The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-07-18
in 1915, add 81 week. This u NE
my estimate, but II omcial.

Now, we are apt to say IN this c000r
try that Germany lived as well ON her
wages as we did on ours. hot anyone
who has studied the facts finds that
this II fallacy. In 1910 two-thirds Of
the people In Chemnitz lived in apart
ments Of three rooms or less. Chem
nitz has population Of 287 900.
found in the New York public H.
brary interesting documents showing
results Of investigations Of Euro
pean costs of living. In Chemnits in
1910 1t was costing a family of SIX
persons between 81 and So a week for
food. including beer to the extent of
so cents. Meat, fish. and sausage ag-
gregated 1925.
These figures represented the plane
OF living of high-spirited workman.
very much better than the average.
Eggs cost Mt the rnte of 25 cents for IA
and coffee was % cents pound. He
used. butter. cheese, milk, and bacon.
and grew some Of his vegetables In his
garden. Sometimes the family ate
hOrseflesh.
Women Carry the Hod.
Food and rent together cost him
more than 80 week. For coal he
paid over SO ton.
His Income tax-and 1t was time
of peace. emember-amounted to
about $50 to the state and munich
pality together, while his other taxes
were between $40 and SIS.
After paying for his living and for
such menger amusements ns he found
in an occasional visit to cheap show
or concert. or perhaps trip with his
family to the park, he was able to save
only $50 yenr.
Every document found, and every
statement made to me by Americans
who had managed great plants in Eu-
rope or had labored there. utterly dis
proved the theory that European
wages were relatively us high as
American. For the average man to
get ahead financially in Germany was
practically Impossible.
Certainly we don't propose to have
in this country any form of govern
ment contrIbutory to the grinding
down of our people to the state OF
hopeless submergence.
Now glance at Vienna, where women
were hodcarriers when the war be-
gan-and had been all along. saw
them myself carrying bricks up long
ladders, and l was shocked at the
sight.
In Vienna the skilled artisan usu-
ally lived in n couple of rooms several
floors up. on an income that did not
MnCf Nf
these workmen had fair-sized families.
and for n group of five or six the food
cost alone was around $3.50 week
and even then they sacrificed eggs and
butter, and, to large extent. meat.
All the rest of the income ordinarily
was eaten up by the rent, leaving moth
ing for clothing and general expenses,
and 1t was the custom Of these fam
lilies to tnke in unmarried men as
dodgers. With the stipend thus re-
ceived and at a sacrifice Of all ap-
prOach to domestic comfort, 1t was
possible to keep away from abject
poverty.
Difference In America.
In Vienna plasterers earned $1.1O .
day, and plumbers $l.2O; painters,
81 % or less pattern makers, $50 q
week; leather workers, toy. makers,
bone workers. musical instrument
makers and tailors. - to % q week.
Blacksmiths earned So a week; brew
ers and millers s. to 50; shOemakers
in factories, s. to "a.
These, remember. were skilled work
ers. There were swarms Of unskilled
hands laboring from 10 to - hours q
day for wages that ranged from 90
to 80 cents.
/ might go on citing these figures
Indefinitely. The evidence is over
whelming. In America we have risen
so far above such industrial condi-
tions that we cannot compare them
The American workman. as class,
has asserted himself, claimed his
rights, and proclaimed himself man.
There are Industries. of course. where
conditions are not NIL they ought to be,
but even here the same truth holds
good. However downtrodden any
workman may consider himself in this
country, he is free man as compared
with the lower Industrial workers OF
Germany and Austria. His OppOr.
tunities to get out of bondage are al.
most unlimited here. and depend on
his determination to study and make
himself capable Of better things. Over
there, workmen are up against caste
and customs and against laws that
are wellnigh insurmOuntable.
Let us decide, then, once and for
all, that we aren't going to have Amer
lean industries Germani1ed.
To IAN Amiabis Child"
aNonf n