[173-1] A merely momentary rise in wages might be the result of a great calamity, destructive of human life, and might seduce workmen not intellectually prepared for it into idleness. Compare von Taube, Beschreib. von Slavonien etc., II, § 4.
[173-2] On the necessity of free wages, that is of an excess over and above the costs of support and of maintaining one's position, see Roesler, Grandsätze, 394.
[173-3] Dans aucune histoire on ne rencontre un seul trait, qui prouve que l'aisance du peuple par le travail a nui à son obéissance, (Forbonnais.) This is true only of well governed countries. When, in England, about the middle of the eighteenth century, a great improvement took place in the condition of the laboring classes, Postlethwayt (Great Britain's commercial Interests, 1759) was one of the first to recognize its general beneficial character; also Th. Mortimer. (Elements of Commerce, Politics and Finance, 1774, 82 ff.) Benjamin Franklin, before the American revolution, was of opinion that high wages made people lazy. (On the Price of Corn, 1776. On the laboring Poor, 1768.) He afterwards, however, acknowledged its generally good effect, and that even the products of labor might be cheapened thereby. (On the Augmentation of Wages, which will be occasioned in Europe by the American Revolution. Works II, 435 ff.) See further, Paoletti, Veri Mezzi di render felici le Società, ch. 15; Ricardo, Principles, ch. 5; Th. Brassey, on Work and Wages, 1872. Umpfenbach, Nat. Oek, 181, calls the costliness of labor to the purchaser of labor, "givers' wages," their purchasing power to the laborer himself, "receivers' wages," and is of opinion, that as civilization advances, the former declines and the latter rises.
[173-4] When in the department of the Tarn flesh food was introduced among journeymen smiths instead of mere vegetable diet, the sanitary improvement that followed was so great that the number of days lost by sickness in a year decreased from 15 to 3. (Moleschott.)
[173-5] In high stages of civilization, it is always more profitable, the result being the same, to keep a few well fed cattle than many poorly fed. (Roscher, Nationalök. d. Ackerbaues, § 179.) Infra, § 231. When the drainage of Oxford street in London was made while wages were rising, it happened that the cubic foot of masonry work at 10 shillings per day was cheaper than it was formerly at 6 shillings per day. (Brassey, 68 ff.) Senior calls it an absurdity to consider the high wages paid in England as an obstacle in the way of its successful competition with other countries. Rather would he consider it as the necessary result of the excellence of English labor. Thus, in his Lectures on the mercantile Theory of Wealth, p. 76, he says that if the English employ a part of their labor injudiciously, they must pay it not in proportion to what it really accomplishes, but to what it might do if well employed. If a man calls in a doctor to cut his hair, he must pay him as a doctor. If he puts a man to throwing silk who might earn 3 ounces of silver a week spinning cotton, he must pay him weekly 3 ounces of silver, although he may deliver no more silk within that time than an Italian who gets only 1½ ounces.
[173-6] Norfolk country workmen never worked more than 10 hours a day except in harvest and seed time. But a plowman there accomplished as much in 5 days as another in 8. (Marshall, Rural Economy of N., 138.) In southwestern Germany, the country working day is from 2 to 4 hours shorter than in the northeast, and yet just as much is accomplished in the former quarter. (von der Goltz, Ländl. Arbeiterfrage, 88, 131.) Thus the coal diggers of South Wales work 12 hours a day, those of Northumberland, 7; and yet the same achievement is 25 per cent. dearer in case of the former. In the construction of the Paris-Rouen Railroad, the English achieved more than the French, although the former worked from 6 A. M. to 5:30 P. M., and the latter from 5 A. M. to 7 P. M. (Brassey, 144 ff.) Examples from English manufactories in Marx, Kapital, I, 401 seq. In an English factory the hours worked were 12, and afterwards, 11. This caused the number of attendants of the evening school to grow from 27 to 98. (Horner.) Dollfuss, in Mühlhausen, reduced the number of hours worked from 12 to 11, and let the wages remain the same as before. The result was besides a great saving made in fuel and light, a surplus product of at least 1-2/3 per cent. Something similar observed by M. Chevalier, Cours, I, 151.
Hence J. Möser, Patr. Ph., III, 40, desired, on this account, that work in the evening should be prohibited by law. In England, not only the moral necessity, but also the economic general utility of leisure time of workmen has been defended, among others by Postlethwayt, Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, I, prelim. Discourse, 1751. A beautiful law, V Moses 24, 15. Only, care must be taken not to go to the other extreme, which is still more detrimental to personality. The North American ideal of 8 hours a day for work, 8 for eating, sleeping, etc., and 8 for leisure, would be injurious except to workmen intellectually very active. But the provision to be met with in many states of the Union and in the arsenal employ of the government, that in case of doubt, the work day is to be tacitly assumed as of 8 hours, has, it is said, correspondingly lowered wages. See supra, § 168.
[173-7] In India, where the institution of caste is found, nearly half the year is made up of feast days, while in rationalistic China there is no Sunday and very few general holidays. (Klemm, A. Kulturgeschicht. VI, 425. Wray, The practical Sugar Planter, 1849.) The Judaic-Christian sanctification of the seventh day is a happy medium between these two extremes. Recuperation and collectedness get their due without its costing too much to action. Ora et labora! Compare Sismondi, N. P. II, ch. 5. Which is best, traveling on foot, to drag along all the time, or to walk decently and rest properly between times? The rest of Sunday, even leaving the work of recuperation and edification out of account, is necessary in the interests of the family and of cleanliness. The French decadis accomplished materially even too little: ils ont à faire à deux ennemis, qui ne cèderont pas, la barbe et la chemise blanche. (B. Constant.) Hence, an English prize essay on the material advantages of Sunday found 1,045 competitors among English working men. (Tübinger Zeitschr., 1851, 363.)
[173-8] Thus Parkinson, A Tour in America, complains that with four servants in the house, he was obliged to polish his own shoes, and with his wife and children to milk the cows, while his people were still asleep. Strange servants bringing a message, come in with their hats on. All domestics are called mister or misses. Servant maids are called "helps," and their masters, "employers." If a person at a hotel asks for a laundress, he is answered: "Yes, man, I will get a lady to wash your clothes." Similarly in Fowler, Lights and Shadows,... three Years' Experience in Australia. But, at the same time, it is remarkable how seldom a native born white American accepts a fee. On the other hand, Russia is the classic land of fees. There is a popular story in that country to the effect that when God divided the earth among the different nations, they were all satisfied except the Russians, who begged a little drink-money or fee in addition, (von Haxthausen, Studien, I, 70.) Similarly in Egypt. (Ebers, Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1873, 31 seq.) The system of feeing servants holds a middle place between the modern system of paying for everything lawfully and the medieval system in which people either rob, donate or beg.
[173-9] Compare Garve in Macfarlan, 90. The wages of English wool workers in 1831 amounted to: