The Elbert County tribune., 1918-07-19

In. 1915, sdd II a lwssk. TTlds II nse
my estimate. but II ofhcial.
Q Now. we are apt to say In this eoun-
try that Germany lived a. well on her
wages as we did on ours. but 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
nitx has a population of $4,000.
found In the New York public II
brary interesting documents showing
results Of investigations Of Euro
pean costs of living. In Chemnitx In
1910 1t was costing family OF six
persons between 81 and SS week for
food. including beer to the extent OF
so cents. Meat. fish. and sausage ag-
gregated S225.
These figures represented the plane
of living of high-spirited workman,
very much better than the average.
Eggs cost at the rate of 25 cents for IA
and coffee was % cents n pound. He
used butter. cheese. milk, and bacon,
and grew some of his vegetables In his
garden. Sometimes the family ate
horsefesh.
Women Carry the HID.
Food and rent together cost him
more than 50 week. For coal he
paid over SO a ton.
His income tax-and 1t was time
of peace. emember-amounted to
about 500 to the state and munich
pallty together, while his other taxes
were between $40 and SIS.
After paying for his living and for
such meager amusements as 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 year.
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 as 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. ar
Now glance at Vienna. where women
were hodcarriers when the war be-
gan-and had been all along. I saw
them myself carrying bricks up long
ladders. and I was shocked at the
sight.
In Vienna the skilled artisan usu-
ally lived in a couple of rooms several
floors up, on an income that did not
exceed SO or 81 a week. Most of
these workmen had fair-sized families.
and for group of five or six the food
cost alone was around $3.50 week:
and even then they sacrificed eggs and
butter. and, to a 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 II was the custom of these fam
lilies to take 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 $120: painters,
S1.25 or less; pattern makers. $3.50 a
week; leather workers, toy makers.
bone workers. musical instrument
makers and tailors. "a to S. a week.
Blacksmiths earned $8 a week; brew
ers and millers SO to so; shoemakers
in factories, So to 81.
These, remember, were skilled work.
ers. There were swarms of unskiIled
hands laboring from 10 to 12 hours a
day for wages that ranged from go
to 80 cents.
I 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 a class,
has asserted himself, claimed his
rights, and proclaimed himself man.
There are Industries. of course. where
conditions are not all 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-
tunlties 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 Germanized.