GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. ENGLAND. BIRMINGHAM. Report, by Consul Gould, on the state of trade, cost of living, and rates of wages; for the district of Birmingham. In reply to the Department circular dated April 11, 1878, in reference to wages, cost of living, &c., I beg to say that I have carefully investigated the subject, and have to report in the accompanying statements the result of my inquiries. Business of every description is dull in this district; not more than one-third the goods are now sent to the United States that were sent five years ago. But the American trade is not exceptional; all other branches are equally depressed. American goods of many descriptions are gradually being introduced here, and with the revival of business there will probably be an increased demand therefor. I am not aware of any peculiarities in the manner of conducting business in this district, the credit being but short for safe customers, and cash or guaranty for those unknown or doubtful. It is customary with buyers to make deposits with bankers to be drawn upon as the goods are sent forward. None of the banks in this town issue paper money, and the law of England does not allow the issue of notes of less value than £5; so that all the wages and living expenses of the working people are paid in gold, silver, and copper. Notes are only used in large transactions, and soon find their way back to the banks. The Bank of England notes are available in all parts of the country, but the notes of provincial banks are only of use in the immediate neighborhood where they are issued. The poorer class of people seldom handle or see a bank-note of any description. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Birmingham, May 20, 1878. J. B. GOULD. Comparison of wages and cost of living in Birmingham and neighborhood in the years 1878 Comparison of wages and cost of living in Birmingham, &c.—Continued. ..per ton.. 4 50 64680 4 36 Coal. On the foregoing articles of provision there is an average increase of about 7 per cent. Shirtings: Brown, 4-4 Bleached, 4-4 Sheetings: Brown, 9-8.. Bleached, 9-8 Cotton-flannel Ticking. Prints M. de laine. per pair.. 10 13 14 17 10 30 13 Boots, elastic sides.. On the foregoing fabrics there has been a decrease of about 14 per cent. On the foregoing there has been an increase of about 14 per cent. in five BRADFORD. Report, by Consul Shepard, on the rates of wages, cost of living, past and present rates, present state of trade, and business habits and systems of the district of Bradford. With respect to the Department circular of April 11, 1878, I have the honor to transmit a tabulated statement, which will, I think, pretty fully answer the first and second inquiries. THE WORKINGMEN'S FOOD. Fifteen or twenty years ago the farm-laborer, the navvy, the factoryhand, &c., in fact, nearly all the lower orders, ate but little meat and lived largely upon oatmeal and vegetables; but at present they consume fully four times as much flesh-meat as formerly, and not unfrequently purchase the choicest cuts; hence, the cost of living is enhanced pretty much in accordance with the patronage they give the butcher. Of the articles of food mentioned in the accompanying "food price-list," the laboring classes consume more or less. LABOR EDUCATIONAL STATUTES. The law allows children between the ages of ten and thirteen to work but half-time, the employers being by the same statute ("Factory act," inclosure No. 2*) obliged not only to provide instruction for the other half of the time, but are prohibited from employing these children unless certified by the schoolmaster (inclosure No. 3*) to have attended school the requisite number of years. At thirteen all children are freed from compulsory school attendance. I have not unfrequently met the statement that this education is an injury, rather than a blessing, to all concerned; to the laborers, because it makes them discontented with their lot, and leads them to seek easier and more genteel occupations, such as writing and shop-tending; to the employers, because it makes them the target of the workingman's jealousy and envy, the workman looking upon the capitalist as a natural enemy, and upon the employer's profits as more largely his by right. I draw attention to this reasoning not because of its significance, but as a unique and, strange to say, rather prevalent specimen of logic. RELATIONS BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL. Years ago, and for a long time, there was great reciprocity between the employer and the employé, the former looking after the latter in time of sickness and need, and the latter guarding religiously the interests of the former; in fact, it is still so to a large extent in Yorkshire; but, unhappily, this mutual good feeling has nearly or entirely died out in many other parts of England. No doubt there is fault on both sides, but I am bound to say, from all I can learn, that the calamity must be laid much more to the greed and exactions of the employed than to the selfishness of the employers. PAST AND PRESENT RATES OF WAGES. In prosecuting query No. 3, I find that for three years previous to the middle of 1877 but little variation had taken place in the rates of wages *Factory act. (See Appendix to this volume.) among the working classes; in fact, so little as to be hardly worthy of note. About June, last year, however, a general reduction was made in nearly all trades, and from time to time since still further curtailment has been found necessary. Strikes and disastrous riots in some localities have been the result, accounts of which have, of course, reached the Department through the newspapers. It may be seen, therefore, that America does not monopolize the riotous element of the world. The last great advance in wages was about 1871-an increase of from 25 to 30 per cent. This increase was, however, more the result a system by which one hand could attend additional machines than in consequence of a direct augmentation of per-diem compensation. All that advance has, however, been lost since last year. PRESENT CONDITION OF TRADE. In meeting the fourth question, I can only make the answer which must reach the Department from every quarter, namely, that trade in all branches is extremely bad. In this district, interested so largely in American trade, the fictitious demands following our civil war and the Franco German war led manufacturers into large outlays for extensions and additional plant, which they now find double what are needed to meet the demand. It is hard perhaps, because unpleasant, for Yorkshire merchants and manufacturers to realize that, on account of largely increased home manufacture, the demand from the United States, Germany, and other countries can never again be what it has been, and they almost feel that by our manufacturing we are infringing upon their prerogative, and that in failing to buy of them we fail to perform our bounden duty. BUSINESS HABITS AND SYSTEMS. In each manufacturing center there is an open market or exchange, and each center has its "market days." Bradford, for instance, has its market days on Mondays and Tuesdays. On these days extra trains come from all directions, bringing a great number of dealers, who visit the centers not only to buy the finished article, but to sell the raw material. I may say that the foreign buyer, or customer, scarcely ever purchases direct from the manufacturer, but that he almost invaribly buys through a merchant. Sometimes, to be sure, the merchant is a manufacturer, but not generally. Frequently the manufacturers invent their own designs and patterns, and submit them to the merchant, stating the prices, he adding a profit and forwarding them to his foreign customers. Still more frequently, however, the merchat purchases cloth "in the gray," and sends it to the dyer and finisher, to be completed according to his own ideas and patterns; but so vigilant are the merchants, that the manufacturer actually fears and generally refuses to deal directly with the foreign buyer, lest he lose through the merchant's antagonism more than he gains by direct sale to the purchaser. Again, but few manufacturers take wool in the bale and turn it out finished cloth. Oftener the wool is bought of the woolstapler by the woolcomber, or "topmaker"; he sells to the spinner, and the spinner to the manufacturer; the latter disposes to the merchant, who, as I have said, sends the cloth on his own account to the dyer and finisher. It is claimed for this division of labor that it insures a better article at a cheaper price, upon the principle that a man who makes a specialty of any particular branch of manufacture can work best and most economi cally. Certainly the practice tends to localize certain industries and build up manufacturing centers. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, C. O. SHEPARD. Bradford, June 14, 1878. Statement showing the rates of wages in Bradford and vicinity. make) Cartman.. Warehouseman. Collier (average 50 cents per ton, and at that rate usually Police force: Chief superintendent, with house Superintendents of division ..per week.. - per day.. 1 50 Inspectors.. Public works: Streetsweepers.. Laborers... Repairers of street-paving.. Gas-meter inspectors Gas-stokers.. |