St. Paul daily globe., 1891-11-09
WAGES IN EUROPE.
Rev. William Wilkinson Tells
What He Learned There.

SPOKE OF wages ana Wage-earnefS IN
Europe. He said:
1t is the business, it ought to be tie
joy, of the Christian ministry to concern
itself as we'll with the life that now is as
with that which is TO come: and in all
Its thinking and action. it should of
right look especially TO those persons
who have to earn their bread in the
sweat of their brows. The cause of the
struggling. the poor and the oppressed.
in peculiar and Imperative sense, be-
longs 10 the men who are set for the de-
fense and proclamation OF the gospel.
1t is, by every dictate of reason de-
manded. that man whose duty this is.
shall understand the conditions under
which the great majority of men and
women work. the pay they receive, the
homes in which they live. the pursuits
they love in their leisure hours
and subjects akin to these. 1t
was with this abiding con-
viction, that | gave my best efforts to
understand what workingmen 90, and
how much they are paid for it. in
many towns and cities, from Liverpool
in England to Rome in Italy, to me the
results are sad in the extreme. | saw
no single trade or calling which is as
we'll paid as man is for like work
here-On the railways the men are paid
what would be considered pittance.
| saw in London young men who had
nearly come TO mans age who got 1915
a week. They said they considered
that very good. Thousands of porters
ana men whose work is not placed in
the class of skilled labor do not receive
more than 81 a week. Many men are
paid a smaller sum. 1t may be safely
said that in England. in every depart
nf hn
are from third TO a half low
er than are paid in America
From $4 week to So at the most. is all
man who has not learned a trade can
ever hope to earn, no matter whether
he drives team, works in barn. IN
cotton mill. wOolen mill. a foundry, or
in calico print mill. l inquired with
care in towns like Hudd ersheld. Dews-
bury, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
My information came from men of all
ranks Of life. l know it is accurate
Plasterers. painters and carpenters re-
ceiYe about $50 a week each Machin-
lists. who are called mechanics, usually
get from $50 to SO, but the latter sum
Is exceptional, not the average. Men
who have special knowledge or fitness.
or both. for certain kinds OF work. do
not obtain the money we should think
they deserve for their toll and attain
mentS. Men who understand thoroughly
the power looms in which wooden
cloth IS woven. and whose business il is
to keep the looms in good working
order. are called tuners they keep the
looms IN tune-receive from seven to
about nine dollars week. Here and
there is a man who is paid SO. but he is
a great exception to the general rule.
II we leave the northern part of
England and go to the east, in which
the farming is mainly done. and in
which the manufacturers, as compared
with Lancashire. Yorkshire. or Derby
shire, are few, we find the men have 10
work for hire on land. The wages are
very much lower | know that writer's
OF eminence have pictured the lot of an
agricultural laborer as being Arcadian.
but | know it well. l have seen 1t for
miles at a stretch, and it is no use to
deny the facts: the horny-handed child
of the sun, VINO works for $3.50 week.
except in time of harvest. when
he is paid for five weeks about 50.
is man TO be pitied. 1t has been said
that many of these men do not use 400
different words in all their lives. They
have till within twenty years been
kept in ignOrdnce-dark.d dense ana dis
graceful. Well might the late Canon
GriddlesOn say. The man whom l shall
most fear 10 meet at judgment is the
agricultural labOreT. housed in a cot
tage with two rooms, and those small;
fed in a way to keep him humble:
taught that 'godliness with content is
great gain,' as If that passage were ever
intended TO be put to a vile use like
that. If there is any sacrilege it is
done by those who prostitute. Noble
Bible truth in such diabOlical service
But the redemption of this man is at
hand. He has become a voter, man
to be considered. His lot is improving.
In Lancashire and Yorkshire in all the
the great mill towns. the working peo-
pie are in better money circumstances
han in any part of England,
after the eldest is ten years old Gt
is eleven now, the richer he is.
The common sentiment is. and the law
too. that child shall begin to work at
that age. 1t used to be earlier. know
q school which has in il over 800 chill
dren. not one of whom is twelve years
old. who attend no more than half the
time. This state of things gives in a
family often four or five wage earners.
But the question of how rich man IS
is not determined by how much money
he earns but by what he can do with his
cash. There IS not as great a difference
here as most people suppose. Some
things are much cheaper. as rents and
clothes. but meat. eggs, butter and veg
etables are all higher. If men here
lived as men in similar positions in life
there live, they would grow rich. | have
never seen IN any land as much appar-
ent poverty as in Liverpool
In France | had not as good OppOrtuni-
ties of learning or knowing the condi-
tiOns Of wOrkinsmen or the wages they
are paid. do not know French. and so
was at great disadvantage. l was very
much surprised to be told by men
who [ supposed would know all about
such things that they did not know how
much wages are paid to laborers, but |
learned from cabman that he hired
his horse and cab for "A francs a day
about $3.50. | was told by a manufact- d.
ureT of cloth that in France. in all
branches OF the work, wages are much
lower than in England and that in
Germany they are about the same as in
France. In Italy I paid very special
attention TO the work and wage ques-
ton. l learned that over a hundred
thousand persons had left the country
last year to find new homes in foreign
lands. A very large proportion of these
came to our shores. There is deep. sad
reason for this. 1t is TO be found in the
fact that manhood is not valued as such.
III the vast standing army, the comDul-
sorry service in it. and the low wages
men are paid. l was told IN Genoa
that the street car drivers and the
conductors only received about two
francs and half a day. Each frame is
twenty cents. In Turin I saw a man
carrying mortar and brick. He got
three francs day, and considered him
self an aristOcrat to obtain so much. In
Rome l saw all expert upholsterer who
earned the sum OF sixty cents a day and
two meals for work in the hotel. He
was thoughtsa child of fortune. ] was
told that place which would pay
dollar day if advertised would have
more than a thousand replies.
All this has a very deep nearing and
a very faT-reaching influence and inter