Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-10-18

save those tnat the law IOrceu upOu lnehi'
His work began at Z and lasted till o:3o,
with pause between II and 1:3O. Before
he went to his work the family took a
breakfast of barley coffee with little real
coffee, poor but highly taxed, added. With
this they had milk or sugar, but never
both together, and rolls which they bought
stale, since they were cheaper. On his
way to work he bought two or three cents
worth of sausage or some odd bit of meat
which he could eat at the shop with coffee
and bread brought from home. When his
stomach revolted against this diet he
allowed himself the luxury of soup with
sausage fat or some vegetable and now and
then a glass of beer. This was all he ate
till 7:30 P. NJ, when the family dined on a
soup with potatoes or some vegetables to
which he was able to add each week from
two to four pounds of meat for the whole
family. What was left of this scanty meal
served the wife and children for the next
day.
1t is instructive to classify this mans
expenses and see what portion of his in
come went to different objects. From care
full tables of the report 1 gather that he
spent four cents day for each person,
reckoning two children as one adult, on
coffee and bread. This alone consumed
$50 AZ, or nearly a quarter of his whole
income. For meat he spent hardly half
as much, $50 4S. Sugar and butter cost
him for the year S4 81, while his lard, oil
and fat cost SO 60. For potatoes he spent
exactly as much as for all other vegetables
and fruits together, namely, 81 05, but he
Iod ok rif of frvO mo nf nOtafnac
worth 50 40. For all other food, such as
cheese and eggs, seasonings, and for chill
dren's lunch at school, he could afford but
81 20. 1t should be remembered, too, that
he bought at high rates, because in small
quantities, and that at best foods, especi-
ally his foods, are higher in Germany than
in America. But though he spent so little
for this he had not much left for drink.
Milk took IS %, while beer, wine, brandy,
and settlers together cost him but Sc 81.
This was but p per cent. of his income,
and with 81 SO for tobacco represents all
his outlay for society and comfort.
His total expenses for his meager diet
amounted to Sl37 81, which was nearly 80
per cent. of his whole income. He had
fed his family on nine cents each day,
counting two children as one adult, and
then after paying his rent this employee OF
the Government, who had worked ten
hours every week day and every other
Sunday, had Just SIS 81 left for clothing,
fuel, light, incidental expenses, for ''pleas
ure' and for the compulsory charge of the
pension and sick funds.
l pointed out in a former letter that
this compulsory insurance is very serious
item in a German laborer's budget. 1t
cost this man $11 81, or per cent. of his
income. This was more than he paid for
coffee or for milk and sugar, it was nearly
three times what he paid for beer, and yet
the insurance is worth little or nothing to
him, since, even with it, he would not be
Independent of charity. If his income had
been reported to the tax collector, he must
have paid 81 A more. This he escaped,
to find himself with less thad S64 for his
yearly necessities. Fuel and lights cost
him S14 60, but he would have gone cold
had not charitable organization given
him eight hundredweight of coal. For
clothing, the family was almost wholly
dependent on charity. The man had not
bought new suit of clothes for fifteen
years. Their whole outlay was but $50 %,
and of this nearly half was for repairs and
nearly S13 for shoes. Their house furnish
ings had cost 81 o., chiefly for repairs.
Cleanliness, hygiene, and medicine had
taken but IS %, and this in spite of ssthe
wife's confinement. Indeed, private chart
ties place premium on large families, and
if this workman made careful analysis of
his accounts, he might easily think that he
made an immediate money gain by casting
to the winds the precepts of Nautilus.
Medical aid and food were given freely,
and much of the other charity they re-
ceived was directly due to this, with them
an annual, occurrence.
4 cancelled debt, miscellaneous expen-
SEES, and the children's school-books alb
sorbed IS 06, so that he finished the year
with a balance of 81 &c, against which
may be set the value of assistance rem
dered him at certainly not less than
ST. so. From the foregoing details it is
clear that this man, the type of several
millions in Germany, prudent, steady
workman, with no bad habits, and earning
above the average of his trade, is obliged
to resort to charity to procure the abso-
lutte necessities of his family. They have
not a proper dwelling, no proper food, no
proper clothing, and they have no hope
of lettering their condition. Indeed, in
many ways the condition of this family,
whose head is a skilled workman in Gov
eminent employ, is directly inferior to
that of family in the Frankfort Poor
house. They spend for food but nine
cents each day; the poorhouse, which
buys at wholesale, pays over twelve for
each inmate. The city poor are better
lodged and clothed, and yet, because he
has an assured income on which he can
live, the city will do nothing to help him.
Plainly there is something wrong here.
Such wages are too low for a healthy de-
velopment of society, and certainly too
low to make him or his followers factor
in German industrial consumption.
| have dwelt at length on this mans
case, and can pass briefly over the others,
for though they show man with larger
income and family and another with
smaller family and income, the general
picture is much the same. Neither of
them is or could possibly be, independent
of charity, yet both are worthy hard
working men. The former, employed in a
chemical factory, with steady work, and
ability which warranted an unsolicited in
crease IN wages, was CHOSEN, the reporter
tells us, as typical independent work
man, though to the economists surprise he
proved not independent at all. His earn
ings were good, about the same as the
ioiner's, but he had more chance for extra
work, and this, with the company's gifts
at festival seasons, made his income from
that source 1887 marks, or 1912 IA.
Outside the factory he earned 10 marks,
and by borrowing 81 marks he had S2lo 70
available for the year. He closed it with
cash balance of 2479 marks, but if due
bills, accrued rent, and stock of provisions
on the first and last of the year be taken
into the account there IS 2n adverse hal hal
ance of 81 40. Bat this comparatively
good result was obtained only through the
assistance of private charity, which fur
nished considerable part Of their fuel
and clothing. The birth of child in