Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-12

waists for rs cents. You can get a girl to
come to your house and sew for less than
80 cents a day and you can hire a dress
maker who will cut, fit and make a plain
dress for you in two days, charging you
so cents per day for her work and per-
haps 40 cents per day for the girl who helps
her. ..-.
Music teachers are paid as little as Is
cents a lesson and singing teachers the
bame. Girls In some factories receive less
than 81 a week. In others they get SO,
while forewomen receive from Sc to $40.
Some figures taken by the government not
long ago showed that cloak makers we're
earning 81 a week and that girls on under
clothes received from $1.25 to So rs, the lat
ter being paid for skilled hands and over
seers. hin OF making collars for from 1
to 2 cents apiece and cuffs for 20 cents a
dozen and you have an idea how some
women work in Berlin. I have heard Of
places where button holes are made by
hand for 1 cent a hole and where IL the
place to work and the thread and needles
are furnished by the employer a reduction
Of % cents per head is made.
The percentage of women workers in Ger
many has rapidly increased of late years,
owing to the enormous number OF men re-
Quired in the army. 1t is stimate that
there are more than $780, 900 German
women who earn their own living, and this
is an increase Of more than 1000, 900 within
the last thirteen years. OF these 40 per-
cent are employed on the farms, 20 per
cent in domestic service and 10 per cent in
public Offices. About Z per cent work in
the factories and 4 per cent act as servants
in the hotels and In the beer and wine
rooms. - l-
Within the last few years the men have
been trying to keep the women from doing
certain kinds of work in the factories and
foundries, and the unions are generally
against the employment of married women
when their husbands have work. 7yi1
But how can people live on such wages?
They cannot IL you use Give" in our sense
Of the word. 1t is the general opinion that
things are cheap in Europe. They are not.
Here in Germany good things cost as much
as in the United States, and many things
more. A fair price for beefsteak is rs
cents a pound; mutton. 20 cents. and veal
the same. Good butter costs from 20 to 30
cents a pound, sugar z cents and -four 8
cents. ..- ~
. Germany has to import a great part OF
its food. We send it much of its bread
stuffs. Russia is Its poultry farm, and
Holland and other countries its butcher
shops. Eggs are imported by the millions
and they sell for 80 cents and upward per
dozen. An ordinary chicken costs so cents,
and 1t is a poor goose that won't bring 81.
Clothing is somewhat cheaper than with
us, but the better kinds are equally high.
Shoes cost so much that the average work.
man wears sandals of wood with toes OF
leather. I see men so shod on the streets
OF Berlin and the clack, clack, clack of
the wooden sole is heard in every factory.
Fuel is high, and altogether the necessaries
as we'll as luxuries cost much.
Many people cook as little as possible.
You can buy all sorts Of eatables all ready
cooked, and this is done by both rich and
poor. You can get roast beef, roast
chicken, and puddings ready to warm up
in every block. and the delicatessen shops
will supply you with a cooked dinner ready
to take home and serve II you want 1t.
There are but few free lunch counters
and public soup houses where you get
things for nothing. but there are many
cheap restaurants where the poor are sup
piled at cost prices. Some OF these are
managed by the charitable women of the
city, and that under the patronage
OF the empress herself. They are known
as the peoples kitchens and are open to
all. In them you can get a dinner for
about 5 cents. A bowl of soup costs
3 cents and a cup of good strong cof-
fee / cent. The rooms are very clean
and we'll kept and the food is nicely
cooked. As you come in there is a cashier
who gives checks for the articles wanted
upon payment OF the money. and by pre-
senting these checks at the luncheon coun-