The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-03-06

Committee on Appropriations, House of
Representatives.
BALTIMORE, Md Jan 80 1874
DEAR SIR: Noticing the report of A
B. Mullett, Esq, Supervising Architect of
the Treasury Department, upon the effects
of the eight-hour law, has occasional COM
ment adverse to his views, we desire to
express our entire approval of those views,
and to state that Our experience leads US
to the conclusion set forth in the following
extracts from that report, viz;
Il desire once more to call attention to the eight
hour law believing it TO be be alike injurious to the
best interests of the Government and to the work
men themselves. 1t frequently happens that me-
chanics and laborers employed by the Government
and those employed by contractors required TO
work on the same building and at the same time
Those employed by the Government work but eight
hours, while those employed by the contractors
ing and it needs argument prove that it is
just and that the mechanic who performs ten hours
work Is taxed for the benefit of the more Favored
workman who has friends and influence sufficient
to obtain employment for him on Government
work.
The law has been fairly and fully tested The
experience OF this Department as well of private
establishments has shown that 1t is not only impos
sible for man to perform as much labor in eight
hours as in ten but that he absolutely performs
less work per hour under the eight-hour system.
For these reasons we sincerely hope
that your committee will thoroughly inves-
tigate the question of labor employed by
the Government, which is, under the
present system, paid twenty per cent. in
excess of the labor employed by private
capital. The demoralizing effect on the
labor which the Government has Temporal
rily employed has untitled mechanics and
laborers for a regular days work
1 IL
that the agricultural as we'll as mechanical
labor Of the country will be seriously at
tected unless some action is taken to pre-
vent it.
We would, therefore, respectfully sub
nit, whether it would not be for the best
interests of the country and the labor
question to repeal all laws governing the
hours Of labor, and leave the question to
settle itself by the laws Of supply and de-
mand.
The above letter is signed by Al heavy
manufacturing, contracting and building
firms in Baltimore, and directed to Hon.
VIM. A. Richardson, Secretary Of the
Treasury, and by him transmitted to Con-
gress. We omit the names, but any one
desiring to read them can do so by calling
at our sanctum.
Not long after the presentation Of this
letter in Congress Mr.. Cox, of New York
City, offered the following resolution, viz
Res0lred, That the Committee on Public Build
ings and Grounds be- and they are hereby, directed
to investigate the alleged violation of the Eight
Hour Law in the work the New York Post Office,
| and to send for persons and papers il necessary.
The resolution was adopted.
The mechanics, artifcers, artisans and
laborers at Rock Island Arsenal feel a
good deal of interest in this matter and
will watch the course of our Mr.. Hawley,
as well as the Administration in regard to
it. They say that the Government taxes
them on everything they eat, drink, and
wear to give subsidies in the shape of pro-
lection to these same manufacturers, and
that they demand that Congress shall not
repeal the law and take away their pro-
lection also. They say that if the Gov
eminent protects the manufacturer, by
taxes on the consumers Of manufactured
goods, they want protection also
1t Is objected to the eight-hou law
that it raises the price of labor through
out the country. The Arsenal employees re.
ply that the places where government labor
is employed are so few and so widely sepa-
rated that it has no such effect
THE ARGUS has always advocated the
eight hour law, on public works, and is OPP
posed to its repeal We remember very
we'll the clamor raised against Martin Van
Buren's administration for establishing
the ten hour law-the same sort of clamor
that now opposes the eight hour law.
Mr.. Mullet, the United States Supervis-
ing Architect, says the law is an injury to
workmen, and that they perform less work
per hour than they would if they worked
! ten hours
The Baltimore manufacturers say it has
demoralized and untitled mechanics and
Iaborers for a regular day work!
| And the Secretary of the Treasury in
vites the especial attention Of Congress to
| its injurious effects.
In other words. they want the employed
to believe that the harder and longer they
toll the better it is for them,-a conclu.
sion which is an insult to their intelligence
and contempt put upon their equal rights
as citizens of free country.