The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-02-24
The Eight Hour Law.

EDITOR BAZOO-As the eight hour law
is heinz quite freely discussed al preseLt,
please find room in your valuable paper for
the following from one inter esIed:
THE great objects 10 be accomplished at
the present time by the reduction Of the
hours Of labor, the first and most import
ant is to give employment al living wages,
to the thousands of working men and
women who are now In enforced iGlen, IS by
the overprCduciiOn OF the necessaries OF
life, the principal causes of which are, frsr
the gr, at Increase Of labor saving machin-
cry, by the aid of which few can do the
work of many. The second is system aricsl
over time By which M any are compelled 10
work all day and part Of the night also.
The third is piece work, in which a great
many overde themselves In order to make
little extIs pay. The fourth is the gre at
amour, of night work on railroads, in roll
ing mills and other businesses by which
such a large number of hands are compell-
ed 10 work twelve hours for days work
instead of eight hours, the sbOliLion
of this night work which is
serious violation of the great natural law
of rest and exercise, see Jarvis physiology,
psge 296 and 297, We believe would give
work TO thousands of hands that are now
idle.
The second great object 10 be accom-
plished by the reduction of the hours OF
labor, is to give To the sons and daughters
OF honest productive soil, the necessary
time and leisure for mental improvement
In order that they may become the en-
lightened, civilized, rational, moral and
religious beings that they ought to De, and
which We hope the day is not far distant
when they will be such, instead of the
mere working animals that they have been
in the past and present time, for of what
use would all the means of education be,
such as libraries, reading rooms, lectures
and lyceums, If the workingmen had not
the time and lie sure to avail themselves of
all these opportunities OF self improvement
1t can, therefore, be plainly seen from this
that the Necessary time forms q great
factor ia The elevation and improvement Of
the working mau, and as C0mbe, in his
constitution OF man, page 234, truthfully
saws, that leisure for mental improvement
is tie FIRST condition of true civilization.
know ledge being the second.
Tie immediste benefits 10 be q rived
from reduction of The hours OF labor, az
cordipg TO the es,imats made last winter
that there was 100000 wage workers In
the cities and towns of the United States,
lot including the wage workers on .fsrus
and that there was 81 per cent out of work,
or something like 600 600, leaving 5000
600 in work at ten hours per day Now, p
reduction OF two hours day would make
{, 100000 hours, which divided by eight
would give work to 10000 more, not quite
hall of those out Of work. Then suppose a
reduction is made TO seven hours on the
same estimate, which will make 100000
Of hours, divided By sven will give work
to 12S5,7l4 more hands. Supp sc sgaiu
we make an estimate of 100000 on: OF
work and 100000. Then a reduction of
two hours per day would make 100000
hours, divided by eight would give work
to 900 600 more hands, and allowing about
q per cent. for sickness and disability to
work. it would give employment TO all who
we're able to work This statement, there
tore, ought to convince any honest and fair
minded man what great benefit would be
derived from q general reduction of the
hours Of labor from 10 10 s at the present
ime." Sd.