Appendix F : 
Cotton Industry in Germany
--------------------------------------------------------------------

18981898

People :
----------------------------------

Author : Peter Kropotkin

Text :
----------------------------------


 Dr. G. Schulze-Gaewernitz, in his excellent work, The Cotton Trade in England and on the Continent  (English translation by Oscar S. Hall, London, 1895), called attention to the fact that Germany had certainly not yet attained, in her cotton industry, the high technical level of development attained by England; but he showed also the progress realized. The cost of each yard of plain cotton, notwithstanding low wages and long hours, was still greater in Germany than in England, as seen from the following tables. Taking a certain quality of plain cotton in both countries, he gave (p. 151, German edition) the following comparative figures:-

 England.
 Germany.
Hours of labor
	9 hours 
	12 hours

Average weekly earnings of the
 operatives 
 16s. 3d. 
 11s. 8d.
 
Yards woven per week per opera

 tive 
  706 yards 
 466 yards

Cost per yard of cotton 
	0.275d. 
	0.303d.
But he remarked also that in all sorts of printed cottons, in which fancy, colors and invention play a predominant part, the advantages were entirely on the side of the smaller German factories.

In the spinning mills the advantages, on the contrary, continued to remain entirely on the side of England, the number of operatives per 1,000 spindles being in various countries as follows (p. 91, English edition):-


Per 1,000 spindles.
	

	Bombay
		
	
	
	25 operatives.
	
Italy
	13 " 
	

Alsace
	9.5 " 
	
Mulhouse
	7.5 " 
	

Germany, 1861
	20 " 
  " 1882
 	8 to 9 " 
England, 1837 
	 7 " 
	
 " 1887
 3 " 
 
 





Considerable improvements had taken place already in the ten years 1884-1894. "India shows us, since 1884, extraordinary developments," Schulze-Gaewernitz remarked, and "there is no doubt that Germany also has reduced the number of operatives per 1,000 spindles since the last Inquest." "From a great quantity of materials lying before me, I cull," he wrote, " the following, which, however, refers solely to leading and technicallay distinguished spinning mills :-


Per 1,000 spindles.
	
Switzerland
6-2 operatives


Mulhouse
	5-8 "


Baden and Wurtemberg
	6-2 " 
Bavaria 
	6-8 " 

Saxony (new and splendid mills)
	7-2 " 

Vosges, France (old spinning mills)
	8-9 " 

Russia
	16-6 "
	


The average counts of yarn for all these were between twenties and thirties."

It is evident that considerable progress has been realized since Schulze-Gaewernitz wrote these lines. As an exporter of cotton yarn and cottons, Germany has made rapid strides. Thus, in 1903, she exported £1,625,000 worth of cotton yarn, and £15,080,000 worth of cottons. For 1910 the figures given by the Statistisches Jahrbuch for 1911  were already £2,740,000 and £18,255,000 respectively.


     From : Anarchy Archives

Events :
----------------------------------

     Appendix F -- Publication : November 30, 1897

     Appendix F -- Added : January 16, 2017

About This Textfile :
----------------------------------

     Text file generated from : 
http://revoltlib.com/