Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/152

126 of the skilled mechanic. These articles in addition to chains made at Liboc near Prague, are for the most part exported to Hungary and the Balkan peninsula.

In Bohemia the work of shoe-making is largely carried on in well equipped modern factories, but there are still great numbers of people who carry out all the operations of shoe-making in their homes, and while boots and shoes that are made chiefly by machinery have many good points, the hand-made shoe holds its own in the two main essentials of good foot-wear, combined solidity and elasticity, qualities not always present in the machine made article.

The majority of the home-workers do business with the local dealers; or get employment from factories in the mmediateimmediate [sic] neighbourhood where they give out work. There iisis [sic] a certain amount of business done with the agents of houses in Vienna, Pesth and other large towns; for the good reputation of our workers in leather is well known troughout the empire!

The district of Mnichovo Hradiště, Litomyšl, Vysoké Mýto, Pardubice, Rychnov, Chrudim, Králové Hradec are the homes of about 4000 shoe-makers who turn out goods to the value of ₤ 266.276 per year. Large quantities are exported to England, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and to the Orient, the latter is a market having special requirements which our workers evidently satisfy, as our orders from eastern lands go on increasing. There is no doubt, that the future prosperity of our workers depends mainly on the expansion of our export business. Their wage-earning power is very moderate. The division of labour in this industry is carried to the extreme. The workmen are paid so much per pair, and labour from early morning until late at night, a 16 hour working day for the workmen, his family, apprentices and occasionally others who are journeymen assistants, is quite common in the shoe-making districts. This calls for reform, let us hope that is may be our good fortune to carry back a remedy from England.