The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-17

envelope on the street. A policeman came up to me and eyed me sternly as he pointed to N I blushed red and at once picked it up for had heard that 1t was against the law to throw waste paper 1 on the street. You can't even throw 1t l into the river or canals without being liable to arrest, and the baws are rigid as to city cleanliness. All the people are 1 expected to keep the streets clean in | front Of their, houses, and the police help | them. The result Is that Zurich looks i like a Dutch kitchen and the whole town is apick and span. The streets are well kept and are relaid whenever they snow signs of going into ruts.
 1 What Swiss Workingmen Get. l Some of the Swiss roads are paved with cobbies. I went over such an one this afternoon which the iaborers were re-; pairing. There were perhaps dozen men | at work laying the stones, and 1t seemed to me that they did 1t In a most leisurely way. Each mason had milking stool ! to sit on as he worked and l photo graphed one in the act. He was pleased to have his picture taken, and l fell into conversation with him. He told me 1 that his wages were cents an hour and that he usually made 80 cents for his day i of ten hours. !. In coming back on the street car I ask
 
 found that he got the same as the ma son-S0 cents-but that his day was twelve hours instead of ten. Car employees who have been long with the company some- times receive as much as 90 and 95 cents | a day, but there are very few who reacn ! as high as $1 for a day for twelve hours. The normal Swiss working day is eleven hours. and wages range from 5o cents upwards. There are many hands in the I silk factories who do not get more than this and some who get less. The wages | are low in the embroidery mills and also | in those weaving cotton, although in the | latter much of tine work Is done by piece, | and skilled employees make what are here considered fair wages
 Laborers' Organizations. And still tine worlingman in Switzer-- | land have their organizations. There are | workingmen's societies nearly every where The Government has passed fac tory laws. and few years ago 1t was | found that there were 5000 factories un- der these laws; they employed 100000 men. Many of the eantons have their own labor regulations. In some there are labor bureaus and technical schools The workingmen combine together to further ! thedr own interests. and they have sue ceeded in getting legislation by appealing | to the Swiss Congress. As 1t is now the railway companies are liable to damages | from men seriously hurt while in their | employ and if a man Is injured in factory the owner of the factory can be made to pay as much as six times the amount of his yearly earnings, or a | maximum of Si, 200.
 How Swiss Women Work.
 Some of the saddest scenes here are the Swiss women at work. They per | al F indc nf ioh nd T ha many a gray haired dame with the sweat streaming down her wrinkles. You see girls pitching and raldng hay and spading and hoeing in the fields. You sec them going over the roads with great loads on their backs, and in the Alps you may meet them toillng along with baskets full of manure strapped to them. The manure comes from the barns and is being carried up to be spread over the pastures on the sides of the hills, have seen women pushing carts. harnessed up with dogs, and frequently see them sa aWing wood in the streets. Another sight of a more modern type is a Swiss girl riding an American moving machine, pulled by two cows. for, indeed, cows are also worked. and for labor there is no distinction of sex either bovine or hu- man. The COWS are worked in most parts of Switzerland. They are sometimes har- 1 see COW and horse pulling along side by side.
 l Returning to the women of Switzerland they are used very largely as clerks in the stores. Some have Government of- fees and you find them acting as cash | iers in the cafes and restaurants. They l are as good in a business way as their French sisters, and, like the French wo- men. are among the thrftiest of their | sex.
 The Swiss Markets.
 The most of the marketing of switzer- land Is done by the women. In Bern the markets are in the streets. The women bring in their vegetables, their butter and cheese and other wares and peddle | them out from stands on the sidewalk In Basel they push the goods into town | in lhtle wagons Nike baby carriages and in Bern you frequently see a dog cart going from door to door, the woman huxsters now pulling with the dogs and now stopping to peddie milk or vege- tables to the houses. It Is with these dogs that they bring their wares in from the country, the dog taking the part of | the horse.
 The purchasers in the markets are also | women. Every Swiss housewife does her | own buying. She comes out early and picks out the things for herself | stopped before one woman who was buy ing some butter of a white capped fe- male butter seller. The butter was mold ed into great Ioaves from which were cut l the portions demanded by the purchasers. | The cutting is done with a brass wire | in the shape of loop, which the woman | fits around the loaf and pulls through, cutting the butter much more smoothly and evenly than could be done with a knife. I asked as to prices and was told that good butter is now worth 14 cents pound.
 Swiss Schools.
 have spent some time in going through the schools of Zurich and other parts of Switzerland. I am surprised at their excellence. The Swis pride themselves on their educational system and they universally patronize the schools Here in Zurich it Is estimated that ST. per cent of the children of all classes go to the public schools, although there are excel lent private academies and kindergartens. Every canton has its school board and every village !ts school building. The country is small but altogether there are more than 5000 schools in it, and a large number of high schools and uni versailles Basel has a university which was founded before the discovery of America and there are good universities at Bern, Geneva, Fribourg and Zurich, These universities are organized on the same plan as those of Germany. each being governed by a rector and a sen ate, and divided into four faculties of the. l ology, law, philosophy and medicine.
 Here at Zurich a polytechnic school is |