Table showing the wages paid per average week of sixty hours, &c.—Continued. Jewelers (see Table XXII). Joiners. Jute-workers Lard renderers Iron foundries and machine-shops, employés in (see Table XXI). Iron mines, rolling-mills, and machine-shops, employés in (see Table Apprentices.. 3 60 4. 80 4.00 Machine-works and iron foundry, employés in (see Table XXIX) Machinery and instrument factory, employés in (see Table XXVIII). Table showing the wages paid per average week of sixty hours, &c.-Continued. Mines, furnaces, mills, &c., employés in (see Tables XXXII and XXXIII) Needle-makers Nurses, with board and lodging. Overseers and foremen Painters Paint-makers Paper makers Pearl-button makers Petroleum refiners Petroleum miners Photographers Aids and servants. Copyists Piece work. Cabinet-makers: Weekly Piece work Pin-makers. Pipe-makers: Turners Laborers Superintendents Plasterers. Potters: Piece workmen Day laborers Women $3.20 $4.80 $4.00 2.40 1 80 1.00 3 201 2 40 1 20 6.50 4.00 2.50 5.00 4.25 2.00 6 40 3. 00 Boys and girls. 96 3 20 4.80 Table showing the wages paid per average week of sixty hours, &c.-Continued. NOTE. The average weekly wages of the 299 different categories composing the foregoing table give after careful calculation the sum of $4.05 per week, or 68 cents per day. But this must be too high, as the number of foremen and others receiving large salaries is not by any means numerically equal to those of the lower categories. The weekly wages of the 32 different foremen and overseers given in the tables aggregate an average of $7.04. The weekly wages of the other classes may be briefly given as follows: Skilled mechanics and artisans in metal trades, $5.44; skilled labor in other general trades, $4 50; women, helpers, and unskilled day-laborers, $2.76, and unskilled women and youths. $1.80. If now, we take one of the first class, three of the second, three of the third, five of the fourth, and eight of the fifth, being a fair proportion of the laboring classes in Lower Austria, the average daily wages of ten hours becomes only 54 cents, instead of 68 cents as above stated. These rates, however, must be understood as applying only to the provinces of Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, and the Tyrol, while in a less degree to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola; for when the wages of Silesia, Moravia, Bohemia, and Galicia are considered, the rates should be further reduced from 20 to 40 per cent. BOHEMIA. REPORT BY CONSUL PHELPS, OF PRAGUE. In obedience to circular dated February 15, 1884, I have the honor to forward herewith "Report on Labor in Bohemia." The statements contained herein are taken partly from manufacturers and workingmen personally, and in part from official statistics. Great care has been used in comparing and verifying the figures, which are as reliable, it is thought, as the nature of the subject permits. The varying circumstances inseparable from a district as large as Bohemia, and a country so unequal in its geographical conditions, forbid greater brevity unless at the expense of accuracy. Precaution has been taken to advance only such data and opinions as are strictly correct. PART I.-MALE LABOR. FOOD AND FOOD PRICES. Food prices undergo little variations at Prague itself, but they are higher here than even in the vicinity of the city, on account of the octroi levied on all articles of food entering thereinto. There is a greater variation only in the prices of potatoes and fruits, according to the riches or scarcity of the crops. The food of the laboring classes, though varied according to the geographical and agricultural conditions, is on the whole scanty all over Bohemia. It is somewhat better in the center of the country than in the northeastern and eastern parts, where potatoes, brown bread, cooked rye, and gruel form the principal nutriment; legumes are rare, and meat is an exception. Their drink is coffee, or a substitute coffee, which, for its cheapness, is much liked and largely consumed. The use of brandy decreases in the same measure as cheap good beer is obtainable, and only in the northeastern parts of the country is brandy still regularly consumed. In Prague, comprising more than 260,000 inhabitants, an intoxicated person, owing to the abundance of beer, is a sight most rarely seen, not oftener than four or five times in a year. The beer is composed of malt, hops, and water. |