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FOR STUDENTS
No surprises.
The Connect Calendar and Reports tools keep you on track with the
work you need to get done and your assignment scores. Life gets busy;
Connect tools help you keep learning through it all.
Top: Jenner Images/Getty Images, Left: Hero Images/Getty Images, Right: Hero Images/Getty Images
McGraw-Hill Connect® is an integrated educational platform that includes assignable and assessable quizzes,
exercises, and interactive activities, all associated with learning objectives for SOC 2020. Videos, interactive
assessments, links to news articles about current issues with accompanying questions (“NewsFlash”), and scenario-
based activities engage students and add real-world perspective to the introductory sociology course. In addition,
printable, exportable reports show how well each student or course section is performing on each course segment.
Here are some of the media-rich activities that will help your students succeed in the introductory sociology course:
Applying the Perspectives. In Applying the Perspectives, students examine a problem—global inequality,
gender stratification, or family and intimate relationships—from three sociological perspectives and apply their
critical thinking skills to align theories with the appropriate perspective.
Put students first with Connect’s intuitive mobile interface, which gives students and instructors flexible,
convenient, anytime-anywhere access to all components of the Connect platform. It provides seamless
integration of learning tools and places the most important priorities up front in a new “to-do” list with a
calendar view across all Connect courses. Enjoy on-the-go access with the new mobile interface designed
for optimal use of tablet functionality.
Also at the higher level of Bloom’s, McGraw-Hill’s Application-Based Activities are highly interactive, automatically
graded, online learn-by-doing exercises that provide students a safe space to apply their knowledge and problem-
solving skills to real-world scenarios. Each scenario addresses key concepts and skills that students must use
to work through and solve course-specific problems, resulting in improved critical thinking and development of
relevant workplace skills. Twenty-one Application-Based Activities are new to this edition of SOC.
x • SOC 2020
Chapter Changes
The following is a list of chapter-by-chapter content changes:
• New Did You Know? feature on the invention of • Updated the SOCthink to focus on smartphone
the steam engine use among young adults
• Updated data from Ethnologue on the number • Updated the Telephones and Cell Phones by
of living, endangered languages, and extinct Country per 100 People graph
languages • Updated data on mobile phone ownership in
• Updated the Going Global feature on the Africa and added the term leapfrogging
region of origin of the world’s living languages • Updated data on the number of jobs held
and contrasted that with the number of between 18 and 50
speakers • Revised the 5 Movies feature on socialization
• Updated examples of new words for 2018 to include the films Eighth Grade, Welcome to
added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Marwen, and Three Identical Strangers
Dictionary • Updated data on U.S. and global life
• Revised the discussion on invented languages expectancy
for the sake of clarity and to emphasize the • New graph on living arrangements by age for
three different eras those 65 and older
• Updated the PopSOC feature on Dothraki • Updated data on Social Security and poverty
and the increasing popularity of the name for those over 65
Khaleesi • Revised the 5 Movies feature on aging to
• Revised the discussion of the Sapir-Whorf include Beginners and Our Souls at Night
hypothesis for greater clarity
• Revised and updated data and graph regarding
Chapter 5: Social Structure and
the values of first-year college students using
data from the annual HERI survey Interaction
• Updated the 5 Movies feature on U.S. culture • Revised the Social Interaction section to
feature to include Sorry to Bother You, If Beale establish the connection of the material in
Street Could Talk, En el Séptimo Día (On the this chapter to the three-step model of world
Seventh Day), and The Rider construction, which is now introduced in
• Revised the discussion of sanctions to clarify Chapter 3 rather than here
the distinction between internal and external • Revised the definition of secondary groups
policing • Revised the discussion of primary and
• Updated the 5 Movies feature on cultures secondary groups for greater clarity
outside the United States to include the • Added a new discussion on college
films Roma and Shoplifters student friendship networks based on Janice
• Revised the discussion of subcultures to McCabe’s research highlighting three types:
include a consideration of divisions between tight-knitters, compartmentalizers, and
Republicans and Democrats in the United samplers
States • Updated the Going Global feature on Internet
• Edited the discussion of ethnocentrism access and social networking use in various
countries around the world
• Revised the discussion of images under
Chapter 4: Socialization
Postmodern Life to increase clarity
• Added a discussion linking this chapter to the • Updated the Going Global feature on U.S.
three-step model of world construction which favorability ratings around the world
was introduced in Chapter 3 • Updated the 5 Movies feature to include The
• Updated the discussion of Dani’s story in the Greatest Showman, District 9, and The Green
Extreme Childhood Isolation section Book
• Revised and streamlined the discussion of • Updated the Pop Quiz feature
Mead’s theory on I, Me, significant other, and
generalized other
• Revised the definition of Mead’s generalized Chapter 6: Deviance
other • Revised and updated the chapter opening
• New J. K. Rowling feature quote on the on mass shootings to include the Marjory
importance of agency Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in
• Added a new subsection on W. I. Thomas in the Parkland, Florida, and the Las Vegas concert
Sociological Approaches to the Self section shooting
• New graph showing average media use time • Updated and revised the Binge Drinking on
per week by age groups Campus graphs
xii • SOC 2020
• Updated data on the correctional population in • Revised the substantive definition of families
the United States including updating the U.S. • Revised the definition of extended families
Incarceration Rates graph • Updated and streamlined the discussion of
• Moved the discussion of marijuana to the Crime family types, marriage types, and kinship
section where it was also discussed patterns under the substantive definition
• Updated data on piracy as a form of deviance of families
• Updated the 5 Movies feature on deviance • Updated the U.S. Households by Family Type
to include The Purge, Liar, Liar, and I Am Not graph
a Witch • Updated data on the number and ratio of stay-
• Updated data on cosmetic surgery by both at-home moms to stay-at-home dads
women and men in the United States • Updated graph showing median age for first
• Revised the discussion of crime for the sake of marriage for women and men from 1890 to
greater clarity and accessibility 2018
• Updated the data on trends in crime including • Updated data on age differences between
the crime clock marital partners
• Updated the FBI Uniform Crime Reports Data • Updated data, table, and graph on interracial
table with latest UCR data on crime rates and marriage
trends along with clearance rates • Revised the definition of homogamy
• Revised the definition of victimization surveys • Revised the discussion of parenting and social
• Updated data and graph on victimization class
survey data showing percentage of crimes • Made concerted cultivation and
reported to police accomplishment of natural growth key terms
• Updated the 5 Movies feature on crime to include • Updated the Living Arrangements of Children
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, graph on the percentage of children living with
Charm City, and The Shawshank Redemption two parents versus one parent by race and
• Revised the definition of white-collar crime and ethnicity and over time
streamlined the discussion of the topic • Revised and expanded the discussion on
• Revised the discussion of victimless crimes parenting, race, and ethnicity
• Updated the Marijuana Laws by State map • Updated the 5 Movies feature to include Instant
• Updated and moved the Marijuana Legislation Family, Leave No Trace, and Mudbound
graph to the victimless crimes discussion • Reorganized and retitled sections for better
• New PopSOC on films dealing with Wall Street flow including Dating, Mating, and Parenting
• Updated Going Global graph on international and Modern Families
incarceration rates • Added a new section covering birth rates
• Updated the Did You Know? feature on drug and average number of children including
arrests in the United States a discussion of the impact education and
• Added broken window hypothesis as a new geographic region have on age prior to the
key term section on parenting
• Added a new featured quote from Dostoevsky • Updated data on international adoption by U.S.
and prisons parents including overall numbers, top three
• Updated data on death penalty cases, DNA source nations, and median cost of adoptions
exonerations, and race in the United States from China
• Updated map with latest data on executions in • Updated data on the number of children in
the United States foster care and awaiting adoption
• Updated the gender discussion to include • Updated data on dual-income families
changes internationally regarding the loophole • Updated data on attitudes regarding same-sex
in which rapists can avoid prosecution by marriage
marrying their victims • Updated the Approval of Same-Sex Marriage
by Age graphs showing differences by
generations
Chapter 7: Families • Updated data on single-parent families
• Updated the chapter opening on online dating • Updated data on stepfamilies
apps/sites including Jessica Carbino, Bumble’s • Updated data on multigenerational families
in-house sociologist • New graph showing percentage of
• Updated Did You Know? feature on U.S. multigenerational families over time
marriage rate compared to Las Vegas and • Revised the definition of cohabitation to make
Hawaii it more inclusive
xiv • SOC 2020
xvi • SOC 2020
• Updated the 5 Movies on gender and sexuality of issues related to race and ethnicity and also
to include Love, Simon, What Men Want, and made the links to the three perspectives more
Transformer explicit
• Updated the criminal victimization rates on rape • Added a discussion of Roth’s multidimensional
and sexual violence typology to highlight the complexity of race in
• Updated the data on high school girls’ practice
experience of violence and physical coercion • Updated the 5 Movies feature to include Get
Out, The Hate U Give, and Crazy Rich Asians
• Added passing as a key term to highlight the
Chapter 13: Race and Ethnicity multidimensionality of race
• Completed an overhaul of the chapter to place • Added a discussion of transracial adoption to
greater emphasis on the sociological analysis highlight the multidimensionality of race
of race and ethnicity, including more historical • Added a discussion on the function of racial
context regarding the social construction of distinction as a foundation for group solidarity
race and highlighting the consequences of • Revised the definition of contact hypothesis
these constructs • Modified the definition of affirmative action
• Updated the opening vignette addressing • Updated the PopSOC feature on racial and
cases of police killings of African American ethnic representation in films
males • Updated the Median Income by Race, Ethnicity,
• New section highlighting race as a social and Gender graph
construct growing out of particular historical • Revised the definition of institutional
contexts from Linnaeus’s racial categorization, discrimination
through the era of racial pseudoscience, to the • Revised the discussion of racism, including a
post–WWII reconsideration of race as a social new definition, to highlight the fact that racism
construct from both a social and biological involves more than just how people think and
perspective linked it to systemic patterns of inequality
• Revised the definition of race • Updated the Hate Crime Offenses graphic
• Revised the definition of ethnicity • New PopSOC feature on Colin Kaepernick’s
• Updated statistics in the Racial and Ethnic NFL protest regarding racial injustice
Groups in the United States table including • Streamlined and reorganized the discussion on
both numbers and percentage of population patterns of intergroup relations
• New PopSOC feature on the work of Brazilian • Updated the Racial and Ethnic Groups in the
artist Angélica Dass matching Pantone color United States graph
codes to skin tone to highlight the gradational • Streamlined the discussion of various racial and
nature of human variation ethnic groups in the United States to highlight
• Added a discussion of the role the Plessy v. the consequences of difference and updated
Ferguson case to show its significance in the data for all groups on income, education,
maintenance of systemic racial inequality poverty, and so on along with emphasizing
• Added a new PopSOC feature on Denmark’s degrees of difference within each race/ethnicity
“Do It for Denmark” campaign designed to category
increase birthrates in the country • Updated the Poverty by Race and Ethnicity
• Added a discussion of the eugenics movement graph
in the United States • Updated the discussion on African Americans
• Added a Did You Know? feature linking a to highlight distinctions within this community,
Frederick Douglass quote regarding the including more recent immigrants from Africa
biology of race from the 1850s to the civil rights and the Caribbean
movement claims 100 years later • Updated the Age Variation by Race and
• Added a discussion of the UNESCO statement Ethnicity graph
after World War II, led by anthropologist Ashley • Updated the Major Hispanic Groups in the
Montague, advocating the use of ethnicity in United States graph
place of race • Updated data on immigration, including
• Added a discussion on the Most Recent the Legal Immigration to the United States
Common Ancestor research which shows the graph
degree of shared human ancestry • Updated the discussion of immigration policies
• Revised the Sociological Perspectives section • Moved the discussion of privilege to the end of
to include a more fully developed discussion of the chapter
the role theories can play in our understanding • Updated the Pop Quiz
Chapter 14: Population, Health, and • Updated data on health care expenditures,
including the Total Health Care Expenditures
Environment graph
• Updated data for the United States, world, • Updated data on Medicare and Medicaid
and select nations for total fertility rate and recipients
replacement fertility rate • Updated the current state of the Affordable
• Updated the Total Fertility Rates graph showing Care Act
changes in the average number of births per • Updated the U.S. Uninsured Rate, 1997–2018
woman over time for various countries graph
• Updated data for the United States, world, • Updated the Did You Know? feature on bottled
and select nations for crude death rate, infant water consumption in the United States
mortality rate, and life expectancy • Updated the Did You Know? feature on the
• Updated the Life Expectancy graph showing amount of Brazilian rain forest lost each year
changes in average number of years a • Updated the Public Perception of
newborn is expected to live over time for Environmental Issues graph
various countries • Updated data on air pollution deaths
• Updated the Global Migration, 1950–2015 map • Updated the 5 Movies on the Environment
• Updated the U.S. Foreign-Born Population feature to include Anthropocene and Rodents
graph of Unusual Size
• Updated data on source country and state • Updated data on access to safe drinking water
residence of foreign-born population in the and modern sanitation facilities
United States • Updated the Global Temperature graph
• Updated data on immigration categories showing the recorded history of average global
including lawful permanent resident, temperature per year
naturalization, refugee/asylum, and apprehension. • Updated the CO2 Emissions per Capita graph
• Updated World Population Growth graph with with data for select nations
new projections • Updated the Threatened and Endangered
• Updated the Afghanistan and United States Species graph
Population Pyramid graphic • Updated the environmental issues survey
• Updated data on availability of skilled health results for whether or not they should be a top
care professionals per 10,000 people in the priority for Congress
United States versus select nations • Updated the Perceptions of Global Climate
• Updated data for the Infant Mortality Rates in Change among select nations graph
Selected Countries graph • Updated U.S. policy regarding the Paris
• Updated the 5 Movies feature on health and Agreement regarding climate change
medicine to include The Big Sick, Unrest, and
Head Full of Honey
Chapter 15: Social Change
• Updated data on prevalence and incidence of
HIV and AIDS in the United States • Made substantial revisions to the structure and
• Updated the HIV Prevalence and Mortality content throughout
graph on cases around the world • New opening vignette on student social
• Updated the Percentage of People without movements and standing up for change
Health Insurance graph for people in the United • Moved the discussion of social movements to
States for both income and race/ethnicity the beginning of the chapter and revised how it
• Updated the Infant Mortality Rates in the United gets presented
States graph showing rates by race/ethnicity • Revised the definition of social movements
• Updated life expectancy by race and gender • Added a discussion of crowd theory that
• Updated the Smoking Rates by Gender graph emphasizes emotions and the roles of leaders
showing smoking percentages for men and • Revised the definition of resource mobilization
women over time along with the discussion of the theory
• Updated data on prevalence of Alzheimer’s including a consideration of the importance
disease of mobilizing media resources and using
• Updated the Health Insurance Rates by Age technology to do so
graph • New discussion of the role emotions play
• Updated the Availability of Physicians by State in people’s participation based on recent
graph sociology of emotions theories
xviii • SOC 2020
• New feature quote from Anna Lappe • New section on social networks and social change
• Revised the structure of the discussion of social with an emphasis on the importance of diversity
change based on three parts: material, social, • New section on cultural resources and social
and cultural resources change with an emphasis on the importance of
• Updated the Social Change in the USA table to expanding knowledge
include recent data • Updated the 5 Movies feature to include
• Streamlined the discussion on technology to fit BlacKkKlansman and An Inconvenient Sequel:
it into the context of social change Truth to Power
• Updated the Internet Use and Penetration by • New Personal Sociology feature on living in the
World Region graph past, present, and future
• Updated the cloning milestones to include • Revised and updated the Pop Quiz to match
monkeys the new structure and content
Table of Contents
1 > The Sociological
Imagination 1
WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? 2
The Sociological Imagination 2
The Significance of Place 4
A Hamburger Is a Miracle 5
Defining Sociology 6
SOCIOLOGY’S ROOTS 8
A Science of Society 8
Theory and Research 9
SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE 24
Sociology and Common Sense 24
Sociology and the Scientific Method 26
James Kirkikis/Shutterstock
xx
3 > Culture 46
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY 47
CONSTRUCTING CULTURE 48
Cultural Universals 49
Innovation 50
Diffusion 51
MODERN
FAMILIES 160
Dual-Income
Families 161
Same-Sex
Marriage 161
Single-Parent Yu Chun Christopher Wong/
S3studio/Getty Images
Families 162
Stepfamilies 163
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Multigenerational Families 164
Cohabitation 164
6 > Deviance 124 Remaining Single 165
Remaining Child-Free 165
SOCIAL CONTROL 125
Conformity and Obedience 125 DIVORCE 166
Informal and Formal Social Control 127 Statistical Trends in Divorce 166
Law and Society 128 Factors Associated with Divorce 166
Impact of Divorce on Children 167
DEVIANCE 129
What Behavior Is Deviant? 129
Deviance and Social Stigma 130 8 > Education and Religion 171
CRIME 131 EDUCATION IN SOCIETY 172
Official Crime Reports 131 Education and Opportunity 172
White-Collar Crime 133 Educational Attainment 172
Victimless Crimes 134 Community Colleges 174
Organized Crime 135 Teaching as a Profession 174
International Crime 135 Home Schooling 175
Table of Contents • xxiii
Table of Contents • xxv
CHAPTER VI.
It is a true saying, that when mothers begin to talk of their children
they never know when to stop; and the children, who might
otherwise have found favour, are thereby made to appear as
uninteresting and vexatious bores.
I will try to avoid falling into this error, and only tell you enough to
enable you to understand the peculiarities of mine.
You may have noticed how great a variety exists in the characters
and dispositions of the members of every large family, and will not be
surprised to hear that the same individuality of character shows itself
in the family of Funds and Stocks.
In introducing you to the steadiest and most reliable of my children, I
feel that I am putting you in the way of deriving real advantage. If,
however, you prefer the less worthy, the more daring and
speculative, I shall feel that no blame attaches to me.
Have you ever remarked, in your round of visits among your friends,
that it is almost possible to tell the character of host and hostess by
the people you meet there, and even by the servants who wait upon
you—all seem to take the tone of the house? I notice this specially
among my children. For example, my “Three per Cent. Consols” and
my “New Three’s,” whom I select as specially suited to be your
friends, have the most courteous, kindly, sober and religious class of
visitors; on the faces of all, old and young, clergy and laity, there is
an expression of repose and security and “well-to-doism” which is
charming; while, on the other hand, the faces and manners of those
who visit some of my other children are so wild, so haggard, so
restless, that you cannot help wishing that some good fairy would
give them a soothing syrup, or else insist on their choosing safer
friends; but if you ever pay me a visit, and use your eyes, you will
see more of this than, as a mother, I can tell you.
Against one thing, however, I am, as your friend, bound to warn you.
Listen to no one who proposes to let you have money at a very
cheap rate, while at the same time he offers to pay you large interest
on it. More I cannot say at present.
Closely connected with me, and in my neighbourhood, stands a most
mysterious building, known as the Stock Exchange. Its chief
entrance is in Capel-court, Bartholomew-lane.
None may pass within its portals but those specially privileged, still I
may tell you something about it without breaking through any of the
barriers which the inhabitants have set up between the public and
themselves.
This Stock Exchange is an association of about two thousand
persons, all men, of course, who meet together in Capel-court, and
who agree to be governed by a committee of thirty, chosen from
among themselves.
To the outside world, all the members are known by the name of
“stockbrokers,” but inside the mysterious building they divide
themselves into two classes—“stockjobbers” and “stockbrokers.”
Whether they be one or the other, their lives, occupations, fortunes
and reputations are bound up with the Stocks and Funds. They live
for them and they live on them. They determine their value, they
study every shade of temper exhibited by the family, they decide
their rise and fall, they are their interpreters and mouthpieces, they
act also as their bodyguard: none can approach but through them.
These two classes, jobbers and brokers, have a distinct work, which
I will try to make clear to you.
To start with, the stockjobber does not deal with the public, but the
stockbroker does.
You see stocks and shares are marketable commodities; you can
buy them, sell them, or transfer them, and the stockjobber is, as it
were, the wholesale merchant, and the stockbroker the retail dealer.
Let me explain. If you required twenty yards of black silk, you would
probably go to Marshall and Snelgrove or to Peter Robinson for it.
You certainly would not think of going to a wholesale house in the
City for it; and if you did, the article would not be supplied to you in
this way—it is contrary to the etiquette of trade.
Just in the same manner, if you wanted to buy some stock, you
would go to a stockbroker for it, and not to a stockjobber—the
stockbroker occupying the same position as Marshall and Snelgrove,
while the stockjobber stands in the place of the wholesale house in
the City.
The stockjobber, or wholesale merchant, is always ready both to buy
and sell with the broker. If you give an order to the latter, he darts
into the Stock Exchange, and without disclosing the nature of his
order to the jobber, inquires of him the price of the particular stock
which you wish to deal in. The jobber names two prices: one at
which he is prepared to buy (the lowest price, of course), the other at
which he is willing to sell (the highest price).
Thus, if the price of Consols was given by him as 100¼ to 100½, it
would mean that if you wanted him to take some stock of you he
would give you £100 5s. for each £100 of stock; and that if you
desired to buy some stock of him, you must pay him £100 10s. for
each £100.
These prices are the limits which the jobber sets himself. He is often
ready to give more or to sell for less than the prices he at first
names, according to what is known as the state of the market.
The profits of the jobber and the broker are not of the same kind; the
jobber makes his money out of the difference between the price at
which he buys the stock of you and sells it to someone else.
The broker charges you a small percentage on the cost of the stock
by way of commission for his services in the matter; this does not
include stamp duty or fee, but otherwise he undertakes any
incidental service which may be necessary to give you the full
proprietorship of the stock.
Stockjobbers, or wholesale stock merchants, are, as you see, very
necessary, for brokers could not at all times accommodate their
customers; it might be that one would want to sell at a moment when
there was no one to buy; as it is, however, all is made easy by the
jobbers, who are at all times ready both to buy and sell, and to
almost any amount.
It does sometimes happen that they promise to sell more than they
possess, and then they have to borrow and pay for the use of it on
their clearing day, which takes place once a month for Consols and
similar securities, and once a fortnight for other stocks within the
Exchange. It would never do for members of the Stock Exchange to
fall short of their obligations.
The mystery that has always hung about this building has greatly
increased since it has been in combination with the Exchange
Telegraph Company of London, with all its scientific developments
and its electric currents. Between this bureau and the Stock
Exchange ghostly, silent messages pass the livelong day concerning
the health, the value, the rise and the fall of the various stocks and
funds, and in a few seconds these mysterious messages are wafted
through the length and breadth of the land.
I am a curious, inquisitive old lady, and as there were many points in
these mysterious proceedings I could not understand, I went to the
bureau a short time back, and begged Mr. Wilfred King, the
courteous and clever secretary of the company, to make them clear
to me.
I was very interested in what he said about the rapidity with which
the messages are transmitted. He assured me that the result of the
last Derby was known all over London before the horses had had
time to stop after they had passed the winning-post; and, again, that
during the last Parliamentary session the debates, by means of this
company, were known at the Crystal Palace before they reached the
smoking-room of the House of Commons.
As I stood watching the clever instrument pouring out silently and
persistently its yards of tape messages, I asked as a favour that Mr.
King would cut off a piece, that I might show it to you. You will see
that the language is conveyed by means of simple lines, over which
he was so kind as to write the letters so represented—
[1]
The following little sketch will give you some idea of the instrument
and its working:—
I should like you to know more of this wonderful place; but it belongs
to my life only inasmuch as it carries my messages so silently and
rapidly that people hundreds of miles away can do business with me
in the same hour, and the result is that many thousands of pounds
pass through my hands in a day, which might otherwise have
remained idle.
You will possibly feel surprised to hear that on an average six
millions of pounds[2] are daily passed in London, without a single
coin being used, and without any inconvenience or fatigue; whereas
such a sum as this, if paid in gold or silver, would necessitate the
carrying backward and forward over many miles some hundred tons
weight.
Like many other gigantic transactions, it is brought about in an
insignificant building in a court leading out of Lombard-street, and
therefore close to my residence.
It is not a mysterious place like the Stock Exchange, but its power of
working is so wonderful as to be quite beyond the power of woman
to take in.
It transfers more money in one week than the whole quantity of gold
coin in the kingdom amounts to; and not the least wonderful thing
about it is that the entire work is performed by about thirty well
trained clerks, in the most exact, regular, and simple manner.
The place I am speaking of is the Bankers’ Clearing House—not to
be confounded with that in the Stock Exchange. It was established in
1775 by bankers who desired a central place where they might
conduct their clearing, or balancing, and their needs led them to the
invention of a simple and ingenious method of economising the use
of money. Almost all their payments are in the form of cheques upon
bankers.
The system of clearing is quite as important in money matters as
division of labour is in manufactures, and deserves a much more
thorough explanation than I can give here; and my only excuse for
mentioning it at all is to show you how wonderfully different my
position is now, strengthened as it is by the development of science,
knowledge, and experience, from what it was in my early days.
While my transactions have increased a thousandfold, money,
labour, and time have in an equal degree been economised.
I thought myself very rich formerly with a fortune of £1,200,000, and I
considered that I and my household had a great deal to do in the
management of it, and the work which fell to my lot. Dear me! I can
call back the picture of even a hundred and twenty years ago. My
own house was so small that passers-by could scarcely recognise it;
the population of London was only half a million, and there was but
one bridge over the Thames connecting my side of the City with
Southwark; and as to that mysterious building, the Stock Exchange,
it did not exist. You know, also, for I have told you, that my directors
only employed fifty-four secretaries and clerks, and that their united
salaries did not exceed £4,350. The contrast between then and now
is marvellous even to me.
Only look at it. The proprietors’ capital is now fourteen millions and a
half instead of £1,200,000; I am the Banker of the Government; I
receive the Public Revenue; I pay the National Debt; I receive and
register transfers of stock from one public creditor to another, and I
make the quarterly payment of the dividends. I have undertaken also
the management of the Indian Debt, as well as the Funded Debt of
the Metropolitan Board of Works. What do you think of that for a
woman old as I am in years? You must own that, notwithstanding my
age, I am young and vigorous in thought, in action, and in
organisation, otherwise how could I get through my work as I do?
“GHOSTLY, SILENT MESSAGES.”
My profits, too, are, when compared with those in my young days,
enormous. You wanted to know, if I remember rightly, how I lived,
and how I obtained the money to pay you your dividends; and
whether, in this respect, I was worthy of your trust.
Well, I will tell you a few of the ways in which I make money. I obtain
large sums by discounting Exchequer Bills; then there is the interest
upon the capital stock in the hands of the Government; I receive,
also, an allowance for managing the Public Debt. Up to 1786 I used
to get £562 10s. for every million; it was then reduced to £450 a
million; and since 1808 I get £300 per million up to 600 millions, and
£150 per million beyond—a nice little sum for you to work out.
A further source of income is interest on loans, on mortgages, profit
on purchase of bullion, and many other small matters. I am careful,
you see, not to have all my eggs in one basket.
For help in all this work I employ between eight and nine hundred
officers and servants, whose salaries exceed £210,000 a year.
I think I am a good mistress. I am sure I do my best to take care of
all my people, and I am acquainted with every one of them, even
with those who perform what is called menial service (I don’t like that
word; every service is honourable, if well performed); but I do
confess that I am extremely strict and particular and I am intolerant
of mistakes, from whatever cause they arise, because they dim the
lustre of my honour.
I think on the whole I have reason to be proud of my servants.
Indeed, I have a firm belief that no lady in the land is served better or
more faithfully.
I think you will like to hear a little about the way I manage my people.
First of all, I make every increase of salary to depend upon
punctuality in the morning, knowing as I do its importance. I am
equally particular that those living within the house shall keep good
hours at night.
Then I do not mind giving occasional leave of absence, if urgently
required; but I don’t allow anyone to take what is called “French
leave” without paying a fine for each day’s absence.
When my people get too old for service, I like to feel that they will not
suffer want; so I give them a pension in proportion to the salary they
are receiving at the time they retire. I spend about £40,000 in this
way—a spending which has nothing but pleasure in it for me.
I started a library some time ago for the younger members of my
household, by giving them a large room and £500 for books. It has
since been kept going by themselves, each subscriber paying eight
shillings a year. Between three and eight on certain days in the week
you may see numbers of them making their way thither for reading
and recreation. Those who prefer it may have books to take home.
One of my representatives is always present during these hours, just
to show our interest in their recreation.
The kind feeling, however, is not at all one-sided, as I have had
frequent opportunities of judging. Times of trouble, panic, and
sickness never fail to show me the love and devotion of my people,
and that they have not hesitated to sacrifice their lives for my safety
is a matter of history.
During the hours of the night, when I take my well-earned sleep, I am
watched over by my faithful servants, who take it in turn, two at the
time, to keep watch, in which loving duty they are assisted by a
company of Foot Guards.
So you see on the whole I am a happy woman, a very busy one, and
I think a safe one for you to trust.
(To be continued.)
OUR TOUR IN NORTH ITALY.
By TWO LONDON BACHELORS.
ST. GIORGIO, MAGGIORE.
Our longing expectations were fulfilled, and we were vouchsafed a
lovely evening for our entrance into Venice. By the time the train
reached Mæstre all traces of the storm had disappeared, the sky
was dark blue, and glittered with innumerable stars and a full moon
—just such an ideal night as one would choose for getting one’s first
impressions of the most poetical city in the world.
From Padua to Mæstre there is nothing remarkable; the same
seemingly eternal plain has to be traversed; but as the train draws
near to the last-named city one begins to realise that one is really
approaching the Queen of the Adriatic.
At Mæstre we began to feel the sea breezes, and as the train rushed
on to St. Giuliana we caught glimpses of the far-off lights of Venice
reflected in the water. And now commences the vast bridge which
takes the train over the lagune. This bridge is between three and four
miles in length, and contains 222 arches.
Our excitement was great when we reached the lagune, and the
train seemed actually rushing through the water.
At first the buildings of the distant city looked like huge black rocks,
though the hundreds of lights reflected in the water told one of the
approach to habitation. But as we drew near, the churches, towers,
campanili, and palaces became almost distinguishable, telling out
black against the starlit sky, and seemingly rising from the middle of
the sea—an exquisitely poetical scene, with which no one could be
disappointed.
Of course, we can understand that approaching Venice by day is
quite another matter. Then the shallowness of the lagune (the water
is sometimes not more than three feet deep) is realised; then all the
ruin, shabby detail, bad restoration, and bizarre Gothic work of the
city are seen at a glance. The beautiful moonlight night, however,
told us of none of these defects, but emphasised the strange poetry
of this singular city, with its wonderful history and associations, built
in the middle of the sea.
The approach to Venice by gondola in former times must have been
even more romantic, as the puffing and the screeching of a steam-
engine brings one’s mind back to the nineteenth century. Though, at
the same time, rushing across the lagune in a railway-train at night
produces a somewhat remarkable sensation.
The train took about nine minutes to cross the bridge, and then
glided quietly into the railway station at Venice. There were only
about half a dozen passengers besides ourselves, and there was