The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-05-16
WORSE THAN SLAVES.
Women Who Toil Ia tho sweat
Shops Of Austria.

The Terrible Conditioas Uadsr Which
They Woek Their Miserable Livoa
Oat = Inhun.anity Of the
Con@issioaeEs.
It was known that the condition Of
women labor In the Austrian capital
was wrctched enough, but I question If
the best Informed ever credited that 20
appallingly low depth Of misery had
been reached as that revealed in semi
official report OF commissioner of in
quiry just published. The investiga-
tions 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 labor-sweating em-
ployers. The trades inquired into were
bookbinding, photographic printing and
pasteboard making. Wages, declared
the labor experts examined, have q
gradual tendency to decrease. In the
bookbinding trade the skilled female
hand, after six years experience. re.
ceives 6 shillings 8 pence to shillings
2 pence weekly. The normal hours of
labor are ten daily. New hands are
chiefly girls from IL to IA years old,
who go from factory to factory seeking
employment. In certain factory q
10-year-old child works ten hours daily.
Wages Of new hands average from 2
shillings 6 pence to 3 shillings 4 pence
weekly;s after one years service shil-
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 pence
and shillings 2 pence. II these girl
workers have parents who can allow
them during this period 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 a female hand chats when
at work with another she is fined 4
pence. OF, when discovered putting q
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,
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 zines 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 6 shil.
lings s pence weekly wage shilling s
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 small piece of
black bread, constitutes the daily meal.
Some can afford to buy at midday }
farthings' worth Of boiled sour cabbage,
or a pennyworth of horse sausage, in
addition. For supper, also coffee and
bread. On Sunday they enjoy potato
soup. Sometimes q few can afford the
luxury of horsefesh steak costing
pence, but on Monday they are usually
i'll, because "the stomach is not accus
toned to digest fat and fesh."
The eworkshopsare often underground.
Damp, evil-smelling and dark" is the
condition of many. In one, where gas
is burned all day long. the workers have
to shade their eyes when they come in
to daylight again. In one room where
30 work there is only one basin to wash
the hands in, and one towel, which is
changed once weekly. AS 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-
sible; another was previously used as
barracks, and water was continually
oozing from it's old walls. and in winter
it was full of smoke. In such dens
women toll ten hours daily; in the
busy season sometimes from seven in
the morning until midnight. On Sum
days. notwithstanding the laws to the
contrary, work is often continued till
one in the afternoon without further
pay. Naturally under such frightful
general health suffers. Rare
ly is q female worker over 30 years of
age. Two-thirds of their number are
attacked with consumption. Even the
hour brings little rest to their
weakened systems. In many factories
those tar from their lodgings are not
permitted to have their meals in the
but must in all weathers
knock about the neighboring streets or
seek shelter in peoples cafe, where I
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.
Osths and rough pushes are general. It
10 very doubtful, indeed. if the kind ef-
forts Of these commissioners Of inquiry
will have any good effect. The inter-
ests Of capital are all-powerful in
Vienna. and. though there are inspectr
,rs Of factories, their duties are very re-
Mall Gazette.