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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356 MÜLHAUSEN. # Various privileges are also secured to permanent labourers in the public service. They may only be dismissed after a month’s notice, and if they have been employed for ten years, only by the express consent of the Mayor ; they receive half their wages during eight weeks of military service as reservists ; they ma y, by permission, attend elections, courts of law, funerals, and other urgent functions without loss of pay ; they are given from six to twelve days’ holiday a year ; when they complete 25 years of service they become entitled to a gift of £o and a fortnight’s holiday with wages paid ; and a pension begins to mature for them after 20 years of service, increasing with every additional year to a maximum of three-quarters of the ordinary wages, with a minimum of £12 10s., while undér certain conditions pensions are secured to widows and orphans. Organisation is not strong among the Mülhausen working classes. There are societies of textile workers, both of the “ Free ” (z’.e., Social Democratic) and Christian ” types, and also of metal workers, and the first of these at any rate claims a large membership, yet the practical efficacy of the local Trade Unionism appears to be very limited. It is noteworthy also that the hostility of employers to labour organisation is here more marked than usual, though with important exceptions, and an inquirer frequently meets with the remark that “ only the inferior workmen are organised : the better ones prefer to keep aloof.” It is certainly significant that, as already stated, the wages agreement, which is so important a feature in industrial relationships in other parts of the country, has not as yet secured an entrance into Mülhausen, even in the building trades, which in most large towns are entirely regulated by collective arrangements of the kind. In this connexion much voluntary action having for its object the welfare of the working class should not pass unnoticed. Apart from the insurance funds which exist by law, some of the larger firms maintain private relief funds of various kinds for the benefit of their employees or their families.. The factory savings bank is also a popular institution where introduced. One firm has established a system of bonuses for good conduct, and assists its employees to take out life insurance policies. The kitchen, refectory, and bath are also useful adjuncts to some of the more modern factories and are held in great esteem. There is very little systematic home industry at Mülhausen, though machine sewing and knitting and the sifting of horse-hair and hemp for mattresses and packing give employment to many women. Faggot cutting in the street is another of the functions that falls to women ; they are also employed in sweeping the streets in the early hours of the morning, working from four to seven o’clock at the rate of 10¿. for the three hours’ shift. In the textile factories a large number of married women are employed, and in general it may be said that where household duties do not impose insuperable difficulty the wives and mothers of the poorer class contribute an important share of the resources of the household. No statistics exist on the subject of married women’s labour in factories and workshops, but of 8,462 female workers subject to factory inspection in October, 1905, 5,114 or 60*4 per cent, were over 21 years of age. Housing and Rents. The streets of Mülhausen still lack in great measure the characteristics of a large modern town. In the matter of house building Mülhausen has moved slowly, certainly far more slowly than the sciences of public health, with the result that the house problem is a serious one. The housing conditions of the town cannot be regarded as satisfactory. There are good quarters where the working-man lives amid surroundings entirely healthy, and under conditions which are hardly excelled elsewhere, but these are not typical of the town as a whole. When all reservations have been made, the dominant impression left, after a visit to working-class homes of all sorts and conditions, is one of life at a somewhat low level. In fairness it should be added that the condition of things here indicated goes together with a large amount of poverty, of which it may reasonably be regarded as a direct result.

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