The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-30
ake6ttelIigetttefr:
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,b0 current number OF V'a u"u az, ~
10 o HS entertaining remarks upon !nt
Ge some suSS,sin la6orers 10 restrict the
TCLsl y 3sV' The writer desires to know
81 siSbi hours more than seven, OF uV ~
There Is nothing in the nature ,is
OOifSISFs, nothing in the divisions o. unS
.nS DIrRt, nothing in the yltailLy ,,o 1au
S S 81 The human nerves and musV'e q
VMa;SiSS IL The average constitution To- o,
n SSn RAJ utescribes precisely how iong
Ia nav employ his physical power ,vO SsS
S NJ y Simself and TO others IN WOE ~.
Xxx ay Work md no play" we know "make =
rsSt 4 'dull rboy5 but all play anu IN, ne
JaCH 4 AM ,SSis detrimental, according
nthe sstn6 proserblal wisdom w yaa.sI,a
ssvs \ Bibat an idle brain IS tne a usY ne
T I,o6S How, then, shall we nna lne
~TTgS M tnIe which an old philosopher has
lal5 SowR ior himself, eight hours 70 sleep
and siphl hours to work and eight houts
~ nI ~ NAV be excellent in given circum,
s n p but Is not susceptible 70 general
-sSnlE6ation. Il may suit Rsmall NUMBER
n indoor lsborers in cities, for whom
siobth0urs' work, in their confined, Ill
Ventilated, unwhoIesome shops Is as much
AZ Ne, physical system can well bear; bul
other classes may and must work longer
II thsir labor Is TO be atall efficient a
farmer for example, who not only WORKS
with, ia hands, but with bis arms, legs
and back, must begin at carly light and no
only leave off at dark; otherwise nc win
pet no crops, or his stock will DO IN very
sorrv condition; and no laws Of the State
Of combinations with other farmers will
relieve him of the necessity, "The sea.
sons themselves" say the writer in Oh
and NSu, "the frost and the heat, the
winds and the rain, sunrise and sunsetap,
Doint his long day. II all agricultural
Isborers should combine together and re-
fuse 10 work more than eight hours day,
the whole Of society would be reVolu.
tIoni5ed. It would, indeed, under present
circumstances, be impossible to feed the
world. Thc grain crop and every other
crop would necessarily be diminished.
Butter could not be made for less than a
dollar a pound, and flour would be worth
twenty dollars q barrel. Not one farmer
in a hundred who would not be obliged
10 give up his farm, or limit himself to
such kind Of agricultural operation and
produce as he could attend to himself
Alone, with no other result than simply
the smallest possible living"
What Is true of the culivator Is true Of
other classes of laborers. The mechanic
himself might get on with eight hours
work, but could the mechanics wife, who
has bis breakfast to prepare before he
goes to work and his supper after he
comes home, with any amount OF house
cleaning, sewing, baby.tending and what
not 10 the interval? Surely, the strong,
active, vigorous man will not demand
more Tor himself than hewill allow to his
feeble, dependent, often unhealthy part.
ner But with eight hours only for the
domestic labor, who is 10 rise before the
sun to make the fire, TO put on the kettle,
to wash the children, TO send them to
school, &C., &C., and who is to be busy far
into the night with similar and no less
needful talks? Household work is said
to be "still beginning, never ending" and
il our wives, daughters, or, when we can
afford it, our domestics, may quit labor
when their eight hours work ARE done,
what house keeping is practicable
Work must begin before breakfast, and il
cannot end till We go to bed. Are we ID
have no more evening guests and evening
entertainments Is no one to ride out to
the Park in the cool OF the day because
the CoaChman has already performed his
eight hours service? Must we oil of us
walk to the theatres and opera? Or, the
merchant, the lawyer, the physician, who
must work more than his eight hours, to
DO bis duty to his fellow, shall he not
have the assistance Of an occasional ride?
lna word, must all the established Gus.
toms, institutions and relations of society
beChaDged in order to an arbitrary and
mpraCticable rule which certain classes
Of AbOrers see fit to demand2
As the eight hour law cannot be ap.
piled to the farmer, nor to the extensive
class Of domestic laborers, so 1t cannot be
applied to the most important branches
o. mercantile and professional labor.
The various classes Of thinkers" says
Old and NelO, would be glad enough il
they could limit their long continued
work 10 some shorter period: editors OF
newspapers, news gatherers, book makers,
lawyers, ministers with sermons to write,
schoolsto examine, people to visit, funcr.
ais to attend; physicians with the ankle
ties Of endangered families upon their
hearts, and the lives Of patients in their
hands, called up at any hour of the night,
called TO attend the day laborer and
bis family at any hour, and to stay with
them any length ottime,-kept up all day
long, catching hasty and uncomfortable
sleep; school teachers, who, after six
hours hard brain work, and heart work,
and severest trials Of temper, study many
hours more TO learn what others have
thought or have learned in regard
70 the best ways of instruction;
pAlI9nthropists, that argue the case of the
aay la6orer, visiting work shops, receiv.
ing calls from men and from committees,
making addresses in the evening, and
travelling early and late through cold and
Storm to keep appointments-can these
accomplish their work Il their hours are
UNITED! How long is the day Of hard
WORK TO these, and such as these! How
oIIen such men are as much deprived OF
social enjoymcntS, of opportunities of
reading and study outside OF their own
business, as day'lAborers themselves are /
aHu out OF all the hard brain.workers Of
Iae WorId-capitalists, manufacturers,
merchants, editors, and tho others men.
TONED, and others like them-how many
uslfe to limit their day to eight hours I
Of would know how to do 1t? or would
leel that life so limited was less than hi.
voIlty and waste? Will our statesmen
.ast govern empires, our legislators inyes,
Hsatlng the demands of the people, turn,
lnS over in their minds MI the suggestion,
and arguments Of eight-hour men; onl
generals in the field, seeking to save n ma
uon from destructioh-be cOntented will
eight hours work aloney"