The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-05-14
AUSTRIAN SWEAT SHOPS.
Women Forced to Work Long Hours fol
Starvation Wages.

L Starvation Wages.
1t was known that the condition of
women labor in the Austrian capital
was wretched enough, but l question if
the best informed ever credited that so
appallingly low depth of misery had
been reached as that revealed in a semi
official report of commissioner of in
quiry just published. The investiga-
lions have been held during the past
three weeks in the hall of the Austrian
chamber of commerce here; but the eff
forts of the commissioners have been
deprived of nearly all their value by the
suppression of the names and addresses
in the report of the Understanding en-
ployers. The trades inquired into were
bookbinding, photographic printing and
pasteboard making. Wages, declared
the labor experts examined, have a
gradual tendency to decrease. In the
bookbinding trade the skilled female
hand, after six years experience, re-
ceives 6 shillings 5 pence to : shillings
pence weekly. The normal hours of
labor are ten daily. New hands are
chiefly girls from II to IA years old,
who go from factory to factory seeking
employment. In a certain factory a
10-year-old child works ten hours daily.
Wages of new hands average from 2
lines pence to shillings pence
s.sy, after years service shil7
lings weekly are paid. Many receive
better wages than this. For several
months in summer, during the dead sea-
son, wages of expert hands drop from Z
shillings weekly to 3 shillings 4 pence
and shillings pence. If these girl
workers have parents who can allow
them during this period a little none
! tary aid-which is rarely the case
their condition, naively remarks the re-
port, is somewhat bettered. The eX-
perts bitterly complain of the fines and
reductions from wages. In the large
+ factories, if female hand chats when
at work with another she is fined t
! pence, or, when discovered putting a
piece of bread into her mouth, or ar
irving a minute after time, the fine
, amounts to 10 pence. In one establish
ment the female hands are sometimes,
I as punishment, kept at work an extra
half hour, just as children at school. No
extra pay is then allowed In another
| factory mistake had been made in the
+ binding of a certain book. The
wretched woman had to pay for the
! whole edition at trade prices! What
! becomes of the fines the female workers
have no idea. a socialist artisan at the
| factory had once the hardihood to de
mand a look at the fines book" He
was at once dismissed.
Great sensation was experienced by
| the commissioners when the conditions
of living were inquired into. One eX-
! pert said that, as a rule, out of shil-
lings pence weekly wage l shilling 8
pence was paid for lodging; the re-
mainder went on food and clothing. The
/ hands each bring a small flask of
coffee-which is very frequently not re-
warmed-and this, with a small piece of
black bread, constitutes the daily meal.
Some can afford to buy at midday }
"a pesnsy st 9- Of il hoibso5rs pur cabbage
addition. For supper, also coffee and
bread. On Sunday they enjoy potato
! SOuP. oOliCllIlICS d lew Cdl dllOItl IIlt'
luxury of a horseflesh steak costing 3
pence, but on Monday they are usually
! i'll, because 1.-The stomach is not accus
toned to digest fat and flesh"
! The workshops are often underground.
Damp, evil-smelling and dark" is the
condition of many. In one, where gas
is burned all day long, the workers have
I to shade their eyes when they come in
! to daylight again. In one room where
/ 80 work there is only one basin to wash
the hands in, and one towel, which is
| changed once weekly. As a rule, wom-
! EN- in these factories dry their hands
with paper or shavings. a case was re-
| ported where the workers had them
selves to purchase brushes and rags and
clean the factory floor during the din
ner hour. In another factory the room
was only cleaned out once every year
One workshop floor was so full of holes
| that walking about was almost impOs-
4 sible; another was previously used as
, barracks, and water was continually
oozing from its old walls, and in winter
, it was full of smoke. In such dens
women toll ten hours daily; in the
f, busy season sometimes from seven in
the morning until midnight. On Sun
| days, Notwithstanding the laws to the
contrary, work is often continued till
one in the afternoon without further
! pay. Naturally under such frightfuI
conditions general health suffers. Rare
/ ly is female worker over 80 years of
age. Two-thirds of their number are
attacked with consumption. Even the
dinner hour brings little rest to their
! weakened systems. In many factories
49, 1se far from their lodgings are not
l-re,mitted to have their meals in the
workshops, but must in all weathers
knock about the neighboring streets or
seek shelter in a peoples cafe, where
pence per glass for coffee is demanded.
All the experts examined, with one ex-
ception, complained bitterly of the
coarse treatment the female hands eX-
perience from the male overseers.
Oaths and rough pushes are general. 1t