The Lake County star., 1877-05-31


vor that In less than five minutes fifty
dollars were collected. ."-AppletOn
/ JOar4aQl.a at t't-s ~ ~ a so III
sirt i'.r ~
Hard Times I'm Switzerland. y
A correspondent writes to the Nation
from Geneva: "The times ARE hard
very hard, Just now In this part Of Eu'
rope, yet not SO hard but that the pe0.
pie generally are expecting them to- bt
worse before they are better. The
blame Of II Is laid BY most people part.
ly on the rum0rs Of war, but mainly
on the Americans and the Philadel
phia Exposition. This last 1t was that
kept the Swiss hotels empty last sea-
son and left the shop keepers waiting
in hope deferred behind their counters;
and It is this that has paralyzed man.
ufacturers with the fear ofAmerican
competition. Both here and In the
canton of Feufchatel-the two seats OF
the watch manufacture-the concerns
that have not stopped entirely have
reduced their r,te Of production. There
is a wall of unmistakable distress from
the unemployed silk-weaversO Of Zurich
and Lyons. q So great is the suffering
in the latter city, that all Paris has
been moved to q nights dancing In
Lent at the Grand Opera for the relief
Of the sufferers. From Marseilles it is
officially reported that 700 workmen
have been discharged from the sugar
refineries, and that the rest are work
ing on three-quarter time. The soap
factories, which ordinarily employ
1900 hands, have now only $50. and
these ON short time. Three hundred
men have been discharged from the
foundrles. Six months ago there were
employed in connection with the buyi-
ness Of transportation by sailing ves-
sells 6.000 men: now there are only
half that number. One great clothing
house has reduced its pay list from
1000 names to 400. The railroad en-
terprises are in trouble, both the old
and the new. TheSwiss Northeastern
which has been considered a safe In
vestment. Is in O dreadful condition.
On the docket of the Federal Assem-
bly, are the petitions of no less than
ten companies for an extentiOn Of time
In which to complete their roads and
finally, the immense enterprise Of the
Gothard road and tunnel, that has
been backed by the treasures of three
nations, has used up its subsidies and
its credit, and the question now Is
whether Germany. Italy and SwitZer-
land shall increase their subsidies. or
whether, with o hole pierced halfway
through the central knot Ofathe AL
pine ranges, the enterprise shall be
abandoned. It Is curious to observe,
by the way, that with, this solemn
monument of the vanity of human
wishes before their eyes, people do
none the less talk, as If it were a seri-
GUS matter, of h Slmplon road and tun.
mel. which shall be aided by France as
the Gothard road by Germany, and
the two eastern roads by Germany !:
and It Is asserted that the support of
Gambetta Is already pledged to such q
scheme. OF course II Is folly to refer
all the trouble to America, and yet
this Is the uppermost idea in many
minds, as q hundred newspapers and
pamphlets show. One of the most
Impressive and instructive of these has
Just been published here, under the
somewhat sensational title of 'Garde O
vous!' 1t Is an address to Swiss man
ufactures by the proprietor Of y great
shoe factory at Schonenw0rth, in Ger
man Switzerland, and gives, with
great simplicity and straightforward
ness, the results Of his personal COM
parison of American and European es-
tablishments In various departments
of manufacture, but especially in his
own. The most striking thing In all
his story Is that he refers the superior
ity Of the American factories largely,
not to cay chiefly, TO the epersonal superb
ority Of the American workman. Some
ofIthe facts adduced in proof of this are
interesting. \ Describing the shoe-fac-
tory ct North Brookfeld, he says !:
Five machines furnish dh the solos
REQUIRED for q maximum production
of8, 900 pairs q day. Ins my factory a
mAchil1e Of the samesort caiihot turn
oft more than 400 pairs of soles In q
day. In this department, aa well as
ip that Of the cutting of the uppers,
none but Americas Workmen are emt
pIoyed. In workro0ms Of the same
size with mine six times the amount
or goods are produced. y The
pr0prietor complained of the high rate
OF wages. He cannot get workmen
for1 - than ~ q day, which forbids
the idea OF an export business but i
took %betrQuh}@to foetf f1p, rren his
0wt t4osfth& rate at't4idh hc was
paying by the piece, and I found that
I was paying inT my factory nearly
double the rate, Aid Yet my workmen
grumble ct being put at that part OF
Sno ~''''''''>'1's IA. A.. i,fin vi,s.,n., fiife Z