The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-08-27


The Relative Wages of Mechanics and
Laborers IN Europe.
New York Starl
In no other country than the United
States do we hear of the wages of the
skilled workmen averaging as high as
from 50 to $40 day, or that of unskil.
ed laborers averaging from IS cents to
So day. Let us compare these rates
with other countries. In Holland the
wages of skilled artisan, such as car
penter, joiner, plumber or smith, may be
reckoned in the larger towns at about 81
a week. He works twelve hours day
in summer, and his food is very moder.
ate. Yet he is reported as being pros
porous and happy. In Denmark a first
rate carpenter might coutrivc to earn
$3.50 a week, and skilled bricklaycr
$3.50. Engishmen in like circumstan-
ces would receive about S5 week, while
the Dane may be getting s3 the En-
glish 50 wages answering to about s5 in
Copenhagen Unfortunately, however,
seldom is the Dane able to earn the high
est wages, simply because he does not un-
derstand the meaning Of the word work
Hence the Swedish and German artisans
come In and take the bread from his
mouth. In Sweden the average weekly
wages Of good workmen is 81 %. Piece
workers make about % per cent more
In Stockholm, where wages are the high
est, the following are the ruling rates
Goldsmiths, 81 watchmakers,s So piano.
forte makers, s 20 ; papermakers, S4 so,
while cotton weavers seldom mako more;
than S 70 per week.
IN GREECE
carpenter earns 80 to G2 cents per day
blacksmith, 80 to 40 cents a mason,45
to 81 cents per day, and the operatives 10
the silk factories, As to 60 cents; but
owing to the number of church festivals
kept as strict holidays, leaving only 260
working days in the year, the amount of
wages annually received isvery small.
IN RUSSIA
The condition of the artisan during late
years has materially improved. A good
ly portion Of the working classes spend
their winters in town aud summers in the
country, focking to the latter as soon as
warm weather sets in. Wages vary ac-
cording to locality and seasons of the year
but are lowest in the districts where
handloom weavers congregate. Good
mill hands in the cotton, silk, linen cloth,
and carpet trades receive from 81 so to
Sl5 90 per month ordinary mechanics,
joiners, blacksmiths, &c are paid from
70 cents to 81 80 day, while skilled
mechanics and engine drivers can earn
from 81 so TO 50 so or even more.
IN wuRTEMDERG
The condition of the laborer is still bet
ter, and the facilities which the working
man possesses Of enjoying life are in many
respects greater than in England. He is
able to indulge in meat as a daily article
of food, and even the poorest artisan eats
sausages. if unable to procure fresh meat.
White bread is still a luxury, and is sell
dom INDUCED in by the working classes,
but black or rye bread, which costs four
kreutzers, or two and onc-half cents per
pound, forms their habitual consumption.
IN BELGIUM
a good ordinary carpenter, working for
himself, and having few pounds of caT;
ital or credit to buy wood, can earn four
shilings to six shillings day. and he can
get plenty of work. But if, b. his i'm
providence or other cause, he does not
succeed in becoming master carpenter,
his condition as a journeyman is poor in.
deed He eats little or no meat, he has
inferior bread, and drinks a quantity of
weak coffee aud chicory, with bad milk
His position is, in fact, inferior to that of
the same class in England, and his lodg-
ing is simply deplorable.
IN TURKEY
The rate of wages is very fair, higher,
perhaps, in the Asiatic portion than else
where. At Constantinople, shoemaker,
according to skill, earns from 20 cents to
50 cents day a tailor, 20 cents to so
cents; mason, 20 cents to rs cents !;
skilled werkmen in the arsenal, from so
cents to 81. But In the district of Brus.
sa, in Asiatic Turkey, the wages were, in
F 1869: Marble aud stone-cutters, from
Is cents to 81 25; quarrymen, IS cents
to 81 house carpenters, joiners, plaster
ers, 70 cents to 81 25; cabinet makers,
81 25 to 81 So On the whole, we gath.
er that tolerably good native workman
can certainly earn good wages and what
is enough to maintain himself and family
according to his own ideas Of comfort.
But ideas of comfort differ. In the ar
senal the workmen can rely on continu-
GUS employment, but their wages are con-
tinuously six months in arrears. With
regard to purchases, clothes, mostly of
English fabric, SO far as concerns cotton,
are not unreasonable house rent is dear
in the cities, seldom under S125 per an
mum for superior artisan in Constant.
( nople, but in Anatola, in Asiatic Turkey,
rent for man in the same class with his
family will be about S55. The dwelling
places are more comfortable than might
, be supposed. They are built of sun.dried
f squares Of clay, with chopped straw to
5 bind it the same mixture wetted is used
a as cement, and the foundations are COM
y posed of stone-rubble. At certain inter-
val. the walls are bound by rough-hewn
! strips Of oak, beech, Or pine, held togeth-
t er by cross pieces, aud the pent roof is
S almost invariably tiled. There is an
y open fireplace nearly level with the floor,
| and fue to carry of the smoke. There
/ are shelves, windows, ETC., and the walls
0 are commonly from thirty to thirty-six
2 inches thick, plastered with clay, and
y whitewashed within. The floor is of hard