an employment" may be included those occupations which bring respect, or contempt and dislike, upon those who practise them. The payment given in exchange for the services of officers in the army and clergymen is, as a rule, extremely small. Many, however, enter the church or the army on account of the social position which members of these professions obtain. The dignity accruing to their position is a compensation for the small remuneration which they receive. On the other hand, those who practise a trade which brings upon its members contempt and dislike are compensated by a large amount of wages. No one would voluntarily undertake the duties of a hangman, for example, if he were not induced to do so by the hope of receiving exceptionally large wages. It is not an uncommon circumstance for a nobleman to give his cook a higher salary than his private secretary. This may be partly accounted for by the fact that a certain amount of contempt attaches to the office of a man-cook, whereas the employment of a secretary is considered to be quite compatible with the character and position of an educated gentleman. Wages in any particular employment are also influenced by the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense, of learning it. There are many industries which require a long apprenticeship before skill in them can be secured; and there are other industrial operations which can be almost as well performed by a novice as by a practised hand. These differences produce a corresponding difference in the rates of wages. A T shipwright or a glass-blower has to spend many years in acquiring the skill which his trade requires. During the first half of a long apprenticeship he earns nothing at all; considerable expense is therefore incurred by him in learning his trade. For this expense, and for the difficulties which have to be overcome in acquiring the necessary skill, he will in after-life be compensated by receiving a higher rate of wages than those workmen whose occupation entails neither difficulty nor expense. The trade of a crossing-sweeper, for instance, and that of a copying clerk are very easy and cheap to acquire. A broom is all that is required in the one case, and a knowledge of reading and writing in the other. Hence wages in such employments are much smaller than those earned by the skilled mechanic. Difficulty of attainment is a most important element in determining wages in those employments where the requisite skill is acquired partly by long practice and partly from natural endowments. The large remuneration received by first-class opera singers, for example, is not due solely to the expense of acquiring their proficiency. An inferior singer may have taken quite as much pains to cultivate her voice, and may also have incurred as great an expense in obtaining her musical education. The reason why prima donnas obtain such large sums is that they possess what may be described as a natural monopoly. There is a very general demand for the best kind of vocal music, which few beside themselves can give. The same remark applies to some of the highest kinds of manual labour. The constancy or inconstancy of an employment produces an influence in the rate of wages prevailing in it. No one would enter an employment in which on an average he would only be able to work nine months in the year, if he were not compensated by receiving during these nine months an exceptionally high rate of wages. Some trades, such as malting, cannot be carried on in hot weather; others, such as building, are stopped by frost; dockyard labourers are liable to perpetual interruptions in their employment. Such workmen, therefore, as maltsters, bricklayers, and dockyard labourers, receive a higher rate of wages than they would be able to obtain if they were not liable to be frequently out of work. The amount of trust which must be reposed in those engaged in a particular occupation exercises a very great influence upon the wages they receive. The more trustworthiness required the higher must be the wages given. It is essential that such persons as bankers' cashiers, jewellers' assistants, engine-drivers, railway guards, policemen, and postmen, should be men in whom a considerable amount of confidence can with safety be reposed. Men are not placed in those positions until they have shewn their employer that the uprightness and steadiness of their characters can be relied on. When they have proved themselves to be trustworthy they can justly claim a higher rate of wages as a compensation for the responsibility which their position entails. In most trades the prospect of success is almost a certainty; an agricultural labourer or a journeyman tailor cannot have many doubts as to the probability of his succeeding in the trade he has chosen. Such considerations as these apply more to the professions than to trades; but there are some cases in which wages are influenced by the probability or improbability of success. A man who is about to emigrate may well feel that there is considerable uncertainty whether he will succeed in the new life upon which he is about to enter. He may not know whether he will find work in the colony to which he proposes to go; but he is certain that if he does get work he will receive higher wages than he could ever hope to earn at home. The fact that different rates of wages prevail in different employments does not in the least invalidate the principle previously laid down, namely, that wages depend on the ratio between the wages-fund and the number of the labouring population. If a cake is going to be divided between a party of children, it is perfectly correct to say that the quantity of cake which each will receive depends on the ratio between the size of the cake and the number of the children. It does not follow that each child will receive an equal share; but the average size of each share can be correctly ascertained by those who know the number of the children and the size of the cake. If there are twenty-four children and the cake weighs 1lbs., the average size of each child's share will be one ounce. One child may receive more, and another less, but while the number of the children and the size of the cake remain the same, the average size of the shares is unalterable. In the same way while the wages-fund and the number of the labouring population remain the same, the average rate of wages cannot be affected; if one set of labourers receives more, another must be receiving less. ROLL on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean—roll! |