Year: 1873

becomes callous. The iron carriers are
under the control of an alderman, an Of.
ficer who is appointed by the Finance
Commissioners, and receives yearly
salary Of 900 rix-dollars. 1t is his du-
ty to be a kind of master over the iron
carriers, and every Saturday to pay
them off according to what they have
earned during the week, which is varied
greatly as we'll by the amount Of business
as by their own industry. The wages are
figured at the rate of 2 shillings 5 pen
MES for every two tons of iron that is
weighed during the whole week. The
iron. carriers themselves, to be sure, re-
ceive their pay from merchants in
orders which are issued by the Alder
mans clerk and contains statement Of
all the iron which has during the
week been weighed out The money
however is left with the alderman, who
figures up what is coming to each one
and then pays them all


The chiefs Of the files report to him,
who and how many of each file have
been at work, and if any body has be:
come sick, in which case, the sick men,
ber receives half Of the wages that would
have fallen to his share, but the remain
ing half is divided among the rest.
They are required to place some
part Of their wages in the "treasury
Of the iron carriers" from which they
receive, when old or feeble, certain
percentage. When old or feeble they
remain ordinarily as watchmen: whose
business is to close and clean the scales.
The iron-carriers carry the iron on
the one shoulder, on an mounted
piece of leather, and they never change
the shoulder; whereby the body becomes
somewhat bent, SO that you can at the
first glance at an iron-carrier say which
shoulder he has sacrificed to his labor.
Manufactured goods are hauled on
carts.


OF course such heavy labor will in
time be injurious to health, as the
breast is severely strained by the heavy
weights. Therefore only few reach old
age. You will sometimes find however
a few of them, whose shoulders do not
bend, before the irresistible burden of
the years have combined their weight
with that of the iron.


Ordinarily the iron-carriers are a
pious and orderly people, and in later
times their superiors have succeeded
in exciting and maintaining ambition
among these Iron men," They keep a
vigilant eye on each other, and if any
one is guilty Of any dishonest dodge,
which however seldom happens, he is
charged upon by his fellow-laborers and
must change his course for the better if
he does not want to be roughly dealt
with by hands Of iron. They are
religious like all the common people,
and go every Sunday to church, on
which and like occasions they are dis
tinguished by their neat clothes and Or
derly behavior. The unmarried, who
usually visit the saloons, do seldom save
anything out of their wages, as all is
spent for whiskey. Whereas the mar
ried are in good circumstances. They
are visited every day by their wives,
bringing provisions to their husbands,
who thus do not need to leave the Bal
ance before night, when each one goes
home to enjoy his needed rest. Their
food is regular, consisting mostly in beef
and pork.


In the winters, when the Balance no
longer offers any occupation, they work
mostly for the brewers, being always in
great demand.


An iron carrier being in the least saw
ing can thus make for himself and fam
lily very good living, and also lay up
for the future sufficient to give him an
old age free from care. But the whis-