Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/371

 ECCENTRIC OFFICIAL STATISTICS 357

an apparent decrease from 1880 to 1890 almost equal to the extraordinary increase shown from 1870 to 1880.

Regarding the tendency of the time Colonel Wright, as Chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics, remarked in the Sixth Annal Report of that bureau : " There seems within recent times to have occurred a change in the relation of wages to support, so that more and more the labor of the whole family becomes necessary to the support of the family. If we are right in our surmises that this is becoming more fixed and recognized from decade to decade, it certainly bodes no good to our future. The civilization of the nineteenth century, which seems to especially emphasize the home as its most prominent and valu- able institution, should not allow it to become necessary that anv but the husband and father should labor for its support and security."

In this report Colonel Wright shows at considerable length the manner in which the competition of the children reduces the earnings of the parent, and remarks : " It is likely that if by compulsion the children of the state be taken from work and put into school, there will be individual cases of suffering and hardship, but they will only be temporary. The rate of wages after a little time will readjust itself to the new state of things and the same amount of money, or somewhat near approxi- mately, will be earned by the head of the family as is now earned by him in conjunction with his children."

Thus, according to Colonel Wright, wages and the employ- ment of others than the head of the family are closely related and we should expect an increase in the proportion of our people engaged in gainful pursuits to be accompanied by falling wages. It is therefore somewhat surprising to find our great statistical authority, Colonel Wright, maintaining that the increased pro- portion of our people having gainful pursuits is evidence not only of increased opportunity but of increased equality of oppor- tunity {Forum, May 1895), and tna * wages and the condition of the wage earner have steadily improved since 1850 (Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 1897).