New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-07-12
THB ErGuT.HOUR QUESTION.

relevant TO the main question:. nl' D"ii!
points are as follows:
I. A reduction of the Hours Of Labor to eight per
day is highly desirable for the abOrcr.
II. 1t would not involve reduction of the average
rate of wages per day OF week.
I'LL 1t is opposed or regarded with indifference by
most aborers from apprehension that they ron'd oe
obliged to accept lower wages for foryeght than 'hey
now receive for sixty hours labor per week.
w. This is proved erroneous by the fact that, whe
the hours of labor ia Great Britain have been shortened
some 80 per cent during the last forty or fifty yearshe
weekly uages of labor have considerably increased.
V. L,borers would very generally devote the extra
leisure gained by tho proposed change to reading anu
other means of mental improvement, to the profit OF
their families and of other classes.
vi. Employers and capitalists generally oppose the
change from apprehension that their laborers wouu
souander their new.found leisure in drunkenness ana
kindred dssipations--which impression the conduct
of some of them tends to confirm.
VII The Laboring Glass may advance and secure the
reform proposed by strikes &C., but by uniting In
Trade Societies. boiling regular meetings, discussing
oil questions incident 10 their own well-beng' ana so
preparing first to secure then to improve the contem'
plated good.
TO all which, we say:
/. Other things being equal, we think the
shortening of the days work desirable. But II
is not yet proved-though we trust it may be
tina. the benefits of the proposed change
would, for the present, overbear Its evils.
This is the point in dispute; and it needs
further discussion, with the collection and d.
gestion of all the related facts. We thank the
late Legislature of Massachusetts, for opening
the question, and hope the debate may continue
until the truth hall be made clearly manifest.
I-III. We thl.k it nouid-Other things
being equal-invOlve reduction OF daily or
weekly wages. In other words, we differ from
Mr.. Barry, and believe that he Working Glass
hours labor per week as they now DO for sixty.
But this does not prove the change un'dvisable.
We presume the price Of Labor is substantially
regulated by its raiue-that is, the value O. its
product If maker of hats, or hoops, U
horse-shoes should produce as many and as
good ones in a weeks work Of forty-eight hours
as he did in one of sixty, he would Obtain rs
much pa, for that week's work as he now does;
if not, not And we think he woald not, in the
average, accomplish SO much in the forty-eight
hours as he does III the sixty. If he did not
and his wages wee maintained at the present
standard, he would inevitably be required to
nav more for all he bought or consumed, be-
cause il would cost more; SO that in one way
or anotbsr, he would receive less than he now
does.
| w yVa hold fhof tho Wo0as of .ohor in Cront
Britain Gas elsewhere) have appreciated during
the last forty or fifty yeats, not because the
length of days work has been reduced, but
in spite of that circumstance. They have been
increased, /, by the large accession to the civil
lied worlds available stock of the Precious
opments of California, Australia, &c; 2. BY
the increased efficiency of Human Labor,
throash the progress of Invention, Discovery,
and Labor-Savlns Machinery. The former
secured but q nominal, the latter real, addi-
ton to the laborer's compensation. And if,
through the continued advance Of Invention
and Discovery, an average days work shall
produce, in 1896, twice as much as it does in
1865, the average recompense of Labor must be
increased in nearly equal ratio; while, if the
worlds stock of Gold and Silver shall again be
doubled, through the mining operations now in
their infancy, we may have nominal duplica-
ton of wages with no real increase in the rec
ompense of Labor.
V. Many laborers do squander their present
leisure, with good part of their wages; and
we presume they would do the same with more
leisure. This, however, is their own affair, and
has little bearing on the case in hand. Free
Labor implies that the laborer shall be at liberty
to misuse his time and earnings, taking the
inevitable consequences
vi. We judge that employers and capitalists
have generally paid little attention to the SUBJ
ject. 1t concerns them much less than Mr..
Barry supposes. If they have to pay Labor 81
for the material and fabrication of a pair of
shoes, for instance, they will sell those shoes
usually to laborer-at q corresponding price;
if you make them pay So, instead of the SO,
they will sell them accordingly. You may
safely trust Capital to take care of itself. If
Labor says, 81 must have $40, 900 for making
the brick, cutting the timber, and doing the
carpenter and mason-work, &C., &C., Of a
house of specified dimensions" Capital will let
that house to Labor at corresponding rent;
and if you should to-day so increase the rates Of
wages as to make everything cost hencefOrth
twice what it now does, you would only double
the nominal wealth Of the capitalist class, with