Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 21, 1886, Page 1

IXTEENTH YEAR. AMONG THE LOWLY. Visits Among Old World Artisans and Talks About Their Conditions SCENES IN LONDON TENEMENTS. Bricklayers Tell Discouraging Tales of Their Work and Their Wages. SIMILAR SIGHTS IN PARIS. Less Respectability Shown by the Workers at the Capital of France, THE GERMAN LABORER'S LOT. Efforts of the Trades Unions to Ameliorate the Wage Worker's Condition. WHAT THE MEN HAVE TO SAY. Btrikes Dying Out But Employes Unable to Save Their Earnings, A PARIS MURDER MYSTERY, The Body of a Beantiful Blonde Found in a Decomposed Condition, LORD'S LITTLE Knooked Out Both By Brandy and the Right Arm of a Royal Qompanion. A EPISODE. EASTERN AFFAIRS YET UNSOLVED A Scheme For Augmenting the Ger- man Army By an Addition of 25,000 Me News About Well Known Americans in Paris— European Happenings. Visits With London Tradesmen, (Copyright 1886 by James Gordon Bennett.] LoxpoN, Nov. 20.—[New York Herald Cable.—3pecial Telegram to the Brz.|—The Jjourneymen bricklayers of London complain f about their position and prosp le is stagnant, and for what worX there is, erowds of country mechanics, driven by poverty from the provinces, compete des perately ith the eity workmen. London is already overbuilt, so that special building has almost ceased. The rather unusual number of large buildings now going up might serve to support in some comfort the regular city supply of brlckinyeis, until a revival ot the building trade in the provinces draws back Into the country the bricklayers who have come to seck their fortunes in Loudon, both workmen and masters agree there is lit- tle hope of bettering the precarious condition of the city tradesmen. The trouble is not so much bad pay or long hours, but rather lack of employment. All the London bricklayers are paid by the hour. The gen- eral rate is nine-pence (about 18 cents) an_ hour. In some cases the rate i8 714 to 8 pence, but this is only by the small builders, The working hours are, by the trade rule, fifty-two and a half a week in summer and forty-seven in winter. Some builders, however, work their men from fifty- ¢ to sixty hours per week. Bricklayers, fully emploved, work, therefore, nine and a half to tenand a half hours a day for $10 to $12a week, with a half holiday on Saturday. MEIR SOCIAL CONDITIO! I can best givean idea of the social condi- tion of London bricklayers by describing the homes and lives of their tamilies from amonz many 1 visited and talked with dur- ing the past week, S— B—, of Tower street, Lambeth district, is an excellent workman with considerable education, andewho has been more than usually successtul in obtain- ing work. He has no ehildren at Lome to support and educate, and his wife is a neat and encrgetic woman, Tower street, by the way, Is one of the many similar suburban streets which compose the resident quarters of the mechanie class, and is lined with low, three-story brick houses, two rooms deep. The street is muddy, narrow and crowded with ragged children. In each house live two to four tawilies, In the third story of one of these houses I found Mrs. B, await- Ing hier husband’s return from work. They live, ook, eatand sleep in a single very mod- erate-sized room. Nevertheless all was neat and cosy. A bright fire burned in a small open grate, over which all the family cook: ing is done. A swall, round table, coverea with oilcloth, stood near the fire, and photo- graphs and cheap pictures were on the walls ‘Two cupboards held elothes and dishes, and otlier elothes were hung back of the door, A bad stood i one corner. About 6 o'elock B.returned. A tall, strong man, past middle age, sufticlently educated to be secretary and wreasurer of the local branch of the Brick- layers'union, A bucket of water in the hall sorved as a lavatory to enable him to get oft the dust of Lis day’s work; then a puir of shippers and supper, during which I asked about his daily life, A WORKMAN'S Srony, He said: *“1getupat halt past 4 beeanso I am foreed to walk three and a half wiles to work, Before starting,] make & cup of tea for myself, working from 6 to 8, [ have half an hour, during which I get my break- fast at a coffee shop—iea 2 pence, bread I have carried with me, and perhaps bacon or egys. 12 1 bave an Lour for dinner and ket, usnally, a good make-shift dwner for 7 penee at the coffee house--that is, meat, roast or broiled, with vezetables and by Su per s at 6, as you see—tea, bread, perhu some relish, My wife lives much the same, She gets along very well except when ill, Then she must be alone, without atten- dance all day, while I work, She does no - work beyond houselold mat- ters, My son is a bricklayer. Lon- don architects object to apprentices, 0 he learned his trade in the country, i amomuch wore fortunate than wost brie! layers. 1 have Inside work, which enables me to make full tinie and wages. 1 was out ot woik fitteen weeks last spring, but eyen this is doing better than mast weehunics. A brieklayer s Iucky it he obtuins 160 d work anuvally, NO SAVINGS MADE, “Noi T have made no savings during n You see, we live in one reom, but i pay hlllings and 6 pence a week forit. 1 do not wean Lo starve myselt in order that land Jords way bave txurie: “Yeg,” broke in his wife Iy down stairs that huve lived in this house Shirty-six y Ihe nian is pow out ot - The landlord suddenly raise! the rent K | workin there is a fam- | by half a ecrown a week, ily to leave their old lmmg{' “Yes,” continucd B., 1 might perhaps little, not much though. It took me seven months to pay debts 1 incurred when 1ast ont of work, Then wmy mother-in-law and my own tather are helpless and need all I can spare. My brother has just broken his teg, He belped me and I must help him, How can 1 save out of £2 a week, With vride L educated my boy at a private school, paying 6 pence a week, That's the only in- vestment [ ever made. [ go to the the- atre twice a month, Al my other evenings [ spend doing needle work. Trade is very bad ~so bad that 130 members outof 183 in my branch of the bricklayers’ union have forfeited their society insurance through in- ability to nay their dues. TIOUSANDS OF MEN UNEMPLOYED. here are about 25,000 bricklavers in Lon donland I think it would be easy to find 10,000 unemployed, Hundreds apply for work where one or two are wanted.” Mrs. B., with evident pride, brought out her husband’s needle work, and explained that he won many medals at the exhibitions, and at one he had sold a quilt for €30, His test work is a quilt, with silk woven por- traits of all the royal family, made 10 honor of Queen Victoria's jubilee, OUT-DOOR INTERVIEWS, Outside the Victoria coff vern, com monly called the “Vie™ by the famitiar resi- dents, I found, in spite of the cold and wet evening, a gronp of gaunt, out-of-elbows men. There was a tremendous cagerness in the quick response made by halt a dozen men to my inquiries for bricklaye selected a sober, intelligent mecha ni merly treasurer of a branch of the Brick la; union, J— A—, of King street, Lambeth, He had had only thirteen weeks' work Jduring the past year, Ithough still an active, hard worker, his age, sixty-three years, gives younger men a better chance than he of obtaining work, Hishome is a single small room on the ground floor, I found his wife sitting hungry and erying before a small fire. The only furniture was a narrow deal table and two broken chairs, A pile of old clothes refused by the pawnbroker lay on the floor and served forabed. A mason’s trowel and a writ of ejectment for nonpayment of rent completed the list of articles in the room. The fire was from a penny worth of coal given by a friend. e woman was of the New England type of angularity and neatness. The boards of the floor were serubbed white, and a few chean unsaleable pictures were pinned to the walls. READY FOR THE WORKHOUSE. He said: "I suppose we must go to-morrow to the workhouse where we shall be separated from each other. We had seven children, butsix are dead. The other, a girl, is mar- ried outside of London, but is unable to help us. We never could save much. Eent, food, and clothes for the children took all we could earn when in work. Lam able and anxious to work. My wifeis the same.” “Yes,” the wife broke In, “I worked last summer at Blackwell’s pickle factory. 1 could enrns fwenty-five cents a day paring apples, but the seaswi is over.” ‘The husband remarked: 'an earn week bricklaying it someone would give work, There are many mechanies as badly off as Lam. It's hard enough merely (o live; saving Is impossible.” AN AVERAGE WORKMAN'S T I next saw G—— P—, of Webber Wad, Southwark, who is a fair average specimen of the more fortunate London bricklayers. Ile rents a two story, six-room house for 125 10d per week, and then sublets two furmshed rooms for ‘The parlor is rather shabbily furnished with a bureau, two tables, seve pictures and even some stuffed birds, He married and has six children. The eldest girl, twenty-two, is a confeetioner’s assistant. She works from 9 till 8, lives at home, and vs 7s a week board. The second girl is a bookfolder, and has elev howrs” work ly. She earns from 3s to 15s per week, A boy, eighteen, is a wiremaker's apprentice and earns 11s weekly. He is not a bricklayer's apprentice, because his father thinks his own trade is the worst in London, All the children were educated at the national schools, The hours, work and food are the same exactly as in the first case, except that by overwork he now earns £2 3s per week instead of the reg- ular £1 18s. e has had only nineand a half month’s work in the last twelve, but thinks himself lucky to get this much, He is a tectotaler, never goes to theaters, has no amusements except horse car rides to the s on holidays: nevertheless, he has never aved anything, but, on the contrary, has been foreed to spena all he earned and then not have enough. Onee, before his ma riage, he saved £18, but it was all spent in a mily illness, Ile does not know a journey- wan bricklayer in London, who, ever saved §500, THE CONCLUSIONS REACHED, From this and many other ecases 1 judge London bricklayers work rather short hou at fair pay, but that the uncertainty regarding work, and the long periods of idleness, effec ually prevent saving. There scems to be lit- tle or no soeial life. The lack of money pre- vents amusement or exeursions. Before marriage, sober young men are willing to forego all pleasure that they may save a few pounds for marriage. The utmost trifle hardly makes saving a possibility. No pro- vision |s de for old age, and the work- house is regarded by many as the only refuge for the average journeyman if he lives longer than he can work. The workhouse is hated, however, that bricklaye dustrial dwellings because workhouses, s such, 50 s avoid the in- ley look like TIE UNION MEN, Of 25,000 brieklayers in London 24,000 be long to the Operative Bricklayer's society, formeda to control wages and insure its mem- bers ugainst ilines ek of work and pauper burial. The society has its log work bridee road, and has § It grants 12s per week for sick benetit, burial benefit, and 1s per day to members seeking work, The superannuated benefit varies from 4s to ds per week. Another trade soclety has at present only elghteen mem- bors, The bricklayers also belong to such benelit soeleties as the Odd Fellows, ete,: hat, asa rule, make no provision for the future beyond membership in some Christmas club, which distributes all its funds in time for the holiday dinner. NO RECENT STRIKES, ere has been no geaeral sirikes sinee , but the emplozes confess that the nd- from 7 pence to 9 pence, Pnts, short hours ete, are due ina great measure to these strikes in the past. Strikes seem to have temporarily de- pressed the bailding trade, but have made no lasting feud between master and men. lu fact,most of the nen told we frankly that e wasters were making little they thongh money, anddid not biame them for 15 vance of wazes weekly p h The Workmen of Paris, i s Gord unett.) Panis, Nov INew York Herald Cable Special toike Bek.)--For the pastfweek 1 ave been living with the bricklayers and sons of Paris—baen with them at at their lodgings, eaten with with them, and attendod their 1 for this. purpose to wear a 1 to all cotward appearance oot work, ‘The Patisian wa- their work, thew, drank weet'ngs, obli; blouse and beeo a4 workuen ¢ e forced the fam- ! sons look like walking meal bags in their white blouse and trousers. They are so sat- urated with the dust of the limestone with which they work that white clouds emenate from them in suffocating puffs at the slight- est provocation. In Paris hardly any houses are built of vrick, and tae total number of bricklayers is less than 400, But the class that correspond with the bricklayers of New York and London are the masons, and to them 1 have devoted my researches. There are in round numbers to-day in Paris 40,000 work- ing masons, Of these, at least 15,000 come from Limage and the province of Haute Vienna, and 8,000 are Italians, mostly from Piedmont. Among the Parisian working masons I have found many half-educated, highly intelligent wmen, such as Mm. Bontet, Caucalon, Roob, Chancelet,Santreau, Port, ITault, Obey and Blanchet. They live in elean, comfortable lodgings, near the Hotel de Ville, They are ideal Parisian artisans, but the majority of masonsare far below all other workingmen in Paris for industry and morality. The police statisties show that of every 5,000 arrests made in Paris, on an aver- age, 100 are masons. INTERVIEWING A WORKER, The followinga interview with M. Bontet, who lives at No. 15 rue Oblizgado gives the best insight into the life and social conditic of the masons that possibly can be obtaine M. Bontet's facts and figures I have verlfied by interviews with upwards of fifty masons and members of the municipal councils ot Paris, including Citoyen, Joffrin and 1 Brous: and also by researches at the Masons’ Syndicate of Paris. M. B.is u slight built, lithe, but muscular man, about thirty- two years of age, with a_ bright, fresh count- enance, intelligent dark eyes, He is hand- some and eloquent. and was recently elected by the working masons a member of the Masons’ Syndicate, He enjoys great influ- ence with his colleagues, I asked him: “What is a mason’s pay for a day’s work?" M. Bontet—The average is 8 franes for the very best workmen, and 5f. for as- sistant and green hands. But, as the length of a day’s work often varies, the pay s usu- ally based on so much per hour. The aver- age work day is ten hours in summer and nine hours in winter, but some bosses may make men work twelve hour The pay per hour for the best workmen is from 60 to 75 centimes: for raw hands and assistants, 40 to 45 centimes usually. The Italians are willing to work twelve hours a day. Masons get up at 4 o'clock in summer and at half-past 5in winter. They usually go to bed about 9 or 10, Correspondent—How often does pay day come? M. Bontet—The first Saturday of each month for the best workmen, but small sums are given on account every Wednesday and Saturday. The masons’ assistants—garcon macons —are always paid every day. Correspondent—What is_about the aver number of days’ work in the year? M. Bontet—There is no work for masons during tne three winter months. The most industrious workmen cannot get more than 250 day’s work in the year. At present there is a severe crisis, and over one-third of the masons of Paris are without any wor 1. Correspondent—\What aid or co-operative societies are there among masons ? M. ng masons, who are elect : workmen, The Union Syn- all complaints are v sidered and discusse are kept up as far the masons to live where, in short, everything tonching their welrare is studied and discussed- ‘I'here is also a masons’ savings bank whieh also insures masons against accidents. This is supported by the tetention of one son a day fromall masons in active work. This in- stitution provided half pay for six montns to masons out of work, and pays to a mason wholoses aleg oranarm a round sum of 600f, and pays 1,000f to the widow or heirs in case of a fatal accident happeningin the performance of daily wor There is also an institution for mutual known as the Union des Macons, but unfortunately, more bosses than workmen belong to this, and it Is a failureas far as any good to the workimen is concerned. Correspondent—How much ean an indus- trious, skilled mason manage to put aside from his carnings? M. Bontet—A mason, not encumbered with a wife and family, can, with the strictest economy, put aside S0f per month. But about half the masons have wives, and sometimes they permit themselves the luxury of one or even two children. In such cases not only are there no savings, but it is barely possible to make both ends meet. Take, for instance, a first-class mason with a wife and child, He cannot live on less than 6f a day—that is to 100 for 585 days. But striking out the winter and the holidays, he cannot work over 250 days, which at Sf per day would be 2,000£. ‘I'bus under the most favorable con- ditions the budget of this houseliold balances with a defieit of 190f, Correspondent—When they have the sav- ings, what do they do with them? Mr. Bontet—Scnd them to their families or put them in the Caisse 4 Epargne, Correspondent—In what part of Paris do the masons generally live? Mr. Bontet—In the fourth, fifth and seven- teenth arrondissements—that is to say, in the heart of the city, near the Hotel d” Vilie and at Batignolles, to the north of the pare Mon- ceau, where somuch building has been going on during the past ten years. They usually live in unfurnished lodgings composed of a single room, in which the mason, his wife and children, and often their relations, sleep together pell mell. ‘The rent of such a room 1s from 1801 to 200 per year. The furniture consists of one or two beds, a table and a few cha The unmarried n or those whose families live country, live in garnis—{furnished lodging houses— where they get a bowl of soup in the morn- ing. They sleep two in a bed and often there are five or six beds 1n the same room, For the bed and soup they pay 9f per month, They buy their own bread and salad, for which they pay 2 sous a day, They eat din- ner at noon at some marchard de vin, nearthe building upon which they happen to be woirking, They eat boiled beef and vege- ables, with: plenty of garlicand a pint of sour o0 wine. This dinner costs about 1'4f. Correspondent—low do the wives masons live? M. Bontet, le the oposals con. d, and by which sa possible so as to & ke human bein of They work also at whatever have learned, except where there are many children, in which case they cook and take eare of tie household. Many of them ads that go inside lime or pota- mdustrious of the wives sous a day, ndent—Are strikes frequent? ntet—No; principally because we Lave workimen of so wany different nationa itics, who cligue together and prevent any solidity, Italians and Binoussins come ore, and when they nave seraped together 2901 they go home again. If a strike of the masons should take place it would be very serious, as it would throw out of work the carpenters, painters, plumbers, glaziors, plasterers, paper hangers, and numerous other - classes of workmen whose work cannct begin until the mason work i fmished.. ‘Tlie last important strike of the 1l the inost a OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, masons oceurred in 1948 when Martin Na- daud, then a mason, but now a deputy, per- go out to the forest of Fontainebleau to live. They had a grand picnic for a week, but when the food gave out they all walked back to Paris and went to work again, tion of the trade M. Bontet—Vety bad. There has been far too much building going on during the last ten years, This attracted from Italy and the proyinces more masons ihan were needed, and the price of food and living in Parls grows dearer and dearcr every year, A slaughtered ox in 1847 cost 230f, v it eosts 450, Other things have risen in proportion, but the most mischevious thing in the trade is a class of middle men, who have sprung up everywhere and prey upon the workmen like parasites. They are known as tacherons or taskmasters, They are mere adventurers, in general without a sou. “These vultures go to large contractors and offer them so many hands at a certain rate per day. They then rake together from all corners of Paris gangs of men whom they make work like slaves, The taclerons secure a percentage of the wages for supplying the workmen with work and get a commission from the contractors for finding the workmen. They sometimes run off with all the wages. They are a jer fect curse to everybodv they come in contact with. Correspondent—Iow do the masses amuse themselves? Mr. Bontet—They very Saturday Sunday and often Mouday in drinking shops, eatine clierries and prunes soaked in bad brandy. A small minority amuse themsel with nolities and soeialisn, espondent—What is their religion? Bontet—A few are Catholics, but the most of them have no religion. AT THE LODGINGS, A page of the Herald wonld be too small to contain even a summarized description of the masons’ lodgirgs that I visited during the past week in rue de I'Hoter de Vifle, rue Figuire, empase Guepin, rue Prevot, rue de Fourcey. rue Charlmagne, rue de Jong and Batignolles. 1 will give merely a deseription of the lodgings No. 28 rue Figuire, near the hotel de Ville. 1t was 8 o’clock in the even- ing. In the front rooma great fat woman with ophthalinie eyes, was dealing out wine, bad brandy and vermeuth to a very thirsty and very noisy crowd of masons returned from work, and just paid off. Every drink cost 3 sous, TPassing through this room 1 entered a poorly lighted back room, with a stone floor and wooden tables and rickety chairs filled with masons eating renmants of a ‘‘pot feu”—cabbages, votatoes, onions, garlic—also salad and cheese, and drinking pints of red wine. After eating they pulled a bundle of Car- poral tobacea out ;of their pockets to roll cizarettes. 1 offéred some of them a handful of very fine Russiam cigarattes that a friend had just sent from St Peterbuig, They smoked them, but shook their heads and said they liked the Carppral better. 1 then went up a break-neck staircage—the house was at least three hundredyears old—and looked at the bedrooms. The first one I entered was about four paces square, with a stone floor, nd was eight feet high, There were plenty of cockroie hes in the corner and there was scareely space to 1k about, as the room contained five iron beds, almost touching ch other. My eormpanion, whose name as Poirier, a young Ygarcon macon,” said: “That’s my bédy the halt fof it nearest the wallis my part. The {all man with the rd has the other half,” T asic 11 the beds occupied He replled: *Yes—=iwo sleeping in each bed.” The beds had straw mattresses and bre woolen blankets and straw pillows. There were shelv all round the walls for tools nd clothing. In a corner was one small table and on it a basin, about the size of a large tinger bow!, a stone basin of water and some pieces of yellow soap, some about the si fa whist counter, some dirty towels be- side it,and a broken looking glass was nailed to the wall. 'Chese must serve for the morn- ing wash of ten men, On the table also stood an empty brandy bottle with balfot a tallow candle stuck in the neck. The only means for ventilation W one small window, opening on the alleyway, reeking indescribable smells, 1 entered another small room, which served as lodgings for a mason, his wife and four children, aged six- teen, fifteen, twelve and eight, the two younger being girls, ‘This room had only three beds. Returningto the eating room I found the men sucking away at cherries ed in brandy and smoking cigarettes. : or four were playing dominoes, and one old man in a corner was reading the Petit Journal. 1 treated my companion, Poirier, to a glass of cognac. It tasted like alcohol and water, with a slight tinge of to- baceo juice to give the right color. Looking around the house, I espied Mme Jane Hading m a delicious toilet of Danish red cloth, the rage here, open vest and eream waist-coat, a bonnet of cloth to mateh, pinked out at the edges and borders with as- trakhan. DOWN ON THE BOSSES, 1 asked a good natured lookinz mason in a white blouse and red turkish fe; How do yoil get on with the bosses?” I1e shrugged his shoulders, gave a huge pufy of tobacco smoke, and said “I'hey are all cawardly scoundrels, steal right and left, They are arace of de- vourers of the world, They are a debauched lace des manguers de la wonde; tous mon- sters. They are canaille,” JATE THE ITALIANS, On my way home L met in the rue Charle- gangz of Italian masons. Bear in the Italian workmen are almost as much hated vy the Parisian workmen as the Chinese in California and for the same rea- son. They live cheap, work twelve or any number of bours a day, and e competi- tion ruinous, and when they get about i francs they go home acain, This gang of Italians were half drunk and very boisterous. ‘They were shouting and singing asong which began, “Santa Maria, Santa Maria,” 1 asked ayounz Parisian mason who was leaning against a lamp post, lauzhing at them: *What are those Italians going to do” He replied: *Ihey go about singing and howling at nizht They are going 1o eat an olive and & pieee of macesroni, and take the bread right out of our mouths. If we intel fere with them they stab you in the stomach with knives,” 1 did not questien the Italians, but pur- sucd wmy researches elsew here, Labor's Condivon in Berlin, rdon Bennell.) ew York Herald Bre, = “Above all, 15, was the advie or you will have an They the given me on my 4 ugly time of 1t.” began my investigagions of (he condition of labor in Berlin, The majority ot Berlin workmen are open soeialists, but only a small section are organized alists, while a smaller but iterestjng faction, though they aiw at soclal reforms, are distinetly anti-so- cialist ermany to-day has 11,000,000 work- ingmen, women and children struggling or longing to iwmprove thewr not over- blisstul condition, Of this enonnous mass - lardly 0,000 are organizé | Burely half of these are, or were, affilinted suaded all the masons to knock off work and | Correspondent—What is the present condi- | Cheered by this prospeet, 1 | NOVEMBER 21. 1856—~TWELVE PAGES. with socialist societies, marck t lively interest in German workmen, but rules them with a rod of fron. The only labor or- ganizations not regarde.l as nuisances are the Roseenthaler Labor unions, started in 108 by two earnest reformers, Dr. Max Hirsch and Herr Duncker, and known as Hirsch- Dunckers, or the Deutsch Gewerkvereine Their objects are strictly economical. Their programme exeludes religion and politics, They aim at a friendly conciliation of the interests of labor and capital, and now, after eighteen years' existence, muster over 55,000 members. Herr Duncker, who was formerly editor of the Volks Zeitung, retired from the active contro! of the Gowerk- vereine, but Dr. Hirseh still zuides the move- ment. Nobody in Berlin probably knows more of the labor question, or the difficaltics which beset the independent reformers, Ihe other night I accompanied Dr. Hirseh and Herr Polke, his alter ego, to & meeting of the seventeen associations forming the Ver- bande der Gowerkvereine, or Amalzamated German trades union AT A UNION MEETI About 9 o'clock we were ushered into a long, dark bier halle on the first floor of a house on the Alte Jacob strasse. The room was simply furnished with a few deal chairs, benches and tables, at which about twenty deleates were seated smoking pipes and drinking lage glasses of Weiss beer of spaten bran. All the delegates seemed in- telligent and thoughtful men, They all wore broad cloth, but all were bona fide workmen. Herr Polke explained to me that the delegates were'elected by their respective constituencies for an indefinite time. Some have acted for ten or twelve vears. Each represents agroup of about 5,000 amalgamated work- men. Meetings are held every fortnight. T'he proceedings on the night I made my visit were uninteresting, but 1 was struck by the sobriety, moderation and fluency of the speakers. Among the silent men IHans Sachs, the pack shoemaker. ‘The lion’s share of the talking was done by Dr. Hirsch, Herr Polke and Herr Mauch, the secretary of the important machine builders’ union, which musters 17,000 members. LABOR LEADER'S TALK. After the meeting I interviewed Herr Mauch at a neighboring beer house. *“I'he labor movement in Germany,” said he, *‘is still in its infanev. Onlyabout five thousand Berlin workmen belong to our verbande. As for e, though secretary of our largest g werkverein, compared to a man in a similar position in England, why, 1 am nobody, and with a sigh Herr Mauch d for noch ein gla: Next day | interviewed Herr Polke at the oftice of Der Gewerkverein, the organ_of the 8 n trades union, in regard to the pur- pose and methads of the Hirseh and Duncker movement. *“What is your chief object?” aid L “We wish to conciliate the rival interest of the employed and the employers,” said Herr Polke. “D oyeu advocate the participation of work- meni in the profits?” “No: that is not yet man Do you approve of strikes , we are dead against Wethink, as the statutes of our a sociation express it, that wages should be sufficient to waintain workmen and their fanlier decently and assure them against the misfortune attendant on inability to work. But we start with the idea that strikes bring no lasting benefit and serve to embitter the relations of the men with the masters,” “How do youhope to effect your object then, which, presumably, is the improvement of the position of the workingmer “We work on friendly lines,” taking the English trades unions as our models, We have found unprejudiced geeiniquugs aemeter, representing both men and the masters, whose mission it 1s to prevent strikes. ‘Through them the men and masters fix the wages for a certain time at a certuin rate, varying with circumstances. While the agreement lasts the masters have noneed to fear strikes, while the ‘workmen have no fear of reductions of wages. If either party wishes a modification ot the covenant it must apply to the geeiniqungs aemeter, who discuss the matter. Thus the men and mas- ters are drawn together and ill feeling greatly lessened.” 1 ou no strike: “Very few. Of 203 strikes recoraed within the last live years and over, gewerkverein only took part in three. 'The chief of these was the great Waldenburger strike, 1t oc- curred in 1569, and arose from the mine owners of Waldenburg in Schlesein disput- ing the undoubted legal right estab- lished by paragraph 1 of the reichswerle ardnung of workmen to unite for the improvement of the condi- tions of labor. It lasted six weeks, Public opinion and the opinion of muny members of the reichstag was our favor. We sacrificed 120,000 waiks in supporting the stuke. But among the mine owners was Prinee Von Pless, the miltionaire. 1le could afford to wait, and in the end the longest purse won, The work- men were beaten, but strangely enough, in this case the strike rather improved the rela tions of the men and masters. Since then our vereine have ha strikes. Those or- ganized by the machine builders and porce- lain makers gave no particular results, In 1877 there was another gr ce of socialist and non-socialist workmen, which was tinally ended through Dr, Hirseh by weans of a geeinigungsan S0, you sce, we are not mere theo Often, too, rather than risk a struggle with a powerful verein, the masters voluntarily grant the desired rise of wages, Moieover, to show you how moder- ate we are, several immensely wealthy man- ufacturers and capitalists are honorary men bers of our societies, Awmong them are Hery Wiedermann, of Apolda, near Weimar, aud Herr Pauksch, the great Landsberg iron master.” “Lyidently your system is very different from that of the socialists or social demo- considered in Ger- in tively. We are like fire and water, you see,” said Herr Polke, sho wing e the latest number of the soclulistic Berliner Volksblatt, “here is an article attacking our idea of bueinigungsauite *What organizations have the sovial cratic workmen®” “They founded what were callel the fach yereine, most of which have lately been dis solved owing to their political tendencies, A few, however, managed 10 survive, Tio motto of the fachvereine wa: “War to the knife; death to capital: no compranise,” is needless to say that no wasters were bers. Inthe most x t strilkes, prou by the ations or tions of non-organized socialists i were some advantages gained for wen, but in the great majority conquered. des the ge what other in Germany \ere ure various others, the religions gesellan, most of founded by the | s in priestly usurpation “How are they meut”’ “With small favor. s ideais state s calisin. Ours i independent reform. Lut it does not interfere with us.' *Do you fnd it possible to conduet a demo erkverine labor ¢ wd Prac relne, ganizations th P g The chief & whic edicl reg the ded by 50 A S i s | etly, | our vereine to our sick and burial movement through sueh a small number of delegates as 1 saw at yesterday's meoting?™ “Tne fewer the better, All had more form- but found it caused detay and confu- sion.” “What funds have you? “Since 1560 the subscriptions of members of assurances and other funds have amounted to ¢ marks, or about £2,000,000, of which 7,700,000 marks have been disbursed, ‘Thus we haveat our disposal 1,500,(0) marks.™ AMONG THE BUILDING TRADES, Leaving their palki 1 started on a tour of in- quiry in the outlying workmen's quarters, 1 visited a number of working bricklayers in the northern and castern Vorsstaedte. The buildivg trade is the reverse of flourishing at present. Of the 16,000 bricklayers in Berlin 1,000 are out of work. ‘The discontent, though smothered, is general. he bri ers are looking forward with dread to the foctheom- ing winter, 1 need not repeat alt the stor told me. It will suftice to single out the tol- lowing typical cases: Llirst called on Moritz Preuss, an intelli- gent man, at No. 51 Anklangs strasse, in Rosenthaler ver Passing through the court yard of a lofty, barrack-like building, 1 knocked at a door on the fourth floor and was sliown into a neat, airy apartment, about twelve feet by nine, doing duty as a bedroom and parlor, The furniture consisted of a wooden bedstead, a wardrobe, a table, a few chairs, a perambulator, serving at night as a child’s cot, a high, white, glazed stove, sadly suggestive of the tombs of Pere la Chaise, halt adozen prints and ehromos, and a fresh water aquar- um. Herr Preuss ad just supped and was in his shiresleeves, In the Kiehen adjoin- ing I got a glimpse ot a rosy cheeked woman busy atthe wash tub. IHerr Preuss is aged hitrty-two, married and has two very young childres He rises in summer at half past 4 and fn winter at 6. Once he leaves the house he seldom returns until the even- i, He retire at 10, He rents two rooms, for which he pays 150 marks, le estimates his average at 1100 marks, about §205, half of which he spends. He is paid 4214 pfer- rigs,about 10 eents, per hour. In summer he works ten hours per da nd in winter eight or nine. He does not work on Sundays. He caleulates that he has on an average 250 work- ing daysa yi The clothes for his family cost over 100 m about $24; taxes %0 marks, about $7. His wife is too busy to do anything but cook and nurse the children. As a rule he spends his evenings at home. Now and then friends drop in and take a hand in at schar- skof, the popular Berlin card game, er sech- sundzehzig, and on Sundays gather naturli- chetwas kneipen. As to the ges he is only half content. Lle thinks he is hardly treated by the masters, who cut down ges on the slightest provoeation. He belongs to the Br yers' Gwerkverin and subseribes to its velief fund. Heis not a socialist. Herr Preuss is a favorable specimen of the brick- layer. ANOTHER SPECIMEN BRICKLAYER, Herman Mueller lives on the fourth floor ot a house in Brennen stiasse. The apart ment consists of a rither large room, lighted Dby two windows, furnished with two com- fortable beds, two chairs and clicap engrav- ingsand a small Kitchen. Mueller is mal- ried but has no children, He rises at 5in the summer and 6 inethe winter. He usually goes to bed at 10, Those hours apply to almost all bricklayers here, and it is useless to repeat the details. 1le sometimes dines at home at midday, but genera has his bread, m and beer brought to hitz by his wite. The wife does a little sewing. Herr Mueller works ten hours a day in the summer and eight in the win ter. He has been pretty steadily employed by the same masters for the last ten yeurs. On the uverage he works 200 days a year and now earns ‘4i'§ ptennigs (about 11 cents.) per hour, He spends altogether 1,300 marks (about 12 per annum,) Clothes cost 150 marks, rent 2350, and food 15 per we he saves nothing. When he has any spare cash he buys a coat or a pieco of furniture. Oc- casionally he goes to the theatre with his wife, or to a dance on Sundays. e is quite satisfied with his master and has plenty of work, He subseribes to rclief funds, but belongs to no verein, A LESS ROSY LOT. The lot of August Steigelit No 18 Rosentha'er strasse, halt a mile nearer the center of the city, is less ros He in- habits the floor of an old, miserable house. His apartment is reached by a low, dilapi- dated staircase, and consists of what might be described as three dirty whitewashed stairs under the roof. Access is sceured through the kiwhen, a dingy hole, crowded with pans, kettles, and lumber. The chief room is only seven feet high and eight feet a. ‘The whole stage is dark, dirty unwholesome. Here Herr Steigelitz lodges with bis wife, his old mother and two daughters, When L called the family were eating their evening meal of brend, vegetables and eofice Herr Steigelitz is forty-six, but looks sixty s wifeearns 100 marks per year by wash ing. The danghters were e d free at the gedewinschul 15 now working nine hours per day. but expeets to be soon reduced 1o eight, Sometimes he is without work for two or three months together, His rent costs 150 marks, about § s 1,100 marks, (about §265) a year, but spends nearly Lot it. Ilis prosent master pays 433 plen- s (about 11 conts) per hour. 1l is too At ni for amusement, but on Sun- 1y Le visits friends or goes to the Hand n Moy { pfennigs (about 16 Iy fur ind burial funds, tall the in bricklavers he Lias beea unalk o re b i1ey and be- longs to no political organization, DIsSATI WITH LS LIFE, arnest 1., CHNEeNS trasse, ronts three pleasant, Joity rooms in a conrt, Ul room: has two wind a cheap mahogany sofa, several eliadrs, a table and the fnevi stove mansolenn aguaivm. A bed- room, with one window, is et o a lodger ‘The Kiteien is yamall, Mere I, is mar ried and has two bibies pin the same room as thelr parents, ‘Lie wother does not earn any mouney. e I, has had steady work at o nine hours a day for the same vary., He is dissatistied W s 1 comn- plained bitterly of ted He is earni ibont 10 cents) per Lour, et more an 5 pleny ) e Ho fear 1 tier, Mis not say what who lives at in i ness, | ofab str ried and has ane and deeent tweew The former contains >N haby . 000,000 | NUMBER 156, ginhure and curtaing, & witror. The chlef luxury & large Viennese clock, He earns 45 pfennigs (about 10 cents) per hour. Ha works about 200 days a year at an average of’ nine hours, His wife stays at home to nurse the baby. Liebrecht saves nothing of the 90§ marks he earns a year. He spends 200 fox rent, 70 for clothes and i3 per week for food. He complains of hoavy taxes, He was forme erly a momber of Facliverin, 1n summer he sometimes goes toa coneort. He subscribes to the Oriskasse, 1TAS TO LIVE ILAINLY. ederich Baumgart, aged thirty-seven, lives on the fourth floor of No. 71 Reinsber strasse. 1Mo hasa wifeand seven chils n livin nid the eighth is expected soon, The eldest boy is fourteen. He earns 7 marks a week, The wife is kept busy taking care of the house and t he pale, pinehed el dien. When 1 ealled the parents and tive chile dren were huddled togethier in the ehief stube, the mother and girls Knitting and the babies Iying about on mattresses, Three children attend the gemeinde sehule. Herr Baumgart worked for the same master tor the last four years, 210 days in the year at 47§ pfennigs per hour. Lis poliz, or boss, (18 & good tellow, Hoerr Baumzart spends 210 marks per year for rent. - Food for his family Costs 18 marks weekly, and clothes costs 200 marksa year, The family are obliged to content themselves with a dinner of bread, weak coffee and an occasional herring, Supper consists of bread, vegetavles and coffes, Herr Banmgart and hisson eat a it of bread and sansage and drink a mug of beer at noon, which cost 15 pfennigs, He sub- seribes to the Ortskasse, but saves nothing, He has 1o woney for theatres. He amises himselt with the ehildren and avoids pol= ities. wardrabe, DOWN ON NS v Herr Karl Rust is a respectable brickiayer cown o hisluck, e rents two damp, un- lealthy, whitewashed cellars on Klapstock: strasse, 1o hasa wife and one grown up daughiter at home, besides an_adopted infant inarms. The daughter makes one mark a day at dressmakine, His wife is too old to work. Herr Rust made great sacrifices to educate his five children. Hesent several to middle class schools and one to a governess, Latterly he only worked half the yo He has had no work since October, and his small savings are melting aw: When eme ployed he makes 45 plennigs an hour, He disapproves of socialism, but joined in the general strike with 000 Berlin bricks layers Inst y The men wanted a raise of 5 pfennigs In wages and got it. They struck again for another raise this year, bt were beaten. As a foreman himself, he had carned 60 pfennigs an hour. Foreman’s wazes average from 60 to 0 pfennigs per hour. Herr Rust had subseribed for fifteen years to the sick fund of the Gemerkverein, but left in disgzust because they ent down tne allowance. He pays 80 marks (about 7.20) fora rouzh suit of clothes. He gets one square mealat night and has no amuscment: His rent costs 147 marks. He subseribes to the burfal board fund, and thinks that when tooold to work the best thing for him to do is tod SUNMMARIZING THI SITUATION. Even the poorest houses 1 visited seemed o be - tolerably drained and well supplied with water. The average of domestic mor- ality seeiis to be high. I found hardly any irregular househo e men are civil and sober and altogether go amples of what might be tound in the suime walk of life w London, Paris or even New York, OUR PARIS L An Interesting Lot of News From the Gay French Capital, | Copyright 1886 by James Gordon Bennett,] PARis, D . —[New York Herald Cabla —Special to the Brr]—The government eans not find any suitable ¥renchiman willing to 2o to Tonquin as resident general. The Frencen chambers have given up as hopeless. all efforts to agree upon the budyet, A thi conservatives loudly proctaim a dissolution of the ehamber and a new election 1o be the only solution of the problem. ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS MURDER IN FARIS, There ms to be a dead lock everywhere except in criminality, and yesterday was dis- wps one of the most weird and rious murders of the year, On October 20 a young wman, dressed in a workman's blouse, called at No, 20 rue De La Cerisale, near the boulevard Henri Quatre, | sked the concierge, who is a thin, nervous little man with long hair, named Foreade, to lease Lim a small back chamber, or rather a closet, then yacant, and which could only be ene tered by means of aladder, ‘The younz man in the blouse paid ten franes and said ‘On the 15th of November L shall come to live in that room with my wife.” e took the key} and walked off, and the concierge never saw him again, Yesterduy 1) ing uneasy, thought he wi net, let but not oceupied. knocked, and not being sur- at recciving mo answer, L the door with & pass koy nom was darl, and the econcierge nos trunge, suflc smell. In a fow moments the concierge’s eyes, becoming ace customed to the darkness, he noticed two naked human feet projecting from bheneath asmall iron bed. e tonched the feet and found them iey cold. The concierge then ran to the police stetion and there announced hig Lorrible discovery, A commissary of police, adoctor and a secretary arrived a few mos ments later and found themselves in tho presence of the entirely nude corpse of # beautiful, well-formed blonde youny girl, pparently about twenty years of agr. De on had aleady taken place in arms and breast. but although s thne mnst have clupsed since the coms mission of the erime the rest of the body was intact. The doctors suggest th was eatised by poison, @s no wounds were Fhe wutopsy takes place today, but asyet the police have no trace eapable of clearing wp this new Pavisian myster A CLAZY WOMAN AND HERREVOLVER, ‘The woman who astounded the deputies on or 15 sid Lo be crazy, s yet been tound of the nume W which she attribuied ier TTER. s Id enter the Ile, however, first iong revol erous law siits guievane s, WELL KNOWN AMERICANS IN PAIIS, A <l well knowu Americans now (o mes Brown Potter, who made ite a sensation Wednsduy at the opers, ipied the ministerial boy as the ¢ aod Miss McLave, Mrs, Biowa Potier was slinply and vecomingly arrayed inablack sk evening dr ornanented aith lace and jet, her durk hair tinged with 1el, being plainly anged and adorned diaiond pin. She wore also @ 1 neck than orfginal pendant, Lore, Daving taken min e of apartinents in the Hotel HE Potter’s chitid and M. de Le hetween thein ou board the Gase Le scen playing tuzethe lay st of M ) a Potter will winter teal enerey, its 8 Iy sulb ved by 1 portue @5 10t wish 10 ba, tuent ' & P16, sLe sludied