Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/582

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576
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

Wages Paid

I. II. III. IV.
Blow room:
Head man $1.06 $ .74
Workman $ .65 $ .59 .6 .53
Waste man .61 .55 .56 .56
Cards:
Head man 1.42 .85 1.16 1.12
Card grinder .77 .67 .62 .66
Can boys .61 .51 .59 .51
Lap carrier .60 .61 .54 .53
Oiler .42
Draw-frame girls .48 .43 .41 .40
Speeders:
Head man 1.22 .85 1.06 1.10
Oiler .61 .64 .49
Speeder hands .65 .50 .45 .55
Creelers .35 .39
Ring spinning:
Head man 1.14 1.07 .87 1.16
Oiler .61 .61 .67 .44
Spinner .56 .31 .43 .43
Doffer .31 .33
Machine shop:
Head man 1.62 1.22 1.72
Average per day .63 .50 .47 .51

Prices of Necessaries

I. II. III. IV.
Cents Cents Cents Cents
Bread, average quality, one pound 3 .13 2 .95 2 .63 2 .95
Meat, one pound 15 .68 14 .77 13 .09 16 .59
Flour, one pound 4 .4 3 .5 4 .31 4 .31
Potatoes, one pound .72 .72 .9 .9
Sugar, one pound 4 .8 8 .09 4 .8 6 .09
Coffee, one pound 20 28 .5 19 .3 15 .77
Salt, one pound 1 .27 1 .86 .9 1
Milk, one quart 3 .9 4 .1 3 .7 3 .9
Kerosene, one quart 3 .5 8 .5 4 .1 4 .2
Beer, one quart 7 .7 6 .3 5 .7 6 .7

pounds of meat and in two cases more than four days' wages were required to pay for a fifty-pound sack of flour. Those whose wages were below the average—and they are the large majority—would fare worse.

Of the 2,000 people employed by the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, Zurich, 50 per cent, represent a floating force. An increasing tendency in workmen to float about is causing an increase in wages, but wages in Switzerland in machine shops are not so high as in Berlin. A good tool man at Oerlikon receives 96 cents to $1.35 per day. Fitters of the best class receive $1.35 to $1,544 per day; shop men, for varied sorts of work, 77.2 cents to 96 cents per day. The cost of living for workmen in Zurich in proportion to the cost in America is, roughly, in the ratio of about 1 to 212 or 3. The Oerlikon firm provides both breakfast and dinner for such employees as choose to purchase them. Dinner costs about 10 cents and generally consists of good soup, pork and beef, cabbage, potatoes, and bread and butter. All except soup is served out in portions For breakfast milk and coffee, bread and butter are provided,