Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-07-11
WORK AND WAGES IN EUROPE.

the c0nNtl0n OF LABOR IN Europe
furnishes a great deal ofyaluable
Information bearing onthe questions
of work and wages IL this country.
The consnIs at the various points of
interest in Europe had been ipstruc-
ted to inquire into the rates of wages,
the cost of living, Sc, In the various
industrial centers, and to report
thereon. These reports have now
been published and sent forth tothe
country. The reports ofthis ckarac
ter which were published IN 1879
excited great deafofatteptions and
there has been a desire to see these
investigations carried stiH further.
The first impression which ismade
on turning over the leaves Of the
volume is the low rate Of wagessia
Europe everywhere when compared
with the wages in America. The
next impression is the large degree
OF comfort which wages purchase in
this country. A few facts on this
subject will be worth more than gen
ordinations. In the district ofEssen,
Germany, which is the iron and coal
district, like the Birmingham OF
England, or the Pittsburg of Amer
lea, the first.class iron and steel work
ers get from L. to 20 marks per
week, equal 10 from IS 81 to "a 76
per week. The hours of work are
from six in the morning until seven
in the evening, with intervals for
meals. The miners earn from seven
ty cents per dav down to as low as
rty-eight cents per day, according
to the production, sixty cents per
day being a high average for the
year. The cost ofliving is as follows:
Two rooms in the country and a half
acre of ground, s35.70 clothing for
family, 1912 fuel, 1886 /; taxes,
s6.1s; food, s17s.7s; school books,
s4.66 I; miscellaneous, $4.76. This is
one sample case. The average ex.
penditure for each member Of Che
family is 81 cents per day. They live
wholly on bread and vegetables, and
rarely taste meat.
In England the same class ofwork
is paid little better. Iron workers
in rolling mills, &C., earn from $8per
week down to as low as $500 per
week. Puddlers get as high as 5000
per week. Forge. hammer attendants
get about S4.86 per week. In, cases
where the man has wife and daugh-
tiers who work in q weaving mill,
they are able to live in some comfort,
and have meat once or twice week,
but where the wage-earner is the
man, the hardship and privations of
life are extreme.
One thing which is noticeable all
through Europe is the degree to
which women are put to the coarsest
kind oflabor. They work in the fields
at agriculture like the men they
have hard, coarse work to do iu the
mines and factories. 1t is almost
universal that the wages that women
are paid are very much less than
those paid to men for the same class
of work. The employment OF women
is more general than in the United
States, for they must work as hard
as their bodies will permit to contri-
butte to the support of the family. It
is rare that the wages enable the
family to save anything.
The deductions which one Of the
c0nsuls draws after long examina-
ton into the facts are as follows:
That +" no class of labor in England
Is as intelligent as the corresponding
class in the United States. In con-
sequence of this, the laborer is not 80
valuable to his employer. He is less
receptive and less retentiye of ideas,
requires more oversight and &C.
complishes less in day. His wages
are less than in the United States.
There is not corresponding cheap.
ness in the price OF commodities.
Renris cheaper but il the laDoref
spends less here in other directions,
it is because he does without or buys
inferior articles, and not because the
necessaries of life are cheaper than
in the United States. The employ.
ment of women is more general than
in the United States. There is some
female member contributing to the
support of almost every laborer's
family"
What is true of England in this
regard is true Of almost all parts Of
Europe. The wages of France are less
than those Of England. So also with
Italy and Spain. Nowhere in the
world is the laborer so well paid and
so well fed as in America nowhere
does he live in SO good house or
enjoy such opportunities for better
lag his condition by industry and
steadiness ; nowhere in the standard
of intelligence and education so high.