Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-12
WAC ES IN GER M ANY
Small Earnings of Workmen in Steel and
Iron Industries
Commercial Agent Murphy Makes an
Interesting Report on Economic
Conditions in the Fatherland.

After an exhaustive examination of the
wages paid in large manufacturing estab-
lishments Of Luxembourg, which, he says,
are about the same as are paid In other
parts of Germany, George H. Murphy,
United States vice commercial agent there,
transmits to the Department of State a re-
port on the wages paid in the steel and
iron industries, with general review OF
the whole subject of German wages. He
finds that generally speaking the average
earnings of ordinary workmen amount to
less than $500 per annum. Women earn
about half as much as men. The average
wages Of miners and foundry hands is less
than 81 per day. The salaries of primary
school teachers are $224 for males and $119
for females. A very large majority of
the employees of the government earn less
than 800 per annum. On the other hand
still speaking generally, the necessaries Of
life cost as much in central Europe as they
do in America.
Hard to Keep Out of Debt.
A workman's expenditures for clothing
and rent may possibly be somewhat less
here than in America, but in the town Of
Luxembourg coal costs 81 per ton. eggs, 81
cents per dozen; rye flour, 3; wheat flour,
8; sugar, 8; butter %; beef, 10; veal and
pork, 2' cents per pound. Frugality and
industry can hardly be expected to accom-
plish any miracle greater than that of en-.
aiding thrifty workman to keep out Of
debt. This distressing state of affairs is
no doubt in part an unavoidable result of
the competitive demand for employment
which must exist in every densey populated
country.
But the misery of the European poor has
been aggravated by that popular craze
fhn Lave
Germany to grow with rapijity as phe-
nomenal as that which is doubling and
trebling the population Of our own western
citles. An important point of difference,
however, lies in the fact that foreign i'm
migration largely accounts for the develop
ment or our towns, whereas German cities
expand almost entirely at the expense of
the rural districts.
Evils That Effect LAT Oring Classes
Consequently the labor market is glutted,
wages keep falling, and the evil is en-
hanced by the increasing use of labor-sav-
ing devices. The competition between man.
ufacturers also forces down wages. The
policy OF the countries of Central Europe
seems to be to extend and initiate their
manufacturing industries indefinitely and
suicioaiiy. Iheir idea of national prosperity
and or happiness seems to be nothing more
imam the attainment of the ability to ex-
port manufactures and import food and in
support OF this policy the governments take
from the wCrkingmen an import duty on
his food, in order to give the manufacturer
an export bounty. The much-talked-of dis
armament of Europe will. if ever realized,
bring further calamity by adding to the
labor markets millions of young men I'M
fitted for country life by several years
residence in city barracks. The develop
ment of our American manufactures is
undoubtedly of great importance, but
American workmen and women have good
reason to favor the restriction of immigra-
ton, and to view with apprehension the
tendency to initiate our manufacturing in
dustrieS beyond safe limits