The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-17


chief defenses of the City of Mexico. was ia
lordship is pleased with us. he sometimes
allows a sack of potatoes"
"And the manufacturers. do they treat
you well?'
I'VE can't complain-what would be the
use?-but 1t seems hard that we must lose
a work day every two weeks, bringing the
woven material to town and waiting for
hours upon the clerks. Then the employers
have the habit of deducting certain
amounts for faulty weaving. ETC., and these
deductions sometimes eat UP all the profit.
While driving towards Aigen I met on
the road a weaver from Heuraffie, stumb-
ling under the burden OF the cloth he car
ried. L took him into the trap and accom-
panied him to his employer. Manufactures
Stoll, who is also burgomaster.
There, In the manufacturers office, /
overheard the following conversation be-
tween master and man:
Stoll, after measuring the goods and
scrutinizing them through a magnifying
glass. "Lorenz, you seem bound on running
me- Two forms fifty in one week &1.15)
You want to live on the fat of the land, do
you? Eat meat twice a week or oftener
still. 1 tell you you work too fast. This
cloth has several flaws. 1 shall have to
fine you twenty kreutzers g cents) apiece"
The manufacturer did not deign to exhibit
the alleged flaws; he simply deducted Is
cents from the poor DEVILS wages, leaving
him 81 for the work of himself. wife and
six children during a whole week, at the
rate of eighteen hours per day.
Lorenz protested. Herr Stoll must be
pleased to be mistaken" Besides, he could
not stand the deduction. The 10 cents were
needed for direct necessities. His little
ones were near.y dead with hunger.
''Pshawl" cried the burgomaster and man.
ufacturer, IF you get no bread let them
eat grass and moss. That's good enough
for weavers. Next!
Next" was Franz Trachsle. He brought
a short piece of goods and begged for
more work. Stoll refused: II don't want
to see you again." he shouted after paying
the man his meager wage, mot without
reducing the amount by twenty hellers
a cents); you whine too much about star
walton and things. / must not be bothered,
particularly as conditions in the Bohemian
forest will not improve until at least a
thousand of you actually die of the famine
you pirate Of"
HUNGER AND CRIME.
Lorenz and Franzl accepted the sentence
that meant illness to the one and death.
perhaps, to the other with quiet resigna-
ton. Being used to starvation. they mind
it only in it's extremity. 1 asked the
Landrath County governor), whether in
Misery Corner the percentage of crime ex-
ceeded that In the more prosperous Sec
tons.
I'VE suffer no violations Of the law to
speak Of" said the official off hand: 81
don't remember a single case of poachins
or forest theft even"
The Landrath's clerk brought the books.
"Ah, yes, there was the case of a weaver
who concealed two quarts Of oats on his
person after seeking q whole month for
nothing. He was thrown into prison,
where he waxed fat and happy-never had
eaten so much and so regularly in his
life And when the judge set him free.
he promised to come back. After learning
In prison how good 1t feels to have belly
full he said. I will do my best to get back
and teach the wife and children to do like
WISE"
And here" said the landrath, 1--WE have
quasi-criminal case. suicide. Hans
Knapp, of Mureau, received only half his
dues from the manufacturer on account of
flaws his semi-blind wife had worked in the
weaving. He had reckoned on 40 kreutzers
OIL cents) for weeks work. but got only
90 However, to help him out as he
said, the employer gave him more work.
loading him for the homeward trip with a
big bundle of yarn. But as Hans was
climbing the mountain side and thought of
the disappointed faces Of his starving wife
and children his courage gave out. So. after
carefully depositing the thread at the foot
OF tree. he climbed up and hanged him
self. For this his bones were thrown into
unconsecrated ground"
So much for the criminal. statistics of a
district that In any other country, would
reek with crime. AS 1 drove through the
laughing landscape peopled with miserable
skeletons, hares. rabbits and roe in plenty
crossed my path; there were fiocks of
pheasants and woodcock, yet the landrath
had particularly assured me that the baron
never complained of the infringement OF
the game laws. Among these starving peo-
pie his lordship's game was secure as I'm
olden days when II was death to touch a
feather. Seven grown persons and eleven
children froze to death In Bohmerwald last
winter" said another report of the land
rath. Yet the baron's woodpiles are as
safe In the largely unprotected forest as II
stored I'm his walled courtyard. On my