The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-05-21

wages would not be thought much OF BY an
knglish artisan. Sixteen shlllings q week are
che wages Of the better class Of artisans, and .
gui4ea would be esteemed mAgninceos remu-
nerdsion. But the Dutchman ID frugal; no
dispeoses with many things which an English
mar or Frenchman must have end, 10 parti-
culre, he 10 lesS fond of the beershop or cafe.
Then he ID quiet, forbeaRing person. he never
troubles the Government, and tie Government
rarely troubles him. Everything Ii left 70 10
~ 4 chooses. No Factory Acts no special
regulations relating to apprenticeship. Oaly
one exception: Dutchmen must not strike,
and they don't
it is singular lat with all these ad-
varltages Dutch employers do not oc-
cuRy a more prominent place among
pro ducers. The doctrine that low
wages are favorable to an expansion of
manufacturing enterprise is contra
dicIed by the case of Hollsnd. The
reports issued by the British Foreign
Office all 60 to show that the remu-
nerhtion given to labor depends in q
very great measure on the demand for
it IN any particular country and in
those countries where living is cheap
wages are necessarily low; but this
last is not always the case, rs some
times demand exceeding the supply
viii raise wages independently Of the
oost of living. The great lesson for
th@ wOrkingman is to reduce the hours
of labor; and it is in q great measure
on this line that the battle between
labor and capital will be fought and
won. To those more directly concerned,
tho following facts may mot prove IN
interesting:
In Denmark, first-rate Carpenter
might contrive to earn 26s. q week, and
fri t-rate Bricklayer sos but all
things considered, where the English
Nondon) operative is earning EOS. q
week the Dane may be getting S., the
English S6s. wages answering TO l9s.
orr POS, in Copenhagen. In Sweden,
the agricultural laborer can earn god. .
day in Summer, and lOd. a day in
Winter; Iron Founders earn IL. Sd. to
Is. 1Od., and skilled workmen earn 2s.
to IS. cd. day. In Saxony wages are
not high-they average not more than
9si to 12s. a week; but the Saxon
workman knows how to keep himself
and his family on that sum, and fire.
quently to lay by something which en-
abIes him to purchase small house and
a plot of ground. In Austria. the
wages Of artisans must be very small,
if we may Judge by the fact that agri-
cultural laborers earn less than ES to
"a per annum. In Brussels q good
ordinary Carpenter, working for him
ell /, and having few pounds ofcapital
or credit to buy wood, can earn 4s. to
IS. day, and he can get plenty Of
work. But, if by his improvidence or
other causes, he does not succeed to
beqome a master carpenter, his condi-
tioh as a journeyman is poor indeed.
H6 eats little or no meat, ne has in
ferSor bread, and drinks& quantity of
weak coffee and chiccory, with bad
milk. His position is, in fact, inferior
to that of the same class in England,
AMI his lodging is simply deplorable
Indifference and a false feeling Of in
are the bane of the Belgian
wdT kingman.
I'm France the condition of the work
MIN is represented as having greatly
improved of late years. A jOurneyman
carpenter, who In 1859 earned AZ. q
dsy, in 1869 earned 4s. cid. /; mason,
who in 1853 earned IS. It'd, in 1859
earned As. 44d. per day while the
model lodgings built to supply the
want caused by the extensive demOli-
t ION of houses have certainly proved 9
GREAT boon to the Partisan laborer.
In Zurich the wages of Spinner is
only 9s. per week, and IS. for children.
In Greece carpenter earns "a Id.
tb Is. Cd. per day; blacksmith, 1s.
sd. to Is cid; mason, Is. 9d4. to SO.
d4d. per day, and the operatives in the
silk factories, Is. cid. to %. Il Id. but
owing to the number of church festi-
4als, kept as strict holidays, leaving
only 065 working days in the year, the
amount of wages annually received is
tery small. The great advantage in
Greece is that provisions are very cheap,
that little quantity of food is required
to sustain life, and that the habits of
the people are simple and frugal in the
extreme.
AS might have been expected, the
English papers, in commenting on the
above stated facts declare, that " there
IL no country on the other side OF the
Atlantic that holds out any induce
Iaent for the British workman to leave
bis home;" that there is but one coun-
Try that the wistful eye of the laborer
may be usefully directed, and that is
tie United States. While we have no
desire to throw any obstacles in the
way of the emigrant DESTROYS of max
Jag the so-called Eldorado" of the
Horkingman, his home, we know many
Of the statements made and induce
uAents held out are gross!y falss. If
wages are higher here than in Great
britain, it should also be remembered
H. L1-~o 800 81 81 0lAkksn&