, 1891-12-12
LABOR IN ~POMERANlA.
A System, Called Primitive" Where
Bosses, Instead Of Workers, Compete.

A System, Called Primitive" Where
Bosses, Instead Of Workers, Compete.
The British consul at Stettin, in the
course of a very interesting report on
Pomerania generally, describes an old
world system of labor still to some ex-
tent prevailing there. There are two
classes of laborers-the permanent Tor in
s~tleute) and the free laborers. The for
mer, for the most part, are those who,
having been born on the estate, remain
on it all their lives, their contract with
their employer being, however, renew
able from year to year. Each family re-
ceives a free dwelling, consisting of two
rooms, a kitchen, a loft and a cellar,
also outhouses for pigs, goats, poultry,
etc. In land they receive 1,02O square
yards for a garden, 1850 square yards
for potato and rye growing, PAS. yearly
for firing, and free carriage of fuel. In
wages a healthy man receives Is. Sd.
daily from April l to Sept. 80, and Is.
daily from Oct. 1 to March 81.
Each family is obliged to provide one
"hofganger," either boy or girl, to assist
in work on the estate; they receive from
their employer as wages from 81. to I'd.
per day. according to age. The wife is
not obliged to work in the fields, but she
is expected to milk the cows, for which
she receives from one to Two quarts of
milk per day; if she does work on the
estate she receives Is. per day from May
l to Nov. 80, and Cd. per day from Dec.
l to April 80, and is generally paid ac-
cording to her value as a worker. Tile
instleute have opportunities of increas-
ing their yearly wages by taking job
work. For example, in spring there is
hoe work, in summer harvesting and
moving and in autumn gathering roots
and fruit. For job work a man can
sometimes earn as much as IS. to As.
extra per day; the wife and ''hofganger'
together from IS. to 3s. extra, or they
may be paid in kind, as in wheat, hay
etc.
Should a family bring more laborers
these are paid and treated as free labor
ers. This system now only remains on
a few of the larger estates. Free labor,
ers are those who do not live on or be
long TO an estate, but mostly dwell in
the neighboring villages, and are under
no obligations whatever to the estate
holders. Their engagement during busy
times is occasionally subject to keen
competition between the various en-
ployers, and it is both interesting and
amusing to see the agents (the wages on
the various estates are often announced
by the police officer stationed in the vii
lage) of various estate holders ringing
their bells in the principal street of a
village, and declaring that they will give
so much a day, and the opposition agents
overbidding one another, the laborers
calmly awaiting results.
But with railway communication SC
rapidly extending, laborers from the
south are able to finish work at the earlier
crops in their own districts, and yet be in
ample time for the later harvesting il
the north. Thus the local laborer is now
becoming of less value, and this has hat
a tendency to lower wage to such an ex
tent during winter and spring month
that the village laborer is CONSTANT
seeking employment in the towns. Ii
deed, so difficult has it become to obtai
laborers at the harvesting times tina
some of the estate holders engage rail
way wagons to bring laborers from dis
tant parts. These gangs of men anC
women are generally led by a head work.
err or "vorabeiter," who receives the or,
ders and the wages for the whole of his
or her gang. They are usually employed
by the job. For wedding and potato
gathering women are alone needed, and
therefore gangs of women are often en-,
gagged separately.
During the potato gathering season the
little town of Rallies, in Pomerania,
which is estimated to contain from 5000
to 1900 inhabitants, and where the people
are celebrated as potato workers, is com
pletely deserted, only the mayor and bell
ringer being left in the town. The people,
who are all of the laboring class, go out
to the harvest and potato gathering, and
are scattered all over Pomerania, leav-
ing their houses locked and the keys in
the hands of the mayor, as they often do
not return for months .-London Times.