Wages paid per year in government departments in Switzerland-Continued. Occupations. IN THE MILITARY DEPARTMENT-Continued. All Switzerland. Chief of bureau of commerce Federal treasurer Subordinate officials and employés in the federal departments, such as chiefs of bureaus, clerks, copyists, translators, messengers, &c., range from Post office clerks from1 to 3 years of service 3 to 6 years of service Honey order carriers POSTAL SERVICE. TELEGRAPH SERVICE. XIV. CANTONAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOY. $1,351 00 1,351 00 289 50 to 1, 351 00 Wages paid per annum in cantonal governments in Switzerland. 280 50 347 40 416 88 486 36 555 84 636 90 636 90 to 772 00 213 60 to 308 80 347 40 to 386 00 347 40 to 386 00 213 60 to 347 00 405 30 to 636 90 289 50 335 82 393 72 463 20 532 68 617 60 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. RERORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL WEAVER, OF VIENNA, FOR AUSTRIA. In conformity with instructions contained in your circular, under date of 15th February, 1884, I beg to submit the following report on the wages and the condition of the laboring classes in Austria: SOURCES OF INFORMATION. As was somewhat fully explained in my dispatch No. 404, under date of 7th instant, when it was found that no existing publication contained the specific data required, it was determined to issue a general circular to the various manufacturers, industrialists, labor organizations, boards of trade, merchants, and private individuals, as well as every governmental and official source promising favorable results. Of these circulars 425 were distributed; and while mostly confined to Vienna and Lower Austria, yet many of them were sent to the various commercial and industrial chambers and important establishments, such as furnaces, forges, spinning and weaving factories of all Cisleithania, with the exception of Bohemia, which forms the district of our consul at Prague. It was feared that but slight attention would be given to the circular, soliciting, as it did, the wages paid employés, and other information as to the condition of the people in their employ, and the laws and regu lations governing the same. It was, therefore, very gratifying to find on the part of some a willingness and promptitude to respond freely and fully, supplying much valuable statistical and other information. On the other hand, judging from results, many have thrown the letter and accompanying circular into the waste-basket, or, possibly are yet deliberating upon the propriety of replying, for, out of the 425 sent, only about 111, up to date, have been returned or replied to in any way. Some of the answers to the circulars were very curious and characteristic; while some would express an unwillingness to grant the information sought on the ground of inability to furnish it, others would denominate the request as inquisitorial, and surpassing anything they had ever received from their own Government, and further excuse themselves from complying on the ground that it might be used to their disadvantage by either their own Government in the matter of taxation or by that of the United States in the collection of duties. It has further been observed that neither the Government officials or those extensively engaged in exportation to the United States, or even those with whom American trade or manufacture might subsequently come into competition, have been free to accord the data solicited. Consequently, in most instances, for there are noteworthy exceptions, the most of the matter procured emanates from those who have as yet but slight commercial interests or relations with the United States. In a few instances special interest has been manifest in the undertaking, and the importance of the question has been universally recognized. But it has never been attempted in this country to collect statistical data by private enterprise, and even efforts in this direction on the part of the Austrian Government are rare. In reply, however, to my circular I received from the Vienna Chamber of Trade and Industry, a valuable and exhaustive labor report for Lower Austria for 1880, published in 1883, from which I have collated much valuable material on wages, and with which I have compared and corrected somewhat data sent me by private individuals in reply to my circular. TABLES CONTAINED IN THE APPENDIX. As will be noted, the matter received has been carefully tabulated, and alphabetically arranged into specific and general tables, to the end that easy reference may be secured. The miscellaneous table may therefore be consulted for any employment desired, and if there has been a more special report made on the specific subject, reference to the table by number will be found. It has been sought to prepare, as far as possible, data for wages paid in every separate trade or employment. It should be mentioned that where not otherwise stated, the data given is for the city of Vienna, where wages are much higher than in the country; also, that wages in the province of Lower Austria are from 15 to 25 per cent. higher than those in other provinces like Galicia, Carniola, Tyrol, or Moravia. It has been found, however, quite impossible to procure data for all the different provinces from which a comparative table might be compiled, but as very recently the appointment of a Government labor inspector has been established by law, it is the intention of this official to prepare such a report at an early day, copies of which, as has been promised, will be placed at my disposition. AREA AND POPULATION OF CISLEITHANIA. In the consideration of the question of labor, it will be found very necessary and interesting to have conveniently at hand, for purposes of comparison, the area and population of the various provinces of Cisleithania which, according to the census of 1880, were as follows: Of the foregoing population, 10.324,507 were males, and of these 158,693 were in the active army, and 3,730 in the Austrian active militia or landwehr. * One square kilometer equals 0.3861 square mile; 1 square mile=2.59 square kilometers, nearly. TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS. The classification of the population of Austria into the several categories of employment, whether self-dependents, employés, members of families, or servants, is of sufficient interest in this connection as to justify the transmission of the subjoined table, which was recently given in my last annual commercial report, as follows: In considering the various interrogatories contained in your circular effort will be made as far as practicable to conform to their order of sequence, but in the absence of definite information on many of the topics suggested, it should not be expected that with the time at my disposal answers should be made as thoroughly exhaustive or the matter as fully and properly classified and arranged as might be desirable, since the fragmentary character of the matter received has made it very difficult to organize and place in such a shape as to be utilized. Begging, therefore, the forbearance of the Department in this respect, I shall proceed at once to answer the specific interrogatories with such fullness and pertiuency as it is possible to command. PART I.-MALE LABOR. RATES OF WAGES. "1. What are the rates of wages paid to laborers of every class?" The rates of wages paid in the specific trades and industrial employments of Vienna and Lower Austria will be found in the tables of the appendix, carefully arranged and classified. These tables will be found to embrace every, or nearly every, important class of labor, with credits duly given as to the source of the information. They may, therefore, be relied upon with considerable confidence as presenting a fair, candid statement of the rates of compensation paid in this city and country. Where not otherwise specified, these wages will be understood as constituting a workingman's complete compensation, without board or lodging or any other perquisite whatever. It will be seen that the rates of wages are exceedingly low, not only for factory hands, where female labor may be profitably employed, but in furnaces, iron-mills, and the various industries demanding the highest skill. It is not easy to approximate even the average weekly earnings of laborers in any single trade or employment, much less those of the laboring man in general, but the most cursory examination of these accompanying tables will present most extraordinary and surprising results, particularly when compared with like wages in the United States. For instance, the wages of the yarn and thread spinners in the factory of Pottendorf (see Table LI) average only $1.88* per week of seventy-two hours; and while the wages of the men average $2.70, those of the women are only $1.40 per week of seventy-two hours, being less than 2 cents per hour. The care with which this table is prepared by the directors of the factory, apparently from the pay-rolls, must inspire great confidence in its correctness. Again, in the mines and mills the same contrast will be observed (see Table XXXIII of the Witkowitz Iron Mining Company, of Moravia, so carefully and conscientiously wrought out in detail), where the average earnings per shift of twelve hours of the 97 categories of laborers amounts to only 68 cents, or $4.08 per week, while the railway mechanics of Vienna, including the highest and best paid classes of skilled laborers, according to Table XL, prepared by Mr. Kupka, civil engineer in Vienna, thoroughly competent to pronounce in such matters, receive an average weekly earning of only $5.44, working about ten hours daily. If, therefore, the 299 various categories of workmen comprised in the miscellaneous table be averaged, we obtain $4.05 as the nearest approximative weekly average earning of the Austrian workman, dependent on his manual labor for support. These figures should be written in crimson letters upon the palm of every discontented laboring man within the length and breadth of the United States, where they would certainly act as a panacea for all his imaginary woes. The length of a normal day's labor in Austria varies according to the trade or occupation. In yarn and textile factories the average would quite equal twelve hours. In mines and certain employments where they work by the shift, the time is also twelve hours, while for general occupations and in most manufactories the day's labor comprises from nine to eleven hours, while in the Government workshops they are further reduced to nine and ten hours. Consequently, a normal week's labor in Austria would average about sixty hours. Sundays and holidays, particularly the latter, are scrupulously observed as days of rest and recreation wherever the nature of the occupation will permit; consequently 300 days are regarded as about a full year's employment. Of course, in many cases, mills and furnaces are run without intervals of rest, and a general rule exists to pay for overtime and Sunday employment as much as 25 and 50 per cent. in addition to the ordinary weekly wages. As much of the work is performed by the piece, the tendency is to increase the hours of labor indefinitely, so that it is no unusual thing for thrifty, ambitious workmen to prolong the day several hours, aggregating as much as 15 and 16 hours per day. Such cases are, however, by no means the rule, but rather the exception. By the new "labor bill," at present before the Reichsrath, and which has already passed the lower house, the normal day is fixed not to exceed 11 hours. This reduction of time is vigorously opposed by the manu *In these tables the value of the florin has been taken at 40 cents, being sufficiently accurate for all purposes, seeing that the average value of the Austrian paper florin during the first five months of this year has been 40 cents. |