The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-01-28

a CURIOUS. OLD -,.ea SYSTEM
!. realeraala Enploy.Tl...a.v. 3 hid


The British CONSUL at Stettin, in the I
course of n 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 (or
Instleute) and the free laborers The
former, 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
receives 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 1920 square yards
for garden, 1850 square yards for peta-
to and rye growing, "a shillings yearly
for firing and free carriage of fuel. In
wages healthy man receives Is. 3D.
daily from April to Sept.S0, and shil-
ling daily from Oct. / to March 81. Each.
family is obliged to provide one "Hof-
ganger, either boy or girl, to assist in
work on the estate. They receive from
their employer as wages from pence to
Z pence 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 1 shilling
per day from May to Nov. 30, and is
/ generally paid according to her value as
! a worker The Instleute have oppor-
tunities of increasing their yearly wages
by taking job work
For example, in spring there is hoe
] work, in the summer harvesting and
moving, and in autumn gathering roots
and fruit. For job work a man can
sometimes earn as much as shillings to
A shillings extra per day; the wife and
.shofganger" together, from 2 shillings
to shillings extra, or they may be paid
in kind, as in wheat, hay, etc.
, Should a family bring more laborers,
I these are paid and treated as free labor
ers This system now only remains on
few of the larger estates. Free labor
ers are those who do not live on or be
long to an estate and are under no obi
:. CATIONS whatever to the estate holders
Their engagement during busy times
is occasionally subject to keen competi
ton between the various employers, and
:. it is both interesting and amusing to SET
the agents (the wages on the yariou.
estates are often announced by the police
officer stationed in the village) of variou.
estate holders ringing their bells in tn,
principal street of village and de
claring that they will give SO much
day, and opposition agents overbiddin:
each other, the laborers calmly awaiting
rresults. But railway communication s.
rapidly extending, laborers from tn
south are able to finish work at the ear
lier crops in their own districts and ye
be in ample time for the later harvesting
in the north.
Il Thus the local laborer is now becominl
of less value and this has had a tendenc
to lower wages to such an extent durin
: winter and spring months that the villag
laborer is constantly seeking employ
ment in the towns. Indeed, SO Difficult
.. . has it become to obtain laborers at han
. yesting times that some of the <estat
~ holders engage railway wagons to brin
laborers from distant parts. Thes
gangs of men and women are general
led by head worker or ''vorarbeiter,
: who receives the orders and the wage
, for the whole of his or her gang.
+ They are usually employed by the jol
;. For wedding and potato gatherin
women are alone needed, and therefor
gangs of women are often engage
:, separately. During the potato4gather:n
season the little town of Rallies,
= Pomerania, which is estimated to contai
! from three thousand to four Thousand il
\ habitants. and where the people al
: celebrated as potato workers, is con
pletely deserted, only the, mayor ar
bellriiger being left in the town. I'll
!, people, who are all of the laboring clas
!, go out to the harvest and potato gathe
81 ing and are scattered all eyerSP Pomerani
: leaving their houses locked and The Ike.
!, 4 in the hands of the mayor. .sas they ofte
do not return for months. .AEondc
= Times.
s Lost His Aching Tooth.
/ David Riindabaugh, who is reputed
= be veracious and prominent citizen
u. Mechanicsburg, o., relates a stran;
Y ........s...si