VIII. feldom, indeed, hear of this combination, be- CHAP. cause it is the ufual, and one may fay, the natural ftate of things which nobody ever hears of. Mafters too fometimes enter into particular com. binations to fink the wages of labour even below this rate. These are always conducted with the utmost filence and fecrecy, till the moment of execution, and when the workmen yield, as they fometimes do, without refiftance, though fe-. verely felt by them, they are never heard of by other people. Such combinations, however, are frequently refifted by a contrary defenfive combination of the workmen; who fometimes too, without any provocation of this kind, combine of their own accord to raise the price of their labour. Their ufual pretences are, fometimes the high price of provifions; fometimes the great profit which their masters make by their work. But whether their combinations be offenfive or defenfive, they are always abundantly heard of. In order to bring the point to a speedy decifion, they have always recourfe to the loudeft clamour, and fometimes to the most shocking vio, lence and outrage. They are defperate, and act with the folly and extravagance of defperate men, who must either starve, or frighten their masters into an immediate compliance with their demands. The mafters upon thefe occafions are juft as clamorous upon the other fide, and never ceafe to call aloud for the affiftance of the civil magiftrate, and the rigorous execution of thofe laws which have been enacted with fo much feverity against the combinations of fervants, labourers, H 3 I. BOOK bourers, and journeymen. The workmen, accordingly, very feldom derive any advantage from the violence of those tumultuous combinations, which, partly from the interpofition of the civil magiftrate, partly from the fuperior steadiness of the masters, partly from the neceffity which the greater part of the workmen are under of fubmitting for the fake of present subsistence, generally end in nothing, but the punishment or ruin of the ringleaders, But though in difputes with their workmen, mafters must generally have the advantage, there is however a certain rate, below which it seems impoffible to reduce, for any confiderable time, the ordinary wages even of the lowest species of labour. A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at leaft be fufficient to maintain him. They must even upon moft occafions be fomewhat more; otherwife it would be impoffible for him to bring up a family, and the race of fuch workmen could not laft beyond the first generation, Mr. Cantillon feems, upon this account, to fuppofe that the lowest species of common labourers muft every where earn at least double their own maintenance, in order that one with another they may be enabled to bring up two children; the labour of the wife, on ac count of her neceffary attendance on the chil, dren, being fuppofed no more than fufficient to provide for herself. But one-half the children born, it is computed, die before the age of man, hood. The pooreft labourers, therefore, aç cording VIII. cording to this account, muft, one with another, CHAP. attempt to rear at least four children, in order that two may have an equal chance of living to that age. But the neceffary maintenance of four children, it is fuppofed, may be nearly equal to that of one man. The labour of an able-bodied flave, the fame author adds, is computed to be worth double his maintenance; and that of the meaneft labourer, he thinks, cannot be worth lefs than that of an able-bodied flave. Thus far at least seems certain, that, in order to bring up a family, the labour of the hufband and wife together muft, even in the loweft fpecies of common labour, be able to earn fomething more than what is precifely neceffary for their own maintenance; but in what proportion, whether in that above mentioned, or in any other, I fhall not take upon me to determine. There are certain circumstances, however, which fometimes give the labourers an advantage, and enable them to raise their wages confiderably above this rate; evidently the lowest which is confiftent with common humanity. When in any country the demand for thofe who live by wages; labourers, journeymen, fervants of every kind, is conținually increafing; when every year furnishes employment for a greater number than had been employed the year before, the workmen have no occasion to combine in order to raife their wages. The fcarcity of hands occafions a competition among mafters, who bid against one another, in order to get workmen, and thus voluntarily break through H 4 BOOK through the natural combination of masters not to raise wages. I. The demand for those who live by wages, it is evident, cannot increase but in proportion to the increase of the funds which are deftined for the payment of wages. Thefe funds are of two kinds: first, the revenue which is over and above what is neceffary for the maintenance ; and, fecondly, the stock which is over and above what is neceffary for the employment of their mafters. When the landlord, annuitant, or monied man, has a greater revenue than what he judges fufficient to maintain his own family, he employs either the whole or a part of the furplus in maintaining one or more menial fervants. Increase this furplus, and he will naturally increase the number of thofe fervants. When an independent workman, fuch as a weaver or fhoe-maker, has got more ftock than what is fufficient to purchase the materials of his own work, and to maintain himfelf till he can dispose of it, he naturally employs one or more journeymen with the furplus, in order to make a profit by their work. Increase this furplus, and he will naturally increase the number of his journeymen. The demand for thofe who live by wages, therefore, neceffarily increases with the increase of the revenue and ftock of every country, and cannot poffibly increase without it. The increase of revenue and ftock is the increase of national wealth. The demand for thofe who live by wages, wages, therefore, naturally increases with the CHA P. increase of national wealth, and cannot poffibly increase without it. * It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increafe, which occafions a rife in the wages of labour. It is not, accordingly, in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fafteft, that the wages of labour are higheft. England is certainly, in the prefent times, a much richer country than any part of North America. The wages of labour, however, are much higher in North America than in any part of England. In the province of New York, common labourers earn three fhillings and fixpence currency, equal to two fhillings fterling, a day; fhip carpenters, ten fhillings and fixpence currency, with a pint of rum worth fixpence fterling, equal in all to fix fhillings and fixpence fterling; houfe carpenters and bricklayers, eight fhillings currency, equal to four fhillings and fixpence fterling; journeymen taylors, five fhillings currency, equal to about two fhillings and ten pence fterling. Thefe prices are all above the London price; and wages are faid to be as high in the other colonies as in New York. The price of provifions is every where in North America much lower than in England. A dearth has never been known there, In the worst feafons, they have always had a fuf. This was written in 1773, before the commencement of the late difturbances. VIII. ficiency |