Note 170-5 — Chapter III

The salaries paid to the employees in the office of the minister of finance in France and the United States were as follows: to the porter, 1,500 and 3,734 francs; the lowest clerk, 1,000 to 1,800, and 5,420 francs; to the head clerk, 3,200 to 3,600, and 8,672 francs; the secretary general, 20,000 and 10,840 francs; to the minister, 80,000 and 32,520 francs. (Tocqueville, Démocratie aux États-Unis, II, 74.) In the treasury department, at Washington, of 158 employees, only 6 received less than $1,000 salary, but only 2 over $2,000. (M. Chevalier, Lettres sur l'Amérique du Nord, II, 151, 456.) Compare Büsch, Geldumlauf, IV, 34. In Russia, the wages of the higher classes of laborers as compared with those paid the commoner class is much higher than in Germany. (Kosegarten, in Haxthausen, Studien, III, 583.) On the other hand, in England, since 1850, the rate of wages for unskilled labor has risen relatively more than any other. (Tooke, Hist. of Prices, VI, 177.)