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English operatives’ budgets, that the chief food of the English operative—meat and wheat—is with the German a luxury.Especially is this applicable from the item of f lb. meat weekly fora family of four adults (of whom three work) and two children. Acomparison in figures between German and English operatives’budgets is impossible in detail, by reason that one certainly knowsthat wheat is more nourishing than rye. A positive relation ofvalue between both cannot, however, be given, on account of toogreat variations according to the harvests, conditions of the land,etc. But something further is certainly to be taken as general—■the income reaches, in favourable cases, no further than for nourish-ment. There remains for other purposes, as a rule, little ornothing over.
In addition, German industry lacks consumers of mass articles.Skilled workers, even in the most favourable cases, and if thechildren or wife work as well, scarcely ever spend above £15yearly for clothing and other industrial productions, whilst in theEnglish budgets given above this expenditure runs to £50 andover. A Leipzig book-printer’s family—therefore belonging toone of the highest classes of operatives—with only two children,has only £9 14s. yearly left over for clothing and shoes. “Inorder to save boots, the children run about barefooted in thewarmer season of the year.” The household utensils of theGerman worker’s family are scarcely ever bought new, but, likethe clothing also in numerous cases, from the broker, or receivedthrough charity. Numerous proofs of this statement are givenby the Frankfort w 2 * * * * 7 orkers’ budgets (2), which by no means referto a specially low working class—a disadvantage not to be under-rated for German industry, which, as numerous statements beforethe “ Enquetekommission ” show, feels keenly a rise in food prices,reductions in wages, or curtailment of employment in other im-portant branches of trade, especially in mining and iron working.
2. “ Schriften des Freien deutschen Hochstifts” (Frankfurt a. M., 1890).A worker’s family with four children and £57 income spent only £o forclothing, washing, household goods, and repairs. The head of the family says
‘he buys perhaps occasionally a pair of working trousers or some such
indispensable article of clothing, but for fifteen years has not bought himself a
complete new suit.” The furniture is mostly second-hand when forming thehousehold. Even the sofa is missing in most cases. There is never a room
used exclusively for living purposes ; living and sleeping are generally com-bined in the same room. Frequently one room serves the whole family forliving and sleeping, and in many cases the same is partially sub-let. Compare
pp. 37, 44, 70, 85, 94; further, Herkner, pp. 49-64.