The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1907. THE WEALTH OF THE WORKERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 51, 23 November 1907, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1907. THE WEALTH OF THE WORKERS.

An interesting controversy lias been taking place in the columns of the " Contemporary Review " on the subject of the investments of the masses. Mr. Jesse Quail, who opened the subject in April last, expressed the view that no feature of modern finance is more remarkable than the widening of the area of investment whether in regard to the multiplication of channels for the profitable employment of spare funds or the increasing number of investors, the phenomenon is equally striking. Capital,.he submitted, is no longer, as some Socialistic writers have asserted, the monopoly of a few privileged persons. It cannot be said that any_clasß of Society, to.-day/except that

called the residuum, is excluded from its benefits. The working classes, individually and collectively, are the holders of a very considerable proportion of the invested capital of the nation, and receive, as small capitalists, in the aggregate a large share of the national dividend. He goes on to point out that the number of incometaxpayers is steadily increasing out of all proportion to the increase in population, and says: "There is a very large class of investors below the levol of in-come-tax payers. To find these we must look at the various thrift agencies. The savings of the humbler classes are invested mainly in the post office and trustee savings banks, friendly societies, co-operative enterprises, and trade unions, but a considerable number also invest in the smaller industrial limited liability companies, such as those running textile factories." In proof of these l conclusions he quotes some truly astonishing figures. For instance, over 68 millions are invested in building societies; over 50 millions in friendly societies; a little under 48 millions in co-operative societies. Then there are over 230 millions in the post office and other savings banks; and various other sums which make a total of nearly 420 millions. The figures are from actual returns published in accordance with law, and are presumably authentic. Mr. Quail estimates the " amount invested in : municipal savings banks, penny banks, "slate" clubs, and limited companies other than co-operative ties, at 55 millions ;■' house property and small freeholders 20 mili.ions, industrial insurances in force 241. millions—a grand total of nearly 700 million pounds sterling. Mr. Quail quotes some gas companies in which special facilities for investment are offered to employees. In four, for example, 7137 shareholders hold £368,558 worth of stock. At one time as much as £6,000,000 of the savings of the operatives was invested in textile factories. Mr. Ckiozza Money, who enters the lists against Mr. Quail, cavils at the amount credited to industrial insurance, and points out —as it seems to us, correctly —rthat this far more than represents the amounts paid in, or the surrender values of the policies. This, however, does not detract from the significance of the following paragraph. " Let there come a great Socialist success, electoral oc legislative, or a long and disastrous period of industrial warfare, and there would be a heavy shrinkage in industrial investments. Let the working people stop investing in the various agencies indicated above, make a run on the savings banks, discontinue, their weekly friendly societies," trades unions, and insurance payments, and let the large industrial companies hasten to realise their holdings in public securities, and we should have a panic as acute as any that has been experienced in the history of the Stock Exchange." The funds of the "thrift agencies" are, it is hardly necessary to say, invested in gilt-edged securities. Taking' another line of argument, Mr." Quail declares that the wage-ear-ners hold in these various forms of investment a siim equal to nearly ten times the capital of all the joint'stock banks in the ■. United 'Kingdom; more than one-third of the capital of all the limited companies known to he carrying on business in 1906, and one-fourth of the nominal capital of the 325 leading securities quoted on the Stock Exchange. Mr. Money—as usually occurs with literary disputants—takes a different standpoint. Deleting the whole of the amount credited under "industrial insurance," he allows a suin of 150 millions for household furniture, stock-in-trade of small shopkeepers, etc., .and states that (1) Uhe total wealth of the United Kingdom is 11,500 millions; (2) 5 millions of wealthier people hold 10,900 millions of this; (3) 39 millions of poorer people hold the 600 millions remaining. To which Mr. Quail retorts that his opponent neglects to take into account the wage-earning capacity of the workers. The point at issue, however, is the proportion of capital invested in productive undertakings' by a certain section of the community, so that such matters are beside the question. Mr. Quail's concluding paragraph thus holds good. "The main point to be noticed is that the field of popular investment is steadily, even rapidly, extending, and the number of those who enter.it is as steadily increasing. The small investor is no longer a negligable quantity in the financial world, for in the aggregate his capital commitments are large enough to influence prices and market movements. Capital is thus being diffused and socialised by a more natural process than it could be by any system of State', appropriation and mechanical nationalisation." The foregoing may explain why the Dominion has been honoured by visits from such gentlemen as Messrs. Mann and Tillett, and, as Mr. Quail says, is the best answer to those who say that the working classes of England know nothing of the pleasures, profits, and risks of investment.