576 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
WAGES PaID 















I Il JU 0t JIN, 
Blow room : ! 
Head man $1.06 $ .74 
Workman $ .65 $ .59 .60 .53 
Waste man 61 55 56 56 
Cards : 
Head man 1.42 85 1.16 112 
Card grinder eeu 67 62 .66 
Can boys 61 Ol .59 Ol 
Lap carrier .60 ol 54 .53 
Oiler 42 
Draw-frame girls 48 43 41 40 
Speeders : 
Head man 1.22 85 1.06 1.10 
Oiler 61 64 49 
Speeder hands .65 50 45 05 
Creelers 35 .39 
Ring spinning : 
Head man 1.14 10" 87 1.16 
Oiler 61 61 67 44 
Spinner 56 31 .43 43 
Doffer sol .33 
Machine shop: 
Head man 1.62 1.22 1.72 
Average per day .63 50 47 51 
PRICES OF NECESSARIES 
I I Iil, AV; 
Cents Cents Cents Cents 
Bread, average quality, one pound 3.13 2.95 2.63 2.95 
Meat, one pound 15.68 14.77 13.09 16.59 
Flour, one pound 4.4 3.5 4.31 4,31 
Potatoes, one pound 72 Be ) BS!) 
Sugar, one pound 4.8 8.09 4.8 6.09 
Coffee, one pound 20 28.5 19.3 15.77 
Salt, one pound 1.27 1.86 9 it 
Milk, one quart 3.9 4.1 3.7 3.9 
Kerosene, one quart 3.5 8.5 4.1 4.2 
Beer, one quart 7.7 6.3 5.7 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 $1.85 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 24 or 38. 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, 
