, the whole of the 
 men will leave.' My brother said, ' I cannot stand this, I will 
 have his work measured, and if he has not earned his wages 
 he shall go.' The work that he had done in a week was 
 found to be worth 15s. 6d., and he was getting about 35s. 
 The man was discharged, and on the Monday the whole of 
 the masons left; and so began the strike of 1859. That 
 principle has gone on more or less ever since. I can tell the 
 Meeting a recent instance. A friend of mine, a contractor, 
 was employed on a Gothic work, and a certain number of 
 G-othic heads had to be done, and 51. was allowed in the 
 quantities for the performance of this work. The one was 
 done as a model for the architect to see and put up in its 
 place, and the architect approved it. The man had executed 
 it fairly for 5/. or under. When the others were put in 
 hand it was found they came to 81. each. The man said, ' I 
 must not say much about it, but the shop steward will not 
 allow us to do them for 51. He says they are worth 81., and we 
 must make them come to 81.' How is it possible for a master 
 builder to estimate work under those circumstances? All 
 competition contracts of that sort during the last few years 
 
 Y
 
 322 Appendia;. 
 
 have been a mere toss-up. It is impossible to calculate the 
 cost of labour. I am quite sure of this, that the men might 
 earn more money if they were only true and honest. There 
 need then be no disputes. I agree with everything Mr. 
 Lucas has said. If we could get a profit of 10 per cent, upon 
 labour we should be perfectly satisfied, but instead of that it 
 has been too frequently a 10 per cent, loss as far as labour is 
 concerned. The thing has come to such a pass that whether 
 we introduce German labour or not, matters cannot go on 
 in the way they have been going for the past few years. 
 Workmen must get out of their heads the principle of 
 ' getting the most wages they can strike for, and then doing 
 the least work they can.' I am sorry, but not surprised, to 
 find this principle plainly stated by ]Mr. Howell. 
 
 Mr. Christian, Fellow. — I am very glad to learn from 
 Mr. Howell and Mr. Potter that it is conceded by trades 
 unions that men are now to be paid for their work according 
 to its value. I see no objection to a minimum wage, but let 
 the men who earn more be paid as much as they can get. I 
 should like to state a fact that happened in my own experi- 
 ence thirty-eight years ago, when I was superintending the 
 building of a chm^ch, as Clerk of the Works. A few years 
 before I had been advised by a shrewd Scotch builder that if 
 ever I had the opportunity of superintending work in that 
 capacity, I should not fail to value everything that was done 
 as it went on. I did so, and I have taught many young men, 
 much to their own advantage, to do the same since. Dm'ing 
 the progress of the works it so happened that there were 
 twelve masons under one shed, and in one particular week 
 they each had to work exactly the same thing, a plain 
 moulded capital. Of these twelve men, the first did his 
 work better and quicker than any other man, finishing it in 
 three days. The second man was quite four days, another 
 four and a half, others five or more, and the worst six, and 
 that man (because he was a setter) was paid 5s. 6d., all the 
 other men 5s. It struck me at the time as most unjust that 
 this first man, who did his work so well and so quickly, should 
 be paid no more than the slower men, when he ought, accord-
 
 Appendix. 323 
 
 ing to value, to have been paid double as much as the last. 
 Is it possible for architects to approve of such a system as 
 that ? It is hardly necessary in this room to repudiate the 
 notion of Mr. Howell that it is the natiu*e of all men to wish 
 to do the least possible amount of work for the greatest 
 amount of pay. I do not believe that it is the wish of any 
 man whatsoever ivho is worth his salt to act on such a 
 principle, and I am quite sure that if he did act upon it he 
 would deservedly suffer. 
 
 Mr. Lascelles, Visitor. — As a small employer of labour, 
 may I be allowed to give you my experience, as it somewhat 
 differs from that of Mr. Lucas and Mr. Trollope ? I do not 
 pretend to have carried on works that can compare in magni- 
 tude to theirs. My work has been on a smaller scale. I 
 have always found the men to be most industrious, and have 
 never had the experience of a strike. I believe that my men 
 do quite as much work as they did twenty years ago. I am 
 not speaking of bricklayers — my experience being confined 
 almost exclusively to joiners. I have always found the men 
 most desirous to do all they could for the welfare of the 
 business and assist me in every possible way. It would not 
 be right for me to sit and hear so much against the men, 
 when I have found them my best friends and when I cannot 
 speak too highly in their praise. One remark has been made 
 as regards the rate of wages. I think we are labouring under 
 a misapprehension on that score. I fancy the sum fixed by 
 the trades unions is the minimum amount, and the men may 
 earn more if they can, and sometimes do. I am told every 
 man to be a member of the union shall be a man capable of 
 earning a certain amount of wages in order that it may be 
 some gauge as to his ability. They fix a minimum rate of 
 wages, and I think if a man can earn more they are only too 
 glad for him to do so. As regards piece-work, mine is a 
 piece-work shop, and it is known to be such. There have 
 been men connected with trades unions who have worked for 
 me, and very good men indeed they are. One of the best 
 men in my employ is such a man, and at a meeting of the 
 trades unions in the Park some ten or twelve years ago I 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 Appendix. 
 
 Know he was on the committee. He is a very industrious 
 man and lias studied my interests fur many years, and I 
 should never wish to have a better man in my employ. 
 
 A Fellow. — Would the last speaker say whether the 
 great bulk of his men are not non-union men ? 
 
 Mr. Lascelles. — It is possible they may be ; I have never 
 inquired. I know I have at least one union man, and there 
 may be a hundred. My shop has gone on for forty years and 
 has never been closed a day. We have never had any dispute. 
 
 Mr. Lucas. — I repeat that whatever I receive for labour 
 I will give to the men less 10 per cent. We do not profess 
 to carry out works at less than 10 per cent, profit, and I do 
 not believe any man can do so. What that gentleman (Mr. 
 Lascelles) stated as his experience of the joiners, I can also 
 state, but I spoke of out -door works, and there is not done 
 that quantity which ought to be. 
 
 Mr. Henfret, Visitor, said : — As a contractor for the last 
 thirty-five years, he had heard with some amazement two 
 statements . one from Mr. Howell to the effect that brick-work 
 could not well be carried out by piece work ; the other from 
 I\Ir. Lucas, that the labour on the brick- work at the York 
 Station had cost 51. per rod, equal to about 9s. per cube 
 yard, in consequence of the trades union compelling him to 
 employ day-men only. He remembered building a railway 
 viaduct in Manchester about the year 1844. The labour of 
 the brick-work was all let piece-work at prices varying from 
 Is. lOd. per cube yard for foundations to 3s. per cube yard 
 for 14-inch parapets. From the statements made, brick- 
 layers' wages have risen about 50 per cent, since 1 844, and 
 this should make parapets, or similar expensive work, worth 
 4s. 6d. per cube yard at the present time. To this we must 
 add other 4s. 6d. for the indolence, or want of skill, of the 
 York bricklayers, to arrive at the cost of 9s. per cube yard, 
 which Mr. Lucas had to pay in consequence of the inter- 
 ference of the trades union. 
 
 The Chairman, in closing the discussion, said : — We have 
 arrived at that point at which, if it is the desire of the Meet- 
 ing, we can adjourn to our next gathering, a fortnight hence ;
 
 Appendix. 325 
 
 buL if you feel that there is no reason for discussing the 
 question further, it will be now necessary to conclude the 
 present proceedings. I would only say a very few words. I 
 have been very much pleased to see the good temper with 
 which this discussion has been carried on, and my only 
 regret is that we have not had more representatives of the 
 masons and the working classes present than we have had. 
 Unfortunately, I called upon one of them at the very outset, 
 and put him in this way a little at a disadvantage, for which 
 I have to apologise to him. I think that Mr. Brassey put 
 before us very clearly the statement of the case — more clearly, 
 indeed, than we have had it dealt with by anybody this even- 
 ing. He pointed out very fairly that the increased cost of 
 living, and of everything that the working man has to pro- 
 , vide, justified a considerable advance of wages. The question, 
 as he put it, appears to me to resolve itself into one simply 
 of supply and demand. He has pointed out what has not 
 been commented on to-night, and what is of the greatest im- 
 portance, that the common labourer, who is not benefited 
 by any trades society, has increased his wages during the 
 period to the extent of about 64 per cent., while the skilled 
 mechanic has only increased his by 50 per cent. Speaking 
 for architects, but with the most kindly feeling for working 
 men, I must say that the result of my experience is certainly 
 very much to confirm what is said by Mr. Lucas and others 
 on that side — that we do not get at the present day the same 
 amount of work that we used to get, that the quality has 
 not a tendency to improve, and that, in spite of the state- 
 ments which Mr. Howell and Mr. Potter make — that they 
 only fix the minimum amount any man may earn, as a 
 mere matter of fact, fixing a minimum rate must almost 
 always fix a uniform and maximum rate also. The result is 
 that we see, for instance, such a class as the masons, with 
 whom I peisonally am most concerned, who work upon 
 Gothic architecture — and it requires a very skilled mason to 
 make a good Gotliic workman — compelled to work — and it is 
 monstrous that it should be so — at the same wages as the man 
 who does an altogether inferior sort of work. Certainly on
 
 326 AppciiiJix. 
 
 these terms nobody will rise fiuin a dead level. The work- 
 men's object should be just what the object of the architect 
 is, to encourage the good workman and to let tlie rest see 
 before them the example he sets, and the much higher posi- 
 tion in which he stands, by reason of his a])ility and the 
 superior quality, and perhaps quantity too, of the work he 
 does. How do you suppose men rise in other professions ? 
 By doing, not as little as they can, but as much as they can, 
 in hours far longer than those of the workman, and therefore, 
 if it is the result of the action of trade societies that men 
 are limited in the amount of work they are allowed to do, 
 tliey are condemned, not by a hostile critic, but, in my case, 
 by one who is very anxious to see the working man get his 
 rights, and who is most emphatically opposed to the notion 
 of tliere being any 'wickedness' — though too often much 
 want of prudence-— in strikes. I see no wickedness in a 
 strike, so long as it is to obtain a ftiir day's pay for a fair 
 day's work. The wickedness is when it prevents the best 
 workman from earning the best wages, and in spite of any 
 denial one does often find particular workmen objected to 
 because they do too much work. I have myself known such 
 cases as that quoted by Mr. Cates, and of which he gave us 
 the particulars. They are not imaginary cases. An architect 
 who goes about the country as I do meets with these dit^icul- 
 ties in all directions, and knows that they do occur ; and 
 without knowing what all the rules are, and what all the 
 exact decisions of the societies may be on the subject, that is 
 one of the practical results of their action. The statement 
 that they only insist upon a minimum amount of wages is 
 at the same time met, unless I am very much mistaken, by 
 the fact that, if a builder proposed to give two rates of wages, 
 nearly all the men who work for him would probably absent 
 themselves forthwith. My own experience is certainly of 
 that kind. The societies undoubtedly interfere more or less 
 with the freedom of the workman. The discussion we have 
 had to-night, if it does nothing else, will show the represen- 
 tatives of the working-classes how little hostility there is to 
 them or to their true interest ; and I must say that I think
 
 Appendix. 327 
 
 the speech of Mr. Lucas was creditable to him in every way. 
 I trust that the outcome of all this will be that workmen will 
 consider, if, at the present moment, they are defeated in the 
 attempt they have made to raise their wages beyond a certain 
 point, still that the masters have their interests necessarily 
 just as much as their own in view; for what they have to 
 consider is, whether in granting an increase of wages they 
 will not be ruining the business that keeps them both ? What 
 Mr. Lucas has said about the replacement of brick-work by 
 concrete is quite true. The tendency of the rules which the 
 societies are making is to destroy all art. If we dare to have 
 nothing but concrete done by labourers at the lowest wages, 
 and if stone-masonry and good brick-work are to become 
 things of the past, I think that good architecture will also 
 entirely disappear from the field, and that we as architects 
 shall have to give up our work. Therefore, in the interests 
 of my profession, and in the interests of the workmen, I ap- 
 peal to the representatives of the working men to-night to 
 reconsider their position ; and I do hope that sooner or later 
 these rules of the societies (which are so mysterious that 
 when they are quoted on the one side they are always denied 
 on the other), shall be so far modiiied as to encourage 
 good work and honest work, and to render it impossible 
 for anybody long to say, as it has been said this evening 
 - — and in a way that most of us, from our experience, 
 could confirm — that, as a rule, men do not feel it their duty 
 to do the greatest amount of work in the best way and in the 
 shortest time. 
 
 The discussion on Mr. Brassey's Paper having thus been 
 brought to a close, the Meeting adjourned.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A6S 
 
 ABSOLUTE equality impossible. 
 105 
 Accumulation of capital in England, 
 
 175 
 Additional labour, employment of, 1 1 
 AdA'ancemont of the people, material, 
 
 1 
 Advice to the working classes, 72 
 Agricultural labour market, Mr. Henry 
 
 Taylor's letter on position of the, 
 
 185 
 Mr. Joseph Arch's letter on 
 
 position of the, 187 
 movement, results of the, 184 
 
 — labourer, letter from, to Mr. Henry 
 Taylor, 186 
 
 improved condition of the, 183 
 
 ' Alabama claims,' the, 207 
 America, ladies of, 206 
 
 — prospects of emigrants to, 197 
 
 — state of feeling in, towards Eng- 
 land, 206 
 
 — statistics of emigration to, 197 
 
 — wages of mechanics in Eastern 
 States of, 215 
 
 American rifle manufacture, contract 
 of the Providence Tool Company 
 with the Turkish Government, 260 
 
 — people, social condition of, 204 
 Americans, competition of, with Eng- 
 land, 215 
 
 Arbitration, results of the reference of 
 disputes to, 67 
 
 Arch, Mr. Joseph, the advocate of the 
 rural labourer, 183 
 
 Archibald, Mr., his tables on the fall 
 in wages in everj- State of the Ameri- 
 can Union, 257 
 
 Architects, the best arbiters of the 
 prices of labour in the building 
 trades, 309. 318 
 
 Assignment of profits to capital, 
 
 BRl 
 
 BACON, Lord, on the scope of educa- 
 tion, 88 
 Bacon, Lord, on the three points of 
 business, 110 
 
 on population, 71 
 
 Baker, Mr., on English trade competi- 
 tion with foreign nations, 246 
 Bank rate of discount, 220 
 Belgium, rise of wages in, 211 
 
 — - condition of the working classes of, 
 
 231 
 
 — relations between labour and 
 capital in, 211 
 
 — wages of working classes in, 231 
 Berlin, work and wages in, 275 
 Bessemer, Mr., his discoveries in the 
 
 manufacture of iron, 39 
 Bigelow, Mr. Erastus, his opinion of 
 
 corporations. 111 
 Bishop of Manchester on the lock-out 
 
 of agricultiu'al labourers in Suffolk, 
 
 184 
 Blaenavon Company, history of the, 
 
 29 
 Bolingbroke, Lord, on government, 
 
 96 
 Boston, cultivated merchants of, 206 
 
 — English high school of, 83 
 
 — educational statistics of, 75-86 
 
 — girls' high and normal school of, 84 
 
 — grammar schools of, 84 
 
 — Latin school of, 84 
 
 — public schools of, 75, 205 
 
 — regulations of public schools of, 
 78-86 
 
 Brassey, Mr., cordial relations of, with 
 
 his workmen, 59 
 his Letter on the South Wales 
 
 Colliery Strike, 168 
 
 liberality of, 13 
 
 Breach of contract, the Times on, 174 
 Brick-work replaced by concrete, 310, 
 
 327
 
 oo 
 
 30 
 
 Index. 
 
 nut 
 
 Briggs, Messrs., ihoir expcrimont, 17 
 
 their sclunie of pjiynieiit, 13-4 
 
 IJritish Consul in New York, his re- 
 port, 201 
 British gooils, iiitVrioritj of, in China, 
 231 
 
 — iion trade, future of tlio, 43 
 
 — rail way.s, Captain Tyler's report on, 
 232 
 
 — trade, cause of success of, 1-1 
 Builders' work, Mr. Stephenson's table 
 
 of the comparative cost of wages and 
 materials in ISGo and 1875, 270 
 Building tr.ide, will its present ac- 
 tivity continue ? 206 
 
 — trades of Loudon, increase of 
 wages in, 264 
 
 increase of wages and re- 
 duction of working hours, 265 
 
 Messrs. Lucas's memoran- 
 dum of the cost of materials, labour, 
 &c., 268 
 
 Mr. Stephenson's memor- 
 andum on the prices of materials, 271 
 
 pay of, in America, 216 
 
 reduction of wages in America, 
 
 258 
 
 CANADA and the United States, 
 197-208 
 
 — emigration to, 198 
 
 — facilities for obtaining land in, 200 
 
 — North- West territory of, 200 
 
 — prices of food in, 199 
 
 — price of Lmd in, 200 
 
 — remittances to England from emi- 
 grants to, 200 
 
 — wages in, 119 
 Capital and labour. 8-24 
 
 — distribution of, 109 
 
 — interest upon, in England, 108 
 
 — use of large accumulations of, 109 
 Carlyle, Mr., on the absurdity of the 
 
 combination of numbers without a 
 competent chief, 71 
 
 — on the right of speech, 29 
 Census, teaching of the, 108 
 Channels of investment, difhculty in 
 
 finding, 235 
 Charlottetown, Prince Edward's 
 
 Island, unsatisfactory condition of 
 
 people, 66 
 Chemnitz, people of, 218 
 Children, employment of, in Belgium, 
 
 69, 60 
 
 England, 50 
 
 Church, duties of, in relation to labour, 
 
 93-100 
 
 COO 
 
 Cit6 Ouvriire of Mulhansen, the, 147 
 
 — Lord Brabazou's opinion 
 
 of, 148 
 Clergyman, the, as an adviser, 194 
 Cual-cntting machine, Captain Beau- 
 mont's. 37 
 
 — machinery, use of, 37 
 
 Coal, economy of, in the manufacture 
 of iron, 39 
 
 — increased cost of getting, 177 
 
 — advance in tiu; price of, 170 
 
 — statistics of the production of, 31 
 
 — saving of, by the introduction of 
 steel for iron, 40 
 
 — wastefulness of domestic consump- 
 tion of, 37 
 
 — mines, cost of labour in English, 216 
 
 — saving cooking-stoves, 38 
 
 — trade in England, Mr. Potter's 
 view of, 180-182 
 
 Colman, Mr., account of hisCarrow 
 
 Works kitchen, 143-146 
 Commerce, the true spirit of, 262 
 Commercial depression, 233 
 
 cause of, 233 
 
 — relations with France, 48 
 
 — enterprise, pursuit of. in the 
 United States, 205 
 
 Communistic principles in France, 59 
 Comparative efficiency of English and 
 
 foreign Libour, 24.3-263 
 Competition of England with the 
 
 manufacturing countries of the 
 
 world, 163 
 
 — two kinds of, to be contended 
 against by England, 68 
 
 — with foreign prodiicers, 47 
 
 — — Switzerland, 69 
 Compulsory education in Massachu- 
 setts, 88 
 
 — purchase of condemned property, 
 158 
 
 Condition of the people, plans for the 
 
 amelioration of, 146 
 Conflict between capital and labour, 
 
 attempts to reconcile the, 189 
 Co-operation, and the investment of 
 
 capital, 20 
 
 — in Lancashire, 20 
 New York, 6 
 
 — Sweden, France, Gei-many, and 
 
 the United States, 20 
 
 — reports of Secretaries of Legation 
 on, 121 
 
 — not suited to works extending over 
 long intervals of time, 141 
 
 Co-operative establishments, reason of 
 their failure, 116 
 
 I
 
 Index. 
 
 331 
 
 coo 
 
 Co-openitive fmuidrios in NfW Yurk 
 and Massachusetts, 121 
 
 — manufacture, reason of its failure, 
 190 
 
 — movement, main purpose of, 102 
 
 — organisation, statistics of the 
 development of, 118 
 
 in the metropolis, 282 
 
 — principle, the, 6 
 
 amongst the Mormons, &c., 121 
 
 to be encouraged, 71 
 
 when impossible, 137 
 
 and the rate of wages, 9 
 
 in amnsements, 153 
 
 — printers in Austria, 123 
 
 — production, 101-1G7 
 
 and the rate of wages, 165 
 
 general management of, 115 
 
 in Sweden, 123 
 
 small success of, in England, 123 
 
 — societies, successful, 117 
 
 — stores and i-etailers, 102, 103 
 management of, 103 
 
 Cost of living at home and abroad, 16 
 Cotton factories, comparison between 
 
 Englisli and German, 247 
 Court of Conciliation, desirability <jf 
 
 a, 9 
 Courts of Arbitration, 8 
 Cowie, Mr., remarks on training 
 
 colleges, 88 
 
 DARTMOOR granite quarries an 
 illustration of ti'ades union inter- 
 ference, 320 
 
 Debenture stocks, 219 
 
 Decrease of pauperism, 62 
 
 Depression of trade, suifering of 
 working chisses from, in United 
 States, 240 
 
 Details, knowledge and management 
 of, 114 
 
 Discount, Bank rate of, 220 
 
 Discussion on Mr. Brassey's paper 
 (' The Rise of Wages in the Build- 
 ing Ti'ades of London'), 295-343 
 
 — • Gates's, Mr. Arthur, 
 
 views, 319 
 
 ■ Christian's, Mr., views, 
 
 322 
 
 Clarke's, Mr. Chatfield, 
 
 views, 318 
 
 — nenfrej''s,Mr., views, 324 
 
 Hill's, Mr. Samuel, views, 
 
 299 
 
 Houghton's, Lord, views, 
 
 316 
 
 ENG 
 
 Discussion on Mr Brassey'.s paper 
 
 ('The Rise of Wages'), Howell's, 
 
 Mr., views, 295 
 
 rAns(jn's,Mr., views, 314 
 
 ■ Jones's, Mr. Horace, views, 
 
 302 
 ■ — Kerr's, Professor, views, 
 
 317 
 Lascelles's, Mr., views, 
 
 323, 324 
 Lucas's, Mr., views, 323, 
 
 324 
 — ■ Potter's, Mr. George, 
 
 views, 303 
 Street's, Mr. G. E., views, 
 
 295, 324 
 
 -_ Trollope's, Mr., views, 321 
 
 Domestic consumption, problem of, 
 
 1 50 
 Double-shift system in collieries, 56 
 Duty of the rich towards the poor, 1 66 
 Dwellings for the labouring classes, 
 
 157 
 
 EARNINGS, inequality in, 119 
 ' Economist,' the, on work and 
 wagi's, 179 
 
 — on the shipwrights' strike, 253 
 Education and co-operation, 154 
 
 — diffusion of, 20 
 
 — in Greece, 156 
 
 — universal diflfiision of, in America, 
 204 
 
 — want of, in Belgium, 60 
 Elementary schools, income of English, 
 
 78 
 Emigration to America, 62 
 
 inducements to, 204 
 
 Employers' books, inspection of. 17 
 Employment of women in English 
 
 factories, 60 
 Engineering trades, hours of labour 
 
 in, 179 
 
 — - — wages in, 179 
 
 — work, cost of, 53 
 
 Engineers, sti'ike of the Amalgamated 
 Society of, 191 
 
 — wages of, 54 
 
 Engineers' Union, report of, 12 
 English and foreign workmen, effi- 
 ciency of, 194 
 
 — industry, superiority over foreign, 
 249 
 
 — investments, moderate rates of 
 interest on, 219 
 
 — mechanics at Rouen, 5 
 
 — operatives, superiority of, 57 
 
 — workman, the, notdeteriorating,209
 
 332 
 
 Inde. 
 
 r. 
 
 EXP 
 
 Experienco,iUHluctioiis drawn from, 1 73 
 Exports of the Uiiitud Kingdom, 25 
 
 Il^ACILITIES of communication, in- 
 fluence of the, 164 
 Factory operatives, progressive de- 
 velopment of, 58 
 Farms, size of, in the United States 
 
 and England, 108 
 Farmers, situation of, 188 
 Food, economy of, 142 
 Foreign labour, introduction of, 4 
 — — market, fluctuations of the, 8 
 Fox, Head, and Co.'s scheme of pay 
 
 ment, 133 
 Freuch population, physical and so- 
 cial condition of, 230 
 Friendly tribunals, desirability of, 22 
 Fuel, economy of, in steam vessels, 42 
 . in the consumption of, 142 
 
 G ALTON, CAPT.. his ventilating 
 fire-place, 38 
 
 on the waste of fuel, 142 
 
 Germany, rise of wages in, 212 
 — Socialist agitation in, 213 
 Godiu, M., bis. general dwelling- 
 home for operatives at Guise, 147, 
 149-166 
 his scheme of payment, 134 
 
 HARMONY cotton mills at Co- 
 hoes, Albany, 64 
 Harvard University, 83 
 Helps, Sir Arthur, on hard work, 36 
 High-skilled labour, increased de- 
 mand for, by shipl)uilders, 160 
 High standard of living, a simulant 
 
 to industry, 237 
 High wages, practical results of, in 
 
 the United States, 238 
 Hill, Mr. Frederic, on piece-Avork, 193 
 Hostile feelings, abatement of, 173 
 Hours of labour at Rouen, 61 
 
 at Lowell, 62 
 
 decrease of, in Belgium, 56 
 
 in Prussia, 56 
 
 in Germany and France, 9 
 
 in Russia, 57 
 
 in Switzerland, 61 
 
 in the United States, 9 
 
 limitation of, an evil, 36 
 
 reduction of, 4, 35, 313 
 
 • — reduction of, not a reduct'on 
 
 in amount of work done, 9 
 
 Howell, Mr., 
 wages, 276, 
 
 LAB 
 
 on building work and 
 295 
 
 IxMPORT duties on British produce, 
 214 
 Increase of pay on Indian railways, 3 
 Industrial Dwellings Act, 241 
 
 Company, the, 157 
 
 Internationalists, tlie, 70 
 International Society in Belgium, 30 
 Interest, rate of, in England, 175 
 Intimidation, practice of, 218 
 Intoxicating drinks, expenditure on, 15 
 Iron, Belgian competition in the 
 manufacture of, 43 
 
 — exports of, 43 
 
 — exportation of, to France, 48 
 
 — manufacture of, in Russia, 43 
 
 — manufacture of, in the United 
 States, 44 
 
 — and iron manufactures, exports of, 
 48 
 
 — rapid rise in the price of, 1 77 
 Iron rails, consumption of, in America, 
 
 222 
 Iron trade, depression of, on the Con- 
 tinent, 195 
 
 fluctuations in the British, 222 
 
 general depression of, 194 
 
 in England, Mr. Potter's view 
 
 of, 179-182 
 
 panic in the American, 223 
 
 Iron works, progress of American, 45 
 
 JACK CADE, Shakespeare's picture 
 of, 95 
 Joint Stock Companies Act of 1 862. 112 
 abuse of facilities affor- 
 ded by, 224 
 mania subsided, 285 
 
 KETTLE, MR. RUPERT, his valu- 
 able services, 98 
 
 Knowledge of the markets, impor- 
 tance of a, 17 
 
 Kohn, Professor, on the difference in 
 the cost of building in London and 
 Ziirich, 275 
 
 Krupp, M , his engineering establish- 
 ment at Essen, 15 
 
 his liberality and success, 218 
 
 ABOURand capital, 1-7 
 J — at home and abroad, 229-242
 
 Index. 
 
 333 
 
 LAB 
 
 Labour, demand for increased wages, 
 173 
 
 — Englisli and foreign, comparative 
 efficiency of, 243-263 
 
 — exorljitant price of, 221 
 
 — influences aifecting tlie price of, in 
 England, 173-196 
 
 — market, overcrowded, 2-11 
 
 ■ — price of, in England and on the 
 Continent, 213 
 
 — unskilled, in the building trade, 
 270 
 
 — question, the, and the clergy, 
 96 
 
 duties of the Church in relation 
 
 to. 93-100 
 
 Labour-saving machinery in America, 
 261 
 
 Lassalle, his theories, 70 
 
 Leading industries in the United 
 States, value of, 2 
 
 Learning a trade, advantages of, 72 
 
 Lectures, object of these, 1 
 
 Leeuw, Dr. de, on the effects of the 
 rise in wa;;es in the iron trade in 
 Germany, 24-4 
 
 Levi, Mr. Leone, on British com- 
 merce, 200 
 
 Liberality towards workmen, develop- 
 ment of, 107 
 
 Liverpool, improvements in, 161 
 
 Loans to foreign states, 235 
 
 Local Improvement Act, 1866, action 
 of The municipality of Glasgow 
 under the, 160 
 
 Locomotives, increased price of, 54 
 
 London Workman's Dwellings Com- 
 pany, the, 157 
 
 Lonsdale Company's cotton mills, 
 Providence, 64 
 
 Low standard of living, prejudice 
 against, 237 
 
 Lucas, Messrs., on the reduction of 
 hours in the building trades, 277, 313 
 
 MACHINERY on the Continent, 
 rate of running, 11 
 
 Managers, appointment of, by elec- 
 tion, 117 
 
 Man of business, extreme pressure 
 upon, 101 
 
 Manual labour, growing repugnance 
 to, in England, 292 
 
 Marine engines, price of, 54 
 
 Marx, Karl, and the International, 70 
 
 Masters and men, hostility between, 
 in France and Germany, 107 
 
 PER 
 
 Master, advantages of the personal 
 supervision of the, 138 
 
 Meat, rise in the price of, 270 
 
 Mechanical industry, past progress 
 of, 55 
 
 future of, 55 
 
 Methods adopted by English railway 
 contractors, 123 
 
 Metropolitan Association, the, 157 
 
 Mill, Mr. John Stuart, his declara- 
 tion of infidelity, 99 
 
 Mines Regulations Act, entailment of 
 expense by, 234 
 
 Minot, Mr., attributes the increase of 
 personal extravagance in America 
 to the Legal Tender Act, 255 
 
 Modern industry, tendency of, 149 
 
 Montesquieu on commerce, 262 
 
 Miiller, TMr., his circular on the iron 
 trade, 1 76 
 
 Mundellii, Mr., a messenger of peace, 
 19 
 
 on piece-work, 192 
 
 NATURAL science, study of, in 
 England, 88 
 Newcastle workmen, good conduct of, 
 
 23 
 New York, cost of living in, 203 
 
 population of, 201 
 
 rate of wages in, 202 
 
 Newspapers, American, 206 
 
 ' Nigger- driving,' 298 
 
 Nine hours movement, the, 51, 313 
 
 North-Western Railway Company, 
 
 low rate of profit, 225 
 
 ONE-HANDED liricklayers, 299 
 Operatives, comparison of 
 American and English, 66 
 Organising faculty, rareness of the, 1 1 5 
 Overcrowded dwellings, 240 
 Over-trading, tendency to, 224 
 Ouseburn Engine Works, failure of 
 the, 118, 120 
 
 PAYMENT by results, 191, 218, 234 
 — Messrs. Fox, Head, and Co.'s 
 scheme of, 133 
 
 — Messrs. Briggs's scheme of, 134 
 
 — Monsieur Godin's scheme of, 134 
 Pauper population, 107 
 Peabody donations, the, 197 
 
 — Rifle Company, the, 46 
 Percentage, Quixotic idea as to, 120
 
 334 
 
 Index. 
 
 PER 
 
 Personal influence of employers ; 
 example of Mr. Laird, 7 
 
 — experiment of proprietor, success 
 due to, -218 
 
 Persons of independence in England, 
 
 108 
 Picketing, practice of, 218 
 Piece-work, opposition t« limitation 
 
 of, 192 
 
 — Mr. Mundella on. 192 
 
 — Mr. Frederic Hill on, 193 
 
 — equitalile alike to emplo^'er and 
 ■workman, 287 
 
 — various views on, 296, 306, 309, 313, 
 314, 320, 324 
 
 Pig-iron, price of, 48 
 
 • — export of, 4 8 
 
 Pluukett, Mr., on the railway riots in 
 America, 255 
 
 on tlie fall of wages, 256 
 
 Popular education in England, 75 
 
 Price of labour dependent upon the 
 relation between supply and de- 
 mand, 67 
 
 Prices of necessaries, 280 
 
 Production of minerals in America, 
 70 _ 
 
 Protection in America, 44 
 
 Protective policy of foreign countries, 
 248 
 
 Public elementary education in the 
 United States, 74 
 
 — schools in Boston, cause of the 
 success of, 91 
 
 Eailroads in America, reduction of 
 wages on, 257 
 
 T) AILWAY contracts, subdivision 
 li of, 113 
 
 — dividends, 219 
 Railways, cost of British, 232 
 
 — management of, in America and 
 England, 225 
 
 Eate of wages and cost of labour, 1 2 
 
 regulation of, 2 
 
 standard of, 106 
 
 adjustment of, in a co-opera- 
 tive body, 118 
 
 Read, Mr. C. S., his speech on the 
 situation of farmers, 188 
 
 Recent legislation, generous spirit of, 
 227 
 
 Reckless competition, 234 
 
 Redgrave, Mr., his pamphlet, 56 
 
 his last report, 246 
 
 Reformation, House of, at Deer 
 Island, Massachusetts, 90 
 
 STK 
 
 Kicardo, Mr., on supply and demand, 
 
 173 
 Rise in tlie price of coals, 34 
 — Committee of the 
 
 House of Commons to inquire into, 
 30 
 
 — — — — — — manufacture of 
 iron a cause of, 31 
 
 — — — — — — (jther causes of, 
 31, 32 
 
 Rise in wages and prices, pressure of, 
 
 159 
 Rural life, the charms of, 119 
 Ruskin, Mr., on reverence, 71 
 
 SCHOOL attendance in England and 
 AVales. 77 
 ■ — teachers in America, 86 
 
 • in England, 87 
 
 Secretaries of Legation, reports of, 56 
 Ship-lniilding, cost of, 50, 254 
 
 — progress of, in the United King- 
 dom, 52 
 
 — in France, 53 
 
 — on the Clyde, 51, 251 
 
 — — — Mersey, 161-163 
 Thames, 51 
 
 — a cause of decline in, 252 
 
 — decline of, in the United States, 52 
 Shipping, extent of English, 52 
 
 — • foreign, 52 
 
 Shipwrights, strike of, 251 
 
 Sliipton, Mr., Letter addressed to 
 
 him on Soutli Wales Colliery Strike, 
 
 108 
 Short hours an increase of pay, 9 
 
 as profitable as long ones, 10 
 
 Siemens, Messrs., their furnace, 42 
 Silesia, manufacturing population of, 
 
 217 
 Smith, Adam, his ' Wealth of Nations,' 
 
 173 
 
 — — — rules as to the rate of 
 wages, 97 
 
 Socialistic heresies, failure of, iu 
 America, 204 
 
 Society in Switzerland, state of, 22 
 
 Socrates on government, 96 
 
 South AVales, colliery strike in, 168- 
 172, 177 
 
 Spinning and weaving factories in 
 Silesia, 56 
 
 Spirits and beer, consumption of, 
 190 
 
 Stite of trade, importance of a know- 
 ledge of, 1 7 
 
 Steel, production of, in Great Britain, 
 41
 
 Index. 
 
 335 
 
 STE 
 
 Steel exports of, 43, 48 
 
 — price of, 48 
 
 Steplieiison, Mr., on tlie relative cost 
 of building a house in 1S68 and 
 187o, 273 
 
 Strike in Lnncashire, 19 
 
 — in South Wiiles in 1873, 26, 28 
 
 — at Waldenburg, Silesia, 28 
 
 — impression of a, on employers, 30 
 
 — priiposal for a iiniversal, 68 
 
 - — of 1859, how brought about, 321 
 Strikes, uselessness of encouragement 
 of, 68 
 
 — not productiye of good, 171 
 
 — when successful and when not, 
 178 
 
 — money sacrificed by, 316 
 Sub-contrnct and piece-work, system 
 
 of, 126-128 
 Suifolk, lock-out of rural labourers 
 
 in, 183 
 Swiss workmen, inferiority of, 57 
 Switzerland, people's banks in, 156 
 Sympatliy of the affluent classes for 
 
 the poor, 106 
 
 TAILORS' Union in New York, 121 
 Textile fabrics, export of, from 
 
 Switzerhmd, 69 
 Trade, depression of, in England, 244 
 
 in France, 245 
 
 disputes and the clergy, 98 
 
 Trades unions, allegations against 
 
 them untrue, 199 
 definition of, by Sir Edmund 
 
 Becket, 225 
 exaggerated impression of their 
 
 power to influence wages, 284 
 how to be directed into a useful 
 
 channel, 226, 227 
 — — objection to, 237 
 
 teaching of, 226 
 
 ■ utilisation of, 14 
 
 views regarding, 287 
 
 Training colleges, efficiency of, 88 
 Treaties of commerce, effects of, on 
 
 European trade, 210 
 Treaty of commerce wiih Franco, 48 
 
 UNDERPAID Libour not econo- 
 mical, 56 
 Union between classes desirable, 165 
 Universal education, result of, in 
 America, 156 
 
 in Germany, 155 
 
 United Kingdom, exports of the, 25 
 
 WOR 
 
 United States, area of, 200 
 
 — — cost of labour in the coal mines 
 of, 217 
 
 competition of, with England, 
 
 196 
 
 grants of land in, 201 
 
 newspapers in, 206 
 
 prospects of emigrants to, 202 
 
 — — protective policy of, 239 
 use of English capital in con- 
 struction of railways in, 220 
 
 TTTAGE question, the, 2 
 
 V T political economy of the, 
 
 19 
 Wages in 1873, 25-30 
 
 — time to press for increase of, 6 
 
 — in the United States, 2 
 Germany, 2 
 
 Wiirtemburg, Mr. Phipps's re- 
 port on, 2 
 
 — power of workmen to raise, 3 
 
 — rise of, on the Continent, an ad- 
 vantage to British industry, 17 
 
 — of miners, advance in, 52 
 
 — great increase of, in the north, 55 
 
 — increase of, in Belgium, 56 
 
 in Prussia, 56 
 
 opposed by clergymen, 95 
 
 - — in Ottawa, 65 
 
 Queljec, 65 
 
 Hamilton, Upper Canada, 66 
 
 — rate of, regidated by demand and 
 supply, 160 
 
 — fluctuation of, in collieries, 1 69 
 
 — rise of, in collieries in South 
 Wales, 177 
 
 — ■ when capital is abundant 
 
 and labour scarce, 220 
 
 — comparative rates of, 216 
 
 — advance of, subject to two con- 
 ditions, 236 
 
 — versus prices, 257 
 Washington, his ' Farewell Address 
 
 to the People of the United States,' 
 79 
 Wealth, unequal distribution of, 99 
 
 — universal desire to acquire, 107 
 
 — and poverty, Wordsworth's con- 
 trast between, 104 
 
 ' Work and Wages,' opinions on piece- 
 work and time-work, 129-131 
 
 in 1877, 209-228 
 
 Works, siibdivision of largo, 1 24 
 Working classes, disaffection of, to- 
 wards their employers, 59
 
 ;3G 
 
 Index. 
 
 VVOR 
 
 Working classes, prosperity of, in 
 America, 63 
 
 of rii'tou, Nova Scotia, condi- 
 tion of, 66 
 
 conduct of, 211 
 
 jxistifiod in bettoring their con- 
 dition, 217 
 
 how tlioy are affected by tlie rise 
 
 in prices, 281 
 
 Workmen in tiie building trades, tlieir 
 indolence, 272 
 
 — abroad, position of, 5 
 
 — their own employers, 71 
 
 — English and French, 229 
 
 YOCT 
 
 Workmen, faults of, 221 
 
 — circumstances of, in Massachu- 
 setts, 238 
 
 Workmen's homes, improvement in, 
 283 
 
 — restaurants, establishment of, 
 143 
 
 Workshops Act, entailment of ex- 
 pense by, 234 
 
 YOUNG'S, DR., extract from his 
 ' Labour in Europe and America," 
 252 
 
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 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Aden's Modern Cookery 24 
 
 Alpine Club Map of Switzerland 20 
 
 Alpine Guide (The) 20 
 
 Amos's Jurisprudence 6 
 
 Primer of the Constitution 6 
 
 ^;/</6'/-jt)/'/' J Strength of Materials 12 
 
 Annitages Childhood of the English 
 
 Nation 4 
 
 ^;v;?.t/;-(v;_o-'j- Organic Chemistry 12 
 
 Arnold's (Dr.) Christian Life 17 
 
 Lectures on Modern History 2 
 
 Miscellaneous Works 8 
 
 School Sermons 17 
 
 Sermons ij 
 
 (T. ) Manual of English Literature 8 
 
 Beowulf 21 
 
 Arnott's Elements of Physics 11 
 
 Atelier (The) du Lys 20 
 
 Atherstone Priory 21 
 
 Autumn Holidays of a Country Parson ... 8 
 
 Ay re's Treasury of Bible Knowledge 23 
 
 Bacon' s Essays, by Abbott 7 
 
 by Whatcly 6 
 
 Life and Letters, by Speddi7ig ... 6 
 
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 Bailey s Festus, a Poem 22 
 
 Bain's Mental and Moral Science, 7 
 
 on the Senses and Intellect 7 
 
 Emotions and Will 7 
 
 Baker's Two Works on Ceylon 19 
 
 Ball's Guide to the Central Alps 20 
 
 Guide to the Western Alps 20 
 
 Guide to the Eastern Alps 20 
 
 ^(zr;j on Railway Appliances 12 
 
 Barry 6^ Brannvcll' s Lectures on Railways 
 
 and Locomotives 16 
 
 Beaconsfield' s (Lord) Novels and Tales ... 20 
 
 Becker s Charicles and Gallus 20 
 
 Beesly's Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla 4 
 
 .6/(ZC^'j Treatise on Brewing 23 
 
 Blackley s German- English Dictionary 9 
 
 Blaine's Rural Sports 22 
 
 Bloxam's Metals 12 
 
 Bolland and Lang's Aristotle's Politics 6 
 
 Boultbee on 39 Articles 16 
 
 Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine . 16 
 
 Handbook of Steam Engine 16 
 
 Treatise on the Steam Engine ... 15 
 
 Improvements in the same 15 
 
 Bawdier s Family Shakespeare 22 
 
 Bramley-Moorc s Six Sisters of the Valleys . 21 
 Brande's Dictionary of Science, Literature, 
 
 and Art 13 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Brassey's Voyage of the Sunbeam 19 
 
 Browne's Exposition of the 39 Articles 16 
 
 Browning's Modern England, 1820-1875 20 
 
 Buckle's History of Civilisation 2 
 
 Posthumous Remains 7 
 
 Buckton's Health in the House 14 
 
 Bull's Hints to Mothers 24 
 
 Maternal Management of Children . 24 
 
 Bullingcr's Lexicon to the Greek Testament 9 
 
 Burgomaster's Family (The) 21 
 
 ^/</-/4t''j Vicissitudes of Families 5 
 
 Cabinet Lawyer 23 
 
 Campbell' s Norway 20 
 
 Capes' s Age of the Antonines 4 
 
 Early Roman Empire 4 
 
 Carpenter on Mesmerism, Spiritualism, &c. 7 
 
 Cates's Biographical Dictionary 5 
 
 and Woodward' s Encyclopaedia ... 3 
 
 Caylcy s l\[a.d oi Homer 22 
 
 Changed Aspects of Unchanged Truths ... 8 
 
 Chesney s Indian Polity 2 
 
 Modern Military Biography 2 
 
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