OSCHERSLEBEN. 
397 
chief work of manufacturing has to be done between the end of September and 
Christmas. Thus one of these factories retains only 80 workpeople for the 
whole year, but employs 250 altogether in the season, whilst the other, which 
engages 150 during the season, retains only nine for the rest of the year. 
During the busy time work goes on. continuously in night and day shifts of 
12 hours each, two hours being allowed for mealtimes in each shift. In the 
sugar industry the wages of labourers are lower than those paid in other 
industries because the " campagne ” occurs when these men, who are during 
the remainder of the year employed locally in the building trades and in the 
brick and tile works, would otherwise only have work at irregular intervals, 
and also because workers can be so easily obtained from Thuringia at low rates. 
Of two industries closely associated with the foregoing, one, that of the 
manufacture of sweets and chocolate, is carried on in a single factory employing 
60 men and 120 women and girls, whilst the other, the making of sacks and of 
cloth for filtering purposes, is conducted in an establishment which employs 
almost exclusively female labour. 
. In the breweries the custom of “ free beer ” still obtains ; brewers receive 
from 7 to 8J pints daily and the other workmen from 5¿ to 7 pints. The men 
are not allowed to take any beer home, neither is compensation in money 
granted in case they do not drink the beer, but in general they are said to 
exercise their rights to the full. In the malt houses most of the men are only 
employed from September to May, and find work elsewhere during the 
remainder of the year, principally in the brick and tile making industry. 
Another important branch of industry is the manufacture of agricultural 
machines, of machines used in sugar factories, and of a patent pump much used 
in mines. Three small firms employing together several hundred men are 
engaged in this work. 
In the building trades comparatively few men are engaged, and no 
journeymen plumbers or plasterers are employed. The rates given below are 
for a full week in summer. In the printing trade the wages paid are the 
minimum rates fixed by the agreement which applies to the whole of Germany. 
A considerable number of residents are occupied in agricultural pursuits. 
The usual wages and hours of labour in the principal occupations are 
shown in the following Table :— 
Wages and Hours of Labour in the Principal Occupations, October, 1905. 
Trades. 
Principal Occupations. 
Weekly Wages. 
Weekly Hours 
of Labour. 
Building* 
Engineering < 
Goal (Lignite) 
Mining. 
Brick and Tile 
Printing 
Sugar ... 
Bricklayers and Masons 
Carpenters 
Joiners 
Painters 
Roofers 
Labourers ... 
Fitters 
Turners 
Drillers and Milling Machineme 
Smiths 
Patternmakers 
Labourers ... 
Hewers 
Trammers ... 
Furnacemen 
Burners 
Pressworkers 
Labourers ... 
Compositors 
Foremen ... 
Boilers 
Weighers ... 
Engine-room Hands 
Labourers 
22s. Id. 
21s. Id. 
20s. 6d. to 23s. 9d. 
26s. 5d. 
18 s. 
16s. 8d. to 17s. 10d. 
27s. „ 30s. 
25s. „ 30s. 
20s. 
27s. to 30s. 
24s. „ 30s. 
18s. „ 21s. 
25s. 8d. 
24 s. 
30s. to 32s. 
17s. „ 18s. 
18s. „ 24s. 
16s. 10¿ to 18s. 
22s. 6(7. 
29s. to 38s. 6(7. 
26s. „ 27s. 8(7. 
26s. 
18s. 
13s. 5(7. to 16s. 10(7. 
60 
66 
66 
60 
59& 
60 
48 
48 
[ 60 to 72 
j 
54 
60 
* The wages and hours of labour stated for the building trades are for a full week 
in summer.