The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-03-20
Low Wages and Cheap LIVING IN Ger
many.

manY.
The Dresden Correspondent OF the Spring.
field Republican writes:
'One problem il the state Of things here
puzzles me completely. II is this: How do
the working classes live on the wages they
get' Take into account the German talent
for economy, and the undoubted fact that
we foreigners pay far more for the same ar
ticles than the natives do, and ii still re-
mains great mystery. Look at the wage
they get; there 10 the chambermaid who
takes care Of my room, she is hard at work
from early to late, gets, with food aud room
but not With washing, sum equal to s 20
in gold month Up and down these long
lights Of stone stairs she goes continually /;
she says, keep all the time one pair or
shoes on nv feet and one at the sh0emahers.
Every pitcher OF water must be brought
from the pump on the other side Of the
square. She has the afternoon Of every
third Sunday for a holiday. And clothes.
shoes, and every necessity of food beyond
mere food and shelter must come out If
twenty one dollars a year. And she dresses
tidilr, wears cheerful face, and has a.
merry a laugh A. ever heard. Or take this
ease Of a waiter at restaurant, his wages
are bis meals at the saloon and 81 50 in
gold a month, two-thirds Of which be must
pay for his lodgings. Seventeen dollars a
year to keep a man in clothing aud personal
necessities. a. for gratuitie4 from custom
ers, they are a mere tribe, and probably ~
into a common stock with those 0f other
walters, 90 mat special assiduity avails him
almost nothing. Leaving all other results
asi ie, is it likely that be can afford the lux
ary Of a family. NOu ask bow does be live
himsef2 That is Just the problem can
not solve. But be docs live, and stand.
ready to serve you, civil, handy, week days
and Sundays month after month"
ssTake the case 0f musicians. | 20 often
TO concert given every evening at a res
taurant. These concerts are well worthy 0f
a full description, and hope some time to
describe them, for TO an American they are
unique. But fOr the present, as % The mu-
siciau-' pay. There is band % more than
twenty pieces, and their music, ID describe
it no further, is equal 70 the best orchestral
music one hears from the Lest large bands
Of Boston aud New York at a first class
concert. The performers receive all the ad-
mission fees, and the proprietor Of the sa-
loon makes bis profits froT bis own sales
The average attendance during Il whole
evening il perhars sixty the admission fae
about seven cents. Perhaps twenty cents a
night, at the outside are the wages Of first
class musician. The orchestra at the thea
tre and opera here (tbey form one establish
ment) Is ve-y large and very fne 0ne.
This theatre-Opera, by the way, has 4 rcpu-
tatIon throughout Europe, TX n maintained
by the government, which paws IN an annual
subsidy, IN addition % receipts from EN-
trance fees al high rate $4,000 thaler.
about equal to a. many jol,-rs in our pa
per currency. The leader Of the 0rehestra
in this grand establishment gets about six
hundred thaleFs q wear. Evidently The rauA
and hlf " these performers under him re-
eeive at most but small wages NeI among
them ure men who perform for mer1 nl-
thing, and regularly all the time tor no.
thing, year after year, that they may at list
succeed 10 a 'aiaried place when their turu
comes aud vacancy occurs.