THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1907. AN OBJECT LESSON GERMANY UNDER PROTECTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8440, 13 May 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1907. AN OBJECT LESSON GERMANY UNDER PROTECTION.

It will be remembered that in consequence of the lurid accounts given from Radical platforms of the miseries alleged to be suffered by the German working classes under Protection, Mr C. Algernon Moreing, the Unionist candidate for the Gainsborough division at the ;last British general election, arranged for a deputation of six workmen from that locality to visit the principal centres of German industry and report upon the conditions of work, wages, and general comfort as presented to their observation. The delegates were chosen by their fellowworkmen in open meeting, and their reports have just been printed in a most interesting volume. In view of the Imperial Conference, which has ended so -disastrously so far as the reciprocal trade' proposals of the colonies are concerned, the reports referred to should be read with special interest. The delegates are unanimous in affirming that there is no foundation for the unfavourable description of German social conditions given by Free Trade advocates iji England. In summing up the impressions of their tour (which are narrated with every kind • of detail) they declare:-—"lt is quite clear that the German industrial workman is immeasurably better paid now than he was 25 years ago, and that he is similarly better clothed, better fed,

and better lodged than he was then. He has, moreover, ample facilities for healthy recreation for himself and family. In regard to the provision made for him by the State in the event of sickness, in the event ot his meeting with accidents during the exercise of his vocation, as well as in the event of his becoming unable to earn his living through physical debility or old age, he is in a decidedly better position than the workman in England. He pays no more in a Protectionist country for his bread, his coffee, his sugar, his clothing, or his boots than the workman in England. It would be of no use to offer him white wheaten bread and jam, which are considered in England to be necessaries. He prefers his bjown rye braad, and other delicacies at which the British people, says a Home journal, 'would turnup their noses.' His meat is just now dearer than it is with us; but in normal times we do not > ousider that he is worse off relatively in this respect than we are, when we make due allowances for national differences of taste." The de'egatis paid special attention to the questions of horse-flesh, and "black bread," which have been represented in England as the staple diet of t'ie German workman. With regard to both, they found it to be a matter of taste rather than of poverty. It is only a small minority who'indulge in horseflesh, and these are drawn from all classes of society. As for the "black bread" (which is really of a light brown colour), the delegates pronounce it to be "both nourishing and sustaining," ar ) point out, more over, that German workmen who are sent to England complain of the diet supplied to them in that country, and that the great majority would refuse to exchange their rye bread for the best wheat bread made in England. Where white wheaten bread is used in Germany ibe difference from English prices "is hardly perceptible." Over and over again the delegates ridicule the idea that there is any lack of proper food among the German working classes. In nearly every district visited the English workmen were impressed with the abundance of employment. "During our stay in Germany we have nowhere &een clusters of workmen hanging about idle and unemployed in the st-eec. Occupation is to be had everywhere fcr the asking of it in all factories and at ail works in the towns we have passed throgh; the building trade is everywhere in a fair condition ; and even in the ranks of the unskilled, who must always be subject to fluctuations regards employment, thera is no general cause for complaint. Instead of there being a superabundance .of workers, and consequently a croAd of unemployed, employers are clamouring on all sides for skilled labour. The delegates quote many examples to show the immense advances made in the remuneration of the German workman, and declare roundly that the statements "that Protective duties tend to Keep down wages" are "wholly devoid of foundation." "We have been forced," they say, "to face the fact that it has been during the period following upon the introduction of Protective du by Prince Bismarck in 1879 tb?t Germany has ceased to be p:: ™ ard has become well f do; V. ».i her workpeople have received a b- D o increase in WYges; that the general social condition of the latter has improved; that Germany's industry has developed; that she has succeeded in extending her foreign trade and in acquiring ready markets for her continuously developing industry."