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

6ON~t
they spent much the same for rent and
furnishings and but SIS more for food.
Their additional income went mainly for
the clothing which was given to the other
family and for petty expenses, among
which beer and tobacco figured for S11.
A detailed comparison of their accounts
will prove that, as was said at the outset,
the expenses of this class are SO much a
matter of necessity that there can be but
little difference in the items in different
families, and the conclusion seems justified
that German workmen in cities with in
comes of less than 1,200 marks, or S2SS,
and average families, are all more or less
dependent on private charity, while this
in turn encourages an ever-deepening de-
pendence by relieving the workmen from
the immediate stress of Nautilus pruden-
tial check. In country districts the life
is as sordid, but the prices are lower, and
the resort to charity perforce is less fire.
quent.
The last of the Frankfort papers pre-
sents somewhat different picture. This
man had served in the Guard in Berlin,
had been house servant, had married the
cook, and was earning his living by odd
Jobs until he got place as night watch
man. They had but one child, and yet
even in the most prosperous days they
were largely dependent on charity, so
that during the entire year they spent for
food but S64 Is, while the necessities of
his occupation compelled him to pay more
than either of the others for rent, S44 GA,
though his entire income was but $193 &c.
For clothing this family spent less than
So. Their fuel cost but 81 so, their shoes
50 60, while beer and tobacco consumed
$40 40. Charity had demoralized this
man, but though essentially dependent, he
paid taxes to the extent of So, which was
2 per cent. of his income, and more than
he could spare for house-furnishings. He
closed the year, thanks to an excess of
charity, with balance Of S1l, and that he
could keep SO much is good testimony to
his prudence.
/ see no reason to doubt that these cases
are TYPICAL not of Frankfort alone, but of all
German cities. That they apply to Berlin
and Munich my own observations have
convinced me. I need not. anticipate the
reflections which such facts will suggest to
a thoughtful reader. 1t does not appear
that in any of these cases an inordinate
sum was expended for drink or for tobacco.
These men were not Of the class, more
common in England than here, that would
rather go hungry than thirsty. All these
men, and their fellows generally, were es-
sentially temperate. Pleasure of any kind
played but pitifully small part in their
budget 1t was due to no fault of theirs
that their best efforts did not suffice for
their support Rodbertus, in letter to
Kirchmann, Justly says; "Egotism wrapped
in its morality more often it is mere ig-
norance) complains that the causes of pau
perism are the vices of the workmen. 1t
attributes to their supposed excess and bad
management what Irresistible circum-
stances impose on them"
1t is worth considering further, whether
the general economic condition of a coun-
try does not suffer from rate of wages
that shuts out the greater part of its peo-
pie from effective consumption of its in
dustrial product. Certainly the State
gains nothing by taxing directly or indi-
rectly man who is already living on the
charity of others. Finally, while, so far
as the employer is concerned, labor's share
in the cost of production may be the
wages paid, yet the laborers cost the coun-
try not only this, but the additional sum
without which they could not subsist. The
employer has shifted part of his burden
on to the general public. They in return
profit by the lower labor cost of produc-
ton. Ultimately it can make little COM
mercial difference to Germany whether
the workman subsists on his earnings or
on so per cent of earnings and 20 per
cent. of charity, but it makes very great
difference socially and politically whether
these men feel that their only hope
of independence lies in radical social
changes without which they think them
selves condemned to permanent depend
ence on the charity Of the wealthy or of
the State. As it is, the rewards of i'm
providence, are often greater..than those of
providence, and the pauper is often better
cared for than the honest laborer
1t is hard to see whence help can come.
Hardly from imperial rescripts or interna-
tional labor conferences, especially if these
are, as Bismarck has Just assured US, care
fully arranged so as not to succeed. Still
less can be hoped from the tariff, which
has certainly injured the German work
men, whomever it may have helped at
their expense. 1t is easier in the light of
these facts to understand why the working
classes are dissatisfied; why German labor,
however cheap, is ultimately dear, and
why, in spite of low wages, Germany is
not quite holding her own in the markets
of the world