Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-01-02
EUROPEAN LABOR.
Reports nom the ConsuIs 60 Secretary
FrelinEhuysen.

reports nom the COnsuls 90 Secretary
Frelinghuysen.
Secretary Frelinghuysen has sent volufni.
nous letter to the House Of Representatives
reyiving the reports from United States consuls
in relation to the state Of labor in Europe.
Each consular district is spoken OF separately
and briefly, the wages, habits and customs,
moral and physical condition Of the working
classes being touched upon, as well Us the man.
ner Of living, prevailing therein, while gem
eral resume for the country at large is given
at the close, the whole concluding with a gen.
cal recapitulation for all Europe, in which the
labor elements of the several countries are CON-
pared with each other, and these in turn with the
conditions which prevail in the United States.
In his remarks, the secretary says British re-
suits are principally selected for COM
parsons, as English wnges are, gen.
emily speaking, the highest in Europe,
and English trade conditions more in
common with American customs and
usages than those of other countries. He
says: ut appears, comparing cities OF Europe
with those in the United States, that brckay-
ers and masons in Chicago are paid very near
ly three times the wages, plasterers nearly four
times, skaters three times, plumbers nearly
three times, carpenters twice, blacksmiths
twice, bookbinder5 more thnn twice brick
and cabinet makers nearly twice, con-
PETITIONERS twice, cigar makers nearly three
times, coopers once and a half as much,
draymen, teamsters, and street railway
drlversnearly twice, dyers more than twice
engravers nearly three times, furriers
twice, horseshoers 8 l-2 times jewellers
more than l IL times, aborers, por-
tiers, ETC., more than twice, lithograph-
ers three times, telegraph operators IL
times, sallmakers more than twice, printers
twice. and one-half, saddlers and harness
makers moro than ono and one-half times,
stevedores more than twice and oue-fourth
times, tailors twice, and tinsmiths once
and three-iourths the wages pad to
similar trades and callings in London" Rela-
tive to the prices OF the necessnries of life the
secretary says: at is frequently asserted that
the cheapness of living in Europe more than
equaizes the lower wages there paid In the
volume on labor in England, published by this
department i'm 1873. it was shown that prices
OF food in the United States were actually lower
than in Europe, and that the working classes
in the United States could purchase more and
better aliment, dollar for dollar, than the
working masses Of any country in Europe.
The contrary impression is probably due to the
fact that the working people Of Europe live
more cheaply than the working people of the
United States, from which il is infe rred that
the purchasing power of the wages is greater
than the purchasing power Of similar wages
here. 1t appears hom the reports that the
American workman consumes more and better
food than the mechanic or laborer abroad, and
that the cost Of this food is as small in the
United States as in Europe. In general, cloth
ing can be purchased cheaper in Europe than
in the United States, especially clothing of the
higher grades. As to relative quantity and
quality of clothing, the basis for an Identical
comparison does not exist House rent in Eu-
rope Is apparently lower than here, but the
habtations nre usually inferior to these in the
United Stntesn