Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-11-11
0Qlortcster 4allp Spp.

The WAY GERMAN MECHANICS Work AND
LIvE.-There are two brothers, Germans,
manufacturers of cutlery, one of whom super
intends the manufacturing operations in Sol
engen tPrussia,) and the other sells the
articles, at his warehouse in New York
From the latter, William Kind, Esq, we
have received the following account of the
mode in which the manufacture of cutlery in
Germany is conducted. 1t gives us a striking
view of German life, showing not only the in
dustrial organization, but in social habits and
arrangements some curious contrasts to those
which prevail in this country.
Soengen is a town of some seven thousand
inhabitants, and the mechanics who make Mr..
Kinds knives and scissors live in villages scat
tered round the town at a distance of from
two to four miles. The Germans all live in
villages they are SO social that they could not
bear to live alone, in scattered houses as Am.
orleans do. From one OF these villages
blacksmith sends his wife to Mr.. Kinds estab-
lishment in Solengen, for quantity OF iron
and steel, to be forged into scissors. The ma
terial is weighed and delivered to the woman,
who puts it upo- her head and carries it home.
After the blacksmith has forged it all into
scissors, of all sizes and forms according to the
directions, his wife puts them into basket,
and carries them back again, on her head, to
the warehouse, and receives the pay for the
work. From some other village a mechanic,
whose trade is grinding and polishing sends
his wife to the town to procure quantity of
scissors to be ground and polished. After the
return from the polisher's, they go to third
village to receive the screws and rivets; and
sometimes to a fourth to receive an extra
polish. On. the roads leading out from Solen-
gen may be seen these stout German women,
with necks as straight an arrow, trudging
along three to four miles, with their ponderous
burdens on their heads. The iron, from the
time it leaves the warehouses for the black
Smiths till the time that the scissors are finish
ed is carried on the top Of women's heads an
average distance of twelve miles.
This plan of operations for manufacturing
differs somewhat from the course pursued i'll
England and the United States Here large
building is erected in which all the workmen
are collected together, all convenient tools and
engines are provided the scissors are forged
by one man and passed directly to another
who hardens and tempers them, another does
the grinding, another the polishing, and an
other the riveting: thus great division Of labor
is secured, and all distant transportation of
the material during the process OF manufac-
ture is avoided; all heavy work, such as driv-
ing trip-hammers and turning grindstones,
being done by steam or water power. The
result is that given number of mechanics will
make several times as many scissors in Amer
lea as the same number will in Germany.
When the scissors are sent into the market of
the world, those made by the Germans will
bring no more than those made by the Amari-
cans being worth no more. AS the American
produces several times as many i'll the course
of the year as the German does, the American
realses several times as much for his years
labor as the German does for his. This mat
ter is so plain that it is astonishing that there
are people yet who cannot understand that the
tendency of laborsaving, or rather labor doing
machinery, is to raise the wages of labor. The
German mechanics engaged in the manutac-
ture Of which we have bsen speaking, are
paid by the dozen, and earn from IS to 40 cents
per day.
Another feature in the case, from WHICH the
Americans might extract profitable lesson is,
that the German will obtain more pleasure for
his thirty cents than the American will tor his
dollar and half or two dollars.
While the Americans, in fierce rivalry, are
struggling to outshine one another in foolish
display, the Germans, content in their mutual
equality, pass their lives in friendly commune
and social njoyment-.Scientyic american.