Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-11-23
VOL. Ono. Il.
HOW THEY WORK AND LIVE.

There are two brothers. Germans, manufac-
turers of cutlery, one of whome superintends.
| the manufacturing operations in Solengen
| (Piussia,) and the other sells the articles at
his warehouse, No. Is Cliff street, New York.
From the latter, VIM. Kind, Esq, we have
received the following account of the mode
in which the manufacture of cutlery in Ger
many is conducted. 1t gives us a striking
view of German life, showing not only in in
dustrial organization, but in social habits and
arrangements some curious contrasts to those
which prevail in this country.
Solengen is a town of some seven thousand
Inhabitants, and the mechanics who make Mr.
Kinds knives and scissors live in villages
scattered round the town at a distance OF from
two to four miles. The Germans all 1--we in
villages; they SO social that they could
not bear to live alone. in scattered houses, as
the Americans do. From one of these villa
ges blacksmith sends his wife TO Mr.. Kinds
establishment in Solengen, for a quantity of
iron and steel, TO be forged into scissors. Tho
material is weighed and delivered to the wo-
man, who puts 1t upon her head and carries II
home. After the blacksmith has forged it all
into scissors, of sizes and forms according to
directions, his wife puts them into basket,
and carries them back again, on her head, to
the ware house, 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 a quantity of
scissors to be ground and polished. After
the return from the polisher'S, they go to a
third village to receive the screws and rivets
and sometimes to fourth to receive
ira polish On the roads leading ont from
SoleDgen 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 il leaves the warehouses for tho
black smiths, till the time that the scissors
finished, is carried on the top OF women's
heads an average distance OF II miles.
This plan of operations for manufacturing
differs somewhat from the course pursued in
England and the United States. Here large
building is erected in which all the workmeu
are collected together ,all convenient tools and
engines are provided; the scissors are forged
by one man, passed directly to another who
hardens and tempers them, another does the
grinding, another the polishing. and another
the riveting thus great division of labor is
secured, and all distant transportation OF the
material during the process of manufacture is
avoided ali heavy work. such as driving trip
| hammers and turning grindstones, being done
by steam or water power. The result is. that
| given number of mechanics will make sey-
eral times as many scissors IN America as the
same number will in Germany. When tho
scissors are sent into the market of the world,
those made by the Germans viii bring more
than those made by the Americans, being
worth no more As the American produces
several times as many IN the course oil the
year as the German does, the American realf-
ses several times much for his years labor
as the German does for his. This matter is so
plain that it is astonishing that there are peo-
pie yet who cannot understand that the ten
dency of labor saving. or rather, labor-doinG
machinery, is to raise the wages of labor.
| The German mechanics engaged in the manu-
facture OF which we have been speaking, are
paid by the dozen, and earn from 25 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 for his
dolir and half two dollars.
While the Americans, in fierce rivalry, are
struggling to outshine another in foolish
display, the Germans, content in their mutual
equality, pass their lives in friendly commune
and social enjoyment.