Principles of Political Economy Part 26

SECTION CCXXVII.

INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH AND OF THE CITY.

The change in this situation takes place first of all in the churches and in the cities. The Church has pa.s.sed through almost every stage of development in advance of the State; and civilization, both in the good and bad sense of the term, has become general, and gradually acclimated in the rural districts, through the influence of the cities. In the Church, the earliest art endeavored to reach the beautiful. There, we first find music, painting, sculpture, foreign perfumes, incense and variegated garments.[227-1] In the cities, growing industry introduces a more attractive style of clothing and a more ornamental style of household furniture. Commerce, beginning to thrive, raises foreign commodities into wants,[227-2] and thus the old luxury of feudal times is modified.[227-3] The large number of idle servants is diminished. All the more refined pleasures are extended downward to wider circles of the people. Instead of individual bards, rhapsodists, skalds and minnesingers, we have the beginnings of the theater, and instead of tournaments, the shooting matches. (_Freischiessen._)

But it is remarkable how much earlier here pomp and splendor are considered than convenience. The Spanish _romanceros_ of the 12th century display wonderful splendor in their descriptions of the Cid, and the trousseau of his daughters. But, on the other hand, the wife of Charles VII. seems to have been the only French woman in the 15th century who had more than two linen chemises. Even in the 16th century, it frequently happened that a princess made a present to a prince of a single shirt. At this time the German middle cla.s.s were wont to sleep naked.[227-4]

Even now, half-civilized nations look more to the outward appearance of commodities than to their intrinsic value. Thus, for instance, in Russia, we find large numbers of porcelain services extravagantly painted and gilded, awkward, the material of which is full of blisters; damaskeened knives, gilt sad-irons and candle-snuffers with landscapes engraved on them: but nothing fits into anything else; the angles are vicious, the hinges lame, and the whole soon goes to pieces. And so, among export merchants in Bremen, for instance, it is a rule, on all their wares intended for America, to put a label made of very beautiful paper, with their coat-of-arms or firm-name in real silver, and to do the packing in as elegant a manner as possible.[227-5] Cloths intended for America are usually exceedingly light, dest.i.tute of solidity, but very well dressed. The cotton-printers who work for the African market prefer to employ false but cheap and dazzling colors.[227-6]

[Footnote 227-1: The use of window-gla.s.s in churches in England dates from 674, in private houses from 1180.

(_Anderson_, Origin of Commerce, s. a.) Even in 1567, it was so rare that during the absence of the lords from their country seats, the panes were taken out and stored for safe keeping. (_Eden_, State of the Poor, I, 77.) As to how Scotland developed in this respect still later, see _Buckle_, History of Civilization in England, II, 172.]

[Footnote 227-2: In our day, at the breakfast of a German of the middle cla.s.s, may be found East Indian coffee, Chinese tea, West Indian sugar, English cheese, Spanish wine, and Russian caviar, without any surprising degree of luxury.

Compare _Gellius_, N. A., VII, 16.]

[Footnote 227-3: In England, the transition is noticeable, especially under Elizabeth: _Hume_ History, ch. 44, app. 3.

In France, under Louis XIV.; _Voltaire_, Siecle de Louis, XIV., ch. 29.]

[Footnote 227-4: Poesias Castellanas anteriores al Siglo XV; Tom. I, 347, 327. _Roscher_, loc. cit. _J. Voight_, in _Raumer's_ historischem Taschenbuche, 1831, 290; 1835, 324, seq. Thus, one of Henry VIII's wives, in order to get salad, had first to send for a gardener from Flanders; while at the time, a single ship imported into England from 3,000 to 4,000 pieces of clothing in gold brocade, satin or silk.

(_Anderson_, a. 1509, 1524, 4; Henry VIII, c. 6.)]

[Footnote 227-5: Irish linen, worth from 30 to 35 shillings, is often provided with a label which cost 5 shillings.

(_Kotelmann_, Statistische Uebersicht der landwirthschaftl.

und industriellen Verhaltnisse von Oestereich und dem Zollverein, 215.)]

[Footnote 227-6: Compare _Kohl_, Reise in Deutschland, II, 18, 250. _Roscher_, in the Gottinger Studien, 1845, II, 403, ff. About 1777, _Busch_ described the difference of goods manufactured in England "for the continent and home consumption," as being just the same as the difference now between goods for Africa and goods for Europe. (Darstellung der Handlung, Zusatz, 89.)]

SECTION CCXXVIII.

HISTORY OF LUXURY IN HIGHLY CIVILIZED TIMES.

The direction which luxury takes in times when civilization is advanced, is towards the real, healthy and tasteful enjoyment of life, rather than an inconvenient display. This tendency is exceedingly well expressed by the English word _comfort_, and it is in modern England that the luxury of the second period has found it happiest development. It is found side by side with frugality; and it frequently even looks like a return to the unaffected love of nature.[228-1]

Thus, since Rousseau's time,[228-2] the so-called English gardens have dropped the former Versailles-Harlem style. Thus, too, modern fashion despises the awkward long wig, powdering etc.[228-3] Instead of garments embroidered, or faced with fur or lace, and instead of the galloon hat worn under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., the French revolution has introduced the simple citizen frock-coat and the round silk hat. The "exquisite" may even with these outshine others by the form he selects, the material he wears, or by frequent change, but much less strikingly than before.[228-4] Since every one, in the purchase of household furniture, etc., looks more to its use than to the honor of being sole possessor of an article or having something in advance of everybody else, it becomes possible for industry to manufacture its products in much larger quant.i.ties, and after the same model, and thus to furnish a much better article for the same price.[228-5] Besides, more recent industry has produced a mult.i.tude of cheap subst.i.tutes for costly objects of luxury: plated silver-leafing, cotton-velvet goods, etc.;[228-6] besides the many steel engravings, lithographs etc., which have exerted so beneficent an influence on aesthetic education.

In the England of our days, the houses are comparatively small, but convenient and attractive, and the salutary luxury of spending the pleasant season in the country very general.[228-7] The country-roads are narrow but kept in excellent order and provided with good inns.[228-8] More value is here attached to fine linen cloth than to lace;[228-9] to a few but nourishing meat-dishes than to any number of sauces and confections of continental kitchens.[228-10] Especially is the luxury of cleanliness, with its morally and intellectually beneficial results found only in well-to-do and highly cultured nations.

As formerly in Holland, so now in England, it is carried to the highest point of development. In the latter country, the tax on soap is considered a tax on an indispensable article.[228-11] The reverse is the case in North America, if we can believe the most unprejudiced and friendly observers.[228-12] The person who lives in a log-house must, to feel at ease within his four walls, first satisfy a number of necessary wants.[228-13]

[Footnote 228-1: The reformation of the sixteenth century had a remarkable tendency towards natural and manful fashions, as contradistinguished from the immediately preceding and the immediately following periods. Compare _J.

Falke_, Deutsche Trachten und Modenwelt, II, 1858.]

[Footnote 228-2: _J. J. Rousseau_, N. Heloise, II, L. 11.

Compare _Keysler_, Reise, I, 695.]

[Footnote 228-3: That a similar transition marked an epoch in the history of Grecian morals was recognized even by _Thucydides_, I, 6; compare _Asios_, in _Athen._, XII, 528.]

[Footnote 228-4: It will always remain a want to own clothes for every day wear and festal occasions. The frock coat satisfies this want in the cheapest way. As soon as people cease to distinguish clothing for festal occasions by the cut, gold-embroidery, fur-facing, etc. will appear again, which would necessarily prove a great hardship to the propertyless cla.s.ses of the educated, and even to the higher cla.s.ses.]

[Footnote 228-5: On the striking contrast presented in this respect by the English and French, and even Russian customs, see _Storch_, Handbuch, II, 179 ff. _J. B. Say_, Cours pratique, translated into German by _Morstadt_, I, 435 ff.; Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift, 1853, I, 182.]

[Footnote 228-6: Paper-hangings, instead of costly gobelins and leather hangings, were not known in France until after 1760, nor in the rest of Europe until much later. Busts of plaster were (_Martial_, IX, 17, and _Juvenal_, II, 4) usual among those who were less well off.]

[Footnote 228-7: Similarly even in _Giov. Villani_, XI, 93, the villas of the highly cultured Florentines appear finer than their city houses, while in Germany, at that time, even the richest citizens lived only in the city.]

[Footnote 228-8: Sidewalks in the cities, recommended by _J.

J. Rousseau_, as a popular convenience and as a safeguard against the carriage-aristocracy.]

[Footnote 228-9: In France, the luxury of lace was conquered by Marie Antoinette, but still more effectually by the Revolution. Previous to that time, many Parisians wore four manchettes to each shirt. (_Palliser_, History of Lace, 1865.)]

[Footnote 228-10: During the middle ages, strongly seasoned food, ragouts, etc., were more in favor than in even France to-day; compare _Legrand d'Aussy et Roquefort_, Histoire de la Vie privee des Francais, pa.s.sim. The wine even, at that time, used to be mixed with roots: _vin de romarin_, _clairet_, _hippocras_, (_W. Wackernagel_, Kl. Schriften I, 86, 7.) The French kitchen became simpler and more natural, only after the middle of the 18th century. (_Roquefort_, III, 343.)]

[Footnote 228-11: The taxed consumption of soap amounted in England in 1801 to 4.84 and in 1845, 9.65 pounds per capita.

(_Porter_, Progress of the Nation, V, 5, 579.) Soap-boiling in London dates from 1520 only. Before that time, all white soap was obtained from the continent. (_Howell_, Londinopolis, 208.) _Erasmus_ charged that England, in his time, was an exceedingly dirty country. The Italians, on the other hand, were at that time greatly distinguished above northern people, especially the Germans, by their cleanliness. (_Buckhardt_, Kultur der Renaissance, 295.) The Vienna river-baths after 1870, _Nicolai_, Reise, III, 17, mentions as something deserving special note. The Leipzig river-baths date from 1774.]

[Footnote 228-12: _Birkbeck_, Notes on America, 39. Even in New York, it is not very long since there were no common sewers. Just as characteristic is the uncleanliness of the South African _boers_ (_Mauch_, in _Petermann's_ Mittheilungen, Erganz-Heft, XXVII, 23), when compared with the celebrated cleanliness of the old Dutch.

Americans will certainly not agree with the "friendly and unprejudiced" observers mentioned in the text; for no one acquainted with genuine American home-life can deny that cleanliness is an American characteristic. It is only justice to the author to say that the above note (12), so far as it relates to America, appeared in the second edition of his work, and probably in the first; and that he is not so much to be blamed for it as the unfriendly and prejudiced, if not ignorant observers. It may be said, however, that, from the use of the word "log-house," in the context, the author does not intend to apply this remark to the older settlements.--TRANSLATOR.]

[Footnote 228-13: The most frightful uncleanliness prevails among the inhabitants of polar countries, who never bathe, because of the climate, avoid all ventilation, and because of the leathern clothing which they smear with grease, etc.

The Tunguses consider the after-birth cooked or roasted as a great delicacy. "Fathers and mothers wipe their children's noses with their mouth, and gulp the secretion down."

(_Georgi_, Beschreib. aller Nationen des russ. Reiches, I, 287.) Among the Koruks, the suitor rinses his mouth with his sweetheart's water. (loc. cit., I, 349, 353.) Compare _Klemm_, Kulturgeschichte, III, 24, 57. In warmer climates, even less civilized nations are clean, for instance in the East and South-Sea Islands, etc. All the more surprising is the uncleanliness of the Hottentots and Bushmen, where the natural color is observable only under the eyes, where the tears produced by too much smoke has washed away the crust of dirt which, with this exception, covers the whole body.

(_Klemm_, Kulturgeschichte, 333.) How long it takes for cleanliness to become a national trait, may be inferred from the history of water-closets, when, for instance, their introduction into every house during the 16th and even the 17th century, had to be provided for by law in Paris.

(_Beckmann_, Beitrage, II, 358 ff.) The Gottingen statutes of 1342 had to expressly prohibit persons to _merdare_ in public wine-cellars where persons ate and drank together.

(_Spittler_, Gesch. Hannovers, I, 57.) Similarly in the courts of the German princes. On the other hand, universality of water-closets in England to-day.

In ancient times, too, the uncleanliness of the Spartans in body and clothing was very surprising to the Athenians: _Xenoph._, Resp. Laced., II, 4; _Plutarch_, Lycurg, 16.

_Just._, Lac., 5. Still more that of many barbarians, for instance of the Illyrians: _Stobaeus_, V, 51, 132; _Gaisf.

Aelian._, V, H. IV, 1. The ancient Romans bathed only once a week (_Seneca_, Epist., 86), while under the Empire, "the baths embraced and filled up the whole life of man and all his wishes." (_Gerlach._) Compare _Becker_, Gallus, II, 10 ff.; _Lamprid_, V, Comm., 11.]

SECTION CCXXIX.

EXTENT OF LUXURY IN HIGHLY CIVILIZED TIMES.

The luxury of this second period fills the whole of life and permeates every cla.s.s of people. Hence we may most easily determine the degree of development a people have attained by the quant.i.ty of commodities of a finer quality which are, indeed, not indispensable to life, but which it is desirable should be consumed on as extensive a scale as possible by the nation, for the sake of the fullness of life and the freshness[229-1] of life to which they minister.

Thus, for instance, as civilization has advanced, there has been almost everywhere a transition to a finer quality of the material of which bread is made. The number of consumers of white bread in France in 1700, was 33 per cent. of the population; in 1760, 40; in 1764, 39; in 1791, 37; in 1811, 42; in 1818, 45; in 1839, 60 per cent.[229-2] About 1758, in England and Wales, 3,750,000 of people lived on wheat bread; on barley bread, 739,000; on rye bread, 888,000; on oat bread, 623,000. The cultured southeastern population had almost nothing but wheat bread, while in the north and northwest, oat bread continued to be used a long time; and in Wales only 10 per cent. of the population ate wheat bread.

This condition of things in England has since been much improved. But, at the extremities of the Hebrides, nine-tenths of the population still live on barley bread; and in Ireland it was estimated, in 1838, that with 8,000,000 inhabitants, potatoes were the chief article of food of 5,000,000, and oat bread of 2,500,000.[229-3]

And so, the consumption of meat in cities is uniformly much larger than in the country. In the cities of the Prussian monarchy and subject to the slaughter-house tax, it amounted in 1846, per capita: in East Prussia, to 61 lbs.; in Pommerania, to 66; in Posen, to 70; in West Prussia, to 71; in Saxony, to 75; in the Rhine Province, to 83; in Silesia, to 86; in Brandenburg, to nearly 104; in Berlin alone, to 114: an average in the whole country, however, of scarcely 40 lbs. per capita. (_Dietrici._) In the kingdom of Saxony, the average consumption of beef and pork was, shortly before 1866, about 50 lbs.; in Dresden alone, 86.7; in Leipzig, 136.9 lbs.[229-4] The consumption of meat in England is exceedingly great, so that, for instance, in several orphan asylums in London, the daily meat ration amounts to an average of from 0.23 to 0.438 lbs. The meat-consumption of a well-to-do family, children and servants included, Porter estimates at 370 lbs. per capita per annum. The meat ration of soldiers in the field amounts in England to 676 grammes a day; in France, to 350.[229-5]

The consumption of sugar in 1734, in England, was about 10 lbs. per capita; in 1845, in the whole of the British Empire, 20-1/3 lbs.; in 1849, almost 25 lbs.; in 1865, over 34 lbs.; but it must not be overlooked here, that in Ireland the consumption of sugar per capita was scarcely over 8 lbs.[229-6] In the German Zollverein, the consumption of sugar, in 1834, amounted to an average of 2 lbs. per capita; in 1865, to more than 9 lbs. In France, the consumption of the same article rose from 1.33 kilogrammes, the average from 1817 to 1821, to 7.35 lbs.

in 1865.[229-7] The population of the Zollverein rose 25.8 per cent.

between 1834 and 1847, while the importation of coffee increased 117.5 per cent.; of spices, 58.2; southern fruits, 34.5, and cocoa, 246.2 per cent.[229-8]

A great many of vegetables and fruits, which seem to us to be almost indispensable articles of subsistence, have been cultivated only a short time. Thus the English have been acquainted with artichokes, asparagus, several kinds of beans, salad, etc. only since 1660.[229-9] Even in France, the finer kinds of fruits have appeared on the tables of the middle cla.s.s only since the beginning of the last century.