shown to the tax-payers of Massachusetts, that these institutions, instead of being the heavy charge which at first view they appear to be, are, in proportion to their good condition, a rich source of wealth. He has made this appear, not from any vague considerations of the benefits of intelligence and knowledge, but by presenting circumstantial statements, obtained from the most competent witnesses, in the form of figures, which cannot lie. A letter from Mr. J. K. Mills, of a wellknown mercantile house in Boston, is so full of important matter bearing on this point, that we cannot deny ourselves the gratification of giving it almost entire.

"The house with which I am connected in business, has had for the last ten years, the principal direction of cotton mills, machine shops, and calico-printing works, in which are constantly employed about three thousand persons. The opinions I have formed of the effects of a common-school education upon our manufacturing population, are the result of personal observation and inquiries, and are confirmed by the testimony of the overseers and agents, who are brought into immediate contact with the operatives. They are as follows;

"1. That the rudiments of a common school education are essential to the attainment of skill and expertness as laborers, or to consideration and respect in the civil and social relations of life.

"2. That very few, who have not enjoyed the advantages of a common-school education, ever rise above the lowest class of operatives; and that the labor of this class, when it is employed in manufacturing operations, which require even a very moderate degree of manual or mental dexterity, is unproductive.

"3. That a large majority of the overseers, and others employed in situations which require a high degree of skill, in particular branches; which, oftentimes, require a good general knowledge of business, and, always, an unexceptionable moral character; have made their way up from the condition of common laborers, with no other advantage over a large proportion of those they have left behind, than that derived from a better education.

"A statement made from the books of one of the manufacturing companies under our direction, will show the relative number of the two classes, and the earnings of each. This mill may be taken as a fair index of all the others.

"The average number of operatives annually employed for VOL. LIV. - No. 115. 60

the last three years, is twelve hundred. Of this number, there are forty-five unable to write their names, or about 3 per cent. "The average of women's wages, in the departments requiring the most skill, is $2.50 per week, exclusive of board. "The average of wages in the lowest departments is $ 1.25 per week.

"Of the forty-five who are unable to write, twenty-nine, or about two thirds, are employed in the lowest department. The difference between the wages earned by the forty-five, and the average wages of an equal number of the better educated class, is about twenty-seven per cent. in favor of the latter.

"The difference between the wages earned by twenty-nine of the lowest class, and the same number in the higher, is 66 per cent.

"Of seventeen persons filling the most responsible situations in the mills, ten have grown up in the establishment from common laborers or apprentices.

"This statement does not include an importation of sixtythree persons from Manchester, in England, in 1839. Among these persons, there was scarcely one who could read or write, and, although a part of them had been accustomed to work in cotton mills, yet, either from incapacity or idleness, they were unable to earn sufficient to pay for their subsistence, and at the expiration of a few weeks, not more than half a dozen remained in our employment.

"In some of the print works, a large proportion of the operatives are foreigners. Those who are employed in the branches which require a considerable degree of skill, are as well educated as our people in similar situations. But the common laborers, as a class, are without any education, and their average earnings are about two thirds only of those of our lowest classes, although the prices paid to each are the same, for the same amount of work.

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Among the men and boys employed in our machine shops, the want of education is quite rare; indeed, I do not know an instance of a person who is unable to read and write, and many have had a good common-school education. To this may be attributed the fact, that a large proportion of persons who fill the higher and more responsible situations, came from this class of workmen.

"From these statements, you will be able to form some estimate, in dollars and cents, at least, of the advantages even of a little education to the operative; and there is not the least doubt that the employer is equally benefited. He has the security for his property that intelligence, good morals, and a just appreciation of the regulations of his establishment, always

afford. His machinery and mills, which constitute a large part of his capital, are in the hands of persons, who, by their skill, are enabled to use them to their utmost capacity, and to prevent any unnecessary depreciation.

"Each operative in a cotton mill may be supposed to represent from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars of the capital invested in the mill and its machinery. It is only from the most diligent and economical use of this capital that the pro prietor can expect a profit. A fraction less than one half of the cost of manufacturing common cotton goods, when a mill is in full operation, is made up of charges which are permanent. If the product is reduced in the ratio of the capacity of the two classes of operatives mentioned in this statement, it will be seen that the cost will be increased in a compound ratio. "My belief is, that the best cotton mill in New England, with such operatives only as the forty-five mentioned above, who are unable to write their names, would never yield the proprietor a profit; that the machinery would soon be worn out, and he would be left, in a short time, with a population no better than that which is represented, as I suppose, very fairly, by the importation from England."- pp. 90-92.

To the same effect writes Mr. Clark, Superintendent of the Merrimack Mills, at Lowell.

"During the last eight years, I have had under my superintendence upon an average about fifteen hundred persons of both sexes. I have found, with very few exceptions, the best educated among my hands to be the most capable, intelligent, energetic, industrious, economical, and moral; that they produce the best work, and the most of it, with the least injury to the machinery. They are, in all respects, the most useful, profitable, and the safest of our operatives; and, as a class, they are more thrifty and more apt to accumulate property for themselves.

"I have recently instituted some inquiries into the comparative wages of our different classes of operatives; and among other results, I find the following applicable to our present purpose. On our Pay-Roll for the last month, are borne the names of twelve thousand and twenty-nine female operatives, forty of whom receipted for their pay by 'making their mark.' Twenty-six of these have been employed in job-work, that is, they were paid according to the quantity of work turned off from their machines. The average pay of these twenty-six falls 18 per cent. below the general average of those engaged in the same departments.

"Again, we have in our mills about one hundred and fifty

females who have, at some time, been engaged in teaching schools. Many of them teach during the summer months, and work in the mills in winter. The average wages of these exteachers I find to be 17 per cent. above the general average of our mills, and about 40 per cent. above the wages of the twentysix who cannot write their names. It may be said, that they are generally employed in the higher departments, where the pay is better. This is true, but this again may be, in most cases, fairly attributed to their better education, which brings us to the same result. If I had included in my calculations, the remaining fourteen of the forty, who are mostly sweepers and scrubbers, and who are paid by the day, the contrasts would have been still more striking; but having no well-educated females engaged in this department with whom to compare them, I have omitted them altogether. In arriving at the above results I have considered the net wages merely, — the price of board being in all cases the same. I do not consider these results as either extraordinary, or surprising, but as a part only of the legitimate and proper fruits of a better cultivation and fuller developement of the intellectual and moral powers." pp. 98, 99.

We limit ourselves to one more extract, and we will take it from Mr. Mann's admirable observations on this class of facts.

"Why is it that, so far as this Union is concerned, fourfifths of all the improvements, inventions, and discoveries, in regard to machinery, to agricultural implements, to superior models in ship-building, and to the manufacture of those refined instruments on which accuracy in scientific observations depends, have originated in New England. I believe no adequate reason can be assigned, but the early awakening and training of the power of thought in our children. The suggestion is not made invidiously, but in this connexion it has too important a bearing to be omitted, but let any one, who has resided or travelled in those States where there are no common schools, compare the condition of the people at large, as to thrift, order, neatness, and all the external signs of comfort and competence, with the same characteristics of civilization in the farm-houses and villages of New England. These contrasts exist, notwithstanding the fertility of the soil and the abundance of mineral resources, in the former States, as compared with the sterile surface and granite substratum of the latter. Never was a problem more clearly demonstrated, than that even a moderate degree of intelligence, diffused through

the mass of the people, is more than an equivalent for all the prodigality of nature. It is said, indeed, in regard to those States where there are no provisions for general education, that the want of energy and forecast, the absence of laborsaving contrivances and an obtuseness in adapting means to ends, are the consequences of a system of involuntary servitude; but what is this, so far as productiveness is concerned, but a want of knowledge, - what is it but the existence of that mental imbecility and torpor, which arise from personal and hereditary neglect? In conversing with a gentleman, who had possessed most extensive opportunities for acquaintance with men of different countries and of all degrees of intellectual developement, he observed, that he could employ a common immigrant or a slave, and, if he chose, could direct him to shovel a heap of sand from one spot to another, and then back into its former place, and so to and fro, through the day; and that, with the same food or the same pay, the laborer would perform this tread-mill operation without inquiry or complaint; but, added he, neither love nor money would prevail on a NewEnglander to prosecute a piece of work of which he did not see the utility. There is scarcely any kind of labor, however simple or automatic, which can be so well performed without knowledge in the workman, as with it. It is impossible for an overseer or employer, at all times to supply mind to the laborIn giving directions for the shortest series or train of operations, something will be omitted or misunderstood; and, without intelligence in the workman, the omission or the mistake will be repeated in the execution.*

er.

"It once happened to me, while travelling in one of the southwestern States, to visit an edifice of a public character, then almost completed. The building had a great number of apartments, which were to be warmed by means of a furnace placed in the cellar, after the manner in which most of our hospitals and large public edifices are warmed. Accordingly, one set of flues had been constructed for conveying the heated and pure air into all the apartments, and another set for conveying the foul air upward into the attic. So far it was well. But unfortunately for the transmission of the air in an upward current and for its escape from the attic when it should arrive there, the roof was completely closed in, neither window, sky-light, nor aperture of any kind being left, through which it could find egress. The edifice had been built from a plan, and without a knowledge of principles. I regret to add, that it was a State institution, and had been erected under a Board of Commissioners appointed by the Executive; and much delay and probably great suffering was endured before the building could be fitted for the reception and occupancy of any class of beings, dependent on breathing for existence. This was a very striking case, but every unintelligent man will make mistakes every day of his life, which are as important to him, and perhaps as ludicrous in the sight of others, as was this attempt of a Commonwealth, to ventilate a building where sixty or seventy persons were constantly to reside, by packing all the impure air