The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-13


cighthour system, and some OF them even with
the observance Of SundPy.
When We have laid out of the discussion all
these excepted classes, we have but small
minority OF the laborlng population OF TINS
country LETT; ana of this small minority. those
only have an abiding interest in the eight-hour
question, who 90 not expect to rise out OF the
class of mere operatives to that Of masters OF
their own business Those who have enterprise
and energy to work their way up 70 be their
own employers, will be more inclined TO ask how
they can earn the most wages than how they
can work the iewest hours. All reasoning on
this subject is beside the question, which is nos
confined to those labOreTs who expect TO spend
their lie at work for hire, paid by the day or
week, instead of by the piece.
The question, then reduces itself TO this:-
Whether il is desirable that the least enterprsing
and energetic class of laborers shall work fewer
hours day than the great mass of the laboring
population II this is a correct statement OF
the question, it answers ITSELF Justice requires
that those who perform the least labor shall re-
celve the smallest share of It's products. II ma
jor1ty OF laborers work ten or twelve nours
day, and the minority only eight, the latter
should receive propoTtionallY less compensa-
ton; IN other words, they should be paid only
in proportion as they produce. Their lack OF
energy TO rise out of the condition OF hred
laborers, proves necessity for making up by
diligence what they want in enterprise and
ability II they educate their children, or lay
by provision for the decrepitude OF old age, 1t
must come out of the surplus they can save from
mere wages. If they work less than the great
body Of lahorers, they will earn less, receive
less, save less, haze less. 1t is their true in
terest, in the tleetlng years of their best ytgor
to earn much, save something, and rise, II pos
sibls, to the more Independent condition Of self
employed laborers. We cannot think it or the
advantage of the only class likely to demand the
eiaht-hour system, that their hours OF coil should
be reduced below those of the other and more
considerable portion of the laboring community.
Those who desire the eighthour system say
that the time thus saved Is wanted Tor intellec-
Crplitabla object.
the warmest encouragement But mere desul-
tory reading is not mental culture; on the con-
traTy, it s, If too much indulged, mental disspa-
tion and source OF mental debility. The great
acquisition, whether for scholar or for laborer,
Is steady, robust, energetic a0W, the foundation
of all excellence, moral and intellectual. The
scholar needs 1t to give him complete control of
his attention, to enable him to direct the whole
force OF his mind TO the things 1t is his business
to understand, and to resist the seductions of
that aimless curiosity in which many we'll
endowed mind wanders and wastes ITSELF
All men need it to give them that command Of
The apretltes and passions which is a chief aim
OF moral culture. But this great taculty--a
powerful and enereetic willis precisely the
thing IN which the eighthour men are most
likely to be deuCient. 1t is The W9nt of it which
forbids them TO aspire to better condition than
that OF hired laborers. NoGhlng would cultivate
| it mere Chan the ambition to work, and save,
and rise. II such people had six hours day for
mental culture, they would probably waste them
| (hke the mob OF sO-called scholars) in aimless
reading. The intellect Is improved only in pro-
potion as it acquire, The capacity to form exact
and Independent judgments on the subjects that
| cene before II; ana, as b general rule, great
readers besIow transient attention on so many
things that they have no power or precision
on any.
In ieudal times the great landed proprietors
| gratiied their vanity by supporting multitudes
| OF Idle retainers When manufactures and COM
merce furnished them with other channels OF
! expense, their retainers went to reinforce the
laborers. But that exchange OF leisure Tor labor
was no loss II society could diYe5t itself OF the
| art6cial wants acquired in the last four centu.
res halt of eight hours labor a day would sup
ply all its needs. But ii society had taken that
direction, its intelligence would not have been
| improved by the resulting leisure. The best
proof OF the Intelligence of the artisan class i
which there would be no place il society had
not the artificial wants which it Is the chic
Office Of skilled labor TO supply. In proportion
as these wants become more refined there is q
greater demand for skill, and higher develop
ment of the faculties of the artisan class.
The aspirations of lRborers should not be to
wards aimless, desultory reading, but toward
the higher grades OF industrial Skill. Let ample
tine be given to the education OF youth in or
deTly ana exact studies, training their minds t.
aleTtness and imbuing them with love o
beauty and grace. Among minds opened b!
such culture. there would be an active cOmpeu
tion for the employments requiring intellect anl
skill. The state OF the arts and the condition o
Inc artisan would improve together All pub
and social duties would be more intelligent,
discharged by minds thus developed than Woult
ever be possible by those whose only menta
culture consisted in skimming through book
selected for novelty ard read from idle curiosity
which, we suppose, describes the intellectual
cultivation sought by majority Of those whC
~ n q pIo m