Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-04-22
AUSTRO-HUNGARY.
Wage-Workers Recompensed at Starva-
tion Rates Throughout the Empire.

AUSTRO-HUNGARY.
wage-workers Recompensed at Starva-
tion Rates Throughout the Empire.
Consul-General Jussen, at Vienna,
sends to the Department of State an
report upon the trade and
industries of Austria Hungary, and the
and habits of its people. A
considerable portion of the report deals
with the political and social features of
the empire. Mr.. Jussen says: ..There
is not another political domain in
Europe which unites under the same
sceptre so many different tribes, races
and nationalities, divided and estranged
from each other by habits, language
and traditions, as that confded to the
care of the House of Hapsburg. The
empire contains 22,000,000 of people,
speaking no less than ten different Ian
guages. Naturally enough it is impos-
sible to find, outside of the Government
and its ramifcations, single political
party or faction whose members style
themselves Austrians. On the contrary,
they insist that they are either Germans,
Austrians, Bohemians, Tyrolese, Poles,
Italians or any thing, in fact, but Aus
trians. All this, of course, seriously
impedes the development of trade, in
dustry and the commercial as well as
the political progress of the people.
The Austrian Government has little
sympathy with the American nation,
and breads its rapid progress upon the
fields of industry and commerce. But
this dislike and contempt rarely finds
expression in unmistakable terms. The
public press simply ignores the United
States, and the consequent ignorance
of the majority of the people regarding
this country is very great. 1t is obvi-
Gus that most of the Austrians never
heard of the downfall of the Confed-
eracy, inasmuch as Confederate bills of
exchange are repeatedly presented at
the Consulate for exchange into cur
rent Austrian funds. The Austrian
press print no news from this country
except such as will have discouraging
influence upon emigration; such, for
example, as atrocious murders, confla-
grations, cyclones and strikes of labor
ers. The massacre of frontier settle
ment by band of Apaches is God
send to the Vienna press, which pub
lish the news with its horrible details
under display headings, and the i'm
preston is given that such scenes are
of the most frequent and widespread
character.
The condition of the laboring classes
can not be termed satisfactory, even
from European standpoint. The re-
ward of labor is divided in the reverse
proportion to the amount of labor ac-
tually performed, the greater portion
being reapcd by those who never labor
at all, while the most trying and ex-
haustive manual labor can not always
rely with certainty even upon the most
indispensable necessaries of life as a
recompense for unremitting toll. In
the district of Vienna the workers in
machine shops and factories are hud-
died together in close, illy-ventilated
rooms, where the stencil is usually un-
bearable. The average rate of wages
for males is 1926 per week, and for
females, $l.85 per week. The highest
rate of wages paid in Vienna is earned
by those engaged in the machine in
dustry, where the average is $40
week. The lowest rate of wages re-
ceived by the workers in any single in
dustry is paid to those engaged in the
textile industry, who receive an aver
age of $2.40 per week. The hours in
all branches of trade are not less than
twelve. All the necessaries of life, ex-
cept clothing, are quite as dear in
Vienna as in the larger cities of the
United States. Ham and petroleum
are three times as dear as in America.
Mr.. Jussen says that the working
men who live in hired apartments (and
the exceptions are few where they own
a home) pay fully one-third of their
wages for rent, the accommodations
being in many instances unfit for hui
man beings. One instance cited by
Mr.. Jussen is that of thirteen laborers,
male and female, who lived in the gar
ret of a small house, twelve PAGES long
by eight PAGES wide. An old man who
made his quarters in a remote corner
of the room among the rubbish paid for
this privilege forty-four cents week.
Mr.. Jussen appends touching ac-
count of the miseries of the nail
smiths in the district of Corinthia,
taken from the report of one of the inn
perial-royal inspectors. In the town
of Kroppa are 800 smiths, together
with 120 women and children, who
work at this trade, The nails are
made by hand. Everybody works, in
cluding the children from eight years
and upward. The smith commences
work at three o'clock in the morning,
and labors, with but two hours inter-
mission, until seven at night. 1t is
only the more skillful workman who
can earn from Slip to S1.S5 week.
The others earn from seventy-five cents
to $3.50 week. Out of these scanty
wages the smith furnishes his own char
coal. His food consists of dough
made of flour and water swimming in
grease. Meat is luxury in which he
INDUCES only on holidays. The report
adds that consumption and heart-dis.
ease are very prevalent among them,
their average life seldom exceeding
forty years. Washington Letter.