The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-12-30
FIRST PRIZE ESSAY
T r A d ES L MO n s I!
For which atty pounds Che zf. OF Mr. Macdonald, Mp
were awarded at the Liverpool Trades Union
Congress, January, 1873


Continued.
An advance Of wages, however, is not
the only object of Trades Union, nor the
sole purpose of strike Sometimes the
men demand shorter hours. To work q
less number Of hours for the same amount
Of wage is naturally attractive to the work
man. He not only sees that such an ar
rangement gives him more tina for recrea-
tlon and for the enjoyment Of home COM
forts-for billiards, books, or beer-%ith-
out calling upon his wife to pinch, cut,
and contrive," but that the reduction Of
hours causes more Of his fellow workmen
to be employed. The demand for q COM
modify being the same, and the number
Of working hours diminished, more men
must be employed TO produce the same
amount Of work in less time These addi-
tional workmen, he sees, become spenders
as well as producers, and the advantages
OF that he knows to consist in q general
Improvement ali round. In thus benefit
ing himself, therefore, he is benehting his
class. OF course, il NAV be argued that
that this reasoning might be applied to .
reduction Of hours dd fnit'tn, until the
differential calculus were required to as
certain the moments men should work. 1t
may be said that the reasons recently
urged for and against the Nine Hours
Bill we're simply repetitions Of those urged
in 1886 on either side when the Ten Hours
Bill was before the country and that for
anything now known, may be again set
forth in favor of a Eight Hours Bill in
1902. About five tines in a century, mas
ters imagine an hour a daY may be Topped
of, until men will work only one hour per
diem, at full weekly wages, and then,
'What will become Of the country 7" This
is Of course the tendency, and would in
deed be the result, if matured and com
petent artisans we're ralned down from
heaven In myriads, instead Of being born
individually In state Of puny infancy,
unit for anything but to be "fretted with
sallies Of their mothers' kisses" Under
the existing state Of affairs there is no
cause for alarm in this respect. There is
an opposing tendency to this continual re-
duction Of hours. The amount of conf
modify that shall De produced does not de-
pend upon the will either Of the capitalist
or the laborer. Come what will, men will
be fed and clothed by hook or by crook,
and the more wage they have the better,
and the more abundant will their food and
clothing be. Some men, therefore, must
produce. An imperious necessity de-
mands it. The tendency Of a Factory Act,
or rather Of the reduction in the number
Of working hours, is to force greater
number OF men into the producing class.
As the demands Of the world Increase, this
tendency becomes stronger. The number
of producers, however, is, after all, limit
ed, and there Is, therefore, point beyond
which neither q Trades Union nor the
Legislature could be successful in attempt
ing to reduce the number of hours. This
point is determined by the amount to be
produced and the number of producers.
Hitherto the masters have made profit
ey keeping the men from this point. For
some time the men have struggled to reach
It, and although they may not yet have
done 20, yet the Legislature has stepped
In, and given such an instalment that the
men have ceased to agitate for any further
reduction of hours, and the question is mot
included in the programme Of the next
years Trades Union Congress. For this
victory great credit is due to Mr., Mum
della, who, although an employees, il vet
able to see that in bsneftine the laborine
class no 10 not injurins hin own. ''It d