St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-10-17
AMERICANS FAR IN THE LEAD.


fifty representative wOrkin9men and
journalists, who went to Europe for
the purpose of studying the condi-
lions of their fellows in the older
world, that they might carry back
with them such impressions and sug-
gestions as might be of benefit to the
toilers in this land, are home again.
They found every one very kind to
them during their tour abroad.
Courtesies were extended to them by
the large manufacturers in England,
France, Germany and Belgium, with
the single exception of the Krupp
gun works at Essen, Germany They
were admitted to the Woolwich Ar
senal, where they were given all the
information they desired. At Paris
they were made the special guests of
the city Twice they were break
tasted by Minister Whitelaw Reid
M. Bartholdi, the designer of the
great Liberty Statue, gave to each
of the members of the expedition
when they visited his works a speci-
men of the metal from which the
Statue of Liberty is made, bearing
an appropriate inscription.
The members of the League do not
think that the workmen on the other
side can compare with American toll
ers either in dress, method of living,
rate of remuneration or results &C
complished. The observation of the
members in a great measure tended
to show that our products are in
nearly every case superior to foreign
articles in the same line. This is es-
pecially so in the case of machinery.
Farming machinery principally
stands out as an evidence of the skill
and ingenuity attained by Americans
over the rest OF the world.
Mr.. Cheney of the Washburn
Mills, Minneapolis, Mimi, represent
ing the millers, in examining the ex-
hibit in the Paris Exposition, said he
had just taken out from his mills as
unfit for use the same kind of ma
chinery that the French are now ex-
hibiting
A. 7. Anderson, the representa-
of the tinsmiths, said he saw work
men in Paris shaping metal for
buoy, and it required nine processes
to do what the Americans do in three.
Joseph Thorpe, representing the
engineers, said: ION the other side
l talked with a number of the engin-
GERS, and found they were not organ
lied. The wages are so per cent lower
than in this country. They still use
the open cabs in the engines. The
seats have been taken away, because
it is supposed that without them the
men will not go to sleep"
81 saw nothing on the other side
equal to American workmanship,
said William Delaney, representing
the brick-layers. Men there work
slower than they do here. In Paris
the men can cement the front of a
brick house, giving it the appearance
of stone. This could be done in this
country if it were not for the damag
ing effects of our climate.
Mrs. Barry, representing the de-
partment of women's work and the
Knights of Labor, said the condition
of the female wage workers on the
other side is very deplorable, except
in the field of clerical work, in which
they have the advantage of working
less hours than their American sis
tiers. They are also paid less wages,
and do not live or dress as well. In
the Black District in Yorkshire she
saw women working at the FORCES
Here the shops are in the houses, the
wife generally acting as helper to her
husband. The women make chains
and nails. One woman she saw en-
gagged at this work was sixty years
old. 81 saw women make handmade
shirts at ninepence each, and ma
chine-made at one shilling and three
pence a Dozen" she concluded.
Hugh Cavanaugh, who represent
ed the shoemakers, says the men on
the other side do not do within 25
per cent what the Americans do.
There is an indisposition to improve
on machinery, and the men are not
tested to see just what they are cap
able of doing. In France the men
only work fftyfour hours a week,
and have a great many holidays.
The piece system prevails.
$50 far are we ahead of the iron
workers of Glasgow that l would
break their machinery for scrap"
was the opinion of William Hanna,
representing the ironworkers
The printers were represented by
Mr.. Ogden. 1.-The mechanical work
in Europe is where ours was twenty
years ago." he said--[N. Y. Press