Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1888 — IRISH INDUSTRIES. [ARTICLE]

IRISH INDUSTRIES.

Tlu Jihb a Ad Micv InduMri«> •( Ireland tbe Wage*. Consul J. Schoenhof, of Tanstall, Enghis report to the Department of State u.pon the economic conditions of Irelar ( d, treats upon the li en, hosiery &nd lace manufactures of that country Ha finds thfit the earnings of the people employed in the , linen mills in Ulster are far below those of any classes, employed in the textile branches in England. MUI regulations and working time, of course, are the same for the. Whole kingdom. Flax breakers, men who have to do vertf exhaustive werk, earn from 15s. to 2ffs. per week; hacklers, 18s. to 235.; spinners and girls,from Ba. to 10s.; half timers, boys, 55.; girls, 45., and weavdys (mostly women) tending two looms, from. 12s. to 15 a. Damask weav.era. however, tbe.CQoeul says, .earn a: few more shillings per week la-Hife connection, the Consul reports that the linen trade suffers from depression. Ttdir' is partlv due to the fa t that nqf so muA linen is used, owing to the great cheapening in Cotton manufacture,as was the case in framer times and partly,also because,.the use of brown linen for ladies!' dresses has* Ceased, through change of association, principally through great reaction, following immense expansions in the wake of the American war and the cotton famine consequent thereto. ?In regard to woolen industries, the consul notes the following current ways: For men, from 12s. to 14a. The latter figure is about the limit of best men. Spinner girls, Bs. to 10s. children from ss. to 6s. 'TH m: «m ploying about 750 bands pays out abon’ £SOO per week in wages. The consul says that with thd advantages of cbe<p labor and great eagerness lor fihuinz opportunities to work all overlreland, with An intelligent population quick to, take up and learn all manipulations to which,,they are set, quality of the wool, Which the Irisb fihdep produces, shotiM expert’' to ffind quite a But there wwfetro/ifjdre than nklf a dozen employ iifgdh all but a few thousand hands, and a great many mills closed up