Give a comparison of the wages of the United States with those of England.
O. P. L.
Answer.—The following is a comparison of the wages paid per week in Chicago and Great Britain to various artisans:
| Chicago. | Great Britain. | |
| Bakers | $8.00 to $12.00 | $6.50 to $6.60 |
| Blacksmiths | 9.00 to 12.00 | 7.04 to 8.12 |
| Bookbinders | 9.00 to 20.00 | 6.50 to 7.83 |
| Bricklayers | 6.00 to 10.50 | 7.58 to 9.63 |
| Cabinetmakers | 7.00 to 15.00 | 7.70 to 8.48 |
| Carpenters | 7.50 to 12.00 | 7.33 to 8.25 |
| Farm laborers | 3.40 to 4.25 | |
| Laborers, porters, etc | 5.50 to 9.00 | 4.50 to 5.00 |
| Painters | 6.00 to 12.00 | 7.25 to 8.16 |
| Plasterers | 9.00 to 15.00 | 7.68 to 10.13 |
| Plumbers | 12.00 to 20.00 | 7.13 to 8.46 |
| Printers | 12.00 to 18.00 | 7.52 to 7.75 |
| Shoemakers | 9.00 to 18.00 | 7.35 |
| Tailors | 6.00 to 18.00 | 5.00 to 7.30 |
| Tinsmiths | 9.00 to 12.00 | 6.00 to 7.30 |
THE BANKERS’ CLEARING HOUSE, LONDON.
Davenport, Iowa.
Tell us something of the purpose of the great Clearing House of London, and the amount of business done through it.
J. Brown.
Answer.—The Bankers’ Clearing House, London, is the medium through which bankers collect the checks and bills in their hands against other banks. Instead of presenting these checks and bills at each bank to which they are addressed, and receiving cash and notes in payment, clearing bankers settle the whole amount delivered during the day at this establishment in Postoffice Court, Lombard street, by receiving or paying the difference in the totals for or against them by a single check on the Bank of England. Every bank in London and the country is represented by clearing bankers, and as their agents send through the Clearing House all drafts payable in the city and in the country, the amount passing through this establishment every year is enormous. The total amount for the year ending April 30, 1882, was £6,382,654,000, or nearly $32,000,000,000. The total clearings of the Bankers’ Clearing House, Chicago, in the year ending Dec. 31, 1882, amounted to $2,366,526,185. This represented only the transactions of banks doing business in Chicago. It is estimated that the new rule as to settlement applied during the past year has reduced the total clearings nearly 25 per cent below what they would have been under the old rule. London is the center of exchange for the world, and the volume of its bank clearings must necessarily be enormously greater than that of any other city. The totals of bills, checks, and drafts passed through the London Clearing House, between 1869 and 1881 inclusive, foot up £68,010,643,000, or over three hundred and forty billion dollars. The rise and fall in trade not only in England, but in large degree the world over is mirrored in the annual records of these clearings for the period mentioned. Whereas in 1869 the total clearings were but 3,626,396,000 pounds sterling, they increased each year until 1873, when they amounted to £6,070,948,000. Then, in consequence of the widespread commercial depression the total trade transactions fell off, and the London bank clearings fell to £5,936,772,000 in 1874, £5,685,793,000 in 1875, and £4,963,480,000 in 1876, the lowest point touched. Not until 1880 did the clearings rise to nearly six billions again. In 1881, for the first time, did they reach and pass the total in 1873, indicating general business prosperity throughout the world.