KÖNIGSBERG. 
277 
Königsberg, all of whom belong to the union. According to the same authority 
there are some 400 grain, &c., carriers, of whom 300 belong to the union, while 
of about 400 men working inside the granaries and warehouses only 150 are 
organised. In addition to the groups just named there is that of the transport 
workers engaged in the conveyance of goods in vehicles (other than railway) by 
land and water, and of these some 1,400 are organised. Thus it is certain that 
there are at least 2,500 men engaged in labour of a more or less casual nature 
directly connected with wharves and warehouses, and the probability is that this 
number is much greater. Among what may be termed industrial occupations 
the most important group is that comprised under the heading “ Metal-working 
and engineering,” including more especially the construction of railway rolling 
stock, in which some 1.900 men are employed by two firms. After metal 
working and engineering comes the food, drink, and tobacco group employing 
over 3,000 workpeople, of whom the greater number work in breweries and in 
tobacco and cigar manufactories. Saw-milling and wood-pulp making swell the 
figures of the wood-working group, which ranks third in local importance. 
Among the other trades affording a considerable amount of employment in the 
town, tailoring may be said to be the most important. The one really distinctive 
industry with which the name of Königsberg is associated—the amber industry 
—affords but little employment in the town. Since July 1st, 1899, the amber 
mines in the Samland district east of Königsberg have become the property of 
the Prussian Government, from whom the firms engaged in the manufacture of 
amber goods obtain their supplies of raw amber direct. The actual processes of 
manufacture, grinding, polishing, turning, &c., are however, for the most part, 
performed by home-workers, including women. The building trades, as already 
stated, are not properly represented in the table. That they afford employment 
to a very large number of workmen in Königsberg is beyond question, for they 
have been greatly stimulated by the necessity of providing house-room for the 
increasing population. The number of workpeople employed in the various 
branches of the building trade at the end of 1905 cannot have been far short of 
5,000, for at the date of the occupation census in 1895 it was 4,145, and must 
have increased much more rapidly than the population as a whole, which was 
14 per cent, greater in 1905 than in 1895. 
The relative importance of the various groups of trades in Königsberg is in 
some degree reflected in the grouping of the organised workers, of whom there 
were close upon 10,000 at the end of 1906 distributed in the manner shown 
below :— 
Membership of Königsberg Trade Unions at end of 1906. 
Group of Trades. 
Building 
Metal and engineering 
Clothing 
Transport and dock labour 
Printing and allied trades 
Woodworking 
Food preparation (bakers and millers) 
Municipal workmen 
Other (including unclassified) ... 
Total ... 
Membership of Trade Union. 
2,555 
843 
644 
2,497 
392 
1,201 
132 
600 
992 
9,856 
The principle of fixing the conditions of labour by formal wages and hours 
agreements has been considerably developed in Königsberg, especially of late 
years. General agreements affecting the whole of the trade are in force for the 
plumbers, painters, joiners, and cabinet makers ; also for the fitters and smiths 
in the smaller establishments engaged in iron-construction work ; for the 
stevedores and for the bespoke tailoring trade. Most of the greater firms 
engaged in the timber export trade have separate agreements with their men. 
The following table gives the predominant wages and hours of labour in 
the principal occupations :—