--------+------------+-----------+------------+---------+------------ | Products | Number of | Product | Cost of | Average | in | workers. | per worker | labour | yearly | 1000 lbs. | | in lbs. | per lb. | income. --------+------------+-----------+------------+---------+------------ | | | | s. d. | £ s. d. 1819-21 | 80,620 | 250,000 | 322 | 15 5 | 20 18 0 1829-31 | 143,200 | 275,000 | 521 | 9 0 | 19 18 0[229] 1844-46 | 348,110 | 210,000 | 1658 | 3 5 | 24 10 0 1859-61 | 650,870 | 203,000 | 3206 | 2 9 | 30 15 0 1880-82 | 993,540 | 246,000 | 4039 | 2 3 | 39 0 0 --------+------------+-----------+------------+---------+------------ The same holds good of the growth of the cotton-weaving industry in America, as the following table shows:-- +------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ | | Yearly | Cost of | Yearly | | | product | labour | earnings | | | per worker. | per yard. | per worker. | +------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ | | Yards. | Cents. | Dollars. | | 1830 | 4,321 | 1.9 | 164 | | 1850 | 12,164 | 1.55 | 190 | | 1870 | 19,293 | 1.24 | 240 | | 1884 | 28,032 | 1.07 | 290 | +------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ Of Germany and Switzerland the same holds. Every improvement of machinery increasing the number of spindles or looms a worker can tend, or increasing the pace of the machinery and thus enlarging the output per worker, is attended by a higher weekly wage, and in general by a shortening of the hours of labour. A detailed comparison of England, the United States, and the Continent, as regards the present condition of the cotton industry, yields the same general results. A comparison between England and the United States shows that in weaving, where wages are much higher in America, the labour is so much more efficient as to make the cost of production considerably lower than in England; in spinning, where English wages are about as highly paid, the cost of production is lower than in America (p. 156). A comparison between Switzerland and Germany, England, and America, as regards weaving, yields the following results (p. 151):--