Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-29
Economic Aspect Of the German Revolt

farm labor was paid at shockingly low
l rates. In 1912 woman farm worker
got from SO to 48 cents daily; children over
twelve years, "a cents both without board.
Man farm laborers were then getting IL
cents day. And these wages were OH
cially characterized in the inquiry which
adduced the figures as tremendous"
Much has been heard of the old-age
pensions paid in Germany. In 1918 the
average invalidity pension paid was $4osl
a year Qess than ST week.; the average
sickness pension was $4S45; the average
old-age pension, $3o.75; the average widows
and widower's pension was $18.4o (about
IS cents week.; the average widows sick
ness pension, $1849, and the average or
phan's pension, $l9o7. The lowest possible
scale of living required at least $40 to $l55
a year for the cost of the barest subsist-
ence. -
HOUSING conditions, widely advertised
| | as model" in Germany, were in
truth little, if any, better than in other
countries. Some model tenements were
erected under government auspices, but the
vast majority of the workers lived in
state of congestion and insanitation that
would cause scandal in this country. The
show places" were exceptional. Ambassa-
dor Gerard has stated that more than S.
per cent of the families in Berlin lived in
one room, and that condition was not con-
fined to the capital
In consequence of these conditions, low
wages, long hours, inadequate feeding, due
to the impossibility of meeting expenses
with the assured income, bad housing and
the generalization incident to overcrowd-
ing and promiscuous living, crime and sui
eide were increasing rapidly in Germany
when the war broke. Infant mortality was
high in every German city. The suicide
rate in Berlin in 1918 was 35.S per 100000
population, as against 17.2 for New York
and II for London.
And these were the HAPPY, contented,
prosperous German people" of whom the
world heard so much through propaganda
That they were not contented was shown
by the numerous strikes and the frequent
necessity for official inquiries" into their
condition. That they were not prosperous
is proved by the fact that the expenditures
in Germany for poor relief were annually
increasing.
THESE facts lend color to the belief that
/ the revolution in Germany which pre-
ceded the signing of the armistice was
strictly economic in character and inspira-
ton; that it was not based upon a moral
-evolt against the denominations OF kaiser
rule; that it was not aimed at the dynasty,
but that it was strictly a move to obtain
tolerable living conditions. The rage of
the peasants was directed against the junk
ers, or farmer-nob1emen, and that of the
artisans against the manufacturers and
tradesmen.
In the readjustments following the
war international trade conditions will be
materially affected by the virtual certainty
that the German wage scale and hours of
labor scale must be increased. It will no
longer be possible to flood the market
with goods made by the labor of men, wom-
en- and children paid starvation pittances.
"Made in Germany" will no longer be the
sign of the sweat-shop, unless the revolu-
ton fails utterly to bring the results fof
which it was begun.