Hard Work, Low
Wages and Long Hours
; f
GERMAN WORKMEN AT
(Copyright. 1909; by Frank a. Carpenter.)
I ER1JN, April 1. (Special Corre
B
spondence of The Be.) la any
American workman otft of a loot
IiTl 1 u " n naa better look for an
1 other at home As far a I can
learn, the labor market of Europe Is over
stocked. There are something like 1,000,
000 idle workmen In England. The Indus
trial centers have many out of employ
ment and In London there are frequent
parades of the poor. There Is no room for
xtra workmen in France, and Germany la
till In hard times.
This country was on the boom for thirty
year a. It began, to grow when France paid
erer .hnr millions to Germany. Factories
and workshops then sprang up all over the
empire. The people flocked from the, farms
to the cities and the country changed from
an agricultural to a manufacturing one.
Trade was pushed in every direction. The
towns grew and wages rose.
This state continued until abont 1900,
When, owing to oyer speculation, the balloon
of prosperity bursted; the gas that came
from it asphyxiated some of the banks and
they failed and factories all oyer the em
pire began to shut down. Within fifteen
days 22,000 men were discharged In Berlin
for lack of work, and the Indus' rial estab
lishments alt over Germany either dis
missed, cut down their force or shortened
the working hours. This condition of hard
times ctlll exists, although th'ngi f re look
ing up in some branches, owing to th9
Increased demands from th United States.
I have spent a large part of this week
In some of the most notable factories of
Germany. I have gone through electrical
establishments employing thousands of
hands and have examined among other
works thot of the Do: sign, the biggest en
gine makers ot the continent, having the
place in Germany that the Baldwins hold '
In the United States. The most of these
factories are running with less than their
usual number of men and some which pre
tend to be full are giving short time.
The Borslg factory is one of the most
prosperous in Germany. It has a large
foreign trade and it is somewhat owing
to this that it keeps its men busy. It is
one of the big engine works of Jhe world,
although not as large .as the Baldwins'.
It builds on the average about four loco
motives every week and it has already built
more than 6,000.
These works are situated at Tegnl, Just
outside Berlin. They cover thirty acres
and employ about 2,500 men. The estab
lishment has also mines and works lu Upper
Bllesla, which employ 5,000 hands, so that
altogether the force is a large one.
This factory was founded over sixty years
ago by A. Borslg. and it . still belongs to
his sons. In the United States it would be
tun by a corporation or trust, but in Ger
many some of the biggest of such establish-
ments, such as the Borslg and Krupps, are
owned In , one family. The two Borslgs
who now manage the works are each under
40. They are active business men, and
spend their time In the factory, knowing
personally all that goes on. Indeed, It is
said that either of them could make an
engine if he had to. I met the younger
member- of the firm, Mr. Conrad Borslg,
during my stay at the works and he fur
nished me an English guide to look over
them.
We walked together through the thirty
odd acres of. buildings where the steam
engines sre made, now stopping to watch
the men in the foundries pouring red hot
metal into the moulds, and now going
through the rooms where the vest boilers
sre rtvlted tcether. There was a noise
like the thunder of many hammers which
almost deafened me. Huge traveling
'cranes, running overhead, lifted boilers
weighing many tons as easily as a mother
lifts her baby and machines bored through
steel as though it were cheeae. Here they
were making screws, there lathes were cut
ting iron like pine,' and here the parts of
the locomotives were sssembled and put
together for shipment to all countries of
the world.
After leaving the works I went through
the colonies which the Borslgs have built
for their worklngmea. Such Institutions
IV
i 4 ?
LUNCH TIM.
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t! '
THESE BOYS GET 25
are becoming quite common In connection
with the larger German factories. The
Krupps have constructed towns as homes
for their employes and there are other
large Iron making companies along the
Rhlue which have done likewise. These I
shell describe when I visit that region.
.Here, near Tegel, the Borslgs have
bought a large tract ot land and have built
houses about It which are rented out to
their workmen at such prices as will make
them pay a low Interest on the Investment.
None bu'. employes and their families are
permitted to live In these houses and the .
accommodations are such that they receive",
more for tholr rent than they. could got
anywhere else There, is an open space, .
covering many acres, in front of these
houses. This has been planted with forest
trees and It will some day be a beautiful
park.
' The Borslgs treat their -employes well.
The men seem to be satisfied and I am told
their condition is superior to that ot other
German factories. They work but ' ten
hours a day and such as continue with' the
firm a certain number of years are given
pensions.
Germany Is a land of low wages and long
hours. In the steel and Iron industries
$5 per week is good psy. and in the textile
mills the wage Is still less. Mechanics
think they do well If they get IS cents an
hour, and on the state railways the best
paid engineers receive only $10 per week.
. Firemen are paid from $5 to $7 per weelr
and porters less than $. Workmen em
ployed by the city force are paid equally
low, the boys cleaning the streets receiv
ing 15 cents a day. On the government
works the average day Is nine hours, but
It Is longer everywhere else.
The most of the factories ot Berlin claim
to have a ten-hour day, and as the labor
unions are strong here they can hold that
time to a certain extent. In other parts
of Germany the working day averages
eleven hours, with no Saturday afternoons
off, and in certain sections it averages
twelve hflurs snd over.
There are many clerks in this city who
work as much as fourteen hours every day.
The stores open about S o'clock in the
morning, and the most of them do not close
until o'clock in the evening, and the
restaurants snd cafes much later. Nearly
all stoces are open until 2 p. m. Sunday, al
though they are closed during .church hours.
Some storekeepers aro so pious that they
will not allow sn advertisement to be ex
posed at this time. There Is a glass case
of such advertisements under the railroad
at the Frledrlchstrasse' Bshnhof. Between
10'and 12 on Sundays some ot these adver
tisements are covered with paper, which Is
torn off as soon as church U out.
Speaking of time In the stores at an In
vestigation some years ago It was found
that it per cent ot the establishments
worked their clerks fourteen hours a day,
and that In I per cent ot them they worked
r j,,'
TUB BIGGEST ENGINE
j
CENTS A DAT.
sixteen hours. In nearly all places there
Is an hour or so off for lunch.
In the country districts the hours run
from sunrise to sunset, with very few holi
days.' The great exodus from the farm
to the cities has somewhat Increased farm
wages, but they are still low, being com
peted with by the gangs brought In from
Austria, Russia and Poland at harvest and
seeding times.
I am told that the Poles work for as little
as 25 cents a day, with poor food thrown
in, and that there are farm districts where
the ordinary hand gets only 15 cents a day.
Throughout Prussia 50 cents Is a good price
for farm work and in some sections the
wages are 40 cents for men and 25 cents
for women. . ...
A great deal ot farm work Is done by the
women. They spade and hoe, weed and do
other back-breaking work. They commonly
follow the plow and scatter the manure,
. working side by side with the men. "
Some farmers hire married couples rent
ing fhem small houses on their estates and
taking the rent out la wages. Such . a
tenant agrees to' give all his work to the
owner of the estate and to take 35 cents
a day for It ln ' winter and 60 cents per '
day In the summer.' The men's wife msy
get 20 cents a day In the winter and 25
cents in the summer. At such wages if one
has a good healthy wife, he may possibly
earn as much af- $200 during the year. -;
Women in Germany - are ? everywhere
poorly paid. I have already given the wages
In the big stores, where as nicely dressed
and as Intelligent" girls as you will find la -any
ot our department stores of the United
States get from $8 to $12 a : month and
beard themselves. Ths average wages ot
female clerks are from 25 to 50. cents a
day, and it must be a very good clerk
indeed who gets the latter.
Berlin Is filled with sweat ahcpi. It Is
one of the manufacturing centers of Eu
rope and it has tens ot thousands ot siwlng
glils engaged In making mantlet, cloaks,
men's and women's clothing, jacke'.s and
infants' wear. Many of these sweat shops
are in the cellars snd some in the attics.
The houses look well on the outside, but
within you find scores working away In
little rooms snd. not a few working and
sleeping In the same room. The pol'ee
regulations require that the rooms be of a
certain site, but today there are thou
sands of men, women and ch'ldrrn whs l.ve
In cellars in this most beautiful city of
Germany. There are other thousands in
rooms which cannot be heated and many ot
which -lack ventilation aid light.
Nearly all the swest shops pay their em
ployes by the piece and that at such a rate
that only the beet sewers can make as
much as 60 or 40 cents a day. There Is
a fine tor every mistake, and trumped-up
fines reduce the receipts below the amount
agreed upon. I am told that few sewing
girls earn as much as $1 per week. Girls
make Jackets for 20 cents apiece and shirt
Ofrffi
t
WORKS IN EUROPE.
waists for 25 cents. Ton can get a girl to
come to your house and sew for less than
60 cents a day and yon can hire a dress
maker who will cut, fit and make a plain
dress f or you in two days, charging you
60 cents per day for her work and per
haps 40 cents per day for the girl who helps
her.
Musto teachers aro paid as little as 25
cents a lesson and singing teachers the
same. Girls In some factories receive less
than $2 a week. In others they get $3,
while forewomen receive from $6 to $10.
Borne figures taken by the government not
long ago showed that cloak makers were
earning $2 a week and that girls on under
clothes received from $1.25 to $3.75, the lat
ter being ptld for skilled hands and over
seers. Think of making collars tor from 1
to 2 cents apiece and cuffs for 20 cents a .
dozen and you have an Idea how some
women work in Berlin. I have heard of
places where button holes are made by
hand for 1 cent a bole snd where If the
piece to work and the thread and needles
are furnished by the employer a reduction
of 25 cents per head is made.
Thp percentage of women workers in Ger
many has rapidly Increased of late years,
owing to the enormous number of men re
quired in the army. It is estimated that
there are more than 7,500,000 German
women who earn their own living, and this
Is an Increase of more than 1,000,000 within
the last thirteen years. Of these 40 per
cent are employed on the farms, 20 per
cent In domestic service and 10 per cent in
publlo offices. About 7 per cent work in
the factories and 4 per cent act as servants
In the hotels and In the beer and wine
rooms. - ' . .i j
Within the last few years the men have
been trying to keep the women from doing
certain kinds of work In the factories and
foundries, and the unions are generally
against the employment of married women
when their husbands have work. ,. . . i -:
But how can people live on such wages?
They cannot if you use "live" in our seas j
of the word. It is the general opinion that
things are cheap in Europe. They are not.
Here in Germany good things cost as much
as in the United States, and many things
more. , A fair price for beefsteak is 25
cents a pound; mutton, 20 cents, and veal
the same.1-. Good butter costs from 20 to 30
cents a pound, sugar 7 cents and flour 6
cents.- . , -.. , ,
- ' Germany has to Import , a great part of
Its food. We send It much of its bread
stuffs. Russia Is Its poultry farm,- and
Holland snd other countries its butcher
shops. Eggs are Imported by the millions
and they sell for 30 cents and upward per
dosen. An 'ordinary chicken costs 60 cents,
and it is a poor goose that won't bring $1.
Clothing Is somewhat cheaper than with
us, but the better kinds are equally high.
Shoes cost so much that the average work
man wears sandals of wood with toes ot
leather. 1 see men so shod on the streets
of Berlin and the clack, clack, "clack of
the wooden sole is heard in every factory.
Fuel Is high, and altogether the necessaries
as well js luxuries cost much.
Many people cook as little as possible.
You can buy all sorts of eatables all ready
cooked, and this is done by both rich and
poor. You can get roast beef, roast
chicken, and puddings ready to warm up
In every block, and the delicatessen shops
will supply you with a cooked dinner ready
to take home and serve If you want it.
There are but few free lunch counters
and public soup houses where you get
things for nothing, but there are many
cheap restaurants where the poor are sup
plied at cost prices. Some ot these are
managed by the charitable women of the
city, and that under the patronage
of the empress herself. They are known
as the people's kitchens and are open to
sll. In them you can get a dinner for
about 6 cents, A bowl of soup costs
. cents and a cup ot good strong cot
fee 1 cent. The rooms are very clean
and well kept and the food is nicely
cooked. As you come In there is a cashier
who gives checks for the articles wanted
upon payment of the money, and by pre
senting these checks at the luncheon coun-
(Co&Unued on Page Fourteen.)