Tabular statement of the state of trade and the labor market.--Continued.

SCOTLAND.

Report, by Consul-General Badeau, of London, on the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank.

Referring to the recent failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, Scotland, which has of course been known in the United States from the date of its occurrence, I have the honor to state that it is difficult in these days, when every circumstance connected with such an event is telegraphed almost from hour to hour, to be certain that a report on the subject is not completely forestalled and useless when it arrives at the Department. There seem, however, to be some results of this failure which may possibly not have been caught up in the returns sent across the wires-results which elevate the misfortune into a commercial event, and make it worthy of consideration in the United States as well as in Great Britian. Some of these could not be perceived at first, and are only appreciated after full knowledge is obtained, and a calmer judgment has been able to consider them. Even now all is not entirely clear, but enough is known for some account of them to be offered.

The City Bank of Glasgow was one of the commercial institutions of Scotland most trusted by the community where it existed, as is evident by the fact that its £100 shares sold for £240 the day before the failure. It had 133 branches, with 750 employés, and for fifteen years its dividends had been steadily increasing from 5 per cent. in 1863, until in 1877 they had reached 12 per cent. The character of the directors stood high; the transactions of the bank were considered irreproachable; and on the 1st October its current deposits amounted to £2,500,000.

On that day, October 1, it stopped payment. The affairs of the bank were at once subjected to an investigation by competent accountants, who have since reported a deficiency of £5,190,983, in addition to the capital stock of £1,000,000, This deficiency was caused in the main by the acceptance by the directors of bad securities; securities of such a character that, when they were examined by the banks which were consulted before the stoppage, it was decided to be inexpedient to render the assistance applied for.

This great disaster at once affected the entire commercial community of Great Britain. Something very like a panic occurred. The Bank of England's rate went up from 5 to 6 per cent.; runs were made on other banks; several other large failures occurred both in Scotland and in England, though none of anything like the importance of that which was their cause; and the general depression in trade which had previously existed was enhanced. These effects have not yet disappeared, but it is believed that the worst has been experienced. The banks, without exception, have so far been able to stand the run made against them, and though uneasiness still exists and possibly more failures may occur, the gloomiest apprehensions at first entertained in some quarters have happily not been realized.

There are, however, two points of view from which this calamity appears to differ from or to transend any that has recently occurred. The bank was one of unlimited liability, and the stockholders have already been called upon to make good the losses of the creditors to the extent of five times their original investments. The number of really wealthy stockholders is said to be small; the great majority being persons of limited means, principally clergymen and other professional men, farmers, tradesmen, or women, whose little fortunes were all invested in this institution. These, of course, are utterly unable to meet the demand upon them, and, in most cases, can with difficulty pay what amounts to the first value of the stock. They are ruined absolutely; while the loss, heavier in amount though hardly more severe in reality, falls upon a comparatively few, who are reduced in one day from affluence to poverty. It has been estimated that a score and a half of stockholders under the call mentioned must furnish millions. When the reply to this first call is exhausted, another is to be made upon those who have anything left, and so on till the debt is liquidated or the stockholders are all pennyless.

Those taking stock to a large extent were doubtless aware of their liabilities and chose to incur the risk, which, however, probably seemed remote, but among the smaller investors many women and persons unused to practical business, it is believed, were utterly ignorant that they were liable for any sum beyond their original investment. Universal sympathy has been expressed for these, and it is proposed to raise a fund by subscription to relieve in some degree the suffering which the failure has occasioned.

But, besides this distressing feature of the present calamity, there is another which provokes comment and commiseration. According to English law, trustees investing in such stocks are personally liable as if they were the actual investors, while the beneficiaries of the trust, who in this case have been the recipients of the large dividends yielded by the stock, are free from any liability. This state of the law comes upon the unfortunate trustees with crushing force. Their liability is also unlimited,

and many who have been acting for others, and often receiving no personal benefit from their labors, will now be obliged, if they can, to make good a loss from which those for whom they act may not suffer at all. The only possible remedy of the trustees will be against the beneficiaries, and this depends entirely upon the wording of the deed of trust, which in many instances does not provide for such an emergency.

The conduct of the directors, who are answerable for all, is hardly susceptible of explanation. They appear in the first instance to have advanced large sums to their friends and connections in business on securities which no business man should have accepted, and over £5,790,000 of which the accountants value at only £1,521,000; and when this conduct could no longer be fairly and honorably concealed, to have entered upon a system of false returns to the Government and false accounts generally, which lasted for years, until finally it could no longer be maintained without exposure. When the bank applied for relief and was obliged to submit its books to examination the character of the securities was at once apparent and occasioned the refusal of aid, upon which its downfall followed. Then came the investigation of accounts, which has disclosed the state of affairs described.

There seems to be some doubt as to whether the directors who are implicated in these transactions benefited individually by them or whether it was in the first place only to assist friends and business connections, that they displayed the fatuity of accepting utterly insufficient securities. The principal persons concerned have been arrested and will be held answerable to the courts.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL,

ADAM BADEAU.

London, November 1, 1878.

NETHERLANDS.

Report, by Mr. Birney, minister resident of the United States at the Hague, on labor and the laboring classes of the Netherlands.

In the present antagonism between capital and labor in the United States, I cannot aid your inquiries better than by giving facts in regard to the price of labor and the condition of laborers in Holland.

In this country, upon an area of somewhat more than 20,000 English square miles, there live four millions of people. There perhaps cannot be found elsewhere an equal number occupying a similar area in which a larger amount of wealth has been accumulated in individual ownership, and in which the operatives or producers are more contented, and in possession of more of the ordinary needs of life, and less embarrassed by debt.

The average compensation of laborers in Holland does not exceed one-third of the average compensation of the same class in the United States. (I may note here that when I speak of prices, it will be more convenient to the reader to use the terms of the United States currency, the Holland florin, or its 100 cents, being of the same value as 40 cents United States.) The ordinary workman in this country receives from 40 to 60 cents per day, according to the number of hours in which he may have worked. It will not be amiss to remark that the difficulty which has often threatened to be serious in the United States has been satisfactorily solved here by paying the workman by the hour, and giving him the privilege to work as many hours as he pleases. The result is, that the time of work, instead of being less than ten hours, is almost invariably in excess. Some continue at work ten, some eleven, some twelve, and others even thirteen or fourteen hours. During the summer months there are eighteen hours of daylight in this latitude. They can commence the working-day at five or six o'clock in the morning, rest for breakfast between seven and eight, rest for second meal between twelve and one and a half, and the third time between four and five, quitting at any time before dark, which does not set in at that season until nine or nine and a half o'clock. That I may speak reliably, I have before me the time-book of the superintendent of the workmen of a large brick building being constructed for one of the government departments. The highest rate to the bricklayers is 7.20 cents per hour; others received from 5.20 cents to 6 cents per hour. So that, for a day of ten hours, the best received 72 cents, the inferior 52 cents, and at the same rate for additional hours, many of them making fourteen hours per day. Men employed in sweeping the streets of the city receive 40 cents per day. Farm hands in the country receive less. Nor is this low rate of compensation confined to those called laborers. It pervades all callings. The policemen of the city are paid from $2.80 to $4 per week; letter-carriers are paid at the same rate; well-trained men-servants who speak more

than one language offer their services for from $8 to $10 per month; female cooks, for from $3 to $4 per month; housemaids, for from $2.50 to $3.50 for the same time. An experienced coachman hires for $15 per month, and supports himself, wife, and child upon this sum.

Efficient merchant-clerks receive $300 to $600 per annum; school teachers in acad emies receive from $400 to $500, and the rector or principal of the chief high school in the city receives $1,100 per annum. The annual allowance for members of Parliament is $800, and for ministers of state or cabinet officers $5,000 per annum. Barristers are regarded as at the top of the profession when their receipts reach $8,000.

Sitting one day at dinner with a very intelligent and prominent officer of the government, I inquired of him how it was possible for employés to live upon such meager wages. 'Possible!" said he; "they live very well; and experience has shown that the laborers have more saved, as a general rule, at the end of the year at the present rate than when the compensation was higher.

After many inquiries and some consideration given to the subject, I infer that the laboring population maintain themselves by the low rates of compensation for the following reasons:

1. They are accustomed to a careful economy. If their wages are only $3 per week, they will live within that amount by denying themselves indulgence in the more costly articles. For purposes of revenue the Government treats meat and sugar as luxuries, and a tax is assessed upon so much of these articles as may be consumed within the country. They are therefore very sparingly used by workingmen. Meat is of higher price here than in the United States, and this price is kept up by the demand in the London market, where all that Holland can spare finds ready sale. On account of cheap labor, vegetables and other products of the farm sell very low. The cheaper grains are used for bread. The laboring man obtains his rent at a reasonable rate. As he lives chiefly in towns and cities, he takes an apartment or so much space as he actually needs for his family. Rents are low, because the taxes upon real estate are very moderate. In his dress he adopts the style and material that has been in use for many years. This can be made up at home, without resort to the shops. It he is employed on damp ground, he uses the wooden instead of leather shoes. Many articles he uses are as much lower in price than the same articles in the United States as the rate of his wages is lower than those given there. This difference in price may be illustrated by an example. Holland and the United States each import the stock or body of the silk hat from the same country. When you go into a store here to buy the article, after it has passed through the hands of the operatives, you will be charged only $2.80 for the best quality, but you may pay for a similar article in the cities of the United States the sum of $8; and a like disparity will be found in the price of linen goods and other articles of ordinary wearing apparel.

2. Their economy is promoted by the careful preparation and prompt execution of the laws of their country.

All the laws are prepared and proposed by the ministers of state, having each in his department the responsibility of the conduct of the Government. They propose nothing for which they do not anticipate the approval of a majority of both branches of the legislative assembly. When a bill is introduced, it is subject to all the amendments that may occur to any of the members. If, after being thus thoroughly considered, it passes into law, it is duly respected by all concerned, and its provisions are thoroughly and efficiently executed. The consequence of this care is that but few laws are passed, and those already passed are not frequently altered by amendments. All subordinates who have any share in their administration are faithful in their application. The result is that litigation is diminished in a remarkable degree. Judges and magistrates are selected discreetly and from men of solid character and ripe experience. Certainty in the execution of the law is so invariable, that very few of the minor differences among men find their way into the courts. Disagreements between employers and employés have ready solution without the aid of attorneys or magistrates. The costs and fees of frivolous actions are in this way saved. In the city of the Hague, having a population of 100,000, there are only about a dozen lawyers who subsist upon practice at the bar.

3. The laboring population do not incur the expense of time and money connected with the excitement of political strife. Political elections here proceed as quietly as any other matter of business. Candidates for office are selected from men so well known to electors, that scarcely any one deems it necessary to give them any more information than they already have. Processions, mass-meetings, and addresses to crowds are not in fashion. The Government, in regulating the extent of suffrage, has regard to the protection of property, by making the right dependent upon a property qualification. Every citizen in the Hague who pays taxes equal to $20 can vote; and every citizen in Amsterdam who pays taxes equal to $50 votes. So that the limitation is affected by the size of the city in which the voter exercises the privilege of suffrage. In the country it is as low as $8. By long usage a candidate here has nothing to do with urging his own claims for office. A member of Parliament may be elected from