CHEMNITZ.
139
every 1,000 born was 302, as compared with 329 during 1896-1900 and 355
in 1891-95. Compared with that for 1891-95, the figure for 1901-05 thus
showed a decline of 15 per cent. In spite of this decline the infant mortality rate
of Chemnitz is still very high, being twice as great as that of Barmen, where
the pioportion of the female population employed in factories is larger. The
subject is one to which the Chemnitz Municipality has given much attention in
recent years, and some success appears to have attended their efforts to cope with
one at least of the causes of the evil, viz., the neglect or inability of women of the
poorer classes to feed their children at the breast. Since 1904 a record has
been kept by the authorities in respect to each child born as to whether or not
it has been nursed by its mother during the first year of life. A comparison
of the figures for 1904 and 1905 with those obtained by a special but partial
inquiry covering the years 1901-3 shows that the proportion of breast-fed
children has increased from 51*7 per cent, in 1901 to 69T per cent, in 1905.
Among the means adopted in order to promote the proper feeding of infants
among the poorer classes is that of free distribution of milk to the amount of a
litre per day through the medical officers.
Occupation, Wages and Hours of Labour.
Among the many industries of Chemnitz those of machine-making and the
manufacture of textile goods are by far the most developed. Of the 54,178
persons employed in factories or workshops subject to inspection in Chemnitz in
1905, 21,881 (or 40 percent.) were engaged in making machines and mechanical
appliances of various kind, while 18,746 (or 35 per cent.) were engaged in the
textile trades. The 21,881 operatives employed in machine-making include
4/10 working in establishments where only textile machinery is made ; 5,746
engaged in making other kinds of machinery, and 4,162 in tool making. Of the
18,746 persons employed in the textile trades, the most important group consists
of 8,000 engaged in hosiery making, while 4,469 are employed in weaving mixed
goods (including curtain net and upholstery material), 1,655 in cotton or
cashmere spinning, and 3,025 in dyeing and finishing textile goods of various
sorts, more especially hosiery. Among the other industries of some local importance
may be mentioned the paper and cardboard trades, employing 1,453
workpeople of whom 843 are engaged in making cardboard goods of various
sorts. The Chemnitz industries, however, afford employment to a larger number
of workpeople than would appear from the foregoing figures, which relate only
to persons working in factories or in such workshops as are subject to inspection,
and take no account of the building trades, or of the large number of people who,
although not living in Chemnitz itself, but in one or other of the surrounding
towns and villages of the Erzgebirge, nevertheless work regularly for Chemnitz
firms, either directly as home workers, or indirectly as operatives in rural
factories executing orders for Chemnitz firms.
The following Table shows the number of workpeople employed in certain
groups of trades in establishments subject to industrial inspection :
Number of Workpeople.
Groups of Trades.
Metal working... ... •••
Machine, implement and apparatus making
Textiles...
Clothing and cleaning •••
Printing, lithography, bookbinding, &c. ...
Paper •••
Woodworking and carving ...
Chemicals
Resins, varnishes, oils, soaps, candles, &c....
Stone and earth ••• ...
Food, drink and tobacco
Leather...
Males
over
16 years.
Females
over
16 years.
4,125
19,768
4,939
276
787
533
1,590
1!6
288
812
1,147
184
34,605
515
12,021
528
412
758
98
196
15
20
287
5
14,943
Juvaniles
14 to 16
years.
414
1,518
1,701
43
133
134
152
60
4
30
107
11
4,307
Children
under
14 years.
23
80
85
29
20
28
23
8
1
24
o
323
Total.
4,650
21,881
18,746
876
1,352
1,453
1,863
420
308
862
1,565
202
54,178
S 2
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