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OUR

National Resources

AND

'THEYAREWASTED

AN OMITTED CHAPTER IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

WILLIAM HOYLE

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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

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OUR NATIONAL RESOURCES.

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[ 4 - .". \ 1314
° UR ^^-r, eAL ,

NATIONAL RESOURCES;

AND HOW THEY AttE WASTED.

AN OMITTED CHAPTER IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.

WILLIAM HOYLE,

Author of "An Enquiry into the Causes of the Long Continues
Depression in the Cotton Trade," &c. &c.

LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
MANCHESTER: JOHN HEYWOOD, Ml am- 148, DEANSGATE.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE.

I. On the Development of our Manufacturing
in

Industry 1

II. On the Sources of our National Wealth 15

£2

III. On Pauperism 37

S IV. On the Falling Off in Trade 43

V. Productive and Non-productive Labour and

Expenditure 53

5 VI. On the Main Cause of Bad Trade and National

n§ Waste 97

VII. On the Right Expenditure of Money 107

VIII. The Remedy 131

402205

PBEFACE

The attention of the writer of the following pages
was first specially directed to the subject treated
therein, in the autumn of 1868.

During the whole of the years 1867 and 1868,
the trade of the United Kingdom, but especially
the cotton trade, was in a most depressed con-
dition. The year 1869 was ushered in; but,
instead of there being an improvement, so far
at least as the cotton trade went, matters grew
worse. The belief at that time was ahnost
universal in Lancashire, that the depressed con-
dition of trade arose from the fact that our
continental neighbours were outstripping us in
manufacturing, and that they were still more
certain to outstrip us in the future ; and, con-
sequently, the great cotton trade of Lancashire
would shortly be a thing of the past. Having a

viii Preface.

considerable interest at stake, the author, like
other spinners and manufacturers, naturally became
anxious about this unpleasant prospect, and,
therefore, during the winter of 18G8-9 he spent hifl

leisure evenings in giving the subject a careful
investigation. In the autumn of 18G9, the results
of this investigation were embodied and published
by him in a pamphlet, entitled, "An Enquiry
into the Cause of the Present Long-Continued
Depression in the Cotton Trade, with Sug-
gestions for its Improvement. " The investigation
entirely disabused the mind of the author of all
those ideas, as to the falling off of our foreign
trade owing to continental competition, and
the publication of the pamphlet did much to
allay the fears of the commercial classes in
reference to the matter. An examination of
our exports of manufactured goods, alike in
cotton, woollen, and linen, showed that a con-
tinued and enormous increase had taken place, and
that the depression in trade arose from the falling
off in the home trade. To show this, and to
exhibit the cause for this falling off, was the
author's object in publishing the pamphlet to which

Preface. ix

reference has been made. The present volume is an
attempt to give the question a more general and
extended investigation, and, at the same time, to
some extent, to treat of kindred questions, such
as productive and non-productive labour, and
expenditure, questions which are but very im-
perfectly comprehended, but mistakes in regard
to which, often have a most injurious influence,
in depressing our trade and wasting our national
resources.

The purpose of the author in the following
treatise, therefore, is —

1st. To show that the inventions and improve-
ments in machinery by our countrymen, have
given to us exceptional facilities for the
acquisition of wealth.
2nd. That these facilities are very much enhanced
in their value, by other important material
advantages which we possess.
3rd. That, aided by these facilities, our trade and
commerce have been developed into enormous
proportions ; and that our opportunities for
getting wealth have increased in a corres-
ponding degree.

x Preface.

4th. That the commercial depression winch has
existed during the last few years, baa aot

resulted from ;my falling off in our Foreign
Trade, hut from a considerable decrease in
the Home Trade.
5th. That this decrease has arisen mainly, if not
entirely, from the improvident and unproduc-
tive character of our labour and expenditure,
especially in reference to the article of intoxi-
cating drinks.
Gth. That notwithstanding our vast facilities for
obtaining wealth, a large class of our popula-
tion are constantly sunk in pauperism and
destitution.
7th. That if our labour were properly directed,
and our expenditure properly applied, settled
pauperism or destitution could not jDOSsibly
exist.
In the treatment of this question, the author has
carefully guarded against quoting any statistics, or
stating any fact, that did not appear to be of
undisputed authority. The statistics given are, in
most cases, taken from Government returns, and
in all instances reference is made to the authority,

Preface. xi

so that if the reader wishes to check the quotations
for himself he can do so. In many points, where
there are no published or known data, the author
has had to give the best estimate he could,
according to his own experience and judgment.
In no case, however, do these estimates affect
the argument, unless it be in degree. This the
reader will be good enough to bear in mind, and
where he thinks the quantities assumed are too
great or too small, let him apply the argument to
such data as may appear to him more correct.

To those readers who have paid much attention
to the subject, it may seem that some questions
are treated too much in detail, and, also, that the
writer has been guilty of repetition. If these faults
should appear, they arise partly from intention and
partly from want of time. The reader will, how-
ever, observe, whenever there may appear to be a
repetition, the argument is generally presented
in a somewhat different form to what it was
before. Some of the topics have appeared so
important to the author that it seemed desirable
to present them to the reader's mind in different
places and associations ; he has also laboured

xii Preface.

to be as plain and homely as possible in the
illustrations; and If by this, conviction has been
produced, the author will he very glad to forego

all pretension to merit in the composition, for the
hope of making an impression upon his readers.

It may be that some who read this treatise,
may be disappointed that the investigation and
the argument have not been extended to other
causes of national waste. When the investigation
was beerun, it was the author's intention thus to
extend the inquiry ; but the questions involved
were so numerous, and generally so insignificant
in comparison to the one treated of, that the
resolution was abandoned.

The intelligent reader, however, will readily
apply the argument to other topics, and thereby,
without adding to its bulk, the usefulness of the
book will be increased.

Tottington, near Bury,

Lancashire., February Oth, 1871.

Sources of

CHAPTER I*

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR MANUFACTURING
INDUSTRY.

In order that a full idea may be gathered as to the

present position of our national resources, it will

be needful briefly to enumerate the principal our wealth.

sources from whence our wealth is derived. These

may be summed up as follows : —

1st. Manufactures and Commerce.

2nd. Agriculture.

3rd. Mines, Railways, and other description of
property.

The extent of our manufacturing advantages Mechanical
cannot be fully appreciated, unless we take into advanta &"'
consideration their origin and rapid development
as influenced by the introduction of machinery,
&c. ; and as our different industries have all of

* For the facts contained in this chapter, the author is mainly
indebted to Mr. J. A. Mann's " History of the Cotton Trade," published
by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. ; Dr. John Watts's " History of tlie
Cotton Famine," published by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; and tbo
chapters on National Industry in the " Pictorial History of England,"
published by W. and E. Chambers, of Edinburgh and London.

2 On the Development of

chap. i. them very greatly participated in the advantages
derived from these mechanical inventions, the
history of one will therefore substantially be the
history of all. In order, therefore, to illustrate
this, I will give a brief account of the development
of the cotton trade.

When the enormous magnitude of our trade
and commerce is considered, and contrasted with
its condition a hundred years ago, it becomes a
subject full of interest to consider the various
steps by which this development has been accom-
plished.
Our hull's- The entire exports of the United Kingdom for
tmy a c «yo the whole of the ten years ending 17G9, amounted
and now. in va j ue to £15^052,626, whilst for the year 1869
alone they amounted to £190,045,230, or upwards
of thirty millions more in value for one year than
during ten years a century ago.

According to Mr. J. A. Mann, the entire exports
of cotton goods in the year 1751 amounted in
value only to £45,986, whilst in 1S69 the value
of cotton goods exported was £67,159,064.

The backward condition of our manufacturing
industry one hundred years ago may be judged of,
when it is remembered that at that time wo
imported considerable quantities of goods from
Protection India, in the face of a protective duty of 4d. in the
Unm." Kr P oun d, which, after the fashion of those days, was
thought essential to the prosperity of our manu-
factures ; whilst, at the same time, there were
prohibitions imposed upon cotton goods from other

Our Manufacturing Industry. 3

countries. The protection thus afforded did not, chap, t
however, bring about the desired result, for it is its results.
stated that in 1757 the total annual value of our
cotton manufactures did not amount to more than
£200,000.

In the year 1743 commenced those improve- Commence-
ments, which have continued to progress, and mechanical
which have resulted in the present expansion of l^ l '^ Lt '
our manufacturing industries. It was in this
year that John Kay, of Bury, invented the johnKay's
fry-shuttle and picking-peg. Before his time the invenUon -
weaver, in order to work his shuttle, had to
stretch his arms from side to side of the loom, and
if the cloth were more than 3G inches wide it needed
two persons to do this, one being unable to reach
across the lo'om. Kay's invention consisted in
making the lathe in which the shuttle runs about
18 inches longer, so as to permit of a shuttle-box
on each side of the cloth, and then, by means of
a string fastened to the picker on each side of
the loom, and joined to a handle in the middle,
the weaver was enabled to work the shuttle from
the centre. A great loss in time was thus avoided,
and, where wide cloth had to be woven, one
person, by the aid of these improvements, could
do the work formerly done by two.

In the year 17G9, Robert Kay, the son of the Robert
above John Kay, invented the drop-box. This faSntkn.
invention consisted in constructing the shuttle-box
so that it would rise or fall, and enable the weaver,
when using alternately different kinds of weft, to

4 On the Development of

."'**• *•- keep his loom at work ; whereas, previously, lie

had had to stop his loom to change the shuttles.

A great saving of time was in this way effected,

and the out-turn of work materially expedited.

james In the year 17G7, or thereabouts, James Har-

and'thc'™ greaves, a poor weaver of Blackburn, conceived the

unnu'" J ~ idea of the spinning-jenny. Before his time, one

person could only tend one spindle and spin one

thread at a time. By means of the jenny, one hand

was enabled to work twenty or thirty spindles at

once, and thus turn off an immensely greater

quantity of work than formerly.

ftrhard In 17 GO, Bichard Arkwright, of Preston, invented

t,nd'thc ht wna t is generally termed the water-frame, or, as it

water- j g sometimes called, the throstle-frame. This

frame, m '

was an application of rollers to the stretching of the
yarn, so as to regulate the counts (or thickness of
the thread) uniformly, and stretch the yarn with
precision, these rollers being so arranged as to
work in connection with the spindle.
Stmuel In the year 1779, Samuel Crompton, of Bolton,

mu'nhe'' 1 combined Hargreaves's jenny with Arkwright's
mule. rollers, and thus brought out the mule. Through
the skill of Mr. Boberts, of Manchester, the mule
was made self-acting, the spinner not having
now to work or guide the mule, but simply to see
to its being kept in order. The value of these
accumulated inventions will be seen when it is
remembered that, as has been stated, before the
invention of Hargreaves, one person could only tend
one spindle ; at the present time, one man,

Our Manufacturing Industry. 5

aided by a grown-up youth and boy, will tend a pair chap, l
of mules having 1,200 or 1,300 spindles in each, or Labour
2,600 spindles altogether. If these facts be care- bythemvle.
fully examined, it will be seen that one individual,
aided by the machinery of the present day, will
produce as much yarn as seven hundred and fifty
persons could have done little over one hundred
years ago.

From these improvements there has resulted,

1st. A large diminution in the cost of yarn,
and

2nd. A considerable increase of wages.

According to Mr. Mann, a spinner in 17G0 could wagu in
only earn from 2s. to 3s. weekly; whereas, now, 1/tJ0 "
he can earn from 30s. to 35s. weekly. In the
time of Crompton, which was after considerable
improvements had been made in machinery, the
cost of spinning weft, 40 hanks to the pound, was
14s. per pound ; for No. G0 ri ' 25s. per pound ; and
for No. 80' s ' 42s. per pound. Now, the respective
cost of producing will be, 40 s ' 4d. ; for 60 s ' 7£d. ; Cost of
and for 80 s * Is. per pound." Such are the advan- mm?' 9
tages resulting from the invention of machinery.

These important improvements in spinning
machinery were quickly followed by a largely

* For tlio information of those who are not conversant with manufac-
turing phraseology, it may he stated that a hank contains 810 yards
and that when " counts of yarn " are spoken of, the number of hanks it
takes to weigh a pound is meant. Thus, by GO' 3 yarn is meant yarn 01
which it takes GO hanks, each of 810 yards, to weigh one pound.

C On the Development of

chap. i. increased production of yarn, ho much so, afl
somewhat to glut the market. At a meeting in
Manchester, in 1784, it was urged that it would
be impossible to find hands to weave all the yarn
Increased which would be spun." Dr. Cartwright argued
byspinning that the same excellency might be arrived at in
k inery. ^-^^'mg, as had been attained in spinning ; but he
was met by a decided contradiction. ITc, however,
undauntedly set to work, and the result was a very
rude model of the power-loom, which was after-
wards (in 1813) perfected and brought into general
use by Mr. Horrocks, of Stockport.

These inventions, important as they were, would
have been very much restricted in their use had it
not been that other inventions and discoveries were
made simultaneously with them.
Motive On the first establishment of mills, the machinery

/',U'/' 1 was either driven by cattle or turned by human
labour. This continued for some considerable
time. By-and-bye mills, began to be erected in
the neighbourhood of waterfalls ; these, however,
were very limited, and often very inconveniently
situated. "What was wanted was such arrange-
ments as would enable manufacturers to carry
the machinery into the towns and villages where
the people dwelt ; and not to be obliged to put
down their mills at outside places, in order to
secure turning power by means of the waterfalls,
which often necessitated long journeys, the con-

* See Mann's History of the Cotton Trade, page 17.

Our Manufacturing Industry. 7

struction of new roads, and many other inconve- chap. i.
niences, involving such an amount of cost and
trouble as proved most serious obstacles to the
establishment of mills.

In 17G5, the genius of Watt produced the Jm
steam-engine. Previous to Watt's time there had a,\
been a kind of engine in use, generally styled (lVJUU
Newcomen's engine ; but it was very rude and
imperfect, and required such an enormous amount
of fuel to drive it as to make it excessively costly.
The motion, too, of this engine was very irregular,
and thereby totally unfitted for the turning of
machinery : hence its use was mainly restricted to
the pumping of water out of the Cornish and
Newcastle mines. Watt applied the condenser to
the steam-engine , he also arranged the valves so
that the steam was turned upon each end of the
piston, instead of upon one end as heretofore. He
also made many other alterations and additions,
which greatly tended to improve the working of
the engine, to reduce the cost of fuel, and to secure
the regularity which was needed for the efficient
working of machinery.

To show the enormous saving of fuel effected by Eccnomyof
Watt's engine, it may be stated that the proprietor
of the Chacewater Mines, in Cornwall, put down
three of Watt's engines ; and the saving in coal
was so great that he agreed to pay to Watt
£S00 per annum, per engine, for the benefit thus
received.'""

* Sco rictorial Ilistory of England, vol. v., page 47G.

Watt's

8 On the Development of

chap. i. It has been pointed out, that the invention of

the steam-engine simultaneously with that of the

machinery for manufacturing, was a coincidence

fraught with the most important results.

Reduction If these inventions did not altogether annihilate

andcoaby physical labour, they reduced it to a minimum,

nwhinery. and tney ]ed to t j ie introduction f the factory

system, by which a thorough subdivision of labour
was secured, increased skill developed, a large
amount of time thereby saved, and a vast reduction
effected in the cost of production.
James Whilst these improvements in machinery were

and the going on, other discoveries were being effected,
system, which materially aided the success of our manufac-
turing industries. Six years before Watt invented
the steam-engine, the celebrated Brindley had
completed the first canal from Worsley to Man-
chester. This so much reduced the cost in the
carriage of coal, as to lower the price of coal in
Manchester by one-half. The construction of this
canal was followed, six years later, by that of
the Grand Trunk Canal, whereby the clays ot
Devonshire, &c. , were carried at a cheap rate to the
Potteries, thereby greatly reducing the cost of the
earthenware manufactured in those districts. Other
canals were rapidly constructed, new and good
roads were also made, which very much facilitated
and cheapened the cost of transit, thereby aiding
very materially the development of our manufac-
tures and trade.

In 1764, the art of calico printing was introduced

Our Manufacturing Industry. 9

into Lancashire, and gave a considerable impetus ciur. i.
to the cotton industry. A further stimulus was In&rodu*
given to it by the discovery and application ol calico
chlorine in the process of bleaching, which was i "
introduced from France by James Watt, the Appika-
inventor of the steam-engine, and applied at chlorine to
the works of his father-in-law, Mr. MacGregor, of *"***
Glasgow. Before the application of this discovery,
nearly all the cotton goods, in order to be bleached,
had to be taken to Holland, where they lay for
five or six months in the open air in the fields
around Haarlem. When we remember the difficulty
of transit in those days, it will be at once seen
what a drawback it must have been, to have to take
cotton goods manufactured in Lancashire all the
way to Holland to be bleached, involving enormous
expense, and losing the greater portion of a year
in the process. At the present time, the bleaching
of calicoes can be effected in as many days as it for- s , v!)l y !n
merly took months, and is done more effectually also. {'/'. ud

Prior to the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright,
Crompton, Watt, &c, the operations of spinning
and weaving were entirely carried on by people at
their own homes. As machinery came into use,
and trade became more extended, the factory rhefitetory
system came into existence. This, as has been JSroduced.
pointed out, enabled the manufacturer to effect a
thorough subdivision of labour ; each man thereby
became expert at his particular work, doing more
of it, and doing it better and at less cost than
before the introduction of machinery.

On the Development of

QOti Of

One considerable drawback in the first establish-
ment of factories, especially during the long winter

'/'/,' ''l,'; /' J' p nights, was the cost and danger arising from the
lighting up of the mills. This hud to be done by-
means of candles, which were not only very costly,
but full of danger arising from the sparks which
were perpetually emitted from the candles. The
writer was informed a short time ago, by a gentle-
man whose ancestors were in the cotton trade
upwards of sixty years ago, that the cost of candles
during the winter months in those days was almost
equal to the cost of cotton. These difficulties, how-
ever, were overcome by the discovery and applica-

Introduc- tion of gas, which was first applied in 1802, by Mr.

tionofoas. Murdoc h, of the Soho Works, Birmingham. In
1802 the first cotton mill in ' Salford was lighted
up with gas, and the practice was rapidly extended
to all other mills.

The limits of this treatise will not permit me to
dwell in detail, or even to specify more than a few
of the other improvements which have occurred,
in addition to those already enumerated. Among
other things may be mentioned the application of
steam to propelling ships, which w T as first accom-
plished by Bell, in 1811 ; the construction of the
locomotive engine by Stephenson, in 1814 ; the
establishment of the railway system, first begun by
the construction of the Stockton and Darlincrton
Bail way in 1S24, and fully completed by the
opening of the Manchester and Liverpool line, in
1830 ; the application of electricity to telegraphy,

K'?am
skips.

Origin of
the railway

system.

Our Manufacturing Industry. 11

by Wheatstone and Cooke, in 1837; and other chart.
inventions too numerous to specify. Suffice it to
say, that the inventions of the last hundred years
have completely revolutionized the manufactures
and commerce of the world, and have placed in
our hands a monopoly of trade and wealth such
as has never been enjoyed by any nation in the
history of the world. How long we may maintain
this position depends upon the manner in which
we use the advantages we thus possess.

We not only possess immense advantages from Ouraivcm-
the superiority of our machinery, but also in many
other ways we enjoy facilities for production which
other nations are destitute of.

1st. Our climate is well adapted for manufac- Climate.
turinff. Those who are engaged in cotton manu-
facturing are well aware of the vast advantages
which are derived from a suitable climate. The
differences produced in manufacturing be I ween a
dry east wind and a westerly one, amounts to at
least five per cent., both in quantity and quality,
that is, if when a westerly wind blows, a mill
containing one thousand looms, manufactures
weekly four thousand pieces of cloth, that same
mill, if the wind blows from the east for a week, will East wind;
not produce more than three thousand eight ^,\
hundred pieces, or even less than that, and what it tl " hunn -
does produce will not be so good.

This arises from the fact that a moist climate is
best adapted to the working of the cotton staples;
a dry atmosphere makes the yarn tender and

12 On the Development of

™ xv - 1 \ brittle ; and hence the breezes which blow from our
western shores, which are washed by the equatorial
influence of current from the Gulf of Mexico, &c, partake
iSfreonf exactly of the characteristic most needed for manu-
facturing. These remarks apply also, to a consider-
able extent, to the manufacture of woollens and
other fabrics.
Cmi,<L-c 2nd. Our mineral resources, too, are highly
favourable for manufacturing. Were it not for the
plentiful supply of good coal which we possess, we
should be unable to obtain the large quantities of
fuel which are needed to supply our steam engines.
In this country, coal is not only abundant but it is
good, and it is found in the immediate locality where
our mills are situated. On the Continent, in those
districts which possess coal, it is very inferior, and
often inconveniently situated ; so that manufacturers
are frequently obliged either to carry their own coal
long distances, or else import them from this
country.
Our 3rd. We possess immense advantages also in

^sition. point of situation. The insular character of our
country, too, is of immense advantage, as it gives
us a ready approach to the sea on all sides. We
have also many and excellent harbours ; and, as no
place is very far from the seaboard, the cost of
carriage becomes trifling, and the conveniences for
shipping such as greatly to facilitate commerce,
whether inward or outward.
Secret of A perusal of this chapter will convince the
°yrJ[ ~ reader that the development and progress of oui

Our Manufacturing Industry. 13

manufacturing industry, during the last 100 years, chap, i.
has been something surpassing by far all the
progress made in the previous history of the
world. This progress has been mainly, if not
entirely, owing to the genius and discoveries of our
own countrymen ; and it has given to us such a pre-
cedence as largely to place in our hands a monopoly
of the manufacturing industries of the world.

The invention of the steam-engine simultaneously Summary
with that of the machinery for manufactures, sup- toga.
plied us with mechanical power by which to turn
our mills ; the vast deposits of iron and coal under-
lying the soil in most parts of our island, give us the
material from which to construct our machinery,
and also the necessary fuel to develop the motive
power for the working of the steam-engine ;
the construction of canals, roads, railways, &c,
has enabled us quickly and cheaply to transport
our goods from one part to another ; and when, in
addition to this, we remember that our climate is
the one best adapted for manufacturing, and that
our people are among the most industrious and
persevering of the nations of the world, it will be
clearly seen that we have enjoyed, and still enjoy,
facilities for manufacturing, and consequently for
the accumulation of wealth, such as are not, and
never have been, possessed by any other nation
upon the face of the earth ; and such as, had they
been properly husbanded and used, would have
placed us as a nation in circumstances far beyond
the reach of pauperism or destitution.

14 Our Manufacturing Industry, &c

Some of these advantages are the bountiful gifts

of the Creator, and arc not likely to fail us in the
future. Others, involving questions of national
character and conduct, are largely dependent upon
the manner in which our extended resources are
employed. If rightly used, these will tend to the
nation's elevation ; but if misapplied, they are sure
to lead to its demoralization, and ultimately to its
downfall

CHAPTER II.

ON THE SOURCES OF OUR NATIONAL WEALTH.

The main sources from which our national wealth
is derived are the following : — ■

1st. Manufactures.

2nd. Trade and Commerce.

3rd. Agriculture.

4th. Mines, Railways, Fisheries, &c.

Manufactures. — Some idea may be formed of
the magnitude of our manufactures from the fol-
lowing table of mills engaged therein. It is taken
from a return presented to both Houses of Parlia-
ment, July 22nd, 1868.

return of the number of mills engaged
JN TEXTILE manufactures.

Return of
mills o>-
;/'(;/< <l In
textile mn-
nvfaeturcs.

No. of

Mills.

No. of
Spindles.

No. of

Looms.

No. of No. of Hands
Horsu Powerl Employed.

Cotton

WoolleD . .

Linen

Other Kinds
(incl. Silk)

2,549

2,465

405

1,003

32,000,014
6,456,989
1,588,124

1,072,467

379,329

118,865

31,040

20,131

201,062
87,623
46,866

17,544

401,064

25 3,087
118,929

7.".. 7(i7

6,422

41,117,594

549,365

353,095

848,787

When it is borne in mind that, 120 years aero, ^^"^f

' ■J o > unknown

machinery, except such as was worked by hand 120 jean

* ajo.

On the Sources of

Results of
Mechanical

lucent ion.

and of the rudest kind, was altogether unknown,
and that such a thins as a mill of the modem kind
was not in existence, it will give an idea as to the
progress we have made, and the vast facilities which
machinery has given us for the accumulation of
wealth. Our country has to a great extent been
the workshop of the world, and has reaped a rich
harvest of wealth as a consequence.

Trade and Commerce. — No better proof can

be given of the giant strides made in our trade and

influence 1 commerce, than a comparison of our present foreign

of these in-

tendons on trade with what it was a hundred years ago. The
following tables will illustrate this : —

Table of Imports and Exports for each of the
Ten Years ending 17G9.*

Our foreign
trade for
ten years
ending
1770.

Imports.

Exports.

1760

£
10,683,596
10,292,541
9,579,160
12,568,927
11,250,660
11,812,144
12,456,765
13,097,153
13,116,281
13,134,091

£
15,781,176
16,038,913
14,543,336
15,578,943
17,446,306
15.763,868
15,188,669
15,090,001
16,620,132
15,001,282

1761

1762

1763

1764

1765

1766

1767

1768

1769

117,991,318

157,052,626

* See HcCulloclTs Commercial Dictionary, page 726.

Our National Wealth. 17

Table of Imports and Exports for each of tue chap.il
ten years ending 1869.*

Imports.

Exports.

1800

£
210,530,873
217,485,024
225,710,976
248,919,020
274,952,172
271,072,285
295,290,274
275,183,137
294,693,608
295,428,907

£
135,891,227
125,102,814
123,992,204
140,002,342
160,449,053
165,835,725
188,917,536
180,961,923
179,677,812
190,045,230

1861

1862

1803

1864

1865

1866

1867

1868

1809

2,009,272,336

1,597,475,926

Ourfareign
track for
ifu U n
years end-
ing 1869.

In the year 1770, the population of the United
Kingdom was estimated at 11,198.270; in the „ , ,.
present year, 1870, it is estimated to be 30,838,210; and trad*

i m i'i 11111-ip contrasted.

or, whilst our population has only doubled itseli
two and three-quarter times over, our imports
(which are an index of the growth of our national
wealth) have increased twenty-two fold.

Of the articles exported from our own country,
nearly the whole of them consists of manufactures
of one kind or another, by far the greater part
of which consists of textile manufactures, as the
fallowing figures will show : —

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, pages 39 and 75.
C

18 On the Sources of

chap, it. TABLE OF EXPORTS OF TEXTILE B1ANTJFACTUBES

for 1869.*

Cotton manufactures . . £0 7, 159,004

Woollen „ . . 28,483,095

Linen „ . . 9,127,151

Haberdashery, &c. . . 4,582,703

£109,352,073

increase in As was stated in Chapter L, our total export of

tradc. on cotton goods in 1751 amounted only to £45,9SG.

In 1809, notwithstanding the fact that cotton

goods are at least five or six times as cheap as

they were in 1751, they amount to £07,1 5 9, 0G 4,

or about 1500 times as much in value during the

latter period as the former ; whilst, if the estimate

is taken in bulk, it will amount, at least, to five or

six thousand times as much.

The cotton For the year (1809) the entire value of our cotton

1869 Tnd manufactures was upwards of £75,000,000, whereas

toasted."' m 1^57, as we have seen, they were only valued

at £200,000; or, to put it in another form, though

our population has only increased about two and

three quarter fold, the yearly value of the cotton

goods we produce has increased upwards of 370

fold ; and, if we make the calculation by bulk, it

will reach about two thousand fold.

Varied The use of machinery is not however confined

n Jf P Ma ati ° n t° ^ ne P r0( luction of cotton, woollen, and other

chinenj. textile fabrics, it is universally employed in the

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, pages GS to lo.

Our National Wealth.

manufacture of iron, of paper, in printing, and cu.\r. u.
indeed there is no art or manufacture where labour
is employed, which is not very greatly aided by
machinery.

The invention of machinery, especially of the Value of

, -I . -i , i . • i the sterna

steam engine, has contributed very extensively c ,ujinc.
also to develope the mineral resources of our
country. If it had not been for the steam engine,
a great many of our mines would have been worth-
less, simply from the fact, that it would have been
impossible to pump the water away.

Mines. — The following return gives the total vaiucof
weight and value at the pit's mouth of our '^i^'i,',,
mineral produce in 1SG8* : —

Coal 103,141,157

Pig Iron. . . 4,970,20G
Lead .... 71,017

Other Minerals 22,830

Tons . . 108,205,210

£25,785,289

12,381,280

1,378,404

1,970,732

£41,521,705

In this statement there is no account taken of our
stone quarries, limestone rocks, &c. At present
there exists, so far as we know, no data by which
to estimate them, unless it be by making some
valuation of the houses which are constructed from
them.

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, page 132. In addition to the
minerals given above, there were also 835,512 ounces of Silver, and 1,012
ounces of Gold secured.

20 On the Sources of

chap. it. From the Report of the Commissioners of Inland
Number Revenue for 1870, page 102, we find there are
"} houscT 700,707 houses, each of which pays a yearly rental
BtSZ °f over °^ 20 ' tne annua l value of the whole being
£35,063,843. There are at least 5,000,000 houses
under £20 ; and if we assume that the houses under
£20 are of no greater value than those above £20,
then, by adding the total rental of house property
to the produce of our mines, we get an annual
return from the two sources of £111,049,391.
Ultimate As has been stated, however, the estimate
otirmme- which was given of the value of these minerals
raiproduce wag their value at the pit's mouth, or about
£3. 10s. per ton ; but this represents only a
portion of what then- value becomes ultimately.
Most of our mineral produce is used in the construc-
tion of machinery, which, when completed, is often
sold at £20, £50, and sometimes even £100 or
more per ton. If we reckon the average at £20
per ton, it will give a yearly produce from mines
alone of upwards of £100,000,000 sterling in value.
Railways. — The wealth of the United Kingdom
invested in, and derivable from, railways, is very
large, and is yearly increasing.

It is only about forty years since the first com-
plete railway — the Manchester and Liverpool — was
opened; whilst, at the end of 1867, the lencrth of

Capital in- .. , ., , ' , . -

vested, in line complete was 14,247 miles; the capital paid
ways ' up was £502, 262, 8S 7 ; number of passengers con-
veyed, 287,807,904 ; total receipts, £39,479,999.*

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, page 131.

Our National Wealth. 21

The table of imports, which has previously been chap. h.
given, will give a general view of the commerce of
the United Kino;dom.

In addition to our own commerce, we have
also a considerable carrying trade, from which, if
we do not get the profit of the trades, we get a
considerable income by way of carriage. It may Our ship-
therefore give a more comprehensive and complete pm9 '
view of our commercial progress and position in
this respect, if we give a summary of our shipping
at the present, as contrasted with bygone times.

The first authoritative return of shipping was Progress
issued in 1701-2; at that time the total number 1701-2.
of ships in the ports of the United Kingdom was
3,281, which were estimated to carry 261,222 tons,
and employed 27,196 men* — the navies of Scotland
and Ireland had then scarcely an existence ; so that
the total for the whole United Kingdom would
not be very much in excess of the above. The jVo . f
entire number of vessels belonging to the United ' LXS!iLU -
Kingdom in 1869 was 21,881, which were esti-
mated to carry 5,557,303 tons, and employed
195,490 men.t The number of vessels which entered
our ports in 1869 was 137,652, carrying 18,001,982 Tonnage.
tons. The number which left our ports was 138,757,
carrying 17,850,749 tons.+ In the year 1781, the
weight of goods which left our ports was only

* See McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, page 1214.
t See Statistical Abstract, for 1870, pages 100 to 104.
J Sec Trade and Navigation Eeturns for the year ending December,
18G9, page 42.

or>

Oa the Sources of

niAP. u. 778,904 tons. These figures abundantly illustrate

the marvellous development of our commerce

during the last 100 or 150 years.

Agriculture. — The entire area of the United

Kingdom, is 77,513,000 acres. Of these, in 1869,
iZated 45,880,041 acres, or not much above one-half were
land. under cultivation. The proportion of this area

appropriated to different crops is given in the

returns as follows* : —

ACIVCS.

Wheat 3,981,989

Barley 2,483,277

Oats 4,480,125

Rye 72,986

Beans 584,251

Peas 397,483

12,000,111

Green and Boot Crops, as
Potatoes, Turnips, Cab-
bage, &c 5,095,933

Other Crops, including
61,729 acres of Hops,
also Pasture Land, &c. 29,034,117

Uncultivated and Waste

Land 31,3S2,839

77,513,000

VnmUi- From the above table it will seen that consider-

vated land. . . _ __ _

ably above one-third of the land of the United

* See Statistical Abstract for 1S70, page 111.

Our National Wealth. 23

Kingdom is still wholly uncultivated ; whilst in qhap. h.
reference to that which is reported as under culti-
vation, the produce is so widely various, as to make
it absolutely impossible to give any reliable data in
respect to our agricultural production.

Mr. McCulloch, in his "British Empire," estimates Jtedof

L land per

the produce of an acre of average good land at acre.
thirty-two bushels per acre ; the estimate given by
the Board of Trade, is twenty-eight bushels per
acre.

It is a fact, however, that does not admit of Bad
dispute, that whilst for the last hundred years, every / agriad-
other interest in the country has been making the
most rapid and marvellous progress, the agricultural
interest has nowhere kept pace with the other, and
in many districts has scarcely made any progress at
all. This partly arises from the ignorance of the
farmer, but to a great extent it is owing to the
want of security in the tenure of the land. A man
who has an uncertain interest in a property, and is
not sure but that, if he improves it, others will
reap the benefit, can never be expected to improve it
as he would if certain to realize the benefit himself.

During the great anti-corn law agitation, the late MrJ
Mr. Cobden often called attention to the back- tun.
ward state of our agriculture. In one of
of his speeches at Manchester,* October 24, 1844,
speaking upon this point, and referring to
Cheshire, he said: "I have heard Mr. Ogilvv,
who was engaged by Mr. Brook, of Mere, and

* See his published speeches, vol. 1, page 210.

24 On the Sources of

chap. ii. otlier landlords of this and the neighbouring

county, as superintendent of their estates, declare —

and he is willing to go before a Committee of the

House of Commons to prove it — that Cheshire, if

properly cultivated, is capable of producing three

tunes as much as it now produces from its surface,

and he is willing the statement should be made

public upon his authority — and there is not a

higher authority in the kingdom."

Akierman Alderman Mechi, who is one of the greatest of

onVhl living authorities upon agriculture, asks the ques-

conddionof ^ Qn # « \y na £ margin for improvement is there in

British agriculture ?" " I have," says he, " tested
this by comparative results, and find that, if all the
land of this kingdom, 50,000,000 acres, which is
equal in quality with my own, produced as much
as mine does per acre, our agricultural produce
would be increased by the enormous amount of
£421,000,000 annually, the present produce, ac-
cording to my calculation, being only £3. 7s. per
acre, or £169,000,000. According to my annual
produce of £11. 15s. per acre, it would be
£687,000,000." " This," he adds, " is no exaggera-
tion, but a stern and humiliating fact."

This short paragraph reveals to us a twofold
fact, viz. : — ■

1st. The defective condition of our agriculture.

2nd. The vast amount of w r ealth which, our
agriculture would yield to us, if only properly
attended to.

* Quoted in McDonald's Hints on Farming, page 13.

Our National Wealth. 25

There is one question, which it will not be out . CHAP - "-.
of place to notice here, as it has not only a bearing °" thc " se

I * ° of stKwje.

upon our agriculture and upon our national wealth,
but also upon the health and happiness of our cities
and towns, and, indeed, of the country generally —
I mean the question of sewage. Upon this subject,
at the late Social Science Congress, held at New-
castle (September, 1870), a paper was read by Mr.
J. T. Blackburn, of Aldershot. The following is the
concluding passage of his paper : —

" The economic use of sewage is really a national Mr. J. t.
question, bearing very materially upon the food- on the
producing power of the country, not merely from JS3£».
the utilization of the sewage itself, but also in-
directly by manure produced by the consumption
of so large an addition of green food, where its
application to the land becomes general. Milk and
butter will be produced at one-third less than their
present prices ; and it will be found that, when
effectually fulfilling the agricultural conditions,
it will of necessity accomplish the sanitary
object also. Instead of compulsion being needed
for its adoption, we shall have active competition.

Alderman Mechi, in a letter to the Manchester Alderman
Examiner and Times of October 20th, 1870, 'a,.
goes more fully into this question. Referring to stu:ujc '
the farm of Mr. William Hope, at Hornchurch, Mr.Hope'a
near Rumford, Essex, he says it receives the whole JUI
of the available sewage of that town, containing
8,000 inhabitants. The farm is of 121 acres, of*
light and poor (generally) soil, which had previ-

2G On the Sources of

riT ^- IT -. ously ruined several tenants. lie goes on to say :

' Let us compare the condition of this farm now

fanem? an d formerly. Then, three men and two boys

tamed. we re employed ; now from 35 to 40 persons are

regularly employed, with 10 horses. The crops

Value of are enormous and frequent. The minimum value

V JcYe. pcr of each crop is £20 per acre; and, as many are

perfected in from two to three months, the total

value is very considerable."

" While the surrounding farms and market
gardens have proved disastrous, owing to the ex-
cessive droughts, here the crops have been and are
now most abundant and luxuriant, consisting of
cauliflowers, cabbages, potatoes, onions, parsnips,
carrots, red and Siberian beet, long, red, and globe
mangold, and other vegetables, a crop of barley in
July, after lettuce is in full ear, Italian rye-grass,
already cut five and six times ; but the most re-
markable is a crop of maize, or Indian corn, eight
feet high, as thick in the stem as a mop-stick, with
gigantic ears formed and about piercing the sheath.
Mr. Hope expects to ripen them, but this I
doubt."

" In the meantime, as cattle food, the crop is
worth £-0 per acre, for horses and cattle are gene-
rally fond of it. It seems difficult to realise the
fact, that green crops of various kinds should be
gathered within ten or twelve weeks after sowing
or planting, while those in the neighbourhood are
languishing or perishing for want of moisture."
"With sewage, sowing and transplanting become

Our National Wealth. 27

a certainty in result. Mangolds transplanted in cnKV - Ir -.
July were a fine crop. I weighed cabbages 20lbs.
each, and mangolds would considerably exceed

that We thus see, within twelve months,

a wretchedly poor farm converted into a most
luxuriant garden, its fertility ever increasing,
multiplying food and the employment of labour
concurrently, and extracting a money value from
that which is now, in too many cases, poisoning
our streams."

What a revelation is here unfolded ! what a Sewage <*
source of unapplied wealth does it open out to us ! S',V
The sewage of our towns and villages, instead of
blocking up and poisoning our rivers as it now
universally does, might be appropriated to the
fertilizing and enriching of the land. By this
means — taking Mr. Hope's farm at Hornchurch as
a sample — comparatively poor land might rapidly
be converted into rich and productive land, yielding
annually, not a crop valued at £3. 7s. per acre, but Productive
two or three crops yearly, each of them of the
value of £20 per acre. Dream of overcrowded «**"■*■*■
population, people starving for want of land upon
which to grow food — here is the answer to that
bugbear. Let the land only receive in the shape of
manure the sewage and refuse from the teominjx
population of our towns and villages, in addition to
the other means which are applied to it, and
let it be properly drained and cultivated, and
there is hardly any limit to its powers of pro-
duction.

On the Sources of

Recupera-
tive pmver
in nature.

There is marvellous wisdom displayed in the
arrangements of nature. The earth yields the
vegetable produce which supplies food to the
animal kingdom. This food, when it has served its
purpose in the animal economy, is cast off; but it
is not useless waste, for it becomes again available
as manure to enrich and fructify the earth — in fact,
it is the food of the soil ; and in proportion as the
soil is thus fed by the sewage and refuse from the
animal and vegetable kino*doms, so will be its
capability to yield increased food. As the popu-
lation increases, so will be the demand for food ;
but in the same proportion there will also be a
supply of refuse, or, in other words, of nourishment
or manure for the soil. If, therefore, instead of
throwing this refuse into our rivers, to block-up
and pollute them, we returned it to the land,
Produce of then, as the population increased, there would be
grows with an ever-increasing supply of food for the soil, and
latS^ the yield of produce wherewith to feed the popu-
lation would increase in the same proportion, and
there is no reason (if our resources were properly
applied) why the soil of our own country should not
easily support a population of over one hundred
millions of people.

Fisheries. — In reference to the fisheries of the
United Kingdom, the statistics published are too
incomplete to enable us to give anything like a
complete and reliable statement.

Our National Wealth. 29

The number of fishermen engaged are given in cnAP - "•
the Government returns as follows : —

No. of

Isle of Man 2,380

Ireland* 38,444

Scotlandt ....... 45,201

Other persons engaged in Scotch) . ,
fisheries J

employed.

131,229

We may safely assume that there are 20,000
persons engaged in the English fishery trade, and
that at least 30,000 other persons are engaged in
England, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, in assisting
to cure the fish and prepare them for market ; if so,
it will give us a total of slightly over 180,000 per-
sons who are dependent upon this branch of trade.

In a valuable article on the Fisheries, in the Sir John
" Encyclopedia Britannica," Sir John Barrow estimate */
estimates the annual produce of the foreign and JS,S^*
domestic fisheries of Great Britain at £8,300,000. W*™-
This, however, is generally thought to be over-
stated. McCulloch, in his " Commercial Die- McCui
tionary," remarks that £5,500,000 will be a full nwto!
estimate. Whichever of these estimates be correct,
one thing is universally admitted, viz., that the
fishery trade is capable of very great extension,
and if effectually worked would be very prolific in
its returns.

* See Miscellaneous Statistics, part 7, page 304.
+ See Beport of Scotch Fisheries issued June 1, 1870, page 22.

On the Sources of

Produce of

tkt ma.

Report of
Royal
( 'ommit'

The best
way to es-
timate our
national
resources.

In a Report of the Fisheries of the United King-
dom, published in 18GG, the Commissioners say:

"The produce of the sea around our coasts bears
a far higher proportion to that of the land than is
generally imagined. The most frequented fishing
grounds are much more prolific of food than the
same extent of the richest land. Once in the year
an acre of good land carefully tilled produces a ton
of corn, or two hundredweight or three hun-
dredweight of meat or cheese. The same area
at the bottom of the sea, on the best fishing
grounds, yields a greater weight of food to the
persevering fisherman every week in the year.
Five vessels belonging to the same owner, in a
single night's fishing, brought in 17 tons weight of
fish, — an amount of wholesome food equal to that
of 50 cattle, or 300 sheep. The ground which
these vessels covered could not have exceeded an
area of 50 acres."

From the facts and figures which have been
adduced in . this, and the preceding chapter, the
reader will be enabled to obtain a tolerably correct
idea as to the nature and vast extent of our national
resources. The statistics supplied are not, however,
sufficiently definite to enable us to give a com-
plete summary of them. In forming an estimate,
therefore, as to the total of our national income
and resources, much has to be left to conjecture.
The most satisfactory approximation to a correct
result is, to take the income tax returns as the
basis on which to calculate our income.

Our National Wealthy 31

INCOME OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED cnAr - "•,

KINGDOM FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31,18 70." Total *h,

' come oftha

Schedule (A) In respect of lands, Kingdom.

tenements, &c. ..„ £133,478,032

„ (B) In respect of the

occupation of lands 37,447,774

,, (C) In respect of an-
nuities, dividends,
&c 34,790,120

„ (D) In respect of pro-
fessions, trades, em-
ployments,railways
mines, ironwork.:,
&c 101,594,118

„ (E) In respect of pub-
lic offices ...,...., 22,110,858

£3S9,420,902
Estimate of incomes under £200,

reduced by abatement of £60,

and incomes exempt as being

under £100, and unreturned

profits 120,000,000

Estimated income of the manual

labour class 370,000,000

£879,420,902
The income of the manual labour class is esti- //iconic of
mated by Professor Leoni Levi at £418,000,000, cltuta.

■ See Return of Taxes and Imposts moved for by Six T. Bazley, and
ordered to bo printed August lOtb, 1870.

On the Sources of

?***' n - and l>y Mr. Dudley Baxter at £325,000,000;
if a mean be taken between the two, unci we call it
say £370,000,000, it will not be far wide of the
mark.

It will give the reader an idea as to how much
the progress of the wealth of the nation is depen-
dent upon our manufacturing industries, if we give
the valuation of property in Lancashire at two
periods.

Valuation ]\f r# Henry Ashworth, in a paper read at the

of property m \ * . x

tni692and Friends' Institute, Manchester, gives the real pro-
perty as assessed for land tax for 1692 and ISO 5,
as follows : —

REAL PROPERTY ASSESSED FOR LAND-TAX IN
LANCASHIRE, AT TWO PERIODS.

Annual
Value.

1692

£
Hundred of Leyland J 5,774

Lonsdale I 8,500

Amounderness 10,288

Blackburn . .

Salford

West Derby..

11,131

25,907
35,642

Annual
Value.

18G5.

£
249,284

423,967
526,239
950,916

4,084,888

Increase of
Value.

Pate of
Increase,

415,467
515,951
939,785

4,058,981

3,801,585 3,765,943

■

4,987 ..

5,115,,

8,542 ..

15,767 .,

10,666 „

97,242 10,036,879 9,939,637

Dr. Watts, in his valuable book on the cotton
famine, in reference to this table, remarks : "Headers
who are acquainted with Lancashire, will not need
to be told that the progress is about in proportion
to the area occupied for the purposes of manufacture
and commerce in each case ; that, in fact, the

Our National Wealth. 33

immense stride made by the Salford Hundred 5 nAr - "•
(which includes Manchester, &c.) is due to the
cotton manufacture, and that of West Derby to the
same cause, together with the additional fact, that
Liverpool is the grand port of entry for the raw
material, and for the departure of manufactured
goods."

It may not be uninteresting here to pive an Artliiir

f, , . Youny's

estimate of what the nations income was one estimate
hundred years ago. Arthur Young,'''' in his i»i770. e
"Northern Tour," published in the year 1770,
estimates the income of England and Wales
(not the United Kingdom) as follows : —

INCOME OF ENGLAND AND WALES IN 1770.

Income from the Soil . . . £66,000,000
Manufactures 27,000,000
Commerce . 10,000,000
,, „ Law, Physic,
the Fine Arts, Litera-
ture, &c 5,000,000

,, ,, Money Lent

at Interest .... 5,000,000

„ Public Eevenue 9,000,000

£122,000,000

Arthur Young estimated the population of
England and Wales at that time as being Relative
8,500,000 ; now it is about 22,000,000 : so that JJ352!
with a population of rather more than two and «■**»*■»«

* Quoted in Pictorial History of England, vol. 5, page 582.
C

34 On the Sources of

cnxr. ii. a half times what it was one hundred years ago,

we have a yearly income of more than six times the

income possessed by them.

Baxta'v' ^ ne following is an estimate of the property of

estmab of the United Kingdom, as given by Mr. R Dudley

the pro- . . . ,

party of the Baxter, in his work on the "Taxation of the
Kingdom United Kingdom,"* published 18G ( .).

The property of the United Kingdom is esti-
mated as follows : —

1. Eeal Property —

Lands, houses, and mines were assessed to income

tax in 18GG, at £132,000.000

Taken at twenty-three years' purchase, the
average number for the total of the three kinds
of property, the capitalized value is nearly ... 3,000,000,000

But from this must be deducted the Leaseholds
and Mortgages, and Personalty in Mines, esti-
mated at one-third, or 1,000,000,000

Leaving the nett capitalized value of the Pieal

Property of the United Kingdom 2,000,000,000

2. Personal Property : —

(a) Mortgages, Leaseholds, «tc, as above 1,000,000,000

Annual Value

Income

Tux, 1865,

(b) Eailways, Gas, and Canals ... £23,000,000
Public Dividends on British,

Colonial, and Foreign Funds

(Schedule C) 34,000,000

Public Companies .., 12,000,000

£09,000,000
Capitalized at twenty-five years' purchase,

these amount to 1,700,000,000

* See pages 163-164.

Our National Wealth. 35

Capital.

Farming for £50,000,000

rental, under Schedule A... £300,000,000

Trades and Professions for
£100,000,000 profit, under
Schedule D 500,000,000

Classes below the Income-tax 200,000,000

Dead Capital (Furniture, <fcc.) 300,000,000

1,300,000,000

Total Personal Property ... £4,000,000,000

Total Real and Personal Property, including

the National Debt £6,000,000,000

This is but an insignificant total to be owned
by a nation whose yearly income borders on
£900,000,000. It proves there is a terrible waste
somewhere. We shall see in future chapters
where this waste is, and what are its fruits.

It is impossible to take a retrospective view of
our resources without being struck with the pre-
eminent advantages which in every way we enjoy,
and with the mutual fitness of everything to
secure the development of our marvellous wealth.

As has been noted in the previous chapter, the
situation of our country, its insular position, the
suitability of our climate, with other advantages,
have all conspired to give us the pre-eminence as a
manufacturing and commercial people. The mechan-
ical genius of our countrymen has secured to us the
foremost place in regard to machinery, but all this
would have been comparatively valueless had it not

36 On the Sources of, &c.

ottAr - u \ been for our mineral resources, our iron mines and
our coalfields : the one has supplied us with the mate-
rial with which to construct our machinery, and
the other has given us the power by which to put
it in motion. These, combined, have placed in our
hands such facilities for the acquisition of wealth
as has never been enjoyed by any nation in the
history of the world. Under such circumstances
we should naturally have concluded that our people
would universally have been placed far beyond the
reach of pauperism and destitution. Alas ! this is
not the case ; for though the wealth of the nation
is valued at £0,000,000,000, and its yearly income
is estimated at near £900,000,000, still destitution
and pauperism deluge us on every hand. How
is this ?

Having endeavoured as briefly as possible to
recapitulate our wealth and its sources, I will now
glance at our pauperism, and then tiy to investi-
gate the cause thereof.

CHAPTER III.

OUR PAUPERISM.

Up to this point, the picture before our eyes has cnw. m.
been one of entire brightness. Everything has
seemed to be conspiring to pour wealth upon us,
and we should naturally expect, that everywhere
there would be a universal abundance. Unfor-
tunately, there is a dark side to this picture ; for
whilst, as a nation, wealth has been pouring upon us,
there has been a considerable and a growing pro- Condition
portion of our population sinking in pauperism. %pui a t;,,
Let us briefly glance at this, and then, if we
can, in future chapters investigate the causes
which reduce so large a proj:>ortion of our population
to such a deplorable condition.

The first conrplete authoritative return that we
have as to poor's-rates, is for 177G.""' In that year,
from returns made upon oath by the overseers of
the poor, it appears that the total money raised by Pauperism
assessment for the poor in England and Wales was contrasted
£1,720,316; last year (18G9) it was £11,770,153 ; J^J, 1 ™.
or, in other words, with a population rather better
than two and a half times the size of what it was
one hundred years ago, and with an income six
times as large as in 177G, we expended last year

* See Pictorial History of England, vol. 5, page 582.

402^05

Our Pauperism.

Table of
pauper 8
for the ten
years end-
ing 1870.

nearly seven times as much upon pauperism and
crime as we did in 1770. The number of paupers
in 177G is not stated.

The present population of the United Kingdom
(18G9) is 30,838,210; of these, 1,281,G51 are
returned as paupers, and 6,692 as vagrants.

The following table will show the gradual and
continued increase in our pauperism. It gives the
number of paupers in the United Kingdom from
I860 to 1870 inclusive :

England and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

TotaL

1860

851,020

114,209

44,929

1,010,158

18G1

890,423

117,113

50,683

1,058,219

1862

946,166

118,928

59,541

1,124,635

1863

1,142,624

120,284

66,228

1,329,136

1864

1,009,289

120,705

68,135

1,198,129

1865

971,433

121,394

69,217

1,162,044

1866

920,344

119,608

65,057

1,105,009

1867

958,824

121,169

68,650

1,148,643

1868

1,034,823

128,976

72,925

1,236,724

1869

1,039,549

128.339

74,745

1,242,633

1870

1,079,391

73,921

The Government returns as to pauperism and

I m 'iicvfcct'

character of vagrancy do not, however, by any means represent
the extent of these two evils. They give the

ment
o-eturns as
to pauper-
ism, <fcc.

number of paupers on the books on the 1st day
of January, and the number of vagrants who
apply for lodging or casual relief on the same day ;
but tins but very imperfectly portrays the pauper-
ism, &c, of the country. According to this method
of reckoning, if a man becomes chargeable to the

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, pages 12G-7.

Our Pauperism. 39

union on the 2nd of January, and conies off again chap. m.
on the 31st day of December, he is not counted,
though he has been receiving relief during the
whole year, except two days. The statistics
of the Poor-law Board give the number of
paupers and vagrants relieved on one day, (which
is what they profess to do), but it does not give
the number of persons who get relief as paupers
and vagrants during the year. This is the idea
generally received, but it is erroneous.

The only complete annual return of paupers issued
is for the parochial year 1857. It was furnished Return of
by Mr. Purdy, of the Statistical department of the paupers
Poor-Law Board, and is given by Mr. Dudley y«,'." y °
Baxter, in his work on " National Income".*

Paupers, indoor and outdoor,
relieved during the half-year
ending Michaelmas, 1856 . . 1,845,782
„ „ only on 1st July, 1856 796,102
Paupers, indoor and outdoor,
relieved during the half-year
ending Lady Day, 1857 . . . 1,934,286
„ only on 1st January, 1857 843,430

The apparent total for the two

half-years is 3,780,068

But from this must be deducted
the whole number of paupers
relieved on Michaelmas Day,
1856— say 800,000

Leaving the nett total. . . 2,980,000

Being 3 J times the number on the 1st January.

* Page 87.

40 Our Pauperism.

oBAs.m. j n orc J er> therefore, to get tlie number of persons
who received relief during 18G9, we must mult Lply
1,281,651 by 3£, which gives 4,485,778. This,
then, is the real number of persons who were
chargeable as paupers, at one time or another, during
that year, or nearly one in seven of the entire
population. Admitting that a considerable num-
ber of these might be persons who applied twice or
three times over during the year, it would still leave
us about one in every ten of the population as
having been paupers during the course of the year.
In reference to this subject, Mr. Dudley Baxter,
in the work just quoted, remarks : —
Mr. Dudley " The average number of paupers at one time in
■pauperism, receipt of relief in 18GG was 91G,000, being less
than for any of the four preceding years. The total
number relieved during 18G6, may, on the authority
of a return of 1857, given in the Appendix, be
calculated at three and a half tunes that number,
or 3,000,000. All these may be considered as
belonging to the 16,000,000 of the manual labour
classes, being as nearly as possible twenty per cent
on their number ; but the actual cases of relief
give a very imperfect idea -of the loss of work and
wages. A large proportion of the poor submit to
great hardships, and are many w r eeks, and even
months, out of work before they will apply to the
guardians. They exhaust their savings ; they tiy
to the utmost their trade unions or benefit societies ;
they pawn little by little all their furniture ; and
at last are driven to ask relief."

Our Pauperism. 41

But even the figures which have been given cnAP. m,
do not, by any means, represent adequately the
pressure of our poverty. There are a very large
number of persons who are dependent upon their
friends and relations ; and there are a number
who, as Dudley Baxter says, submit to great nda(h . c
hardships sooner than apply for relief. If all who No - °f

1 ±.l./ paupers to

are thus situated be summed up, it cannot amount fopuiation
to much less than one-third of the entire popu-
lation of the manual labour class, or from fifteen
to twenty per cent of the entire population.

The Government returns in reference to vagrancy
are even more imperfect and unsatisfactory than the
pauper returns. I have not been able to obtain any
national figures to illustrate this, but it will be suffi-
ciently manifest if I give the statistics in reference
to one union — the Bury Union in which I reside.

The following table gives the number of paupers Paupen
and vagrants returned to the Poor-law Board, mgrawtain
January 1st, 1870, and published in their Report t' u iZ'.' J
as representing the pauperism and vagrancy in the
Bury Union, the population of which, in 18G1, was
101,142.

Paupers 4,372

Vagrants .... 11

The actual number of cases of pauperism and
vagrancy during the year ending March, 1870, in
the Bury Union was as follows :* —

*Thcse Returns have been kindly furnished mo by W. P. Woodcock, Esq.,
the clerk to tho Bury Union. It will be necessary to deduct from theso
the 4,372 paupers given above, as tho permanent paupers arc entered twice
during the year. This gives tho number of cases of pauperism as 10,640.

42 Our Pauperism.

cnApnn No. of cases of Paupers relieved, 15,012

,, ,, Vagrants ,, 15,474

These returns corroborate the figures given by
Mr. Purely in reference to the pauperism of the
country ; and they show that if the total cases of
vagrancy during the year were given, it wolud
numerically be equal to, or greater than the number
of paupers.

No doubt a very large number of the vagrant
cases are from among the paupers, and in a large
The same proportion of the cases, the same parties apply
ofunappty several times over in the same union, and also in
swerai different unions ; still, it shows that there is a
very large class of our population who have no
fixed dwelling-place ; they move about getting a
living by begging, or stealing, or by imposition
upon the public, as may be most convenient.
Adding this class to the pauper class, it reveals an
amount of destitution and demoralisation in the
country that is perfectly appalling, and that is a
lasting disgrace to our civilization and Christianity.
What are the causes of this condition of things ?
and what are the remedies to be applied ? To
give an answer to these questions will be the
object of the succeeding chapters in this book.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE FALLING OFF IN TRADE.

During the four years subsequent to the recent chap.iv.
American civil war, the trade of this country, espe- Depressed

•nil ,, , i • i • condition

cially the cotton trade, was m a most precarious f tra( i c
and unprofitable condition ; so continuously and a ^ t i c t j te
ruinously bad was it, that a very general belief American
became prevalent in commercial circles, that the
manufacturing industries of this country had had
their day, and that they were about to pass into
the hands of other nations. It was commonly said
on the Manchester Exchange, that there had been
so many mills erected on the continent, as enabled
them not only to supply their own wants, but to Foreign
create a surplus for disposal elsewhere ; and it was c t l"
said that, what with lower wages and longer hours, posed
our continental neighbours were outstripping us,
and beating us, not only in their own and in neutral
markets, but actually in the markets of London
and Manchester, and that, by and bye, much of our
trade would be a thing of the past.

Beinff largely interested in the cotton trade, as TI&AyOar
o o j ^ tnvamgata

a spinner and manufacturer, the writer shared in the
the general fear and despondency. It appeared to quu
him that if the cotton trade was about to pass

competition
sup-
cause

On the Falling Off in Trade.

The de-
pression
caused by
the falling
off in the
Home
trade.

Compari-
son of trade
with ten
years ago.

away — if the ship was about to sink — the sooner
he got out of her and the better. As a prudent man,
however, he thought it would only be wise before
taking such an important step to ascertain whether
this was really the fact or not ; whether our bad
trade arose from a falling off in the foreign demand,
or it arose from a diminution in the home trade.

An examination of the question established the
fact that there had been no falling off in our foreign
trade, but a considerable increase ; and that this
was the case not only in reference to the general
export trade, but even to our trade with those
continental countries which were said to be out-
stripping us, but that, whilst our foreign trade had
continued to grow, our home trade in cotton goods
had fallen off to a considerable extent, and that
this falling off had not been made up for by an
equivalent increase in the woollen and linen
trades.

The four years ending 1861 (which were prior to
the American war), were the four most prosperous
years which the cotton trade, or indeed the general
trade of this country, ever experienced. The
prevailing impression has been that the year
1860 was the turning point, and that from that
time our trade has been retrograding. Is this so ?
In order to test it, I will give a comparison of our
foreign, and also, as far as possible, of our home
trade in cotton, woollen, and linen, for the four
years ending 1861, and the four years ending
1869.

On the Falling Off in Trade.

Table op Exports op Cotton, Woollen, and Linen Goons,
for the Four Years ending 1801, and the Four Years
ending 1809.*

Quantity op Cotton Goods Exported.

Cotton

1858

1859 ....
1800
1801 ,

Goods — Yards.

2,324,139,085

.. 2,502,545,470

2,770,218,427

2,503,459,007

Cotto
1800
1867
1808
1809

n Goods — Yards.
2,575,098,138
2,832,023,707
2,977,100,551
2,800,113,303

10,220,301,995

11,250,941,759

Being an increase in the quantity of our exports
during the latter period, as compared with the
former, of 1,024,579,704 yards, or 10 per cent.

Valuet of Cotton Goods Exported.

Cotton
185S .

1859 .

1860 .

1861 .

Goods — Value.J

.. £43,001,322

48,202,225

52,012,380

46,872,489

Cotton Goods — Value.
1800 ... £74,613,046

1807 ... 70,830,983

1808 ... 67,686,772
1869 ... 67,159,064

£190,088,416

£280,295,805

Or an increase in the value of cotton goods ex-
ported of £90,207,449, or 47 per cent.

Quantity of Woollen Goods Exported.

Woollen
185S
1859 ,
1800
1861 ,

Goods — Yards.
166,141,715
193,687,679
190,37 1,5 .".7
164,398,181

Woollen
1866
1867
1868
1809

Goods — Yards.
281,878,523
249,459,211
209,134,508
303,016,569

714,599,142

1,103,488,811

CITAP. IV.

Quantity

of cotton
good* ex-

ported.

Value
of cotton
goods ex-
ported.

Quantity

of wool It il
(joods < X-

ported.

* See Statistical Abstract for 1870, pages 64-65. The particulars for
cotton, woollen, and linen will all bo found in the same table.

t The values represent both cloth and yarns ; the quantities represent
cloth only.

t Seo Statistical Abstract for 1870, pages 68-69. The particulars for
cotton, woollen, and linen will all be found in the same table.

CTIKV. IV.

Value
of ivoollcn
tjonds ex-
ported.

Quantity
of tint n
goods ex-
ported.

Value
of linen
goods ex-
ported.

On the Falling Off in Trade.

Being an increase in our export of woollen goods
during the four years ending 18G f J of 388,889,669

yards, or 54 per cent.

Value of Woollen Goods Exported.

Woollen Goods — Value.

1858 £12,743,807

1859 15,137,7U<.)

1800 10,000,448

1801 14,071,008

Woolle

1800
1807
L868
18G9

n Good- — Value.

£26,538,379

25,943,928
25,900,084

28,483,095

£58,553,752

£100,805,486

Showing an increase in the value of woollen goods
exported of £48,311,734, or 83 per cent.
Quantity of Linen Goods Exported.

Linen

1858
1859
1800
1861

Goods — Yards.
121,940,291
138,120,498
143,990,773
110,322,409

Linen Go<
1800
1807
1808
1809

)ds — Yards.

255,408,089
211.275,196
210,049,078
214,715,319

520,380,031

891,508,882

Being an increase in the quantity of linen goods
exported of 361,128,851 yards, or 71 per cent.

Value op Linen Goods Exported.

Linen Goods — Value.

1858 £5,870,696

1859 0,279,189

1800 6,000,075

1801 5,474,557

Linen
1800
1807 ,
1868
1809

Goods — Value.

£11,950,377
9,887,776

9,422,307
9,127,151

£24,230,517

£40.387,071

Showing an increase in the value of linen goods
exported of £16,157,154, or 67 per cent.

On the Falling Off in Trade. 47

From the preceding tables it will be manifest otap.iv.
that the increase in the value of cotton goods Relative
exported for the four years ending 1869, over the ™£™.°
four years ending 1861, was 47 per cent; of woollen
goods, 83 per cent. ; and of linen goods, 67 per cent,
making an average increase in the value of our
exports in ten years of 66 per cent, the greatest
increase which ever occurred in the same time, and
a very different thing from the falling off that
was commonly believed to have been the case.

If the value of goods recede to the level of the jf^gj"
prices thev were at before the American war, so that ff^jmnj

*■ J m Jigures.

the enormous increase in the value of our exports
shall represent a corresponding increase in their
bulk ; and if, as it is only natural to expect, the high
prices which have been prevalent in goods has led
to their use being minimized as much as possible,
the world must generally be bare of goods, and
therefore, it becomes almost a certainty that our
foreign trade, more particularly in cotton goods,
must very much increase. If we get a cheap and
abundant supply of cotton, as appears likely ere
long, there is a bright prospect before the cotton
trade, especially if there should be a revival in the
home trade.

In the home trade there are not the same sta- Hon } e

trade

tistical returns published as in the export trade ; returns.
nevertheless our home consumption of cotton goods
maybe calculated with sufficient nicety to be reliable.
To come at this, we have the amount of cotton
imported, and then the amount taken by the

On the Falling Off in Trade.

Home
trade,

citap. iv. trade; then we have the published tables of ex-
ports of goods, and deducting the exports from the

total cotton used, it will give us the home con-
sumption.
Mr. Elijah Mr. Elijah Helm, in a paper read before the
miationat Manchester Statistical Society, and which has been
published and largely circulated amongst the lead-
ing manufacturers and merchants in Lancashire,
has gone into these calculations elaborately.

He has kindly given me a copy of his paper,
from which I extract the following tables of quan-
tities: the tables of values I have added, calculating
them on the same basis as the exports.

Estimated Weight of Cotton contained in Manufactures
of all kinds exrouted and retained for iiome con-
sumption.

Total
weight of

cleaned
cotton used.

1858 815,040.000

1859 878,940,000

18G0 975,240,000

1861 90G,GGO,000

3,575,880,000

1866 824,130,000

1807 859,680,000

1868 SS6,860,000

1869 847,362,000

3,418,032,000

Showing a reduction in the total of cotton used
during the last four years, as compared with the
former, of 157,848,000lbs., or rather over 4 per cent.

Weight of Cleaned Cotton in Yarn and Manufactures
Exported.

Weight

used in
goods and
yarns
exported.

1S58 670,034,000

1859 710,310,000

1860 757,267,000

1861 701,406,000

',839,017,000

1866 664,093,000

1867 747,256,000

1868 779,397,000

1869 752,091,000

2,942,837,000

On the Falling Off in Trade.

Being an increase in the quantity of cotton used
in goods for exportation of 103,820,000lbs., or
rather more than 3a per cent.

For the sake of comparison I here repeat the
table of the value of our export of cotton goods.
Value of Cotton Goods of all kinds Exported.

1858
1859
1860
1861

£43,001,322
48,202,225
52,012,380
40,872,489

£190,088.116

1800
1807
1808
1809

£74,013,040
70,830,983
67,680,772
07,159,004

£280,295,805

Value
of cotton
goods ex-
ported.

Or an increase in the value of goods exported of
£90,207,449, or 47 per cent.

"Weight of Cleaned Cotton in Manufactures retained
for Home Consumption.

1858 145,006,000

1859 168,630,000

1860 217,973,000

1861 205,254,000

736,803,000

1800 100,037,000

1867 112,424,000

L868 107,403,000

1809 95,271,000

475,195,000

Weight
of cleaned

cotton iii
goods for
Hon ■
sumption.

Being a decrease in the cotton used for goods for
home consumption of 261,GG8,000lbs., or more than
35 per cent.

Value of Cotton Goods of all kinds,
Consumption.

RETAINED FOR HOME

1858 ..
185!) ..

1860 ..

1861 ..

£9,306,169.
11,443,371
14,971,330

13,716,400

I860 ..

1867 ..

1868 ..

1809 ..

. £17,980,080

10,657,361

9,332,629

8,501,737

Value

Of Cotton

goods used

J fume

trade.

£49,437,270

£40,472,413

On the Falling Off in Trade.

Showing a decrease also in the value of cotton
goods for home consumption of £2,959,231, or 6

The fall off per cent

m cotton
not tub-

: !;> nl, ,/.

li has generally beer alleged, as a reason for the
falling nil* in the homo trade in cotton goods, thai
it has arisen from the fact that woollen and linen
have been to a very large extent, substituted. It
has been said, there lias been a falling off in cotton
goods, but there has not been a falling off in trade
generally: what has been lost in cotton has been
gained in woollen and linen. Is this so ? In the
annual Trade Review of Messrs. Ellison and
Haywood, Brokers, Liverpool, for the year 18G9,
I find the following comparison of the linen and
woollen trade for the four years ending 18G1 with
the four years ending 1869 :

Total Consumption of Woollen and Linen, both for the
Home and Export Trade.

Relative
increase in

WOOlli II

and linen.

Great fall-
ing i iff in
1 1 o mi con-
sumption.

TOTAL CONSUMPTION

Woollen.
Linen

1858-61. 1866-69.
lbs. lbs.
. 179,G9S,000 241,070,000
. 109,256,000 232,131,000

Total Expokt.

Increase.

61,372,000
62,875,000

Increase
per cent.

Woollen..
Linen

. 106,691,000 102,498,000
. 84,590,000 125,283,000

•V>.so7,000
40,693,000

Total Home Consumption.

Woollen..
Linen

. 73.007,000 78,572,000
. s 1,000,000 106,848,000

5,565,000
22,182,000

7-2
26

From the tables which have been given, it will
be manifest that, whilst the weight of cotton used

On the Falling Off in Trade. 51

in goods for home consumption has decreased chap.it.
2G1,G68,000 lbs. during the four years ending
18G9, as compared with the four years ending
18G1, the total increase both of woollen and linen
(notwithstanding the increase in population) has
only amounted to 27,747,000 lbs., or not much
above a tenth part of the falling off in cotton.

From a consideration of the statistics which
have been given, we may logically draw the T . .

° J ° * Legitimate

followinc; conclusion : com

1st. That the belief which was pre
valent a short time ago, that our trade is
being supplanted by Continental manufac-
turers, is all a delusion, inasmuch as our
exports of manufactured goods have enor-
mously increased ; whilst our home consump-
tion has very considerably fallen off.

2nd. That the main, if not the only, cause
of the great depression which has latterly
existed in our trade, especially in the cotton
trade, has arisen from this falling off in the
home trade.
What are the causes which have induced this
falling off %

There are a variety of opinions upon this subject.
Some have said that it has been caused by the
poverty of the people ; others have ascribed it to
the panic of 18GG ; others have said that Trades
Unions have had much to do with it ; whilst
others allege that it, lias arisen from over-specula-
lation. Doubtless, all these and other things have

52 On the Falling Off in Trade.

had an influence; Imt the combined influence of aD
has been insignificant as compared to the influence
arising from the intemperate liahits of* the people.
This question is one of vast importance ; I therefore
ask the reader's careful attention whilst I dwell
upon it. Before, however, I enter upon its dis-
cussion, I propose to devote a chapter to the
consideration of the question of Productive and
Non-productive Labour and Expenditure.

CHAPTER V.

PRODUCTIVE AND NON-PRODUCTIVE LABOUR
AND EXPENDITURE.

Wealth is generally denned to be, " That which chap. v.
has an exchange value ;" or in other words, any- mdUhT
thing that can be sold or that will fetch a price dcjuh
in the world's market may be called wealth, the
value of such wealth depending upon the cost of
its production, which cost is determined by the
amount of labour that is expended upon it.

Adam Smith* says: " The annual labour of any Adam
nation is the fund which originally supplies it with ?"," 7/ '

o «/ ir labour i

all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it the S0l,rrc

n ii-i -i • of wealth.

annually consumes, and which consists always in
the immediate produce of that labour, or with
what is purchased with that produce from other
nations.

"According, therefore, as this produce, or what
is purchased with it, bears a greater or smaller
proportion to the number of those who consume it,
the nation will be better or worse supplied with
all the necessaries and conveniences for which it
has occasion.

" But this proportion must in every nation be

* See Wealth of Nations, page 1.

54 Productive and Non-productive

chap. v. regulated by two different circumstances, first,
by the skill, dexterity, and judgment with whicl
its labour is generally applied ; and secondly,
by the proportion of those who are employed
in useful labour, and of those who are not so
employed.

"Whatever be the soil, climate, or extent of
territory of any particular nation, the abundance
or scantiness of its annual supply must in that
particular situation depend upon those two circum-
stances."
sh , w G At the Social Science Congress, held at New-
ti?abZ7 castle ' September, 1870, Sir W. G. Armstrong
as the read a paper on economy and trade, in which he

source of • i *» ri •

%-aiue. puts the matter in the following words : —

"Labour, physical and mental, is the creative
element of our nation ; nothing possesses value
until labour has been expended upon it ; not even
raw material is exempted from this rule. Gold
itself is entirely valueless as it is mixed with the
sands of rivers. It is only by labour expended
upon its collection that it acquires value, and its
dearness is only an expression of the great amount
of that labour. Analyze it as we will, we always
come to labour as the foundation of value."
mat These are truths w T hich are now so generally

the gain of recognised by political economists, that it is un-
necessary further to dwell upon them. The point
to which I wish specially to direct the reader's atten-
tion is this, that the difference between what is
created by the labour of a nation, or of an individual,

Labour and Expenditure. 55

and what is destroyed by them, whether by con- £^ p - v -
sumption or waste, is the measure of their gain or
loss in wealth.

Adam Smith,* referring to this point, says : "Both
productive and unproductive labourers, and those Adam
who do not labour at all, are all equally maintained s ""'/' '".'

-L -J producttvi

by the lands and labour of the country. This pro- >""' "»-

. . prod

duce, how great so ever, can never be infinite; but /<
must have certain limits. According, therefore, as a
greater or smaller proportion of it is in any one year
employed in maintaining unproductive hands, the
more in the one case, and the less in the other, will
remain for the productive, and the next year's pro-
duce will be greater or smaller accordingly ; the whole
annual produce, if we except the spontaneous pro-
ductions of the earth, being the effect of productive
labour."

AVhen labour is rightly applied, and reasonable The
economy is practised, the accumulative power of "'J!'',!,!',},,.
human industry is something; marvellous. '"':■'.

j o of tm

If we take agriculture, in which there has probi
been the least improvement, and where, up to
the present time, machinery has been less applied c lt '"' c '
than in any other department of labour, one man
will cultivate sufficient land to produce food for
the support of at least twenty persons.

In the manufacture of clothing, owing to the
extensive application of machinery, there is a much r winni _
greater productive power. If we take the pro- factoring.

* See Wealth of Nations, Book II., chap. 3.

5G Productive and Non-productive

ohap. \. duction of cotton goods as an example, I find that
a cotton mill containing 800 looms, and employing
667 hands (most of whom are females, and many of
them children from nine to fifteen years of age),
will produce more than 7,000,000 yards of calico
per annum. The average consumption of calico
during the year 1SG8-9 by the people of this
country was not more than 18 yards per head, so
that dividing the quantity produced among the
workers, we find that one person will produce as
much cotton cloth as will supply at least 550
people. These remarks apply with equal force to
the manufacture of other articles of clothing, so
that, taking the whole of what man needs in the
shape of clothing, it may be safely asserted that one
person will produce as much as will supply at least
50 people.

In addition to food and clothing, there only

Buiidmj. remains to be provided, houses to dwell in, and
furniture to stock the houses with. After carefully
investigating this matter, I feel safe in assuming
that to supply these, would, at the outside, require
no more labour than is necessary in providing our
supply of food : if so, then the total amount of
labour needed to provide for our wants will be as
follows ; Food, half an hour's labour daily ; clothing,
fifteen minutes' labour daily ; houses, &c, half-an-

Amount of hour's labour, that is, (assuming every person did

( !n!!i!J°to t nen * share), a total of 1^ hour's daily labour would

«fppfy suffice to supply us in abundance with all the Com-
mon t . ^,. . . , ,

vxmts. forts of life. The progress of invention, and the

Labour and Expenditure. 57

increasing application of machinery, are daily reduc- C n.\r. v.
ing even this amount of labour, so that the pait
which has now mainly to be played by man is, simply
to superintend the machinery which does the work.

I know I shall be here reminded that people are End of
not contented merely with the comforts of life, but existence.
that they seek also to enjoy themselves ; hence,
much of the nation's income is expended upon mere
luxuries, and, as a consequence, a great portion of
the labour which is needed, is needed simply to
supply the waste either of luxury or intemperance.
If man were only to act as becomes the dignity
of his character, and seek enjoyment in cultivating
the higher faculties of his nature, instead of
that which is merely sensual, it would vastly Human

, .. -, -, -■ happiness

enhance human happmess, and reduce our enormous „,,'■
wasteful expenditure, which involves so much of Si
time to replace it ; and it would bring him more
in unison with the position his Maker intended that
he should occupy.

Political economists generally divide labour into Two
two classes, viz., productive and non-productive. labour. '

Productive labour is that kind of labour which
adds directly to the utility, or in other words,
which increases the value, or supposed value, of a
thing, thereby increasing the sum of wealth ; such Producti ■
is the labour of the farmer, the mechanic, the
stonemason, and indeed of artizans and mill
operatives generally.

By non-productive labour is generally under- \, llip ro-
stood, the labour of such persons as are net directly '/„'),',!,',,'.

58 Productive and Nonrproductive

(•map. v. engaged in the production of wealth^to wit,
soldiers, policemen, physicians, agents, school-
masters, and others.
These It will however he obvious, that whilst in a

',',,"""""'" general sense this classification may be considered
occw-ofe correct, yet if it be examined minutely it will be seen
to be misleading. The energies of the physician
or the schoolmaster, for instance, may not, like the
stonemason or the mechanic, be employed in the
direct production of material wealth ; but surely
those whose labours are directed to the improve-
ment of the human race are more productively
Occupation employed than they would be if engaged in dressing
Mechanic, a stone or improving a piece of iron ; their labour
is of the highest, and, in the long run, of the most
productive kind, whether materially or morally.

The occupation of the policeman, soldier, &c,

however, is very different. Their labour adds

directly no value to anything. If they are of

Occu ation vaRie m anv sense, it can only be in that of giving

of the greater security to the rights and property of the

community. The necessity lor this protection,

however, arises from the disordered condition of

society. Under such circumstances all rational

effort will be best directed when applied not merely

to providing this physical-force protection, but to

removing: the causes which he at the root of the

These disorders which prevail. By such application the

occupations ,„ , . . ni 1 j- ■

necessary, need lor merely protective service will be cti m i-
owtnper- wished, which might then be employed in labour
feet state. more directly productive.

Labour and Expenditure. 59

Strictly speaking, a non-producer is a person ohap. v.
who consumes or destroys an amount equivalent to TWtfJ/T
what he produces, so that at the end of the year, "',',X' '-. "
or at the termination of life, the world is no better
off (materially) for his having been in it ; in one
sense he is a producer, but as he consumes or
destroys more than he produces, he does nothing
to increase the general wealth.

Political economists generally speak -only of
producers or non-producers, but there is a large
class of the community that belongs to neither.

Let me illustrate what I mean : —

If a man earns twenty shillings weekly, and only juustra-
consumes twelve shillings out of the twenty for his ',','.'"?,,' '■'
support, or for other purposes, then he produces ""''/,' ( .'," .
eight shillings weekly more than he consumes — he labour.
is in the fullest sense a producer. If, however, he
earns twenty shillings, and uses the whole twenty,
then he really produces nothing, because at the end
of the year he will have consumed or destroyed
as much as he has produced. He is therefore a
non-producer. But if the man earns only twenty
shillings, and consumes or wastes twenty-live, thru
the world loses five shillings weekly by his exist-
ence. To style such an one a non-producer is only
to toll part of the truth, because he destroys five
shillings per week more than he gets. Such a
man can therefore only be correctly described as a
destroyer.

There is a very common but erroneous popular
belief, that destruction of property is good for

GO 1* reductive and Non-productive

cu.\r. v. trade, inasmuch as it is thought to create a demand
To destroy for material, to replace that which has been d
SoeMw? troyed. lean best Bhow the fallacy of this notion by
rncreasethe rr[y[ n cr an illustration. I will assume that a certain

demand o o

for labour, person, A, is worth his £50,000; of this he 1

£20,000 invested in a mill. The rest of his money
he lias partly in the bank, and partly in su adry < >ther
investments. He however finds that the £20,000 he
has invested in the mill pays him the best interest,
and therefore he is contemplating doubling the size
of his null, so as to find employment for another
£20,000. Whilst revolving these schemes in his
mind, a fire occurs, and his mill is burnt to
the ground. People say, "It's a bad job, but
it's good for trade." Is this so ? Those who
talk thus should not forget that the money which
will re-build the burnt null, would have built a
second mill. In that case there would have been
two mills instead of one; and instead of 250 work-
people being needed, there would have been 500 ;

it dt- there would have been a double demand for labour,

minishesit. -i jii jj.' e j ,1

and a double production of goods ; or, in other

words, a double creation of wealth.
Productive It might, however, possibly be the case that
investment ^ ra( j e was "bad, and that owinof to food beins: dear,

in case of ' o to »

bad trade. anc [ there being no demand for manufactured goods,
A. could hardly sell the produce of his first
mill. Under such circumstances, therefore, he
would not think of building a second. In that
case — What should he do ? Burn his mill down in
order that he might rind use for his money I xs o ;

Labour and Expenditure. Gl

but look out for some other investment. Very nivr v
likely lie might see it most profitable to invest his
£20,000 in an estate, and set men to work to drain
and improve it, so as to secure better and larger
crops. By so doing, he would find additional
labour for the workmen, increase the supply of
food, and thereby reduce its price ; and so, by
lowering the cost of food, he would secure
increased means by which to purchase manufactured
goods, and they augment the general trade and
commerce of the country.

In considering these matters, people overlook the Tic
fact that the wealth of a nation is the wages fund wealth is
out of which employment is found for labour. It y^VJ 7
is the desire of those who have money to use it ;
and it can only be profitably used by being em-
ployed in some kind of labour. If a man has but w7,,L,/
£20,000, he will be able to employ only half the ;j''.' t 'L,,,,,/
labour that he would if he had £40,000. If, f>rjabow

IS tli ui i it

therefore, the wealth of a community, or of ishedin
an individual, be diminished, the power to
employ labour will be diminished in the same
proportion.

In considering the question of labour, it should Rightly
not be lost sight of that the kind of labour in /,,",,','„,'.'
which persons are employed is a point of vital ""i' ort ""'-
importance.

There are two ways in which an error may be
committed in this respect, viz. : —

1st. By labour being employed upon objects »>i
a hurtful or (juestionable nature.

6-2

Productive and Non-productive

Example
of un

/iff itluct ire
labour.

Erroneous

ideas

respecting

labour.

2nd. By its being employed to purposes that
yield no return.*

Suppose that I employ fifty men at 15s. per
week, and that on tlie Monday morning I
them to work to dig a large hole ; I keep them bo
employed till Saturday morning, when I order
them to fill the hole up again; I pay them
£37. 10s. for the week's work, or after the rate of
£1,800 per annum. What have they done ? They
have been kept at work all the week, but on the
Saturday night, things are exactly as they were
on the Monday morning. There has been nothing
produced.

But then it is said, though nothing has been
produced, it has been a good job for the men.
They have had a week's work, and the world, if it
is not richer, is none the poorer. Is it not? What
then has become of the food which the men have
eaten? of the clothing and other material they have
worn during the week 1 If the men have spent
all their wages to maintain themselves during the
week of unproductive labour, then it follows that
the world is £37. 10s. poorer at the end of the

* Professor Fawcett lias some very "pertinent observations on this
point. His remarks are : —

First. — A man may spend money on luxuries ; then capital is
consumed in simply giving him pleasure.

Second. — A man may spend capital on unproductive labour ; then
capital is consumed iu simply giving food to the labourers.

Third. — A man may spend capital on productive labour ; then capital
is not only reproduced, but also gives the same amount of support to
the labourers as in the second case.

See Manual of Political Economy, page 25.

Labour and Expenditure. G3

week than at the beginning. This is indisputable, chap. v.
because, the men have consumed that amount of
value during the week, and have produced nothing
in its place.

If, however, during the week the fifty men had Exa
been employed in digging half a score of cottage labour.
cellars, then there would have been something to
show, as a set-off against what they had consumed.
The world would have been poorer by the food, &c,
but it would have been richer by the cellars, which
would be a permanent addition to the v;ilue,
comfort, and utility of the ten cottages.

It may be said that the case here supposed is an
extreme one, and one that never occurs, because
nobody would be so foolish as to spend his money
upon what would realize no return.

I admit that the case appears an extreme one as
compared with the others ; but it only seems
extreme because it is put in a, way that is not
usually acted upon. Men do not usually lay out
their money in employing men to dig holes and fill
them up again, but they do often spend money in
ways which are not a whit more productive, and
very much more pernicious.

Let me illustrate this, by giving two or three
cases.

It is commonly believed that a wealthy, fast- Em
going, spendthrift sort of fellow, who may perchance to amend*
come to live in some country village, and who ( " n -
spends his money extravagantly in luxurious
living, is a good friend to trade. " See !" it is said,

G-i Productive and Non-productive

ohap.v. "what money lie pours into the village." Let

us examine this position a little more closely.
Case Let it be granted thai the individual referred to

spends — say £1,800 a year. Docs be by his expen-
diture in anywise add to the wealth of t lie com-
munity? It is true that he puts £ 1,800 a year
into the tills of the shopkeepers, publicans, or other
irnxurious { radesmen in the locality; hut then, if he does i his,
he abstracts £1,800 worth of goods from their
shelves or their cellars. What become of these?
He and his dependents consume or waste them.
At the end of the year the shopkeepers have got
his money, but they have parted with their good-,
Prodigal and bey ond the trifling profit which the shop-
TJrTreauits keepers may have made upon the transaction, they
in waste. are no richer than at the beginning of the year,
whilst the spendthrift himself is £1,800 poorer, for
he has parted with his money, and has nothing to
show in its place.

It may be said, that such a fellow goes in for
enjoyment, and that in this way he receives a quid
2))'0 quo for the money he spends. My business
here is not to argue this point, but to show the
influence of such conduct in its relation to our
national wealth. It may not, however, be improper
to remind the reader that such enjoyments are
Human en- mainly sensual ; they neither improve nor increase
'hUnii'Vi' 1 the happiness of mankind, but rather tend to their
rirl/.T demoralization, and consequently to the diminution
wealth. of their happiness. Human actions, when in accord-
ance with Divine law, invariably tend to advance-

Labour and Expenditure. G5

ment, whether in material, mental, or moral chap. r.
wealth ; and unless in what we do this result
be attained, we may seriously ask ourselves
the question whether we are in the right track,
or not.

Let us suppose that the individual to whom Productive

i» i * r» • • fxpendi-

we have referred, instead of wasting £1,800 m ture.
luxurious and, extravagant living, had invested it
in the erection of — say, a dozen good cottages.
In this case, he would have found a year's employ-
ment for at least a score of men. These men Building
would have been kept industriously employed ;
they would have received the money as wages,
and paid it to the shopkeeper for goods, and at the
end of the year the village would be blessed with
a dozen good houses, augmenting the wealth and
increasing the comfort of the people for generations
to come.

In one case there is £l,S00 spent, which goes r*
into the pockets of the shopkeepers, &c, but there 1 amL
is nothing to show in place of it; the £1,800 is
wasted, and, in addition to the waste, there has
been a vicious example set in the prodigal's
( wt ravagance. In the oilier case, the £1,800 gives
a year's employment to twenty workmen, therebv
giving encouragement to habits of industry ; and
at the end of the year there are a dozen good
houses, which add to the wealth and greatly
increase the happiness and comfort of the people ;
the shopkeepers get the benefit in this case equally
as much as in the other case, only, the money is
E

Productive and Non-productive

Adam
Smith on
prodigal

i.i-jii mli-
tarc.

Prodigal

expendi-
ture the
same —
whether in
home or
foreign
trade.

paid to them through the twenty indued rious work-
men, instead of direct from the prodigal owner of
the £1,800.

Adam Smith," referring to prodigal expenditure,
says : " The prodigal, by not confining his exp
within his income, encroaches upon his capital ; he
pays the wages of idleness with those funds which
the frugality of his forefathers had, as it were, con-
secrated to the maintenance of industry. By dimin-
ishing the funds destined for the employment of
productive labour, he necessarily diminishes, so far
as it depends upon him, the quantity of that
labour, which adds a value to the subject upon
which it is bestowed, and consequently the value
of the annual produce of the land and labour of
the whole country, the net wealth and revenue of
its inhabitants."

" If the prodigality of some were not compen-
sated by the frugality of others, the conduct of
every prodigal, by feeding the idle with the bread
of the industrious, would tend not only to beggar
himself but to impoverish the country."

" This expense, it may be said, indeed, not
being in foreign goods, and not occasioning any
exportation of gold and silver, the same quantity
of money would remain in the country as before.
But if the quantity of food and clothing which
were thus consumed, by unproductive, had been
distributed among productive hands, they would
have re-produced, together with a profit, the full

* See Wealth of Nations, Book II., chap. 3.

Labour and Expenditure. G7

value of consumption. The same quantity of c „ap. v.
money would in this case equally have remained
in the country, and there would besides, have
been a reproduction of an equal value of con-
sumable goods : there would have been two values
instead of one."

It may not be the case, perhaps, that in every
village there is such an extravagant spendthrift as
the one I have described, but if there be not one .
individual who of himself squanders £1,800 a year, gate of

-, ,. . , i , , sunt/! cases

there are a great many individuals who squander equivalent
five, ten, twenty, or, perhaps, eighty or one hun- u^eone.
dred pounds yearly. In these cases the result
amounts in the aggregate to the same thing as in
the individual case referred to.

But the £1,800 is often spent even in a still
worse way.

There are very few villages which have not their
three or four public-houses or beershops. At the f 1 /^ ','„
very lowest computation, where four of these exist ("'"•</<•"'-

, . . 1*0 drtn/c.

they involve an expenditure on the part of the
population of at least £l,800. At the end of the
year, what is there to show for this ? There is
nothing ; unless it be misery, want, and vice. The
£ 1,800 has been spent, but there is no return. It „ .

1 ]\o ret iir, i

is lost ; nay, worse than lost ; for the manufacture b,u mutry.
of every pound's worth of intoxicating liquor in-
volves a destruction of grain equal to eight 4lb.
loaves, and therefore the manufacture of £1,800
Worth of intoxicating liquors will involve the <; ,-,,;„
destruction of grain equal to 1-1,400 loaves. It is %*\

G8 Productive and Nonproductive

chap. v. as if the man who dug the large holeatanexpen.se
of £1,800, in filling it up again had buried 14,400
loaves in it. Nay ! the spending of money in drink
involves consequences even worse than these ; for
there is in addition to these two losses, the creation
of disease, vice, and innumerable social and moral
evils. It would be w r ell if the money spent on
drink were paid to men to dig holes and fill them
up again, for then the loss of the money would be
the whole of the evil. Nay, more, it would be well
if, in addition to the spending of £1,800 upon the
hole, there were only 14,400 loaves buried in it,
for then the loss of the money and the loaves
would be the sum of the evil ; but when the money
is expended upon drink, this is not all. There is
first, loss of money ; second, destruction of grain ;
Thcpenpies an d then last, but not least, there is the ruin of
nr/ues t] ie people's virtues, the loss of social and domestic

destroyed L 1

thereby. comfort, and other evils which degrade the com-
munity and sadden the heart. If the money were
paid to get rid of these evils, it would be an
expenditure worthy of rational beings ; but to buy
them, and at such a price, too, would be deemed
insanity, if it were not manifest before our eyes.
There are some, who upon many questions
n are very intelligent people, who hold the notion

errors asto that so loner as money does not £0 out of the

money. ° . p

country, it matters not in what way it is spent ; for,
say they, the money is still in existence ; it is not
destroyed, but simply transferred from one pocket
to another.

Labour and Expenditure. 69

These persons argue as though money alone was ihap. v
wealth, whereas, strictly speaking, it is only the
representative of wealth ; and they overlook the
fact, too, that when there is a transfer of money
from the buyer's to the seller's pocket, there should
be a transfer of some equivalent from the seller to
the buyer; or, as Adam Smith puts it — there
should be not one value only, but two.

Let me illustrate this point by a comparison of
two cases.

I will first of all suppose the case of a man who,
at the end of the week, goes to the public-house, f;j - (iiii
and spends, say, ten or fifteen shillings upon intoxi- jjjjj™ "
eating liquors. On the Monday morning he goes to **£«<"•«
his work, minus his money ; and what has he got to
show in its place ? Nothing ; unless, which is very
probable, he may have got a severe headache, to be
rid of which he would possibly be glad to pay
an< >ther half-crown. Except this headache, however,
he has nothing.*

But then, says our objector, if the man has not

*It may, perhaps, he objected to the argument here used, that it ow< a
its existence and force entirely to the man's folly ; that if, when the man
spent the fifteen shillings on the beer or spirits, instead of consuming it
all in one or two days or in a week, and thus degrading himself to
drunkenness, he had taken a gill or a pint daily, and extended its use
over a period of two or three months, that then such use would bo
legitimate, and the argument would be inapplicable. If I admitted tbo
validity of this reasoning, it in no way affects the question, because,
unfortunately, the argument is founded upon things as they are. Reduce
the evil, and the force of tho argument is reduced correspondingly.
If tho ideal of the gill per day could bo realised, the question would then
perhaps fall more within the domain of the total abstainer, than of the
political economist.

70 ] } roductive and Non-productive

chap. v. the money, the publican Ins got it; the money is
not lost, and so far as Hie general public is con-
cerned it makes no matter; the cash has simply
changed bands.

It may best expose the absurdity of this, if we
Fifteen look at the other case. On the Saturday evening

ehiUingt , , , n __

tpenton the other man goes and spends ten or fifteen
"sh!'t$. shillings likewise. How does he spend it ? Perhaps
in buying a pair of shoes. In the first case, the
publican has got the ten or fifteen shillings, but
the man who spent it with him has nothing. In
the latter case, the shoemaker (like the publican)
gets the ten or fifteen shillings, and his customer
gets a pair of shoes. To put the contrast plainly,
it is —

Publican, ten or fifteen shillings. Customer,
a contrast, nothing (except headache).

Shoemaker, ten or fifteen s hilli ngs, Customer,
pair of good shoes.

In the words of Adam Smith, in the latter case
there are two values instead of one.

I might have supposed that, instead of pur-
chasing a pair of shoes, the man had spent his ten
flattings or fifteen shillings in the purchase of food. In that
3* "/ 0lh case — What would have been the result ? The food

Jood.

purchased would, of course, have been consumed, as
in the case of the beer; but during its consumption
it would have supplied the man with nourishment
for a couple of weeks, during which time he would
reproduce by his labour an equivalent, or more than
an equivalent, for that which he consumes. If he

Labour and Expenditure. 71

were engaged in calico weaving, he would, during chap. v.
the fortnight, produce 1,000 yards of calico ; there
would then have been

Fifteen shillings worth of food consumed, — but
One thousand yards of calico produced.

The world would have been poorer by the food
used, but richer by the calico produced.

Let us take an illustration upon a more extended
scale from the county of Lancashire.

In this county, according to the census of 18(11 ,
there is a population of 2,429,440 ; its area is
1,219,221 acres ; the number of public-houses is
7,844 ; beerhouses 9,889 ; making a total of 17,733
places (exclusive of wine shops, &c.) where intoxi-
cating liquors are sold. The total number of public-
houses and beershops in the United Kingdom in 1 8G9 Expendi-
was 150,599 ; the amount expended on drink in intoxica-
18G9 was £112,885,003, which would give as spent i,',"]',,"'- '
at each house an average of £750. If we multiply c ire '
the 17,733 public-houses and beerhouses in Lanca-
shire by this figure, it will give an expenditure for
the county of Lancashire in intoxicating drinks
during 18G9 of £13,299,750. Our inquiry is—
1st. What are the results of this expenditure ?
and 2nd. What results would accrue if the money
were spent as it ought to be ?

First. What results to Lancashire from the What

Tt'S It //.**

expenditure on intoxicating liquors in 18G9 ? Let /,„,„ the
the reader seriously ponder the catalogue : — penditure.

1. £13,299,750 directly spent upon intoxicating
liquors.

72 Productive and Non-productive

2. £1,113,244 paid in Poor and Police Kates.

3. 102,61)4 paupers.

4. 30,000 (or more) vagrants idling as vagafo mds

about the streets.

5. 4, 700 lunatics.

6. 3,74!) inquests.

7. 90,257 persons brought before the magis-

trates and convicted of crime.

8. 5,913 depredators, offenders, and suspected

persons who are abroad.

9. 2,749 houses of bad character, brothels, re-

ceivers of stolen goods, &c.

10. 3,316 policemen employed to protect society

from the dangers arising therefrom.

11. 17,733 public-houses and beershops.

12. 7 0, 932 drunkards, filling innumberable home3

with misery.

13. 7,000,000 or more bushels of grain destroyed

in manufacturing the drink, or equal to
105,000,000 41b. loaves.

14. 5,000 or 6,000 persons have employment

found in the manufacture of the drink.*

* These items are derived from the following sources : —
No. 1. 17,733 drinkshops x by £750 gives £13,299,750.

, 2. See Report of Poor Law Boards for 1869-70, page 279.
, 3. „ „ „ „ „ „ 201.

, i. This item is assumed. See chapter on Pauperism.

, 5. See Miscellaneous Statistics for 1869, page 140.

, 6. See Judicial Statistics for 1869, Part L, page 39.
7 22

J * • II II II II J, II -* w '

» 8. „ „ „ ,, „ „ 6.

9 6

) "• )l II !• >l II l> "•

,10. „ „ ,. „ „ „ 2.

,11. See Parliamentary Return for April 26, 1870, No. 187.

Labour and Expenditure. 73

The statistics which are here given represent , H .u\ r.
only so much of the appalling evils of intemperance
as come before the public eye ; a great deal,
however, never comes to light ; and whether we Mm
take two-thirds, three-fourths, or nine-tenths of the came to
evils as being caused by drink, we need make no l,jht
abatement from the list which has been given, for
the cases which are never made public will much
more than make up for any allowance of tins kind.

From data which will be found in the chapter
succeeding- this, it will be seen that the indirect _ ,.

? . . Indirect

cost of drink, that is, what is needed to make good cost of in-

, , . . r, -. n . . . toxieating

the losses arising irom the use of intoxicating drink* t„
liquors, will equal or exceed the direct cost, or in
other words, the money spent upon them. If this
be so, then the yearly cost arising from the use of
intoxicating liquors to Lancashire will be upwards
of £26,000,000. I will, however, in order to come
considerably within the mark, take the same at
1-18,000,009.

Having seen what are the results when the
money is expended upon drink, let us notice what

Lancaghirt

No. 12. This item is based upon the assumption that there are four

drunkards to each drinkshop, which I regard as nnder the murk.

„13. Assuming that the consumption of grain is in proportion to the

intoxicating drinks used, and allowing that a bushel of grain will

make 15 41b. loaves, it gives this item.

,,14. This item is assumed, as there are no returns. It .].•■

include the sellers of liquor, but those actually employed in
manufacturing it, and in manufacturing bands, ,\,-.

In some of these items there will probably bo a ditiVivn f opinion

as to the proportion attributable to drink. On this the reader must use
his own judgment. My opinion is, that the evils unreported will much
more than make up for any excess iu the items given.

74 Productive and Non-product ire

chap. v. would result if the money were appropriated in
some other and better way. Let us suppose that
the CI 8,000,000 which the drink costs Lancashire

How this were appropriated as follows, viz: One third

money . .

should be spent m agriculture, one third on manufactures,

and the other in buildine houses.*

What result would accrue from this ?

* After reading what has been adduced in reference to the value of
things being only the price of the labour bestowed upon* them, the
reader, unless he has given the subject careful attention, may be puzzled
to know why it should be that in the items of expenditure in the cases
which are given, the amounts are so much greater than the sum
represented in the wages. This, it will be seen, arises from the fact that
the expenditure which is incurred in any manufacture, is seldom of
such a kind as to embrace the whole of the labour bestowed upon
the article. For instance, in the cotton trade, we start with cotton at
6d. to 9d. per lb. ; these amounts represent the value of the labour
expended in growing the cotton, and carrying it to this country ; and
then, too, there are many other things used in manufacturing, such as
oil, from 4s. to 8s. per gallon, strapping at 2s. per lb., and, indeed, the
whole of the machinery and material used in the mill are all
articles upon which the labour has been previously expended, and which
is represented in the price at which the manufacturer buys them, or in
the rent he pays for them. Whilst it is true, therefore, that what we
expend upon manufactured goods, or upon agricultural produce, repre-
sents labour — the labour being scattered over the entire earth may not
be seen. If I resided in America, and could dig for the iron out of which
to make the machinery, and could grow my own cotton, manufacture
my own oil, brushes, strapping, &c, I should then employ and pay myself
the whole amount of the labour expended in manufacturing the goods,
it would then be seen that the price of the goods was determined by the
cost of that labour. So with farming. The price at wbich the grain is sold
(on the average) represents the labour of the farm, plus the rent, but the
rent represents previous labour. The land was once waste, uncultivated
land ; but some one expended say £500 in improving it. This expenditure
is not returned the same year, but year by year it comes back in the
increased productiveness of the farm. The rent, therefore, represents this
increased power of production, or, in other words, it is the return of
previous labour. The same remarks apply in reference to the rents of
houses and other property.

Labour and Expenditure. 75

1st. — In agriculture. £6,000,000 invested in chap. r.
grain would purchase 17,142,852 bushels, equal to /„
257,142,780 4lb. loaves ; it would occupy 612,600 "**"''
acres of land, and would find employment for
80,000 men, at 15s. per week.

2nd. Cotton manufacturing : £6,000,000 spent Inmamu-
upon cotton goods would purchase 6,360,000
pieces, or 468,000,000 yards of calico ; which
would require sixty mills, of 800 looms each, to
manufacture them, and would give enrployment
to 55,000 persons, at wages averaging for men,
women, and children, 13s. 9d. per week.

Talk of bad trade ! Why, at any time, if Lanca-
shire, will only appropriate one third of its drink
burden to the purchase of cotton goods, it will
increase the home trade of the United Kingdom
in these goods fifty per cent.

3rd. — Building houses. £6,000,000 invested in Tn
the erection of houses would build 30,996 houses,
costing £150 each, and would find a year's em-
ployment for 75,000 men, at 25s. per week each.
Assuming that the houses would have each a
frontage of six yards, it would form a row of houses
136 miles long, or it would form two complete
streets of houses stretching from Manchester to
Liverpool. Here is an industial dwellings associa^
tion. If all the money which intoxicating liquors
cost this nation were invested in building houses,
for half a dozen years, there would be a new hou
built for every family in the United Kingdom.

In the case of the money expended upon intoxi-

76 Productive and Non-productive

c " Ar ; v - . eating drink, there is, as we have seen, at the end

Themoney « > { " 1 1 1 1 - year no material return to Bhow. hut Instead

spent iu J

drink of this there is money wasted, food destroyed:

would be ill ...

wisely there are drunkards, paupers, lunatics, criminals,
paid to art vagrants, depredators; there are gambling-housi
?vikof brothels, houses of ill-fame, receivers of stolen
drmking. g 00( j s . anc [ following thickly in the train of these
there are other evils which the pen finds it impi tssible
to describe. As I have before stated, if the money
spent upon drink (and which is virtually the price
paid for these evils) were paid to get rid of them, it
would be more in harmony with the dictates of reason.
In the case of the money expended upon agri-
culture, manufacturing, and building, there is first
of all a year's employment found for i! 05,000 people
The two as compared with 6,000 or 7,000 employed in the

expendi- * m ' l >f

diturcs expenditure on drink. At the end of the year there

contrasted. „ , ,, . ni

is food produced equal to 257,142,780 41b. loaves,
there are 468,000,000 yards of calico manufactured,
and there is a row of new houses built 136 miles
long. In the case of the drink expenditure, there
is the loss of £18,000,000, and no return for the
same ; there is also food wasted, and what is still
worse, the traffic invariably leads not only to the
destruction of the material wealth of the community,
but also to the degradation and demoralisation
of the people, We speak of production and non-
production, but this trade is too ruinous to be
classed under either head ; it is a destroyer, and
its ruinous influence blasts both the material and
moral wealth of the people.

Labour and Expenditure. 77

It will not need more than a moment's reflection to
see that in the second year of her reformed expendi-
ture Lancashire would be much better off than in the
first. She would have the £18,000,000 savings of

the first year, plus the accumulated savings of the """ /,/
J . l ° follow.

second ; or, in other words, she would therefore *
(if her consumption had not increased) have
twice as much to expend in the second year
as in the first. In the third year it will be still
greater, and so year by year the process goes on,
and must continue to go on, for the simple reason
that human labour, when properly directed, creates
wealth much more rapidly than it can be consumed,
if it be only applied to the rational wants of the
community.

If the observations of this chapter are founded I{ mn ,
in truth, the reader will see that in a well con- '":'',''

' rightly,

ducted nation, such a thing as destitution or pauperism

• i it ould be

want could scarcely exist, because the labour of impossible.
mankind, when rightly applied, produces so much
in excess of their wants, that there must be a mani-
fold surplus to make up for what is short during
those periods of our existence when in infancy or
through old age, sickness or misfortune, we are
unable to produce what is needed for our mainten-
ance and comfort. In spite, however, of these
bouni if'ul arrangements, numbers of our population
are sunk in perpetual pauperism, and a Large num-
ber of others are constantly on the verge thereof,
whilst in many of our great towns great numbers
of our skilled artizans are starving for want of

78 Productive and N on- Productive Labour, &c.

employment. In a properly regulated community
such a state of things could not exist, as that some
of its people should be destitute of the comforts,
and even of the necessaries, of life ; whilst, at the
same time, those whose employment consisted in
providing for their wants should be pining for want
of something to do. Why do these two elements
so adapted to each other not meet ? It can only be
because so much of the material result of labour,
which should reproduce itself, is destroyed, and
therefore the reproductive demand is annihilated ;
and we have the strange spectacle of one class of the
population starving for want of food and work, and
another class, idling and starving for lack of the
labour which should provide the food and clothing.
If the reader has not already discovered the cause
of this, let him read carefully the succeeding
chapters.

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE MAIN CAUSE OF BAD TRADE AND
NATIONAL WASTE.

A moment's reflection will make it clear to the chap, vt
thoughtful mind, that the reduced home demand
for cotton goods, and for goods generally, must

arise from one of two causes. Either we as a '•'" * /

reduced

nation spend our money upon other things, or we home it-

i -I -I -i mandfor

have become poorer, and have not the money to goods.
spend.

We are acknowleged to be by far the richest
nation in the world ; and yet a great portion of
our population are in rags. Why is this ? Is it
because they get insufficient wages that they are
poor? No! for wages are relatively higher in
England than almost in any country in the world;
but it is because they squander their earnings
improvidently upon things that are not only need- A ,.,-.„,
less, but useless and hurtful. Let us see how far J55S»
this assertion is borne out by facts.

In this chapter I propose to refer to only one Enormout
item in our improvident expenditure. It is an ', ',','', "!,^„,
item, however, which immeasurably surpasses all {jJJSj^
the rest. I refer to the money spent upon intoxi-
cating licpiors.

During the four years ending 1SG1, the expen-

increase.

80 On the Main Cause of

diture upon intoxicating liquors in the United
Kingdom was as follows : — ■

1858 . . . £91,049,911*

1850 .... 95,887,393

1860 .... 80,897,683

18G1 .... 04,942,107

Total . . .£368,777,004

Annual Average . . £02,104,273

During the four years ending I860, the expen-
diture upon intoxicating drinks was as follows :t —

I860 . . . £113,925,458+

1867 .... 110,122,266

1868 .... 113,464,874

1869 .... 112,S85,603

Total. . . .£450,398,201

Annual Average . .£112,590,550

Being an increase in the latter period as com-
pared with theformerof £8 1,62 1,1 07, or £20, 405, 2 76
per annum.

* See Appendix A.

t Those readers who may have read the author's pamphlet on the
" Depression in the Cotton Trade " •will notice that the amount of
money given ahove as expended upon intoxicating liquors, is consider-
ably more than was given in the pamphlet referred to. This arises from
taking an increased estimate as to the selling prices, especially in beer.
See Appendixes A and B.

X See Appendix E.

Bad Trade and National Waste.

Here is an astounding fact. In four years -\ve CITAr . vr
spent upon intoxicating drinks £450,398,201, and i~, r .,„iT.
yet upon cotton goods during the same period we j'.?,,/.''',,,,/
spent (reckoning 10 per cent for retailers' profits) ^^mgoodt

J. \ o j. £ I con

only £51,125,842.

Taking the population of the United Kingdom
as given in the Statistical Abstract for 18G9, at
30,838,210,'" it gives for each man, woman, and
child in the United Kingdom for the four years - 1 " ',""""
£14. 12s. Id. as spent on drink, and onlv '""' /<<■
£1. 13s. l|d. on cotton goods; or if we take the
year 18G9, we have £3. 13s. 2jd: on drink, and
6s. OcVJ. on cotton goods ; or taking a family of
live persons, we have £1. 10s. 2 id. on cotton goods,
and £18. Gs. Ojd. on drink. f

Here is the secret of our bad home trade. People
cannot pour their money down their throats, and put
it on their backs at the same time. During the four
years (ending 1SG9,) we swallowed 658,347,826+ Enormous

f ... , increau in

gallons more of beer, spirits, wine, &c, than we drinking.
d: 1 the four years ending 18G1 ; but during these
four years (estimating five yards of calico to tin-
lb.), we purchased 1,30S,340,000 yards less of

* Sec Statistical Abstract, page 122.
f Sec Appendix I '.

Gallons.

1858 773,315,680

1859 817,750,491

1860 720,814,922

1861 828,266,677

6,134,637,617

Gallons.

1866 973,649,08

1867 921,621,567

L868 952,904,220|

1869 944,853,670]

8,792,985,443

82 On the Main Cause of

ohap.tl calico;* and this falling off, as we have Been, was

not compensated by an equivalent increase in

fatting off woollen or linen.

/;/ cotton

goods. From the report of the Commissioners of Inland

Hevenuef (published in Feb., 1870), I find that the

numbers of persons engaged in selling intoxicating

liquors were as follows : —

Publicans . . . . 9S,009

Beersellers . . . . 52,590

Xo. of .

Publicans

and

Beersellers.

Total .... 150,599
Making a total of 150,599, being one to every
204 of the population, or about one to every 40
houses. No marvel, that with such an over-
whelming amount of temptation, and with such
an enormous number of people interested in push-
ing the sale of liquor, there should be such a large
and increasing amount of drunkenness.

Unfortunately, however, the number of public-
houses and beerhouses does not represent the
total facilities for drunkenness. In the same report
and on the same page is given a list of auxiliary
sellers of intoxicating drinks, the influence of some

Other . &

seiu rs of of which is proving to be even more pernicious
than public-houses or beer-shops. The following
is the list+ : —

* From a table previously given (see page 49) it will be seen that the

total weight of cleaned cotton used in the home trade for the four years

ending 1861 was 736,863,000 lbs.; for the four years ending 1869 it was

47"), 195,000 lbs.; being a falling off during the latter years of 261,668,000

lbs., and reckoning five yards to the lb. it gives 1,308, :> in, 000 yards as

stated above.

t See page 53.

Bad Trade and National Waste. S3

Dealers :

Spirit Dealers .

5,894

Beer Dealers ....

5,952

Wine Dealers

3,G39

Sweets — Dealers and

Makers ....

123

Retailers :

Retailers of Wine (not to

be consumed on the

premises) ....

4,780

Refreshment-house keep-

ers selling Wine .

2,974

Sweets — Retailers .

9,024

Packet-boat licences for

sale thereon .

374

Tablebeer Sellers

2,720

Retail Brewers . . .

Total . . 35,497

Making a grand total of persons engaged in selling
intoxicating liquors of 180,096, or one to every
thirty-three houses.

In addition to these overwhelming temptations,
provision was made, by a law passed in L862,
whereby occasional licences could be taken out in special
order to accommodate fairs, races, shows, &c. : thus /!],•')•,';',•.,
every facility has been given to spread intem-
perance, and every possible temptation has been
placed in the way of the people, in order to hire
them into habits of drunkenness.

84 On the Main Cause of

chap. vr. No wonder, therefore, that intemperance should
/ -ease hi increase. From the Judicial Statistics for 1 865* and
Jess. ' 1869-f- (now 1 \'iiiLT before me), I find that the appre-
hensions for drunkenness for the last seven year-
have been as follow :

18G3 94,745

1864 100,067

18G5 105,310

I860 104,303

1867 100,357

1868 111,465

1869 122,310

Showing a gradual and very considerable incre.
in the intemperance of the country, and unmis-
takably proving the folly and mischief resulting
from recent legislation in reference to the Wine
Licence Bill, &c.
Theargu- The question as to the utility of alcoholic liquors
'^.'n-i'/r'nn as beverages is one I will not here discuss ; I
Abstinence, believe that science and experience have both
decided in favour of the total abstainer. But, apart
altogether from this question, and admitting the
statement as to the good of these drinks to be all
that is said, there is no sane person who will plead
for the spending of one hundred and ten millions
a year upon them. One-fourth of this amount
would be amply abundant to supply any supposed
reasonable requirements ; the other three-fourths
represents the excess, or what results from intem-

* See page xTi. f See page xvii.

Bad Trade and National Waste. 85

perance, the bitter consequences of which we daily CBAr - ^
reap in the crime, pauperism, social misery, and
degradation of our people.

The different ways in which the enormous expen- Drinking
diture upon intoxicating drinks wastes our wealth ,'
and injures our trade are too numerous fully to
specify, but we will point out a few of them.

1st. Its influence on the Labour market : —

To illustrate this, I will state a fact. In the Caledonian
Scotsman newspaper for January 2nd, 1SG9, there
is a description of the Caledonian distillery at
Edinburgh.

In this distillery we learn that 40,000 gallons of
spirits arc manufactured weekly, or 2,000,000 per
annum. At 15s. per gallon (the retail price is 20s. or
more), this would be £1,500,000. The quantity
of grain consumed yearly is 800,000 bushels. The
number of men employed is stated to be 150.

Now, if the £1,500,000 were spent upon manu-
factured goods, or in building houses, or in draining
waste land, it would give employment to from ,•„'/,',•,,,/-
i2,<K)0 to 15,000 persons, or more; and if the ^]£
whole amount which is wasted upon drink by us as
a nation, were thus spent, it would find employ-
ment for at least 1,500,000 more persons than arc
at present engaged. Here then is an answer to the
question — What shall be done with our surplus
population? Not send them as emigrants to other
countries, but by spending our money judiciously
we should find them abundant work at home; we
should have work for all, and to spare.

86 On the Main Cause of

ohap. vi. Strange! marvellously Btrangel thai men of
intelligence cannoi Bee this. They goon forming
emigration societies, sendinic mir Iio-t workmen —
who above all others should stay at Lome — out of
the country ; and housing in workhouses and' goals,
a whole host of paupers and criminals, made so by
Two drink. If three-fourths of the money spent on

mixper- intoxicating liquors were spent upon clothing, fur-
ism, d'c. niture, or in the erection of houses, &c., it would
give full employment for all our idlers ; and, besides
this, pauperism itself, as well as crime, with all
their attendant evils, would rapidly diminish, or
altogether disappear ; and those perplexing pro-
blems of our legislation, which are a disgrace to our
Christianity and our civilization, would be solved ;
and most of the social evils we have so bitterly to
mourn would be eradicated.

2nd. Another way in which the expenditure
upon intoxicating liquors wastes the national
wealth and injures our trade, is by degrading our
population to paupers and criminals, for it will be
readily seen that by so doing it not only increases
our taxation, but also by throwing such large
numbers of our population out of employment, also
greatly diminishes the productive power of our
industries.
u The amount paid for Poor and Police Rates

taxation is during the ten years ending 1869 has been as

increased. n ,,

follows : — *

* See Statistical Abstract, page 128.

Bad Trade and National Waste.

Tabular View of the Amount of Poor and
Police Rates paid during each Year from

1SG0 TO 18G9 INCLUSIVE.

England and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

1860

8,075,904

663,277

530,626

9,269,807

1861

8,395,212

<;,s: , ,,902

595,192

9,674,306

1862

8,806,074

719,317

(if) 2, 2 15

10,177,636

1863

9,325,071

736,028

701,031

10,762,130

1864

9,680,480

770,030

732,968

11,18!

1865

9,792,193

778,274

736,629

11,307,096

1866

9,989,121

783,127

726,340

11,498,588

1867

10,905,173

807,631

797,134

L2,509,938

1868

11,380,593

863,2')i'

841,512

13,085,307

1869

11,773,999

931.275

836,553

13,541,827

Poor and
Polin raiet
from L860
69.

From these tables it will be seen, that the
number of paupers and the consequent expense
have been gradually increasing, year by year,
until on the first of January, 1870 .(estimating /
Scotland as in I860), our paupers numbered te ^f n
1,281,051, and the poor and police rates reached P 8 *"*

Poor rctfcti

the frightful sum of £13,541,827. Or if we take
another view, whilst in 18 09 we only paid
£8,501,737 for cotton goods, we paid for poor and
police rates, £13,541,827, being £5,040,090 more
for poor rates, &c, than the entire total of our
home consumption of cotton goods.

If it were not for the liquor traffic, our rates
need not, at the outside, he more than a fourth of ( - rtj

what they now are, and thus a sum of about ten
millions yearly might be available for our trade.
If during the last few years this amount had been

tixuk.

On the Main Cause of

J I >f i'

injures

trade

The
argument

<t ppl.it s

'equally to
wasteful

(.'■//. a //-
tare.

appropriated tothe purchase of cotton goods, our
home consumption would bave been nearly doubled
and the cotton trade would not have been in such
a deplorable condition as i1 has been. The question
of intemperance becomes I herefore vastly important,
not only as a matter of direct expenditure, but
also as one of local and national taxati in.

I have often heard it stated, and there is con-
siderable truth in the statement, that, owing
the heavy local taxation in Manchester, and oi In r
large towns, spinners and manufacturers find it
impossible to compete with country mills, where
the taxation is lighter; and hence it is observed
that, whilst no new mills are being built in Man-
chester, old ones are being stopped, and the trade
is gradually shifting to more lightly taxed regions*

What is true of different districts in the same
country, is equally true of different countries; the
rates which a manufacturer has to pay must come
out of trade profits, which makes the production
of goods more expensive ; and, consequently, other
tilings being equal, if a large mill is taxed at the
rate of £500 per annum in this country, but only
£100 on the Continent, the Continental manu-
facturer has the advantage of £400 per annum
over his English competitor.

The argument which is applicable to taxation is
equally applicable to wasteful expenditure, which
is nothing but self-imposed taxation. A mill
employing 500 workpeople would represent a popu-
lation of 800 persons. As has been shown, we tax

Bad Trade and National J Taste. S9

ourselves annually in our expenditure upon drink to
the amount of £3. 13s. 2^d. per head, which, in a
mill employing 500 workpeople, and representing
a population of 800 people, amounts to a tax of
over £2,900 per annum.

Indeed, if the money were paid as a direct tax, compui
the consequences would be far less pernicious, ';;.
because, in this case, the payment of the tax would '
be the sum total of the evil ; but when the money
is spent on drink, additional and most deplorable
evils follow; evils that bring in their train vice,
wretchedness, and social demoralization, that are
truly appalling.

But losing sight altogether of these attendant
social evils, the argument used in reference to the
self-imposed taxation is equally pertinent in its
application to trade as in the case of the com- AU
pulsory tax ; and it a compulsory tax ot L500 per trade
annum places a mill at so much disadvantage, J "" J>n '
what must be the intiuence of a self-imposed tax
of over £2,900 per annum ? In both cases the tax
must be paid out of the profits of trade, and hence
it acts as a perpetual drawback upon us, crippling
our resources, and placing us at so much <>\' a dis-
advantage compared with other nations, which bave
not the same wasteful expenditure.

3rd. The loss to the nation which results from
the pauperism and crime of tin- country, unfor- Wealth
tunately, however, is not confined merely to through
the sum necessary to maintain paupers and punish '^[['^
criminals. If these people were industriously

90 On the Main Cause of

ui.\r\vf. employed, their industry would add feo the riches
of the community; instead, however, of reaping
the benefits of such industry, society has 1" support

them in idleness, and has also to make good the
mischief arising from their criminal ac

4th. The expenditure on drink injures our
How trade also, by abstracting capital from the

capital is -r^ . c i -i l

attracted, country. Were it not tor the grain destroyed
in brewing and distillation, we should need
little or none of the grain that has to be
imported. The money paid to foreign countries
would, therefore, be available for home use. Besides
this, there is the money paid to other countries
for wines, spirits, sugar used in brewing, distil-
lation, &c, all of which, if not thus foolishly
spent, might be laid out upon our own home
trade, thus accumulating our riches, stimulating
our manufactures, and finding employment for
our artizans.

5th. Another way in wdiich the liquor traffic
injures trade and commerce is by involving the
destruction of a large amount of grain, thereby
causing food to be dear, and as the use of food
is a matter of necessity the purchase of manu-
factured goods becomes of secondary importance ;
any increase, therefore, in the price of food, dimin-
ishes proportionably the sum available for the
purchase of clothing, &c.

The amount of grain destroyed in the manufacture
of intoxicating drinks in the year IS 69 was as
follows : —

Bad Trade and National Waste. 91

BUSHELS.

CHAP. VI.

Malt used in brewing* 47, 704,8 1 9

Sugar used in brewing 342,078 cuts.,

equal tof 1,462,092

Corn used in making 121,!) 4 1 ,771) gallons
of spirits, J reckoning 18 gallons
to 8 bushels 9,751,901

61,792§ acres of the best land used for
growing hops for brewing purposes,
at 30 bushels per acre, would give 1,853,760

Produce destroyed in making cider,

perry, British wines, &c, sayJJ ... 2,000,000

62,772,572

This statement does not include the destruction of
grain and vegetable produce involved in the manu-
facture of 8,1 72,845'i gallons of foreign spirits, and
of 14,734,534 gallons of wine. If the grain thus
destroyed, or its equivalent in produce be calculated
in grain, and added to the above, it will give at V) nf
least a total of 70,000,000 bushels of grain or havestiu
produce destroyed in manufacturing the intoxi- would
eating liquors consumed in one year in this count rv.
A bushel of malt is equivalent to a bushel of barley,

* See Trade and Navigation Returns for year ending Deo. 81, 1869,

pa| ;e -<\ ■

t See Trade and Navi^'ati. m Returns for 3 Deo. 81, 18G9,

page 61.

J See Trade and Navigation Returns foi year ending Dec. 31, 1869,
page 51.

§ See Statistical Abstract, ]>a;.'e 111.
|| This amount is assumed, as there are no published statistics.
If See Statistical Abstract for 1870, Page 49.

92 On the Main Cause of

(imp. vi. which weighs 5311)., and will give at lea.->t tOlb. of
flour, which will make 6 Olb.* of bread, or L5 lib.
Loaves per bushel, making a grand total of grain

or produce destroyed equal to 1,050,000,000
four-pound loaves, or about 170 loaves yearly for
every family of five persons throughout the United
Kingdom.

If these loaves were used as paving stones, they
Length of would pave a road 10 yards wide more than 1,800

road these mi i • •• • i v , p

loaves miles long, or above nine times the distance li

" /(/ ^"' c London to Manchester. If the loaves had to be

cartsii carted away from some baker's shop in London,

would take anc | tumbled into the Thames, and one horse and

■•> curt

than away. car t, we re engaged to do it, taking 550 loaves every
half hour for ten hours each day, it would take
more than 330 years to cart them all away, or it
would take 330 carts one year to do it.

What a sensation of horror it would produce, if

some fine morning 330 carts, each laden with 500

loaves of bread, were to draw up to London

Bridge, and the various drivers began to prepare

it would to shunt their contents into the river. If such a

cvUtfthe thing were attempted, those who ventured upon

bread were j^q experiment would be quickly tumbled in after

thrown into L x J

the Thames, the loaves ; and yet, if this were done every day
during the year, and the grain were thus destroyed,
instead of being destroyed by being converted
into intoxicating liquors, it would be a most
unspeakable blessing to the community ; for, if
thrown into the river, the bread would be lost,

* See Johnston's Chemistry of Common Life, page 98.

("IT VI'. VI.

Bad Trade and National Waste. 93

but that would be the end of it ; as it is, it is
not only lost, but converted into a maddening
liquor, which ruins and destroys the people, nut
only as to their substance but their virtue also, and
fills the land with mourning, lamentation, and
woe. Better would it be to destroy only the grain
than both the grain and the people.

Writers on political economy argue (and rightly)
that a bad harvest causes dear food, and leads to
bad trade ; because people, having more to pay for
food, cannot afford clothing and other comforts; but, «
so far as the result goes, there is no difference in
the long run between 70,000,000 bushels of grain
destroyed by bad weatl km-, and 70,000,000 destroyed
in the manufacture of liquor. In both cases t lie
food is abstracted from the market, which causea
prices to rise; and in the latter case, in addition
to the destruction of the grain, there is the
destruction of the people's morality, and burdens
and evils entailed that are immeasurable.

It is clear, therefore, that if the grain
used in brewing: and distillation were wsnl in .. . ,
baking, we should have a far more plentiful wuid
supply, bread would, therefore, be cheaper, and. as trade.
a consequence, people needing to pay less for food
would have more for clothing; our trade would
therefore be augmented. Thus in a multitude of
ways, it is clear that our bad trade has arisen, not
from a bad foreign demand, but from a deficient
home trade, arising entirely from our squandering
our money upon things not only useless, but things

art <l< ■
u novated.

94 On the Main Cause of

chap. vi. which are pernicious, and which in all their subse-
quent relations and results, continue to injure our
trade and commerce, and also to demoralize our
populal ion.

w ,"/.,"'',' G th. The 1 if juor traffic inj ores trade and decreases

our national wealth also, by unsettling our industrial
relations, and deteriorating the character of our
workmen. People who are wishful to invest
money, especially in business which necessitates
the employment of a number of workmen, are often
deterred from doing so by the fear of the trouble
which they are likely to have, owing to the intem-
perate and unsteady character of the workmen.
In this way industry is often checked, and the
extension of trade prevented.

But it is not only by checking the development
of trade that the evil of intemperance operates, but
it operates, too, most perniciously in the carrying on
of each trade. Let a man have a mill or a workshop
of any kind fitted up with machinery, one part
dependent upon another, and all dependent very
greatly upon the skill and steadiness of the work-
men, the acceptance of orders, too, being dependent
upon their prompt and skilful execution — if such a
man often finds eight or ten out of every hundred
workmen away drinking, the machinery standing
idle whilst he is keeping the engine going to turn
it, he will be a great loser; the work will neither
be done in quality nor quantity as it ought to be,
and therefore the intemperate habits of the work-
man are a great loss and drawback to him. If

Bad Trade and National Waste. 95

there is any danger at all to British industry and ,

commerce, it arises from the superior intelligence 1,
and sobriety of the continental workman as com- ™^ ' /(
pared with our own. If the British urorkman b<

i. dan

at all inferior in these respects, it entirely arises
from the habits of intemperance to which he is
addicted.

7th. The liquor traffic injures trade and wastes
the national wealth, also, by the loss of life and
property which it occasions.

The goods manager of one of the railways run-
ning into Manchester told the writer, that the line
of which lit; was manager paid no less a sum than
£5,000 annually in consequence of accidents and
damages, which could clearly be traced to drunken-
ness. How many other accidents occurred which
could not he so traced, he observed that he could not
tell. The case of this line is but a sample of what is
occurring over the entire country — everywhere, rail-
way collisions, colliery accidents, boiler explosions,
and numerous other accidents, upon a lesser scale,
are constantly occurring; whilst cases of personal
violence, or murder, or premature death, especially
of children, who perish through the negled of their
parents, or, as is often the case, are overlain and
Buffocated by them whilst in a state of drunkenness,
are so common, as almost to pass unnoticed : indeed
the mischief and peril resulting to life and property
through intemperance are incalculable, rendering
life and property insecure, and enormously increas-
ing all manner of risks, and not only destroying

OG On the Main Guise of

chap. vi. existing wealth, hut paralyzing the sinews of in-

dust it so as to retard its development iii the future.

In the estimates I have given as to the cost of

Intoxicating liquors, I bave taken into account only

the money directly spent in their purchase : unfor-
tunately, this only partially represents the cost to
the nation. In their train follow unparalleled

losses and evils which fall upon society ; and

therefore in taking a proper estimate of this total

loss, it is necessary not only that the direct but

also the indirect cost be included.

The Rev. The Rev. Dawson Burns, M.A., of London,

ji. a. ','"*,' than whom there is no better authority upon a

t /tss"''/"' c<t question of this nature, estimates this indirect loss

'T 1 '" 1 ! . as follows : —

through in-

tiixkatmg First. — Loss of wealth annually
incurred in the production and retail-
ing of intoxicating liquors : — ■

1. The land now devoted to the
growth of barley and hops,
used in making intoxicating
liquors, would produce food of
the value of not less than . £13,000,000

2. In the manufacture of strong
drink there is a loss of capital
and labour worth at least . . 15,000,000

3. The labour of the retailer of
intoxicating drinks and of their
servants, numbering 500,000
or upwards, would be worth,
at the low estimate of £.30
each per annum 25,000.000

liquors.

Total £53,000,000

Bad Trade and National Waste. 97

Second. — Expenses and burdens
annually arising from the use of in-
toxicating liquors : —

1. Loss of labour and time to

employers and workmen by
drinking, — estimated by the
Parliamentary Committee of
1834 at £50,000,000

2. Destruction of property by sea

and land, and loss of property
by theft and otherwise, the
result of drinking habits, say . 10,000,000

3. Public and private charges by

pauperism, destitution, sick-
ness, insanity, and premature
deaths, traceable to the use of
strong drinks, at least . . . 10,000,000

4. Cost of police, prosecutions,

courts of justice, support of
criminals, losses by jurors and
witnesses, — taking the pro-
portion of cases due to drinking,
at least 3,000,000

£73,000,000

Third. — Add amount of money di-
rectly spent on intoxicating liquors in
1869 112,885,003

Grand total of the yearly loss of
wealth to the British Nation through
intoxicating drinks £238,885,G03

This calculation, of course, is only an estimate,
and the intelligent reader will enlarge or curtail it
as in his judgment appears requisite. My own

98 On the Main Cause of

opinion is that the two last items might without

any exaggeration be made 10,000,000 more, and
that if a proper allowance were made for the
lost labour of our paupers, criminals, vagrants,
thieves, lunatics, &c, it would amount to at least
£20,000,000 more, which would make a total of
£208,885,603. Under any circumstances, how-
ever, we shall be considerably within the mark in
assuming, that the direct and indirect cost to the
nation, arising from the use of intoxicating liquors,
cannot be less than £200,000,000 yearly — a sum
equal to nearly one-fourth of the income of the
entire nation !

What a deplorable fact it is to contemplate,
that an enlightened and professedly Christian
nation, should spend £200,000,000 per annum
in bringing upon itself miseiy, impoverishment,
degradation, and demoralisation. If the money
were paid to remove these evils, it would be a
rational expenditure, but when the evils are
bought, and at such an enormous cost, reason and
common sense — not to mention religion — stand
aghast in mute astonishment, totally unable to
realise the possibility of such insane folly.

At the Annual Meeting of the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, held in the autumn of
1869, Sir Thomas Bazley, addressing the Chamber,
said : — "When he looked at the deprivations which
the labouring classes had sustained, the diminution
of the capital of the employing classes, the devas-
tations in the money market produced by limited

Bad Trade and National Waste. 99

liability and undue speculations, and added to those chap. vi.
disasters the dearness of food which prevailed for
two years after the termination of the American
war, he came to the conclusion that the vast sum Jj
of 250 millions sterling had been abstracted from ««" /""•

° of dear

the resources of the country; and he was only food,di
surprised that the financial and commercial systems
of the country had sustained the great and pressing
weight that had encumbered them. He did not
wonder at the complaint that trade was embarrassed
and unprofitable, nor at the complaint that orders
for manufactures of every kind were difficult to
obtain ; for it was clear that if, during seven years,
the sum of 250 millions sterling had been taken
from the ordinary expenditure of the country, not
only the cotton trade, but also every other trade,
must have been deprived of themieans of purchasing
an immense amount of the manufactures that were
produced by the various industries of the country. '
Now, if the loss of £250,000,000 through
dear food, &c, during seven years, tends so much
to embarrass and render trade unprofitable, what /,,,,,,,
influence must the loss of £1,400,000,000, through JjwjLi
intemperance, have upon it'? Is there something «/«'«'<"•-
peculiar and exceptional in the money tint is Lost
through drink that prevents it from damaging
trade? Has it not the same effect that other
losses have ? Yes, and worse ; for there is not
only a money loss, but there is also the deteriora-
tion and demoralisation of the workman, which is
the greatest loss of all. Why, then, do not our

100 On the Main Cause of

niAi'vr. statesmen, <>nr political economists, nnd our com-
mercial magnates draw attention to this as well as
other causes of bad trade'? They must see these
tilings, unless they shut their eyes and will not see.
If so, they stand convicted of withholding the truth
out of deference to the depraved habits of the com-
munity. With such men at the helm, the national
ship stands in great danger of being wrecked.

It is not unfrequently objected, and the objec-
tion sometimes comes from men of intelligence
and men conversant with trade, that inasmuch as,
notwithstanding the large expenditure arising from
drink, trade has often been good in the past, and
doubtless ere long may again be good in the futu re,
the argument, therefore, that this expenditure leads
to bad trade falls to the ground.

There has never, however, been a period when the
expenditure upon intoxicating chinks has been so
large as during the four years ending 1869. During
those four years (as we have seen) it was twenty
millions per annum more than during the four years
ending 1861, and therefore the experiences of
former years does not apply to the present. If,
however, it did, and the premises were admitted,
the conclusion by no means follows.

If a man possesses an income of .£500 per annum

he may squander £450 of it, and not suffer from

individuals it : if however his income be reduced to £400,

or Nations, ... i •it

with larye and his expenditure increased to £500, he will soon

incomes

may be ex- find himself in difficulties. When such an one gets
wagan ^ Q difficulties, it is absurd for him to plead the

Bad Trade and National Waste. 101

reduction of his income as an excuse for his troubles, chap. w.
the cause lies in his extravagance. So it is with
nations.

When a nation, by its inventive genius, by its
skill and industry, by its unrivalled machinery, its
unbounded mineral wealth, its humid climate, •
and its happy situation, has been raised to such a tiaforget-
position as to have become to a great extent the "" J "'
workshop of the world, it thereby for the time being
enjoys a monopoly, and secures to itself such an
income as enables it to act very lavishly in regard
to its expenditure.

No nation, however, can long expect to enjoy n!sr<lll _
a monopoly of such advantages: and if it fosters ' '
habits of intemperance, it must, when circum-
stances become less propitious, be involved in
difficulties. Under such circumstances there will
be only one of two courses open, either to give up
its indulgences, or reduce its trade.

Such has been our position during the last few
years. Owing to the high price of much of our That
raw material for manufactures, dear food, the */W< ■/,»/-
failure of joint stock associations, &c, the profits nduced.
of trade latterly have been very greatly reduced,
and we have for a time been deprived of those
special facilities for money making, which for
along period we have so pre-eminently enjoyed.
This, however, has not led to a reduction in our
expenditure upon indulgences. Our expenditure Bvtdriak
upon intoxicating drinks instead of diminishing (»v*«
has increased, and therefore, as an inevitable

102

On the Main Cause of

EviU of
scarcity of
the raw
muter in I
for manu-
facturing.

How tem-
perance
would
ameliorate
these evils.

consequence, the expenditure upon other things
must be diminished. The experience of the last few
years testifies that such lias been the case. The
only way, therefore, to improve trade, so far as the
home department is concerned, is to transfer the
expenditure now appropriated to drink to useful
articles of manufacture.

It is doubtless true, that when there is a scarcity
in the raw material in any manufacture, that
kind of manufacture can never be so healthy as it
otherwise would be, but, it is clear, that if the
enormous amount expended upon drink were saved,
whenever such scarcity did arise we should be in
a far better position to cope with it than we now
are — for, 1st, we should be very much richer, and
therefore more able to bid for the raw material in
the markets of the world — more of it would con-
sequently come to this country, and our mills
would be better employed ; and, 2nd, our work-
people, were they sober, would rapidly save
money, and they would be able to put up with
short time without inconvenience. We might then,
with comfort to all, regulate the consumption
to the supply, and secure a far steadier, and
more profitable trade than we could otherwise
enjoy.

During the American war people were afraid
to grow cotton, for fear the war should suddenly
collapse, and the three or four million bales
which were thought to be locked up in the
Southern States, should be let loose, and swamp the

Bad Trade and A T ation r jLl Waste. 103

market. For three or four years after the term in; i- cn .w. n.
tion of the war, the fearful stagnation which
prevailed in the Manchester market drove all heart
out of capitalists. Cotton, it was said, must come
down, for people will not pay the prices for cloth ;
hence, in the autumn of 18G7, middling Orleans _ .
cotton fell to 7d. per lb. The consequence was that /"""

i i r> 1 l i i i i i / ""' I "

the growth ot the staple was checked, and the on the
period of cotton scarcity has been prolonged one cZtum.
or two years further than it otherwise would have
been.

How was it likely prices could be maintained,
when our own home trade had fallen off thirty-five cmm of
per cent ? and how was it likely that merchants ['l',,', 1 '/,',' ',)'„.
would push the growth of an article for which >• r "'^ "J

1 _ O C0tt"ll.

there was so little demand 1

Had the twenty millions spent upon drink during
the four years ending 18G9, in excess of that spent in
the four years ending 1861, or had even one-half of
it been spent upon cotton goods, it would have more
than doubled our home trade, and thus have kept
up a healthy demand for goods ; as a consequence,
cotton would have maintained its value, the world T/n^n-ih
would have been encouraged to push on its growth, mitigat
and very much earlier than has been the case, we
should have had a full supply.

Mr. II. Dudley Baxter, in his work on "The
Taxation of the United Kingdom," remarks, "A
commercial people, who depend i'w their market
upon the cheapness of their production, can afford
no waste."

in/ ti in ■

104 On the Main Cause of

chap. vi. This, in the long run, is sure to prove true, for
whatever unnecessary waste there may be, operates

as s<> much of a bonus t<> competitors, andultimal ely,
if continued, enables them to supplant us in the
world's market, provided thev do not imitate our
folly.
Results The invention of the steam engine, the spinning

foiiowjrom j enn y> the loom, and other valuable machines, bas
£22™ f° r a l° n & time placed in our hands a monopoly of
wealth; our coal fields, iron mines, &c, have sup-
plemented these; and had we been wise, and during
the last fifty years properly husbanded and
used the wealth thus placed within our reach, our
people to-day would universally have been in easy
circumstances, and we should have been far from
the fearful pauperism that marks us as a disgrace
among the nations of the earth.

As I have previously intimated, there has never
been a nation in the world's history, whose oppor-
tunities for acquiring wealth have been equal to those
possessed by ourselves. Enjoying, as we do, a vast
commerce with every region of the globe, and pos-
sessing manufacturing advantages and facilities far
surpassing those of any other nation, this country
has, to a great extent, become the workshop of the
world. When a nation possesses no resources but
such as are within itself, it may, even then, if it
uses those resources aright, rapidly accumulate
wealth ; but when, in addition to its own re-
sources, it enjoys the advantage of being enriched
by the trade of every country in the world, its

Bad Trade and National Waste. 105

progress ought to be such as to lift it far above chap, vr
the regions of want ; and such would be ours, if
it were not for the fearful drawbacks and waste of
intemperance.

The burden of taxation, crime, pauperism, and
demoralisation that results from the liquor traffic
every day becomes more and more oppressive ; and
the time is fast hastening when, if we do not grapple
with the evil, we shall sink beneath its weight, and ]V/,,,f r «-

suits from

take our place in the second or third rank among the profligacy.
nations of the earth. Persia, Babylon, Carthage,
Greece, Rome, Spain, and other kingdoms which
once were in the front rank, have played their part,
and now are scarcely known except in history. It
was then- profligacy, extravagance, and debauchery
which sank them, and ours will sink us, not only
commercially, but morally and religiously, unless
we adopt means to prevent them.

The remedy for our bad trade, then, lies entirely
with ourselves. If we think we can continue to
squander one hundred millions yearly on drink,
increasing thereby very materially our local taxati< >n
and sapping the foundations of industry, virtue,
and morality, we shall be greatly mistaken.

We may have an abundant and prosperous trade,
we may ensure to our artisans, and our industrial
population, continued, and profitable onipWinont,
we may free our country from the fearful stains Thermcdy
of pauperism and crime which so disfigure it: ,.,', ,
we may have a wealthy, contented, virtuous, and ^' ; '^T*
happy people, but if we are ever to secure these *•"

106 The Main Cause of Bad Trade, &c.

chap. vr. inestimable blessings we must remove the tempta-
tions to intemperance which are planted broadcast
over the land ; and our legislature must enact
such laws as "will make it easy to do right, and
difficult to do wrong."*

* " The disposition to be provident, I need not tell you, cannot be sup-
plied by Parliament. It may be the duty of the legislature to prohibit
certain things — and so it is — which are of the nature of social abuses ;
but, with regard to the general government of man, it has pleased God
to make him a free agent, and those by whom he is ruled in this world
ought to respect the freedom — ought to make it easy for him to do what
is right, and difficult for him to do wrong." — Speech of the Bight Hon.
W. E, Gladstone, at Buckley, Jan. 4th, 1864.

CHAPTER VII.

OX THE RIGHT EXPENDITURE OF MONET.

If the reader has carefully perused Chapter V. he chap, m.
will see the truth of the following positions ; —

I. When labour is directed to productive and Result of
useful objects, and these objects are rightly used, directed
there will necessarily be a rapid accumulation in

the products of industry.

II. That inasmuch as the value of things (com-
mercially) is in proportion to the amount of the
labour expended upon them, it follows that to
purchase any object is simply to pay for the labour
expended thereon, and therefore the income of
one week, if properly expended, will create a
demand for the labour of the succeeding one.

III. That in proportion to the accumulation of
the products of industry, or in other words, of
wealth, so also will be the power to employ labour;
hence, in proportion as a nation increases in wealth,
and uses that wealth rightly, pauperism, vagrancy,
and all other evils of a kindred class must dis-
appear.

The question as to the influence which a proper important*
or improper expenditure of money exercises upon JJJJJr 1
the demand for labour, and also upon the waste of r ''J htl u-

108 On the Right

chap. vii. our national resources, is one of the greatest
importance ; but it is one which is very imperfectly
comprehended. I therefore ask the reader's i sareful
attention whilst I dwell upon the subject, in order
to elucidate what is of such pre-eminent importance.
I will revert to the illustration made use of in a
previous chapter, in reference to the digging of the
hole and filling it up again.
jiiustra- Suppose the case of a man thus employed, lie

///"','.','!/- is engaged during the week in digging a hole, and
tu/t " lJ the then a t the week's end he fills it up again, for
doing which he is paid fifteen shillings as wages.
Some one may perhaps say, the man who has got
his fifteen shillings, by re-spending it, can find some
one else a week's work on the same terms as
he himself has been employed. But then, in
considering this question, it must be borne in
mind that there are two persons concerned in the
business of the hole digging, — there is the employer,
as well as the employed, — -there is the man who
paid the fifteen shillings, as well as the man who
received it. The employer gave his money and
the workman gave his labour. The workman, in
return for his labour, gets fifteen shillings ; but
what does the employer get in return for his
money ? He gets nothing. If the fifteen shillings
were all he possessed, then the transaction reduces
him to poverty, for he paid all that he had, and it
produced him nothing in return.

Now, suppose that instead of spending his time
in digging this hole, the man had been employed

Expenditure of Money. 109

in manufacturing cloth, or in making shoes, or in ruu >. V n.

cultivating land, or in any other kind of productive ju„ s i ra -

labour ; what then would have been the result '. ',]■,
He would have produced probably 200 or 300

x L * shoes, lie.

yards of cloth, or two or three pairs of shoes, or
perhaps twenty shillings' worth of grain : for a
week's productive labour by the man would not
only have reproduced the fifteen shillings, but it
would have reproduced it with a profit/'' The
employer would have parted with his fifteen
shillings, but in return for it would probably have
received twenty shillings' worth of produce.

Let us stop to compare the result in each case. Th , .
In one case there is fifteen shillings expended, but ''""'"* ,

o J- compared.

nothing produced, — the workman gets his wages,
but the employer loses his fifteen shillings ; and,
as I have remarked, if he is only worth fifteen
shillings, he is reduced to poverty. In the second
case, the workman gets his wages, and the em-
ployer gets probably twenty shillings' worth of
produce, for productive expenditure and labour
(which are really synonymous) reproduce them-
selves with a profit. In the former case there is only
the fifteen shillings received by the workman; in
the latter case there is the fifteen shillings which
the workman gets, plus the twenty shillings which

* In many of the calculations and arguments made use of in this
treatise, the profit arising from arrested wealth is not taken into account.
This profit is a variable quantity, and has been omitted in order that the
reasoning might not become too complicated. If it had been taken into
account, the reader will see that it would have mude the writer's argu-
ment all the stronger.

110

On the Right

Compari-
son of
labour
employed.

The large
a mo intt
which is
often spent
in in-
toxicating
liquors.

the employer receives, and in addition to the
week's labour which the fifteen shillings earned
by the workman would purchase. The employer's
twenty shillings would also enable him to find
some other individual lj- week's labour. In one
case, therefore, there would he one day's labour
found ; and, in the other case, there would be 2J
day's labour ensured. Whether, therefore, the
expenditure be measured by the wealth it pro-
duces, or by the amount of labour it will employ,
the reader will see the vast importance of its being
properly directed so as to be productive.

It is no uncommon thing for people — even
working men — to spend their five, ten, fifteen, or
twenty shillings, in one week, in intoxicating
liquors. With such men, any advance in wages
is simply providing them greater facility for their
own degradation. Let it be supported that the
two men we have just referred to, are of this
stamp, and that instead of investing the fifteen
shillings in hole-digging, they had spent it in beer
or spirits, and that the man, instead of being
employed at the hole, had been employed in manu-
facturing the same. In this case, what would be
the result ? Let us apply this reasoning not to a
supposed case, but to one which unfortunately is
of every day occurrence. I refer to the purchase of
intoxicating drinks.

In manufacturing intoxicating drinks the first
thing that the man has to do, is, to get some
of the best grain he can, whether it be for brewing

Expenditure of Money. Ill

or distillation.* To make fifteen shillings' worth rrnr# vrr ,
of beer, he would have to use as much grain as \yj„, t
would make six 4lb. loaves. The time he would r ^',' "*■'']"?

Ill tun f/nl-

be employed in manufacturing the beer would not K»w«*pe»<
be a couple of hours — I will assume it however
to be a quarter of a day — this, at fifteen shil-
lings per week, would give the workman 7r>d.
as wages. How then stands the matter ? At
the beginning of the week the men had fifteen
shillings in cash, which they expended in beer.
To make this beer, three shillings' worth of
grain has to be used (reckoning gram only at
six shillings per bushel), and there is a quarter
of a day's employment found, for which 7 id.
goes into the pocket of the workman as wages.
They are therefore richer by the 7 id., but they are
poorer (so far as the result of this transaction is
concerned) by the fifteen shillings spent on the
beer, plus the three shillings' worth of grain
destroyed in its manufacture. If such ex 1 r kvagani 7 '
conduct as this was not atoned for by the industry to atom
and providence ot others, what would such men prodigal.

* The following quantities have been found to afford a good product
of whiskey in a well-conducted Scotch distillery : —

252 bushels of malt, at 401bs. per bushel.

948 „ barley, 58|lbs.

150 „ oats, 47.Ubs.

150 „ rye, 53;lls. „

1500
From each bushel of the above mixed meal 2 J gallons of proof whiskey
may be obtained, or 18] gallons pet quarter, A few distillers are skilful
enough to extract 20 gallons per quarter from such a mixture. — English
Encyclopadia. Article — Distillery.

I L2

On the Right.

Illustra-
tion ih-inrii
from the
Poor Law
Union of
Bury.

The value
of goods is
the labour
expended
upon them.

have to do % How could tliey get a second weeks
job? They have only 7£d. wherewith to provide
for it. This illustration will show that the^ reason

why so many of our population are out of employ-
ment, and cannot get it, is owing to the unpro-
ductive and wasteful manner in which money is
expended upon intoxicating liquors.

The point now under discussion is one of the
most vital importance. I will therefore, in order
to exhibit more fully its influence upon society
generally, take an illustration upon a more ex-
tended scale.

I will take, as my first illustration, the Poor-
Law Union of Bury, in which I reside. The popu-
lation of the Union in 1861 was 101,132. Out of
this number, there will be about 50,000 persons
who are enofaired in labour of some kind or other.
I will assume that this labour is properly directed
so as to be all productive, and that their average
earnings amount to 1 4s. each per week, or a total
for the entire population (allowing two weeks for
holidays) of £1,750,000 per annum. The rest of
the population — consisting of mothers, young chil-
dren, aged and infirm people — are unable to work,
and have, therefore, to be maintained by the labour
of the 50,000 workers.

As I have before shown, if the raw material for
manufacture were all found within the area of the
Bury district, then the value of the manufactures
when sold would represent simply the value of the
labour expended upon them — or, in other words,

Expenditure of Money. 1 1 3

the wages paid to the workpeople. In most (lis- frTAP . „,
tricts, however, this is only the case to a very
limited extent, the material generally coming from
other districts, and the price paid for it represent-
ing the labour which has been spent upon it in
those districts. In these cases, therefore, the value
of the article when sold will represent the price
paid for the material imported, plus the labour ex-
pended upon it in the district where its manufac-
ture is completed. Thus, in the Bury district, if
£1,750,000 be the wages paid, it will probably
represent articles which, when sold, will fetch say,
£3,500,000. Of this £3,500,000, one-half is paid
for the material of manufacture when it comes to
Bury, and the other represents the wages paid
upon it in Bury. These two items added together,
therefore, will constitute its selling price.

This, the reader will see, is exactly the same in
principle as in the case where the manufacture is
begun and completed within the district.

In order, however, that the illustration may not -< eat
be encumbered by any foreign considerations, I
will suppose that Bury is so situated as to possess
a sufficient area to grow its own produce; also, that
it possesses within itself all the raw material for
its manufactures. In such a case, what wealth it
possesses will clearly depend upon the industry of
its 50,000 workers.

If the labours of these 50,000 people are properly
apportioned and directed so as to be productive, X'uWBa
there would be, say, about 10,000 engaged in llivuM -

114 On the Right

<hw. vii. providing food, 20,000 in providing clothing and
other manufactures, and 20,000 would be employed
in building houses, making furniture, &c. Under

these three heads might be comprised, all classes of
productive labour and expenditure, so that for
every pound expended there would be its equivalent
returned in value to the purchaser, and for every
day's labour its equivalent in wealth.

I will suppose that on the 1st of January, 1870,
the population referred to had, either in money or
produce, a year's income in hand, upon which they
are to subsist during 1870, whilst they make pro-
vision for 1871.

The reader will bear in mind that in this argu-
ment, I have assumed that the district has all its
resources entirely within itself, and that those
resources are productively employed. In such a
region wealth must rapidly accumulate ; everybody
who wishes to work must be fully employed ;
whilst pauperism and destitution can have no ex-
istence. Unfortunately, such a state of things
does not exist. We must, therefore, consider things
as they are, and note what are the main hin-
drances to the consummation so devoutly to be
wished.
No. of In the Bury Union* there are 205 public-houses,

hlusesand an( l 295 beershops, or a total of 500 places where
leerhouscs intoxicating liquors are sold, in addition to a nura-

m the Bury o n.

I'n ion.

* The population in the Bury Poor-Law Union is about three times as
great as in the Borough — it includes a number of the out-lying town-
ships.

Expenditure of Money. 115

ber of grocers who, since 18G0, have begun to sell C iur. m.
wines and spirits. It has been shown that the
average expenditure for each of these houses
throughout the United Kingdom is upwards of
£750 per annum. Assuming that Bury does its
share of this expenditure, it will give a total of
£375,000" as spent upon intoxicating liquors in one
year, or upwards of a fifth of its total income.
What are the results which follow from this ex-
penditure ?

It has been previously shown that in the manu- Small
facture of intoxicating liquors very little labour is 'iX''n-' J
required ; that between the duty paid to Govern- J" ( J,' ( ',' ,',','.
ment, the price paid for the grain destroyed, and •';';'/ "/'• °f
the enormous profits derived by the brewers and
publicans, there is very little left for wages to the
working man. The manufacture of £375,000
worth of intoxicating liquors would not at the
outside employ more than from 200 to 250 people;
and if to these be added the 500 publicans, and
say as many servants, it would give 1,000 persons
more, who, though not engaged in the manufac-
ture, yet are maintained by the money spent.
This would be a total of 1,250 persons, (a very
outside estimate) who derive a living from the
£375,000 expended upon drink.

* It may perhaps be objected that this amount is exoessiYe. All I
have to say in reply is, I give tbe figures as I find them. It is certainly
startling, and especially when it is borne in mind that it only represents
tho direct expenditure. If the indirect could bo added, the amount, huge
as it is, would have to be about doubled. — Sco previous Chapter, al-o
Appendix B.

gram

11G On the Right

chap. vii. Now, if £1,750,000 will give employment to
/„,,„/ 50,000, it follows tli.it, if properly expended,
Bury " l £375,000 would find employment and subsistence
[h'nik' 11 ^ 0V 10,714 persons, or 0,4(54 more than when spent
on drink; so that by spending so much of the
money on drink there are, out of the 50,000 workers,
9,4G4 who are thrown out of employment, and have
to be supported by the labour of the other 40,500
workers.
Loss of But the spending of £375,000 upon intoxicating

drinks involves also the destruction of at least
250,000 bushels of grain, which, if converted into
bread, would make above three and a half million
4lb. loaves, and would provide sustenance during
the whole year for at least one fourth of the popu-
lation in the union. If the liquor could be manu-
factured out of some material that could be had
for nothing, and which, by expending labour upon it,
could be converted into intoxicating liquor, so that
the price of the liquor represented the price of the
labour, then, so far as the labour question went, it-
would be on a par with the case of digging the
hole and filling it up again ; it would simply be the
loss of the labour. But, unfortunately, the labour
of the drink manufacture is much worse than this :
it is not only unproductive, but destructive, for an
amount of food which would sustain one fourth of
the population, is wasted, in order to manufacture a
pernicious liquor.

When we compare the results which accrue to
the community from the two methods of expen-

Expenditure of Money. 117

diture, we find that when the £1,750,000 is chap. vu.
expended without any of it going for the purchase A~propeT
of intoxicating liquors, 50,000 persons derive ]' ",',', ,'"•',", -
productive employment : but when the 500 public- J"!"'''" r '
houses and beer shops are established, and £375,000 <"■ .
of the money goes in drink, then, only 40,530 persons
are employed, and out of these 1,250 are not only
unproductively, but destructively employed ; or to
put the thing in another light, when the money is
expended without the drink, there are 50,000
individuals who are productively employed, but
when £375,000 of it is expended in drink, there
are only 39,286 employed productively, whilst,
1,250 are employed in destroying what the 39,280
create ; for, as we have seen, each year they destroy
grain that would provide bread equivalent to three
and a half million 4lb. loaves, whilst a fifth of the
people are thrown out of employment, a ml have to
be provided for by the industry of the others. Here /;,,,/„„.,
is the explanation for the fearful amount of
pauperism, vagrancy, and destitution which /'"
exists. Spend the money properly, and, with <>ur
present industry, confirmed pauperism would
be an impossibility.

It has been correctly remarked by Professor
Fawcett* that, "Although no wealth whatever cam
be produced without labour, yet there is much Lab »ur
which does not contribute to the creat ion of wealth."
Professor Fawcett might have gone further than
this; he might have added — there is much labour
which contributes to the destruction of wealth.

* Manual of Political Economy, page 18.

118 On the Bight

chat. vn. If a man could he so foolish as to pull his house

A com- down in order to erect a pig-stye upon its site, then

M™tmtc the l )r ice of the pig-stye, if it is to represent its

nm-apmi cos + mug fc include, not only the value of the labour

money. J

expended in erecting the stye, but also, the value
of the labour expended in erecting the house
pulled down to make room for the stye, and also
the cost of pulling it down. At least, therefore,
nineteen- twentieths of the cost of the stye, is what
is paid to atone for this destructive labour.
Cost value ^ n the above case nineteen-twentieths of the
and utility cos ^ f j^q p-g_ s ^ e? wou ld b e the price paid to

illustrated, make up for the destruction of the house. The
utility value is merely the cost of erecting the
stye ; but the value of cost, or labour, is the price
paid for building up, and also pulling down the house,
plus the cost of building the stye. The money it
takes to erect the house, pull it down, and erect
the stye, indicates the cost value, and in all
cases, in proportion as the cost value exceeds the
utility value, by so much does the world become
impoverished, because labour is expended that
does not return a corresponding value of use.

These remarks will partly illustrate why it is
that for the enormous expenditure upon drink,
such a small amount of labour is needed. In the
case of the pig-stye, its cost represents — first,
the value of the house destroyed to make way

Why in- for it ; and, secondly, the cost of its erection. In

toxicating , ^ , 1 l i»

n^ors are the case of the drink it represents the value ol
the grain, &c, destroyed for its manufacture, plus

Expenditure of Money. 119

the cost of the labour expended in manufacturing chip. to.

it. The house was incomparably more useful than
the stye; and if the three-and-a-half million
loaves, represented in the gram destroyed, were
used to feed the people, instead of being converted
into drink, there is no sane person who will not
admit, that such an appropriation would be infi-
nitely more useful than when converted into
drink. In one case it feeds the people, in the
other it leads to their ruin.

The objection may perhaps again be started
that I am arguing upon an extreme case, and
that if people would only use these drinks in
moderation, the argument would not apply.

I am free to admit that if the population of the
Bury Union, instead of spending £375,000 per
annum on drink, only spent say £20,000, the evil
would be so far reduced; and, to say the least,
the argument would proportionately lose its force.
The argument, however, has to do with things as
they are ; and if ever such a happy change as I have
indicated is to take place, it can only be brought
about by exhibiting to the world the folly and
madness of their present conduct.

The purpose of all labour is, or ought to be, to The proper
secure the physical comforts of life — good health, ',','f,^
good food, warm clothing, and comfortable habita-
tions ; for although the end of man's existence is
not to attend merely to the physical or animal, but
primarily to the intellectual and spiritual, yet, in-
asmuch as the proper development of these facul-
ties, depends upon the healthy condition of the

120 On the Riyht

chap. vii. physical organism, it is requisite, if we would
fully developethe menial, to attend to the physical.

These remarks may perhaps, to some extent,
appear to the reader wide of the question under
discussion, and yet they are closely allied to it ;
because, if a man seeks sensual indulgence as the
great end of his existence, reason is lost upon such
a one, until he can be shown his folly. It is the
mission of time political economy to show Lim this,
and to elucidate the laws which conduce to individual
happiness, and to the welfare of society generally.

I will now endeavour to apply the principles I
have been trying to elucidate, to our expenditure
nationally.

In a previous chapter it has been shown that the
loss to the United Kingdom in intoxicating drinks
is upwards of £200,000,000 per annum. If this
money were spent as it ought to be, what would
be the result ?
How to What the £200,000,000 annually lost through

£200,000,000 intoxicating drinks would do if properly expended :

Money Expended. Persons Employed.

£25,000,000 Spent in manufactured

goods, as clothing, bed-

T ding, &c, which would

factvres. make up for what people

are deficient, and woidd
find employment for —
say400,000persons,atan
average of 1 4 s. per week 400,000

£25,000,000 400,000

Expenditure of Money. 121

£25,000,000 400,000 ch^tb.

£10,000,000 To be spent on food to /,7,

supply those who do

not now get enough ;

this would take about

30,000,000 bushels of

the grain now wasted in

the manufacture of drink
£30,000,000 Tobespent in the erection

of better houses, in inidkr

making railways, build- ,/ ": //; " -.

. . railways,

ing bridges, making £c.

better roads, and em-
ploy ingsay 400,00 work-
in en, at 24s. each week 400,000
£20,000,000 To be laid out in the pur-
chase of furniture for In farm-

turn.

those whose houses are
without these things
through intemperance,
and finding work for —
say 250,000 persons at
24s. per week . . . 250,000
£20,000,000 To be spent in cultivating

our waste land, and in 7 ." '

' ■ waste

improving the culture i*&c

of those already occu-
pied, and employing,

say, 350,000 people at

17s. per week. . . . 350,000

£105.000,000 1,100,000

jOO

On the Right

CTTAP.VIT. £105,000,000

£20,000,000

1,400,000

In sanitary
improve-

meats.

In build-
ing in io
schools.

In employ-
ing school
teachers.

In estab-
lishing
colleges.

In erecting
places of
worship.

To be spent in sanitary
improvements, in a]'] 'ly-
ing the sewage from our
towns to the land, and
employing, say, 300,000
persons at 1 8s. per week

£6,000,000 To be spent on building
5,000 new schools, in
neglected districts, to
cost £1,200 each, k find-
ing work for, say, 80,000
men at 24s. per week .

£2,400,000 To be paid to 10, 000 addi-
tional school teachers, at
£200 each per annum,
and 20,000 pupil teach-
ers at £20 per annum .

£1,500,000 To be paid towards the
higher branches of edu-
cation (colleges, &c.) and
employing 3,000 Profes-
sors at £500 per annum
each

£7,500,000 To be spent in erecting
5,000 places of worship
in neglected districts, at
£1,500 each, and employ,
ing 100,000 men at 24s.
each per week . . .

300,000

80,000

30,000

3,000

£142,400,000

100,000
1,913,000

Expenditure of Money.

123

£142,400,000 1,913,000

£2,000,000 To be spent in maintain-
ing 5,000 ministers to
officiate therein, at £400
per annum .... 5,000

£3,000,000 To be paid to 30,000 in-
dividuals, to visit from
house to house, to in-
struct the people, as
to their moral, social,
and domestic duties, at
salaries of £100 each
per annum .... 30,000

£5,000,000 To be paid to 10,000
Christian missionaries,
to go forth to instruct
and Christianize the
heathen world, at a
cost — say of £500 each
per annum . . . . 1 0,000

£5,000,000 To be paid to establish
10,000 libraries in
towns and villages
where they have been
neglected, at £500
each, and finding em-
ployment in printing,
&c, for, say .... 50,000

III (llij.h^

bag ml, tit-
U if.

mg II

■li-
ar Us.

In .<r»<lin;l
it-
to t/if
Jhallnu.

In found-
ing libra-

£157,400,000

2,008,000

124

On the Right

In support-
ing young

cliildn ii
mill hi/, ,1
people.

In keeping

children
longer at
school.

In relax-
ation and
enjoyment.

In partial
support to

ajed people

£157,400,000 2,008,000

£5,000,000 To be paid yearly to
30,000 fatherless chil-
dren, aged and infirm
and sick paupers, at an
average cost each of
from six to seven shil-
lings per week . . . 300,000
£2,250,000 To be paid for the lost
wages of 300,000 young
people, at 3s. per week,
who are now employed,
but whom it would be
well to keep at school
till they are thirteen
years of age .... 300,000
£ 1 0,000,000 Which would probably be
spent in relaxation and
enjoyment, such as sea-
side visits, &c., and em-
ploying, say 62,000 at-
tendants, &c. ... G2,000
£2,000,000*To be spent in supporting
200,000 aged people,
who would at an earlier
period partially retire
from labour, at 4s. each

per week 200,000

£176,650,000 2,870,000

* This expenditure would doubtless be provided for by the people, in
their younger years, laying by a store for old age, so that they might
partly labour, and partly live upon previous earnings.

Expenditure of Money. 125

.£176,650,000 2,870,000 chap.™

£15,000,000* To be paid for making up
the loss to the revenue
which [would arise from
the giving up of intoxi-
cating drinks, leaving
£8,350,000 £4,350,000 for sundries

£200,000,000 2,870,000

In these calculations, the reader will see, that ^.
all the money does not go in the shape of wages
a considerable sum is allowed for the purchase of in
material from other countries ; but then, as a rule,
these countries would, in return, take the product
of our manufactures. We should therefore gain in
this respect as much as we should lose, so that we
might in reality take the whole of the £200,000,000
as expended in labour. If we did so we miglrl add
another 1<V million workers to the list we have
given, or say a total of 5,000,000 persons employed,
or supported, which would represent a population
of 10,000,000 people, or one-third of the entin-
population of the United Kingdom.

* The question is sometimes asked, If people give up drinkinp, What
is to become of the revenue ? The problem to solve is, — given a Baring
of £200,000,000 wherewith to pay £25,000,000. Any schoolboy would
be able to see that one year's cost of drink, will pay the revenue
derived therefrom for eight years, even granting tbat the ubole
£25,000,000 would be lost to the revenue Suoh, however, would aol be
the case. It would be lost to tho excise department, bat it would, to
a great extent, be made up by the increase in the inoome and propertj
taxes. It would also be made up in another way, by a redaction in tin-
National expenditure, for a sober people, would not tolerate the lavish
expenditure which has characterized our exchequer.

12G On the Rigid

.hap. vii. I will, however, assume that only 3,000,000
persons are thus employed. These would represent
0,000,000 of a population, who would be supported
if the £200,000,000 which it now costs this
country through intoxicating liquors, were properly
expended.

Let us look at the other side.

As we have seen, there are 98,009 publicans and

employed 52,590 beer sellers, or a total of 150,599 persons

spent"!?/ who are employed in selling liquors, besides a
number of others on a smaller scale. If we add
these together, and also include those who are
engaged in malting, brewing, &c. , we shall probably
have — say 100,000 more, or 250,000 in all If we
add another 150,000 as servants, we shall, taking
an extreme estimate, raise the total of persons em-
ployed in one way or another — say to 400,000,
which would represent a population of 800,000.

a contrast. Let us contrast the result arising from these
two expenditures. In one case the £200,000,000
would give employment to 3,000,000 people ; in
the other to 400,000.*

* It has been said, in objection to the argument in reference to the
small number of men employed in the liquor manufacture, that, in a bad
business, the fewer the men employed the better. Everything else being
the same, this would be logical, — that is, if man for man, the same evil
resulted when 200,000 men are employed as when 100,000 are employed,
then there would be, as a consequence, double the evil ; but, if, from the
labour of the 200,000 there only resulted the same evil as from the
100,000, then the argument falls to the groivnd, whilst the employment
of 100,000 men extra would be a good, inasmuch as it would decrease
the list of the unemployed. It would simply be appropriating so much
more of the money in payment for labour, instead of paying for grain
destroyed, &c. ! This, whilst it would not increase the evil of intern-

Expenditure of Money. 127

The entire manual labour, or industrial classes, cmr. m.
in the United Kingdom amount to about 12,000,000 No. of
of our population, of whom 400,000, as we have
seen, are directly or indirectly employed by the e
liquor traffic. Supposing this to be correct, the
two cases will stand thus :

The income of the United Kingdom, when ex-
pended in such a manner as to include the present
drink bill, will give employment to 12,000,000
people, of whom 400,000 are engaged in destruc-
tive labour.

If this income were properly invested, so as to
exclude the expenditure upon intoxicating liquors,
it would give employment to 15,000,000 persons,
who would be engaged, not in destructive, but in
productive labour.

In the case where the drink bill forms part of
our expenditure, we employ nearly 3,000,000
fewer labourers, whilst of those who are employed,
400,000 are engaged in destroying what is [pro-
duced by the other 12,000,000; for they destroy
such a quantity of grain yearly as would make
bread equal to 1,000,000,000 4lb. loaves.

But it is not in loss of work, or in distinction of Mora
grain merely, that we suffer through intemperance. Jy*''„ ';";!
There are other evils even more terrible than thes .
The loss of material wealth is deplorable, especially

perance, would decrease the number of paupers to the extent of the
additional number of men who might bo so employed. It would therefore
work good in two ways, 1st, in saving the grain, and '2nd, in finding
more work for our unemployed population.

128

On the Right

Criminals.

when it floods a country with destitution and
suffering ; but the loss of intelligence, and virtue,
and morality , is infinitely more deplorable. The use
of intoxicating liquors is the most prolific cause of
moral degradation, ignorance, intemperance, crime,
lunacy, loss of life, and, indeed, of all the social
evils which so appal the heart of the philanthropic
statesman, or of the Christian worker.

To tabulate a few of its evil results. It may be
asserted that —

It is the cause of 100,000 out of the 140,000
criminals who are constantly incarcerated in our
gaols.

It supplies society with a great proportion of
Tkieves,<L-c. the 54,249 known thieves, depredators, receivers
of stolen goods, &c, and possibly with as many
more that are unknown.
Vagrants. ^ also supplies a vagrant and vagabond popu-
lation of at least 250,000.

Assuming that on an average there are four
Drunkards habitual, or occasional drunkards connected with
each public-house, it gives us a total of GO 0,000
drunkards ; all of whom render their homes un-
happy, whilst many of them entail upon their
families — embracing innocent and helpless chil-
dren — the most dreadful miseries.

It necessitates the employment of 20,000 out of
the 25,000 policemen required to preserve the
peace.

It leads to most of the accidents and crimes
which occasion the 25,000 inquests which are held

Policemen.

Expendit lire of Money. ] 2 9

annually, and it cuts short the lives of multitudes chap. vn.
of others, many of them innocent children, bo as /
to involve the untimely deaths of at least 50,00<>
or 60,000 persons yearly. deatht -

This picture is one that it is sad to contem-
plate, and yet it gives but an imperfect idea of
the demoralization and misery constantly created
in this country through drinking; and yet, we pride
ourselves upon being the most enlightened and
religious people in the world. What our country WhatiU

• i , i '. n t • i ., ,' banithment

might become were it not tor drink it is impossible of drink

to forecast; but, to quote the language of a dis-
tinguished living statesman, "it would be so

it ii m n ' l,lt

changed, and so changed t<>r the better, that it //• ■■■■■

lit'
would be almost impossible to know it again. "* ion.

If we consider the subject in relation to its

influence upon the future, its importance cannot

be over-rated. Let the reader imagine the contrast

in twenty years time, between 3,000,000 of people

* " If we could subtract from tin rty, the Buffi

tlio sickness, and the crime which arc now witnessed am . the

ignorance, the poverty, the suffi ind the crime which

are caused by one single, but the most prevalent, habit <ir vice of drink
needlessly, which destroys the body, and mind, and home, and family ; do
wo not all feel that this country would be bo changed, and bo ohang< d f"r
the better, that it would be almost Lmpoi [hie for as to know it again " 1 el
me, then, in conclusion, say what it is upon my heart to say, what I
know to be true, what I have felt every hour of my life when I ha
been discus ing great que I condition of the work

classes, — let me say this to all the people, thai it is by the combination
of a wise government and a virtuouB people, and cot otherwise — mark
that — that we may hope to make bo] that 1 ed time when

there shall be 'no complaining in our streets,' and when 'o tu
may be full, affording all manner of Btore.'" - Speeoh <>f the Right Hun.
John Bright, at Birmingham, January, L870.

130 On the Riyht Expenditure of Money.

chap. vn. being employed in productive labour, filling the
The in- land with wealth, comfort, and happiness, and
thaelnihe 400,000 engaged in destructive labour, destroy-

e o 'n't 'Ztted. m S no ^ oll ty the f° 0( l anc ^ other material wealth
created by the industry of others, but also de-
stroying the people themselves, both physically
and morally. In one case there would be a per-
petual and rapid accumulation of material, moral
and intellectual, as well as physical wealth to such
an extent as to increase enormously our entire
national property; and what would be of far more
importance than this, we should be rid of most of
the evils we so much deplore, and in their place
would be substituted virtue, intelligence, and all
the other social blessings that are so much to be
desired.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE REMEDY.

Notwithstanding the enormous wealth we chap.vih.
possess, and the exceptional facilities we enjoy
for increasing that wealth, it is a sorrowful hut
undeniable fact, that about one out of every ten of ou r /
entire population, or one-fifth of the indi ist rial classes /■
of our country, become, during the course of ayear, ■
chargeable to the community as paupers, there are
many others, who, whilst they do not become
chargeable to the public, become chargeable fco
their relatives and friends, whilst others, too high
minded to trouble either their friends or the
public, struggle on in poverty and suffering, un-
aided by others, and unable to help themselv<
simply for the reason that they cannot get employ-
ment whereby to earn the means of subsistence.

Such a state of things is most deplorable, and
has tiat orally caused the deepest concern in the
minds of our philanthropists and statesmen.

During the last three or four years, many meet-
ings and conferences have been held for the pur- I:ii , !eiliil!
pose of devising some plan, whereby their evils
might be mitigated. So great had the destitution
become, especially in the east end of London, that

132 The Remedy.

cHAP.vm. on the 17th of June, 1870, Mr. Torrens, Member
for Finsbury, brought tbe question before t In-
House of Commons, by moving the following
resolution : —

" That the continued want of employment

Mr. Tor- am on£st those who lived by wa^ed labour, in

ren s reso- ° J °

luUon in many of the great towns of the kingdom calls for
menu the special consideration of this House, with a
view to the means that may best be devised for
the remedy of the same without delay."

Mr. Torrens, in addressing the House, went on
to urc;e, that " means should be devised to facili-

Emigra- ° . . „

tion recom- tate the emigration of those who were now
destitute by no fault of their own, but solely
because there was no employment for them."

At most of the meetings or conferences which
have been held, emigration has generally been
suggested as the remedy whereby these evils are
to be rectified.

In what way is it thought that emigration will
prove a remedy for the evils referred to ?

The idea generally entertained, and the wish of
intelligent persons who advocate it, is that emi-
oijcct of grants who leave our shores should go to Australia
or some other colony or country, where land is plen-
tiful and cheap, and grow corn or cotton to be
shipped to us, and, in return for these products, take
back our manufactures.

There would be some plausibility in advocating
emigration of this kind, if the intended emigrants
who were out of employment, were Dorsetshire or

< migration.

The Remedy. 133

Wiltshire labourers, who, when engaged in work,
earn only their 8s. per week; but when the per-
sons out of employment are our skilled artisans, the
remedy is altogether inapplicable.

It should be borne in mind that the artisan
population of our large towns, and in the country
generally, are entirely ignorant of agriculture. -'

<= J ' J o o „,., totally

What are these to do, when they get out in the
back settlements of our colonies ? [gni >rant < >f farm
duties, and isolated from any society where they
could secure instruction or help, they would be
totally incapable of makin g (lair way. It would
be as reasonable to send the agricultural labour*
of Dorsetshire to establish some colonial manufac-
tory, as it would be to send the artisan population
of our large towns, to break up and cultivate the
unoccupied lands of our colonies. If, therefore, 7

•T ' artisans.

our artisans emigrate they must emigrate as
artisans, and not as farmers, and seek employment
at their own trades in the countries to which they
go. What would be the influence of this I

1st. It would take from our country a portion .
of our skilled population — those who produce the '

... producers.

wealth — and transport them with their skill and
energy, and wealth-creating powers, to Labour for
other countries.

2nd. It would establish in other Lands, manufac-
tories superintended by workmen who have be< d '
trained by ourselves, and who possess all the skill Muta
that we do, but who, when they emigrate, are re-
lieved from the heavy taxation which pn sea upon

1 3 I The Remedy.

rnu'.viiT. us, and wvo. \ hen 'fore ] i];in •<!, in lliis respect, in more
favourable circumstances t ban ourselves for compet-
ing: in the markets of the world.

These people, 1 lierefore, if sent into other countries
would become competitors of ours, and rob us of
our trade.

na/vn,,!,! 3 rc L The fact, too, should not be forgotten, that

cease to pay , '-

taxes at ' Avhen our artisans are sent away they not only cease
to create wealth for us, but they also cease to pay
taxes ; their share of the country's burdens, there-
fore, Mis upon those who are left behind, upon
whom taxation must fall in a correspondingly
increased degree. And though, perhaps, if it were
a matter of necessity, it woidd be better for us to
let them go, and pay their share of the country's
taxation, rather than pay the taxes and keep the
men as well ; yet, inasmuch as the destitution is
the result of our misconduct, the proper way to
act is, to correct our own folly, and then there
would be full employment for them at home.

If, as has been shown in the previous chapters,
the industrial classes of our country are those who

wealth-pro- create the country s wealth, it must follow, as a

ducers go, . i , . . . . i

our wealth consequence, that in proportion as these are sent
aZlt' ou ^ °f the country so will decrease its wealth-pro-
ducing powers.

But, then, it is said : What must be done ! Our
people are starving for want of employment, and
we must either support them at home or ship
them to countries where they can support them-
selves.

The Remedy. 135

If emigration would, in this respect, do every- chap. nn.
thing that its most sanguine advocates desire, U i
is a remedy which should be adopted only as a
resource. If however, as I have shown, emigration r
under present circumstances would fail to remedy
the evil, and would moreover be prejudicial to the
interests of the country, its adoption becom-
entirely out of the question.

The attention of our rulers, and of our philan-
thropists should be directed, not to searching for '' •'"•/""•
some foreign country where our people may be
shipped off to find employment, and earn a com-
fortable and honest living ; but to trying to make
our own land such, as that the industry of the
honest artisan may meet with its reward.

In what way is this desirable result to be
obtained ?

It has been clearly shown in the foregoing
chapters, that the enormous amount of money
which is expended upon intoxicating liquors by ,,
the people of this country, is the main cause of J
pauperism and destitution, and that if this money
were properly applied it would give employment
to 3,000,000 more pei>i>li- than are now employed,
and, therefore, the caust« of our destitution, as \\<11
as the remedy for the same, lies within ourselvi .

The problem therefore to solve is, aot, how Bhall
our artisans and our labouring classes be transported
into other countries, so that employment may be
found them, and they may escape from the de-
moralization and destitution which K-falls them in

13G The Remedy.

oHAP.vm. tliis country, but, how shall the influences which
demoralize and impoverish them here be removed.
nermedy If in the city of Manchester, in consequence of

lUustraUd, . a

imperfect drainage or sewage, or from any oth'-r
cause, the people were subjected to fever and
pestilence, the duty of the authorities would be,
not to send the citizens away, but to investigate
the causes of the fever, and remove them as speedily
as possible.

So, in reference to the pauperism and the other
evils of the country, it is the business of those who
are in authority, not to transport the people to
other lands, away from the causes which impoverish
them, but to investigate the causes which reduce
our people to poverty ; for if they emigrate, and
the causes which have impoverished those who
thus emigrate, be permitted to continue to operate,
those who are left behind will, by and bye, fall
victims to the same influences.

The question, therefore, to be settled is, How
shall these habits of intemperance be corrected ?
The answer is, by removing the causes which
occasion them. What are those causes ?

Whatever may be the opinion of individuals in
reference to the question of total abstinence, there
is but one opinion as to drunkenness. All alike
Universal condemn it as being hurtful to the health, to the
lion o/ na pocket, to the character, and to the happiness not
only of the individual, who may be addicted to
it, but to all who may in an)- way be connected
with him ; and yet, notwithstanding this universal

drunken-
ness.

The Remedy. 137

condemnation of drunkenness, it is estimated chap.
that there are not less than 600,000 habitual
drunkards in the United Kingdom all of whom
(or with very few exceptions) acknowledge, and
mourn their folly, and repeatedly vow that they
will cease to act the drunkard's part, and become
wiser and better men.

How comes it r that these good resolves are so
seldom carried into effect? How is it that, despite
their convictions, despite their resolves, despite
the admonition of friends, and the entreaties of j
their families, such vast numbers of our population S^i
go on in habits that involve them in misery, and M
lead them to rum < lo ask the question is to n
answer it ; every one knows that it is owing to the
numerous and powerful temptations of the public-
house and the beershops which beset their path.

It has been shown in a previous chapter, thai in
the United Kingdom, to a population of 30,838,210 ■"
persons, there are 150,59'J public-houses and beer-

11' r\ 1 ''""

shops, bemg one to every 40 houses, or t<> every i
204 of the population ; in addition to which there
are 35,497 wine sellers, spirit dealers, A:*'.

The point I wish the reader to note in reference
to these figures is, the enormous number of the
houses in proportion to the population.

Why is it that such an enormous number of
persons are licensed to soil intoxicating drinks ? Is
it in order to provide a ready and sure way for the
.destruction of wealth? Is it in order thai the
people may become drunken and degraded ! There

138

The Remedy.

To license
a public
house is to
license

drunken-
ness.

What the
licensing
system is.

is no one, qo matter how zealously he mighl advo-
cate the granting of licenses, who would not repel
with scorn such an Insinuation ; but then there is
such an enormous number, that it is impossible for
them to exist, except by I he intemperance of the
people ; and, therefore, to what else docs such a
wholesale establishment of public-houses amount tot

I know that those who advocate the granting of
licences, generally do so under the plea of " meet-
ing the requirements of the neighbourhood" —
" providing the working man with his beer, &c."
Originally, on the first establishment of public-
houses, such a plea might have been a justification ;
but when the sad experience of hundreds of years
has established the fact that so sure as a public-
house is licensed, so sure is there drunkenness and
all its attendant evils ; under such circumstances,
the licensing of a house is equivalent to licensing
the resulting evils, and those who do it incur the
guilt, and are responsible for the consequences.

The licensing system, as it at present exists,
has been prostituted, until it has become nothing
more than a huge legalised machinery whereby
wealthy Brewers, Distillers, and Publicans may,
not, supply the supposed wants of the public, but,
sell as much of their beer as possible. It is an
arrangement whereby these men are enabled to
destroy the food of the people, filch from them
their earnings, convert them into besotted drunk-
ards, and very frequently also into paupers and
criminals, who ultimately have to be maintained

The Remedy.

130

cmr. virr.

in propor-

or punished at. the expense of the ratepayers.
Surely! an enlightened nation will cease to bole-
rate this.

It is the testimony of universal experience, that
in proportion as facilities forthe sale of intoxicating
drinks are multiplied, so will be the increase of '
drunkenness. I mijHit fill volumes with evidence &<"&&
to prove this, but I will only refer to a report of
the Committee of the Convocation* of the Province
of Canterbury, t recently issued.

On the 14th of June, 18G0, a committee of the
Lower House of Convocation for the Province theammU-
of Canterbury issued a voluminous report, which
was printed by order of the House, containing the
results of most extensive inquiries from the ( lergy '
of the Provinces, and also from Recorders, Governors

* The Province of Canterbury comprises the following 32 r
counties, and North and South Wales, with a population of 1 1,071,164 :
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge I ornwall,

Derbyshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire,
Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Cent, Leici tershire,
Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire,
Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk,
Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire.

t The following wore the Members
The Prolocutor
Dean of Canterbury,
,, Chiohe ter,
,, Westminster.
Archdeacon of < loventry,
Ely,
,, Exet< r,

,, Leici

,, Nottingham,

„ Salop.

of the Committee : —
Canon Aj

Cams,
„ Gillett,
,, Harrey,
,, Oxenden,

„ w i,

,, Dr. Fraser.
I'lrln ii.l.ny i tibbs,
,, Kemp.

Arclnleaoon of Coventry , Chairman.

140 The Remedy.

cHAP.vm. and Chaplains of Gaols, Chief Constables, Superin-
tendents of Police, Coroners, Governors <>f* Work-
houses, Lunatic Asylums, &c, throughout England,
asking their opinions as to the causes of, and the
remedies for, intemperance. In their report they
say — " It also appears an unquestionable fact that,
in proportion as facilities in any shape for procuring
intoxicating liquors are countenanced and afforded,
the vice of intemperance, and its dismal effects, are
everywhere increased. This conclusion, the evidence
before your committee amply confirms."

In corroboration of this statement, the committee

Number of have published 2,283 returns, received from all parts

''■'"'."* of the country, the facts of which fully confirm the
conclusions of the report ; and I would urge the
reader, if he does not agree with the conclusion of
the committee, to get the said report, and examine
the evidence upon which its conclusions are
based. If he does, all his doubts will be dis-
pelled.

Suggestions In their report the Committee suggest a number

of the r _ . , p °°

committee, of remedies lor the removal ol intemperance.

Amongst others are the following : —
Repeal of 1. The repeal of the Beer Act of 1830, and the
Act. '" total suppression of beerhouses throughout

the country.
m . 2. The closing of public-houses on the Lord's

Day, except for the accommodation of bona

8 on

Sundays. fide travellers.

4. A great reduction in the number of public-
houses throughout the kingdom, it being in

The Remedy. 141

evidence that the number already licenf d
far exceeds the real demand, and that in
proportion as facilities for drinking are re-
duced, intemperance, with its manifold evils,
is restrained.

G. The rigid enforcement of the penalties now
attached to drunkenness, both on the actual ]
offenders and on licensed persons who allow '"
drunkenness to occur on their premises.

The eleventh recommendation, which is the 1
is a very important one, it is as follows : —

11. Your Committee, in conclusion, are of opi- n-
nion that as the ancient and avowed objed
of licensing the sale of intoxicating liquors
is to supply a supposed public want, with-
out detriment to the public welfare, a leg
power of restraining the issue or renewal
of licenses should be placed in the hands
of the persons most deeply interested and
affected, namely, the inhabitants them-
selves — who are entitled to protection from
the injurious consequences of the pi
system. Such a power would, in effect,
secure to the districts, willing to <
it, the advantages now enjoyed by the
numerous parishes in the province of Canter-
bury, where, according to reports furnished
to your committee, owing to the influence
of the landowner, no sale of intoxicating
liquors is licensed.
The report concludes as follows:- "Few, it

CHAP. Vin.

Legislature

142 The Remedy.

may be believed, are cognizant of the fact — which

has been elicited by the present inquiry — that there

are at this time, within the province of Canterbury,

Remits fa. upwards of one thousand parishes in which there

aUeMeof 1S neither public-house nor beershop ; and where,

public j n consequence of the absence of these inducements

nouses in -i

1000 to crime and pauperism, according to the evidence

'parishes. x L , . • !~

before the committee, the intelligence, morality,
and comfort of the people are such as the friends
of temperance would have anticipated. "

The five recommendations given above comprise
Duty of the the reforms which are needed in order to banish
the evils of intemperance. The duty of the Legis-
lature, therefore, is —

1. To repeal the Beer Act of 1830, and abolish
beerhouses throughout the country.

2. Close all public-houses on the Lord's Day.

3. Reduce the number, to such a proportion of
the population, say one public-house to
2,500 inhabitants — so that it shall not be
necessary, as it is at present, in order that
public-houses pay, that there shall be a
drunken population.

4. Rigidly enforce the penalties now attached
to drunkenness, &c, both against the buyer
and the seller, and then

5. As the Convocation Report says, " It being
the ancient and avowed object of the licens-
ing the sale of intoxicating liquors, to supply
a supposed public want, without detriment
to the public welfare," let the inhabitants

The Remedy. 143

in each parish or township, where they lUAr . vm
think it may promote the public weal, be ' '
empowered to prevent altogether the issue
of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liqui >rs
in their locality.
I am aware that there are individuals who
object to the closing of public-houses,* as being an R
interference with the rights of the publican and '/
the liberty of the subject. There are two classes
of rights, moral rights and legal rights ; the former
are common to all, the latter are granted by the
law to serve the interests of the community, [f
the publican has a moral right to sell, so has every
citizen of the state. If it be a right created by
law in order to restrain an evil, the whole ar&ru-
ment is granted ; for the restraint may be, and
ought to be, exercised to the extent needed to
deal with the evil, otherwise it ought not to be
applied at all.

Perhaps it will be said, that in such a case
there must be a choice of evils; thai though the
existence of public-houses may be an evil, \. t to
close them altogether would be a greater evil : PuWfc
suppose this were granted, who is to judge as to
the measure of the evil? It is professedly for the ;
people's good that these places are established,
and, therefore, they ought to be the judges. There

* In speaking ol tho plowing ot publio-honsee, the reader will |
bear in mind, that the reference is only to olo ting thi m a plaoea far the
sale of intoxicating liquors. Tiny might still oontinne to 1"' pnblie-

houses in the proper sense of the term — thut is, victualling hOQA ,
instead of tippling houses.

144 Tli e Remedy.

cnvr. vin. is never an evil hut there are parties interested
in its perpetuation. If ;i portion only of 1 lie
community are made into the judges, they might
be swayed by interest, as is now too commonly the
case ; but when the people decide, conflicting
interests check one another ; besides, in a free
country why should one class presume to decide
for another ; let the people decide by a direct
vote. If they believe public-houses to be more
of good than harm, then they will allow them to
The people go on ; but, if they believe them to do more harm
therefore than good, they will then vote for their being
closed altogether, a more equitable plan could
not be devised.

It is argued by some, that the proper remedy
for the evils of intemperance is, to reduce the
number of public-houses to such proportion, and
apply such a strict supervision over them as to
strip them of their evil influences ; and yet, that
those who wish to obtain their glass of beer, may
not have their liberty in this respect interfered
with.

For 400 years, our legislators have been trying to
accomplish this result, but to day the evils are as
many, and as lamentable, if not more so, than
ever.

It must not be overlooked by those who argue
thus, that it is a very easy matter for people who
wish, to brew their own beer at home, and there-
fore, if public-houses were closed, they might get
what they desired — at half the price, freer from

The Remedy. 1 \r,

adulteration, and away from the temptations and ^•'en-
dangers incident to the public-house.

The problem, for those who plead for public-
houses to solve, is, given — a seductive liquor, a
publican interested in pushing its sale, and the
temptation of company to aid him. How shall
these powerful influences for evil be concentrated
in a public-house, and society be saved from the
resulting evils.

But even, if by vigilant oversight, public-houses
might be so kept in bounds, as that there woidd
be few, if any, resulting evils, the ratepayers even
then might very properly ask themselves the
question, is the slight supposed convenience which
is obtained from licensing these houses, worth the
amount of labour, cost, and danger incurred to
keep them right? if not, then to continue their
existence is to choose the greater of two evils,
which is opposed to every principle, both of com-
mon sense, and right, and therefore they ought
to be prohibited.

There are individuals who hold the opinion that ,.,

1 Education

the spre; id of education will ultimately be effectual «*um««ty
in removing the evil of intemperance. This
opinion, however, is entirely opposed to the ex-
perience of mankind in all ages, and in all count ties.
Education will, doubtless, have its influence; but
that influence must be to teach people to respect
themselves, and to avoid the cause of intemperance;
otherwise it will be- ineffectual. But, if education
coidd be shown to be a perfect cure, why should a

The Remedy.

CITAl'. VIII.

Folly of
creating
i nils

against

which ax
have to

labour.

Mission of

Govern

ment.-

State license a system so fraught with evil, and
then have to waste its energies in educating the
people to contend against it. At the present time
four-fifths of the educational moral power of the
country is lost in contending against evils that ;ire
self-created. Why should it be so ? If it could
be shown that in the end we should be successful,
though this in the nature of things is impossible, for
it is not possible for a nation to be so vicious as to
flood the land with besetments to evil, and yet be
virtuous enough to withstand them. The virtue that
will withstand the evils will put them away ; but
if it could be shown that education under such cir-
cumstances would be successful, why should we
create these antagonistic influences to paralyze and
stultify our labours for good. To quote again the
words of Mr. Gladstone, "Government ought to
make it easy to do right and difficult to do wrong."
At present it is the opposite of this, for it lends
its authority and co-operation to a system whose
influence is to beset every effort for good, to rob
the people of their hard earnings, to waste the
nation's wealth, and to bring demoralization, miser} 7 ,
and ruin upon the people themselves.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX A.

The returns of malt and sugar used in the following calcu-
lations will be found upon the last page but one of the Trade
and Navigation Returns for December 31st in each year. The
returns of British spirits will be found upon the sa
The quantity of wine and foreign and colonial spirits for each
year are taken from the Statistical Abstract for L870, page 71.
The British wines, cider, perry, &c., are estimated, as they
are not given in any return.

TABLES OF THE QUANTITIES AND COST OF INTOXICATING
LIQUORS USED DURING EACH OF THE FOUR YLAKS
ENDING 1SC1.

1858.

British Spirits

Foreign and Colonial

Spirits

Wine

Beer (Malt),

40,375,115 bush..
British Wines, Cider,

Perry, &c

Gallons.

23,212,612 (2 20 -

4,582,313 „ 21

6,268,685 „ 21/-

72G,752,070 „ 1 G

12,500,000 „ 2/-

23,212

5,498,775
6,582,119

54,506,405

1,250,000

773,315,680 gallons ' £91,048

150

Appendix.

British Spirits

Foreign and Colonial

Spirits

Wine

Beer (Malt),

42,759,0ii5 bush...

British Wines, Cider,

Perry, &c

British Spirits

Foreign and Colonial

Spirits

Wine

Beer (Malt),

37,453,907 bush...
British Wines, Cider,

Perry, &c

British Spirits

Foreign and Colonial

Spirits

Wine

Beer (Malt),

43,065,088 bush...
British Wines, Cider,

Perry, &c

1859.

Gallons.

23,878,688 @ 20/-

4,932,648 „ 24/-

6,775,992 „ 21/-

769,663,170 „ 1/6

12,500,000 „ 2/-

817,750,498 gallons

23,87-

5,919.177
7,114,791

57,724,737

1,250,000

£95,887,393

1860.

Gallons.
21,404,088 @ 20/-

£
21,404,088

5,521,923 „ 24 '-
6,718,585 „ 21/-

6,626,307
7,054,514

674,170,326 „ 1/6

50,562,774

12,500,000 „ 2 -

1,250,000

720,314,922 gallons.

£86,897,683

1861.

Gallons.
19,698,792 @ 20/-

5,193,070 „ 24'-
10,693,071 „ 18/-*

775,171,584 „ 1/6

12,500,000 „ 2 -

823,256,517 gallons.

£
19,698,792

6,231,684
9,623,763

58,137,868

1,250,000

£94,942,107

* In 1S60 the duty on wine was reduced about 3s. 2d. per gallon on the average.

Appendix.

151

[MART.

1858

1859

1860
18G1

Quantity used.

Gallons.
773,315,680
817,750,498
720,3] t,922
823,256,517

3,134,637,617

Annual average 783,659,404

91,049,91 1
95,88'
86,89"!
94,945

$,777,094

£92,194,273

APPENDIX B.

TABLES OF THE QUANTITIES AND COST OF INTOXICATING
LIQUORS USED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM D1 B
EACH OF THE FOUR YEARS ENDING !-■

1866.

British Spirits

Foreign ami Colonial Spirits

W'iin'

Beer

Sugar used va\

brew ing
1 15, f -"'7 cwt., I
equivalent to Bushels.
620,528fbua. 50,838,356i
Mall used in

brewing
50,217,828 Ik,
British Wines, cider,

Terry, &C

< rations.

22,516,336 (■• 20/

7,797,470 .. '-'!

13,24 t,864 .. L8

915,090,415 .. 1 6

15,000,1 .. 2

22,51
11,92

11,781

», I

973,649,085 galls. £1 l

152

Appendix.

1807.

Gallons.

British Spirits

8,339,155 „ 24/-

13,673,793 „ 18/-

21,589,969
10,006,986

12,300,413

Foreign and ( 'ulonial Spirits
Wine.

Boor

Sugar used in 1

brewing

381,930 cwt.,

equivalent to

Bushels.
y 47,939,925

1,629,568 bs.
Malt used in

862,918,650 „ 1/6-

64,718,898

brewing

40,310,357 b.J
British Wines

Cider,

Berry, &c.

15,000,000 „ 2/-

1,500,000

921,521,507 galls.

£110,122,200

1808.

British Spirits

Foreign and Colonial Spirits

Wine

Beer

Sugar used ^
in brewing
351,742cwt

equivalent to . Bushels.
1,500,765^| [49,619,798^1
Malt used in

brewing
48, 11 9,033 bj
British Wines, Cider,
Perry, &c .*

Gallons.
21,341,449 @20/

8,398,817 „ 24 -
15,004,575 „ 18/

893,156,379| @ 1/6

15,000,000 „ 2/-

952,901,220;) galls.

21,341,449
10,078,580

13,558,117

00,980,728

1,500,000

£113,404.-7;

Appendix.
1809.

153

British Spirits
Foreign and C
Wine ,.

Gallons.

21,941,779 @ 20/-

8,172,845 „ 24/-

14,734,534 „ 18/-

.£
21,941,779
9,807,41 1
• 13,261,080

olonial Spirits

Beer

Sugar used in N

brewing
342,078 cwt.,
equivalent to
1,402,092 H).
Malt used in

brewing
47,704,819 b. ,
British Wines

Perry, &c.

Bushels.
h 49,100,911-i

, ( 'ider,

885,004,412;® 1/0
15,000,000 „ L'

00,375,330
1,500,000

944,853,570| galls.

£112,885,603

SUMMARY.

1866

1867
1868

1809

Annual \
Average 1

Quantity used. Cost.

( iallona

973,049,1 is:,

921,521,567

952,961,2201

944,853,570|

£
113,925,458
110,122,266
113,464,874
1 12,885,603

3,792,985,443 galls.

£450,398,20]

948,240,300

£112,599,550

The items which form the basis of the preceding calculations,
as to the quantity and cosl of intoxicating Liquors consumed ia
the United Kingdom, an taken from returns issued by
Government.

In the case of brer, the returns arc n<>t given SS beer, but as
wait and sugar from which the quantity of beer has to bo

154 Appendix.

calculated. The Excise estimate is, that 2 bushels of mall will
make 1 barrel or 36 gallons of beer, and thai 2101bs. of
sugar will make as much beer ^ * bushels of malt; and
therefore in tin' preceding' calculations the sugar has been
converted intuits equivalent in malt, and added to the malt.
The calculation then becomes sini]>lv a mutter of proportion,
thus: — If 2 bushels of malt will give 36 gallons of beer, what
will the total number of bushels give 1 During the four
ending 1861, a comparatively small annual amount of
■was used in brewing, but in each of the four years ending 1869
it was extensively used. To make clear these remarks, I will
take the figures for the year 1869 as an illustration. That year
there was 342,678 cwt. of sugar and 47,70-4,819 bushels of malt
used in brewing. If the 342,678 cwt. of sugar be reduced into
lbs., and then divided by 210 and multiplied by 8, it will give
1,462,0924 bushels, the number of bushels which 342,678 cwt.
of sugar is equivalent to. Adding this to the 47,704,819 bushels
of malt, it gives 49,166,911i bushels. If this be multiplied by
36 (the number of gallons in a barrel) and divided by 2 (the
number of bushels of malt which will make a barrel of beer), it
gives the total number of gallons of beer which these bushels
will make, amounting to 885,004,4125. At 4£d. per quart (my
estimate of the average retail selling price), it gives £66,375,330
as expended upon beer alone in 1869.

The reader will bear in mind that the preceding tables are all
based upon the supposition that intoxicating drinks are all free
from adulteration or dilution, and that there is never any illicit
manufacturing takes place. They assume that all the beer is
made from malt and hops or sugar, and that all the wine is the
juice of the grape, and that the spirits are the product of dis-
tillation. It is, however, a notorious fact, that beer is very much
adulterated,* and that the adulteration of w T ines and spirits is

* Mr. Phillips, principal of the Laboratory of the Analytical Department for the
Inland Revenue, reports as follows :— " During the last financial year 86 samples of
beer and materials found in the possession of licensed brewers have been analysed,
and of these 20 were found to be illicit ; the prohibited ingredients being, in 14
samples, grains of paradise ; one of these samples containing, in addition, tobacco :
in two others cocculus indicus was present in large and dangerous quantities; two
samples contained capsicum ; and the remaining two proto-sulphate of iron. Generally

Appendix.

1 ~> 5

carried on to as great extent as that of beer. If, theref
fair allowance were made for this adulteration, it would very
much increase the amount of the estimates I have given.

The estimates here given as to the cost of intoxicating liquors
used, are higher than those given in the author's pamphl
the "Depression in the Cotton Trade;" but having given a
much fuller examination to the subject since the publication of
thai pamphlet, the author is convinced thai the calculations
there given are below the mark. On this point then' may be
differences of opinion, but whether the same be more or Less does
not affect the argument at all.

In the "British Almanack" for 1870 there is an article on
self-imposed taxation, by Samuel Smiles, in which he gives the
expenditure upon intoxicating drinks in the United Kingdom
during 1SGS as follows : —

Home and Foreign
Spirits

Beer

Wines

Cider, Perry, and
British Wines, say

Gallons.

29,418,535

749,983,824

15,151,741

43,749,056
12,987,927

1,500,000

£88,805,215

tho prohibited materials nmployedin the adulteration of beer are not lnjurionato
health, the object "f the fraudulent brewers or retail n rmore toil

tho bulk of then (roods than to render the beer stuplfying by theadditi i
materials. Still, he says, there can be littledoubt I Uce "f adull

beer withpoisonous matters, bui b tnd «-."->-iiius Indlcus, is more i"

than might be inferred from the small number of detections made, ^ the fraud is
difficult to discover unless the offender l"' caught In the act "f committing it.
Considering, therefore, this circumstance, io. t the abominable oharaotei ■
Mr. Phillips is of opinion that it would be on] ommunity \« make public

thenami of those perso Icted of : v > i • 1 1 1 > ,■• sculua lndicus or other del*

■ubstani brewed for sale; and he f(

Instances of the use of the dangerous drug in question occurred In the oelghbourhoo I

of Wixksworth, in Derbyshire, and that many of the di te ot f o ns of ti ■

of paradise were also made in the same distrlot B« states also that the ezp

cf many years had led him to the oonoluslon that the adulteration -f In< r witl

btngulshed from the mere dilution or Increasing uf the bulk of I
more prevalent in the Midland oountti .. i. I 1 rkshlre than in

any other part of tho kingdom."— R'i'ort oj InUmJ fl

15G Ajipendix.

The above estimate is upwards of £24,000,000 less than tho
one I give. From whence arisoa the difference, and which esti-
mate is correct 1

In the items of spirits and wines there is very little difference
between the calculations of Mr. Smiles and my own. In spirits
the quantity Mr. Smiles gives is less than in the table I have
given. The difference probably arises from the fact, that ho
gives his figures from the Inland Revenue Returns, which arc
made up to March 31st, while mine are given from the Trade
and Navigation Roturns, which are made up to the 31st of
December.

The main discrepancy is in the item of beer. Mr. Smile3
estimates 3\ barrels of beer to 8 bushels of malt, whereas I take
the Excise estimate of 4 barrels to 8 bushels. Mr. Smiles
estimates the beer at 3|d. per quart; my estimate is 4^d. He
himself, speaking of his estimate, says, " It will probably be
admitted that this estimate is very considerably within the
probable expenditure." The selling price of beer ranges from
4d. to 8d. per quart,* and therefore 4 id. appears to me to be a
very moderate estimate, especially if we take into consideration
the fact, that no allowance is made for adulteration. I think
5d. would be about the average selliug price, but I have taken
4|d. in order to be within the mark.

• It is said to be customary for some of the London publicans to sell beer at 3d.
and 3\d. per quart. They are enabled to do this by the extensive dilution they
practise. In the Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue
for 1S65, Jlr. Phillips, the principal of the Laboratory, remarks :— " Thus, the most
usual mode of adulterating beer, and one which there are good grounds for believing
is very generally praotised by the publicans of London, is to add water to the
beverage, the injury to the fullness or ' body' of the article arising from this dilution
being repaid by the introduction of sugar, treacle, &c."

Appendix. 157

APPENDIX C.

The reader who has read the pamphlet published by the writer,
on "The Depression in the Cotton Trade," will observe that
there is a small variation in the figures given in this treatise, as
compared with those given in the pamphlet referred to. The
amount expended in intoxicating liquors is here put down as
greater — which, as has been explained, arises from taking higher
estimates as to the selling prices of liquor. It will be observed

also, that the value of the home consumption of cotton g Is

is estimated at a higher figure. The calculation was originally
made out, as a comparison between the cotton goods exported
and the cotton goods used at home, and was based (correctly
enough) upon the cotton consumed for each ; but, in estimating
the values, the calculation was based upon the value of the
goods — that is cloth — exported, instead of taking the value
both of goods and yarns. This error in no way affected the
figures given as to the falling off in the quantities of the
home trade, but it made the estimate as to the expenditure
somewhat too low.

Printed toy John Htywood, Bxcairior Worka, Huln... n.". B i !. Manchester.

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