But, as will be seen from the figures given, the actual income of the manual workers has increased. In 1867 it amounted to about £30 per head. At the present time it amounts to about £46, 15s. per head.
And not only have money wages thus risen, but the purchasing power of money has considerably increased in the last generation. The retail cost of food, clothing, and furniture has fallen; but, on the other hand, coal and rents have risen.
Between the increase in money wages and the increase in the purchasing power of money there can be no question that the actual position of the wage-earner has considerably improved in the last forty years. Amongst other results, the death-rate has fallen, paupers have decreased, and criminals have decreased. These and other important facts are shown in the table on page 332.
SOME ITEMS IN MATERIAL PROGRESS 1867-1908
| 1867 | 1908 | |
| Population | 30,500,000 | 44,500,000 |
| Average earnings of manual workers (men, women and children) | £30 | £46, 15s. |
| Consumption of imported food per head: | ||
| (a) Wheat per head, lbs. | 140 | 272 |
| (b) Sugar per head, lbs. | 44 | 76 |
| (c) Rice per head, lbs. | 6 | 18 |
| (d) Tea per head, lbs. | 3¾ | 6 |
| Consumption of Beer (Gallons per head) | 27.78 (1881) | 26.62 |
| Deaths | 634,008 | 676,634 |
| Death-rate (per 1,000) | 20.8 | 15.2 |
| Criminals convicted | 19,450 | 15,500 |
| Paupers (England and Wales) Jan. 1st | 958,824 | 911,588 |
| Deposits in Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks | £46,283,132 | £245,600,000 |
| Price of bread per 4 lb. loaf | 8d. | 5.8d. |
| Board of Trade consumption Index number (prices of 45 commodities expressed as percentages of those of 1900) | 136.0 (1871) | 102.8 |
With our knowledge of the conditions of the present, these facts are only relatively satisfactory, and serve but to fill us with horror of the past. We see that more bread is consumed to-day than in 1867, but remember that 40 persons perish from exposure and starvation in the streets of London year by year.[62] We see that the death-rate has declined from 20.8 per 1,000 to 15.2 per 1,000 between 1867 and 1908, but remember that in the latter year as many as 113,000 children perished in England and Wales under the age of twelve months. We see that the average wage has risen, but also that it now amounts to but £46, 15s. per annum on a liberal estimate. We see that prices have fallen, but remember that, in 1908, one-third of our population, in spite of lower prices, have not sufficient means to command a proper supply of the common necessaries of existence, no matter how severe their thrift.
Writing in 1868, in the paper already referred to, Baxter wrote, in dealing with the question of real earnings as distinguished from nominal rates of wages, a passage which strikingly illustrates the conditions of labour in his day:[63]
"Another point is the age at which a manual labourer ceases to be an effective. I am afraid that 60 years is about the average; six or seven years earlier than the Middle Classes. After that age a man becomes unfit for hard work; and if he loses his old master, cannot find a new one. In some trades, a man is disabled at 55 or 50. A coal-backer is considered past work at 40. I have endeavoured to be on the safe side by taking 65 as the termination of their working life, and have excluded all above that age from my calculation of wages.
"But the most important point of all is the allowance which must be made for what workmen call 'playing'; that is to say, being 'out of work,' from whatever cause, whether forced or voluntary. It is here that I am at issue with Professor Levi. He estimates the lost time at no higher average than 4 weeks out of the 52, and thinks it sufficiently covered by omitting from the wage-computation all workmen above 60 years old, i.e. the non-effectives. If this were the real state of things, England would be a perfect Paradise for working men! If every man, woman, and child returned as a worker in the census had full employment, at full wages, for 48 weeks out of the 52, there would be no poverty at all. We should be in the Millennium! Far other is the real state of affairs; and a very different tale would be told by scores and even hundreds of thousands, congregated in our large cities, and seeking in vain for sufficient work.