Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-06-20
Germany's Treatment
of the Workingman
tBy Daniel Louis Hanson OF The
NigilanteSl

ueOple as does father MS chill
dreu. l build beautiful homes for
them. pay widows pensions; also
pension for old-age. sickness. loss
of work and increases in lamlneS-
l pay high wages, limit WoTklhS
hours. make easy loans to farm
ers. | have no slums as do Amer
lea and Great Britain; I adludicate
all strikes Mine is the land OF
the care-free and happy working
man"
That is the boild-dOwn-to-a-few-
sentences propaganda that Ger
many covered the whole world VIE
before the war with the Ostenslbia
purpose of weakening the morale ot
her enemies in the war she then
was planning.
Great credit is due to Chairman
EasterIy of the National Civic Fed
Grafton in his published refutation
of Germany's claims; just a few
items from that valuable document
Will prove Illuminating:
widows pensions in Germany
during a series of years averaged
30 cents a week; sick pensions 80
cents a week; invalidity pensions
the same; orphans pensions -
cents a week. Wages averaged per
day for carpenters $1.45; plumber
iSl.25; railway employees engineers
and conductors on state railways,
! 70 cents: show workers $l.02; male
farm labor - cents; women farm
! labor ~ cents.
And this in q land where govern
ment statistics placed average cost
of keeping families at over $500
per year. How did they make both
ends meet? BY working the whole
family: every second woman in
Germany worked during the before
the war period nearly ten million
ali told and as the writer can
/ testify from an extended trip
! throughout the empire, at The hard
est labor.
As to hours: those of skilled L.
| Dor ran about IS per week, in tex
| tile and other lines from y to "A
per day. In 1911 the big stores of
| Berlin kept open till nine at night
and some hours on Sundays
/ though that last was remedied the
! following year. The smaller stores
/ were even worse as TO hours. A
| banking concern across from ny
hotel worked from Z in morning 20
| q at night.
| Regarding strikes which Germany
claimed to always adjUdicate: that
year I saw the beginning of such
| d disturbance in the MOabit section
Of BerIin-and the end, for the
/ authorities settled it in true Home
stead fashion by shooting down the
ringleaders. 1t lasted only two
days and the press was allowed 10
say nothing about it. However, the
Vorwarts referred to it and was
suppressed for three DAYS as pun
ishment. According to Mr.. Easley's
statistics more than twO-thirds Of
! the strikes in 1912 were unsuccess-
! full and labor unions only allowed
! to meet under government super
vision.
/ AS to slums-whOeVeT has smell
/ ed the horrible doors in Cologne
until 1914 the fiIthiest city in Ell
| rope in some of its residence sec
tons, will laugh at Germanv's
claim to being SUNLESS. And what
about the fOulness of NadgebuEg
and Dantzig East London is Para
| disc Alley by comparison. Berlin,
the show city of the empire. looks
/ like q town Of palaces with tie
/ streets lined by stuCcO-frOuta1
| houses. but back of them-and this
condition is much worse in Ham
! burg, Cologne, Frankfort and other
large towns-stand the serTicl
ranks of pOverty's tenements, row
upon row. Berlin has more one
room afl ~ ~
| in the world. families Of six ard
seven herding in one apartment anu
a hall bathroom doing services FIR
half a dozen such families.
AS to land distribution: over 4
third Of Germany's farms are less
than Ia acres in size; 22.6 per
cent between IA and ; acres; 17.5
| per cent > 10 u acres; 1876 per
cent y to so acres: while 23.5G6
! Junkers- the land barons. own
nearly $4,000 900 acres running
from $50 to 500 acres and more
each.
The above is only a small part Of
| the picture which Germany actu-
ally presented to the world in the
before the war period Not of
course what she claimed. but never
| theIess collated from her Official
records-aIl except the NTH Of her
large cities. II sounds inviting -
an American wOrkingman. does it
not And since then-of course.
conditions have gotten even worse
with women doing work that would
stOOp the shoulders Of the strong
est man.
Oppression of farmers, underpaid
workers, enslavement of women ana
children industTiallv. shocking
housing conditions, chronic under
feeding with resultant fearful in
FAINT mortality, counterfeit social
msuTance-are a few counts in the
indictment made by Mr.. Easlcy
against Germany before the war.
German efficiency goes to appal1-
ing lengths, whether il is breeding
German subjects from the en-
shaved young women of France and
Belgium; or in issuing lying prom
agagda with which to break down
the morale Of the worlds democ-
racy. Nothing is too low. nothing
too awful for the Potsdam spawn
moi to attempt.
Yet fools in America still mouth
'Foace. peace at any price"
Can man make peace with heII2
buy War Savings STAMPS
LABOR INCREASED.
Springfield. Ill-Increased cost
Of farm labor is attested By figures
just made public here by Charles
Adkins, director of the Illinois de
partment Of agriculture, who has
compiled statistics for this state.