One thousand dollars a day. Studies in practical economics

Name: One thousand dollars a day. Studies in practical economics
Author: Knapp, Adeline

Knapp, Adeline

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction; Short stories, American; United States -- Economic conditions -- 19th century -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY.
                    STUDIES IN PRACTICAL ECONOMICS.

                                   BY

                             ADELINE KNAPP.

[Illustration]

                                 1894:
                     THE ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY,
                      COPLEY SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS.

                   COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY ADELINE KNAPP.

                         [All rights reserved.]

                               DEDICATED

                                 TO THE

                        THOUGHTFUL MEN AND WOMEN
                              OF AMERICA.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               CONTENTS.

 INTRODUCTION                                                          5

 ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY;
   A FINANCIAL EXPERIMENT                                             11

 THE SICK MAN;
   A FABLE FOR GROWN-UP BOYS AND GIRLS                                42

 THE DISCONTENTED MACHINE;
   AN ECONOMIC STUDY                                                  73

 GETTING AHEAD;
   A SKETCH FROM LIFE                                                101

 THE EARTH SLEPT;
   A VISION                                                          125

                             INTRODUCTION.

It seems to me that the accompanying little sketches are timely. A deal
of thinking must be done by all classes of people before any solution is
attempted of the problems in economics that are pressing upon us, and
any factor that will help turn the general mind to this unwonted
exercise may be termed a useful one.

There is one sketch for which I wish to make a special plea. “The
Discontented Machine” has been criticised as teaching a false principle
in economics.

We are told that never before in the history of the world did labor
absorb so great a proportion of the gains that would otherwise accrue to
capital. It is claimed that fully ninety per cent. of the entire income
of the United States is paid for wages and salaries.

On the other hand, it must be stated that the individual laborer is
worse off to-day, in this free country, than he was twenty, or even ten
years ago. The census returns of 1880 showed the average wage among
laborers in the United States to be less than $7 per week. The returns
of 1890 show that wage to be less than $5 per week.

And yet we are told that labor absorbs ninety per cent. of the income of
the United States. This is an enormous percentage to flow in one
direction, and seems ample refutation of the laborer’s claim that even
at this rate he does not get enough.

This leads to the question whether the laborer really does get his share
of return from the results of his labor, and in “The Discontented
Machine” I have tried to show a very curious phase of this question, and
one which I do not remember to have seen touched upon elsewhere.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

One thousand dollars a day. Studies in practical economics

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