A Journey Through France in War Time

by Joseph G. Butler

The first French locomotive was built at this plant and, in 1841, the first hammer moved by steam power.

In the year 1855 the Crimean war led to much activity at this plant. In 1867 ten thousand workmen were employed. In the year 1870 the first Bessemer steel produced in France, was made here, although the process had then been in use in the United States for six years.

Since 1884 these works have been exporting guns to many foreign countries.

In 1897 a large plant was built near Le Havre for the manufacture of naval guns. In 1882 they built large naval works near Bordeaux, and since 1906 they have been building the largest warships at that place. In 1909, at Hyeres, near Toulon, studying and making of torpedoes was begun, and this was followed in 1910 by submarines. Five plants are now scattered through France for this kind of work.

The Creusot works do not employ children under fourteen years of age. There are often three generations employed in this same kind of work, and some families have up to twenty members working in one plant. They have always been spared epidemics of any serious nature. With sanitary and prosperous homes, few deaths have occurred in the first year of life. The rate of deaths at Le Creusot is only ten per thousand while the average in France is 16 per thousand, and in bad industrial centers 25 per thousand. Eighty per cent. of the children are nursed by the mother. After the seventh month before birth mothers rest, and for a period after and during this time they receive the usual wages.

The first school was opened here in 1787. At the age of fourteen children can become apprentices and those of other towns or villages are often attracted. After they have a school certificate, entrance to the works is optional. From the age of twelve to sixteen years they must do military preparation, with flags and musical band. The brightest children go to high school to become engineers, and they are taught by the best professors in France. They pay back the cost of their education only when they have secured a good position. A thorough medical examination is necessary.

Since the year 1875 savings banks for children have existed.

The first domestic science school was organized in Europe in the year 1865 at Goteborg. At first all the mothers were opposed to these schools, but they soon favored them. One cannot enter these schools without a diploma from the common schools. Each teacher is given twenty-four pupils. The girls are taught to make their own apparel, gardening, cooking, washing, ironing, mending and keeping home expense accounts.

There are three classes of workmen. Ten selected, twenty auxiliaries, thirty uneducated laborers. In January, 1912 there were twenty thousand men employed. They all sign a full contract, after reading it, before getting into the works. The contract can be cancelled by either party with one week's notice. No proprietor of a saloon can work in the plant. From 1837 to 1911 the salaries have increased 130 per cent. In the year 1911 the total of salaries was nearly thirty-three million francs. The annual donations amount to three million francs. Delegates are nominated by the workmen for conference with the employers to suggest better conditions and improvements in working methods. Sixty-six per cent. of their suggestions or demands have been adopted and the result is peace and confidence. The company provides swimming pools, divided into two parts, one-half for adults and the other half for younger men and boys.

The homes are subject to constant sanitary inspection and all unsanitary buildings are destroyed. Safety appliances and all protecting apparatus are painted in brilliant red. There has been a constant study of the workman's house, since the eighteenth century. In 1840 the company had one hundred workmen's houses; in 1912 two thousand five hundred, and in addition to this hundreds of these houses have been bought by the workmen by slow annual payments added to the rent. The types of houses vary for one to four families. The rents are low and do not pay regular interest on the investment. Ground space for gardens is furnished by the company, with annual competitions and rewards for the best results. Trees and seeds are furnished at nominal prices. There are two thousand, two hundred and fifty gardens under cultivation.