New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-09-30
tn. Conditions Of Labor.

FOR SENATOR
nj, mn, yw. III. VAN SCHOONHOvEN.
The Conditions Of Labor.
49,. tho water the condition Of England ques
lion smsy said to be the ruling topic OF fhe times
In France. the strike Of the Journeymen Carpenters
h.stended strongly produce similar state othings
In our own land this question is rapidly assum-
mo nrominencc which could not have been hoped
for few years ago. Every where the necessity Of
looking into the circumstances under which Produc-
tive Labor is prosecuted, the wages by which it is
recompensed and the nourishment by which 1t Is
upheld is becoming more and more obvious. La
Mennas' Book OF the People, Carlyles Past and
Present. etc have reached minds and classes imper
yious or inaccessible to the writings Of ayowed So
cial Reformers, and we find the Coningsby' SibyL
and w andering Jew of our day among the daily
studies and relaxaions Of even the fashionable and
the thoughtess. In the sphere of practical life, the
same revelation is evident and questions related TO
the Condition OF Labor are discussed, however blind
ly and heedessly, on every side.
recent strike of Factory Girls in Pittsburgh
Pa afforded notable instance Of the sensitiveness
of the public mind to questions Of this nature. The
Girls through committee demanded the reduction
Of their hours Of labor to ten per day The Employ
ers replied in substance 1--WE deny your lihe
.spokesmen's right to interfere in this matter and
we cannot make the reduction Of hours you demand
We are working in competition with rlvaswh run
their works twelve or hours per day if we
run but ten they will be able to undersoll and rum
us We must 10 ON hitherto" We believe the
strike has failed
Now it is easy to call these men hard names-iy-
rants. graspers oppressors of the poor. &c-but we
do not see wherein their reasoning IL unsound.
Will the public pay them eleven cents yard Tor
their cloth while others sell good for ten and a
half because they have lessened their hours OF Ia
Dor No such thing. individuals might tempo
rarily do il under excitement but not the public II
would be q forced unnatural effort. in opposition 10
the general current-And while every body buys
the cheapest cloth he find, how is the clotbrna-
ker expected to live by rule prescribed to him
alone7 IL all beside get the most that their money
will bring, why shall not he I?
1t is remarkable that those who are most vehc-
ment champions Of letting trade regulate itself in
general way. turn a square upon every strike
for enhanced wages or diminished hours and are
vociferous champions for the regulation by law or
public opinion there is no odds in principle) Oh
the bargains of employer and employed. They
who nosily contend that Labor will be tar better
rewarded il left to the unobstruced operation OF The
Laws of Trade, eager enough to step IN as cham
pions of the employed whenever difference arises
Their practice il better than their theory. Yetwc
do not censure the employers. Ii is doubtless true
~ they urge that part cannot diminish the hours
Of labor while the rest maintain them unaliered;
but that only shows that the change should be uni;
versal. Unfortunately the Government of the Union
has no power over the subject, but 1t may be reach
ed In different way. An Industrial Congress,
composed of representatives of Employers and
Workmen in equal numbers, ought to be assem-
bled, to regulate generally the conditions of Labor
Some of them must be left open to variance, as cir
cumstances shall dictate bu, it seems TO us that
general provision, to operate coextensivey with the
Union that ten hours shall constitute day work
might be adopted without injury TO any and with
signal benefit TO all.
There must Of course be exceptions provided for
The farmer, who works less than ten hours in
Winter and is often stopped by storms may well
work more than ten hours in bright Summer weather.
So Of other trades which are suspended during cold
weather. asons, &c. These should be paid higher
wages while they have work than those who can
work the year round. and might make longer days
But in factories and wherever else Labor is prose
cutcd without cessation, we think ten hours steady
work should count day.
The world is full Of Phariseesm Thousands
loudly commiserase the poor factory girls doomed
TO the slavery Of working twelve or thirteen hours
q day through the week days. yet think nothing of
the drudges in their own kitchens who work full as
many hours through the week and have TO do a
pretty good days work on Sunday besde-and for
lees money than the factory-girls earn To rail at
other mems sins is rather a cheap way of expa,ing
our own Many factory girls have this Summer
earned four. five and even six dollars per week
above their board while no house servant gets near
% much. The average pay of factory girls is twice
rs much as that OF servants and seamsiresses who
work more hours than the former Even school
mistresscs receive less in the average than factory
girls Blu, lei not one abuse excuse another; let
them all be corrected. We trust the Ten Hour
rule will ere long become the unwriiten law of the
land and prove beginning Of Industrial Reform
rT. The Morning Ne,cs follows the Lowell Pa.
triot in attacking the Lowell Factories for the low
price Of board paid in the factory boarding houses
AZ these prices paid by the aborers TO the board
ing house keepers. we really cannot see how the
factories are asssilable in the premises No work
man or woman is obliged to board in these houses or
any where in particular all receive their pay in fall
for work board where they please and pay what
they agree to. lfany choose pay than the
usual price lsl,25 per week for girlsl they
doubleday be accommodated. But lower or higher
makes no difference with the factories Yet the
News talks of the factory stockholders who pay
sweA sans, as if they did it. There is limit to
the combined stupidity and malice of the average
Loco Foco attacks on our Manufactures
The price for board for girls in the regular board.
ing houses on the several Corporations has been
si,25 per week for many years-wc do no, remem-
Der that il was ever otherwise. We know that