576 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Wages Paid 



Peices of Necessaries 



Bread, average quality, one pound 



Meat, one pound 



Flour, one pound 



Potatoes, one pound 



Sugar, one pound 



Coffee, one pound 



Salt, one pound 



Milk, one quart 



Kerosene, one quart 



Beer, one quart 



IV. 



Cents 

 2.95 



16.59 



4.31 



.9 



6.09 



15.77 

 1 



3.9 

 4.2 

 6.7 



pounds of meat and in two cases more than four days' wages were re- 

 quired 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 2^ 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, cab- 

 bage, potatoes, and bread and butter. All except soup is served out in 

 portions For breakfast milk and coffee, bread and butter are provided, 



