during the last few years to ameliorate their condition. Less than four decades ago trade was hemmed in with the most illiberal and absurd restrictions. The producers and others of the most useful classes of society, such as the mechanics, had no liberty of trade. All the trades were divided up into different parts and each mechanic was restricted to a particular branch in the same trade. The law did not permit the man who made the wagon to paint the same; nor could a blacksmith proper shoe a horse, or a cabinet-maker employ a woodcarver, nor the man that shaved you cut your hair. So, too, not until within the same period of time could a Jew remain in the city overnight. They (the Jews) were allowed to enter the gates of the city after the sun was up in the morning. A registry of their names and description of their persons was kept. All were required to leave the city before the going down of the sun, when their names were checked off, and if one was found not to have left, the police were required to hunt him up, and, when caught, he was punished.

In those days the Jews were cruelly denied all privileges. They were not permitted to become merchants or enter the learned professions. They were compelled to learn some trade, although against their natural inclination, and from the labors of which they could scarcely subsist. The result was that, in order to make ends meet, they took to peddling clandestinely, since the laws prohibited their doing even this. Under such circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that they flocked to our hospitable shores by the tens of thousands, and canvassed all our populous States, with their packs upon their backs, where they not only acquired wealth, but came to be recognized as among the very best of our adopted citizens. So, too, in Bavaria, all the barriers have been removed, and to-day, even in old Jew-hating Nuremberg, a Jew can marry a Christian, and the Israelites are not only the leading bankers and merchants, but rank among the first in all the learned professions.

THE ARISTOCRACY OF TRADE.

Among the quaint customs of this people with their industries I have found that certain families have not only conducted their factories and other business for many generations, but have given employment to certain families during the whole time. For instance, one, two, or three hundred years ago the family of Sachs were distinguished as manufactur ers of Dutch-metal or as goldbeaters, and at the commencement had in their employ certain workmen by name of Schmidt. To-day the same business is conducted upon the same spot and by the descendants of the family Sachs, and to be found among the employés are descendants of the family Schmidt; and I am told that such circumstances are by no means infrequent. It is interesting to know that time and circumstances have created hereditary interests and labor rights, so to speak, between these families. At any rate, the family Sachs feel in duty bound to give employment to the family Schmidt before employing outsiders; and, per haps, they pay them a little more and give them certain privileges or perquisites, such as their fathers may have received before them. On the other hand, the Schmidts prefer to follow the well-beaten track of their ancestors, and, possibly, would prefer to work for the house of Sachs for a little less than for other people. When capital and labor blend together by the ties of age and mutual interest, the relations of em ployer and employé are more than interesting. On the one side the manufacturer shows a friendly interest not only in the workman personally, but in all his affairs, such as the personal comfort of his family,

the education of his children, &c.; on the other, the laborer evinces a reciprocal interest in the welfare and prosperity of his principal, as well as a proper appreciation of the dignity of labor. Should it become necessary to reduce the hands, as now is the case, those that have the least claim upon the firm are first dispensed with, and sometimes even they receive some slight assistance, and are encouraged with the promise that so soon as times improve they shall be the first employed.

This class of laborers feel themselves above the common herd, who cannot show so long a pedigree. The noble families, of course, affect to look with disdain upon all producers; and, strange as it may seem, there is no class of laborers in the cities but have a contempt for the farmer, or man that tills the soil; the word "bauer" (farmer) being a word of reproach. Perhaps it may be owing partly to the fact that the peasant farmers have been always treated like stupid creatures, and have lived such ambitionless lives for so long a period as to have degenerated them into a very inferior class of human beings, as they really seem to be. However, a few years' residence among the more intelligent, spirited, and thrifty farmers of the United States produces a marvelous change for the better with this class.

As may be well supposed, this class of high-toned employers and employed look wich unfriendly eyes upon all laborers not to the Nuremberg manor born. This is especially so respecting the foreigner in the persons of German-American citizens who may have become so reduced while temporarily visiting their fatherland as to be obliged to seek work here, as I personally know from having interested myself in behalf of some such unfortunates.

THE HOUSE OF FABER & CO.

Adverting once more to the mutual interest existing among some of the old capitalists and employés, wherein the hapiness and general welfare is studied by both parties, thereby explaining the absence of all discontent and the presence of harmony, sympathy, and good feeling, I will mention that the world-renowned A. W. Faber Pencil Company is located and originated at Stein, in this neighborhood; the head of the present firm being Lothar von Faber, who succeeded his father, A. W. Faber, in the year 1839.

From a very small beginning the present Mr. Faber has, with the assistance of his brothers (John at Stein and Eberhard at New York), built up an immense business, having two large factories in Bavaria and one in New York.

In each of the factories here several huudred men and women are employed, each hand having their daily piece-work, or "stint." Whenever it is possible, the work is paid by piece.

The Messrs. Faber are distinguished for their philanthropy and for their close attention to the moral and physical welfare of their employés. At their own expense they have established schools and kindergartens, built churches, founded libraries, archer clubs, and other games of recreation for the improvement and amusement of their workmen. The Messrs. Faber evince a most commendable interest in the temporal wants and necessities of their employés, having adopted the union or corporation system for their laborers.

All the actual necessaries of life are purchased by the firm by the wholesale, and the employés can obtain their meat, groceries, vegetables, &c., at wholesale cost prices (same as our Army officers can obtain

their supplies from the commissary), care being taken that no unhealthy food is furnished to them, and their sanitary condition closely watched. These workmen have stronger inducements for saving their wages than their fellows elsewhere in Bavaria; for the Messrs. Faber sell them small parcels of land and build houses for them, giving them a term of years to make their payments, charging 4 per cent. for money on mortgage. Also, they established a savings-bank for their hands, which at present contains $42,000 of the laborers' money; and a hospital, which is sup ported by allotment from the weekly wages of all the workmen as a reserve or hospital fund; so that, if any of the hands become disabled, their pay goes on, and when old age overtakes them they can rely upon a small pension. In other ways there is evidence of mutual respect and sympathy between this firm and their workmen. When the present company took the establishment, they adopted for their motto the irresistible device, "Truth, Respectability, Industry." Their well-earned fame, both at home and abroad, redounds to the honor of Bavarian industry.

I may mention that a large proportion of the graphite, or black lead, used by the Messrs. Faber comes from the summit of the mountain of Batougal, Eastern Siberia, which now on the Russian maps of the country is designated by the name of Alibertsberg, in honorable remembrance of the discoverer of the black-lead mine. The Fabers have a complete monopoly of this mine, by contract made in 1856, "now and for all time." The cedar-wood used for the pencils, not only by the company Faber, but by all of the many other pencil manufacturers of this neigh borhood, comes from our Florida swamps. After being thoroughly dried, it is brought to the importers here, who sell it by the hundred-weight, many thousand hundred-weight being yearly consumed. The export of the world-renowned Faber pencil to the United States has fallen off very largely, now that the firm manufacture extensively in the United States. Also the justly-celebrated "Eagle" pencil, which was formerly made at Fürth, in this consulate, is now manufactured in New York.

I do not know of any other establishments here conducted upon the same plan of the Messrs. Faber, but I have referred to this one at such length as one, in my judgment, worthy of imitation wherever labor and capital are brought into contact. Indeed, this principle and practice seems to be the best solution of the labor question. It shows how labor and capital can best harmonize. Under such arrangements it is quite impossible for such pernicious characters as the destructive "strikers" and lazy "tramps" to exist. With such model regulations, there evidently must be mutual sympathy and interest between employer and employed. And when such harmony exists, there can be no antagonism between those who should be partners.

INDUSTRIAL MUSEUMS.

In connection with the question of labor, I think it pertinent to refer to the Gewerbe (industrial) museums as promoters of science, literature, and the arts.

While the magnificent display made by our inventors and manufac turers at the late Philadelphia and Paris Expositions called forth loud praise from the industrial critics of the old European countries, the same critics were compelled to declare that our exhibits were conspicuous for the absence of works of high art. But, at the same time, they have admitted that, since the taste and spirit for art requires age and much study, in time our people will not be behind the older nations even in

this evidence of culture and refinement. I may state that in all of the manufacturing centers of Europe the industrial museums are regarded indispensable adjuncts to the development and improvement of mechanical skill, and I believe these institutions, unlike our mechanical institutes, are all under the fostering care of the different governments.

As may be well supposed, the Gewerbe Museum of Nuremberg is one worthy of the city that in earlier times produced such eminent artists as Albrecht Dürer, Adam Kucht, Peter Vischer, and their contempora ries of the medieval age. The rapid development of the industries, especially since the first International Exhibition at London, has made it evident that an education beyond the apprenticeship in the workshop is indispensable for the artificer, and industrial museums have proved to be the most effectual means for this purpose.

The South Kensington Museum, in London, may be designated as the prototype of all such institutions. In their collections they furnish the artificer a select number of ready-made articles of all imaginable materials, such as textile fabrics, tapestries, books, book-bindings, works of graphic art, of decorative painting, glass and earthen ware, works in stone, wood, and metal, which can by form, style, and other qualities be assigned as models, and ought to show the inquirer "how to do."

For this purpose it is a matter of indifference from what time or country the objects originated. But since a great many articles cannot be procured in originals because they are too rare or too expensive, drawings of these are collected, which form a so-called "Collecton of models," while the collection of original articles is designated "Collection of samples."

A library in which the literary material regarding the works of arts, inventions, and general industry can be found belongs to the museum as a necessary supplement thereto.

To guide the public in the use of these departments and to furnish information in technical, commercial and juridical matters and questions, a "Bureau of information" is attached to the same, and to facilitate the use of the "Collection of models" a "Drawing-room" is opened; also a "Reading-room" is connected with the library.

These arrangements in the museum proper are used by the artisans in the manner that blacksmiths, joiners, architects, sculptors, bookbinders, engravers, metal and earthenware manufacturers, come to seek technical and artistical advice for the works ordered of them by the public, to make drawings and take notes, so as to give their executions tasteful forms in addition to reliable workmanship. Young men can, under the guidance of professionals, practice drawing from models, samples, or nature. Weekly public lectures, by professors of the museum, treat on the historical, technical, or scientific part of industry. To stimulate industries, a permanent exhibition of modern productions is estab lished, and ready to receive from local and foreign manufacturers such works as are worthy of being exhibited.

Besides these institutions, which at certain hours of the day and evening are open to the public free of charge, exhibitions and lectures are held at stated times in other neighboring cities, in order to instruct those who cannot be at the seat of the museum so as to partake in its benefits. The influence of those industrial museums cannot naturally show itself immediately, but requires some time and a generous outlay of money to make itself felt. Only such artisans will visit the museum as have an earnest desire to improve their manufactures. Only by the advantages realized by these will it be likely that the others, indifferent and unambitious manufacturers, will be obliged to avail themselves of the same privileges if they would not be left far behind.

In countries like England, France, and Austria, where such institu tions have also existed for some time, their influence is acknowledged and generally apparent. The prominent position held in the markets of the world by the industrial productions of these countries, especially by the works of art-industry, is due, in no small degree, to the influence of the industrial museums, the foster-mothers of technical and artistical education. JAMES M. WILSON.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Nuremberg, October 15, 1878.

BREMEN.

Report, by Consul King on the (1) rates of wages; (2) cost of living; (3) past and present rates; (4) present condition of trade; (5) specie and paper money; (6) the habits and customs; for the district of Bremen.

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department Circular dated April 11, 1878.

During my absence on leave, Mr. Gruner, vice-consul, collected the following information, which I now beg leave to lay before the Department by way of compliance with instructions contained in said circular. I have numbered the answers to correspond with the questions in the circular:

Unmarried men, about $1.92 per week; families, consisting of husband, wife, and three children, from $3.60 to $4.32 weekly.

In order to make life at this rate possible, women in the country raise their own garden produce and, when they can, work in the fields. In town the women keep small shops, peddle fish or fruit, knit, wash, scrub, or sew.