CwmMW Æmfg and Pr/cgg m Dggc6/%&^ G/'^r.
Town.
Stuttgart
Mannheim
Berlin
Barmen
Munich
Düsseldorf
Mülhausen
Nuremberg
Remscheid
Bremen
Aschaffenburg
Index
No.
Town.
106
100
100
99
98
97
97
96
95
94
94
Dresden
Königsberg
Aachen
Elberfeld
Solingen
Chemnitz
Planen
Essen
Leipzig
Hamburg-Altona
Crefeld
Index
No.
Town.
93
93
93
93
93
92
92
92
91
91
90
Dortmund
Stettin
Brunswick
Bochum
Dantzig
Breslau
Magdeburg
Zwickau
Stassfurt
Oschersleben
Königshütte.
Index
No.
90
88
88
88
87
87
86
86
85
84
78
Stuttgart heads the list, under the combined influence of high rents and
high prices, whilst the position of Mannheim is due mainly to high prices, and
that of Berlin to high rents. The place of Königshütte at the bottom of the
list is due to the very low level of prices ruling there, whilst for the three towns
immediately above it the determining factor is low rents. The extreme range
for the 33 towns is from 106 to 78—a difference of 28 points, but if we exclude
Stuttgart and Königshütte the extreme difference is only 16 points, and 20 of
the towns, or nearly two-thirds, lie within the narrow range of 96 to 88.
Thus there does not appear to be a very marked difference between the towns
in respect of that part of the cost of living which is represented by the
expenditure on food, fuel, and housing. In the following Table the combined
rents and prices index numbers are given for the geographical groups of
towns.
Combined Bents and Prices Index Numbers for Geographical Groups.
Geographical Group.
Number of
Towns.
Mean Index Numbers.
Rent.
Prices.
Rent and
Prices
Combined.
Berlin
Central Germany
Rhineland Westphalia :—
(a) Textile Towns
lb) Hardware Towns
South Germany
Saxony
Silesia
Baltic Ports
North Sea Ports
100
35
55
64
65
47
52
52
59
100
99
104
100
107
102
91
99
101
100
86
94
93
99
91
83
89
93
Thus when rents and prices are combined, South Germany, with a relatively
high level of both prices and rents, comes next after Berlin, and very close to
it.° The Silesian group of towns is lowest, owing to medium rents and low
prices ; the low level of Central Germany is due solely to the influence of
low rents.
(iv.) Wages and Hours of Labour.
From a large number of returns made for the purposes of this investigation
by German employers, and from other sources, much information was obtained
as to wa<?es and hours of labour in many branches of industry, and this is set out
in the separate town reports, and to some extent also in a subsequent section of this
General Report (pp.xxxv,xxxvi), and in Appendix L, pp. 492-495. Ina number
of cases it was possible to obtain “ standard rates,” i.e., rates fixed for a definite
period by agreement between employers and employed. Such agreements exist
for the printing trade throughout Germany—in this case there is a minimum
rate, with an addition which varies from town to town according to an estimate
of the local cost of living ; for brewing there are local or special agreements
(i.e., agreements made for the whole district or between individual firms
and their employees) in all the towns in which that industry is carried on to
any considerable extent ; and there are local agreements for some branches of
the building trade in nearly all the towns investigated. In all these cases the
agreements are as to time rates. There are numerous and complicated piecework
