IT is often very difficult to give precise statistical information on facts which , as general statements , are universally recognised as true .sx The division of the population of Britain into two classes , the rich and the poor , the haves and the have-nots , is clear enough , but it can be made more living if we can answer the questions :sx how many people are there in the propertied class ; what is the amount of their wealth ; to what extent is it increasing year by year ?sx And again , how many people are there in the propertyless class ; and is their average income rising or falling ?sx THE PROPERTIED CLASS .sx The annual taxation returns for Great Britain throw considerable light on the numbers , wealth and income of the rich ; the most important figures are those of Estate Duty , Income Tax and Super-Tax .sx The Estate Duty is levied on all estates ( in this sense , the total property of each individual at the time of death ) worth more than 100 , and as the Duty is graduated according to the value of the estate the statistics show not only the total wealth left each year but also the distribution of the total according to the value of each estate .sx The figures for the financial year 1929-30 can be summarised as under :sx Before attempting to draw conclusions from these figures , it is necessary to define more precisely what we mean by the propertied class .sx What distinguishes the " haves " from the " have-nots " is the fact that the " haves " possess capital , and draw their living from the labour of those who are forced to work for their living .sx It is clear , however , that the ownership of property of less than 1,000 cannot be taken as the indication of a capitalist .sx Actually , the average size of the estate of the 82,528 persons in the group under 1,000 was only 445 .sx If 5 per cent .sx is taken as the average annual return , this means an income of only 21 a year clearly not enough to free the individual from the necessity of working for his living .sx The total valuation of the estates in the second group that is to say the 31,571 persons with estates averaging 2,525 is 79,700,000 ; of this amount 38,000,000 is made up of insurance policies , house property ( which in the main will have been occupied by themselves ) , household goods and cash , leaving about 42,000,000 in the form of capital used directly or indirectly in exploiting labour .sx Among the 31,571 persons concerned this would mean an average of about 1,330 capital , representing at 5 per cent .sx an annual income of 66 , or about 25s .sx a week .sx It is therefore only the groups above the 5,000 level that can be taken to represent capitalists in the strict sense the class which lives entirely or mainly on the labour of others .sx And the total number of estates in those groups was 15,943 , with an aggregate capital of nearly 422,000,000 .sx From the returns of the Registrar-General , we find that the total number of deaths in the year 1929 was 623,231 ; of this total , only 15,943 were capitalists , or 2 per cent .sx And we find very much the same percentage year after year ; taking the returns over the ten financial years 1920-21 to 1929-30 , the average annual number of estates valued at over 5,000 was 12,549 , while the average annual number of deaths was 568,985 , so that the percentage was 2.2. .sx This means , therefore , that only 2 per cent .sx of the persons who die every year are capitalists ; and it is obvious that approximately the same portion most hold good in relation to the .sx , .sx living .sx It is necessary , however , to make an allowance for the families of the capitalist class ; and in this connection it must be taken into account that a large proportion of the women of the capitalist class own property and are therefore included in the 2 per cent .sx already identified as capitalists , while the proportion of children in the capitalist class is relatively small .sx In the whole population , the proportion under 20 is approximately two-fifths , and we are on the safe side if we apply this proportion also to the capitalists , on this basis , increasing the capitalist class from 2 per cent .sx to , say , 3 per cent .sx of the population .sx If we add another 1 per cent .sx for men and women in the capitalist class who are over 21 but do not themselves own capital , we get a figure of 5 per cent .sx of the population as representing the capitalist class .sx In order to make the picture complete , on the basis of the figures given above , we can say that there is also an intermediate class , partly dependent on capital ( i.e. , the class represented by the estates between 1,000 and 5,000 ) , which accounts for approximately 6 per cent .sx of the deaths each year , and , allowing for dependants , perhaps 15 per cent .sx of the population .sx The remaining 8o per cent .sx of the population is non-capitalist , depending for its living entirely or mainly on wage-labour or on the allowances paid by the capitalists to keep it from revolt .sx In actual numbers , on the basis of the estimated population of Great Britain , this means :sx It is interesting to note that the number of persons with incomes over 162 a year is officially estimated at 5,000,000 ( Report of Inland Revenue Commissioners) .sx Of these , about 1,550,000 are weekly wage-earners , leaving 3,450,000 who , with their families , must make about the total of 9,186,000 shown above in the capitalist and intermediate class .sx INCOME OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS .sx Income-tax statistics do not show the numbers of individuals with incomes of various sizes .sx The only official figures are the estimated total number of persons with incomes over 162 per annum ( 5,000,000 in 1928-29 ) , and the numberof these who are entirely relieved from tax by the operation of abatements and allowances , 2,800,000 , leaving 2,200,000 as the total number of individuals chargeable with tax .sx It is only the super-tax figures , showing the number of individuals with incomes over 2,000 a year , which bring out clearly how small this dominating section of the capitalist class really is .sx In 1924-25 the number of individuals with over 2,000 income was 95,296 ; in 1928-29 the number was 97,696 .sx This number of individuals represents as it were the chief capitalists , with their highly-salaried lieutenants in the professional and administrative posts ( including the Government) .sx It is a force of less than 100,000 , with their families perhaps 400,000 , out of a total population of 48,000,000 less than one per cent .sx And their total income in 1928-29 was over 541,000,000 .sx Owing to the long interval between the making of the income and the assessment to super-tax , the year 1919-20 ( when probably the biggest profits were made ) only shows a total income for these super-tax payers of 410,000,000 , and the enormous profits showed only in 1921-22 , when 92,258 super-tax payers were assessed for total incomes of 570,000,000 .sx The average for the six following years was 543,000,000 practically the same as in 1928-29 .sx In other words , in the period of falling prices ( the Board of Trade's wholesale prices index fell from 325 in April , 1920 , to 138 in April , 1929 ) the income of this dominant section of the capitalist class has remained almost unchanged in money values , and has therefore more than doubled in real values .sx THE GROWTH OF CAPITAL .sx The steady and enormous increase in the value of estates assessed for death duties is the best possible indication of the accumulation of wealth by the capitalist class .sx Owing to different classifications in the former official returns it is not possible to give the figures on the same basis as those for 1929-30 , but the following comparative figures can be given :sx Various estimates have been made by capitalist economists of what they like to call the " national " wealth ; the most recent is Stamp's estimate of 24,000,000,000 ( including the national debt) .sx These estimates include numbers of items which are not capital in the strict sense , and a far better idea of the total capital can be got by using the Estate Duty returns .sx In " Riches and Poverty , " published in 1905 , Chiozza Money estimated that , on the average , estates pass once in thirty years .sx In " Economics of Inheritance , " J. C. Wedgwood , on the basis of the lower death rate since the war , and making an allowance for the even lower death rate among the rich , estimates that estates pass once in 37 years .sx An approximate idea of the total capital can therefore be got by multiplying the total value of the estates passing each year by 30 or 37 , according to which estimate is considered the best .sx If we take 30 for the pre-war years , and 34 for the post-war years we are probably on safe ground .sx The following figures are calculated on this basis , multiplying the total value of estates passing in each year ( excluding estates under 1,000 ) by 30 and 34 , so as to show the approximate total capital :sx It must be understood that this does not represent the material wealth of the country it does not mean that Britain has so much more machinery and other instruments of production .sx It is the market valuation of the capital of individuals it indicates the increase in the total of effective rights to draw surplus value from the working class ( including , of course , the proceeds of colonial exploitation) .sx The word " effective " has been used to emphasise the fact that surplus value is actually being drawn ; for example , if a company has been paying no dividend its shares would be valued very low , and the fact that the valuation of the shares held by the capitalist class as a whole has risen means that the capitalist class is drawing more than before .sx It will be remembered that in 1928-29 there were 97,696 super-tax payers .sx Assuming that the passing of estates occurs once in 34 years ( see above ) , the number of super-tax payers who come into the estate duty returns each year would be about 2,875 .sx This corresponds almost exactly with the number of estates left of over 25,000 .sx Let us see how this section has fared since 1920-21 in the valuation of its capital , multiplying the total value in the returns for each year by 34 , to show the total capital of this dominant section of the capitalist class :sx The increase previously shown in the period 1920-21 to 1928-29 , for all capital over 1,000 ( 11.8 thousand million to 17 thousand million ) works out at 44 per cent .sx ; for capital over 25,000 , however , the increase is over 55 per cent .sx which shows the more rapid concentration in the hands of the very rich .sx THE INCOME OF THE WORKERS .sx In this country there are no statistics of the total wages paid each year and any attempt to show whether the income of the workers as a whole is rising or falling can only be based on an estimate from various official figures the level of wage-rates , the percentage of unemployment , and the cost of living index which is used to adjust current money wages so that their equivalent in " real wages " can be ascertained .sx The method used in the calculation is fully explained in the L.R.D. Monthly Circular of January , 1929 , in an article on " The Truth about Real Wages .sx " In that article it was shown that real wages in 1928 were only 93.6 per cent .sx of their level in 1900 ; the following table repeats the main figures then given and brings them up-to-date .sx It must be understood that the figures represent the position of the working class as a whole , and that while the position of some sections may be better , the position of others will be considerably worse than these figures indicate .sx The whole calculation is in relation to the level of wages in 1900 , which is taken as 100 ; by July , 1914 , money wages had risen by 7.8 per cent .sx , and employment was a little better than in 1900 , so that the actual average earnings , measured in money , were 9 per cent .sx above 1900 ; on the other hand , the cost of living had risen by 10 per cent .sx , so that real wages had fallen by a little under 1 per cent .sx