The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-08-16

one of the cutlery shops about you might
almost have cut 1t into dense chunks. If
London is appropriately called Chimney
pot Park, Sheffield surely carries the palm
as the great Chimney stack Park of this
realm; and We should not wonder if, in
favorable conditions. it could hold Its own
with London as great fog producing Gen.
ire. 1t did not surprise us that the people
were complaining of q long succession of
cloudy days Sheffield is the sort of place,
atmospherically considered, which we
should imagine Old Sol would long ago
have given up rs being hopelessly joined
to Its idols. This was our first impression,
and our next was of the hills one has
to climb In getting about over the town.
What we had beep told was that Sheffield
itself was q sort of basin, and that We
should ind q steep rise In every direction
which led out of 1t. but what We seemed TO
find " as that the basin. useful as 1t might
have been for washing purposes IN so s0oty
an atmosphere, was distressingly invisible.
and that the whole place was an cxasperat-
ing undulatiOn through and through.
There WAS hardly any point we wished t.
of some enormous hill of difficulty, and
what was worse, the uphill work We had
In getting Don't was more than matched
for some time by the obstacles We met in
our search IOT lQiOrQlatlOu.
MANUFACTURERS WON'T TALK.
The manufacturers were quite English,
which means that they were hard to get
at and very reticent. In q country where
the clergy are boxed mp for the most part,
as though while dispensing tho word Of
life it were necessary to protect them
urely against the people in the pews.
and where every fellow. having q tidy
house and grounds. walls himselfin against
the possibility of his possessions being
even looked at by vulgar outsiders. this
reserve on the part of large employers of
labor was naturally to be expected. BY
tact and perseverance,, however. we did
manage to converse with represen ts tives
OF two firms. and We were not badly re-
ceived by them. The Atlas works and the
largo establishment Of G. Cammell &, Co.,
turn out steel in enormous quanty.
and for almost ell purposes. and IL
is sald that altogether they have some-
thing like ten thousand men In their
service. How nice it would be. We thou ght,
If these concerns would favor us with Q
quiet look at their psy-rolls. and We oven
yentured to suggest in their very presence
that this, or the equivalent of IL. was what
yse were after. But our polite insiuuations
were only as sounding brass. and We had
an inward conviction while making them
that in ears so unused to such American
liberties they must have sounded very
brassy indeed. To show how utterly hope
less was the quest we had undertaken. the
sec rotary OF the Cammell company assured
rs that they had refused to give informs-
tion about wages even when asked for il by
statisticians of the British government.
and The gentleman representing the Other
firm waived the main issue by explaining
lea than in England because the rcstric-
tions against foreign competition were 90
much greater"
Thus ended our labors with the manu-.
facturers. and having treated these gentle
men with proper respect, We felt that we
were then at liberty to seek snlighten-
ment else whore. The American consulate
is always accessible and tie Representa-
tive of the stars and stripes in Sheffield.
Mr.. Benjamin Folsom, an own cousin of
the distinguished mamma of tbaby Ruth.
and an old newspaper man withal, We
found TO be deeply interested in labor
questions and quite ready to help us In the
mission we had undertaken. In visible at
displays the model of an American eagle
over the front door of his office. and his
conversation We found to be fully as patri-
otto as the sign he bad hung out. Between
the condition of the working Glasses Ini the
United States. and that of the same classes
in England, the difference, no, said, W as
great in the extreme. In America tho drift
was always upward. whereas here It main
tanned q dead level. The rule in England
was once. n workman always q workman,
while with Us large numbcrs climbed up.
They first got house OF their own, and
you would hear of them soon after %
mayors of cities. He had been visited re-
Gently by an American who began life &C q
would have been q blacksmith to-day, but
instead of this he now has 15U men In his
employ. and is an invention whose machines
are known all over the world.
WAGES IN SHEFFIELD.
From reports to which our attention was
directed by Mr.. Folsom we made the follow
ing abstracts of the general run of wages
In Sheffield. For workers In iron the
hours vary from fifty TO ffty-seven hours
per week, and the average weekly earnings
were given thus: Puddlers, SITS; under
hands, 1924; shinglers. s12S9; assistants.
$50; charcoal Jumpers Sl45o; rollers,
Sl0O4; platter rollers. $3.50; furnacemen.
SLABS: firemen, es.5l; scale METERS
$s51; forgemen, Sl4.5s; levermen, 4.0i:
bogiemen, $6.O7; hammer-drivers. S7.29;
SSH; fetlcrs. s6.44; Ia6orers. $50; iron
trailers. so; tyre rollers. SlS.62; ma
learned that men engaged III making peck
ct and table cutlery were earning on AN
average from 36.07 q week TO S9.73. For
railway employees the average WACO was
given as follows: Engine drivers, 81. so for
day of twelve hours; fircmen. Sl.09. Tho
rate of the others is by the week. Passen-
GER guards. $3.50; goods guards. s.a2:
watchmen. S5.3I; pointsmen, S6.3l; passen-
ger porters S.. 80; goods porters. &. S6; en-
gine filters. $3.50: car examiners &c.
CounterMen IN dry-Roods stores are re-
ported as averaging little less than $500 q
year; policemen average $40 aud street La
borers. $3.50 week.
The figures we obtained from the same
reports bearing directly upon the steel
trade were as follows: ]. Steel covering
Foreman tforty-five hours). S7.2e; laborers,
ei.s6 2 Steel meliing-Teemers tsixty
hoursl. Ss.75; pullers-out. S7.O5; cookers. 81. CO.
pot-nakers, ss.5l; cellar lad. sl.s2 g. Steel
rolling Foreman forty eight hours,
Sl094; rollers tforty-e;ght hours. $S75. For
the class of labor indicated these sums. at
the time the reports were made, represent
ed the average weekly earnings of all en-
ployrd. But both regarded these and the
wages given In other branches. the que ion
TO be- determined before any reliance could
he placed uDOu tnom IN a coin Darlsou with