Chapter XXX: Appendix: E

NOTES ON WAGES AND COST OF LIVING OF RUSSIAN WORKMEN

The wages of boys in Russian coal-mines amount to about twenty cents per day. Boys and women are employed to pick the slate and refuse stone from the coal as in coal-mines in other countries. In Pennsylvania, the boys who do such work are called “breaker boys”; their pay is from sixty to seventy-five cents a day. In Russia, the women receive not more than five cents a day more than the boys. Pony drivers in the pits earn from forty to fifty cents a day.

The colliers, that is to say, the men who actually hew the coal, are paid according to the amount of work they do. The iniquitous contract system is generally in vogue in Russia. A contractor agrees to take out the coal for a definite sum. He then engages his own workmen and pays them what he must. Few coal-miners make more than eighty cents a day. They receive about twelve and a half cents for every thirty-five poods they take out--one pood being thirty-six pounds; the amount of labor required to earn a day’s wages is plain.

In addition to the work entailed in getting out the coal the colliers must do their own timbering, putting up props and supports as they go along to make themselves secure. For this they are not paid. It is customary among the foreign companies, and also among some of the Russian companies, to give their workmen as much coal as they require for their personal needs free.

Managers, foremen, overmen, and checkers who are paid by the month often receive their house rent free. Thus an overman receives fifty rubles a month (twenty-five dollars) and his house rent. A checker receives thirty-five rubles. As checkers are very often dishonest men who aid in robbing the men of their proper number of cars sent to the surface, it has come to be the practice in some districts for the men themselves to hire a checker of their own, whom they pay one hundred rubles a month. He is not officially recognized by the companies, but he is trusted by the men to protect their interests. One of the points of dispute in the great anthracite coal-strike in Pennsylvania in 1902 was the right of the men to employ such a man--some of the companies objected. It is significant that the companies pay their men only thirty-five rubles a month, while the men pay theirs one hundred.

For purposes of comparison it may be of interest to add that while the men receive twelve and one half cents for taking out thirty-five poods of coal, that coal retails for five cents per pood. There is, therefore, a margin of approximately one dollar and sixty-three cents on every thirty-five poods, or, of about eleven dollars on a single day’s labor of one man! This must amply cover other expenses and still leave an adequate profit for contractors and capitalist!

The best hewers in the Russian coal-mines average forty rubles, or twenty dollars a mouth. It must be remembered, however, that there are fewer working-days in a Russian month than in England or America. Usually not above twenty or twenty-two. Indeed, in the entire year there are but two hundred and twenty working-days. All of the others are church, state, or crown holidays. During these working-days, therefore, the miner, in common with other workmen, must earn enough to carry him through the holidays.

A schedule of the scale of wages in a given country, or district, like the above, is valueless if unaccompanied by a parallel schedule of the approximate cost of living.

Russian coal-miners follow the system of Russian workmen in general in dividing into three classes: First, the poorest men, who live in free houses owned by the companies. These houses would rent for about one dollar a month. Then there are the average men who live in snug little stone houses of two and three rooms, the rent of which may be from two dollars and a half to four dollars a month. And, finally, there are the unmarried men who live in “artels,” which are lodging establishments. From a dozen to sixteen men live in one of these houses. They all sleep in a common room, for which privilege they pay about six dollars a month, including their meals. And fifty cents additional to a woman-of-all-work, who looks after the place and does the cooking.

The principal articles of diet with the prices current at the time of my observations are included in the following table:

Meat--10 copecks (five cents) per pound. Equally good meat in
England would cost from fifteen to twenty cents a pound, and in
America probably twenty-two to twenty-four cents.

Black bread--2 copecks a pound.

White bread--3 copecks a pound.

Potatoes--1½ copecks a pound.

Sugar--16 copecks (eight cents) per pound.

Tea--1 ruble, 80 copecks (eighty cents) per pound. (Very cheapest.)

Coffee--40 copecks (twenty cents) a pound for unburned coffee.

Milk--10 copecks a “jug.” (About five cents a quart.)

Cabbage and carrots--2-7 copecks per pound.

Taken the year through this is almost a complete diet-list of the Russian coal-miners and industrial workers in general in the vicinity of Yusofka. During the church fasts hemp and rape-seed oil is consumed a good deal. And vodka should be added, for every workman drinks much of it. The revenue from the vodka monopoly, indeed, is one of the stablest sources of income to the government. The more the people drink the better Russia’s financial balance-sheet appears to the world. Truly Russian economy this! Five hundred and fifty million rubles a year is a substantial income even for a government, and this from a liquor containing forty odd per cent. alcohol. Vodka costs about three copecks per bottle to manufacture and sells for forty copecks.

From this list it will be seen that the articles which are most necessary, and most used, are the highest in price--tea, sugar, coffee, vodka. Meat is cheap, but there are frequent church fasts, when meat is forbidden.

The clothing worn by the Russian coal-miner is frequently home-made, like the clothing of peasants. If of cloth, cloth made from hand looms. Coats are of sheepskin. In the mines of South Russia, especially in the deeper pits, next to no clothing is worn by the men at the face.

INDEX

Abramoff, priestoff, 159, 171

_Agent provocateur_, 223, 404

Agrarian program of Duma, 20

Akatui, mines, 156

Aladin, Alexis, 334-335

Alexander II, 3

Alexander III, story of, 299

Alexanderburg, 140

Alikhanoff, General, 90;
in Kutais, 96;
interview with, 99, 102-114;
description of, 101;
life of, 101;
methods of, 102;
death of, 111

American sewing-machines, 99

Amnesty, Duma’s demand for, 194, 200

Andronnikov, Prince, 25;
embarrassment of, 32, 90

Anipko, Duma deputy, taken at Kronstadt, 252

Appanage lands grant, 337

Ararat, Mt., 87

Armenians, 77-84;
church, 78, 80;
merchant in Kutais, 100;
massacres, 83

Arrest, in Saratoff, 137;
reasons for, 141-142;
other arrests, 153

Assassination, theory of, 391

Babaieff, 83

Baku, 77-78, 84

Bausk, 23

Beaulieu, Leroy, 462, 482

Belentzoff, 403

Berlin, 3;
police records, 4;
departure from, 5

Bezsonoff, Major-general, 244

Bielostok, massacre, 237;
arrival in, 237-238

“Black Hundreds,” 241, 246-247, 468;
headquarters in Odessa, 473;
policy of, 474;
aim, 475, 476

“Bloody” Sunday, xviii

Brigand, Ingoosh, meeting with, 37;
his bride, 45

Bryan, William Jennings, on First Duma, 205

Bund, the, 281

Constitution, xviii

Corruption, official and in Red Cross, xx

Circassian uniform, 27

Cossacks, how regarded by officials, 32;
value from military point of view, 33;
reasons for loyalty to Czar, 33;
how regarded by Jews and peasants, 34;
origin and history of, 35-37;
services rendered to foes of Russia in olden times, 35;
first stanitza, 47, 48;
Mountain Cossacks, 49-53;
jigitoffka, 53-58;
military training of, 59;
Don Cossacks, 60;
agricultural systems, 63;
physique of, 64;
Cossack honor, 65;
promise for future development, 69;
patrol in Kutais, 95;
outrages, 119;
nagaika, 331

Circassian customs, 39, 41

Caspian Sea, first view of, 76-77

Czar, speeches of, confiscated, 122;
manifesto of October, 1905, 177, 181, 483;
and Duma, 178, 179;
and special laws, 182;
at Winter Palace, 184;
nervousness of, 187;
speech of, 191-192;
effect of speech, 192-194;
attitude toward Constitutionalism, 205;
residence of, 209;
rewards soldier for shooting girl, 263;
arch assassin of Russia, 264

Colonization, 124

Corday, Charlotte, of Russia, 155

Council of Empire, 181

Constitutional Democrats, 182, 202;
and peasants, 288

Conspirative meeting in Kronstadt, 207

Comisaroff, Count, 247;
Captain, 510, 512

Christian Socialists, 283

Cheliabinsk, 360

Church holidays, 441

Crimea, the, 465

Crown speech, Duma’s reply to, 502-507

Daghestan, 84

Despotism, only possible justification of, xix

Dnieper Cossacks, 35, 36

Dolgorukoff, Prince, 195

Don Cossacks, 35, 36

Duma, village, in Saratoff, 135

Duma, imperial, 11;
attitude of peasants toward, 135;
first convocation by Czar’s manifesto, 177;
Czar and, 178;
assembling of, 183;
make-up of, 195;
congratulatory telegrams to, 195;
unanimity of, 195;
order in, 200;
work of, 201;
dissolution, 202;
plot upon, 407-409

Durnovo, Minister, 182, 247

Dutch proverb, 10

Empress, at Winter Palace, 187

Empress, Dowager, 187

Exceptional laws, 181

Famine, fund scandal, xx;
extent of, xx;
Simbirsk, 337;
preventable, 340;
in Samara, 345;
frauds, 345;
causes of, 346;
terrible scenes of starvation and ravages of disease, 348;
inadequate relief, 351;
a relief station, 352;
peasant girls sold into bondage because of, 356

Flying bands, 398

Fox, the, police spy, 219

Freedom, forty days’, 177

Fundamental laws, 181

Galitzin, Prince, 78

Gapon, Father, 15, 183

Georgia, capital of, 87;
king of, 87;
pacification of, 102

Gomel pogrom, 245

Gorky, song of, 136

Gorymekiu, Premier, 182

Green, Victor, 252;
assassination of, 257

Hague, The, Peace Conference resolutions, 96, 100

Hertzenstein, Professor, assassinated, 248-251

Hughes, Arthur, 433, 438

Hughes, John, 436

Ingoosh brigand, 38

Insurrection, plans for, 208

Ivan, the courier, 93, 94, 96

Jablonsky, order of, 4

Jacquerie, aim of, 54

Jews, governor-general of Terek’s opinion of, 30;
laws against, 182;
massacres, 242;
in Poland, 281;
in terrorist organization, 281;
Odessa, 466;
total number in Russia, 466;
restriction of, 467;
policy of persecution of, 467, 471;
“Jew-baiting” pamphlet, 472

Kovalevsky, Maxime, xxiv;
newspaper of, 227

Kropotkin, Peter, “Russian Literature,” 5

Kurland, 20

Kabardine villages, 38

Kazbek, 42

Kur, river, 90

Kutais, town of, 90;
arrival in, 95;
terror in, 96, 114-115;
description of, 102;
population of, 102

Kronstadt, 209;
town of, 210;
conspirative meeting in, 216-219;
escape from, 221-222;
under ominous quiet, 227;
garrison, 229;
uprising, 231;
failure of mutiny, 232;
effect of mutiny, 235

Karass, General, 245

Kostroma, 312; peasants, 313-319

Kazan, province, 328

Konoplannikova, Zinaida, 392

Karaites, the, 465

La Grave, Cave, 23

Liski, 144

Loris-Melikoff, Dr., xxiv, 77

Lopuchin’s letter to Stolypin on police participation of massacres, 508-515

Luboshitz, Nahum, 162, 164

Luchenovsky, Lieutenant-governor, 156;
assassination of, 159;
successor of, 174

Mamaieff, execution of, 397

Marseillaise, 136, 217, 219, 224

Martial law in Kutais, 96

Massacres, Caucasian testimony, 497-501

Maximalists, 391, 398-399;
plots, 407;
details of an “expropriation,” 412-416

Medhurst, Consul, 433-436

Military organization, 207

Miliukoff, Professor Paul, characterization of present situation by, xxi, xxiv;
newspaper of, 227;
and Prof. Hertzenstein, 251

Miners, coal, 449-456;
shiftlessness, 453-454

Mines, coal, 449

Min, General, 331, 392-393

Mordwa, 140

Moscow insurrection, 200;
arrest in, 311

Mouromseff, President, 195

Nakashidze, Prince, 80, 83

Nakhitchevan, 102

Nastasia, 410-411, 480

National Democratic Party of Poland, 282

Nationalist Party of Poland, 281-282

New Russia Company, 434, 437

Nijni-Novgorod, 319-321;
the Fair, 321-328

Noutt, 20

Novo-Pebalge, 20

Nucha, 84

Odessa, 466;
a dramatic leave-taking of, 478

Orienbaum, 221, 228, 229

Orloff, General, in Baltic provinces, 20

Ossetine villages, 38, 45

Ostiaks, 362

Ouktomsky, Prince, 328-331

Palkine’s restaurant, incident in, 15

Pebalga, 23

Plehve, von, 77

Persia, 84

Pillage in Kutais, 100

Peasants, morality of, 132;
importance of, 287;
in Duma, 288;
psychology, 288;
awaking, 291, 310

Pesky, 136, 140

Prison, Saratoff, 149

Pasha, 207, 210;
in disguise, 212;
speech to soldiers and sailors, 217-218;
“taken,” 258

Paul, 210;
capture of, 232

Propaganda in army, 209

Pogrom, Bielostok, 237;
Kieff, 242-245;
Gomel, 245;
Odessa, 245;
governmental responsibility for, 424-508

Poland, Russian, 267;
Russian misrule in, 268;
school children
in, 268;
young men of, 271;
Russian police in, 271;
parties of, 281-284

Progressive Democratic Party of Poland, 282

Polish Party Socialist, 283-285

Polish revolution, 285

Pietuchow, Captain, report on Siedlce, 516-524

Protopopow, Staff Captain, 516

Peasant, needs, 293;
characteristics, 297, 309;
religion, 298;
drink among, 299;
indolence, 304;
scarcity of land, 305;
democracy of, 306;
attitude toward Viborg manifesto, 317, 331

Raffalsky, Vice-governor, 243

Reaction, 226-227

Repression, the, 3

Red Cross, revolutionary, 361, 365

Reval, uprising of, 226;
reported fighting in, 228

Revolution, Russian, importance and meaning of, xvii;
number of victims, xxi;
compared to French, English, and Italian, xxii;
aspect of beginning, 1906, 3

Romanoffs, rise of, 312-313

Rottkopf, torture of, 252-257

Route Militaire de Georgie, 42

Stolypin, Premier, and field courts, xxii, 264, 489, 490;
attempt upon, 331, 409;
characterization of, 489;
governor of Saratoff, 153;
a champion of autocracy, 489

St. Petersburg, incident in theater, 10

Sipolena, 20

Saukin, 20

Schiff, General, 20

Schouvoleff, Count, 26

Scherematiev, Count, 26

Saratoff, journey to, 122;
departure from, 122-123;
description of province, 123;
landlords of, 123-124;
entrée to, under arrest, 148

Serfdom abolished, 124

Students in famine districts, 125

Search party in Tsaritzin, 126-129

Syphilis, 132

Spiradonova, Marie, 155;
League, 156;
story of, 156-160;
torture of, 160;
interview with, 162-170;
trial of, 172;
speech in court, 173;
letters from, 173-176;
mother of, 174-175

Semenovsky Regiment, 200

Sveaborg, 226;
mutiny, 228

Sebastopol, rising of, 226

Scallon, governor-general of Poland, 257

Semonova shot in prison, 259-263

Simbirsk, province, 334;
illiteracy in, 355;
peasants, 335-340

Samara, province, 341;
crop failure, 342;
famine in, 345;
arrest in, 357-359

Siberia, first town visited in, 361;
sketch of, 365-366;
system of exile, 367;
a working-man’s exile, 368;
cost of living in, 368-369;
hardships of exile, 369;
a fair propagandist, 374, 382, 385;
politics in, 375;
neglect of exiles, 376;
a group of intellectuals, 379;
prevalence of disease, 380-382

Social Democrats, 390

Social Revolutionists, 390

Sokolow, capture of, 393-394

Sasha, 416;
exploits of, 417;
escape from St. Petersburg, 418-423, 430, 432

Siedlce, 516-524

Timirassiroff, Minister, interview with, 18;
views on Witte, 18-19

Tirsen, 20

Terskoi-Koubansky Cossack regiment, 25

Terek, governor-general of, 30; presentation to and interview with, 29-37; vanity, 31

“Times,” London, expelled correspondent of, 30

Terek, province of, 48

Tartars versus Armenians, 78-84

Tiflis, first view of, 87;
stay in, 88-90;
departure from, 93-94;
feuds in, 87;
demolished quarters of, 89;
a terrible incident, 389

Tsaritzin, arrival in, 24;
peasant, 129, 140

Tamboff, province, 155;
prison, 156

Terrorist, 164

Tauride Palace, 194

Throne Speech, 191-192;
Duma’s reply to, 200, 502-507

Terrorism, governmental, 237, 263, 264;
theory of, 258;
explanation of and justification for, 388-392

Trepoff and massacres, 241, 248, 514, 515

Turau, Senator, report on pogroms, 242

Tyumen, 361, 362

Tobolsk, 373-374

Tolstoi, visit to, 456;
his American friends, 460;
his interpretation of present situation in Russia, 461;
on socialism, 462;
influence on Russians, 464;
prophecy of, 493

Tichanowsky, Colonel, 484, 516, 517-524

Ufa, 360

“Underground” system, 362

Urusoff, Prince, 201;
speech in Duma, 246-247

Vladikavkas, 25;
hotel accommodations in, 26;
midnight awakening in, 28-29;
departure from, 42;
return to, 73

Volga Cossacks, 35, 37

Viborg manifesto, 205;
effect upon peasants, 317

Vilna, 240;
police terrorism in, 241, 511

Vorobieff, Dr., assassinated, 251

Vladimeroff, report on Warsaw tortures, 252-257

Vassiliev, Professor, visit to, 332-334

Vologda, 386

Vyatka, 386

Venediktoff, execution of, 397

“Viedomosti,” Moscow, extract from, 485

Wirballen, 6, 9

Witte, 18, 178;
end of premiership, 282;
and massacres, 245, 509, 514

Wender, 20

Winter Palace, meeting of Duma in, 183-194

Warsaw, 265;
panic of Jews, 265-266;
martial law in, 267;
Russian administration, massacre of police in, 272;
poverty of, 272-273;
prostitutes, 274;
terrors, 275;
riots, 276;
strike of school children, 276

Workmen, Russian, 440;
wages of, 442, 525-526;
standard of living, 526-528;
compared to American workmen, 442;
homes of, 445;
morality, 446;
characteristics, 447;
physically compared with American and English workmen, 447-448

Xanugievitch, Governor, 160;
dinner with, 161-162

Yasnaya Poliana, 456, 459

Yekaterinburg, 360, 361

Yusofka, 433;
departure from, 455

Zaporovians (Cossacks), 36

Zhdanov, Cossack officer, 159, 171

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These figures apply to a period of six months after the dissolution of the first Duma.

[2] Lowell, “Eve of the French Revolution,” page 11.

[3] Adopted at Second Convention Peace Conference at The Hague, 1902,