The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-26

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large majority Of the Fortieth Congress.
DO not propose to discuss the prophet
OF the reform in labor heretofore in
augurated by Congress in fixing the eight
hour limit. That question has been alrssd,
determined, and is now law, checked, il
true, by conflict Of opinion between the De
Partments / believe the present law to b
Just and right, and an acknowledgment Of
the part OF the Government that it does no
seek to impose heavy burdens of toll upoi
It's employees Of the laborir z class that
recognizes their right to official considers
ton, and draws the same distinction in thei
favor as is drawn on the part Of the cdu
Gated labor Of departmental clerks. nsrn
The honorable Senator argues that sucl
distinctions ON the part of the Governmen
are calculated to offend other laboring men
but unfortunately for his reasoning, be doe
not charge that six hours labor performer
BY departmental clerks. which has beeu
from time imnemorial the limit Of thei
daily work. produces like offence to thos
clerks employed by private parties through
out the country. He insists that If th'
Government reduces the ten-bour system Il
eight all other laborers will demand th,
same reduction, and hence labor will b
shcrn of its profits should they succeed il
establishing the precedent.
Il has never been discovered that be
cause our departmental clerks are required
to labor but six hours, that other clerks
have sought to establish the six-hour sys
tenn as precedent fixed by the Govern
ment The cases are not parallel and il
any danger be anticipated that the eight.
hour system fixed BY the Government will
seriously impair other labor, why should
not the same expected injury affect the
labor of private clerks The honorable
Senator will certainly not attempt to cream
this distinction between gentlemanly labor
and manual labor: between educated en-
ployment and its reverse between the bet.
ter-ciothed and betterpaid labor Of the head
and pen, and the hard-earned wages Of the
/" horny-handed sons of toll" The rules
fixed by the Government in general deal.
ings with its employees are purely its own,
and have never to my knowledge been
adopted as. precedents by business com
munities. The very reverse is indeed the
fact for the system of performing the diff
ferent and various labors Of the Govern
ment is necessarily original, and hence in
operative and useless to private individuals.
The Government sometimes adopts busi-
ness rules as imposed by commercial com
mun;ties, but this occurs very rarely and
only to meet special exigencies. The en-
tire routine of Government business, its
system of checks, cautions, and acts, are
from their very nature incapable Of being
received and adopted as precedents by So
ciety or individuals. But apart from these
the somewhat unkind infer
ence sought to be drawn by the honorable
Senator, that if these laborers get full
days pay for two hours less Of work than
those not 50 employed, they would at once
become political placemen, dependent upon
precarious party success, is no more true
Of them than Of any other class employed
by the Government. If his argument be
correct, it must be considered only as a
sweeping one, including all governmental
officials, from the highest to the lowest, and
should be applied by him accordingly.
The honorable Senator commits grave in
justice, perhaps unintentional, when be sub
mits the labsring class of Government EN-
ployees to the severe ordeal Of this reason
ing. entirely exempting the others.
1t is not a question, in my opinion, Mr..
President, Of how much labor the human
frame may successfully endure that should
be taken as governing rule unfortunate
ly, manual and unskilled labor is too poor
ly paid, and toll is not an enrlching in
heritance.
While fully recognize the ordinance CT
God that /" In the sweat Of thy face shalt
thou eat bread" / am equally sensible Of
the fact that labor has its rights and should
receive them at the hands Of society, in no
spirit of maudlin sentimentality, but as an
act Of jnstice cheerfully and substantially
given. The honorable Senator has re-
minded me of another application than bis
own Of the myth Of Tantalus when it is
considered that the tempting feast which
wealth affords is always before the eyes of
the laboring classes, but rarely tasted by
them. We have spread the feast of Tanta-
lus before these workingmen in Govern
ment employ by reducing their toll to eight
hours, but at the same time emitting to pro
vide-as is ruled by the Departments-for
their proper compensation. The joint
resolution proposes to relieve them from this
torture while the honorable Senator de-
sires to add to the agony already expert
enced in this default, by depriving them al
together Of that benefit witch Congress in-
tended should be conferred and enforced.
The honorable Senator urges that {" il
Rufus Choate, Caleb Gushing, or our dis
tinguished Chairman of Foreign Affairs
had been restrained BY an eight-hour strait
jacket they might have remained in the
great ocean of mediocrity, buried and un
seen forever" do not think the allusion
entirely complimentary. Granted that these
and other gentlemen, as well as the honor
able Senator, have toiled in the great sea
Of learning, and have amply trimmed the
midnight lamp, does it follow by any rea.
sonable or logical sequence that a majority
of all who follow their example would OBJ
tain equal, or even approximate distinction
While these eminent gentlemen were really
labOrers in the vineyard Of knowledge, they
were not hewers Of wood and drawers Of
water" while they served their peOnage.
and, in their spheres, were helots, tbeil
minds were gifted with a culture necessarily
superior to that of the masses Of those who
toll for their daily wages, an amount barely
sufficient to keep the wolf from the door
with no time to follow the pursuit of knowl
edge or cultivate re6nements Of the mind
even should they desire to do so. AL
printers are not Benjamin Franklins. mol
are all cobblers Roger Shermans, nor black
smiths learned as Elihu Burritt and if th,
reasOnings of the honorable Senator could