The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-14

class OF workmen earn from thirty to sixty
cents per day, and ON this they can support
their families, because black bread and
butchers meat are cheap. All other COM
modities, however, are dear In Russia. House
rent is twice as dear as in England. One Of
the Consuls says that an English artisan would
require to earn twice as much in Russia as he
would in England in order to live as well.
The next country on the scale of increasing
prosperity of the working classes Is Germany.
There the population is abundant and capital
has been accommodating for many centuries.
But even in Germany the condition Of the
laboring classes is not enviable, arising from
two causes-namely, the sterlity of the soil Of
Northern Germany, and the excess Of popula-
ton. Were it not for the safety valve Of emf
grafton German society would be prey to
the gravest disorders. Its industrial organi-
cation continued to be, up to 1860, what 1t was
in the Middle Ages. The tradesmen's bunds,
or guilds, possessed exclusive privileges, so
that tailor or shoemaker belonging to one
petty principally could not set up his business
in another. The breaking down of these bar
riers and the establishment of the freedom of
industry have been of immense advantage in
some provinces, particularly Silesia wages
have doubled In the last thirty years, while
the cost Of living has not increased in anything
like the same proportion. In Saxony the farm
laborer earns from twenty-five to thirty cents
day; the day laborer in towns from thirty to
forty cents, and mechanics from fifty to sixty
cents. Women earn from thirty to forty
cents. These rates are much higher than
those of ten or fifteen years ago; but when
they have to supply the wants of large fami-
lies, as in most instances, they appear to be
very insufficient The Consuls in Ger
many and Russia agree in saying that
it is mistaken notion to suppose that
the cost of living in those countries is
less than 1t is in France or England. The
only thing is that the habits of the people in
Germany are much more simple and frugal
than in England, where many things are re-
garded as necessities which in Germany pass
for suparAuities. Rent is particularly high.
1t is estimated that in Berlin at least sixteen
per cent, and often twenty and thirty per cent,
of the resources Of a moderate family goes for
house rent So, generally, the family of a
mechanic is crowded into one chamber, and
mechanics without families are generally con-
tent with bed in dormitory where there
are Eve or six others. A budget of the esti-
mated expenses Of three types of family has
been prepared by the Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics, at Berlin, which furnishes a good
indication of the cost of living there. The first,
belonging to the lower class, is supposed
to have an income of from two hundred aad
twenty to three hundred dollars. OF that
twelve per cent goes for rent, sixty-two per
cent for living, fifteen per cent for clsthing,
five per cent for fuel and only one per cent for
amusements and pleasures The family of
the second class is supposed to have an
income of from four hundred and fifty to
six hundred dollars. Of THAT fifty-fve per
cent goes for living, eighteen per cent for
clothing twelve per cent for rent and only
one and one-half per cent for recreation. The
family of the third class is supposed to have
an income of seven hundred and Hsty
to twelve hundred dollars. OF this fifty
per cent is assigned for cost of living,
eighteen per cent for clothing, twelve per cent
for rent and only three and one-haf per cent
for amusements. In these tables the stats-
tician assigns no place to savings but yet it
appears that in Saxony the number of INDECENT
persons diminished twenty per cent in the de-
cade from 1856 to 1864.
The condition Of the laboring classes in
Belgium, where there is great agricultural
wealth and fourishing industry, is rather
below the mark, If 1t Is not even wretched.
Various causes explain that phenomenon-frst,
the density Of the population; second, the
improvidence of the working classes, and
third, the low standard of popular education.
That is why, in that industrious country,
nearly nine hundred thousand persons, or one
fifth Of the population, are recipients of public
charity. In the rural districts day laborers
earn from thirty to forty-ive cents day, and
women from sixteen to twenty cents. In
manufactures common workmen are paid
from thirty to fifty cents, superior hands sixty
cents and women from twenty to fifty cents.
In the coal mines wages vary from sixteen to
forty cents day for women and from eighteen
to seventy cents for men. Mechanics, such
as carpenters, masons, &C., earn from sixty
to eighty cents. Those who earn from
one to two dollars day are the exception. A
comparison between the wages of London and
Antwerp has been made, from which it ap-
pears that where mason earns fifty cents a
day 10 Antwerp he earns one dollar and forty
five cents in London, and the cost of living is
about equal in both cities. Consequently the
artisan classes in Belgium enjoy but little Of
the comforts of the same classes IN England,
and still less of those which their fellow