The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-29

fully shiny. He turns out fine work, but he
wastes time III doing it.
MACHINES NO BETTER
FOR EXTRA FINISH.
1.-THE machine is no better for the extra
finish. An American would give that ma
chine a dozen strokes of the file and smooth
1t up we'll enough for all practical pur-
poses.
THE German is not contented with any,
thing but a perfect finish His work looks
better. but is no better as far as utility IL
concerned. This is one of my greatest
troubles here.
II can't get these men to understand We
are making tools and not iewelry."
"How about the American machines, Mr..
Cotton?' / asked. Can you get the Ger
mans to work them to their full capacity?"
mo They don't want to increase the
product. They think the work that is left
over for to-day must be done tomorrow.
and the more they do to-day the less work
they will have tomorrow.
'They try to delay rather than to hurry.
and this is so throughout the German fac
tories. We had one machine that seemed
to me to be running as fast as In the United
States. but, somehow or other. 1t did not
produce the same results.
81 watched the man. and found that he
was cutting only hairline at n time. when
he should have been taking of a quarter Of
an inch.
1.-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
Is gagged by what man can do in a day.
II he does much more than has been ex-
pected. his employers lower the price. and
tho to bn haa n UvOrl. fVica q hard
for the same money. There is little chance
to rise.
1.-THE common iaborer seldom becomes the
head Of the shop. and as result there Is
an unexpressed enmity between the labor
ers and their masters"
WAGES AND
HOURS OF WORK.
"Give me some idea Of wages" said i.
1.-The ordinary mars wages are from 10
to 12ls cents an hour. or from 81 to SIZE
for ten hours work. Women get cents an
hour, or about 20 cents a day.
In this factory I 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 blre cotton smocks which but
ton tight up at the threats and keep the
suits underneath clean.
am told they are excellent workmen
and In some respects 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 workmen.
Take Berlin laborer to New York and
he begins to hustle, and, on the other hand,
New York workman II imported to Ger
many Is said to adopt the German meth
DDS. and after a few months stay to outdo
the Germans in siowness.
The laws OF Germany take good care Of
the laborer.
sick and the aged. and accidents are well
regulated.
The people Of late years have been paying
attention to labor matters and the capital
lists vie with each other In treating their
hands well. Many of the factories have
free baths for their employees. such as saw
in the Loewe works.
Many have cheap eating rooms. the Union
Gesellschaft, for instance. serving a dinner
Of soup, bread and meat for about cents
to such as wish II.
In my walk through this electrical works
I found many women employed at all sorts
of things.
The delicate labor Of winding the arma-
lures for electrical meters Is done by them
and they are used in other skilled branches
Of labor. The women are well dressed and
good looking. Many are girls of IS or 20. and
all seem very intelligent. They are paid
only about half as much wages as the men.
and they do the work equally well. If not
better
GERMAN COMBINATIONS CONTROL
THE ELECTRICAL BUSINESS.
They tell me that there is little chance
for our electrical companies in Germany. I
had a chat with the director of one of the
leading electrical establishments the other
night
The man asserted that the Westinghouse
had lost money last year and that they had
little hopes CT doing much in competition
with the German combinations.
Germany is the most advanced OF all Eu-
ropean countries along electrical lines. Its
chief cities are already equipped with cleo
trio lights and electric cars.
Its factories are up to date and they have
the latest inventions. They have abundant
capital and connections which enable them
to practically control the trade.
There are now four groups Of electrical
manufacturers here. and their capital is
about half a million marks, or $125 900. 900.
Each Of these groups is backed by banking
and business interests which are ready to
push 1t.
One, for instance. has the Dresdener Bank
and the Bleichroders. who aid In placing
the stock Of the company among tneir
clients. who give 1t financial support ana
who are ready to organize companies which
NAV support 1t without being directly con-
nected with 1t.
suppose, for instance. the company ascer-
+ains that the horse car lines OF Buenos
Avres can be profitably changed to cleo
trical lines.
The financial company organized by the
bankers will buy.the lines and build them
and the bankers will place the stock.
They will also see that the electrical COM
many has the contracts for furnishing the
supplies, SO that one company WORKS INTO
the hands of the other. and they all work
for the good Of the various institutions and
men connected with them.
This Is the case with every electrical COM
pany here--the Siemens & Halskey, the
General Electric Company and the Shuck-
erts. as we'll as the Union. So far all the
companies have been making money
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Copyright. lscs. by Frank @. Carpenter.