In the UNITED STATES, men are masters of their own time. The constant and rapid increase of capital causes so great a demand for labour, that every one may make his own arrangements for the sale of it. The usual hours of labour are from ten to twelve, and being assisted by good machinery, it is not severe. The feeling that pervades the whole mass of the people, that they can improve their condition, and that to do so they have only to exert themselves, causes them to apply themselves more fully than in any part of the world. The labour of females in the fields is unknown except among the Germans of Pennsylvania, and in those States in which slavery exists. In the eastern States, the factories find profitable employment for them, until they marry, as they almost all do at an early age, when they are enabled to devote themselves to the care of their families. The husband is enabled to support his wife and children, and he is not compelled to place the latter in factories, at an early age, few being found there under 15 years. If we compare Massachusetts with Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Illinois, we find the same result as in all previous cases. Labour is in the first aided by capital to a greater extent than in the others, and it is consequently less severe, and better remunerated. The labourer applies himself with a steadiness and regularity that is unknown in any other part of the world-he has fewer irregular holidays, but he is most careful in the observance of the regular ones— "Society says to the poor man in America, labour! and at 18 years you will earn more, labourer as you are, than a captain can do in Europe. You will live in abundance, you will be well clothed, well lodged, and you will be able to accumulate capital. Be assiduous, sober, and religious, and you will find a devoted and submissive companion; you will have a home better provided with comforts than that of many of the employers in Europe. From a workman you will become an employer; you will have apprentices and domestics in your turn; you will have credit and abundant means; you will become a manufacturer or great farmer; you will speculate and become rich; you will build a town, and give it your name; you will become member of the legislature of your State, or alderman of your city, and then member of Congress; your son will have the same chance of being President, as the son of the President himself. Labour! and if the chance of business should be against you, and you should fall, you will speedily rise again, for here failure is not considered like a wound recived in battle; it will not cause you to lose esteem or confidence, provided you have been always temperate and regular, a good Christian, and faithful husband.”—Chevalier, t. II. p. 122. "Not only does the American mechanic and farmer relieve, as much as possible, his wife from all severe labour, all disagreeable employments, but there is also, in relation to them, and to women in general, a disposition to oblige, that is unknown among us, even in men who pique themselves upon cultivation of mind, and literary education."—Ibid. P. 405. See page 153, ante. while precisely as we pass to the south and west the observance of the latter diminishes, and the occurrence of the former increases. In passing from Massachusetts to France and England, we should find a constant diminution in the quantity of labour required, attended with a constantly increasing reward. That such is not the case is due to the fact, that an immense amount of unproductive expenditure has prevented improvement in the quality of labour. CHAPTER VII. OF PRODUCTION.—INDIA.-FRANCE.-ENGLAND.~THE UNITED STATES. THE information we possess, upon which to found a calculation of the produce of INDIA, is exceedingly limited, but we must avail ourselves of that we have. Col. Sykes says, that the cultivators admit that a beegah (of an acre,) of land, produces ordinarily 240 seers, or 480 pounds, of grain, and that the collector, Captain Robertson, found, by personal experiment, that it produced 412 seers, equal to 824 pounds. Taking the admission of the cultivator, the product would be 640 pounds, or nearly eleven bushels per acre, a quantity that must be admitted to be a high average, where cultivation is totally unaided by capital, as we have already shown that of India to be. From this product must be deducted the seed, being at least one tenth, leaving 216 seers, or 432 pounds, as the net product of a beegah of land. The average price of rice, at Calcutta, is stated by Mr. M'Culloch, to be one rupee seven anas, and that of wheat one rupee eight anas, per bazaar maund of 82 pounds. Such being its value, in money, at the place of export, we may assume that with the very indifferent communications existing in India, the average price throughout the country cannot exceed one rupee per maund, giving six rupees per beegah, or eight rupees per acre, as the average money value of the product, after deducting the seed. The total quantity of land in cultivation in the possessions of the East India Company, with a population of 90 millions, has been estimated at 134,200,000 acres. In the presidency of Bengal, there is a population of 70 millions, upon a territory of 220,000 square miles,§ or 140,000,000 acres, giving two acres to each person, of which, agreeably to the above estimate, three fourths, or 105 millions, should be in cultivation. To admit that three fourths of the whole surface are so, is undoubtedly to make a very large allowance; but not being disposed to diminish the production Proceedings of the Statistical Society, Vol. I. p. 104. + Ante, p. 127. + Commercial Dictionary, p. 203. Encyclopedia of Geography, American edition, Vol. II. p. 344. of India, we will do so. Taking then, 134,200,000 acres, and a product, per acre, of 8 maunds, valued at a rupee each, we shall obtain as the product of agriculture, 1,073,600,000 rupees. If to this we add one fourth for the product of the labour otherwise employed, say We obtain a total product, by 90 millions 268,400,000 1,342,000,000 of people, of equal to 134 millions of pounds sterling. If we estimate that of the tributary States, with about one half the population, at the same rate per head, which is certainly a very large allowance, we shall obtain 67 millions of pounds, making the total product of Hindostan, with a population of 135 millions, 200 millions of pounds sterling.* This sum, divided among 135 millions of people, would give nearly £1 10s.+= $7 20, or to each family of four persons, £6, equal to $28 80, as the total return to labour and capital. It is proper, however, to examine upon what grounds we assume the product of that which is employed in manufactures, &c., at one fourth of that employed in agriculture. By the following it will be seen that the clothing for a family of four persons is estimated at only 6s. sterling, or 3 rupees, per annum, being but one seventh of their expenditure, whereas our estimate would give a product of marafactured commodities equal to 6s., per head, or £1 4s. for each family. "In a late statistical account of Dinagepore, a province of Bengal, there are statements of the annual expenses of different classes of society; and among them one of the expenses of a labouring man with a wife and two children. The amount is only, rupees 22.10.11-or near £3 per annum; being at the rate of 15 shillings a head. The article of clothing for this family of four persons, is only 6 shillings per annum."+ For a considerable time past, there has been a constant tendency to reduction in the amount of. Indian manufactures. Instead of the large exports of muslins, formerly made to England and the United States, they now export raw cotton, and import the manufactured articles in exchange. Mr. W. Malcolm Fleming, an Indian * Mr. Montgomery Martin-Colonies, Vol. I. p. 1-estimates it at 30 millions. Mr. M'Queen-Statistics of British Empire-carries his estimate much higher. We shall have occasion, in a future chapter, to show how exceedingly er. roneous is his calculation. + Col. Colebrooke estimated the production of 30 millions of people in Bengal, at £32,900,000, being less than 22s. = $5 28 per head. ↑ Committee's Report, p. 9; quoted by Rickards, Vol. I. p. 48. VOL. II.-36. 282 judge, on being asked by a committee of the House of Lords, "If there had been any increase in the capital employed in trade or manufactures during the time he was acquainted with it," replied, "I do not think there was; but there was a great deal more land brought into cultivation.”* In 1819, the production of FRANCE was estimated by Chaptal,† Manufactures, 1,404,102,400 66 Total, 6,082,834,285 In 1827, it was estimated by M. Dupin,‡ at 8,403,490,250 francs, the population being then 31,845,428. The Annuaire de France, for 1833, gives the population, according to the census then just taken, at 32,560,934, and the production as follows: Minerals, 97,000,000 Grain, 1,900,000,000 Wine, 800,000,000 Meadows, 700,000,000 Vegetables and fruits, 262,000,000 Wood, 141,000,000 Flax, 50,000,000 Domestic animals, 650,000,000 Manufactures, 1,400,000,000 6,000,000,000 In the census of 1832, the total revenue of the people of France was stated at 6,396,789,000 francs.§ M. Dupin is evidently higher than the facts warrant, but it is possible that the other statements may be below the truth, and we will therefore assume the product to be 7,000,000,000 * Quoted by Martin, Vol. I. p. 336. Forces Productives, Vol. II. p. 266. § Net revenue of all financial property, + Industrie Française. Excess of raw productions, or revenue of all the agents of cultiva 1,531,508,000 tion, including the land produce used, as horses, cattle, wool, &c., 3,118,770,000 Revenues, salaries, or profits of all the agents of commerce and manufactures, including all professions excepting those paid by the government, 1,746,511,000 6,396,789,000 equal to twelve hundred millions of dollars.-Abstract of the census, given in the London Literary Gazette, 1832, p. 396. Notwithstanding repeated efforts, we have been unable to obtain a copy of the census here referred to. |