Nominal wages fell from 1836 to 1840 by one-fifth, or twenty per cent; yet the real wages (as shown by the less number of days required to procure the same commodities) were higher in 1840 than 1836 by more than thirteen per cent. In 1843, when the nominal wages were but one dollar, real wages were about sixty per cent better than in 1836, when the nominal wages were twenty-five per cent higher. In 1864, when nominal wages were at one dollar and fifty cents, real wages were but little more than half what they were in 1843 at one dollar.

In this connection, it seems appropriate to mention the great difference to the laboring classes between a value and a credit currency. If the latter, as we have endeavored to show, raises prices and causes speculation, and if the price of labor does not rise in proportion to the rise of prices, then it must follow that wages were really less at all times of inflation than when the currency is in a natural condition. How great these fluctuations are we have seen in Table V., pages 177, 178, from which, as an illustration in point, we give the following triennial synopsis:

Years
Prices

1834. 1837. 1840. 1843. 1847. 1850. 1853. 1856. 1859. $19.13 $28.40 $20.73 $14.82 $20.82 $16.20 $22.47 $25.02 $22.11

Every one acquainted with the rate of wages will realize at once that they have not corresponded to their fluctuations in prices, and that the laboring and salaried classes must have suffered great injustice in consequence.

CHAPTER III.

PROPORTIONATE RISE AND FALL OF WAGES.

ALTHOUGH Wages rise and fall with the general rise and fall of commodities, they do not in equal proportion. The fact is one of common observation; but the reason of this dif

ference we do not recollect to have seen stated by any writer. For nearly all products there is both an actual and speculative, or a present and prospective, demand: for labor there is only an actual, present demand. When business begins to be particularly prosperous, there is a general demand for all kinds of merchandise, and prices gradually begin to improve. This at once occasions a speculative demand; for to buy will be to realize an advance: the larger the purchases, the greater the amount of profits. Every operation pays. The rise continues until every article bought and sold as merchandise goes up to the highest point.

But no one speculates in wages. No one can, if he would, buy a hundred thousand dollars' worth of labor, and hold it for an advance, as he can of flour, sugar, or tea. Of course, labor has no advantage from this kind of demand, but must rely entirely on that which is immediate and actual. Therefore it is that a general rise of prices, so far as occasioned by speculation, must always operate against the laborer, or the person employed on salary or wages.

But wages not only never rise so much as commodities, but do not rise so soon. The reason is, that the rise of commodities is greatly accelerated by speculation; while labor, as before stated, is not affected by that kind of demand. Hence it does not begin to rise until speculation has engendered a spirit of extravagance and increased consumption; then wages make an advance about half as great, on an average, as that of merchandise in general.

And, again, wages fall sooner than merchandise, because the latter may be held for high prices, if need be. The fall of merchandise is broken by the disposition and ability of the owner to hold on, and, as far as possible, prevent loss; but the laborer cannot do this, he must sell his commodity at once for the most it will bring.

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It is for those obvious reasons that wages, in times of depression, must fall, not only sooner, but lower, than property in general.

A real rise or fall in wages is a matter difficult to ascertain with certainty. Fluctuations, since the introduction of mixed currency, have been frequent and violent, not in the rate of wages only, but of those commodities upon. which the laborer subsists, and in which his real wages must be estimated. To determine whether actual value wages have advanced or not since the commencement of the present century, for example, we must have the nominal rates, say, in 1810, also in 1860. We must then take the prices of commodities at the two periods; and, by comparison, we may arrive at a general conclusion. We should undoubtedly be satisfied that there has been a decided increase in the average value of wages. In our investigation, we should find that some articles were higher and some lower in price in 1860 than fifty years before. For example, while one dollar per day for labor was probably as high wages in 1810 as one dollar and a half in 1860, corn was worth the same at each end of the half-century; but cotton cloth, which was worth forty cents a yard in 1810, could be bought in 1860 for ten cents. In all manufactured articles, the difference is against the earlier labor; so that it is true the laborer of to-day enjoys many comforts to which his predecessors could not aspire. The wants of the laborer have immensely increased. It would be impossible to give an inventory of them; but, could we compare the consumption of those classes in 1810 with their consumption in 1860, we should find the advance surprising. The amount expended for pleasure-travel, for example, by this class is immense, while fifty years ago it was hardly appreciable. So of the luxury of newspapers, magazines, &c. Some part of the expenditures of the poorer classes are for articles (like photographs) which were absolutely unknown a generation since.

Workmen may be less satisfied with their compensation now than fifty years ago; but it is really far greater. We do not say they have no cause for complaint, yet they are

vastly better off than those who went before them. Wages, when realized in commodities, have increased. The general product has been enlarged by the introduction of laborsaving machinery, and therefore their absolute share is greater. Whether their relative share, as compared with that of the capitalist or employer, is greater, we shall find place elsewhere to discuss.*

The laborer suffers nothing, but gains much, in the progress of civilization, if he is not despoiled by an unsound currency. That is his greatest oppressor, because his real wages what he obtains in commodities for his labor-is determined to a considerable extent by the character of the circulating medium of the country. If the value of that, or its purchasing power, is less than it professes to be, he cannot fail to be injured by it.

DIFFERENCE OF WAGES FROM DIFFERENCE OF EMPLOYMENTS.

Occupations which manifestly involve a great amount of personal danger command higher wages than those regarded as perfectly safe. The risk of life must be taken into account. The man who works at powder-making gets a higher price than the man who works upon a farm; the man employed in blasting rocks, than the man who shovels gravel. So it ought to be, and so to some extent it is, in regard to mining and other dangerous employments; though, from the smallness of the difference, it is often quite manifest that human life is placed at a low valuation.

Any occupation which public opinion brands as odious and revolting will usually be found to pay a large compensation, for the reason that honorable or conscientious men will not engage in it.

The very low rate of "corn wages" received by the English laborer in times past may be seen from the statement of Mr. Matthews (Pol. Econ., p. 228, Lond. ed. 1836), that wages had advanced, and wheat fallen, so much that, from 1720 to 1750, a whole peck of wheat could be had for a day's labor."

UNHEALTHY TRADES.

Those occupations which, although not immediately dangerous, are nevertheless unhealthy and abridge human life, ought to command more than ordinary wages.

If a man is liable to be made sick, and consequently exposed to loss of time and expense for medical attendance, he should be compensated for that liability. If he shortens life in a particular employment, that should be a matter of consideration in determining the rate of wages.

It is not for us to inquire here whether a man may rightfully engage in that which he knows will abridge life; but that multitudes do so is beyond a doubt.

Regarded in a merely economical point of view, it is obvious, that, on this account, some laborers should receive much higher compensation than they do at present. To determine what that increased pay ought to be, we should be obliged to ascertain the value or expectation of life in the different occupations.

The expectation of life should be a matter of consideration with every one choosing his business, and should have. importance in determining the rate of wages. That this is not adequately the case now is quite evident, because wages paid for labor in unwholesome employments do not correspond with the consequent abridgment of human life; so that the laborer not only loses a good part of his life, but also a share of the wages he ought to receive while he does live.

Agriculture is evidently the normal employment of man, that in which he lives longest and enjoys the greatest health. Every other calling is unwholesome to the exact extent in which it departs in its condition from the agricultural; and the rate of wages should be adjusted to a scale constructed on this principle.