Le Pérou économique

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1896933912

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Press

Year of publication:: 1912-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1896934455

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-236504

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Keith, Arthur Berriedale http://d-nb.info/gnd/119086794

Title:: Responsible government in the Dominions

Volume count:: Vol. 1

Place of publication:: Oxford

Publisher:: Clarendon Pr.

Year of publication:: 1912

Scope:: LI, 568 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part III. The Parliaments of the Dominions

Collection:: Economics Books

154 CREFELD. The ordinary hours of labour in both groups of factories are in the town of Crefeld from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer, and from 8 a.m. to 8 pan. in winter, with two hours of intervals. On Saturdays work stops at 5'30 p.m. Work in the rural factories usually begins earlier—at 6'30 a.m. in summer and 7 or 7 30 in winter. Night-work does not exist and overtime is rare. Employment is apt to be very irregular as the trade fluctuates greatly ; the velvet industry is usually busy in the summer months, and the stuff industry in the winter, but lately employment in the velvet branch has been much more steady through out the year. Such factories as were visited, both in the town and outside, seemed clean, light, and well maintained, and the sanitary arrangements were fairly good. The male and female weavers are mingled together in the work rooms. In velvet weaving the one-loom system is in force, whilst in stuff weaving the two-loom system is commonly employed, both for men and women. Another very important branch of the silk industry in Crefeld is dyeing. The following Table gives the number of factories and workmen employed in the town for the three years 1903-5 :— No. of Factories. 36 36 37 No. of Workmen. 2,753 2,659 2,907 Year. 1903 1904 1905 The hours of labour are 10 per day, usually from 7 a.m. to 6 30 p.m., with an interval from 12 noon to 1*30, and no other pauses. Other important branches of the industry are silk printing, which is a factory occupation, and the manufacture of silk neckties, which are made up by women working in their own homes for various manufacturers. Many of the silk stuff manufacturers employ domestic industry in various degrees, partly in Crefeld itself and partly outside. This is sometimes hand weaving, but for ribbons it is frequently mechanical weaving, and a short description of the small commune of Anrath, a few miles from Crefeld, may be added here. Anrath had formerly some 1,500 hand weavers (chiefly of velvets), and suffered greatly from the introduction of machinery and the factory system in the late eighties. Large numbers of able-bodied weavers had to be given poor-relief, and the efforts of the local authorities, both municipal and other, to devise occupations for the workmen were for long unsuccessful. Finally an attempt was made to establish silk-ribbon weaving with mechanical looms ; the municipality, with the aid of a loan from the Central Government, established in 1902 electric power works, and undertook to supply the power for the looms in the workers' own homes. The result has been a great revival ; the silk-ribbon weaving seems to be firmly established as a domestic industry, and the commune is again prospering, as was recently shown by the opening of a new town hall and an infirmary. The electric power costs to the worker 6s. a month per loom, and to prevent excessive hours of labour it is supplied only from 7'30 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 1*30 to 8 p.m. The industry in the commune suffers, of course, from the fluctuations common to the industry as a whole, but otherwise there can be no doubt of the success of the experiment. In October, 1906, there were 150 looms at work, owned by about 104 workmen Dr. Heinrich Brauns, as the result of his inquiries in 1905, estimated the cost of establishing a single loom, with the necessary equipment and accessories, at about £76 105. Ihe workman usually has the assistance only of members of his family—wife or children—even when he has more than one loom ; the employment of workers who are not of the family is very rare. The «ross earnings with one loom are normally about £65 a year ; in rare cases £70 may be reached, and very exceptionally, when the trade is unusually active, even £75. But the general rate is probably not above £65, and when allowance is made for interest on the expenditure incurred for the loom and the fitting up of the worXroom, for lighting and heating, rent, tools, and miscellaneous expenses, Dr. Brauns concludes that the normal net earnings do not exceed £41 to £45. The majority of the workmen are strongly and actively Homan Catholic, but nevertheless many of them vote Socialist, and a good number of Roman Catholics

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