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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 86
I.—The Nation's Income
I.—The Nation's Income.
The annual income of the United Kingdom was estimated by the following authorities at from twelve to thirteen hundred million pounds sterling; or the population in 1881 being nearly 35,000,000, about £35 per head, or £ 140 per adult man.* In 1840 it was about £ 20½ and in i860 £ 26 1/5, per head (Mr. Mulhall, "Dictionary of Statistics," p. 245).
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Sir Louis Mallet, K.C.S.L (India Office), 1883—4, "National Income and Taxation" (Cobden Club), p. 23 | 1,289,000,000 |
| Professor Leone Levi (King's College, London), Times, January 13th, 1885 | 1,274,0,000 |
| Mr. R. Giffen (Board of Trade), "Essays in Finance," vol. ii., pp. 460, 472 (1886) | 1,270,0,000 |
| Mr. Mulhall, 1883, "Dictionary of Statistics," p. 245, Income for 1882 | 1,247,000,000 |
| Professor A. Marshall (Cambridge University), "Report of Industrial Remuneration Conference," p. 194 (January, 1885), "upwards of" | 1,125,0,000 |
Since these estimates were made the net assessments to incometax have risen (1881-2 to 1890-1) by £ 83,092,622 (Statistical Abstract," C—6718). Allowing for a corresponding rise in the incomes not assessed and in the wages of manual labor, we may estimate the income for 1891 at not less than £ 1,350,000,000. The population has risen from 34,884,848 in 1881 to 37,740,283 in 1891.
These figures (which are mainly computed from income-tax returns and estimated average rates of wages) mean that the price in money of the commodities and services produced in the country during the whole course of a year was about £ 145 per adult man.† Most of these commodities and services were used up within that period in maintaining the 37,000,000 inhabitants, and Mr. Giffen
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estimates that about £200,000,000 is "saved" annually ("Essays in Finance," vol. ii., p. 407). The bulk of this "saving" exists in the form of new railways, houses, roads, machinery, and other aids to future labor.
For subsequent comparison the total is represented by the annexed figure :
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* It has been assumed throughout that one person in every four is an adult male, and that there are, on an average, five persons to each family group.
† It may be observed that the estimated amount of "money" or currency in the country is about £ 130,000,000, or under £ 4 per head, including bank notes. Gold coin and bullion, between £ 80,000,000 and £ 100,000,000; silver and bronze, £ 15,000,000; bank notes, beyond gold reserves, £ 24,000,000 (W. S. Jevons, "investigations in Currency and Finance," p. 272; Report of Deputy-Master of the Mint, 1889; Mr. Goschen's Speech on Second Reading of the Coinage Act, 1891).