The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1908. LABOR CONDITIONS IN. GERMANY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2323, 16 October 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1908. LABOR CONDITIONS IN. GERMANY.

Wo know from many sources'that tho laboring classes an Great Britain have been experiencing a' very trying time lately as tlio result of tho depression that has existed in the Old World, and tho fact has evidently beon a pronounced factor in weaning tho ■ masses from their in Froo Trade. At the same time it must bo romombored that depression in trade Bias boon quite as marked in Protectionist Germany, and a. repo ft -by Sir Francos Gppenheimer, British Consul-Genoral at Frankfort, furnishes somo interesting facte concerning the welfare of the German peoplo. He says:—“Tho agrarian duties have affected not only the prices of corn, and flour, but the price of all agricultural and dairy produce. Tho cost of all necessary foodstuffs is so high that the Chamber of Commerce of ißremen, in its annual report, openly speaks of a general dearth of victuals. Tho price of agricultural produce proper "was highest in 1907, except in tho case of potatoes and butter.” Tlio. industrial eflicieiicy of the workers is suffering becauso of the insufficiency of nourishment. Sir Francis says; “There is a concensus of opinion that already to-day the workman is no longer as efficient, certainly no longer as physically efficient, as formerly.” This is ascribed to the migration of tho peoplo into, tlio towns, and under urban conditions they deteriorate; and, dt is added, -“.Though the. daily working hours havo been reduced, and though wages have incroased the workman: accomplishes a less amount of work in tho same time than ho did formerly.” Hero are some of tho reasons —

Tho scarcity of labor has made the workman independent. Tho various’insurances of which the workman profits by law havo made him less keen. Ho leaves work which demands a certain amount of skill for ordinary routine work which is inoro easily accomplished. He absents himself from work for reasons which but for the insurance would formerly not have kept him at home. The disinclination .to work, more especially .amongst younger workmen, has become so notorious that it is mentioned as a characteristic of tho times in reports of .Chambers of Commerce.

As the whole population is a consumer of food, Sir Francis goes on to say, the need for an increased income lias become general, and extends beyond the workmen to all classes earning a fixed ineomo, 0.g., the technical workers, dorks. Government and municipal •, officials, etc. For tho last two years advances an wages and salaries had to he freely granted, and particularly so during the year under report; they extended to all commercial and industrial undertakings, except the few 'branches 'laboring under difficulties. Under present circumstances the increase in wages in betters the workman’s position, because it 'is swallowed up by the increased cost of living. In consequonco it is no longer true that tho increased- aggregate .of "wages strengthens the home market—an -answer too readily presented to the complaints brought forward by the manufacturers of finished articles. On the other hand,- it must not be .forgotten -that a general rise of wages must necessarily lead.in a variety of ways to increased cost of.food.

The main conclusion derivable from the foregoing is that the workers in Germany have to grapple with precisely the same problems as confront their fellows in this country. One of the most disquieting statements j-s that which attributes 1 to various insurances against poverty a lack of keenness on the port of tho worker. If this he the inevitable -result how does New Zealand stand with its old age pensions, its various superannuation funds, and the latest plan for a national provident fund? These problems are by no means so simple as they would appear;; jddge-d by the utterances of some of our politicians.