The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-21
on the housing conditions Of his 60,

on the housing conditions of his g.,
low craftsmen. which according -
him are miserable M degrading. Ona
Of his criticisms of official opininn
and action is especially noteworthy
He declares that the Cologne offciai
conception Of working class over
crowding begins only when more
h six persons live in one room ana
more than eleven persons live in two
rooms What a commentary on civic
duty-on civilization!
The secretary Of the Cologne Typo
graphical Union having invited mo n
visit the office Of the Daily Zeitlng"
| accompanied him. rather for the
p OF making inquiries of him
on the way than in expectation q
seeing anything unusual In a print
ing office. But l did see something
extraordinary This extraordinary
thing was no the cleanliness, the ex-
treme ttdineSs. Of every room in the
building. hardly a bit Of paper be-
ing seen lying on the floors my
where. Nor was it in the high polish
Of the granite stairway walls. nor
the mosaic flooring, nor the lockers
for every n of the employees, nor
the excellent arrangements for light
and ventilation. In every department
the equipment was new looking and
every bit OF it 1 was assured, was
a model Of its kind, and every kind
to be seen was the latest. But all
this could not be called extraordi-
nary. We have some fine printing
offices in every city of the United
States. But what III big country has
not, and Is not likely soon to have.
the Cologne "Zeitung" has. 1t has
Isl hand compositors in it's compos-
ing rooms and not one composing
machine. A corps Of healthy and
MISUNDERSTANDING men it is that gets
out the Gazette and the books and
other newspapers it prints. There
they stand. upright. at the type cases.
lifting letter by letter, just as We
used to see men in the newspaper Of
flces in America twenty years ago set
ting up the news, and the editorials
and advertisements. And there's not
a typesetting machine in any daily
newspaper office in Colognei Well.
the men report themselves satisfied.
the manager told me he was salts
fed, and why shouldn't we Americans
be satisfied? And satisfied. also, may
be the economist who wishes to illus
trate his doctrine h a comparatively
high wages do not certainly imply a
comparative high cost Of product. My
authentic information is that the COM
pOsitors working On the New York
AAA"A Lie AAS V1PofSiS iIaNc d IIllIl1ilIufl
Of $31 per week, time work; the
compositors Of the Cologne "Zeitung"
earn, at piece work., $3.50 and ur-
very far upward. A ma
chine compositor on a New York pa
per will turn out four times the pro-
duct Of a compositor on the Cologne
'Zeitung."
On my arrival in Paris [ saw a
large gathering of men around the
BOurs de Travail and learned that
the bricklayerS were out on strike
5000 Of them. In a few hours I
had a lengthy conference at a meet
ing with the ten me7nbers Of the
executive committee who are charged
by the men with the leadership of
the strike. The committee quite read
lily gave me the reasons for the dis
pute. The men demanded the aboIi-
ton Of the 'ssweaters' and sub-con-
tractors, the nine-hour day. an in
regular settlement day for their
wages. once a month. The men and
their leaders express confidence in
the success Of their movement-at
least in securing an Improvement in
existing conditions. The hours Of Ia
Dor for bricklayers up to the present
has been ten per day-minimun.
And yet theorists and faddfsts in
Europe and eVe in the United States
insist. that Americas workers unions
are too conservative and reactionary.
What is the answer? By their fruits
shall we know them.