Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-06-10
The Labor QuestIon,

ltI DCAOlC last dhNCi bhC Stlont
political necessity of an approaching
Presidential campaign, passed what i,
known as the eight-hour law, providing
that in all Government workshop.
eight hours, instead oi the usual ten
should constitute "a days work. Wheth
er the CongIefsIoDal conscience AND
cemmon srnse would not allow thai
baby to- 1eo. the whole figure u is nei
| known, but certain il is that the Law
left tine most Important question un.
touched-viZ., that OF wages. Whether
the workingmen were TO receive tel
hours pay ior eight hours work, Oh
whei her the remuneration WAS to be re
lduced in proportion TO the reduction iii
the hours OF employment, wer~ prot
lens left to the decision of the legal ira
ternity. The question naturally arising
at once upon the taking effect OF the
law, it was accordingly referred TO At
torney-General Evarts, who i'll time
pronounced decision so Dslphic in its
mbiguity as to stand as much in need
of Interpretation as the law itself. Other
authorities were invoked, but with an
equal want of success, and it consequent
! ly fell to the let of the Cabinet to make
some authoritative ruling on the subject,
as the practice of the different Depart
ments, since the law took effect, had been
conflicting. President Grant has, there
fore, as the mouth piece of the Cabinet,
issued proclamation to the effect that
| it was the manifest intention of Con-
gress simply to shorten the hours OF
work, and not to legislate upon the SUBJ
ject of the wages TO be given for the
work, and that they, therefore, remain
the same. The werkingmen in Govern
ment employ are thus at present In
clover. Their woIk, as is well known,
is generally easier than, that of ordinary
mechanics, and when we add to this
the reduction of hours, while the pay
remains the same, it will be seen that to
be Government employee at present is
a destiny not to be despised by the
American workingmen.
While 10 one can complain of the
Presidents CONSTRUCTION of the law, its
effect cannot but Be disastrous ul on our
laboring population. Dissatisfaction
will be the natural result among those
not. in Government employ, and the
leight-hour agitation throughout the
country will be famed and Kept slive
by the action of Congress, sowing dis
cord between employers and employed,
end raising hopes which can have no
other issue than disappointment. For
uON 1DuCn DCllCl nOuiu bhC WI MINI
man be, if his claims were granted?
Suppose that in all the States it were
possible to carry into effect a law giving
ten hours wages for eight hours work,
that wsuld be the inevitable result?
Clearly, it would cost ene-fifth more fer
every days work to produce everything.
and that cost would, of course, come
out of the consumer. Now, unfortunate
lly, the workingnlan is a consumer as
well as producer. He must buy out
of his weekly earnings food and cloth
ing for his family, besides paying rent
for the apartments, or house he occupies.
Now, under the order of things which
the advocates Of eight-hour laws would
inaugurate, he would receive the same
amount in money that he does at pres
ent, but he would find to his surprise
that it would not purchase as much as i.
does now. Thus, unless he should get
more for eight hours work than re now
receives for ten, he would be absolutely
worse off than he is at present-he
would have legislated away just fifth
lof his days wages. What the " erking-
men mean when they aeitate for an
eight-hour law is simply an advance of
their present days wages one-fifth: for,
as we have shown, if they simply re-
duced their amount of work one-fifth
without raising their wages, they would
be Just that amount worse OFF than they
are at present. To do eight hours work,
therefore, and still get as much in
moneys worth for it, they must receive
Ione-fiftll more wages than they ARE
doing at present. And this brings them
in contact with law of supply and de-
mand that all the eight-hour agitationsI
in Christendon cannot alter. By this
inevitable law, you cannot arbitraily
retain your wages while ysu decrease
yeur hours of work. Even supposiRg
that any empleyeris fool enough TO give
the same amount of money for eight
hours work that he gives for teli-even
Supposing this praciicable-the work.
ihgman would not really have gained
by the concession. Any gen.
erai Law, or custom, to this effect
would, as we have shown, simply result
enhancing the cost of the article pro
duced to the consumer IF the day
laborer were given his eight hours, but,
found that in buying his children's
shoes he had to pay mere than when
he worked ten hours, he would consider
that he was paying for his days idle
ness in the week very dearly. This
wonld be the effect ofa ageneral adoption
of the eight-hour system all over the
country, and such a system must be
generally adopted, or it would only
result, if adopted in one or two States,
in the importation of cheaper labor into
those States. -s'i 80 .-sif =
1t results, therefore, that Sthe eight
hour system, if adopted, will, like other
faxuries, have to be'paid for, and by the
workingmen themselves--and this not
from desire, or resolve, on the part of
the employing classes that it should be
so, but because The Irresistible laws that
govern traffic so ordain. The working
men may employ the eloquence of Cice-
ro, or a DemOstheres, but they cannot
alter the operation of those laws in the
destination ofa hair. Nor must it ie said
that, in emphasizing this fact, we are un-
friendly to the laboring classes. On the
contrary, We weuld gladly see their
present condition ameliorated; we
should be glad to see the hours now
wasted in idleness, or dissipation. en-
ployed in the improvement of their
minds, and in the endeavor to raise
themselves in the social scale. In this
country all things are possible TO the
sober industrieus workingmau--strOng
/ in himself, and resolved to be something
more than a "hewer of wood, or "a
carrier of water.n Even the Presidency
is open to such men. Andrew Johnson,
though opce u tailor, and Abraham
| Lincoln, lumberman, rose to occupy
the highest Office in the Nations gift
] But to reach these high places no eight
/ hour laws are necessary. It-is true two
hours day more of freedom from labor
might result in good to a few of the in
dustrious and strong-willed, but even
these would probably say that they
could not afford to have the purchasing
power of their weeks wages reduced
over one-sixth for the sake of that free
dom Since the war the wages of certain
mechanics have been largely increased
some now earning their $50 and $40
per week; but we have not heard nf any
| lrrenaral increase in the nrnsnariLv of