On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures/Chapter 17

by Charles Babbage

CHAP. XVII.

OF PRICE AS MEASURED BY MONEY.

(201.) The money price at which an article sells furnishes us with comparatively little information respecting its value, if we compare distant intervals of time and different countries; for gold and silver, in which price is usually measured, are themselves subject, like all other commodities, to changes in value; nor is there any standard to which these variations can be referred. The average price of a certain quality of different manufactured articles, or of raw produce, has been suggested as a standard; but a new difficulty then presents itself; for the improved methods of producing such articles render their money price extremely variable within very limited periods. The annexed table will afford a striking instance of this kind of change within a period of only twelve years.

Prices of the following Articles at Birmingham, in the undermentioned Years.

Description.			1818.		1824.		1828.		1830.
		Þ	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.
Anvils		cwt.	25	0	20	0	16	0	13	0
Awls, polished, Liverpool		gross	2	6	2	0	1	6	1	2
Bed-screws, 6 inches long		gross	18	0	15	0	6	0	5	0
Bits, tinned, for bridles		doz.	5	0	5	0	3	3	2	6
Bolts for doors, 6 inches		doz.	6	0	5	0	2	3	1	6
Braces for carpenters, with 12 bits	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	set	9	0	4	0	4	2	3	5
Buttons, for coats		gross	4	6	6	3	3	0	2	2
Buttons, small, for waistcoats, &c.	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	gross	2	6	2	0	1	2	0	8
Candlesticks, 6 in., brass		pair	2	11	2	0	1	7	1	2
Curry-combs, six barred		doz.	2	9	2	6	1	5	0	11
Frying-pans		cwt.	25	0	21	0	18	0	16	0
Gun-locks, single roller	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	each	6	0	5	2	1	10	1	6
Hammers, shoe, No. O		doz.	6	9	3	9	3	0	2	9
Hinges, cast-butts, 1 inch		doz.	0	10	0	71/2	0	33/4	0	23/4
Knobs, brass, 2 inches for commodes	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	doz.	4	0	3	6	1	6	1	2
Latches for doors, bright thumb	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	doz.	2	3	2	2	1	0	0	9
Locks for doors, iron rim, 6 inches	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	doz.	38	0	32	0	15	0	13	6
Sad-irons & other castings	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	cwt.	22	6	20	0	14	0	11	6
Shovel & tongs, fire-irons,		pair	1	0	1	0	0	9	0	6
Spoons, tinned table		gross	17	6	15	0	10	0	7	0
Stirrups, plated		pair	4	6	3	9	1	6	1	1
Trace-chains		cwt.	28	0	25	0	19	6	16	6
Trays, japanned tea, 30 inches	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	each	4	6	3	0	2	0	1	5
Vices for blacksmiths, &c.		cwt.	30	0	28	0	22	0	19	6
Wire, brass		lb.	1	10	1	4	1	0	0	9
——, iron, No. 6		bund	16	0	13	0	9	0	7	0

(202.) I have taken some pains to assure myself of the accuracy of the above table: at different periods of the years quoted the prices may have varied; but I believe it may be considered as a fair approximation. In the course of my inquiries I have been favoured with another list, in which many of the same articles occur; but in this last instance the prices quoted are separated by an interval of twenty years. It is extracted from the books of a highly respectable house at Birmingham; and the prices confirm the accuracy of the former table, so far as they relate to the articles which are found in that list.

Prices of 1812 and 1832.

Description.			1812.		1832.		Reduction per cent. in price of 1812.
			s.	d.	s.	d.
Anvils		cwt.	25	0	14	0	44
Awls, Liverpool blades		gross	3	6	1	0	71
Candlesticks, iron, plain			3	103/4	2	31/2	41
——————, screwed			6	41/2	3	9	41
Bed screws, 6 inch, square head	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	gross	7	6	4	6	40
——————, flat head		gross	8	6	4	8	45
Curry-combs, 6 barred		dozen	4	01/2	1	0	75
——————, 8 barred		dozen	5	51/2	1	5	74
——————, patent 6 barred	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	dozen	7	11/2	1	5	80
—————————, 8 barred		dozen	8	63/4	1	10	79
Fire-irons, iron head, No. 1.		. . .	1	41/2	0	73/4	53
—————————, No. 2.		. . .	1	6	0	81/2	53
—————————, No. 3.		. . .	1	81/4	0	91/2	53
—————————, No. 4.		. . .	1	101/2	0	101/2	53
Gun-locks, single roller		each	7	21/2	1	11	73
Locks, 11/4 brass, port. pad		. . .	16	0	2	6	85
———, 21/2 inch 3 keyed till-locks		each	2	2	0	9	65
Shoe tacks		gross	5	0	2	0	60
Spoons, tinned, iron table		gross	22	6	7	0	69
Stirrups, com. tinned, 2 bar	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	dozen	7	0	2	9	61
Trace-chains, iron		cwt.	46	91/2	15	0	68

Prices of the principal Materials, used in Mines in Cornwall, at different periods.^[1]

(ALL DELIVERED AT THE MINES.)

Description.			1800.		1810.		1820.		1830.		1832.
		Þ	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.
Coals		wey	81	7	85	5	53	4	51	0	40	0
Timber (balk)		foot	2	0	4	0	1	5	1	0	0	10
——— (oak)		foot	3	31/2	3	0	3	6	3	3
Ropes		cwt.	66	0	84	0	48	6	40	0	40	0
Iron, (common bar)		cwt.	20	6	14	6	11	0	7	0	6	6
Common castings		cwt.	16	0			15	0	8	0	6	6
Pumps		cwt.	16&	17	17&	18	12&	15	6	6	6	10
Gunpowder		100lbs.	114	2	117	6	68	0	52	6	49	0
Candles			9	3	10	0	8	9	5	11	4	10
Tallow		cwt.	72	0	84	0	65	8	52	6	43	0
Leather		lb.	2	4	2	3	2	4	2	2	2	1
Blistered steel		cwt.					50	0	44	0	38	0
2s. nails		cwt.	32	0	28	6	22	0	17	0	16	6

(203.) I cannot omit availing myself of this opportunity of calling the attention of the manufacturers, merchants, and factors, in all our manufacturing and commercial towns, to the great importance, both for their own interests, and for that of the population to which their capital gives employment, of collecting with care such averages from the actual sales registered in their books. Nor, perhaps, would it he without its use to suggest, that such averages would be still more valuable if collected from as many different quarters as possible; that the quantity of the goods from which they are deduced, together with the greatest deviations from the mean, ought to be given; and that if a small committee were to undertake the task, it would give great additional weight to the information. Political economists have been reproached with too small a use of facts, and too large an employment of theory. If facts are wanting, let it be remembered that the closet-philosopher is unfortunately too little acquainted with the admirable arrangements of the factory; and that no class of persons can supply so readily, and with so little sacrifice of time, the data on which all the reasonings of political economists are founded, as the merchant and manufacturer; and, unquestionably, to no class are the deductions to which they give rise so important. Nor let it be feared that erroneous deductions may be made from such recorded facts: the errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting true data.

(204.) The great diminution in price of the articles here enumerated may have arisen from several causes: 1. The alteration in the value of the currency. 2. The increased value of gold in consequence of the increased demand for coin. The first of these causes may have had some influence; and the second may have had a very small effect upon the two first quotations of prices, but none at all upon the two latter ones. 3. The diminished rate of profit produced by capital however employed. This may be estimated by the average price of three per cents. at the periods stated. 4. The diminished price of the raw materials out of which these articles were manufactured. The raw material is principally brass and iron, and the reduction upon it may, in some measure, be estimated by the diminished price of iron and brass wire, in the cost of which articles, the labour bears a less proportion than it does in many of the others. 5. The smaller quantity of raw material employed, and perhaps, in some instances, an inferior quality of workmanship. 6. The improved means by which the same effect was produced by diminished labour.

(205.) In order to afford the means of estimating the influence of these several causes, the following table is subjoined:

​ Average Price of ​		1812.			1818.			1824.			1828.			1830.			1832.
		£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
Gold, per oz.		4	15	6	4	0	0	3	17	61/2	3	17	7	3	17	91/2	3	17	101/2
Value of currency, per cent.	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	79	5	3	97	6	10	100			100			100			100
Price of 3 per cent. consols	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	593/4			781/4			935/8			86			893/4			821/2
Wheat per quarter		6	5	0	4	1	0	3	2	1	3	11	10	3	14	6	2	19	3
English pig-iron, at Birmingham	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	7	10	0	6	7	6	6	10	0	5	10	0	4	10	0	. .
English bar-iron, do.		. .			10	10	0	9	10	0	7	15	0	6	0	0	5	0	0
Swedish bar iron, in London, excluding duty of from 4l. to 6l. 10s. per ton	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	16	10	0	17	10	0	14	0	0	14	10	0	13	15	0	13	2	0

As this table, if unaccompanied by any explanation, might possibly lead to erroneous conclusions, I subjoin the following observations, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Tooke, who may yet, I hope, be induced to continue his valuable work on High and Low Prices, through the important period which has elapsed since its publication.

"The table commences with 1812, and exhibits a great falling off in the price of wheat and iron coincidently with a fall in the price of gold, and leading to the inference of cause and effect. Now, as regards wheat, it so happened that in 1812 it reached its highest price in consequence of a series of bad harvests, when relief by importation was difficult and enormously expensive. In December, 1813, whilst the price of gold had risen to 5l., the price of wheat had fallen to 73s., or 50 per cent. under what it had been in the spring of 1812; proving clearly that the two articles were under the influence of opposite causes.

"Again, in 1812, the freight and insurance on Swedish iron were so much higher than at present as to account for nearly the whole of the difference of price: and in 1818 there had been an extensive speculation which had raised the price of all iron, so that a part of the subsequent decline was a mere reaction from a previously unfounded elevation. More recently, in 1825, there was a great speculative rise in the article, which served as a strong stimulus to increased production: this, aided by improved power of machinery, has proceeded to such an extent as fully to account for the fall of price."

To these reflections I will only add, that the result of my own observation leads me to believe that by far the most influential of these causes has been the invention of cheaper modes of manufacturing. The extent to which this can be carried, while a profit can yet be realized at the reduced price, is truly astonishing, as the following fact, which rests on good authority, will prove. Twenty years since, a brass knob for the locks of doors was made at Birmingham; the price, at that time, being 13s. 4d. per dozen. The same article is now manufactured, having the same weight of metal, and an equal, or in fact a slightly superior finish, at 1s. 91/4d. per dozen. One circumstance which has produced this economy in the manufacture is, that the lathe on which these knobs are finished is now turned by a steam-engine; so that the workman, relieved from that labour, can make them twenty times as fast as he did formerly.

(206.) The difference of price of the same article, when of various dimensions—at different periods in the same country—and in different countries—is curiously contrasted in the annexed Table.

Comparative Price of Plate Glass, at the Manufactories of London, Paris, Berlin, and Petersburg.

Height.	Breadth.	LONDON.									PARIS.						BERLIN.			PETERSBURG.
		1771.			1794.			1832.			1825.			1835.			1828.			1825.
Inch.	Inch.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
16	16	0	10	3	0	10	1	0	17	6	0	8	7	0	7	6	0	8	11	0	4	10
30	20	1	14	6	2	3	2	2	6	10	1	16	10	1	7	10	1	10	6	1	2	10
50	30	24	2	4	11	5	0	6	12	10	9	0	5	5	0	3	8	13	0	5	15	0
60	40	67	14	10	27	0	0	13	9	6	22	7	5	10	4	3	21	18	0	12	9	0
76	40	. . . . . . . . .			43	6	0	19	2	9	36	4	5	14	17	5	35	2	11	17	5	0
90	50	. . . . . . . . .			84	8	0	34	12	9	71	3	8	28	13	4	. . . . . . . . .			33	18	7
100	75	. . . . . . . . .			275	0	0	74	5	10	210	13	3	70	9	7	. . . . . . . . .			. . . . . . . . .
120	75	. . . . . . . . .			. . . . . . . . .			97	15	9	354	3	2	98	3	10	. . . . . . . . .			. . . . . . . . .

The price of silvering these plates is twenty per cent. on the cost price for English glass; ten per cent. on the cost price for Paris plates; and twelve and a half on those of Berlin.

The following table shews the dimensions and price, when silvered, of the largest plates of glass ever made by the British Plate-Glass Company, which are now at their warehouse in London:

Height.		Breadth.		Price when silvered.
Inches. 132 146 149 151 160		Inches. 84 81 84 83 80		£ s. d. 200 8 0 220 7 0 239 1 6 239 10 7 246 15 4
The prices of the largest glass in the Paris lists when silvered, and reduced to English measure, were,
Year.	Inches.	Inches.	Price when silvered.
1825 1835	128 128	80 80	£ s. d. 629 12 0 136 19 0

(207.) If we wish to compare the value of any article at different periods of time, it is clear that neither any one substance, nor even the combination of all manufactured goods, can furnish us with an invariable unit by which to form our scale of estimation. Mr. Malthus has proposed for this purpose to consider a day's labour of an agricultural labourer, as the unit to which all value should be referred. Thus, if we wish to compare the value of twenty yards of broad cloth in Saxony at the present time, with that of the same kind and quantity of cloth fabricated in England two centuries ago, we must find the number of days' labour the cloth would have purchased in England at the time mentioned, and compare it with the number of days' labour which the same quantity of cloth will now purchase in Saxony. Agricultural labour appears to have been selected, because it exists in all countries, and employs a large number of persons, and also because it requires a very small degree of previous instruction. It seems, in fact, to be merely the exertion of a man's physical force; and its value above that of a machine of equal power arises from its portability, and from the facility of directing its efforts to arbitrary and continually fluctuating purposes. It may perhaps be worthy of inquiry, whether a more constant average might not be deduced from combining with this species of labour those trades which require but a moderate exertion of skill, and which likewise exist in all civilized countries, such as those of the blacksmith and carpenter, &c.^[2] In all such comparisons there is, however, another element, which, though not essentially necessary, will yet add much to our means of judging. It is an estimate of the quantity of that food on which the labourer usually subsists, which is necessary for his daily support, compared with the quantity which his daily wages will purchase.

(208.) The existence of a class of middle-men, between small producers and merchants, is frequently advantageous to both parties; and there are certain periods in the history of several manufactures which naturally call that class of traders into existence. There are also times when the advantage ceasing, the custom of employing them also terminates; the middle-men, especially when numerous, as they sometimes are in retail trades, enhancing the price without equivalent good. Thus, in the recent examination by the House of Commons into the state of the Coal Trade, it appears that five-sixths of the London public is supplied by a class of middle-men who are called in the trade "Brass-plate Coal-Merchants:" these consist principally of merchants' clerks, gentlemen's servants, and others, who have no wharfs of their own, but merely give their orders to some true coal-merchant, who sends in the coals from his wharf: the brass-plate coal-merchant, of course, receiving a commission for his agency.

(209.) In Italy this system is carried to a great extent amongst the voituriers, or persons who undertake to convey travellers. There are some possessed of greater fluency and a more persuasive manner, who frequent the inns where the English resort, and who, as soon as they have made a bargain for the conveyance of a traveller, go out amongst their countrymen and procure some other voiturier to do the job for a considerably smaller sum, themselves pocketing the difference. A short time before the day of starting, the contractor appears before his customer in great distress, regretting his inability to perform the journey on account of the dangerous illness of a mother or some relative, and requesting to have his cousin or brother substituted for him. The English traveller rarely fails to acquiesce in this change, and often praises the filial piety of the rogue who has deceived him.

1. I am indebted to Mr. John Taylor for this interesting table.
2. Much information for such an inquiry is to be found, for the particular period to which it refers, in the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on Manufacturers' Employment, 2d July, 1830.

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