WITH A PREFACE BY
PROFESSOR F. Y. EDGEWORTH.
INVESTIGATORS:
MRS. J. L. HAMMOND, MISS A. BLACK,
MRS. H. OAKESHOTT, MISS A. HARRISON,
MISS IRWIN, and Others.
LONDON:
P. S. KING & SON,
ORCHARD HOUSE, WESTMINSTER.
1904.
Transcriber's note: Original spelling variants have not been standardized.
"It should also be noted that slight errors of a few farthings in theadditions have crept into the totals of some of the columns, but as theydo not affect the accuracy of the wage figures the Appendix has beencopied exactly as it was published." (Appendix VI.)
My only qualification for writing this preface is thecircumstance that, as a representative of the Royal EconomicSociety, I attended the meetings of the Committee appointedto direct and conduct the investigations of which the results aresummarised in the following pages. From what I saw and heardat those meetings I received the impression that the evidencehere recorded was collected with great diligence and siftedwith great care. It seems to constitute a solid contributionto a department of political economy which has perhaps notreceived as much attention as it deserves.
Among the aspects of women's work on which some newlight has been thrown, is the question why women in return forthe same or a not very different amount of work should oftenreceive very much less wages. It is a question which not onlyin its bearing on social life is of the highest practical importance,but also from a more abstract point of view is ofconsiderable theoretical interest, so far as it seems to presentthe paradox of entrepreneurs paying at very different rates forfactors of production whi