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Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. by errata med to lent une pelure, fagon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 PRICE SIXPENCE. ON WAGE STATISTICS M. AND WAGE THEOEIES. ^ . ■.* By JAMES MAVOR. A Papeu read befork the Economic Section of the British Association at Bath, September, 1888. EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BROWN, 26 PRINCES STREET. 1888. f fi T«l>l'>liillllirilitlrlillilnl1lilin[1llinlWII«i'i-|-l«rrtl>«r..».«te, v.ni niia^iKn'iMiiiiiliiii Ai^^K^-^r'*^ i?-**«*l iirnlMTiiafiaiiii&Mlili PRICE SIXPENCE. ON WAGE STATISTICS AND WAGE THEOEIES. By JAMES MAYOR. A Paper read before the Economic Section of the British Association at Bath, September, 1888. EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BROWN, 26 PRINCES STREET. 1888. ON WAGE STATISTICS AND WAGE THEORIES. How the product is distributed among the coutriu'jtories to production is at once the most practically important and the most difficult question in the whole field of economic science. An exhaustive treatment of the subject of the distribution of the product would involve an examinKtion into the causes that determine the relative shares of the contributories to production. It would also involve an examination into the question whether the distribution so effected was efficient distribution, that is, whether the contributories to production did in general receive as their share of the product the exchange value of the addition which, on the best approximate calculation, they had actually made to the product. Round this question of distriljution of the product the fiercest battles of barbarian and civilisee have been fought. The social changes effected by alterations in the ratios of distribution have brought about revolutions and have prevented them. It seems necessary to insist upon the supreme importance of thoi'ough-going research into this problem since it is strangely avoided even by many of those who profess to discuss the wages question.* My present intention is rather to put the problem in definite terms than to attempt an answer. The Section of the problem which I wish specially to define is this, What are the causes that determine the SHARE OF LABOUR IN THE PRODUCT, AND DO THESE CAUSES TEND TO MAKE THIS SHARE APPROXIMATE TO AN EQUIVALENT TO THE SHARE OP LABOUR IN PRODUCTION? Towards mtilcing clear the full extent of the problem and the place in it of the section which it is jjroposed to define, the following analysis of the economic processes of production and distribution is oflfered. * Its importance is ever, denied, as e.g., — " It is of no practical interest to any " human being whether the income of property bears a large or small proportion to ** that of labour." Elementary Political Economy, by Ed. Caunan, M.A. Oxford, 1888. Production, in general, as carried on in a highly organized society like ours, results from the exercise of four functions, those are-- 1. The function of the Landholder. 2. The function of the Capitalist. 3. The function of tho Employer, 4. The function of tho Labourer. Were one to affect exhaustiveness, one might place at tho top of tho list the function of tho State. Production, in particular, is organized by the Employer, who either unites in his own person the functions of the landholder and capitalist, or contracts with otliers to exercise them. Ho also contracts with others to exer ise the function of labour. In organized co-operativo industry under the iaotory or other similar system all these functions are necessary. They may or may not be exercised by separate social classes, but they must be exercised either individually or collectively. Land must bo held and its product paid to an individual landholder, to groups of landholders, or to the State. Similarly Capital must be held by individuals, by groups, or by the State; the direction and organization of labour, as well as tho exercise of labour, must be performed either by isolated individuals or co-operatively. All the functions may be exercised by a single individual or otherwise, but the phenomenon of Production involves the exercise of all four functions as an indispensable condition. The characteristic of modern industry is the organization by an individual employer of a productive group, and among this group he is compelled to divide the product of co-operative labour. The following is the analysis of the division: — a. Taxatioi . b. Insurance. 0, Cost op Material. d. Rent. e. Interest. / Wages of Organization and Direction. g. Wages of Labour. It is clear that the amount of (a) Taxation is determined by causes beyond the direct control of the organizer of the productive group. These causes may, however, bo separately investigated under the liead of Theory of Taxation or of Public Finance. (6) Insurance is also practically beyond the direct control of the organizing employer, amounting as it does to an actuarial estimate of risk both of business loss and of destruction by natural agents, (c) The cost op Material is partly under the control of the organizing employer, depending as it does partly upon economical management and partly upon the operation of causes external to the productive group, and subject to investigation under the head. Theory of Prices, (d) Rent, — By this is meant economic Rent alone, that is that portion of the product which is due co the natural powers of the soil and to the advantage of situation. It is subject to special research under the head, Theory of Rent. ^:: ■■ r>'.. %^ or («) Intehkst. — Tliis is timt part of tlio product which is duo alono to the emj)loyinent of cupitiil. It fn^cjucntly includes a portion of what is conventionally called rent, as in a country where the unaided natural powers of the land have long been exhausted, and where the productivity of the land is largely duo to the expenditure of capital upon it. (/) Wages ov Organization and Diuection.— This is that portion of the product which is duo to the skill of the organizer of the productive group, and to those who direct the exercise of labour in it. From the axiom of the necessity of the functions, it is clear that in order to dispense with separate performiinco of any of the above functions, the remaining members of the group must exercise in addition to their own function, that with whose separate performance* they desire to dispense. (r/) Wages of IjAUOUU. — The wages of labour are that portion of the product which is due to the share of labour in production. This share is strictly analogc is to the others. Economic Kent is the result of certain forces of soil and air. Economic Wages are the result of the forces of the human body. In the characteristic example of modern industry, the organising employer, after distributing the remunerations of the contributories to the production of his organised g up, finds in normal circumstances a difference between the exchange valui of the total product and the sum of the ontributories. When this difference is it is a minus quantity it is Loss. In and in the second case it is initially amounts which he has paid to '' a j)l'us quantity it is Pkopit, the first case it is at the dispv oui borne by, the organiser of the productive enterprise — viz., the employer. Yet, clearly, this element of Puofit can only arise where one or more of the contributories receives less than the economic share, as in case of Loss one or more of the contributories receives more than the economic share. It is of course assumed that the several elements may be theoreti- cally distinguished from each other, though in practice it might be difficult to do so. We have thus a series of economic quantities — Rent, Interest, Dire^cive Wages, and Labour Wages, to which actual Rent, Interest, Salaries, and Wages more or less nearly approximate. The special section of the problem to be now attacked is this : — (1) do actual wages, in general, approximate neakly to the economic reward of labour, as defined in the above analysis ? (2) What are the effects produced by the difference between the theoretical economic reward and actual wages 1 (3) What proposals have been advanced to secure near approxi- mation, AND what prospect IS THERE OF ANY OP THEM EFFECTING THEIR PURPOSE'? 1. Do actual wages approximate to the economic reward of labour, as defined in above analysis ? This question, with that of population, obviously forms the crux of the whole business ; but it is hardly as yet to be answered from statistics. In theirs* place we must know what the return to labour is in the particular 6 productive process under investigation, or what the aggregate return is in any group of processes ; and necomih/, we nuist know what are the actual wages paid to Jabour. So far as iin exauiinatioii of a particuhir process at a single date is concerned, tlio ordinary monetary unit niigiit sutHco; but whenever wo enlarge our incjuiry, so as to include wages in dill'erent places or at different tinien, we an; driven to adopt an arbitrary unit, otlu.'rwise we should be attempting to add dissimilar quantities. From this is to be implied an adverse criticism upon all attempts to compare wages paid in different countries, or in the same; country at different times, without iising a flexible consumption standard. It would be necessary to reduce wages paid at different times and places to one common standard, involving not only prices but materials and quantities, to some such standard, in fact, as has been suggested by Professor jNIarshaU."' If it be a complicated i)rocess to describe movements in the actual wages of a workman, it is even more difficult to put down in set terms the corresponding expression for his economic wages. The exercise of each of the four functions in production being alike necessary, it is not easy to discriminate the specific shares of the agents, since, if the exercise of one function ceased that of all the others would cease also. Yet, if it be possible to express successive increments of laljour and its produce in figures, it must surely in any particular case be possible to express the whole of it. t The amount of each increment of labour, or correspondingly of each increment of capital, is in effect ascertained in every well-regulated business. No man is employed unless the product of his laboiu' will more than meet the expense of employing him, and no additional capital is employed in the business without the expectation of innnediate or ultimate increased return. While it would not be difficult in many productive processes *to obtain an accurate statement of the share of the product thus actually due to the exercise of labour, there are, as matter of fact, no authoritative statistics containing the required data. It is almost futile to quote isolated cases in which the relative amounts paid to labour and to capital ruay be discriminated, because, even if they did detail the amounts with exemplary accuracy, it would be impossible to invest the statistics with any authority, since they would almost necessarily have to be given without disclosing names. Only a public department invested with considerable powers could possibly overtake the task of compiling reliable statistics on this point. There is, however, one characteristic feature of modern trad«) which is tending to biing about increased publicity in a perfectly voluntary way. This is the transformation of private industrial enterprises into public companies, and although, fronf. the manner in which the accounts of of these companies are presented, they do not always disclose precisely the data required, they do sometimes enable one to form at least provisional judgHiCnts. The prospectuses of enterprises seeking capital from the public are * Contemporary Review, March, 1887. See also important passage in Mr. Edgeworth's Memorandum "On Varialions in the Monetary Standard," British Association Reports, 1887, p. -68, d Kfj. t Cf. Jevons' "Theory Pol. Econ.," pref. p. l, et seq ; and Cairnes' "Leading PriDciples," p. 97. . not specially notorious for accuracy in thoir data, but some of them profess to represent tlio relative proportions of the payments to wages, giving at the same time the amount of the capital employed und the product.* In the absence of statistics bearing definitely upon the point, wo are driven to ninke provisional inductions from the data at our disposal. It might appear that if the curve of wages in a particular trade followed very closely the curve of the wholesale price of the product, there would be a strong presumption, that such wages approximated to economic wages. This, however, by no means follows. All that such would prove would be that the, fluctuations were related, not that the points from which they sprang approximated. This is, however, at present almost the only practical test which can be applied on any considerable scale. It is open to all the objections which may be urged against the adoption of a sliding scale from a "start- ing i)oint "+ of average wages over a period of years, because the adoption of such a "starting point " assumes the whole question at issue. Yet it is of a certain positive value. If wo find that two curves, one representing a whole and the other a part, hug each other for a great distance repre- senting a long period, we are justified in assuming that certain forces are tending to assimilate their movements. And, therefore, in this case we have a certain positive assurance that labour is receiving a reward tend- ing to approximate to the equivalent of its economic efficiency. If, on the other hand, we find the curve of wages bearing no definite relation to the curve of the price of the product, we shall be justified in assuming that there is a .strong presumption that labour is not receiving its economic reward. And if, furthermore, we find that in any trade the wages of labour bear no definite relation to the price of the product, but do bear a definite relation to the cost of the commodities which enter into the consumption of the class of labourers in question, we shall have a strong presumption that labour is receiving a reward not in proportion to its economic efficiency, but in proportion to the actual cost of its maintenance. In such a case labour may be economically productive to the employer but it is not econoraically productive to the labourer. So far as it is possible to draw conclusions from the statistics published by the Board of Trade J and otherwise, it would appear that, in trades where powerful unions effect limitation of competition, and to a greater or less degree control wages, wages have either followed the curve of the price of the product in whose manufacture each trade ^s concerned, or they have been forced up during the years of good trade, and have been prevented from falling again. This is specially the case with engineers, carpenters, and mechanics. When one comes to such trades, however, as blacksmiths, bricklayers, ironfounders, and others, where the unions are not strong, or are used solely as benefit societies, it is found that the curve of wages approximates fairly to the curves of food prices and of general wholesale prices. In some cases the rise in wages preceded the rise i. * See Appendix I. t Cf. Prof. Marshall's Introduction to Price'n "Industrial Peace." t Labour Statistics, Parliamentary Paper, c. 5104 and c. 5172. 8 prices, and in many the fall does not appear to have been as great as the fall in prices. Miners' wages in Scotland follow, with singular closeness, the price of pig-iron and the price of minerals in general, suffe ing, however, rather greater extremes of fluctuation than do these prices. Sliding scales have not till recently been used in Scotland; but the miners during "late years have been consolidating their unions. If it be the case, as suggested, that the curves of the wages of the less highly organised trades follow the curves of general wholesale prices, or specially of the wholesale prices of food, this result follows : — Since move- ments in retail prices are relatively smaller than those in wholesale prices, an advance of wages results in disproportionate gain to the wage earner, while a fall in wages results in disproportionate loss. Thus, assuming that retail prices were double wholesale prices, an advance in wholesale prices of 20 per cent, would mean an advance in retail prices of only 10 per cent., since the expenses of retail distribution would not be affected by the increased wholesale cost. If wages then, following the curve of whole- sale prices, advanced 20 per cent, their purchasing power retail would become greater in consequence of the smaller relative advance of retail prices. Should, however, wholesale prices fall 20 per cent., and wages fall an equal amount, wages would lose in purchasing power, since the fall retail would only be 10 per cent. If this is sound, it would appear as though advance in prices would, other conditions remaining constant, be a benefit to the wage-earning classes. It must be pointed out that any conclusioiis based upon anj- otatistics of wages as yet in existence, in this country, must be merely provisional. The work of collection of wages statistics and their co-ordination, can, indeed, only be carried out by a public department, and at considerable cost. Yet thoroughly to understand the actual conditions is a necessary preliminary to effective social progi-ess. It is a comfortable doctrine that all is making for the best ; that in the long run rewards tend to reach those who earn them ; but it is strangely falsified in real life. The world is not now at any rate built that way. The social forces we have to deal with may more safely be guided than left to work out their own salvation. Until we have before us the data to enable a satisfactory theory of pro- duction and distribution to be elaborated, it seems impossible to point the way salvation lies. The time is really over when econoriic theory can afford to eliminate the chief factors in the problem, and to rest in delusive certainty upon an abstract basis. The records of econo.alc theory must indeed reflect the growing complexity of economic conditions. The simple relations of primitive communities are no longer susceptible of compara- tively simple explanations, and though fundamental motives remain the same, they assume diversified forces, and enter into relations increasingly hard to disentangle. From the cases quoted, it may fairly be concluded that in certain industries, for the mobC part those in which combinations among labourers have been most highly organized, wages appear in the main to approximate to the economic reward of labour as defined above. In those cases, on the other hand, where the principle of combination is absent or wjak, wages tend to a minimum. And a third category might be formed of those few cases where the actual wages of labour are not left to the operation of hap* 9 ik, wages hazard causes . xternal to the productive group, but are fixed with the definite intention of approximating them to the economic wages of the labour in question.^ Thus, where competition is limited wages tend to a maximum, where it is unlimited they tend to a minimum ; what that minimum is varies in varying conditions. A. Minimum actual wage of able-bodied men in a country where there is a homestead law (as in America), is the amount which able-bodied men can earn on free lands. B. Minimum wage of able-bodied men in a country ^^rhere the poor-law provides for the relief of able-bodied poor (as in Scotland), is the amount of that relief. C. Minimum wage of able-bodied men in a country where there is no relief of able-bodied poor is what will suffice to keep the working labourer alive. The amount of this depends upon various complex circumstances, but in practice it is found to fall far below the amount necessary to procure a scientific dietary, as e.g., that of prisons. D. Minimum wage of female labour is the amount which the most prosperous of those among the male producers, who allow their female dependents to work, can permit them to work for. Hitherto the problem has been regarded from the point of view of production. It is well, however, to consider the bearing of these considera- tions upon problems involved in the economic treatment of consumption. Actual wages might be identical with economic wages, and yet the workers might be quite unable to maintain themselves at an efficient degree of healthy life. This might be the effect of sevei-al causes. First. — A great increase in the use of machinery, or a great rise in the general rate of interest or of rent, might have so altered the distribu- tion both of effi)rt and of result, that the owner of the machinery found his share augmenting both relatively and absolutely, while the labourer found his share diminish-ng both relatively and absolutely. Second. — Alterations in the exchange value of the product through currency changes or otherwise might reduce the economic share of the labourer to a point at which he could no longer live. If he changed his employment his wages would still be diminished for a time, owing to necessary want of skill in new work or otherwise. Third. — A shortcoming or an overplus in the number of labourers in proportion to tho remainder of the population would enable them, under certain conditions, to obtain more or less than economic wages. Whether the actual wages be fully equal to economic wages or not, the economic worth of the man as producer cannot be realised unless they suffice to maintain him, and those dependent upon him, in full "physico-intellectual" activity.! Where they fall short of this there is a necessary reaction upon * In this category would be placed the Familistire of M. Godin at Guise, and the Co-operative Woolleu Works of Messrs. Thompson at Huddersfield. T See Appendix II. 10 production, which is carried on with less eflB'^ienqy than would otherwise be the case. Asa general rule it may be taken that wants increase in complexity as man's activity becomes more varied ; and, therefore, it would appear that saving for the possibility of a reaction in favour of "plain living and high thinking " the standard of comfort of all classes tends to rise. The amount necessary, tlierefore, for maintenance in full normal activity tends to advance, and, consequently, other things being equal, actual wages tend to advance also. But, granting all this, given perfect freedom of competition, there does not appear to be any tendency for actual wages to approximate more nearly to economic wages. If the labourer is in receipt of actual wages equivalent to the economic wages earned by him, and if these are insufficient to maintain him at a normal standard of comfort, tlie only possible method by which he can legitimately raise his comfort to the standard or beyond it, is by increasing the total value of his product. It may be quite beyond his power directly to do this, because if he inci'eases the quantity the exchange value may fall, and if he lowers the quantity, with the object of increasing the exchange value, he may meantime reduce his earnings to a greater extent than he might afterwards be able to recover from the increased exchange value. If, on the other hand, the labourer is not in receipt of an equivalent for his share in production, it does not follow that he would be able to increase his comfort even by increasing the total value of his product, unless it was clear that his increased exertion would result in increased actual wages. The position, therefore, that the only method of increasing wages is to increase the product is only partially true. 2. The effects of an absence of approximation between the return to labour and the reward of it are mainly these. There is no obvious direct relation between exertion and reward. It is impossible to deal effectively with industrial disorganization either by State action or by priva te associative effort. The purchasing power of the great mass of the people is diminished, since the surplus, instead of being conserved for the preservation of the continuity of l)roduction, competes with similar surpluses for immediately profitable and frequently ultimately ruinous employment.* From this practical point of view, it is Avell to note that the payment of high dividends indicates as a rule the dispensation instead of the conservation of the insurance fund. Acute investors are well aware that high dividends now mean low dividends at some future time, and though on a calculation of probabilities they may regard it as safe to have the dividend as long as it lasts, they know that low dividends will follow. It is necessary to note shortly what relation this presentation of the problem bears to current wage theories. We have found that in some indus- tries it is at least probable that wages tend to be depressed to the standard of comfort of the place and time, and in times of extreme depression are even temporarily thrust below it. This is precisely in accordance with the theory of Ricardo, which was, under the phrase "iron law of wages," adof ted by Lassalle and Marx. In Ricardo's time, as Ts abundantly eviaent from the statistics of the period, the theory was true practi- * As, for example, the extensive investments in the Securities of South American Republics, and tempting gold, silver, and diamond mines, in which a large portion of what might have constituted our national reserve has been frittered away. ./!f^ ^fc 11 :-{.^ cally for the whole of industry. Now it is only true of a part, for we have seen that the actual wages in the most highly organized trades, and in exceptional cases, do actually approximate to the economic reward of labour. This justifies so far the current theory that wages are a surplus over rent, interest, and profits — an expression that, as usually employed, is ambiguous, and which is only valid when used to designate what has been described above as economic ivages. The theory of wages must indeed be split in two. There is on one side the theory of wages, which has reference solely to that portion of the product which is due to the exercise of laboui* — this labour being divisible into two sections — directive and manual. In this sense the theory of wages is strictly analogous to the theory of rent and to a working theory of capital. There is, however, a secondary theory of wages, whose function it is to offer generalizations upon the causes which determine actual wages and which produce the difference between them and economic wages.* It might at first sight be thought that this is a return to an old theory, and that the well-known passage in the preface to the second edition in Jevons' "Theory of Political Economy" had been overlooked. This, however, is not so. "We must regard," says Jevons, "labour, land, knowledge, *' and capital as conjoint conditions of the whole produce, not as causes " each of a certain portion of the whole produce. Thus, in an elementary " state of society, when each labourer owns all the three or four requisites "of production, there vvould really be no such thing as wf^es, rent, or " interest at all. Distribution does not arise even in idea, and the produce " is simply the aggregate effect of the aggregate conditions. It is only '• when separate owners of the elements of production join their properties " and traflSc with each other that distribution begins, and then it is " entirely subject to the principles of value and the law of supply and " demand. Each labourer must be regarded like each landowner and each " capitalist, as bringing into the common stock one part of the component " elements, bargaining for the best share of the produce which the con- " ditions of the market allow him to claim successfully."! This is not antagonistic to the foregoing argument. From what has been said above it follows that each laboui'er brings an effective addition of force to the productive group, and this addition of force has its result in an increased product. The amount of wages for this is regulated by the law of supply and demand and by the principles of value. But economic wages are regulated by the exchange value of the product, while actual wages are regulated by the exchange value of the labour force. The sole difference between this position and that of Jevons is this. Jevons' Theory assumes that " ultimately " actual wages tend to be identical with the amount of the produce. This theory assumes that the tendency to approximation only operates when free competition is replaced by control either on the part of the labourers as in trade unions, or on the part of the employers as in the case of Leclaire, Godin, or Thomson. The normal tendency when competition is free, is for actual wages to approxi- mate to actual maintenance. J * Take, e.g., the statement of the wage theory in Prof. Marshall's "Economics of Industry," p. 131. t "Theory of Pol. Econ.," Jevons, p. 50. t Compare, for opposite conclusion, Prof. Marshall's "Economics of Industry," p. 134. 12 [ 3. Classification op proposals that have been advanced to secure this approximation op economic and actual wages, or to effect ALTERATION IN THE EXISTING SYSTEM OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PRODUCT. The table and diaa;ram ai'e intended to exhibit the characteristic features of the three main groups of schemes of social progress, and their relations to the existing system of distribution of the product, and to each other. A. — Individualistic Group — (a) Peasant proprietary. (b) Peoples' banks. B. — Associative Group — (c) Trade unions. (d) Consumers' leagues. (e) Sliding scales. (/) Profit shaving. (g) Co-operation for production (federalistic) combined with profit sharing. (A) Co-operation for production (individualistic) com- bined with profit sharing. (i) Co-operation for production and distribution com- bined with profit sharing. C. — Socialistic Group — (j) Collectivism (Marx). (k) Communism (Fourier). (l) Anarchist-Socialism (Kropotkin). Diagram showing effect of the adoption of Schemes of Social Progress. Classes presently exercising Function. State. Landholders. Capitalists. Employers. Labourers. Function. Government. Landholding. Holding of Capital. Organization of Labour. Labour. Reward. Taxation. Rent. Interest. Salaries and Profits. Wages. f z o M H ■«1 N M n It; s o so tc ct! l-< o d oT ^ : 3 W „H o ci "t- P3 Mater Loss P3 ^ o 6 u O g •« I— c es -la _ CO ea 4^ Ph O +1 (U PL, Q o o o © o O o o m O eo 00 lo eo fo — < C5 o o H to a :s a o:; bo a ,4 u V oi lO a tp ^ ^ ^5 S^ § Cl p^ ^3 '^ ^ " I O !> a) -< aj . CO 'k* ^ H o V 01 ID -I I ^ d W o ;< <) H O P3 Ph W ??; Ph Ed w o P3 O 5 H o o Ira 1 M I IS «o >— I ID S « P-l 4) j3 a> rj 03 iT3 o o u ■a Ph p) ^H o o 4J CO 03 4^ t) >, V M Q o o o o o o o o O I- eo CI «rt s fcT 43 o cS 43 d o o ;< &4 in cS o > s -2 : o ^ L>^ CO 03 Ph CO >> § % O) m o © t,J «« II c^ i-O «n A X , © 01 M 05 CI f-H «+* ?+? n ^ ,U 4<) (11 0) ."" 111 ^ > r^ ^ u V © in d o •SO u 01 a, o .9 o J3 ^ 17 APPENDIX II. While it is unsafe to found wide generalizations upon narrow data, many useful suggestions may be derived from study of such family budgets as those given in the two following examples. Were statistics of the same minute character collected in quantity and over a wide area by a public office or by competent and sustained private inquiry, much light would be thrown upon practical problems that pi-ess fur solution. The cases given are those of Lanarkshire miners, one earning, under normal circumstances, the average wage as .stated in the statistics of the iron trade, and the other earning a wage, in normal circumstances, considerably below that average. In some respects the year 1886 is not quite a representative year, for during the lattor half of it the output of coal from the Lanarkshire mines was restricted by C(mib.ined action on the p.nrt of che men, the avowed object being to reduce the amount of stock in the hands of the mine owners, and so render them less independent of the daily output. In proportion to the quantity of coal at the pit head the employer is in a position to maintain his ground during a strike, and the policy of the miners was therefore directed towards a reduction of this power of resistance on the part of the masters. During the half-year in which the "restricted darg" was in operation the men voluntarily submitted to the reduction of their wages approximately by one half, with this ulterior object in view. The latter half of 1886 was therefore an exceptional time, and in examining the statistics this must be borne in mind. In Case No. 1. — C. D. was an "oncost" man, whose wages did not suffer by the restriction of the darg. His budget for 1886 may therefore be regarded as fairly typical of the budget of a miner of his class. In Case No. 2, the wages of A. B. were subject to diminution during the latter half of the year through the operation of the " restricted darg." As regards the income in both cases, it will be observed that irregularity of employ- ment from strikes or other causes effected a serious diminution, and also that the number of deductions from the gross amount of the wages is open to criticism. So far as the expenditure is concerned, the classification adopted is that of Engel. The Massachusetts Bureau table is taken from the Report of the Bureau for 1885. It may be remarked generally that the fare on which these miners and others of the same classes, of which statistics have been collected, subsisted in 1886 was not, either in point of variety or quantity, equal to the scientific dietary provided for convicts undergoing hard lalaoiir. It must be noted, however, that the miner's dietary as thus disclosed is not, even within the limits of its monetary amount, a dietary of a scientific character. These examples are given merely by way of stimulating inquiry along the lines indicated. ^ a) ^ &< CO 1— < H O V) 1— ( ^^i H t-^ -«1 t H U cc Q p 1 K h— 4 S3 o Q W W o r/3 O W Ph o OS w '■sin ^ M « « iM « M F-* © H in M CO ' ' ' ?-t ' ' i-H COCOCO ^-^ ^ ^5•»<|^I a! ^ '^S CO -f 1-1 CO m m w (M;OeO «*) ^ "W t-QO oo 4 ft •l-l t- o© oo ,-4 •75 «' (S O -g w" -T C « «J S !=?'" 2— '-S h S ?H K 1^ M M S pq ta ^ • • iT-C I o -^ 'V^ ^j teg .'VO G s O •A W M <1^ en 4) o s u -3 H 1 I<1 y. 1 o s H H s d g a f^ kj .»< M r1 M M 4) hJ'^J ~ 01 o t^ 00 5^ tc > *to4 «M o W3 c3 a> CO oo ^^ . ,^ «o_ o C^ 1 N r-( eo : CO CO CO ** ^ ^ .* i-5feg-iJSi-sHi- o O 41 _ tS o SQ m a o „ u n 3 4; .-.CO bin rtHeo ^ i -S ■^ is - ■■+3 2 o e«i«!!CC d ^o 0^"* COiH CO CO" o 6 o c ^ HH 2 4r 3 si 41 b> top O" 4) JtZ2 n 1H n ffi 4A s M 3 iH » 5 3 H iT 3 5 3 '^' " rt c I' ./, ^ U * K '^ (U O li^ T3 V hi 3 o a • iH Q 1 ff ■A « 00 (SO C0O(SO(0 I CO 53 ■a oora ooeoo « s OQ M •« •• »»< 00 'f in rH 5 « 9 .^«- CA 0) O u • • • • V, • a J I «' ^ 1^ • • n cob> 00 a o bo c9 n NCO 01 ■ ^ § !c i ,§ jso'o'©"'?^'?^'?' 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