Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-09-14
SWISS AEtIzans,

All Swiss children are required to at
/ tend school up to the age of fifteen first
rate schools are provided, which, if not
in all cases free, provide education at a
! tritiing cost, not exceeding Except Basel
charge of three francs-in Bern it is
one franc-per annUm, and even this is
/ Iessened i'll the case of DOOr people. Sc
well is Switzerland covered with public
| schools, that private ones are scarce,
/ and some cantOns do not exist at all.
After leaving the primary school, the
| young artisan can continue learning at
| the repetition schools or the evening
and Sunday schools, and can obtain a
| higher degree of instruction afteFward
at the industrial schools, to be found in
| the most populated districts. Then, in
several localities, there are special insti-
tutiOns for special things and special
subjects. Geneva has its drawing-sehO {;
Stanz, its school of design; Lausanne,
its school for modelling, carving and
sculpture and LuganO, its school for in
struction in the application of chemistry
to art and industry. Nearly every com
mune boasts a circulating library, well
stocked with general literature and tee
hnical works; and every town has its
museum of art archaeology and natural
history. Since in the more lucrative
trades premiums are required with ap-
prentices, institutions abound for the
purpose of paying for the instruction of
poor lads. AT Locle there is Il school
for instructing them in the mystery of
matchmaking; and similar schools ex-
ist at ChauX-de-FOnd and Geneva
where, for the payment of five francs 81
month, apprentices are taken and
| taught so well that in three years time
they are able to earn their own liveIi-
hood. Most artisans either own or hold
from their commune small plots of land,
which contribute something toward
their maintenance when work falls off
or fails altogether. In the latter unhap-
py contingency, ifhe cannot get employ
ment through the agency of some sOcfe-
ty, the workman has little difficulty in
borrowing sufficient to supply his necs-
stiles for time, either by depositing
some article Of his manufacture at a
bazaar and receiving an advance up
on his future wages from the savings
bank, peoples band, or mutual-credit
society. In truth, there is tOO great a
facility for borrowing, and in some
towns the evil effects of the borrowing
system are heavily felt. At all Swiss
factories, 1t is customary to sell food to
SN7S tSA4SSf S44NLs cO-OOelH-
tive stores for t!,c tt!!.c supply of provisions
and other home neeessaries are well sup
ported, so that the workman gets his
meat and other food as cheaply as posi-
ble. His bath costs him nothing, and
washing very little; In the principal
towns there public wash-hOuses for the
use of which, with their machinery for
bleaching, drying and iIoning by steam,
from Undertakings to three-halfpence
an hour is charged. In fOrest-districts it
is usual to distribute fuel gratuitiOusly;
in other districts the lack is done by
corporations, employer and benevolent
institutions. Almost the only thing for
which the artisan is thrown entirely up-
on his own resources is clothing; even
the cooperative societies afford him no
assistance that way. House-room is in |
many eases provided by employers, in |
order that the men may be near them. |
The accommodation consists generally |
of two or three rooms, kitchen, cellar /
loft and small garden, for which the oc-
cUpier pays from three to four dollars a /
month, or less than in some parts while I
a single man can get board and lodging /
for the sum of a dollar and half to two /
dollars q week.