the commercial emporium of the southwest. These three institutions, which, in the view of the law are not distinct mints, but rather branches of the mint, are respectively managed by superintendents, who are under the control of the director of the parent mint. The branches went into operation in the year 1838. Their coinage is uniform with that of the establishment at Philadelphia, being systematically tested there for approval.

The whole mint establishment, thus constituted, is itself a bureau or branch of the treasury department of the general government, and is under the supervision of the secretary of the treasury.

The coinage at the principal mint in 1843 amounted to $6,530043 20; comprising $4,062,010 in gold, $2,443,750 in silver, and $24,283 20 in copper coins, and composed of 10,405,233 pieces. The deposites of gold, within the year, amounted to $4,107,807, and those of silver to $2,357,830.

At the New Orleans branch mint, the coinage amounted to $4,568,000; comprising $3,177,000 in gold, and $1,391,000 in silver coins, and composed of 4,030,239 pieces. The deposites for coinage amounted to $3,138,990 in gold, and $1,384,320 in silver.

The branch mint at Dahlonega received, during the year, deposites of gold to the value of $570,080, and its coinage amounted to $582,782 50; composed of 98,452 half-eagles, and 36,209 quarter-eagles. The branch mint at Charlotte received deposites of gold to the value of $272,064, and its coinage amounted to $287,005; composed of 44,353 half-eagles, and 26,096 quarter-eagles..

The whole coinage in the United States, during the past year, amounts to within a small fraction of $12,000,000, and exceeds, by more than one-half, that of any former year. Of this coinage, more than $8,000,000 is in gold; showing a greater proportion to silver than has heretofore been presented.

The branch mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega have each coined nearly double the amount which they have reached in any former year, and the New Orleans mint nearly quadruple.

VI. STATE DEBTS

Amount and Character in 18521

The attempts of the states to build internal improvements very generally failed, and as a consequence they found themselves burdened with heavy debts. In 1852 the debts and resources of the different states were as follows:

1 Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1852 Agriculture. (Washington, 1853), 418-19.

CHAPTER XVI

POPULATION AND LABOR, 1820-1860

I. CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN LABORER

A. Prosperity of the American Laborer, 18361

Travelers in the United States before the Civil War often remarked about the prosperous condition of the American laborer. There was no great wealth in the hands of individuals; and there was little poverty. There was plenty of food and clothing for all and those necessities were very evenly distributed. Conditions that obtained in Europe among the working classes were almost unknown in the United States, where laborers were scarce and wages relatively high. An English traveler, the Honorable Charles Augustus Murray, gave his impressions of the situation as follows:

In examining the structure of society in any country, it would seem natural to commence with that class which forms its basement or foundation. If such be the proper course in examining the condition of other countries, more especially must it be so in America, where, the operative or labouring class is possessed of privileges and power so great as to render it, in fact, master both of the government and of the constitution. I am well aware that the phrase "labouring class" is distasteful in the United States to those to whom it is applied; but that is of little consequence, so long as the reader understands that I use it in reference to all labourers and artisans, and to those in general who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow. It is this class, this broad basis of society, which strikes the traveller in America with the greatest surprise and admiration, and of which the native American may be justly proud. Pauperism, that gaunt and hideous spectre, which has extended its desolating march over Asia and Europe, destroying its victims by thousands, even in the midst of luxury and wealth, has never yet carried its ravages into the United States: this is a blessing of which it is to be feared that few appreciate the magnitude, and which is, of itself, a preponderating weight in the balance of national happiness.

1 Travels in North America. By Charles Augustus Murray (London, 1839), II, 297-8.

Among the thousands and tens of thousands whom the tide of emigration annually pours into the Atlantic seaports, and many of whom arrive without money or friends, or health, or skill wherewith to procure subsistence, great numbers suffer the extremities of hardship and want, especially in the neighbourhood of the towns where they are set ashore; but these cases can have no reference whatever to the internal condition of the United States; and it is a fact no less surprising than pleasing to record, that, during two years spent in traveling through every part of the Union, I have only once been asked for alms, and that once was by a female who was very unwell, and who, although decently dressed, told me that she wanted a bit of money to buy some food.

B. Unfavorable View of American Labor, 18431

There were those, however, who took a pessimistic view of American laboring conditions, due in some cases to a preconceived determination to see only the worst side, and in other cases to disappointments, caused by not finding conditions as favorable as they expected them to be.

[January 20]. . . It is much easier to obtain employment, at present, in the United States than in England; but in this respect they are getting into a worse and worse condition. The manufacturers, in the East, have introduced all our improvements in machinery, (and the effects are the same as in this country) they are making very large quantities of goods; competition is increasing, prices are very much reduced, and the wages of labour, generally, throughout the States and Canada, have been reduced from thirty to fifty per cent within the last four years, and wages are still reducing in some parts of the country, in spite of their trades' unions and democratic institutions; and, if competition continue, no parties can prevent wages from falling as low there as they are in England, and this within a comparatively short period. Wages in America are not much higher, even now, than they are with us. Agricultural labourers can be hired, in Illinois and other states, for from eight to twelve dollars per month. Smiths and mechanics for from twelve to eighteen dollars per month, with board. The boarding of labourers of all kinds is almost universal in the small towns and villages in the agricultural districts. They think nothing of board and lodging in the west; it can be found them well for from $1 to $1.50 or 4 s. to 6 s.

1 Documentary History of American Industrial Society. Edited by John R. Commons and others (Cleveland, 1910), VII, 47-51. Printed by permission of the publishers, The Arthur H. Clark Company.

per week. At Baltimore iron works the labourers earn about 2 s. 8 d per day, and the head men, at the furnaces, get about $1, or 4s. per day. In Pittsburg the wages of the labourers, at the iron works, is about the same. A few of the principal workmen, at the iron works, earn as much as $2 per day. At the founderies and engineering establishments, at Paterson, near New York, the average wages of labour throughout the works is only about 4s. 6d. per day now; and this may be taken as a fair average of the wages of engineers [machinists] and founders, in the eastern cities; great numbers were out of employ when I landed, in May last; but the trade is much better, and very few are out of work now. In the great lead district of Galena there are about 40 smelt works, and first-rate smelters earn 25 s. per week; second-rate smelters, 18 s. per week; labourers at the smelt works, 16s. per week, and carters, 15s. per week, all without board; but wages are paid in Galena with cash, not in truck, as in most places. The miners were getting 5 s. 8d. per 112 lbs. for their lead ore, and pig lead was selling at 9s. 6d. per cwt., 112 lbs. The wages of labour was double what it is now, in Galena, in 1838. Great quantities of sale shoes and boots are made in and about Salem, in Massachusetts; the workmen can earn only about 16s. per week; and the shoes are sold as cheap as sale shoes are sold in England. Tailors generally get good wages, but they are not usually well employed; their wages are about 6 s. per day. Bricklayers, stonemasons, and plasterers earn as much as tailors. This will give some idea of the rate of wages.

us.

The price of fuel, and the rents of houses for labourers are very high in all the eastern states; food is also much higher there than in the west. It is highest at Boston and New York, but even there, food is from 25 to 50 per cent cheaper than in Liverpool. Rents are high in all parts of the Union, and clothing is higher than it is with Wood fuel can be had for merely the expense of cutting and preparing in most parts of the west. On the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi the steam-boats are supplied at from 4s. to 6s. per cord of 8 feet by 4 feet, and 4 feet high, and coals can be had at Pittsburg, and on the Ohio, for less than 5 s. per ton. Pork, beef, and mutton are bought in Indiana, Illinois, and other western states, at from 1 d. to 1 d. per lb. Our friend C. F. Green, killed a cow in New Harmony while we were there, and he could scarcely sell it at that price, on credit. A whole carcass of good mutton sells there for a dollar, eggs are sold at 2 d. per dozen, good fowls at 4 s. per dozen, butter at 3 d. to 4 d. per lb., Indian corn 7 d. to 10 d. per bushel, wheat at $.50