[198] These figures may be computed, for instance, from the data
contained in “The Ninth Annual Report of the Commissioner of
Labour of the United States, for the year 1893: Building and Loan
Associations.” In this country the cost of a workman’s cottage is
reckoned at about £200, which would represent 700 to 800 days of
labour. But we must not forget how much of this sum is a toll raised
by the capitalists and the landlords upon everything that is used in
building the cottage: the bricks and tiles, the mortar, the wood, the
iron, etc.
APPENDIX.
A.--BRITISH INVESTMENTS ABROAD.
The important question as to the amount of British capital invested
in the colonies and in other countries has only quite lately received
due attention. For the last ten years or so one could find in the
“Reports of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue” a mention of the
revenue derived from British capital invested in foreign loans to
States and Municipalities and in railway companies; but these returns
were still incomplete. Consequently, Mr. George Paish made in 1909
and 1911 an attempt at determining these figures with more accuracy
in two papers which he read before the Statistical Society.[199]
Mr. Paish based his researches on the Income Tax, completing these
data by special researches about private investments, which do not
appear in the Income Tax returns. He has not yet got to the end of
his investigation; but, all taken, he estimates that the yearly
income received by this country from abroad from different sources
reaches £300,000,000 every year.
B.--FRENCH IMPORTS.
About one-tenth part of the cereals consumed in France is still
imported; but, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter, the progress
in agriculture has lately been so rapid that even without Algeria
France will soon have a surplus of cereals. Wine is imported, but
nearly as much is exported. So that coffee and oil-seeds remain
the only food articles of durable importance for import. For coal
and coke France is still tributary to Belgium, to this country,
and to Germany; but it is chiefly the inferiority of organisation
of coal extraction which stands in the way of the home supply. The
other important items of imports are: raw cotton (from £12,440,000
to £18,040,000 in 1903-1910), raw wool (from £15,160,000 to
£23,200,000), and raw silk (from £10,680,000 to £17,640,000), as well
as hides and furs, oil-seeds, and machinery (about £10,000,000).
The exports of manufactured goods were £80,000,000 in 1890, and
in subsequent years from £119,000,000 to £137,000,000. Exports of
textiles, exclusive of yarn and linen, £29,800,000 in 1890, and
£34,440,000 in 1908-1910; while the imports of all textiles are
insignificant (from £5,000,000 to £7,000,000).
C.--GROWTH OF INDUSTRY IN RUSSIA.
The growth of industry in Russia will be best seen from the
following:--
1880-81. 1893-94. 1910.
Cwts. Cwts. Cwts.
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