Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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128 BRUNSWICK., tins in which the vegetables are packed after being cooked are^made in local factories which employ several hundreds of men. The manufacture of beet sugar is likewise an industry in which the duchy as well as the town of Brunswick is interested. The total number of factories in the whole duchy is 35 and the workpeople employed number over 4,000, while in the town of Brunswick there are live concerns with nearly 800 employees, most of them men. Except in the case of the refineries, this, too, is a seasonal industry, commencing in September as soon as the beet crop is ready and lasting until about the end of December. Between seasons the unskilled labourers find employment in the brickfields, or in the building trade. The brewing of beer is also carried on extensively, and in 1905 a wages agreement affecting all the classes of workmen engaged in the breweries was signed by five local companies and one private firm. The textile industry is represented by one large jute spinning factory employing over 1,800 hands, two-thirds of whom are women and girls. In addition there are a number of small establishments for the manufacture of chemicals, of soap and oil, of paper goods, brushes, and cigars, employing altogether about 850 workpeople. One striking feature of the industrial life of Brunswick is the large amount of female labour which is employed. Of a total of 18,557 adult workers in establishments which come under the factory regulations, 5,493 or 29 per cent, are females. The majority of these find employment in the canning industry and in the spinning of jute, the former with 2,256 and the latter with 1,161. The clothing trade also employs 879 women besides 273 girls, whilst the remainder are mainly engaged in the manufacture of paper goods and cigars, and in several branches of metal working, such as the making of tins for the canning factories, work in which the principle of division of labour is carried to a high degree, so that the management of certain machines can be well entrusted to women. A large number of women are also engaged in their own homes in connection with the jute spinning and canning industries, making sacks of the woven jute in the one case, and preparing the vegetables for the preliminary process of boiling in the other. The former by working 10 hours can sew 120 sacks daily on an average, for which, after deducting the price of the sewing yam, they earn Is. 10d., whereas the latter, according to a report issued by the Factory Workers’ Union, are able to earn from 9s. to 18s. per week, the higher rates being probably earned where other members of the family assist in the work. During the canning season enormous consignments of vegetables pour into Brunswick by rail, and in order to dispose of them whilst they are fresh, long hours are worked in the factories, and, in addition, employers are compelled to engage out-workers, who carry the vegetables to and from the factories in baskets on their backs. An investigation conducted by the Factory Workers’ Union in 1905, into the condition of the workers in this industry, brought a number of abuses to light. According to the published report of this inquiry, women and girls were frequently compelled to work more than 13 hours a day —the maximum number allowed by law in this industry, except on Saturday, when -work must cease at 5.30 p.m.—and in some cases even 18 hours Were spent in one day in the factory. As a result of this exposure the Govern ment notified the local Chamber of Commerce that the police would be instructed to see that in future all infringements of the law in this respect were promptly punished. The report further complained that these long hours were spent in rooms the atmosphere of which was excessively warm and heavily charged with moisture, and also that the remuneration for such work was very inadequate, as the wages paid to females usually ranged from 1 \d. to 2\d. per hour, and rarely amounted to 2f<A The inquiry also elicited the fact that even on Sundays work was sometimes carried on for 10 and more hours. The earnings of home-workers were found to be less than those paid in the factories, and consequently the children were employed in the evenings. The distribution of the industrial population of Brunswick amongst the various trades and industries in 1906 is shown in the following table :—

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