The Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1869-1872, 1869-08-11
"wha, win He Do With 1T"

attack on employers for shorter hours OF labor,
and they have the sympathy of most all the so
called reforners. Now, il makes good deal
of difference to the employer whether he gets
eight OF ten hours for a days work. and it
makes an equal difference to the employed,
provided proper use is made Of the two hours
thus gained. We know from experience that
all able-bodied men can work ten hours at the
usual occupations without excessive fatigue or
injury TO health. More work can be done at
healthy eInployments, in ten hours, than can
be done in eight, and a reduction of two hours
costs the employer twenty per cent. of the
proceeds of the capital he may have invested
In carrying on the manufacture at which he
employs laborers. There are certain employ
ments AZ which no man should be asked TO
work over eight hours for days work, and il
should be penal offense for any employer 10
allow men, at these exceptional trades, 10
work longer than the prescribed time. No
miner should be asked to stay under ground
more than eight hours out of the twenty-fouI.
nor will they be if ever the people become IL
formed Of the influence their employment hiss
upon their health, and the dangers the men
employments, when the continued hours Of
labor Injuries the health of the laborer, we
pUrposely leave ont in this paper, only ap-
plying what we may say to those employmeuts
that are acknowledged to be healthy. II We
deprive the employer of twenty per cent. Of
his profits upon the labor he employs we must
be certain that We are comforting q correspond
ing benefit upon the laborer. Nov we ask,
what will he do with the two hours you have
added to his time Of rest: These hours are not
needed for sleep, nor for eating The demands
OF his body are already amply provided for,
and, unless he can show tina: this valuable
time we have given Is to be used in some way
to produce corresponding benefit upon So
ciety, We have done wrong in bestUwiug il
upon him. Whatever time is spent by any
man III acquiring knowledge or in cultiyating
the beautiful, either III nature or art, Is well
spent. The laboring man who devotes two
hours a day TO storing his mind with useful
knowledge, or in cultivating a little patch of
ornamental ground, is producing As much good
as during the hours Of paid labor. Capital
may miss the work, but il will also miss the
taxes it pays for the support Of jails and poor
houses. II You can raise the standard Of in
telligence of the masses. you decrease crime,
poverty and all its attending evils in
corresponding degree. Thi, has been the
strong plea of the eight-hoUr advocates, that
it would give the laborng IAN and woman
some time to devote to mental culture. and
that the ultimate results upon society would
be largely IL favor Of the new system. We
wish that the experiment had so fr been more
successful. We regret 70 have to write thatno
| good use has been made of this time 10y those
whom it was sought to benefit, and that We
have no heurt to engage in n struggle that thus
far has been barren of good results, friend as
we are Of the luboTer i'll every and any depart
ment of active life. What can the hDorers cx-
/ pect Of their friends when they themselves, by
| their actions, contradict everything those
| friends have said: The eight-hom men OBJ
tanned "A reduction Of the hours of nbor in the
/ Navy Yards. Here was n fair trial of what
the lnborer would do with his new time, aui
what has been the result? The commanders
of the yards report that the men have not made
good use of their time, that the public libraries
have not been any better patronized, nor the
! public schools that were in several instances
| opened, better attended, but that drunkenness
and disorderly couductincreased. This result,
though not wholly unexpected, is greatly to be
regretted, and leaves us strongly under the i'm
| preston that the eight-hour movement is pre-
mature that the working men are not pre-
| pared for it, and further, that we are in ma
| Jointly of instances doing a positive injury to
society. No question of this character can be
lightly passed over by looking at one side only
| We are to not only consider what will be for
the present comfort Of the labOring class, but
what will be for their permanent benefit. 1t is
! possible that We are premature in some of our
so-caled reforms; that we may be doing more
harm than good, and that, too, when we least
| expect such result. If We have given the
laboring man two hours more time TO spend
about beer shops, we have done wrong, for he
had enough of that before. The continuance
of the strength of the oight-hour movement
then, will depend ON what the laborer does
with his new time. If he makes good use of
it, well aud good, but if not he will soon find
himself working "full time"
To THE MTNEEs AND Prosperous OF NEVADA.
"A number of gentlemen in San Francisco.
desiring to present to Washington College,