SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
————— 
- 
Notes on the Rhineland Cheraicall 
Works.” 
By J. ALLAN. 
Parr II.—Lazour Connprrions’ AND Recent Prantr Exrensions. 
It has frequently been said that cheap and docile labour has been 
a great factor in the success of German industry generally, and that 
it has contributed not a little to the advancement of their chemical 
manufacture. A statement of past and present conditions, therefore, 
may not be without interest, but it should be emphasized that any 
existing conditions are probably transitory, and that it is impossible 
to forecast the state of labour in the future, either in Germany or 
elsewhere.* In pre-war times long working hours were general through- 
out Germany, though there was a growing tendency to curtail them, 
and the “good firms,” so named, which did not necessarily mean the 
large firms, were adopting “English” time as it was called, which 
meant working to 12, 1, or 2 o’clock on Saturday instead of the 5 or 6 
o'clock, which was formerly the rule. Wages in the chemical industry 
were peculiarly variable, there being apparently no fixed rate in different 
factories, and in certain districts of a rural character, where it might 
be thought low rates would rule, they were higher than in more populous 
areas, though many exceptions to this might be found even in contiguous 
works in the same neighbourhood. The case of one of the large works 
may be cited as a general example of the change which has taken place 
both as to the cost and character of the labour supply. Under pre-war 
conditions a 66-hour week was common, and the rate of pay for general 
labour was 0.65 marks per hour, or a weekly wage of 43 marks. Since 
then the eight-hour day has been forced upon employers, and for similar 
labour the hourly rate has risen to 1.7 marks, which means a weekly 
wage of 81.6 marks—a 90 per cent. increase in the total wages earned, 
with a reduction in working hours of almost 28 per cent. If it be 
assumed that the output of work per man per hour has not changed, 
and chemical processes as a rule cannot be accelerated, it follows that 
the labour cost for the same output of work as formerly has risen to 
112 marks—an increase of no less than 160 per cent. It is quite 
commonly asserted, however, and it is plainly evident, even to a casual 
observer who was familiar with pre-war conditions, that the character 
of the labour has’ considerably altered, both as to subservience to dis- 
cipline and the quality of the work done. Lack of attention to instruc- 
tions and carelessness are common, and the general assertion is that 
the possible output is now only about one-half of what it was. It 
is probable that this statement includes the reduction following upon 
the lessened number of hours worked, as well as that arising from 
lowered efficiency, as figures derived from industry, such as certain 
branches of engineering, where output can be carefully determined by 
the number of articles produced, show a minimum reduction in output 
per hour of about 25 per cent. How much of this arises from the 
fact that for reasons of policy generally they are employing, or, more 
* Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry. 
168 
