The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-04-12

There was a noise like the thunder Of
many hammers which almost deafened me.
Huge travelling cranes. running over
head, lifted boilers Weighing many tons as
easily as a mother lifts her baby. and ma
chimes bored through steel as though Il
were cheese.
Here they were making screws. there
lathes were cutting iron like pine. and here
the parts Of the locomotives were assem-
bled and put together for shipment to all
countries of the world.
After leaving the works 1 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
nan factories.
homes for their employees. and there are
other large ~iron-mzking companies along
the Rhine which nave done likewise.
These 1 shall describe when l visit that
region.
Here. near TegeL. the Borsigs haYe bought
a large tract of land and have built houses
about ii which are rented out to their work
men at such prices as will make them pay
q low interest on the investment.
None but employees and their families are
permitted to live in these houses. and the
accommodations are such that they re-
ceive more for their rent than they could
get anywhere else. d.
There is an open space, covering many
acres, in front of these houses.
This has been planted with forest trees,
and it will some day be a beautiful park.
The Bors.gs treat their employees well.
The men seem 10 be satisfied, and 1 am told
their condition is superior to that OF other
German factories.
They work but ten hours a day, and such
as continue with the firm a certain number
Of years are given pensions
LAND OF LOW WAGES
AND LONG HOURS.
Germany Il a land OF low wages and long
hours. In the steel and iron industries S
per week f. good pay, and in the textile
mills the wage Is still less.
Mechanics think they do well II they get
Is cents an hour. and on the State rail-
ways the best paid engineers receive only
SO per week. Firemen are paid from $
TO s. per week and porters less than s..
workmen employed by the city force are
paid equally low. the Ioys cleaning the
streets receiving . cents a day On the
Government works the average day Is nine
hours, but II is longer everywhere else.
The most of the factories Of Berlin claim
to have a ten-hour day. and as the labor
unions are strong here they can hold that
time 20 a certain extent.
In other parts of Germany the working
day averages eleven hours, with no Satur-
day afternoons of. and in certain sections It
averages twelve hours and over.
There are many clerks in this city who
work as much as fourteen hours every day.
The stores open about s O'Clock in the
morning. and the most Of them do not close
until 9 o'clock in the evening. and the
restaurants and cafes much later.
Nearly all stores are open until > D. m.
Sunday. although they are closed during
church hours. Some ~storekeepers are so
plous that they VIII not allow an advertise
nent to lie exposed at this time.
There is a glass case of such advertise
ments under the railroad at the Friedrich
strasse Bahnhof.
Between 10 and Il on Sundays some of
these advertisements are covered with pa
per. which is torn of as soon as church IS
out.
Speaking OF time IN the stores. at an in
v~estigation some years ago II was found
that IS per cent Of the establishments
worked their clerks fourteen hours a day,
and that in s per cent of them they worked
sixteen hours.
In nearly all places there is an hour or go
OF at noon for lunch.
FARM LABORERS RECEIVE
FIFTEEN CENTS A DAY.
In the country districts the hours run
from sunrise 10 sunset. with very few holi-
days
The great exodus from the farms TO the
cities has somewhat increased farm wages.
but they are stn low, being competed with