Camden Commercial Courier

LABORING CLASS IN EUROPE.

The following interesting article from the North American Review for October, gives a glowing description of the condition of the laboring classes in Europe, where are stated the rates of wages, the burden of taxation, means of subsistence, the teaching of education, and the share if any, which these classes have in the Government. It ought to inspire every citizen of this free and happy Republic to guard with constant vigilance against any encroachments on the institutions which guarantee to us the blessings of which our brethren beyond the seas are destitute.

In Norway, the ordinary food of the peasantry is bread and gruel, both prepared of oatmeal, with an occasional mixture of dried fish. Meat is a luxury which they rarely enjoy.

In Sweden the dress of the peasantry is described by law. Their food consists of hard bread, dried fish, and gruel without meat.

In Denmark the peasantry are still held in bondage, and are bought and sold together with the land on which they labor.

In Russia the bondage of the peasantry is even more complete than in Denmark. The nobles own all the land in the empire, and the peasantry who reside upon it are transferred with the estate. A great majority have only cottages, one portion of which is occupied by the family, while the other is appropriated to domestic animals. Few, if any, have beds—but sleep upon bare boards, or upon parts of the immense stoves by which their houses is warmed. Their food consists of black bread, cabbage, and other vegetables, without the addition of any butter.

In Poland the nobles are the proprietors of the land, and the peasants are slaves. A recent traveller says: "I have travelled in every direction and never saw a wheaten loaf to the eastward of the Rhine, in any part of Northern Germany, Poland or Denmark. The common food of the peasantry of Poland, the working men, is cabbage, and potatoes, sometimes, but not generally, black bread and soup, or rather gruel, without the addition of butter or meat.

In Austria the nobles are the proprietors of the land, and the peasants are compelled to work for their masters during every day except Sunday. The cultivators of the soil are in a state of bondage.

In Hungary their state is, if possible, still worse. The nobles own the land, do not work, and pay no taxes. The laboring class are obliged to repair all the highways and bridges, are liable at any time to have soldiers quartered upon them, and are compelled to pay one tenth of the produce to the church, and one tenth to the lord whose land they occupy.

Of the people of France, seven and a half millions do not eat wheat or wheat bread: they live upon barley, rye, buckwheat, chestnuts, and a few potatoes. The common wages of a hired laborer in France, $37.50 for a man and $21.75 for a woman annually. The taxes upon them are equal to one fifth of his net produce.

In 1837, there were 700,000 houses in Paris; out of this, 110,000 were occupied by paupers; and more than 50,000 had no glass. The average wages of a laborer, is from nine and a half to fourteen cents a day.

Among the laboring classes of the industrious Scotch meat except on Sundays, is rarely used.

In England the price of labor varies; the Nottingham stocking weavers, as stated by them in a public address, after working from 11 to 16 hours per day, only earned from four to five shillings per week, and are obliged to subsist on bread and water or potatoes and salt.