B Nota. Le recueil précédent donne des renseignemens généraux sur le commerce de l'imprimerie dans la ville de Paris, et sur les produits moyens d'une année pour cette branche d'industrie. Census of Paris. 1833. In 714,000 inhabitants, there are 446,300 men, and 267, 700 women.— 340 high public functionaries.—70,000 national guards.—490 persons in the law. 1140 members of the Institut and the University.-18,460 clerks― 47,000 students.-19,000 soldiers in garrison.—77,200 inscribed indigent poor, but the office of charity relieves nearly 90,000.-80,000 servants.—266,000 living on their incomes.—290,800 day labourers.—13,700 sick, infirm, or old, in the hospitals.-12,160 foundlings.—12 parishes.—27 chapels of ease.— 38 religious establishments.-2 basilics.-19 libraries.-3 royal schools.9 royal colleges.-269 pensioners of both sexes.-26 theatres.-81 barracks. 10 prisons.-16 gates.-41 markets-4 aqueducts.-210 fountains.-3,900 grocers,-600 bakers.-2,000 wine shops.-9 cemeteries.-12 mayoralties, forming twelve divisions.-18 wards.-1,190 streets.-120 blind alleys.13 enclosures.-130 arcades.-73 squares.-33 quays.-20 bridges.-98 tollhouses.-23 boulevards.-8 palaces. The annual expenditure of Paris is estimated at 894,032,893 francs, equa | to about 36,000,0007. which on a population of 875,000 gives an average of about 1,120 frs. a head; and this division forms the basis for that calculation I have given from M. Millot. The annual consumption of food and drink in Paris is about 12,349,8007., giving each individual for his share 147. Is. 11d. EXTRACTED FROM DR. BOWRING'S VERY INTERESTING report. Questions of the British Commissioners concerning the Workmen of Paris. 1. What has the fall in salaries or wages been during the last five years? 2. How many days in the week do workmen, in general, labour? and how many hours in the day? 3. In what trades is it customary to take apprentices ? 4. At what age, and on what terms is that done? 5. Do workmen, in general, spend the whole of their income? 6. Do they frequently place their savings in the savings' banks? 7. On what day of the week do they receive their wages? Answers given by an intelligent Parisian Workman. 1. The fall in prices was but immaterial during the three years preceding the Revolution; it has only been important since that epoch, and has even yet much affected only trades of luxury,-such as jewellery, carving, gilding, cabinet-work, engraving on gems, watch and clock-making, coach-making, &c. In these trades the fall has been from 1 fr. to 3 fr. par day; in others it has been from 50 c. to 1 fr., and in some, but a small number it is true, no fall has taken place. 2. In general,* workmen labour all the week, and in some trades even half the Sunday. About one-eighth part of the whole may be excepted,-for * I believe the words 'in general' to be incorrect. those who have contracted the habit of making holidays of Sunday and Monday. The time of work is twelve hours per day for builders-such as masons, locksmiths, carpenters; in other trades thirteen hours, from which, however, two hours are to be deducted for meal-times. 3. Masons and stone-cutters are the only trades that do not take apprentices at Paris: workmen of these classes coming from the country sufficiently acquainted with their business. All others receive apprentices. 4. Boys are put out as apprentices from the age of 12 to 14. In some trades they were formerly boarded in the master's house, but this system is almost abolished. The time of apprenticeship is three years in easy trades, and four years in those of greater difficulty; during this term the apprentice receives no pay. 5. Workmen generally expend all they earn. 6. We may safely affirm that hardly one-sixth of them are economical enough to put any thing into the savings' banks. * It may be reckoned that one half of the workmen belong to benefit societies; the members of these societies impose upon themselves a slight contribution of 1 fr. 50 c. per month; in return for which they, in case of sickness, receive medicines gratis, are attended, also gratuitously, by the physician employed by the society, and have an allowance of 2 fr. per day till their complete recovery. These societies are very numerous in Paris; the most numerous does not contain more than 200 or 300 members; and, according to a statement drawn up by the Philanthropic Society, the poorest, even, has a fund of from 2,000 to 3,000 fr. placed either in the savings' bank, or at the Mont de Piété. 7. It is in general on each Saturday night that the workmen receive their pay in a few trades only are they paid by the fortnight. Paris, 28th February, 1832.-Food of the Workmen of Paris. This may be arranged under four heads : not expend 1. The terrace-makers and labourers live very economically, ing more than from 16 to 17 sous per day in the morning they repair to the low eating-houses, called Gargottes, where for 7 sous they get soup, and a plate of meat with vegetables; their custom is to breakfast on the soup and vegetables, and carry the meat away with them for their dinner. The following is the state and progress of these banks. The first institution of savings' banks was in 1818. They succeeded but very slowly; but are now spreading, and exist in Bordeaux, Douai, Dunkerque, Havre, Lyon, Luneville, Metz, Mulhausen, Nantes, Nimes, Orléans, Paris, Rennes, Reims, Rouen, St. Etienne, Toulon, Toulouse, Tours, Troyes, and Versailles, and most of the other great towns seem inclined to adopt them. Thus these 7 sous, two pounds of bread, 8 sous, and, perhaps, for wine, 2 sous, make 17 sous. 72. The masons, paviours, lockmiths, &c., do not exceed 20 or 21 sous; their only addition to the above being four or five sous for supper. 21 sous, 3. The other classes of trades shown npon the list, such as carvers, saddlers, gilders, printers, mechanics, upholsterers, &c., spend from 25 to 27 sous. thus: 4. The fourth class may, perhaps, spend from 30 to 36 sous. This class comprises the jewellers, engravers, watch-makers, tailors, &e. LODGING.-The workmen who have their own furniture may get apartments for from 40 fr. to 100 fr. per annum: they who hire furnished rooms, pay For a whole room, twelve francs per month. Fr. per ann. 144 96 60 CLOTHING.-The expense for clothing cannot be precisely estimated, from the difference existing in the dress of the various classes of workmen. The masons, smith, &c. who wear very coarse clothing, do not expend more 100 or 120 fr. for dress, washing, shoes, &c.; while the jewellers, watchmakers, and engravers spend at least 300 fr., perhaps 350 fr. but not more. AMUSEMENTS.-We shall not here speak of those thriftless men,* who, on the Sunday and Monday, spend three fourths of their weekly earnings in intemperance, and who, to defray their daily expenses, contract debts they never pay, but of prudent men who base their expenses on their income. Some of these content themselves with spending 25 to 30 sous in the houses of entertainment in the suburbs; others frequent the public balls of Paris, and spend in entrance money and refreshments from 40 sous to 3 fr., perhaps 3 fr. 50 c.; others go to the theatres, where the price of admittance to the pit varies with the different houses; there are some of 1 fr. 25 c., and others of 2 fr. 50 c.; we may add about 50 c. for unforeseen expenscs, raising the whole to from 1 fr. 75 c. to 3 fr. All my inquiries and observations lead me to believe that these thriftless men, as Dr. Bowring calls them, form a considerable part of the Parisian workmen. But as I shall treat this subject at length elsewhere, I do not now enter upon it. There are, moreover, secret expenses, on which we can say nothing. [Answers from the Workmen of Paris to Questions of the British Commissioners. The Official Returns for 1827 in Paris, give for the average Price of Labour the following statements : Number of Workpeople. 1054 Tobacco manufacturers, highest rate, fr. 3.35 per day, lowest, fr. 1.45.. Average. 2.08/2 1000 Fan-makers; men, fr. 2.50, women, fr. 1.25, children, c. 60. 4116 Paper-stainers; men, fr. 3 to 4, women, fr. 1.50 to 2, children, 3345 Working jewellers, lowest rate, fr. 2.50, highest, fr. 4.50 750 Glass manufacturers 4.00 417 Lithographic printers, lowest rate, fr. 1.50, highest, fr. 5.00. 46 Gas-work labourers. 2.75 Taking on an average of 12 years the prices of labour for the following trades, (from 1817 to 1828) are thus given: In the iron works at Vandelesse (Nièvre), the price of labour is fr. 1.50 per day (Dupin. p. 293); at Nevers, for manufacture of iron cables, 2 fr.; at Fourchambault (where 2385 are employed in wood-cutting), fr. 1.60 is the average rate; the workmen in the potteries at Nevers gain fr. 1.75 per day; at Nogent, in the manufacture of linen goods, the wages are, to men, fr. 2, women, fr.1.25, and children, 60 c. to 60 per day; at Mouy, in the woollen manufactures, men are paid from fr. 1 to fr. 150, and boys of fifteen, 1 fr.; * These prices are taken from M. Chabrol's reports. |