Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-29
Among the Great Berlin Workshops

plan, and is run after American methods.
This is the company which has equipped
most of the Berlin street railroads, as
well as those Of other German cities, Il
is already doing a large export bushes.
and deals with South America, Africa ami
Asia.
I walked through the works with the as
sistant manager, Mr.. Cotton, VIII was
formerly with our Westinghouse cOmpan%
in the United States, and as / did S
cnatted with lin about the difference be
tween the German and American workman.
In reply to my questions he said:
IL have not been here very long and may
have occasion to cha 1ge my opinion, but
SO far / don't think the m can do
more than so per cent az much work as the
Americans. We pay our labOrers about hail.
as much as similar men receive In the
United States, and we work them more
hours, but proportiOnately the Americans
do as much for the money. Take the man
over there who is fling at that piece CT
machinery. Notice how carefully he works,
and how he keeps at 1t until every tooth is
exactly right and beautifully shiny. He
turns out fine work, but he wastes time in
doing It. The machine is no better for the
extra finish. An American would give that
machine a dozen strokes of the file and
smooth 1t up we'll enough for all practical
purposes. The German is not contented
with anything but a perfect finish. His
work looks better, but IT is no better as far
as utility is concerned. This is one of my
greatest troubles here 1 can't get these
men to understand we are making tools and
not iewelry."
How about the American machines, Mr..
Cotton?" l asked. Can you get the Ger
mans to work them to their full capacity
"No. They don't want to increase the
product. They think the work that is left
over for today must be done tomorrow, and
the more they do today the less work they
will have tomorrow. They try to delay
rather than to hurry, and this is so
throughout the German factories. We had
one machine that seemed to me to be run
ming as fast as in the United States. but,
somehow or other, it did not produce the
same results. l watched the man, and
found that he was cutting only a hairline
at a time when he should have been taking
of a quarter of an inch.
The German laborers have not the same
incentives to work that we have" contin-
ued the assistant manager. THE German
system Of employment is bad. Everything
here is done by piece work, and the price
II 6dubtu w. "hdL ~ man Noh w III a a
II he does much more than has been ex-
pected, his employers lower the price, and
the result is he has to work twice as hard
for the same money. There is little chance
to rise. The common laborer seldom be-
comes the head Of the shop, and as a result
there is an unexpressed enmity between the
laborers and their masters"
Give me some idea of wages" said /.
The ordinary mans wages are from 10
to 1914 cents an hour, or from 81 to slips
for ten hours work. Women get . cents an
hour, or about 80 cents a day"
In this factory l was surprised at the in
telligence and good looks Of the employees.
Many of them speak English and they are
on the whole better educated than men
doing the same work in the United States.
They wear blue cotton smoeks which but
ton tight up at the Threats and keep the
suits underneath clean. 1 am told they
are excellent workmen and in SOM re-
spects superior to men of the same class in
the United States, although they do not
work as fast.
Indeed, the matter of locality seems to
affect the speed of the woTkmen. Take a
Berlin labOrer to New York and he begins
to hustle, and, on the other hand, a New
York workman. If imported TO Germany, is
said to adopt the German methods, and
after a few months stay to outdo the
Germans in ~slowness.
The laws OF Germany take good care OF
the laborer. The state has insurance COM
panies for the sick and the aged and acci-
dents are we'll regulated. The people Of
late years have been paying attention to
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