St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-09
REV. II. REFER NEWTON
Sees in the Movement a Chance for
R.Rrnnrnyernenf.

REV. R. E2EBER NEWTON
Sees in the Movement a Chance for
Self-EruprOvennent
7 shall speak as one of a large company,
thoroughly in sympathy with the general
aims of labor reform, inclined to the work.
ingman's side If this particular, convinced
of the physical and mental benefits to be eX-
pected from it. but not satisfied as to the
economic practicability, or eXpediency of
this measure at the present time. l recog-
nize that this eight-hour movement is by no
means. as ordinarily supposed, brand new
movement. Through a generation past,
there has been going on in England steady
agitation in the direction of diminishing the
hours OF work The famous ten-hour law
recorded the high-water mark of the first
great stage of the movement in England
This was followed by the endeavor to re-
duce the time of labor still further to nine
hours. In our own land, for generation
past, there has been steady move towards
diminishing the hours of labor in factories.
Massachusetts led off in accomplishing the
reduction to ten hours. We have forgotten
in the
RAPIDITY OF LIFE
in New York, the strike of 1872. in which
90, 900 men were engaged, seeking the re-
duction of days labor to eight hours.
The labor organizations of the country
have been increasingly drawn i'll this direc-
ton. Legislation is an inevitable indica-
tion of the growth of public sentiment,
and legislation records an agitation upon
this question, which, so long ago as 1868,
had been powerful enough to procure the
passage of the United States act covering
the national navy yards and arsenalS and
the government workshops. The present
agitation is simply the increasing force
which this slowlygathering movement has
at last won. The clear heads and strong
brains of our higher ranks Of labor prob
ably know what they are about III this
long-continued agitation. For one, l am
inclined to trust this instinct very far. Alb
SIractly, there can, of course, be no differ
ence OF opinion as to the desirability of
shortening up the hours of labor, especially
in our factories. 1t goes without saying
that this would be
AN INESTIMABLE BOON,
if it can be rightly won and rightly used.
The reasons urged for it seemed solid.
Most men in this country, in all pursuits,
work too long and too hard. The condi-
tons of labor in hosts of our factories and
mills lend increasing urgency to the need of
shortening the hours of toll. Anyone who
has watched the faces and forms of the OPP
eratives pouring out from some of our huge
factories needs no further argument as to
the desirability of looping off an hour or
two from such toll. Such reduction of
hours, it is claimed would open work for
the unemployed. Manufacturers could be
trusted to desire not to diminish the present
of their costly plants. Self
interest would be a sufficient spur not to
let these plants lie in idleness. To keep
them probably at work the hosts in the
market places now standing idle would be
called in. This is probably true to a GER
tain extent. Some OF us would like fur
Their light as to the reach of this certain
extent" This employment OF now idle
labor would, if realized, certainly start
AN IMMENSE INCREASE
of demand through every line which would
spur industry and trade still further. The
over production of which SO many foolish
folk complain is the most mythical of all
myths. Tens of thousands throughout our
land go with half a loaf when hungry
enough for whole loaf, and with tat
tered clothes. when longing for good,
sound, decent garments. Put into the
hand of every idle man i'll the land a
weeks work and its wages, and every lit
tie store throughout the country would feel
the impetus, and the biggest sort Of boom
would start through the land. Two hours
taken from factory toll would undoubtedly
give our Workingmen the needful oppOr-
tunity of self-improvement. A man must
needs be desperately hungry for culture
IL
der the unfavorable conditions of our great
barracks Of industry, goes home and takes
up any solid piece of reading. He prob
ably goes to sleep as soon as he can, or, if
he seeks any occupation, it is of such ma
ture as will spur his jaded energies and
bring flash of
MONETARY JOY.
to his tired frame Every man has the
right and the duty of making a man for
himself upon the earth, and that he NAV
do this society needs, if possible, so to
organize affairs as that he will have a
chance for some serious study at self-im-
provement. 1t is not only question of
individual improvement but of the improve
ment OF labor at large. This elevation de-
ponds upon the development of the individ-
uaI merits. The improvement which
has been largely due to its finding time and
for association. This needs to
be pushed further along wise and true lines.
before the millennium is to come. What
then are the objections to the movement and
how do they weigh in such scales as pos
pess? First of all, plainly
THE ECONOMIC OBJECTION
that with diminished hours Of work there
would be diminished production of wealth.
If this be fact, it is the end of the mat
ter We plainly need not less wealth to
distribute, but great deal more wealth to
divide up. The social problem is quite as
much one OF far larger production as for
better distribution of wealth. The testi-
mOny of experience, however, seems to go
against this objection. The hours of labor
have been reduced in England without the
expected decrease of productivity The
facts appear to be plain. The reasons for
it appear to lie in the stimulus given to
labor to work more heartily and more Wig
Orously, and in the use Of relays Of hands
in some industries. So conservative au-
thOrity as Leone Levy declares: 1 am not
against shortening the hours OF labor. The
factory resolutions i'll this respect have in
creased, not diminished, production. The
experience of Massachusetts seems to con-
firm this result Enthusiastically She has got
as much out of her operatives under ten
hours as she had done under eleven and
twelve hours. Plainly, however,
THERE IS A LIMIT
beyond which labor's increased vigor will
not make up for the lost hours, and this
needs to be carefully ascertained, not by
theOrizing, but by experience.
1t is said that there will be less profits
for the manufacturer, and that therefore he
cannot be expected to accept the PROPOSE
ton. If it be so, the argument may simply
point in the direction of the need of there
being fewer employers, hint which nature
has already found out and which she is ap-
plying in the process going on in our midst
the development of huge industries, with
their capacity to run on smaller margins be-
cause of their greater production. If what
is claimed be true, however. concerning the
possible relative production under a ten
hour system, and under an eight-hour sys-
tenn this objection would be answered. AS
a matter of fact the
EXPERIE nee OF MASSACHUSETTS
~ 4I~14