If one estimates by the laborer's power to purchase wheat, the workman of about 1650 could well sing with "Ignorance" in the Percy Ballads, who informs us: (c) SIR FREDERICK MORTON Eden, "State of the Ever since the time of Sir William Petty, there has been much discussion, and a mass of statistical literature has been gathered, regarding wages, workingmen's budgets and poor laws. All of this argument grew out of the appalling condition of the laborers in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Aroused by their plight, Sir Frederick Morton Eden wrote a treatise of great worth entitled "State of the Poor" (1797), a book which deals with the diet of laborers, their earnings and expenses, and the prices of articles of consumption. 10 Percy, Folio of Old English Ballads, 1910 ་་ Rogers J E. Thorold, History of Agriculture and Prices in England" 1887, Vol. VI, p. 4: The years 1596-7 were the periods of famine and this stress precipitated the Poor Laws. *The quarter is a measure of 8 bushels and 64 gallons. The Windsor quarter was supposed to have equalled 9 bushels. Eden collected, during January and February of the year 1796, records of the amounts of wages and expenses of approximately fifty-three families in England. His investigations included five families from Clopshill, in Beds; four from the vicinity of Carlisle; four from Buckden in Hunts; six from Hinksworth in Herts; six from the vicinity of Oxford; and four from Stogursey in Somerset. The average earnings of a family in Beds amounted to 11s 9d ($34.31*) a week, ranging from 9s ($26.28*) to 14s 6d ($42.34*), but the wages do not equal the expenditures, as the average deficiency amounted to £3 15s 9d ($220.18). Again, at Carlisle, the average earnings of a family were 10s ($29.20*) per week, but the average deficiency was £3 2s 4d ($182.01*). In Hunts, the average weekly earnings of a family equaled 9s 3d ($27.01*), but the average deficiency was £2 15s 4d ($161.57*). And so on through the entire group of fifty-three families. The poor rate reached the figure of £4,000,000 ($233,592,000*) at this time, but, nevertheless, the laborers seemed to be unable to secure the average comforts.11 11 See Rogers, J. E. Thorold, "Work and Wages," 1902, pp. 123–4. Davidson, J. Morrison, Annals of Toil," 1899, pp. 201-2: 66 HUSBANDRY WAGES IN COIN AND IN WHEAT (1495-1832) (d) INVESTIGATIONS OF P. G. F. LE PLAY (1855-1879) The next writer of living conditions of any worth was P. G. F. Le Play, a professor of metallurgy in Paris, who published a most remarkable series of studies of working men's budgets during the years 1855-1879. This most exhaustive contribution to economic investigation covered the conditions of labor among working men in the European countries; the cost of living in different localities, with a brief history of the customs prevalent in various regions; besides much minute data regarding all matters relating to the domestic life of the families with whom he lived and whom he microscopically studied. ECONOMIC LAWS OF LE PLAY As a result of his painstaking endeavors of a whole life time, there are two laws in economics which he deduced, i. e.: First. The smaller the income the greater the proportionate expenditure for food. Second. The proportion expended for food is a sure index of the material prosperity of a people.12 (e) INVESTIGATIONS OF DR. ERNST ENGEL These maxims have been amplified by Le Play's disciple, Ernst Engel, the German statistician, who formulated his four wellknown laws, after the most careful investigation of expenditures of numerous families. ENGEL'S FOUR LAWS The four laws of Dr. Engel are the model of the world for all subsequent investigation on the standard of living, and they still hold true, i. e.: 1. As the income of a family increased, a small percentage of it was spent for food. 2. As the income of a family increased, the percentage of expenditures for clothing remained approximately the same. 3. With all incomes investigated, the percentage of expenditure for rent, fuel, and light remained invariably the same. 19 Le Play, F., "Les Ouvriers Europeens," 1879. |