Wages and subsistence of foreign labourers.
We now add a digest of the foreign answers to the corresponding questions, and also to Question 6: “What can women and children under 16, earn per week in summer, in winter, and in harvest, and how employed?” a question as to which the English answers do not admit of tabular statement.
We have arranged the answers under seven heads: 1. Wages of artisans; 2. of agricultural labourers; 3. of labourers whom the author of the return appears not to have included in either of the other two classes; 4. of women; 5. of children; 6. of the labourer’s wife and four children; and 7. the food on which the supposed family could subsist, on their average annual earnings and means of living.
|ARTISANS, Per Day. | |AGRICULTURISTS. | | |OTHER LABOURERS. | | | |WOMEN. | | | | |CHILDREN. | | | | | |WIFE and Four Children. | | | | | | |SUBSISTENCE. | | | | | | | AMERICA: | | | | | | | MASSACHUSETTS, p. 683 |First-rate, 2 to 3 dollars, others, 1½ dollars, 6_s._ 9_d._; |overseers, per year, 1500 to 3500 dollars. | |Per day, in harvest, 1 to 1½ dollars; per month, with board and | |lodging, 14 to 18 dollars during summer and autumn (six months,) | |some all the year; others during the other six months, 10 to 12 | |dollars a month. | | |Per year, 250 to 300 dollars, i.e. 56_l._ 5_s._ to 67_l._ | | |10_s._ | | | |At factories per week, 2½ to 5 dollars. | | | | |. . . . | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | |There are very few who do not eat meat, | | | | | | |poultry, or fish twice or three times a | | | | | | |day. | | | | | | | NEW YORK, p. 158 |Dollar and a half; one-fourth less in winter and dull times. | |Per month, 1_l._ 10_s._ to 2_l._ 5_s._, with board, washing, and | |mending; per day, in harvest, 4_s._ 6_d._ with board | | |3_s._ 6_d._ per day; 44_l._ per year. | | | |Per day, 1_s._ 6_d._ to 3_s._ 6_d._ | | | | |Early enfranchised | | | | | |The children quit their parents and shift | | | | | |for themselves. The wife may earn 1_s._ | | | | | |6_d._ to 3_s._ 6_d._ a day. | | | | | | |A family united could subsist well on | | | | | | |their aggregate earnings have tea, | | | | | | |coffee, and meat twice a day. | | | | | | | MEXICO, p. 690 |Double the wages of the agriculturists. | |1_s._ to 1_s._ 4_d._ per day | | |. . . . | | | |Enough for their support. | | | | |Enough for their support. | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | |Most certainly. The common food of | | | | | | |working people in Mexico is maize or | | | | | | |Indian corn, prepared either as | | | | | | |porridge (atole,) or in thin cakes | | | | | | |(tortillas,) and beans (frijoles,) like | | | | | | |the white beans so much in use in | | | | | | |France, with addition of chile, a | | | | | | |speckle of the hot pepper, of which | | | | | | |they eat enormous quantities by way of | | | | | | |seasoning. In the town wheaten bread | | | | | | |forms a part of the food of the lower | | | | | | |classes, and meat occasionally. | | | | | | | CARTHAGENA DE COLUMBIA, p. 166 |. . . . | |. . . . | | |Per day, town, 2_s._, country, 1_s._ to 1_s._ 6_d._; in | | |year, about 12_l._ | | | |As servants, about one- third a man’s wages. | | | | |Under 16, as servants, about one-third a man’s | | | | |wages. | | | | | |Per year about 50_l._ (supposed to include a | | | | | |man’s wages, but even then apparently | | | | | |excessive.) | | | | | | |Very comfortably; chiefly on animal | | | | | | |food. VENEZUELA, p. 163 |. . . . | |Per day, 1_s._ 6_d._ with usual provisions. | | |. . . . | | | |1_s._ 1½_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ per day. | | | | |Under sixteen 1_s._ 1½_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ per | | | | |day. | | | | | |15_l._ per year. | | | | | | |Maize cakes, with vegetables and fruit, | | | | | | |form the chief aliments of the peon and | | | | | | |his family; and they can with little | | | | | | |difficulty subsist, if they choose to | | | | | | |work, on their aggregate earnings. | | | | | | | MARANHAM, p. 693 |Per day, 1_s._ | |Generally slaves; where hired they earn about 17_s._ a month, | |and food. | | |. . . . | | | |. . . . | | | | |. . . . | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | |The necessaries of life are few, and | | | | | | |easily obtained. | | | | | | | BAHIA, p. 731 |2_s._ per day; 25_l._ per year. | |. . . . | | |. . . . | | | |Women and children, | | | |nothing | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | | URUGUAY, p. 723 |. . . . | |Herdsmen, slaves, or guachos, 8 dollars a month, by the year. | | |. . . . | | | |. . . . | | | | |. . . . | | | | | |. . . . | | | | | | |A family may subsist on the labour of | | | | | | |the husband alone, and have a meal with | | | | | | |meat three times a day. | | | | | | | HAYTI, p.
