arrangements can be made with the corporations now owning and operating them. In Germany the railways are admirably managed. Here there is no confusion, no delay, no accident. The neatly-uniformed officers, many of whom are pensioned soldiers, not only understand their duties, but discharge them with the precision of military discipline. A rule is prescribed for everything, and everything is done by rule. No one steps on the car when it is moving, and no one opens the door but the conductor. One tap of the bell says "Start shortly"; two, "Be seated"; three, "Go." As the train moves away from one station the fact is announced at the next by a bell which is rung by telegraph. That we travel faster, have finer engines and cars, and better accommodations in the United States than in Germany is true, but that the railway management is far better and life much safer here than in our country is just as undeniable. There are at least three grades of each class of railway employés, the first receiving about 14 per cent. more than the second, the second about 14 per cent. more than the third. Five years' service in one grade advances the person serving to the next higher; hence at least ten years' service is necessary to attain to the first rank. In this city, of eight railroads, only four officials receive more than $1,000 annually, the superintendent's salary, $1,513.68, being the highest. Section-hands are paid per year from $144.80 to $174.45. A certain sum is allowed all railway employés for clothing, and some are furnished dwellings and servants; but, with the exception of the commission of the ticket-agent and the savings of the engineer and fireman, the salaries given in Table C are not only first class, but are inclusive of all extras of every kind whatever. The ticket-agents, in addition to salary, receive a commission of per cent. on money received by them from the sale of tickets; and if the engineer and fireman run their engine with a less quantity of coal and oil than the government provides, they are allowed for such savings at a certain fixed rate, three-fourths going to the engineer, the other fourth to the fireman. The sum realized from such "savings" is no mean part of these men's earnings, and certainly the arrangement is to be commended on the score of economy. 2. COST AND MANNER OF LIVING IN SAXONY.* Since 1873 the cost of living in this district has increased about 10 per cent., and is now fully as great as in the large cities of the United States. When the price of labor in Saxony is compared with the cost of what may be termed the necessaries of life, one unacquainted with the working classes will naturally wonder how they manage to exist; but to know their habits, see their homes, and behold their spread tables solves the mystery. As the husband's wages are insufficient to support a family, the wife, as also the older children, must contribute a share of the weekly earnings. This is a general rule, and applies to all families whose support is dependent upon labor. The women and children residing immediately south of this city embroider. fancy hosiery or manufacture staple goods upon small hand-looms; those residing in the hilly country, still farther south, make embroideries, laces, fringes, musical goods, &c.; those in this city of the lower classes are glad to obtain any kind of menial employment which will bring them from twenty to twenty-five cents per day. Thus by them are manufactured fully one-half of the * For prices of groceries in June, 1878, see Table D. goods which are exported from this market, and to them a large proportion of the laborers' earnings may be accredited. Plain living is the universal rule in this part of Europe. Very few in this country ever saw such a meal as the hotels of ours furnish daily. To order such an one would astonish the landlord; to pay for it would dumfound the guest. That plain food is healthy no one can doubt after having seen the robust people of Germany. Owing to the demand for hosiery and gloves in America, the makers of such goods are able to earn more and consequently live better than the other working people of this district. The poorer classes in Southern Saxony fare very meanly indeed. For homes, they have generally a single room, which answers for workshop as well. For household furniture, they have a few plain chairs or wooden stools, a table, stove, and sometimes a loom. For beds, they have the bare floor or straw pallets. For fuel, they have the dead branches which fall from the trees, and which are carried by them in their arms from the king's forests. For food, they have black bread made of rye, coffee made principally of chicory, a few boiled potatoes, sometimes a little cheese, butter, or goose grease, and on Sundays a pound of meat for a family of five or six persons. Their clothes are of the coarsest material, and their shoes are generally wooden-soled slippers. If "poor and content is rich," then no others, within my knowledge, can compare in wealth with the poor of this district. They live in villages, and love company. When Sunday or a holiday comes, they meet together at a restaurant, smoke poor tobacco, drink "Einfach" beer, talk, sing, and dance, and are as happy as if they "had a thousand a year." 3. TAXES ASSESSED IN THE CITY OF CHEMNITZ FOR THE YEAR 1878.* By the laws of Saxony a certain sum is named as a "single rate." As many times this single rate is collected each year as the necessities of the Government may require. For the purposes of taxation, individuals and property are divided into classes. There are four taxes levied annually, viz: municipal, royal, taxes on personalty, and taxes on realty. The tax last named is based upon the rental value of the property. Personal property is assessed according to actual value. The municipal and royal taxes are levied upon the income. The law providing for income taxes was made in the interest of the poorer classes: Thus, an income of $100 pays $2.04; $500, $17.46; $1,000, $54; $1,500, $107.14; $2,000, $168.32; $3,000, $251.60, &c. The municipal tax is 143 times the single rate, and is applied as follows: to city uses, to school purposes, to the support of the churches. The royal tax, first collected in 1877, is six times the single rate, and is applied to the uses of the Saxon Government. The personal-property tax is about the same in amount as the royal. It will probably be omitted from the tax-list after next year, and the income taxes correspondingly increased. The real-estate tax is an assessment based upon the rental income of the property charged. The single rate is 3 mills on the dollar. The amount levied for 1878 is 14 times the single rate, or 5 per cent. of the rental income. Realty is classified thus: Class A is property renting for 10 marks ($2.38) or less; class B, 10 to 20 marks, and so on up to 100 marks. After that classes increase by 100 marks each. * See Tables E and F. 4. BUSINESS CUSTOMS IN THE CITY OF CHEMNITZ. In no country is the law of custom more strictly obeyed than in this. For many years past the rich as well as a majority of poor parents have bound their sons to a master to have them taught some trade or business. This custom has become so much a law that places of honor or profit are given to those only who have served this indispensable apprenticeship. At fourteen years of age the youth leaves the common school. If his parents are poor, he is at once articled to a master. If rich, he continues his studies two or three years, and then begins his service. The apprenticeship must end at twenty, for then comes the army, which, if the young man is able to pass an examination in certain branches of education, is for one year only; otherwise for three. If the apprentice has taken a course of studies in the Royal Workmaster's School, his term of apprenticeship is generally for two years; if not, then it is for three or four years, and in some cases even longer. Some apprentices are boarded and clothed by their masters; others are boarded or clothed only. The majority receive nothing whatever, while many pay from $50 to $200 for the privilege of learning certain kinds of business. They cannot be required to work more than ten hours per day, and in all cases must be permitted to attend the schools which are provided for them by the Government. These schools are held two or three evenings each week, but were formerly held on Sundays. Office hours are from 7 to 12 and from 2 to 7. Here it is very common to work on Sundays. Women do light work at home, and usually crochet or knit at Sunday concerts. The butcher-shops and bakeries are open from early morn until 9 o'clock, the hour for church service, has arrived. All business must then be suspended. At 11 o'clock the majority of the stores are opened, and kept open for the remainder of day. Even the workshops are frequently kept busy on Sundays, but leave to operate them must first be obtained from the city authorities. The offices are most plainly furnished. The counter of the leading bank in this city is a rather rough board about 2 feet wide. The bank has no desk for the convenience of its customers, no carpets, no curtains, no ornaments, and although about a dozen clerks are employed, its entire furniture would scarcely cost $500. The cashier is receiving as well as paying teller. No deposit-checks are used, hence when he receives money he at once enters it in two books, the bank's and the depositor's. A check will not be honored unless the dépositor's book is also presented, so that the amount can be entered in it at the time of payment. The bank alluded to is sound, and does a large and extended business. It is one of the most important in this district, and in every respect may be said to fairly represent Chemnitz banks and banking. Loans by banks or private persons usually run from one to five years' time, the interest charged is from 5 to 6 per cent. per annum, and the security required is usually real estate worth from three to four times the amount loaned. Banks allow interest on deposits at the rate of 2 per cent. when subject to check, and at the rate of 3 per cent. when left a certain length of time. Before 1873 long credits were given and bills rendered annually; then money was plentiful, interest low, and chances for speculation numerous. The panic wrought as great a change here as in the United States. The stoppage of trade ruined many and injured all of Saxony's great workshops. Bills were withdrawn, and stocks, which had previously circulated as money, became worthless. As the volume of the circulating medium thus decreased and money became scarcer the rate of interest became higher. To obtain cash, manufacturers gladly sold their goods at greatly reduced rates, and thus was established the present custom of selling at low rates on three months' time, with a small discount for cash. The Saxon exporters deserve great credit for their business enterprise and energetic efforts to secure foreign customers. They now send their goods to every part of the world, and if a new article makes its appearance in any other country, they will duplicate and export it in a very short time, provided they can profit by so doing. Not so much can be said for the other business-men of this district, a large majority of whom contentedly transact their affairs in the same manner as did the generation before them; they sell their wares in the same little shops, office in the same cheerless rooms, sit on the same old chairs, write on the same rude desks, dry their ink with the same abominable sand, pay their debts in the same old-fashioned honest way, and move quietly along, seemingly unconscious of the fact that this is the day of fine offices, bazaars, railroads, telegraphs, and bankruptcies. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Chemnitz, June 19, 1878. N. K. GRIGGS. A.-Wages, per week, in the district of Chemnitz for the years 1873 to 1878. |