The Labor enquirer., 1884-08-09

= u ( III = 49, .
soon as possible. J.R,B.
Erect of the Circulating Medium, Per
Capita, on the Wages OF the Toiiers.
Editor Labor Enquirer. A
LEADvILLE, August Ain my letter Of
July 21 l endeayored to show your read
ers the effect of the financial system Of a
nation, taketEas a whole, upon the indus
tries and welfare of the wage-workers.
In this one shall endeayor to show that
the amount in circulation of currency,
per capita, exercises power which it
may be that many would not believe,
short of actual demonstration, and it is
in great part to the elucidation of this
problem, on the wage-system, that this
one will, be confined to.
This question will be, in great meas
ure, better understood in the future,
when the national bureau of statistics
will be in operation under competent
management. In the meantime, 1 have
to try an3do the best possible under ex-
isting conditions, feeling confident how
ever, that even under national manage
ment, the facts and figures cannot be
very materially changed.
The first nation will pass under re-
view, is the nation of Austria Hungary.
What is the amount in circulation, per
capita, in that empireP Why, it is less
than $12 per head. WHAT'S the condi-
ton of the tollers of that part of Gods
dominion? Itls as follows, and l hope I
may have the attention of those who
make themselves believe that the none
tary system of a nation cannot be clearly
shown to be the cause of industrial evils.
This is taken from an investigation, in
the month of May, 1888, and published
in LIE Deveir in France:
"For instance, at Brunn, city of i'm
portance for its cloth fabrics, the average
hours of labor of the workingmen are
eighteen hours per day, Many of the
workmen never leave the mill from
the first of January to the thirty-frs of
December, and pass such hours of rest as
they may have on sacks of wool, but
there are others of these mill-owners
not so lenitive to their workmen. They
forbid them sleeping on.these sacks, on
the pretense that they, by 80 doing, will
iniure the contents. And the average
wages paid to these workmen are from
SS cents to $1.32 per week. Children are
also employed and paid at far lower
rate and work eighteen hours as well as
the adults. And when any of these poor
little ones fall asleep from over-work,
cold water is poured down their backs to
awaken them. In one mill at this city
belonging to a man named Abraham
Schneider, the hours of labor are from
a. m. to IL at midnight. The workmen
here receive a maximum wage of 1920
per week. There are among them chill
dren of years of age. In another cloth
mill belonging to M. Gowpers, deputy to
the reischrath, the workmen are paid at
the rate of 3S cents per day, for eleven
hours work. In still another one,
owned by NJ. Adolph Loev, there are
young boys of IA years of age, who are
paid 26 cents for eighteen hours of
labor. AtReichenberg, in Bohemia, a
manufacturing city, workmen employed
in the cloth mills, receive from A cents
to $1.325per week. In all those mills
women are employed who work the
same number of hours and at lower
wages, When any of the women are
confined, the manufacturers for whom
they WORK grant them only from one to
five days for rest, consequently it is very
rare for them to raise their children,
nineteen out of twenty of those poor
little beings dying within few weeks.
The sanitary condition of these mills is
deplorable. Out of one hundred work
men ninety suffer from maladies, from
their miserable conditions of existence.
Their mortality is naturally very large.
AS to the workmen at home, their condi-
tion is hardly better than those in the
mills. In the environs of the city of
Prossnitz, Bohemia, more than !, 900 fam
lilies work for one contracting house. To
earn $l.76 per week it is necessary to
labor thirteen hours day and have the
assistance of the workman's wife and
children. The house pays them at the
rate Of 81 cents for an overcoat, and from
this sum the workmen must furnish
their own tools. All of these unfortu-
mates live on bread and thin soup. On
fete days, they buy from the tanneries,
pieces of flesh remaining on beef and
sheep skins. They wear no shirts and
are covered with understandable rags.n