United States, $0.27 to 0.342, and in Great Britain $0.15% to 0.171⁄2 per hour; plumbers, in the United States, $0.34% to 0.432, and in Great Britain $0.17% to 0.20%1⁄2 per hour; stone cutters, in the United States, $0.34% to 0.42, and in Great Britain $0.17 to 0.20 per hour; stone masons, in the United States, $0.34% to 0.45, and in Great Britain $0.17% to 0.21 per hour.

The claim is sometimes made that the increased wages in this country since the years of the depression (1893 to 1897) were accompanied by like increases in Great Britain. That this is not the case can be shown by examining the following table, in which the wages in 1896 and in 1903 and the percentage of increase in the United States and in Great Britain during that period are placed side by side:

Wages in the United States and Great Britain in 1896 and 1903. [Compiled from Bulletin No. 51, United States Bureau of Labor.]

The tendency of wages in all industrial countries is to increase gradually from year to year except at times of industrial depression, and while such a normal increase is noticeable in the figures for Great Britain from 1896 to 1903, the figures for the United States during this period plainly show that the increase here has been phenomenal. Thus, while from 1896 to 1903 the wages of blacksmiths increased 1.4 per cent in Great Britain they increased 12.1 per cent in the United States; the wages of boiler makers increased 2.1 per cent. in Great Britain and 8.5 per cent in the United States; the wages of bricklayers increased 5.2 per cent in Great Britain and 26.1 per cent in the United States; the wages of carpenters increased 7.1 per cent in Great Britain and 31.2 per cent in the United States; the wages of compositors increased 5.9 per cent in Great Britain and 11.6 per cent in the United States; the wages of hod carriers showed no change in Great Britain and increased 22.6 per cent in the United States; the wages of iron molders increased 5.9 per cent in Great Britain and 21.1 per cent in the United States; the wages of general laborers increased 6.4 per cent in Great Britain and 18.4 per cent in the United States; the wages of machinists increased 4.4 per cent in Great Britain and 12.6 per cent in the Unifed States; the wages of house painters increased 7.1 per cent in Great Britain and 26.5 per cent in the United States; the wages of plumbers increased 5.2 per cent in Great Britain and 25.8 per cent in the United States; the wages of stone cutters increased 5.3 per cent in Great Britain and 24.7 per cent in the United States; and the wages of stone masons increased 5.1 per cent in Great Britain, while they increased 17.7 per cent in the United States.

Thus, while the percentage of increase in these 13 occupations ranged from 0.0 to 7.1 per cent in Great Britain, it ranged from 8.5 per cent to 31.2 per cent in the United States.

Official Figures from British Reports.

In the chapter on wages and cost of living it has been shown that in the United States the rise in wages has more than kept pace with the increased cost of food commodities. In the preceding chapter it has been shown that from 1896 to 1903 the percentage of increase in the wage rates in 13 leading occupations ranged from 0 to 7 per cent. It is interesting in this connection to observe how this slight increase in British wages compares with the increase in the food prices of that country. A report recently published by the British Government contains statistics of wholesale and retail prices in the United Kingdom up to and including 1902. From this report the following quotations of retail prices in London have been compiled:

Thus, while wages in Great Britain increased from 0 to 7 per cent in 13 leading occupations as above shown, the price of flour in that country increased from 11 to 27 per cent; the price of rice from 0 to 12 per cent; the price of beef from 7 to 20 per cent; the price of mutton from 0 to 14 per cent; the price of fresh pork from 9 to 21 per cent; the price of bacon from 22 to 50 per cent; the price of ham from 14 to 24 per cent; the price of eggs from 12 to 18 per cent; the price of sugar from 0 to 17 per cent; and the price of tea from 6 to 11 per cent, and so on. This shows that our British cousins have not been as fortunate as we during the past few years, and that, although we have paid more for our commodities in 1903 than in 1896, we, at least, unlike our British cousins, have had the wages to pay for them.

The British Board of Trade, by order of Parliament, recently published comparative statistics of wages in Great Britain and a few other countries. The data relate to the years between 1895 and 1902, but mainly to the years 1898 to 1901, and cover returns for fifteen skilled occupations. The following table gives a summary of these returns, corrected to a standard year, for Great Britain and the United States.

Current weekly wage rates for certain skilled occupations. [Source: Memoranda, statistical tables, and charts prepared in the Board of Trade with reference to various matters bearing on British and foreign trade and industrial conditions, pp. 291 and 292.]

The above statistics show that the average wage rates in the United States are nearly twice as high as those in Great Britain, and fully corroborate the figures published by the United States Bureau of Labor.

The following statistics of wages per hour in London in 1903, taken from the Ninth Annual Abstract of Labor Statistics published by the British labor department, agree almost exactly with those obtained from private establishments by a special agent of the United States Bureau of Labor and shown on page :

Bricklayers, $0.21; carpenters, $0.21; painters, $0.18; plasterers, $0.22; plumbers, $0.22; stone masons, $0.21; masons and plasterers' laborers, $0.14.

Lower Prices in the United States Than in England.

The claim is often made that while wages are higher in the United States the cost of living is correspondingly cheaper in Great Britain. That this statement is erroneous can be proved by official statistics obtained simultaneously in both countries. In 1892 the Senate Committee on Finance made an extensive report on "Retail Prices and Wages" in leading cities of the United States and Europe at different periods from June, 1889, to September, 1891. Among the cities considered in this report were St. Louis, Mo., and Manchester, England. A comparison of the prices of articles of identically the same description, obtained at the same time, namely, June, 1889, and September, 1891, in both cities, shows that instead of the necessary commodities of life being higher in the United States than in England, they are, on the contrary, as a rule, much lower. This is shown in the table which follows. A glance at this table shows that most of the necessary food products, such as bread, eggs, lard, bacon, roast beef, hams, mutton, milk, starch, and canned vegetables, were much lower in St. Louis than in Manchester, while the prices of the few remaining food products averaged about the same in both countries.

With regard to clothing and cloth goods, we find that men's hosiery, cotton shirts, sheetings, shirtings, and cotton and woolen dress goods of the same description and quality, were cheaper in St. Louis than in Manchester; that carpets, flannels, and cotton underwear averaged about the same, and that only in the case of men's hats was there any decided difference in favor of the Manchester purchaser.

Household articles, such as earthenware, glassware and cutlery, were nearly the same in price in St. Louis as in Manchester, with a very slight difference in some cases in favor of the latter city.

On the other hand, furniture cost from about one-fifth to one-half as much in the United States as in Great Britain, so that for the cost of one bed-room set in Manchester one could buy from two to three sets in St. Louis; and for the cost of one dining table at Manchester, a whole dining-room set could be bought in St. Louis.

While the figures above quoted are the results of investigations made several years ago, there is no reason to believe that relative conditions have changed materially since that time. The almost unanimous opinion of members of the Moseley Labor Commission, composed of English workingmen, which visited the United States in 1902, was that the cost of living was about the same in the United States as in England. (See "Moseley Commission," in index.)

But the question may be asked, "If the American workingmen earn so much more and pay so much less for what they consume, why are they not all wealthy and contented?" The answer may be found in the statement of the eminent French scientist, Prof. Emile Levasseur, in his work on "L'Ouvrier Americain" (The American Workingman). After summing up the conditions of labor in America as compared with Europe, he says that wages in the United States are about double the wages in Europe; that objects of ordinary consumption by working people (excepting dwelling houses) cost less in the cities of the United States than in those of Europe; that the American workingman lives better than the European, that he eats more substantially, dresses better, is more comfortably housed and more often owns his dwelling, spends more for life insurance and various social and beneficial associations, and, in short, has a much higher standard of life than the European workingman.

Advantages of American Labor.

A great deal has been written and said about the superior advantages which American labor holds over the labor of other countries. In August, 1901, a wealthy Scotch manufacturing firm sent a delegation of workmen to the United States to investigate practical conditions and compare them with British conditions of labor and wages. There were twelve men in the party, selected by popular vote from their fellow-workmen in the shops, and representing the following trades: Pottery, painting, decorating, upholstery and woodwork, engineering, railways, building, mining, textile working, metallurgy, coach building, and electricity.

The delegation visited Pittsburg, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, Paterson, Fall River, Trenton, Philadelphia, East Liverpool, Ohio, and Niagara, crossing over into Canada.

The report made when they returned, after a thorough investigation of the practical features of the artisan's life, was very complimentary to the American mechanic and artisan, and showed that under the beneficent economic policies which now prevail in this country the American workingman enjoys many advantages over his neighbor across the water.

They reported that the ordinary craftsman received more cash in return for his labor in the United States, and thus could command many and more varied luxuries than his British cousin, but, at the same time, he has to pay far more for these luxuries than he would on the other side of the Atlantic. A frugal American artisan, however, has it within his power to save money, which is denied his British rival. The very fact that the American receives more money in hand at the week's end gives him this opportunity to save, because the British workman seldom receives the same amount, and therefore is denied any opportunity of hoarding the needful for a rainy day.

The delegation reported that the United States will not only provide for its own wants in the near future, but will be, in addition, able to supply a great portion of the wants of the civilized world.

During the past thirty years it has been noted that in textile fabrics alone America has gone to the front, and in the flax, silk, hemp and similar industries the Americans can now hold their own. The trade of India and Scotland, to a large extent, still depends on the buyers in the United States, but year after year it is becoming more evident that the buyer will not only produce his own goods but will quote to the merchant who was originally a