The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-07-12
WORK AND WAGES IN GERMANY.
BY c. C. BRAGDoN.

many of them in our own land, for whose
good example in this regard, be they farm
ers, doctors, merchants, or what not, we
ought to be thankful. But some facts as
to the way they work in their own country,
and especially what they receive for it, may
be new.
The impression SO likely to be received
by the hurried traveller, that the women do
most of the hard work, is not wholly incor-
rect, but it ought to be published with
notes. For believe our countrymen, hav-
ing heard only the bare statement, have
fastened to pour upon their poor sisters
heads pity that is supertluous; and al
ready regard the German peasant as about
as uncivilize6 as the North American In
dian, who smokes and rides while his squaw
carries the tent-poles and that part of the
next generation which cannot carry itself.
This Judgment is unjust, and the pity be-
longs to the men as much as to the women.
No honest hands can be idle here. There
are too many people to the square mile,
and wages are too low. 1t is hard for the
lower classes to earn enough to keep soul
within body. So everybody must work
men, women, boys, girls, cows, and dogs
No woman, however, works harder than
her husband-if she has one-or in meaner
ways. And if the housekeeping is not 30
complex but that the woman finds much
time to help in the field, SO much the bet
ter, for she is needed there by her husbands
side. And if the children are left to take
care of themselves good deal, it does not
prove barbarity in the mother, but scarcity
in the larder and the money stocking. And
if woman does carry the street-sprinkler
and daily paper, sweep the streets, light
this city lamps, plough, dig, and saw wood,
does that prove that the men are loafers?
No! it rather reminds US that the iron
hand of the army has reached out and
drawn over four hundred thousand of them
away from work into forts and barracks.
What difference does it make to the Gov
eminent if this man is the only one on the
farm, or that one the last in the shop?
None! So the mother, wife, and sister
must do mans work. Thus necessity is
giving to German women what Anna Dick
inson is begging for ours-namely, access
to all avenues of labor; yes, and driving
them into them too. But 1 must confess
that, last fall, when saw a man and boy
riding on a load Of hay, girl driving the
cows, and woman carrying the rakes be-
hind, felt too as if, in that case, the man
believed the Lord had made the woman not
only his equal, but little more. And l
can't forget that the gentleman Of the bet
ter class will let his wife carry the bundles,
while he walks empty handed by her side.
The German works slowly, but thorough
ly. Call for coffee, and you will wait half
an hour for it; but you will be sure, from
its delicious taste, that it has not stood two
or three hours. 1t takes an ordinary rail
road train two hours to carry you as far as
one will in America in half an half, but
you are tolerably certain to get somewhere
whole. They are years building dwell
ing house, but it lasts hundreds of years.
l pass one daily that bears the date 1879,
and it don't look much older than its
neighbors. Last summer l watched some
workers. 1t took four men and boy day
to lay stone on twenty or twenty-five feet
in length of street of less than usual
American width. Then every morning,
others came, scraped off the sand, sprin-
killed. and pounded those stones, till was
sure, as the early rat-a-tat-tat awoke me
day after day, that if that street was being
paved by the job, the contractor was losing
money. But when they finally left it, it
was solid. The law makes this exactness.
1t sets too many inspectors, and Furnishes
to pay for.
Again, the average German is tardy in
using new methods. l was taught that
there were too ways-right and wrong.
He has only one-as father did. My cousin
tried to get shoemaker to put cap on
boot without sewing it across the top
i" No; 1 always saw it done so-can't do it
your way" Impressed by my cousins
eloquence, he at last consented to try it,
but with misgivings. l began to prepare
my wood for the stove. l soon found my
self saving away to "large and interest
ed audience" l was using two hands
they always saw with one. Most of the
ploughs are one-handed.
Now, few words about wages. give
the figures in American gold, and have
tried to cover enough ground, SO that any
one may know what his or her fellew- work.
man is getting here. do not imagine the
temptation to emigration to this country
will be overwhelming. The following is
true of Bavaria and Wurtemberg. In the
first place, for errands and such unskilled,
irregular labor as carrying trunks, furni-
ture, ETC., no charge is made, but the pay
is left, with touch of the cap, to the will
OR within of the employer. In this way
these people usually get more lit is little
enough at best than if there was fixed
tariff, but in the form of gift and not Of
wages and it seems to me to increase ser
Witty. ct shows how common drinking
is, that the money for odd job is called
Trink- geld-drink money! For twenty
cents you may have a job Of mending done
to your boots which costs fifty cents in
America. paid for sharpening a razor,
four cents; a wood-saw, three cents; a
three bladed knife, three cents. The bar
Der charges four cents for shaving, eight
cents for hair cutting. For twenty Eve
cents, as good binding was put on book
as one dollar and twenty-five cents paid for
in Cincinnati last year. Washer women
get twenty -four cents and food per day of
twelve hours, or forty-eight cents if they
furnish their own food. By the piece for
Shirts four aud two-thirds cents. Socks,
collars, and handkerchiefs, one and one
half cents; cuffs, two cents. l never saw
washing done more nicely. A woman to
de plain sewing receives twenty cents. A
dressmaker, forty to fifty cents day with
board. Girls for house-work, twenty-five
to thirty dollars per year. A waitress in
hospital, the same. A good female cook
| for n hotel. from eighty to ninety dollars