It is often said that the " case " of
the Continental, and especially the German labourers, is exaggerated, incomes, as well as wages, being lower throughout the Continent than in England. That is true; but one entire " class " of Prussian workmen is officially admitted to earn little more than is. a day, while the telegrams about the strikes are full of intima- tions like this : "The shoemakers of Cologne have struck for 15 marks a week, and a day of eleven hours." That means that skilled workmen who have passed through a long apprenticeship, are asking—not receiving-15s. a week for seventy-seven hours' work, or, if they get a half-holiday on Sunday, seventy-one and a half hours'. We believe, after much reading, the substantial truth to be that, apart from a few limited trades, the skilled workman of the Continent is paid like the unskilled workman of London, while the unskilled workman receives less than the agricultural labourer in Southern England. At the same time, in the towns, both wheaten bread and rent are dearer than in any part of England, except London as regards rent.
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