France.
The French manufacturers insist strongly on the greater cost of production in their country as compared with England. They estimate the cost of wages per week for the hands employed upon 10,000 spindles at £59. 10s., as compared with £41, which would be the corresponding amount in an English factory. ‘The value of the English workman,’ says Mr. Redgrave, ‘still remains pre-eminent, although the interval between him and his competitors is not so great as it was; he has not retrograded, but they have advanced.’ We see too much of intemperance in England, but there is much reason to complain in Belgium and the manufacturing districts of France, where the cheapness of intoxicating liquors is a fearful temptation to the working classes.