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WHY WAGES SEEM LOW

The widening of the sphere of one’s surroundings, and a larger acquaintance with other men and their pursuits, have long been recognized as not productive of content. Writing to his nephew a hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson thus concisely expressed the results of his observation: “Traveling,” he says, “makes men wiser, but less happy. When men of sober age travel they gather knowledge, but they are, after all, subject to recollections mixed with regret; their affections are weakened by being extended over more objects, and they learn new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home.” Again, as the former few and simple requirements of the masses have become more varied and costly, the individual effort necessary for the satisfaction of the latter is not relatively less, even under the new conditions of production, than before,—and in many instances, is possibly greater. Hence, notwithstanding the large advance in recent years in the average rate of wages, and their increased purchasing power, there is no less complaint than formerly of the cost of living; when the foundation for the complaint is for the most part to be found in the circumstance that a totally different style of living has been adopted; and that society makes conformity with such different style a standard of family respectability.—Hon. A. D. Wells.

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— September, 1888 —