Some very interesting early statistical material was gathered by the late Carroll D. Wright, while chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. These data, which are about as reliable as any early statistics can be, show conclusively how much as a rule we exaggerate the good old times. Scarce as labor was at the dawn of American civilization, those whom circumstances compelled to be laborers received very meager pay. In Massachusetts about 1633 the wages of a master carpenter and master mason were about 33 cents a day; master tailors 27 cents per day. The average price of a bushel of barley was then 67 cents, of corn 48 cents, of wheat 81 cents, a pair of men's shoes were worth in 1672 about 83 cents. "A skilled laborer made in a week's work only enough," writes T. S. Adams, "to buy about four bushels of corn, between three and four bushels of peas, or between two and three bushels of wheat. Two and a half day's work was required to earn enough to buy a pair of rough shoes."3 The wages towards the end of the seventeenth century show no substantial change. The wages of the middle of the eighteenth century begin to show an increase and they progress steadily ever since. In Carroll D. Wright's report of 1885 we find the following data, for the daily wage. The agricultural laborers received in 1760 about 31 cents, in 1800 about 47 cents, 1830 about 80, 1860, $1.00, 1880, $1.31; blacksmiths in 1790, 69 cents, in 1820, 84 cents, 1830, $1.12, 1860, $1.69, 1880, $2.28; carpenters 1780, 52 cents, 1830, $1.07, 1860, $2.03, 1880, $2.42; common laborers 1780, 37 cents, 1800, 62 cents, 1830, 79 cents, 1860, 97 cents, 1880, $1.48; machinists 1840, $1.35, 1850, $1.62, 1860, $2.15. 1880, $2.49; masons 1780, 66 cents, 1830, $1.22, 1860, $1.53, 1880, $2.79; the wages of other occupations advanced in the same proportion. "Consolidating and averaging the wages. . . the

4

1 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Sixteenth Annual Report. Boston, 1885. Ibid., p. 429.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, 3d edition, New York, 1905, p. 505. 'Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Sixteenth Annual Report, Boston, 1885, pp. 454, 455.

general average increase in wages shown for the decade ending with 1860 as compared with that ending with 1830 is 52.3 per cent." This is Colonel Wright's conclusion. Consolidating the prices of various types of articles of consumption during the same period, "the general average percentage of increase in prices is found to be 9.6 per cent," figures sufficiently indicative of the improved financial condition of the workingman.

In an elaborate review of wages and prices of the period between 1860-1878 Carroll D. Wright comes further to the conclusion that the ascertained relations of wages and prices show

In 1878 an advance over 1860 of twenty-four and four-tenths per cent in average weekly wages, and an average advance in cost of living of fourteen and a half per cent, which means a pecuniary betterment of ten per cent in the general condition of the workingman in Massachusetts in 1878 as compared with 1860, no account being made of the decrease in the hours of labor in many industries.3

The recent industrial development records an even more substantial increase. Taking the year 1890 for 100 as a standard year, the wages show the following average rise throughout the United States in industry and agriculture.

This is an abbreviation of Adams and Sumner's table, in explanation of which Adams writes: "The year 1866 ushered in a new epoch, during which, it is no exaggeration to say, the

1 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Sixteenth Annual Report, Boston, 1885, P. 466.

• Ibid., p. 467.

3 Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Tenth Annual Report, p. 95.

Adams and Sumner, loc. cit., p. 514.

American workingman advanced in a manner unprecedented in this country in which steady progress has been the rule since the establishment of the Union."1

We regard it as superfluous seriously to argue further on the subject of the increasing misery of the American workingThose interested in the rise of American wages will find all the details in the Census reports, in the Aldrich Report (especially in parts III and IV) and in the Bulletins of the Bureau of Labor; in these pages we do not feel at liberty to tax the patience of the reader with further statistical data.

We trust that it is evident, that the experience of all industrial countries without exception shows a steady and unprecedented improvement in the conditions of the working class. The tendency which was to lead to a breakdown of our economic organization not only broke down itself, but developed a counter-tendency in the exactly opposite direction.

Yet what is the attitude of the theoretical leaders of so-called scientific socialism? They lack the good sense to acknowledge the facts, and are hedging behind subterfuges and interpretations which, while seemingly exonerating Marx on one point, reduce him to the level of a nonentity on all points, and they end up by hurling in defiance another prophecy: “Until a great world-change takes place the proletariat must reckon with the fact that the good times are over and that the regular increase in real wages has reached its end."3 And we often find expressed the fear and half-expressed the doctrinaire hope that technical developments, changes in the world market or in the political situation, may start the long-expected downward tendency. The rôle of the orthodox socialist in the whole matter is well characterized in what our lovable essayist, Samuel Crothers, has to say about Jonah.

1 Adams and Sumner, loc. cit., p. 511.

2

Especially in Bulletin 77, Wages and Hours of Labor, 1890-1907, and Retail Prices of Goods, 1890-1907. We call particular attention to the tables on pp. 4 and 10. Interesting also is the budget material in Bulletin no. 54, particularly the tables on pp. 1133 and 1147.

Karl Kautsky's, "Must the Proletariat Degenerate?" The International Socialist Review, February, 1909, p. 580.

Jonah was a prophet by profession. He received a call to preach in the city of Nineveh, which he accepted after some hesitation. He denounced civic corruption and declared that in forty days the city would be destroyed. Having performed this professional duty, Jonah felt that there was nothing left for him but to await with pious resignation the fulfilment of his prophecy. But in this case the unexpected happened, the city repented and was saved. This was gall and wormwood to Jonah. His orderly mind was offended by the disarrangement in his schedule. What was the use of being a prophet if things did not turn out as he said? and he was angry."

So we are told "it displeased Jonah exceedingly, Still he clung to his hope that, in the end, things might turn out badly enough to justify his public utterances.' VLADIMIR G. SIMKHOVITCH.

(To be continued.)

'S. M. Crothers, By the Christmas Fire. Boston, 1908, pp. 58, 59.

COLLEGE WOMEN AND RACE SUICIDE

HE fear of overpopulation, entertained by Malthus, has

TH yielded to the fear of race suicide. Exclusive of immi

gration, the population of France is little more than holding its own, and the old-time families of Massachusetts appear to be on the road to extinction. Birth rates are falling in England, in far-away Australasia and in practically every country where the influences of modern civilization are at work. The preventive checks, which Malthus recognized in his second essay but thought unimportant, appear in lower birth rates, and the positive checks which he emphasized are suspended. Not only the food supply but wealth in general has increased more rapidly than the population, and the level of well-being has risen. The striking fact is that marriage and birth rates are lowest among the well-to-do. In the face of these facts, some writers maintain that the higher education of women is an important factor in lessening marriages and births. Since the number of women attending college has greatly increased in recent years and promises to increase further, this position deserves investigation. Does collegiate training lessen the probability of marriage and maternity? It is my purpose to ascertain how far this question admits of statistical inquiry, and to weigh some considerations of a non-statistical character.

Three kinds of statistical tables are employed in studies of this subject.

I

I. Tables giving the percentage of graduates who have married, and tables giving the average number of births per married graduate. The table reproduced on the following page is illustrative. It indicates that the percentage married tends to grow with the age of the college. The percentage for any given class varies directly with the interval following graduation. It is at a maximum for the oldest classes and at

1 Cf. M. Carey Thomas, Education in the United States (edited by Nicholas Murray Butler, 1900), vol. i, pp. 354, 355.