Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1910 — AMERICAN WAGE EARNERS. [ARTICLE]

AMERICAN WAGE EARNERS.

Coselsaioß of a British Statistician After Investigation. A special commissioner of the London Statist, writing from New York, devotes the first of a series of letters to the savings of the people of the United States. "I have,” he says, "come to the conclusion that- the rate of wages in tM« country 1* much higher In proportion than In Great Britain, after taking Into account the purchasing power of the wages, and that after meeting all expenditures the wage earners aarh

year save a substantial average sum, which they place in savings banks, or which they use for the purchase of securities, houses, land, businesses, etc. In answer to my questions, my Informants have supplied me not only with the rate of wages they are earning, but also with the average sums they save from year to year, and a number of employers have confirmed the statements as to the large savings of their employes. There can be no doubt that the savings of the masses reach a great sum in the aggregate, and largely contribute to swell the savings of the nation. “It will be realized that the savings of a nation in which practically every one is able to save reach to a vast figure. An eminent American banker of International repute, with whom I discussed the question of America’s savings during my passage here, estimated the total savings of the United States at nearly a year. Since my arrival I have sought to form an Independent estimate, based upon a great variety of data, and I have come to the conclusion that the annual savings of this country are over £1,000,000,000, and that the amount Is growing steadily greater from year to year. This estimate tallies with the conclusions of the government officials, who calculated the wealth of the country in 1900 at about £18,000,000,000, and In 1904 at £22,000,000,000, an Increase In.four years of about £4,000,000,000, or an average of £1,000,000,000 per annum. The rate of interest Is greater than the average of the four years to 1904. “These large savings are mainly lavested in new houses and In new buildings of various kinds and descriptions. The population of the United States Is growing at the rate of about 1,400,000 per annum, and the mere housing of this additional population Involves the construction of over 300,000 new dwellings per annum. The progress of the United States Involves the construction of a great number of pew houses at the upper as well as .the lower end of the scale. Not only is there a natural Increase In the population of the wealthier classes, but tljere Is going on all the time a process of expansion and uplifting, a process which Is reflected In the vast number of expensive houses which are erected from year to year."