Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/270

 248, or are likely to come into operation, that will probably neutralize the theoretical conclusion that a reduction in hours will reduce the output.

The reduction in the hours of miners during the last fifty years has been very great, and, though it has occurred during a period in which many legislative restrictions have been placed on mines, yet the production of coal has steadily increased. In 1854 the output was sixty-four million tons; in 1889 it was one hundred and seventy-six million tons. It is quite evident from these figures that any tendency towards a decrease of the output arising from the action of the legislature or the reduction in hours has been altogether counterbalanced by other forces tending to increase the output. There is no reason to suppose that the operation of these forces has come to an end.

The reduction that has already taken place in the hours of labour in mines may be gathered from a comparison of the Return of the Home Office with the Report of the Royal Commission of 1842 appointed to inquire into the employment of women and children in mines. The hours of women and children were the same as those of men. Fifteen hours a day was common in Scotland and in Cumberland; fourteen hours were worked in Derbyshire and some parts of Yorkshire. Twelve hours were the rule in other parts of England. The Home Office gives the hours of hewers for 1890 as varying from thirty-seven to fifty-two per week, showing a very large decrease.

The total output of coal depends on many circumstances. If mathematical language may be used, it may be said that the output is a function of many variables, of which the number of hours worked per man is only one. These circumstances or "variables" fall into two classes: (1) those tending to increase the output of a particular mine, and (2) those tending to develop new coal-fields.

Looking at the former class, the first point to notice is that a reduction in hours tends to increase the efficiency of the miner. The table on the next page, compiled from the Mineral Statistics for 1887, gives the output per man for the leading coal districts.

It appears from this table that in South Staffordshire and Durham, where less than eight hours per day are worked by the hewers, the output per hewer is higher than in any other coal-field. It is true that in Durham double shifts are worked, and the underground men who are not hewers remain more than eight hours in the mine; but in South Staffordshire only one