The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-12-25
The Workingmen of Germany.

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We take the following extracts from a
work entitled " The German Workingman, :"
by Mr.. James Samuelson -
THE ROOMS OF "THE GENERAL IMPROVE.
MENT ASSOCIATION" ELBERFELD.
" As we enter the first apartment, we
pass the buffet or refreshment counter,
where beer and other beverages are sold to
members, and, accustomed as we English
men are to associate the ideas of beer and
intoxication, we are naturally little taken
aback at finding here, as VIC shall find in
every institution of this kind in Germany,
facilities freely afforded for indulging in
what is with US terrible vice, practised in
beer vaults and gin palaces. But this is
the first indication that we are amongst a
changed people, with habits other than ours
In Germany beer does not necessarily mean
intoxication any more than tea or coffee or
any other beverage; and two Of the chief
sources of attraction in these workingmen's 8
Culture Unions are the glass or tankard
of good ale and the pipe of good tobacco,
which luxuries are provided without roV'ric-
tien and INDUCED in without excess. We
are now in large ante-room, in which there
are a number of small tables, and passing
through this, we arrive at the As, mbly
Room, fine airy hall of much larger di-
mensions than we should have expected to
find in building Of such modest external
appearance. Although extremely plain,
this hall is very cheerful and attractive. At
one end stands the Tostrum, or lecturers
desk, from which lectures and addresses are
delivered by the professors at the higher
schools, the principals Of factories, and by
the woIkingmen themselves. The lectures
are on subjects Of literary, social, and econo-
mical interest, as well as on political ques-
ito. affecting the welfare of the whole ma
tion, but strictly party politics are wisely
excluded. Lectures are also delivered on
science applied to the arts. Discussions
follow the lectures. During the lectures,
beer, coffee .5A, and tobacco are aiisuwod,
and in order to enable the members to par
take of these with comfort, the hall is sup
piled, not with rows of uncomfortable
benches, as with US, but with q great num-
Der of small oblong tables. These run
from one end Of the room to the other in
rows, and each of them has three chairs on
either side. Ladies are often present at the
lectures, and then the workingmen do not
require to be told that they should refrain
from smoking, but it is discontinued as
matter of course-gentlemen are not al
ways so well bred in Germany In front of
the raised lecture desk, at the further 'ex-
tremity Of tie hall, is an oblong table, cover
ed with neat cloth, at which the committee
and officers Of the institution sit and make
notes Of the proceedings. The other rooms
are furnished either with tables or desks,
to the uses for which they are
and in one there is accommodation
for an excellent library. Everything is,
however, framed on the most economical
principles. The amusements of the mem
bers are draughts and chess, games Of
chance being forbidden, but these, as well as
the refreshments and other entertainments,
are the only means to attain a higher end,
namely. he intellectual development Of the
subscribers"
THE LIFE OF AN ELBERFELD WORKMAN.
As a child be is provided with much
better education than is afforded to children
Of similar class in England. Until be is
fourteen years Of age, the law forbids his
employment in factory, and up to that time
be is therefore kept at bis preparatory
studies. Tt is hardly necessary to repeat
what is well known to every English reader,
that such objects as street arabs and gut
ter children are unknown, and no such
scandal to civilization is to be met with, even
in the meanest street Of this or any other
German manufacturing town. In Elberfeld,
and indeed in every other town in Germany
and Switzerland, it is hardly an exaggera-
ton to say that the schoolhouse is the finest
modern building to be met with. In addi-
ton to elementary schools, there is at Ell
berfeld frst-class mechanics school of art
and science (Gewerbe Schule) supported
(with the exception of small fees from stu
dents) half by the State and half by the
where higher instruction is
given in applied art and science, and it is in
such institutions as these that the young lad
d. stlned for a handicraft receives pis early
training. As a man his labors are more
onereus, or at least more longer continued,
than with US bis wages are lower, but the
means Of life, and the facilities afforded for
its enjoyment, are cheaper and more varied
AS rule he actually works twelve hours
daily, first from six O'Clock till noon, then
from one to seven, and occasionally overtime,
for which he receives additional pay A
mason, brlcklayer, or other journeyman in
the building trade receives thaler, or about
6s- per day; journeyman cabinet-maker
ABOUT Is "a per day and a master cabinet
maker told me very gravely that, owing to
the agitation for higher wages, he had re-
Gently been obliged to grant an increase
formerly wages were lower The uph0l-
sterers usually work by the piece, and
clever man can earn at the rate Of 3s Sd per
day. Spinners get 2s Sd to 3s; and
weavers, who work by the piece, earn about
IS If they possess loom at their own homes,
or tritie less if they work in a factory,
where they have to pay loom hire. Formerly
meat was a luxury seldom indulged in;
now it is a daily article of food, and costs
cd per Id. white bread, which is very fine
and resembles cake, is still luxury seldom
enjoyed by a workingman be eats black or
rye bread which is Id per ID. What is
there considered very good beer is sold at
Id per quart. It is not equal to Allsopp's
or some Of the other fine Burton ales as re-
CARDS strength, but is, in my opinion, in