Presented by e Worshibful Comb&ny of Goldsmiths. ¥ ■ 31 SOCIETY AS IT IS SOCIETY AS IT OUGHT TO BE; SOCIAL DISEASES AND SOCIAL REMEDIES. PART I. LIVERPOOL MERCHANT. //• 9 ^ 1 ) LIVERPOOL: MAY BE HAD OF THE BOOKSELLERS. 1847 . SOCIETY AS IT IS. In Golquhoun's great work, the “Wealth and Eesources of the British Empire,” published in 1813, will be found tables which he justly calls, “A Map of the Social State of the British Empire," drawn from official documents and other sources, the best that could be obtained on the subject. In these tables you find the number of the whole population in 1S12, and the annual income of the nation. The population was then about 17 millions, and their annual income about 130 millions of pounds sterling. You also find the population ranged,- in his map, into different ranks, classes, and employments, with the nearest ap¬ proximation that could be made to the number, income, and revenue of each class: In the following rearrangement of these tables all the sums are the same, and the whole arc included under the six following heads:— 1st, The Peoducebs of Wealth. 2nd, Capitalists, the Superintendents and Dibectobs of THE PbODUCEBS OF WEALTH. 3rd, Distbibutobs of Wealth. 4th, Teachebs and Eobmebs of Chaeactee. 5th, Governing Class. 0th, Nonpboducing and Idle Classes. PRODUCERS SECOND CLASS. SUPERINTENDENTS AND DIRECTORS OP LABOUR.' It is for the interest of society in general, and ought to be made the interest of every individual in society, that the superintendents and di¬ rectors of the wealth producers, the labouring classes, should bo pos¬ sessed of the requisite experience and capital to enable them to form large establishments, in the most convenient, pleasant, and healthy localities, arranged upon the most approved and most scientific principles, and to avail themselves of all the aid that chemistry, mineralogy, botany, agriculture, mechanics, mathematics, engineering, machinery, and the best inventions of all kinds, together with the most perfect division and subdivision of labour, the combination of all the various operations in one establishment for the commencement and completion of the articles produced, and the cheapest and most speedy modes of conveyance of the raw materials used, and of the finished articles produced, to and from the best markets; to the end that all articles should be produced in the largest quantities, of the best quality, and in the greatest perfection, in the shortest time, with the least labour and expense, and with the great¬ est amount of health, ease, and comfort to the producers. A great deal has been done already for the accomplishment of the above objects, as far as the interest and profits of the superintendents and directors of labour are concerned, but very little attention, comparatively, has hitherto been paid to the interest, health, and comfort of the labour¬ ers. Why do not manufacturers and masters study the neatness, clean¬ liness, health, and comforts of their workmen, in the erection of their dwellings and workshops, so that the idea of beauty and pleasure may be associated with ah their operations? In many cases this might bo done without any additional trouble and expense to themselves. When masters become Christians, loving their neighbours as themselves, this will be attended to. Associated homes, connected with each factory, in which the same attention is paid to the introduction of mechanical and scientific modes of preparing food, of lighting and wanning the building, washing of clothes, bathing, and other means of preserving the health, economizing the means, and increasing the happiness of their workmen, might at the same time be made profitable to themselves, and the great¬ est blessing to their country. As this class requires men of very superior talents and large expe¬ rience, they ought, in the present state of society, to receive a larger remuneration than the labourers for their services. CAPITALISTS, THE SUPERINTENDENTS, EMPLOYERS, AND DIRECTORS OP THE PRODUCERS OP WEALTH. THIED CLASS. DISTRIBUTORS OF WEALTH. "The business of this class is, first, the storage of -wealth in depots, warehouses, and shops ; secondly, the carriage of goods and the remit¬ tance of money from place to place, as the wants of the population re¬ quire ; thirdly, the sale or exchange of wealth, wholesale or retail. As these processes, as often as they are repeated, must each time add some¬ thing to the prime cost price of the articles (which consists of the time, labour, and materials expended in making them,) without increasing their real intrinsic value, it is evidently for the interest of society that goods should pass through as few hands as possible between the producer and consumer; and as experience proves that goods can be distributed (as weU as produced) in large establishments with much fewer hands and much less capital, in proportion to the business done, and consequently at less expense to the community, it is evidently the interest of society that distribution should he carried on upon a large scale and in large establishments, and not by innumerable petty dealers, as at present. In each city, town, and village, there should be one or more large retail stores, according to the population of each place, in the most con¬ venient situations, constructed in the best and most scientific manner, for stowing, preserving from damage, and dealing out all kinds of goods required by the inhabitants, with the least expense, time, and labour. Secondly, at all junctions of a number of railroads, and other suitable places, there should be large wholesale stores for foreign and home goods, for the supply of the retail stores in the towns and villages in the district, containing all kinds of goods used and consumed in such districts. Thirdly, besides these there should be, in all sea-port towns, large whole¬ sale depots for the reception of foreign goods and produce imported, and for British goods and produce intended for exportation, on the same plan as the Albert Dock, in Liverpool. Large grazing grounds, pens, styes, sheds, &c.. might be provided, at the railway junctions, for the reception and sale of sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, &c.; and market halls, as at pre¬ sent, would be required for the sale of butchers’ meat, fruit, vegetables, and other perishable articles. As this class produce no wealth, but merely carry goods, when made, from place to place, exchange money for money, goods for money, and money for goods, without adding one farthing to the real value of either, as few of this class should be employed as possible, consistently with efficient, economical distribution, and the convenience and comfort of the people generally. As the parties engaged in superintending this department must also be men of great talent and experience, they are entitled to a liberal remuneration; but, when society is properly organ¬ ized, this remuneration will not be by profits on prime cost, but by handsome salaries, in proportion to the amount of business done and talent required. 10 FOURTH CLASS. FORMATION OF CHARACTER. The proper business of this class is, the training of the whole popu¬ lation, to the highest extent of which their natures are capable, from infancy and through life, physically, intellectually, morally, and practi¬ cally, in order to make every individual wise, virtuous, useful, and happy. The individuals composing this class ought to be men and women of the greatest talents and the best characters, and their number should be commensurate to their great work, and no class can be more useful, im¬ portant, honourable, or more deserving of a liberal remuneration for their services. Large revenues have been devoted by the state, and by charitable individuals, to this class, for the church, for the universities, and for various secular institutions and schools for training youth, which, if wisely economized and their benefits justly distributed, would go far towards effecting all the purposes of this class; but any reasonable ad¬ ditional sum requied for these purposes would be wealth most benefi¬ cially expended. At present this class is not duly appreciated, and the most useful members are miserably underpaid. Man is compelled by his constitution or organization to receive his opinions and his feelings independently of his will. His opinions or his feelings, separately or unitedly, form his will or motive to act, and decide his actions; and what his opinions and feelings shall be, and consequently what his will, or motive, and actions shall be, depend upon the circumstances preceding his birth, which influence his organization, physical and mental, at birth, and the influence of the training he re- ceives and the circumstances which surround him from birth and through life. Hence man is entirely the creature of circumstances, and his char¬ acter is formed for him and not by him. The proper method of educa¬ tion, or formation of character, then, is to remove human beings entirely from all the inferior circumstances that produce ignorance, prejudice, and vice, and to surround them with those circumstances only that will produce wisdom, truth, virtue, and happiness. If, therefore, men were formed into communities of united interests, consisting of from 1000 to 8000 individuals, and separated from all the deteriorating influences of the present competitive state of society', and the rising generation, from a very early age, were to be placed in their large boarding schools, entirely under the care of a large number of properly qualified, wise, and virtuous teachers, a greater progress would be made in every thing that adorns and dignifies humanity, and a greater amount of happiness would be enjoyed by all, than we have hitherto seen in any part of the world. FORMERS OF CHARACTER, TEACHERS, EDUCATORS, 12 FIFTH CLASS. THE GOVERNMENT, GENERAL AND LOCAL. This class are the servants of the public, invested by the people with supreme power, and to the people they are responsible for using it aright —not for their own private advantage and aggrandizement, hut to enable them to administer impartial justice,—to suppress violence,—to defend the weak against the strong,—to protect the persons, property, rights, and privileges of all their fellow countrymen, both at home and abroad, —and to prevent poverty, ignorance, vice, and crime, by the adoption of the best possible system of national education, and by furnishing con¬ stant beneficial employment for the whole population, and by surrounding them with those circumstances only that have a tendency to produce knowledge, virtue, health, peace, and happiness. This is the business of all good governments. As the whole of this class are consumers and not producers, the expenses of government ought to be reduced as much as possible, consistent with the public peace and safety. A great pro¬ portion of the expenses of our government are not merely useless, but are highly injurious, fostering corruption, luxury, and idleness. GOVERNMENT, ITS CONNEXIONS AND ASSISTANTS. 13 14 SIXTH CLASS. IDLE, USELESS, AND MISCHIEVOUS CLASSES. Society is bound to provide for all the reasonable wants of the widow, the orphan, the infant, the aged, the sick, the infirm, the idiot, the in¬ sane, and others incapable of supporting themselves by labour; and is also bound to find labour and wages sufficient for their support to all persons who are not able to procure work for themselves. And all per¬ sons who are justly possessed of more wealth than they require for their present necessities, have a perfect right to abstain from labour, and live upon that surplus as long as it lasts; but no individual has any just claim to live upon the fruits of others’ labour, without giving an equiva¬ lent in return. The practice that has obtained, through a long period of time, in all countries colled civilized, of taxing the labour of the industrious classes, by means of monopolies, sinecures, exclusive privileges, interest of money, rents of houses, workshops, and lands, tampering with the currency, &c., has been the means of stripping those classes of the wealth they have produced, and reducing them to the lowest scale of existence, whilst the idle classes and the possessors of accumulated wealth have been rolling in luxury and abundance. This is fully exemplified in the statistical table of this class. This class, with the exception of the paupers, &c.— though they are generally useless to society—receive a larger proportion of the wealth produced by the labour of the people than any other class in society. The economy of the Bee is the economy of nature, and the only true, unsophisticated political economy for man. The bees collect a sufficient quantity of honey in summer to serve all the industrious hees through the ensuing winter, and as winter approaches, all the idle and useless bees are expelled. With the bees there are no rents, mortgages, or in¬ terest to be paid, and no private properly; but what was procured by the labour of all is freely enjoyed by all, and every bit of honey taken from the store makes their stock so much the less. Let Nature, or the God of Nature, therefore, teach man wisdom and the certain road to univer¬ sal prosperity and happiness. There must be want and misery among the industrious classes, so long as the drones and idlers are permitted to extract from them three-fourths of the produce of their honest labour. THE NON-PRODUCING, THE USELESS, AND THE MISCHIEVOUS CONSUMERS. ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF PROPERTY IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE, IN 1812, ACCORDING TO COLQUHOUN. £. £. Europe.— Great Britain and Ireland, including the Navy. 2,736,640,0001 Dependencies. 22,161,330} 2 ’' 58 ’ 801 ’ America. —British Possessions in North America. 46,575,3601 British West India Colonies. 100,014,864 Conquered West India Colonies.... 75,220,000J Africa. —British Settlements . 550,400] Conquered do. 4,220,100 j Asia. —British Colonies & Dependencies 11,2S0,000] Conquered do. 27,441,000 j 228,810,224 4,770,500 38,721,090 Territorial. —Possessions under the management of the East India Company . 1,072,427,751 Total. £4,090,530,895 The National Revenue of 430 millions is about 10} percent, per annum upon the whole National Capital.