*

*

combined with great intelligence in working after models; their habits are not so expensive as those of English artificers; their diet is more humble, they consume less meat, and their bread is seldom purely wheaten or white in quality; rye, and the cheaper quality of wheat called 'epeautre,' enter in great proportion into the composition of the loaf; beer and spirits are both lower in price than in England; they seldom use tea, and the chiccory root constitutes a very economical and wholesome substitute for coffee. * * The system of schools for infants from two to seven years, and from seven to twelve years, is very general, and affords great facilities-the children being cared forto both their parents to occupy themselves in daily service, and by combined industry to ameliorate the condition of their family. In all these respects, therefore, the necessaries of life being the base of wages, the Belgian enjoys advantages over the British workman."

From our American point of view, these " advantages over the British workman" in dispensing with meat and tea, and in substituting chiccory for coffee, and in appropriating the labor of both parents for a mere existence, are not so apparent. But we are naturally brought by it to consider the condition of the

British laborer.

It has been seen that the natural advantages of Great Britain, in the possession of its vast stores of coal, afford a fund for the payment of better wages to the laborer in England than on the continent, and the British workman has not been slow to assert his rights to all he can get, and his physical condition is undoubtedly superior to that of his French and Belgian neighbors. If he is not better lodged, he is at least better fed, and in the iron works it is probable that the workmen generally get meat once a day. But, as a general rule, the labor of the women and children is required in order to eke out the subsistence of the family. In Wales women are extensively employed in the works, doing the labor for which a man would be required in America, and earning from ten pence to one shilling three pence per day, or rather less than half the wages that would be paid to a man for the same labor, which they perform equally well. In Staffordshire, and in the north of England, and in Scotland, women and children are still extensively employed above ground about the mines, and around the coal heaps at the mouths of the pits, the substantial result of which is that the labor of the whole family is procured for the sum which would be paid to its male head, if he alone labored for the support of the family, of course at a far lower cost in the resulting production of iron than would otherwise be possible. Restraining laws have been enacted in England of late years in regard to women and children, limiting the number of hours during which they may be employed, and also providing that they shall not be employed during the night, except in certain specified cases. But if the women and children were altogether withdrawn from those occupations, as they are in the United States, it would not be possible to produce iron, except at a considerable advance on its present cost.

Passing from the material to the intellectual condition of the workmen in France and England, the provision for the education of the children is upon a very limited scale indeed, and although there are creditable exceptions in particular localities, mainly due to the enlightened conscience of the proprietors, the great mass of the working classes out of the large cities are deplorably illiterate. In the department of Saône et Loire, where the works of Le Creusot are situated and where the most commendable efforts are being made by Messrs. Schneider & Co. to educate the rising generation, it appears that 36.19 per cent. of those who were joined in marriage in 1866 could not write their names, and of the conscripts drawn for the army from the same department, in the same year, 24.51 per cent. were unable to read. And the same statistics show that, taken as a whole, in early two-thirds of France the number of those who cannot write their names on arriage is between the limits of thirty and seventy-five per cent. of the total

number. This deplorable state of affairs has, of late, led to the establishment of schools for the instruction of adults, mostly voluntary, upon which there were in attendance during the present year 829,555 adults, of whom 747,002 were men and $2,553 were women. Of 110,503 who could neither read nor write on entering the course in October, 1866, 87,211 had learned to read by the 1st of April, 1867; 12,632 instructors have given their services gratuitously, and the whole movement, and the statistics above given, prove both the depth of ignorance into which the working classes have been plunged, and their earnest desire to emerge from it. (See Appendix E.)

Surprise may be expressed that in view of the inadequate reward for labor in France, there has not been a larger emigration to our own country, where labor is so much better paid. The difficulties arising from the difference in language would of themselves be a great impediment to any extensive emigration movement; but there are impediments of another kind, not generally understood, which tend to prevent any relief to the laboring classes from this source. The law of "livret," as it is called, is peculiar to France. By its terms every workman is compelled to obtain from the police a kind of pass-book or register, in which his name, age, and occupation are inserted, and which he must show to an employer before being taken into his service, and no employer is permitted to receive into his works any workmen upon whose "livret " is not indorsed a full discharge from his previous employer. Provision is also made for the indorsement upon the livret of any indebtedness which may be due from the workman to the employer, and his debt therefore follows the workman as a mortgage upon his labor from place to place. Although in express terms there is nothing in the law which would warrant the employer in withholding an indorsement on the livret, yet in practice it is a restraint on his freedom of action to such an extent that workmen employed in the large works usually remain there permanently, so that there is but little change, and no opportunity whatever for practical combination in strikes and turnouts. The whole of this system is so peculiar, and throws so much light upon the power it gives to produce iron at a cost which would not be possible if the workman were a free agent, that I have deemed it best to annex to this report in an appendix (F) a translation of a circular which was obtained from the prefecture of police.

The moral condition of men is so dependent upon their physical and mental status that it is probably unnecessary for me to enlarge upon the obvious conclusions that might be inferred from the facts above recorded; but the conviction in my own mind was so profound, after a very careful survey of the whole field, that I deemed it my duty to accept an invitation to testify before the Trades Union Commission in England, in the hope that a full discussion of the physical and moral elements involved in the organization of industry would result in the ultimate elevation of the working classes of Europe to such a standard, at least, as would render the conditions of competition between our own country and Europe more just and equitable. It is quite evident that in the effort to produce cheap commodities, and to undersell each other in the markets of the world, the rightful claims of humanity have been disregarded to such an extent that the reorganization of labor, in its relation to capital, is felt by all thoughtful men to be an imperative necessity.

It cannot be that the aim of society is only to produce riches. There must be moral limits within which the production of wealth is to be carried on, and these limits have been and are being so obviously transgressed that a spirit of discontent pervades the entire industrial world; and in the very countries where this competition has been pressed to its utmost limits capital has ceased to become remunerative, although humanity itself has been sacrificed to its demands. The evidence which I gave before the Trades Union Commission was delivered in this spirit of deep concern for the welfare of the working classes; and inasmuch as a few incidental sentences repeating statements which had been

made to me in regard to the Pittsburg strike, but of no consequence in reference to the main question, were seized upon by the London Times as a groundwork for characteristic unfavorable comment on American institutions, and some feeling was excited among the working men in the United States in reference to these misrepresentations, against which, it will be seen, I took occasion to protest on my second hearing before the commissioners, long in advance of any knowledge on my part of the effect produced by them at home, it is deemed proper to state that the evidence so given, in Europe at least, was universally regarded as an appeal in behalf of the working classes, not in defence of any violation on their part of the fundamental principles of social science, but in assertion of their just rights to education, domestic happiness, and adequate remuneration

for labor.

There are some statements made thereon, of no great importance in themselves, based upon information derived from other parties, on whom I had reason to rely, which may have been erroneous; but in all such cases, where I did not speak of my own knowledge I expressly so stated, and this was particularly the case in regard to the Pittsburg strike, where the evidence shows that I expressly disclaimed personal knowledge of the facts; but I desire now to state that the information was derived from a resident of Pittsburg in whom I had reason to feel entire confidence. In my second evidence before the commission, it will be seen that I took occasion to correct some errors of this kind, having in the meantime received more correct information. There are also some replies bearing on the nationality of workmen, elicited in answer to questions over which I had no control; but in so far as they may appear to be invidious to any one nation, there is no real cause for complaint when the answer is understood. For example, the statement that the Irish are rarely first-class puddlers was made as a matter of fact in nowise depending on the land of their birth, but because they do not begin to learn the business until they arrive in America, full grown adults, whereas in England the education of the puddler begins in boyhood, and is pursued for many years before he takes a furnace. The same answer would, therefore, have been given to the same question, if asked with reference to the natives of any other country who had not learned the business from boyhood.

But if, in comparison with the ample provision made in our country for the education of the masses, the arrangements in France and England are upon a meagre scale, the opportunities for scientific and technical instruction, in France especially, are of a far more complete and generous character. For the governing classes, or for those who, rising out of the lower ranks, are educated to fill positions of trust and responsibility, there exist a series of educational establishments of so thorough a course in their respective departments as to exhaust all that experience and science can do for the preparation of engineers and conductors of industry. The Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures at Paris, the Conservatoire Imperiale des Arts et Metiers, several large agricultural schools, L'Ecole Imperiale des Ponts et Chausées, L'Ecole Imperiale des Mines, L'Ecole Imperiale de Commerce à Paris, the three schools des Arts et Métiers at Chalons, Aix, and Angiers, the School of Mines at St. Etienne, the School of Watchmaking at Cluses, of the Mining Classes at Alais, the Naval School at Marseilles, are all sustained by the government in the interests of industry and commerce, and give to French industry that intelligence, science, and skill, which, in the Exposition, extorted universal admiration, and the general confession that its products, even in machinery and metals, were up to the highest standard of excellence. Similar schools in the United States ought to be the fruit of the great endowment of lands given to the States by Congress for the establishment of institutions designed to teach mechanical and agricultural science and art; but it is to be regretted that, at the present time, the application of this grant has not been so directed as to secure such a result, and we must console ourselves with the reflection that, if we are deficient in the higher education necessary for the

best industrial development, we have in a measure supplied its place by a general diffusion of knowledge, which, evoking the ingenuity and individuality of each workman, has rendered it less necessary than in countries where the masses are in ignorance. But it cannot be disputed that this individuality and ingenuity in our American character will be more valuable and powerful when directed by the highest order of intelligence and thoroughly trained scientific leaders.

It is obvious that the abnormal rates for labor which we have been considering cannot prevail in any one branch of industry alone, but must extend to all, as labor, like water, must seek a general level in each community governed by the same laws, and subjected to the same influences. All articles of commerce are, therefore, produced below their normal cost-that is, the cost which would be possible if the fundamental laws of humanity were not violated in the employment of women and children, and the payment of a rate of wages to the common laborer inadequate for the proper support and culture of the family. In those commodities which require in the United States more human labor for their production than is necessary in Europe, where labor is so inadequately paid, we have, perhaps, no other interest than a general concern in the welfare of the human race; but so far as iron is concerned, from the fact that we can produce it with as little consumption of human labor as any other nation in the world, the case is different, because there is no absolute loss of wealth, and no misapplied power in its production; and the only question to be discussed is, whether it shall be taken out of the general category of manufactures not so favorably placed as to the cost of production, and by positive legislation placed in the same condition as it would have occupied with reference to foreign competition, if the rate of wages in other countries had never been reduced below their normal standard. We have seen that the cost of making iron in England, Belgium, and France, at the present time, varies from £6 10s. to £8 per ton, and £1 additional suffices to pay its cost of transportation to the seaboard of the United States. At these ports American iron cannot possibly be delivered at a less cost than $60 in gold, against $40 in gold for the foreign article, and the entire difference consists in the higher wages, and not larger quantity of labor required for its production in the United States, where the physical, mental, and moral condition of the working classes occupy a totally different standard from their European confreres, and where the wages cannot be reduced without violating our sense of the just demands of human nature. At the same time it is to be observed that the business is so far overdone in Europe that no profit can be realized by the capitalist, except in special cases, for which adequate reasons can be given. The actual remedy for this over-production would be to withdraw the women and children, as we do, from this class of industry, whereby the production must be reduced, the rate of wages raised, the cost and the selling price increased, capital become remunerative, and the ability to procure iron, made cheap by its adulteration with the violated laws of humanity, be forever extinguished. To what result the general discussion which this subject is now receiving in Europe will lead it is not easy to decide; but it is a curious phenomenon to listen in France to the loud complaints which are made against the competition of Belgium in the manufacture of iron, and stranger still in England to the same complaint, and the broad declaration that it will not be possible to do anything for the education and elevation of the working classes without exposing their manufacturers to ruin in consequence of the competition with the worse paid and worse fed labor of Belgium. The truth is that the whole system is false, and now, when pressed by the energy, enterprise, and competition of the age to its legitimate results, humanity is in rebellion, and there is a general cry from all classes, laborers, employers, philanthropists, philosophers, and statesmen, alike for relief. The necessity for this relief becomes painfully apparent when the poor-law returns made in England are carefully examined, from which it is evident that there is an army of paupers pres upon the occupations of

the common laborer, and striving to push him over the almost insensible line which divides these two classes from each other. It is not possible that the laborer should receive more than bare subsistence wages, and there can be no relief for his patient suffering, so long as there are thousands who, unable to earn any wages at all, stand ready to fill up every gap in the ranks of industry; and to the honest laborer himself, standing on the edge of this line, over which he is liable at any moment to be forced into the ranks of pauperism, the anxiety and miserable state of uncertainty for himself and his family, must be fatal to all rational happiness, and is well calculated to drive him into vicious indulgences and temporary excesses whenever a transient opportunity is afforded, as a momentary relief from a condition of hopeless misery.

From the returns made to the British Parliament as to pauperism in the month of September, A. D. 1867, it appears that out of a population of 19,886,104, dwelling in the area for which the returns are made, 872,620 persons were on the list of paupers, supported by public charity, of which number 129,689 were in the workhouses, and 738,726 were relieved in their own houses. This latter portion constitutes the army which substantially regulates the rate of wages for labor, as they are ready, to a greater or less extent, to take any vacant place which may offer itself. And this state of the case exists not in mid-winter, but just after the close of the harvest, and the returns show that the evil is an advancing one, as there is an increase of 27,521, or 3.3 per cent. in 1867 over the corresponding week in 1866. And a study of the tables which are hereunto annexed (Appendix H) shows the largest rate of pauperism is in the manufacturing, and not in the agricultural districts.

By another parliamentary return, which is also annexed, (Appendix I,) it appears that the average number of scholars attendant upon the schools under government inspection in the year 1866 was 871,309 in England and Wales, showing this suggestive fact, that the paupers receiving public relief, and the children receiving instruction in schools aided by the public funds, were about equal in number. This statement alone, if other evidence were lacking, would serve to prove that the working classes of Great Britain have not yet achieved the position in point of education and social comfort to which humanity is entitled. Nor can it be alleged that this is due to any deficiency in the resources provided by nature for the reward of industry. The coal and iron ore mines of England afford the most magnificent fund to be found on the face of the globe for the abundant remuneration of the capital and labor engaged in their development, and every class in the community, except the operatives themselves, have enjoyed a bountiful return for their interest in this national endowment. The landowner has been largely paid, not only by the royalties derived from the minerals, but in the enormous increase in the value of the soil by the rapid growth of population engaged directly and indirectly in the manufactures based on their consumption. The capital invested in manufactures in Great Britain has, in the main, reaped a most abundant reward, and the general result has been an accumulation of capital in the hands of the higher and middle classes unequalled in the history of mankind.

That the working classes have not been equally well rewarded is due simply to the improvident and even reckless manner in which these great natural resources have been employed, giving rise to a competition unlimited by any other consideration than the immediate profit to be derived by the capital invested in the business. Of course, the less the rate of wages, the longer the number of hours of work to be got from the laborer, the greater the number of women and children that could be employed, the lower will be the cost of the product, and the more decided the ability to undersell all foreign competitors in the markets of the world. Hence, in the absence of restraining laws and an enlightened conscience on the part of the operators and manufacturers, and in the presence of a large population in a restricted area, governed in the interests of special