1893 - State Library Information Center

62 STATISTICS OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES.edge nor comfort was possibly within the reach of that largobody of society composed of either slaves or free laborers.Another marked tendency in modern society, both in thoughtand in action, is to care less tor generalization, afl conveyed bythe term Natioual, and to give more attention to specialization,as understood by the word Individual. As national convoya thuidea of aggregates, so individual conveys the idea of unit. Andthe broader, more humane conception of the real wealth of anation is coming to depend more upon the limit of wealth possessedby the individual, rather than upon the amount formingthe aggregate or total wealth of the country. Adam Smith, thegreat authority in political economy, called his fundamentalwork the " Wealth of Nations," At that period and until veryrecently, economists occupied themselves with the total production,exportation, importations and exchanges of nations.To-day, the tendency is to inquire into the wealth of the units otttie nation, to see if each individual has his primary wants satisfied.There is a disinclination to measure the wealth o! a countryby the total sum of its productions and exchanges, butinclination toward measuring its riches by the number ot individualswho enjoy abundance, in comparison with the numberwho are depressed by poverty. This change in the point ofobservation by students of social problems requires, that beforedetermining the wealth of a country, a door-to-door canvass shallbe made, to inquire whether each of the inhabitants is in JIOHHORsionof the ordinary necessaries of life, whether each child isproperly fed and clothed, and if the morrow's mwil in forthcoming.The labor of the economist in the future will bo directed to astudy of the needs of each individual, who composes the nation,and the best means of satisfying his wants. Heretofore theyhave been content to study wide aggregates, largo HUHIM, greatresults; now, attention is directed to the individual, the unite, ofwhich the totals are composed. It is the application of thatthought, formerly applied to " nonaentient things," which atpresent is applied to "sentient" man. It is the growth of thosentiment of humanity.Charles Booth, the statistician of London, Kngland, has indicatedby his patient and persevering work the present trend of