The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-10-19

to do; the brewer is getting an even
ten marks more week; the leather
worker. like the carpenter, can be
gagged only by his capacity.
The benefits accruing to the I'M
skilled workers simply cannot be es-
umated because they are so variable
and SO dependent upon employers
generosity. chance circumstances and
the like. The authorities are agreed
that these workers have: been less
benefited than any others. but find 1t
impossible to determine the degree
OF benefit.
High Cost of Living.
Alvin koersten. secretary Of the
central employment bureau Of the
Berlin trades. who might be termed
q walking statistical Office. and who
Is constantly in close touch with
workers Of all kinds, is positive that
living costs have advanced faster
than wages. and that the war ma
terials" workers are the only ones
who have kept up.
He is convinced that food prices
have risen from eighty to one hun
dred per cent or faster than the
wages either Of unskilled labor or of
those branches, of skilled labor not
engaged in making war materials.
Though far from being pessimist.
his inclination is to look at the mat
ter from the standpoint of the many
who have had minimum OF gain
out Of higher wages.
Max Stefren, head Of the huge
employment agency for unskilled
workmen, even less than Mr.. Koer-
stem. believes that prices have out
stripped wages, chiefly because he is
IN closest touch with the great mass
OF men. and women, on whom the
enect Of the war has been more to
give them work than to raise the
wages they had been getting
he mas seen most OF the thousands
VINO DRIFT into his enormous estab-
llsnment placed where they can earn
livelihood more readily than ever
before, but he also has heard from.
countless lips the story of the diff
Guilty OF making both ends meet. His
own experiences with the cost Of liy-
ing mas made him loathe to believe
mat the war has been an unmixad
nenef1t Tor the worker who STAYS nj
home. ssase at
Different Opinion.
Qulte OF a different opinion is DR.
y, Becker. head of the ASSOCIATION
OF German employment bureaus. who
FORMS his opinion from facts and
Mgures gathered from all parts az
she German empire, and who. In con-
sequence, believes that the general
situation Of the workingman has
vastly improved and that his wages
ny ana large, have gone up faster
than the cost of living.
IN arriving at this decision ha.
t "a INTO account the situation of
i Tue unskllled workers, and in agree
ing with Mr.. Stenen that their wa 20
increases have not been appreciab Iy
great, believes that the more and
more favorable status of the coun-
.Iy worker. N conjunction with the
rapid decrease in. non-employment.
oYer-oalances higher prices.
Inc women, far more than the
men. have been the gainera In ths
unskilled trades. and to. them, 1t is
oeneved, Is due the large and unex-
pected increase in saving deposits
which the banks have recorded. A,
portion OF them-the minority It ia
esllmated-have, 1t Is true, had to
80 to work alongside husbands and
brothers who are not serving in the
army, but larger portion are com
prosnerous N /
This Is due, as Mr.. Koersten Az
plalns, roughly to two things. In the
nrst place the biggest eater and
most expensive member of the family.
tne man, is gone and the expenses
OF mis- upkeep are being met BY the
government. In the second place
the worlan now has more than one
source OF income-her share Of her
husbands pay and what she herself
earns. This applies Of course. only
TO the working woman.
Women Do Mems Work.
Some fifty thousand women In.
l Berlin alone are doing mems work.
The greater part of them at the same
time receive from the state at least
something toward their support. The
exact ratio Of the present family in
come to that of, say. fourteen months
ago, Is unobtainable, but II is believ-
ed In large number Of cases to he
nearly as great as before.
With the family's chief expense
away, 1t has been possible for the
women to establish almost a record
IN saving. Thus the July deposits IN
Berlin savings banks this year were
1855, 900 marks, as against $780,
900 marks last year. The with
drawals reached 4,105.000 marks. In
comparison with 9,2S6.000 marks IN
1914. an unusually high figure cans.