Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-04-11
II LABOR IN GERMANY. II
q, COrrs,pondcns of the Dea New By Frank G. Carpenter

most deafened me. Hinge travelling
cranes, running overhead, lifted boilers
Weighing many tons as easily as a
mother lifts her baby, and machines
bored through steel ias though II were
cheese. Here they were making screws,
there lathes We're cutting iron like pine.
and here the parts of the locomotives
wee assembled and put together for
shipment to all countries Of the world
LABOR COLONIES IN GERMANY.
After leaving the works | went
through the colonies which the Borsigs
have built for their workingmen Such
institutions are becoming quite COM
mon In connection with the larger Ger
man factories. The Krupps have con-
structed towns as homes for their em-
ployes and there are other large IRON
making companies along the Rhine
which have done likewise. These
shall describe when ! visit that region.
Here, near Tegel, the Borsigs have
bought a large tract Of land and have
built houses about It which are rented
out to their workmen at such prices
as will make them pay low interest
on the investment None but employees
and their families are permitted to live
In these houses and the accommo1a-
lions are such that they receive more
for their rent than they could get any
where. else There Is an open space,
covering many acres, in front Of these
homes. This has bene planted with
forest trees, and II will some day be a
beautiful park
The Borslgs treat their employees well.
The men seem to be satisfied and ] am
told their condition Is superior to that
OF other German factories, They work
hut 10 hours a day, and such as con-
tinue with the firm certain number
of years are given pensions.
Low WAGES AND LONG HOURS.
Germany is a land of low wages and
long hours. In the steel and iron indus
tries S. per week is good pay, and in
the textile mills the wage Is still less.
Mechanics think they do well II they
get 10 cents an hour, and on the state
railways the best paid engineers receive
only $40 per week. Firemen are paid
from IS to 81 per week and porters less
than So, Workmen employed by the city
force are paid equally low. the boys
cleaning the streets receive % cents a
day On the government works the av-
erage day Is nine hours, but It is longer
everywhere else
The most of the factories Of Berlin
claim to have a 10-hour day and as the
labor unions are strong here they can
hold that time to a certain extent. In
other parts Of Germany the working
day averages eleven hours, with no sat
urday afternoons off. and in certain
sections II averages IL hours and over.
WORK IN THE STORES.
There are many clerks IN this city
who Work as much as Ia hours every
day. The stores open about o'clock
In the morning, and the most Of them
do not close until o'clock in the eve
ming, and the restaurants and cafes
much later. Nearly all stores are open
until 2 p. m Sunday although they are
closed during church hours, Some
storekeepers are 30 pious that they VIII
not allow an advertisement TO be ex-
posed at this time. There Is a glass
case Of such advertisements under the
railroad at the Friedrichstrasse Balm
hof. Between 10 and ~ on Sundays
some Of these advertisements are COW
cred with paper, which Is torn off as
soon as church Is out
Speaking Of time in the stores at an
some years ago IL was
found that 40 per cent of the establish
ments worked their clerks IA hours a
day, and that in per cent of them
they worked l6 hours. In nearly all
places there is an hour or so off at noon
for lunch.
FARM WORK AND WAGES.
In the country districts the hours run
from sunrise to sunset, with very few
holidays. The great exodus from the
farms to the cities has somewhat in
farm wages, but they are stin
low being competed with by the gangs
brought in from Austria. Russia and
Poland at harvest and seeding times.
] am told that the Poles work for as
little as 20 cents a day with posr food
thrown In, and that. there are fa m dis
triots where the ordinary hand gets only
IL cents a day. Throughout Prussia 80
cents is a good price for farm work, and
In some sections the wages are 30 cents
for men and 26 cents for women
A great deal Of farm work is done by !
the women. They spade and hoe, weed |
and do other back breaking work They |
commonly follow the pillow and scatter |
the manure, working side by side with |
The men.