Force of example.

the houses, the dress, the tables of the wealthy, has set a pernicious example before the mass of the people, whose duty it is to live not meanly but with simplicity. The ladies of England are very responsible in this matter. They must exercise a censorship over themselves and their household. They must learn to resist the temptations and extortions of tradesmen, who seem to think that they have suffered a wrong because the public have sought to protect themselves by establishing co-operative stores. There is no isolation of classes in our happily constituted society. Each may contribute by its virtues to raise, and by its follies to lower, the moral tone of the whole people. The strength of our nation consists in the social union we enjoy, in a degree, which is indeed remarkable, when we consider how unequal is the distribution of wealth and social advantages. Let us be thankful for the strong mutual sympathies which bind class and class together. Let each work in concert with the other for the common welfare, the rich to ease the burden of the poor, the poor in grateful acknowledgment of the kindness and the help which they in turn receive.

329

CHAPTER XV.

THE IMPROVED CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.

The more carefully we examine the history of the past, the more reason shall we find to dissent from those who imagine that our age has been fruitful of new social evils. The truth is that the evils are, with scarcely an exception, old. That which is new is the intelligence which discerns and the humanity which remedies them.-MACAULAY, History of England.

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation. Gentlemen of education are pretty much the same in all countries: the condition of the lower orders, the poor especially, is the true mark of national discrimination.-BosWELL, Life of Johnson.

improve

workman's

condition.

HAVING considered the qualities of the workman, let us Progress of endeavour to ascertain what progress has been made ment in the in ameliorating his condition. The British Quarterly' Reviewer gives gratifying assurances on this point. He refers to the improvements in the dwellings of the people, and quotes some highly satisfactory statistics. 'In 1801 England and Wales contained nine millions of people, living in one and a half million of houses. In 1873 there were twenty-three millions in four and a quarter millions of houses; and it is quite certain that the twenty-three (now in 1877 become at least twenty-four) millions of people are far better fed, clothed, taught, and occupied, and the four and a quarter millions (now become four and a half millions) of houses are in all respects better constructed and appointed in 1877 than they were in 1800, nearly

three generations ago.' He compares the slow growth of the population in the interval between William I. and William III., a period of six hundred years, during which time it barely doubled itself, with the recent increase in the population, as an evidence of the superior well-being of later generations. The comparative condition of the masses of the population in her Majesty's happy reign and in the age of the Stuarts was carefully investigated by Lord Macaulay. The results were summarised in the celebrated third chapter of his history.

'During several generations the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital have kept a register of the wages paid to different classes of workmen who have been employed in the repairs of the building. From this valuable record it appears that, in the course of a hundred and twenty years, the daily earnings of the bricklayer have risen from half-a-crown to four and tenpence; those of the mason from half-a-crown to five and threepence; those of the carpenter from half-acrown to five and fivepence; and those of the plumber from half-a-crown to five and sixpence.

It seems clear, therefore, that the wages of labour, estimated in money, were, in 1685, not more than half of what they now are; and there were few articles important to the working man of which the price was not, in 1685, more than half of what it now is. Beer was undoubtedly much cheaper in that age than at present. Meat was also cheaper, but was still so dear that hundreds of thousands of families scarcely knew the taste of it. In the cost of wheat there has been

very little change. The average price of the quarter, during the last twelve years of Charles the Second, was fifty shillings. Bread, therefore, such as is now given to the inmates of a workhouse, was then seldom seen, even on the trencher of a yeoman or of a shopkeeper. The great majority of the nation lived almost entirely on rye, barley, and oats. The produce of tropical countries, the produce of the mines, the produce of machinery was positively dearer than at present. Among the commodities for which the labourer would have had to pay higher in 1685 than his posterity pay in 1848 were sugar, salt, coals, candles, soap, shoes, stockings, and generally all articles of clothing and all articles of bedding. It may be added that the old coats and blankets would have been not only more costly, but less serviceable, than the modern fabrics.'

an element

trial prosperity.

A numerous population is an important element of Population our industrial prosperity. Our ability to compete with of indusforeigners in part depends upon an abundant supply of labour. In the interval between 1838 and 1876, during which a complete system of registration has been opened, the increase of the population of the United Kingdom, according to the last report of the RegistrarGeneral, was 7,619,759. The increase in the last ten years was at the rate of 0.94 per cent. per annum. During the whole period embraced in the review the increase was at the rate of 0.66 per cent.

A calculation by M. Toussaint Loua, showing the probable time required to enable the present populations of the several countries of Europe to double themselves, gives the following results:

Economic

value of

lation.

Hungary (gradually diminishing)

The economic value of the population is the most the popu important element of the capital of the United Kingdom. Mr. Graham, the present Registrar-General, in his penultimate report published an elaborate calculation of the enormous value inherent in the people. Taking as his basis the average wages of agricultural labourers at different ages, determining their value by the life table at five per cent. interest, and multiplying the numbers living by those values, he fixes the mean gross value at all ages at 3491. Deducting 1997., being the mean value of the subsistence of the labourer, the mean net value of the male population is estimated at 150l. Extending this value to the whole population, including females, the standard is reduced to 110l. per head; and, multiplying the whole population by that figure, the aggregate value is 3,640,000,0007.

The aggregate incomes of the classes subject to income tax under Schedules D and E amount to 306,000,000l. a year. Deducting the half of this revenue as due to external capital and as required for the necessary sustenance of farmers, tradesmen, and professional men, there remains 186,500,000l. as pure profit, which, capitalised at ten years' purchase, makes the value of these incomes 1,865,000,000l. After deduction of the incomes previously valued in the