The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-02

dinner, and sometimes meat. for sup
per, bread, beer, or cider or common
wine that costs perhaps 10 cents liter
or quart For every ounce Of this food.
except the common wine and beer, he
will pay just as much as, and some
times moro than, the American fire
man pays for food similar I'm quality
and kind. His coffee. fair Rio, is 80
cents per pound: fair Java costs So
cents; tea, from 20 cents to 81; sugar,
6 cents beef IS to 2j cents; horsenesh,
> To cents; bacon, 20 cents; ham. -
cents; sausages, % cents; flour, 8 cents:
common soap. cents: American
canned beef, Is cents; potatoes, from
40 TO go ceuts bushel; eggs, IL to p
cents per dozen milk, 4 cents quart;
cider cents a quart; beer, s cents Al
quart; common wine, 10 cents a quart;
kerosene, 20 cents q gallon; wood, cut
for stove, $40 per cord coke, So per
ton: coal. 81 per ton; coarse cowhide
shoes. from 81 to $3.50 per pair; cotton
overalls. 96 cents cotton blouse. 96
cents Sunday suits, from IS TO SIS;
common coarse suits, from s. to $S.
And, as everybody Is taxed in Central
Europe. the fireman comes in for his
share; not on his possessions. for he
! seldom has any, but on the amount OF
the meagcr earnings which he may re-
CeNe during the year
The above are the average retail
prices for food and clothes, and he
who will take the trouble to compare
them with prices for the same articles
| in the American markets will discover
that in almost every article the Amer
lean fireman has the advantage, be-
sides having twice the income with
which to make the purchases.
NOT WELL CLOTHED.
The European fireman usually wears
overalls during working hours, and,
when they dress after their labors, they
! present a plain, neat appearance; but
| their clothes are coarse and never fit
/ as well as those of the American, while
! the foot and head wear are positively
| awkward and rough in make and aD-
| pearance. To these disadvantages
! should be added the fact that when
( the European fremen go to church they
! find an uncomfortable, poorly heated.
! poorly ventilated. and sometimes
! gloomy place of worship: when they
| go to the theater. they must occupy
! the poorest places; when they travel
| with their families on the railroad, they
! do SO i'm the third-class cars: and, no
matter how sober and industrious they
may be. they can never hold the same
| position in the social world that their
| brother breadwinners do i'm the Unit
! ed States. But, with all these disad-
| vantages. it must be conceded that the
! railroad employees of the Old World arc
/ usually loyal to the corporations that
! give them employment and discharge
| their duties with a fidelity industry,
and care that make them worthy Of
! better wages better food, better homes,
and brighter hopes. Their earnings are
small: they can save nothing; their
| time of toll is long and their chance of
| advancement slow. Yet, with all these
! GiscouraGing conditions they are as
| sturdy and faithful a class of men as
| can be found in any department of hu-
man labor in the world.
| If the conditions We're the same in
! Europe as in the United States-that
! is, if the locomotive firemen of Europe
received the same wages that are paid
| i'm the United States-and if they con-
tinued to live in the way they do now
| and practiCed the same economy, a
! service of twenty years would find
! them in the possession of savings that
would place every one of them in ms
own home and in Independent circum-
| stances
Whenever it is stated in the United
States that the wages in Europe are
small, but the cost of living is pro-
| portOnately SMALL it should not be
| forgotten that, while the cost of living
among the workmen of Europe is pro-
portionately smaller than among the
toilers in the United States, the man
ner of living is also immeasurably poor
! er, not only in housing, clothing and
food, but in all conditions: and also
the wages are only half the amount
| paid in our country.