24 JANUARY 1880, Page 2

The Gewerk Verein, the organ of the German Trades Socie-

ties, declares that the famine in Silesia is not to be wondered. at ; that the condition of hired agricultural labourers in Ger- many has escaped attention, but that it is deplorable. Even in the fertile provinces, they earn only from 7-id. to sia. a day ; they eat potatoes and whey cheese; and they are housed in huts of the most wretched description, with windows often stuffed with rags. They regard soup and pea-sausage as luxuries, and acquire from their misery a manner of stolid indifference. The peasantry who farm for themselves are a little better off, but there is a great amount of suffering among all agricultural classes, probably embittered by education, and by the good food received during their three years' tour of military duty. The wretchedness in the towns has long been known, and it is

no wonder that Germans emigrate in such numbers that Prince Bismarck is said to have declared the Empire lost fewer soldiers in war than peace. German emigrants everywhere prosper, and the German settlers in Ohio are probably among the most comfortable of mankind.