Every Bourse carried out this program only in proportion to its means. The Bourses differed a great deal in number of adherents, in financial resources, in command of organizers, etc. Some consisted of a few syndicats with a few dozen members only; others comprised tens of syndicats with thousands of organized workingmen and with a budget running into the thousands.
A few figures may help to form some idea of the extent of the services rendered by the _Bourses du Travail_ during the period considered in this chapter. The number of positions filled by the Bourses were as follows:
_Applications _Offers of _Placed at _Placed away _Year_ for employment_ employment_ residence_ from residence_ 1895 38,141 17,190 15,031 5,335 1898 83,648 45,461 47,237 38,159 1902 99,330 60,737 44,631 30,544[88]
The service of _viaticum_ was organized differently by different Bourses. Some paid one franc a day, others one and one-half and two francs. In many Bourses the traveling workingmen received part only of the _viaticum_ in money, the rest in kind (tickets to restaurants, lodging, etc.). The reports of the Bourses presented to their Congress at Paris in 1900, contain some information on the subject. The Bourse of Alger spent from 600 to 700 francs a year on the service of _viaticum_. The Bourse of Bordeaux distributed during certain months about 130 francs, during others, only 60; other Bourses spent much less. The following table presents the amounts spent in successive years by the Bourse of Rennes:
_Assistance_ _Year_ _Passing Workmen_ _Francs_ _Centimes_
1894 25 37 50 1895 22 33 1896 47 60 50 1897 41 81 1898 (till Sept.) 32 64
In organizing technical courses, the _Bourses du Travail_ pursued the aim of fighting "the dominant tendency in modern industry to make of the child a laborer, an unconscious accessory of the machine, instead of making him an intelligent collaborator."[89] Again in this respect the services of the Bourses varied. In the Bourse of Etienne, 597 courses of two hours each were attended by 426 pupils from October 1, 1899, to June 30, 1911. The Bourse of Marseilles had in 1900 courses in carpentry, metallurgy, typography and others. The Bourse of Toulouse organized 20 courses and had its own typographical shop.