The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-09-05 00:00:00

EDe ,Staurbage Clutter,
ik-rIIRDIY SEPTEMBER sth, 1885

THE HOURS OF TOIL.

THE hours of, labour question his of late
come well to the fore among matters oc-
cupying public attention, more particularly,
pe,laps, with regard to persons, and es-
pecially young persons, employed in shops,
and also with reference to the servants of
the tram wayS companies of London and the
large provincial towns. It is quite as N. ell
such is the case ; for something should be
done by authority to relieve the drudgery of
a hardworked anti extensive section of society.
Twelve and fourteen, and even more hours a
day behind the counter, all the while stand-
ing, or a similar stretch of time on the plat-
form of a car, is no uncommon experience
W.' those who minister, to the public conveni-
ence in the spheres mentioned. There is no
need to point out that this is too much for
humanity to bear; but so it is, custom has
ordained it, and a too-thoughtless comm-anity
allows it to continue. "Evil is wrought by
want of thought far more than want slf
heart," is an old axiom which has here fuR
force; the public takes the benefit of over-
working its servants regardless of the hard-
ships they endure. Such things should not
be in this age of boasted philanthropy. The
Factory Act years ago emancipated the
slaves of toil engaged in the manufacture of
wares for humanity's use ; some similar bene-
ficent legislation ought to have long ago
followed to lighten the lot of those engaged
in dispensing the products to the public at
large ; and the measure should be compre-
hensive enough to embrace all occupied in
the service of the people. Varied avocations
and businesses of course require widely dif-
fering regulations, so as to secure the good
and convenience of all concerned ; but regu-
lations of some sort, suited to each case,
should be by law established. All sorts of
objections were rased against the limitation
of the hours of labour in factories, but a
maximum was fixed, and no ill effect fol-
lowed, while the good accomplished has been
incalculable. Something in the right direc-
tion has been done by private effort, it is
true; but it seems hardly likely that a
general curtailment of toil within reasonable
and proper limits will take place unless the
State move in the matter. Sixty hours, say.
a week, is quite long enough for shop em-
ployes to be kept at the counter, especially
when we remember that so large a propor-
tion of those so occupied are still in their
teens. The same may be said of all engaged
in indoor employment of whatever character.
Clerks and others would thus be brought
into the category. And all the servants of
the great goods and passenger-carrying com-
panies who at present are compelled to keep
their noses to the grindstone of duty for a
longer period than ten hours a day are, we
hold, subjected to greivous wrong. It is, of
course, a very difficult matter to regulate by
law the hours of adult labour; but some
limit should be set up, for public safety, and
for the benefit of a very numerous industrial
class. In the case of those who have not ar-
rived at the estate of man or womanhood,
no difficulty should be presented, for it is
certainly the bounden duty of Government
to interfere wisely and yet firmly in the in-
terest of the young. Without some system
of State regulation, business competition will
keep shops open as long as the public will
make use of them, and no amount of appeal-
ing to the public seems sufficient to induce
customers to get their wants supplied with-
in such hours as would leave to the shopfolk
enough of leisure for rest and recreation, not
to speak of time for food and sleep. Rail-
way, tramcar, omnibus, and other employes
of that class must be, some of them, on duty
by night as well as day; but here a limita-
tion of the hours of toil should secure relays
of men, none of them occupied continuously
for a lo ger period than regard for health de-
mands. The question of cost should be al-
together secondary, for all occupations in
which men engage ought to be so managed
that the profit thereby produced allowed for
the payment of a fair day's wage for a fair
say's work. The real requirements of legi-
timate trade leave "ample room and verge
enough" for all occupied in its pursuit, no
matter in what capacity, to enjoy sufficient
breathing space. What remains for law to
do is simply to regulate the hours cf shop-as-
sistants and others engaged in daily labour
of kindred character, so that they do not ex-
ceed in the aggregate what common sense
indicates as right and proper. Grasping
greed and haste to grow rich, whether dis-
played by master or man, must not be per-
mitted to stand in the way of public health;
habitual laziness and disregard of the com-
fort, convenience, and bodily need of others
ought not to be allowed to work together to
bring about shopping long after the shutters
should be up for the night. This evil it is
within the power of legislation to put an end
to ; beyond this it is as unnecessary us it
would be unwise for State interference to
go. A Hours of Labour Regulation Law,
securing to every toiler the same immunity
from overwork that the Factory Act has en-
sured to factory hands, is what we wish to
see. Combinations of employes might do a
great deal, perhaps, in the way of demand-
ing shorter hours ; in many occupations, in-
deed, such unity has worked well. But there
is always the danger of those distressing con-
flicts of Capital aud Labour which end in
strikes and lockouts and ill-feeling, when
man moves agrainst,master. The will of the
people, for whom master and man combine
to work, when spoken with unmistakeable
distinctness, as it is sometimes, does even
more in the right direction ; bat theorists
and political economists cannot organise
public opinion en masse so that at all times it
shall assert itself for the greatest good of the
whole community. No authority inferior fn
the Legislature, it has been wisely said, is
equal to the task of settling the question of
the hours of toil. At the same time the re-
sponsibility for securing efficient law-making
for the protection of the toiler against av
aricions and slip-shod, thoughtless evil cus-
tom lies with the public, and especially with
those of the public who profess to heart the
public weal. There is, as has been amply
shown, room for a revolution in shops and
other homes of labour..., great and good re-
volution ; and statesmen and social re-
formers will be wanting if they do not ad-
dress themselves in earnest to bringing about
the needed change. Nothing in the whole
realm of imperial or domestic politics de-
serves more serious consideration, 07 calls
more urgently for careful and yet deter-
mined action.

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