The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-02-28
THE TEN HOUR LAW OF MASSA.
CHUSETTS.


Senate of Massachusetts Tor about month
The forces for and against it in the Senate
are very evenly divided Its enemies have
tried hard to defeat the measure There
are forty members Of the Senate, and
eleven of them are manufacturers.
majority of them millionaires In intel
hgeEce they are very ordinary body
Of men. Many amendments have been
offered with the design Of killing the bill /;
50 far all but one Of the amendments have
been defeated Finally, by close vote,
1t was ordered that the bill be sent back to
the committee on labor for revision The
committee has revised it SO as to obviate
some objections raised in regard to its
| passage.
The bill is a short one. The second sec
ton providing for a penalty for its lnfrac-
ton. The third and last section making
the first Of May next the time when 1t
should 90 into operation. The first section
4 originally read as follows
"Section l. No minor under the age of
" eighteen years, and no female over that
~ age, shall be employed in laboring by
" any person, firm or corporation IN tins
" Commonwealth, in the manufacture Of
" cotton, wooden, linen, jute, silk, or
" other textile fabrics. more than ten
" hours i'll any one day, or sixty hours in
" any one week except when 1t is neces-
sary to make repairs to prevent the
. stOppage OF interruption Of the ordinary
running Of the mill or machinery"
On Thursday Feb. 10, the Committee
on Labor reported that the bill to regulate
the hours of labor ought to pass, with an
amendment, so as to have the bill apply to
manufactures Of threads, yarns and wor-
steds, as well as textile fabrics, and pro-
hiblting the employment Of women and
children morv than sixty hours in any one
week, nor more than an average Of ten
hours Gay for any portion Of a week for
which they may be employed.
1t will be seen by this that on some days
women and children may be employed
more than ten hours per day This is t.
give them a short day Saturday at the
expense Of the other days of the week
For instance, the time in the Fall River
mills now is 624 hours per week-elever
on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs
day and Friday, and seven and half on
Saturday.
If the original bill had not been amend
ed, it was thought by many that the steT
TO fifty eight hours per week would have
been an easy one, for it would have been ex.
tremely difficult for manufacturers to have
enforced ten hours work upon their opera.
tives on Saturdays. of course, limiting the
working time Of the women and children,
practically limits the time of men as well.
But the men are agreed that such reduc-
ton will work, to their advantage, though
such limitation is not as absolutely neces-
sary in their case as in that Of the women
and children. As stated, the Fall River
Mills run 62l hours per week that is the
agreed time-but the mills manage to start
fifteen or twenty minutes before the agreed
time, and thus CRIB little out Of their
operatives time in other portions Of the
day, 50 that they get probably between
"a and 80 hours per week out Of them In
some portions Of the State the mills are
run as much as twelve hours per day. The
bill came up again on Wednesday, the 18th
of February, and there are strong hopes
Of its ultimately passing the Legislature
this session. Unsuccessful in these efforts,
the workingmen of Massachusetts will be
indebted to their undaunted, able and IN
swerving friend, Z. NJ Chamberlil.