The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-23
TWO CENTS AN HOUR IS PAID
 LABORERS IN GREAT RUSSIA
Enormous House Industries of Russian Farmer Nets 25O Millions Year---Girls Work for Is Gents
 Day---NeW Labor Laws

Copyright. 1903. by Frank G. carpenter.)
 Mini Novgorod.
 Sooner or later the Russians will be our chief competitors in the markets of Europe and Asia. They have greater material resources than any other coun- try outside the United States and by far the largest number of white laborers. They are naturally slSillful and will work for less than any people except the Chinese, Japanese and East Indians. There are now 130,000O00 of them in the Russian empire, and of these more than 100,000,000 belong to the laboring classes. The factory hands are steadily increasing. and there are tens of millions who work at their homes.
 Russian House Industry.
 An enormous amount of house industry is done here. Hundreds of articles now sold at the Mini Novgorod fair were made in matched huts. Many of the staple products are turned out by the farmers. who till the land in the summer. and devote themselves to their trades in the winter. Our farmers lie idle six months of the year. More than S,000000 Russian farmers devote the cold weather to outside work, making things to sell. which bring them in an innual profit of $250, 100000, without leaving their homes or neglecting their farms. These figures are gwen fIie Dy tHe government OiIlCldlS and may be relied upon as correct.
 This work has been going on for years and it has resulted in building up a class of skilled laborers who can turn out better product for the same money than any other people in Europe. They can compete with and beat American machi- nery. Take our shoes, for instance In some districts here calfskin shoes are made so cheaply that they can be sold at wholesale for 25 cents a pair, figure which crowds out forever our 8 article.
 They Do Everything.
 The work done in the houses is of every description. In some districts they make razors, knives. locks and all kinds of hardware. Each cabin has its little blacksmith shop and the man works away manufacturing a small product each day. Here in Mini Novgorod. thousands of peasants are making wooden soopns, which are sold iR Europe and In different parts of Asia. They enamel the spoons, and also carve and paint them from de- signs furnished by the Russian Govern meut. Altogether, they make more than 10O,OO0,OOO spoons year, and 6O.OOO,- 900 of these are exported to China and to south and west Asia.
 In six provinces of European Russia there are something like. 5000 lace makers. who make more than 50O, 900, 900 yards of lace every year. Some of the lace Is very fine and other kinds exceed ingly coarse. The peasants use lace of different colors for trimming their dresses and aprons, and every mans Sunday shirt has more or less lace stitched down the front. The output of this kind amounts to something like $1 ,00O,0O0 a year.
 wish l could show you some shawls that are for sale here at the Mini fair They are made of the finest wool, so fine and soft that you can draw a shawl as big as a bed quit through a finger ring Don't laugh! l have done this myself and bought such a shawl the other day for less than s. These shawls are made by the women of Orenburg and are sold all over the empire.
 In the Kimri district the people make boots and shoes. They turn out three million pairs of boots every year, and it is estimated that there are twenty thou sand persons engaged in that industry. In another government there are twenty thousand more, and in ToboIsk the an- nual value of the leather made is more than million dollars. There are 1n GOO peasants in Vladimir and Moscow who spend the winter weaving silk, and some | thing like 100000 who are engaged in | making carriages and wagons.
 Co-operative Associations. Many of these farmers and farm hands | have cooperative associations. They club together and build little factories in their villages, which they fit up with lathes. engines and other machinery. Sometimes they borrow the money, putting in a few dollars each at the start, and sometimes go away to work for 1t. After the factory is established they will labor there during the winter months and at the close divide