Childhood and Early Youth 27settle disputes among themselves.^7 The lives of members were ruled by
old customs, which did not allow them much freedom in pursuing their
business. How many apprentices and journeymen could be employed was
strictly regulated. Unskilled workers were forbidden to work in any recog¬
nized trade. Prices were not set at the open market. The organization of the
guilds was essentially a closed system whose rules and regulations usually
guaranteed a decent living by suppressing competition. As a master of a
trade, Kant's father could exercise (at least in principle) a kind of control
over journeymen and apprentices that we would find unacceptable today.
He would, for instance, be the one who granted the permission to a journey¬
man to move from one place to another. The guilds also had the authority
to punish their members, an authority they exercised.
In Königsberg, every guild had its own representative in each district of
the city, and each had a special account set aside to help their members in
case of death, sickness, or impoverishment.^8 When a master died, the guild
usually had to take care of the widow. Indeed, "the guild, just like the church,
encompassed the entire life" of its members.^9 The Handwerker were proud
and very conscious of their special position, taking great care to distinguish
themselves from those they considered of lower standing. "Honor" or "Ehre"
was important not just in all dealings of a member of the guild, but also in
his or her background. A member of the guild belonged to the "respectable"
classes.^10 An eighteenth-century account of the situation of craftsmen in
Zurich may give us some idea about the situation in Königsberg:
The high-handedness of the so-called gentry was justly resented by members, both
young and old, of what might be called the middle class of citizens. Expressions such
as ... "I am a gentleman and a citizen" were bold claims such as might be heard in al¬
tercations with those who deemed themselves superior, or with country folk or for¬
eigners.... The baker from whom my parents bought their bread, Irminger, was a
shrewd and experienced businessman; at the time when I myself became a citizen he
was highly regarded as a master of his guild and was treated with great respect as a
member of the Council. This was the case, too, with several others, and a good many
craftsmen were entitled to an equal degree of respect as members of the Grand Coun¬
cil. The highly elitist manner of electing members to the Grand Council - they were
chosen by existing Council members and the aldermen of the guilds - would inevitably
have led to total domination by a patrician clique, had not the guild masters, the two
principal officers, been elected by the guild as a whole. ... It was mainly the butchers
who upheld the guild system... they were followed by the bakers and millers, while
the shoemakers and tailors had only one member apiece on the Grand Council.^11
Working largely with leather, the harness makers were closely related to the
shoemakers and saddle makers. The harness makers (Riemer or courroiers)