Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-10-10

to reduce the wages of workmen, cur
tail their comforts, and bring them to
the level of "pauper labor. - The very
reverse of that proposition would be
nearer the truth. The way to win in
the contest is to improve the skill OF
the workmen and the effectiveness Of
the machinery employed. The more
intelligent and skilful the workmen
and the more effective the machinery
they handle, the better will be tho
product produced and the cheaper
1t can be put upon tho market.
To crush skilled labor by taking
away the comforts of home life,
the opportunity for schooling in youth,
and the yigor which comes from whole
some and abundant food, would be as
fatal to the success OF our manufac-
turers ae if the best machinery were
displaced and an inferior sort put in.
When manufacturer says, II can
compete with the manufacturers of
Europe, but to do SO must reduce my
laborers to starvation wages" he is
talking as foolishly as IL he had said !:
Il can compete with the manufac-
Jurors OF Europe, but to do so | must
take out good machinery and put worse
in its place. What our manufacturers
really need in order to conquer the
markets Of the world is better and more
effective machinery and swifter and
more expert workmen than foreign
manufacturers can command.
As a matter of fact no country reaches
supremacy in manufacturing by degrad-
ing it's laborers. Increase of wages and
more comforts for the workmen, always
accompany determined effort of an
industry to produce the cheapest and
best goods. Germany and Belgium
have been making great advances in
the manufacture of iron. The British
Iron Trades Association has been rem
dered uneasy by the showing made on
the Continent and it sent deputation
OF employers and workmen to inquire
into the condition and methods of the
iron and steel manufacture in Germany
and Belgium. After visiting the prin-
cipal works the deputation is about to
issue its report, and the London
Chronicle, of September Goth, 1895,
has an interesting summary of it.
This report makes it very certain that
the accounts given by protectionist
papers in this country of the wretched-
ness of the workmen of Germany and
Belgium are without foundation. The
deputation discovered that the CONT.
mental iron masters are making their
fight for supremacy in the manufacture
Of iron and steel not by reducing wages
but by perfecting machinery and de-
veloping an expert corps of workmen.
The laborers in the continental works
are doing very well indeed, and are
good ways off from the "pauper labor''
basis.
We quote some extracts from the
chronicles" summary;
An account of visit to a plate mill
states: I'm this mill the plates were
rolled, stamped and Strengthened by
means of an arrangement of screws upon
the floor Take it on the whole, there
is 10 per cent less waste on their plates
than we allow in England. :" In this
mill the output is 80 tons per shift,
which employs ~ men. In one branch
three times more men were EMPLOYED
than would be employed on the same
work in the north of England, and for
loading plates the men were paid one
franc ~ cents per ton, as compared
with o1ad. Ill cents) and I'd. IA cents)
in marlborough district, and dele
gate states: There is no roller in our
district unftinn hn L. Al
men are getting, "
At the second largest works in Ger
many the firm have a savings bank for
their workmen, and give per cent in
terest on deposits. They have also hos
pitals and provisions for old age. Some
OF the worknen have COWS and fields |
and live ten miles from the works,
travelling the distance by rail for a few |
marks per month. The firm emnloys
5000 men. The government will not
allow boys under II years Ct age to be- |
employed and practically no hoya are
employed. Those who take the nlace
OF the regular men on SUNDAYS are maid |
~ per cent extra, and all workmen on |
nigh holidays got 50 per cent extra.
Inc company own a large number of |
workmen's dwellings. Twelve marks |
three dollars a month is the rent Of |
house with four rooms and a small |
garden. For single men the company |
provide barracks and charge Is. 6d. |
W cents per month for the beds.
Another works visited employed |
2,700 men. One Of the Delegates saws |
IN reference TO these works:
was astounded Mechanical |
hgures in a miniature Bcssemer plant |
could not have worked moro systemati |
cally than these men do, and every man
seemed to do his work without nm
effort. The appliances were SO that |
they moved about like a set of figures |
and every man knew his place. There |
was no crowding or hurrying, and in
the mills never saw work done like \
II in my life. Al those |
works they never spare money nor time.
lhey nave taken time to work out |
everything that was necessary 70 i..-
prove the machinery, and they have
spent money freely. !"
And with all this improved machinery
the works arc paying the hest of any
IN Germany. For the last IL years
they have paid % to 10 per cent In
the Bessemer department in another
works they also found a great IN.
Provemesnt on anything we have in
Inc majority of houses occupied by
the men are such as in ENGLAND ara
occupied by managers of large iron and
steel works, and all the houses have
gardens"
The delegates ''never see such houses
the manufacturing Districts Of Scot
AND or England. - The rent was p1O
SOU per year; for houses with six or
Sven Seye rooms IT was Eli 500 or els