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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

352 MÜLHAUSEN. journeys a year to Manchester, travelling on horseback to the nearest French port and similarly forward from Dover, and bringing back “ per axle ” loads of calico to print. The engineering trade is also an old and extensive one, and the largest firm employs several thousands of workpeople. There are several chemical works in the town and neighbourhood, and besides its industries Mülhausen has a large trade in timber, grain, and wine. The classification of the " industrial workpeople ” of the town, engaged in undertakings subject to factory inspection, is shown in the following table, which refers to October 1st, 1905 :— Groups of Trades. Number of Establish ments. Number of Workpeople. Males over 16 years. Females over 16 years. Juveniles, 14 to 16 years. Children under 14 years. Total. Building Metal working Machine, implement, and appa ratus making. Textile Clothing and cleaning Printing, lithography, bookbind ing, &c. Paper .. ... ... ... Woodworking and carving Chemicals ... Resins, varnishes, oil, soap, candles, &c. Stone and earth ... Food, drink, and tobacco... Leather ... ... ... ... Miscellaneous Total 73 35 63 116 24 28 10 29 16 3 15 48 4 14 478 2,030 291 5,226 5,492 59 190 54 216 175 180 161 289 23 520 14,906 6 15 6,902 317 35 40 3 16 1 6 59 7,407 23 47 290 1.346 44 37 16 14 8 3 3 9 30 1,870 2 1 158 7 2 1 1 173 2,053 346 5,532 13,898 427 264 111 234 199 184 170 358 23 557 24,356 From this table it will be seen that the textile trade employed 13,898 of the total of 24,356 workpeople subject to factory inspection, or 57T per cent., while 5,878 workpeople, or 24T per cent., belonged to the metal and machine trades. Of the workpeople enumerated in the foregoing table, 8,462 or 34*7 per cent, were females, and of these 93 per cent, were engaged in the textile trade. Of the workers in the textile trade 60'9 per cent, were females. The great mass of the workpeople are Alsatians. Few of them are from the textile districts of North Germany, and those who come to Mülhausen in search of work seldom remain long, for they do not get on well with the native population, which associates more harmoniously with Germans of the South. A large number of Italians are found in the factories, men who originally came as navvies and outdoor labourers, but have turned to machine work, and show a tolerable aptitude for it. They are not efficient workers at first, but as soon as they master their new language—by which must be understood a local patois—they earn fairly good wages, though they are always distributed amongst the other operatives. In one bleaching works no fewer than 100 Italians are engaged with satisfaction to their employers. One never hears complaint of " driving ” in the textile factories, but on the other hand the employers complain of the Alsatian worker’s too easy-going disposition and unwillingness to exert continued effort. In the cotton factories spinners earn from 27s. to 30s. per week, weavers, both male and female, from 16s. 6d. to 19s. 67. In the woollen trade spinners earn from 28s. 10,7. to 32s. In the printing works printers earn from 28s. to 30s., and their assistants from 15s. to 18s. The wages of labourers in the allied chemical trade range from 27s. to 30s. for skilled men and 18s. to 2L$. for unskilled men, but the predominant rate for the latter is 18s. The following table, courteously supplied by a manufacturing firm of high standing, shows the weekly wages in the cotton industry during the past

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