The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-10-23
FErfsrellaslrSits.


Z ttoN'4N on the WlNlej more prosperous
nca than Is any other European
p1'ntty llh0uph thle general statement
0flate, been subject to grave excep'
IA certain calhngs and locali les
loo would be more interesting than
ompArison of the French artisans
tyhailion with that of his fellow work
f0ar A fhe United States, and this is one
b e''awpich thA.de factO Secretary
oiHi1 aofsool bmpass by his So
villa t4Mlfy int3 t6s state of labor,
ect, however, of his superb.
g6Nab seems to have been to
uaf erican mechanics that they
nu ot merely satisfied, but en-
MI kheir existing circumstan.
ces sh as they, according to Mr.
oB only earn more but can live
aose eaply than is the case elsewhere
Z World. That is the conclueio" ad-
vBBced ID tie official letter summing up
the consular reports but the facts re-
turned from France are extremely hard
to fsconcile with the conplaceut theory.
Upon close scrutiny, figures and deduc.
tions of the State Department turn out
i0be very slenderly supported by the
flatistics furnished by its subordinates,
whose zeal, we apprehend, tas in more
than one instance outrun their dscre'
lion. We propose, therefore. to neglect
the convenient summary which Mr.. Ev.
arts has obligingly prepared for US, and
to see for ourselves what the income and
outlay of French workingmen are said
to be in Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, and
other places of industrial importance.
WeEwill begin With those districts
where the earnings Of labor appear to be
the least considerable. In Rouen, which
is called the Manchester of France, cot
ton spinners receive for ordinary work
rs cents day, and wool spinners eighty
cents, the maximum rate for superior
skill in those vocstions being about a
dollar. Cotton weavers obtain but 65
cents, while by shawl weavers 81 90 and
sometimes 81 80 may be earned. Turn.
ing to other trades, we find that the av.
erage remuneration of carpenters is set
down at SO cents, while blacksmiths,
bakers, hatters, masons, paiOters and
printers, only secure from So to 66 cents.
These statistics are gathered from village
and country as we'll as town throughout
that part of Normandy of which Rouen
is the center, but it is pointed out that
these wages are scarcely more than one
half as large as those received in the vi.
cinitylof Paris. 1t is a pity that CONNER
Cial gent Rhodes could not fiud time to
learn what poor men pay for rent and
food in Rouen; but we infer, from the
difference in the stipend of day la.
borer when found or not found, that the
minimum outlay for board and lodging
ID 26 cents, which, so far as we can judge
by these reports, is, with one exception,
The smallest sum for which shelter and !
nourishment can be purchased anywhere
in France.
Let us pass now to ST. Etienne, famous |
for its manufacture of ribbons, where we
find weavers Of plain goods gaining from |
40 to 20 cents per day, or say, on an av
erage So cents, while WOrkm employ
ed on the best grades of fabrics obtain |
from 50 cents to ST &c. In these factories, |
women are paid from 50 to 60 cents or |
finishing aud preparing goods for mar
ket These figures are abominally low,
if it be true that the average monthly
expenditure, even of farm hands, for
rent and food is $l275 We incline to
suspect some error in these data because
in Nice, where wages, as we shall see,
are much higher, the mean cost of living
does not reach the above named figure
of 40 cents day.
Turning to the western coast of France
we note first, that in the consular dis
trict of La Rochelle, skilled mechanics
gain little if any more than DO unskiled
laborers-masons and carpenters for
example, earning bul so cents day, and
printers only SIS to Sl8 per month But
here bread COSTS merely l.2 cents per
pound, and potatoes about / Centa quart.
1t is true that soup meat is considerably
dearer than with us, but very little of
the Wand is made to 60 long way in
the French kitchen. According to Con
sui Catlin, the farm hand, in the neigh.
borhood of La Rochelle, on his wages at
go cents per diem, not only supports
himself and his family but saves money
Indeed, the steady increase of capital
and prosperity in the rural districts of
this part of France is, we are told mat.
ter of general and unCeasing comment.
Out of the seven reports transmitted
by our COnsuls in France. Mr. EVartsap
parently relies on the three just cited to
supply the shadows of the picture. Ger.
tainly the returns from Nice, Bordeaux,
Lyons, and Paris, are of different
character. Thus in the capital of the
Gironde, notwithstanding the depres
sion which has weighed upon its trade
and industry during the past two years,
We find carpenters earning, on an aver.
age. 81 day; masons, 80 cents bakers,
80 cents land two pounds of bread);
81 brewers, ST. printers ST..
AS regards the necessary disbursements,
WO ~ Oudb OuO EVum may no TouJou
for Sl60, and three rooms for So per
month, while the diet OF the Bordeaux
artisan is limited to bread, vegetables,
soup and wine. During the last three
years the price of bread has varied from
8 to 4 cents per pound, while potatoes
have ruled under cents qlar5. How
cheap wine is may be inferred from the {
fact that quart bottle daily ia alWayg ,
allowed to agricultural laborers, even
when they board themselves. To ap-
prosch the minimum expenditure for all {
purposes per diem, we must again have 8
recourse to the differences in the wages
Of farm hands, according as they are :
found or not found, which, in the dis
trict of the Gironde, seems to be fifteen "
nanta Va nnau odd that N Jova ,,o.L