m
BARMEN.
Textile j rades— An inquiry into warnings, which covered all the principal
textile establishments in Barmen, was carried out by the Municipal Statistical'
Office, at the end of 1904, when conditions were practically the same as at
October, 1905. So far as adult male operatives are concerned, the municipal
inquiry gave the following results, which supplement and at the same time
confirm the data procurable in the course of a short visit :
! Ranges of weekly earnings of adult male operatives
1 in the principal Textile Establishments in Barmen,
in 1904 (in shillings).
Occupation.
Ribbon Weavers
Weavers of upholstery goods and carpeting
Braid Makers (i.e., at braiding machines)
Warpers (webs, laces and braids manufacture)
Dyers of piece goods and yarns .
Turkey-red Dyers
Finishers or Dressers
Glazers or Mercerisers
Smiths, Fitters, &c
Bookbinders (pattern books, &c.)
Stokers
Total skilled
Packers, kc
Workmen in warehouses
Labourers, undefined
Total unskilled
Over
16
to
18
32
6
14
10
1
3
71
20
7
11
38
Over
18
to
20
Over
20
to
22
77
3
21
9
11
2
10
10
2
9
1
155
28
4
26
58
142
1
94
23
39
7
25
25
1
16
4
Over
22
to
24
Over
24
to
26
Over j Over
26 28
to to
23 30
144
79
5
45
3
17
43
6
15
1
377
41
15
31
87
363
40
13
27
80
174
4
23
5
19
10
9
41
6
11
9
311
30
4
17
51
130
18
37
11
8
5
24
7
2
11
253
10
3
5
18
84
15
8
1
6
2
2
11
11
1
11
152
12
Over
30
to
32
42
10
5
74
From the above it would appear that the usual earnings of skilled men in
the textile trades in Barmen are from 20s. to 28s., and those of unskilled men
from 18s. to 26s. per week.
Printing Trades.—The conditions of labour in the principal establishments
of the printing trade are regulated by the general agreement in force in all parts
of the Empire. This agreement follows the plan of fixing minimum rates,
with an additional percentage which varies as between town and town according
to the cost of living. The wages given in the Table are the minimum wages
for Barmen, including the additional percentage.
Miscellaneous Trades.—In the manufacture of buttons and buckles, where
the great mass of the operatives are semi-skilled, the predominant earnings are
those shown in the Table. The small proportion of more highly skilled
operatives, such as engravers, galvanizers. etchers, lacquerers, painters, polishers,
fitters, &c., are paid weekly rates, which range from 24s. to as much as 50s., the
most highly paid class being the painters, whose work is of a very artistic nature.
Municipal Employees.—The municipality of Barmen has altogether some
500 workpeople in its regular employ, exclusive of the drivers, conductors and
linemen in the tramway service. Practically the whole of the men are paid
time wages—a rate per day which is increased according to the length of service.
The work of street cleaning is let to a contractor.
Taking the level of wages in Berlin as 100, wages in the building trades
at Barmen would be represented by 82 for skilled men and 89 for labourers ;
in the engineering trades by 91 for skilled men and 96 for labourers ; and in
the printing trades by 88.
Housing and Rents.
Working class streets are to be found in almost all directions in Barmen
and it cannot be said of any particular part of the town that it is a purely
working class quarter. Streets of this kind are recognisable rather by the
number and appearance of the children on the doorsteps and pavements than by
the outward appearance of the houses, which are lor the most part modern and
of the stucco-faced four storey type, built to accommodate eight or ten families.
The older slate-faced houses are not, as a rule, occupied by workpeople, who
prefer the more modern houses, and who have a certain margin of choice owin"
to the fact that the supply ot small dwellings is, and has been for long, in excess
of the demand. An enumeration of the unoccupied dwellings on November 4
1905, showed the proportion to be 6 8 per cent, of the whole. The great bulk
