Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-12-29

THE EIGHT HOUR LAW.

SPEECH OF Mr.. MORRILL, OF VERMONT,
IN The U. s. Senate, Thursday, December l6,h
On motion of Mr.. Morrill,, the Senate took
up the joint resolution to regulate the hours
Of labor for Government laborers, which pro.
vidcs that the joint resolution reducing the
hours Of labor of Government laborers, ap-
proved June %, 1868, shall not create re-
duction Of wages.
Mr.. Morrill, of Vermont, moved an amend
meut repeating the act which declared eight
hours to be a days labor.
Mr. Morrill, made long speech in support
of his motion. He endeavored to show, first,
that the Eight-hour law applied only to those
in the employment Of the General Govern
ment, is anti-republican, and offensive to all
other laborng men second, that such a law,
universally applied, would be inconsistent
with the highest interests Of American pcrs
ingmen third, that it will no afoti aHv aa,
ditional leisure which will be malf Iiah,q
for mental or moral improve
that it is untrue that mankind or can
perform a. much labor, and of q il ,aire, IN
eight hours as in ten or more; I h tie
measure, if adopted by our VIII
would prove an immeasurable ma ilH-
ter sixth, that there are other a ts where.
by labor has been and can be mt e.
fciently encouraged aud protected. sh1ssi
legislation on this subject, he said 'a'f
-reael -thnse- employed in the G sai
! Printing Office, the Navy Yards an 1indfia
and arsenals All its effect beyond VISA
be as an example to be copied or shunnsi hJ
State Legislatures and to put forth .dah "a
example would not be wise. If ado pied y,
the States or their people it would not only
cripple private and public revenues, but breed
discomfort and congregate unemployed men in
the hauuts Of sporting men and pleasure seek
ers. Dissipation will be cheapened, not the
necessaries of life 1t would not promote the
permanent well-beng of even those who, being
in the employment of the General Govern
ment, will be at once reached. If they got a
full days pay for two hours less of work than
those not so employed, they would at once be-
come political placemen, dependent upon pre-
carious party success and their places would
be eagerly sought after by outsiders, and
through persons of influence inoessantly knock
ing at the national gates for admission, while
votes would necessarily be in the market, or
be said to be, for the party offering equal pay
for the smallest number of working hours.
Rotation would be the order Of the day,
aud new Tenure-of- Office Act - would be
needed to prevent frequent and untmey dis
placements Mr.. Morrill, then enumerated
the many trades and professions in which
men were obliged to labor more than eight
hours day by the very nature of their
work, and thus endeavored to show that the
hours Of labor could not possibly be salts.
factorily regulated by law. In speaking of
the injury which would be sustained by the
manufacturing interests through the reduce
ton of the hours of labor the speaker re-
marked that the products Of Massachusetts,
in consequence Of the auxiliary power Of ma
chinery, may be estimated to have been more
than doubled, and possibly quadrupled. To
restrict the hours Of action Of all their tire
less giants of steam and Of water would be
to make manufactures and the mechanic arts
Improbable pursuits. Wendell Phillips lec-
turo on the lost arts would find new illus
tration. Short time, if it touched the hours
Of the laborer only, would be sufficiently
peruicious; but il would include, and there
fore paralyze, all investments in manufacture
ing aud machinery. The wheels of Lowell,
revolving only eight hours day, would be
eclipsed in all markets by those revolving ten
or twelve in Manchester or Bradford. A
tariff on tip-toe could not protect them.
Short time would be destructive to the profits
not only Of labor but of capital, aud finally
strangle the prosperity Of that hitherto model
commonwealth. Both capital and labor would
have to emigrate; for the soil Of Massachu-
sets is not fertile enough to offer to its peo-
pie the alternative resources Of living upon
bread alone. Is such a result to be courtedf
| The evil consequences of such a law will not,
however, be confined TO any one State or sec-
tion, old or new, but will pervade all parts Of
our country. The arguments sometimes
brought forth in support of the eight-hour
| law, that the workingmen require the two
hours of additional leisure for educational and
moral culture, he said, might be admitted,
but it would thea by no means follow that the
culture would be thus secured, and it was not
difficult to show that it would not be.
Except among trained students, though
men are never too old to learn, il is to be
more than suspected there is little scholastic
culture acquired by those who have passed
their majority and cntercd upon the active
duties Of life, and moral culture as well as
religious finds its noblest opportunity in youth,
and after that its best teachings on the Sab
bath, day of Christian rest. A full day,
week or month at n time, exclusively de-
voted to study, by such as have the will, in
addition to means and time, will be found of
far more value than the scraps Of time found
on the edge of weary labor. The groat body
Of the working classes are too sagacous not
to know that deduction of two hours from
IA hoir nraaanI avara ma TINA of lahor ia IN Wasfe
one-dfh of life The salvage Of the day thus
cut off on either side, in the fore or after part
Of the day, or strip snatched from the mid
die at sultry noon, cannot be utilized. 1t
will not be devoted to labor Of any sort, NOR