SOLINGEN.
431
All attempts to bring the grinders more into the factory system have so
far failed. Their occupation is to a large extent hereditary ; it is naturally
somewhat unhealthy, and is said to be growing more so, since in the days when
water power was used the workshops were more in the open country and the
work was subject to long interruptions when the water was too high or too low,
whereas now the use of electric %)ower has brought the workshops more in to
the town, and, as the motive power is constant, the work can be carried on at
full pressure all the time.
The other classes of workmen, the hardeners, the cutlers, who put
together the different parts of the knives and scissors (a task requiring great
skill in the case, for example, of the more elaborate pocket-knives, but also
requiring little skill and badly paid for the lowest grades of work), the scissorfilers,
the scissor-nailers (who fasten together the two scissor-blades), the
finishers, and others—all these mostly carry on the work in their own homes.
In all these branches, and still more .among the grinders, it is very easy for an
energetic and capable workman to become a small employer, and the process is
constantly taking place.
The conditions for the home workers in the centre of the town, where the
streets are narrow and the houses crowded together, are far from good ; further
out, and especially on the outskirts of the town, they are much better. On the
outskirts there are many small groups of houses of home workers, or isolated
houses ; all who can afford it have small gardens, or detached pieces of land,
where they grow vegetables ; many have a goat or two, sometimes fowls, or
a pig. There are naturally many grades of these home workers ; the grinders
rank highest and are the best paid, whilst the cutlers engaged on the inferior
kinds of knives are lowest in the scale.
As illustrations of the conditions of industrial life at Solingen the
following cases may be named ; the first two represent the highest development.
(«.) A former factory workman (a grinder), who now owns a house and a
pleasant garden, in which he grows flowers and a large quantity of vegetables ;
he also has a couple of goats. The ground-floor of the house is occupied
entirely by a large workshop, with 8 stones ; it is supplied with electric light
and power. The man works with his two sons and one or two apprentices ;
the other four workplaces he lets to independent grinders, from whom he
receives a rent sufficient to pay the interest on money borrowed to complete the
purchase of the house, and the cost of the electric power.
(6.) Another grinder, working still with water power. His father was a
grinder ; his mother inherited a small peasant holding. The son is unmarried,
and the mother lives with him ; they have a small house, with a large vegetable
and flower garden, a meadow and barn, three or four cows, and a small orchard.
The workshop is a short distance away ; the man works there with two or three
employees.
(c.) A rivetter, whose work consists in fixing together the two blades of
scissors : he owns a house and small garden on the outskirts of the town, valued
at £12 10s. a year ; he grows vegetables and some fruit, and has two goats.
He takes the work backwards and forwards himself, and a young daughter
(who has just left school) helps him by sorting the scissor blades into pairs.
(d.) A cutler (for pocket-knives of inferior kinds) who has a workshop
within the town for which (with water power) he pays £9 a year. He has
one assistant, and works with small machines, with water as motive power.
(e.) A razor-setter in the centre of the town ; he has two rooms on the
second floor and a minute attic as a workroom, in which he sits alone. He has
a wife and one small child, and his wife helps him by rubbing up the razors and
delivering them at the factories. He pays £11 5s. a year for his rooms ; the
amount of his work is very variable.
A few years ago it was generally believed in the district that home
industry at Solingen was doomed ; but since then there has been a distinct
revival, and it is at least holding its own. The workers cling to their
independence, and they are aided by the development of the cheap supply o-f
