Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-28
THE TEN HOUR LAW.

H
 at Hartford Yesterday - Prominent
 Knights of Labor Give Their Views
 on the Subject - Contrary Opinions
 Expressed.
 The legislative Labor committee held their
 first important hearing yesterday afternoon at the Capitol in Hartford, for the purpose of
 hearing parties interested in the proposed laws regulating the hours of labor of women
 and children in factories. There have been
 three such laws introduced by different parties, the most elaborate being one intro
 duced by Representative King, of Naugatuck At the hearing all the laws bearing upon the l subject were read by the clerk, and Senator Chaffee, chairman of the committee, stated I that gentlemen could express their views upon | all of them or in general way give their
 opinion of such a law as proposed.
 The first speaker was Robert Pyne. He
 said he was sent by the Amalgamated Trades Union of Hartford to advocate ten hour law for women and children. He contended that the cause of dull times was from over
 production and if there were shorter hours production would be less. What they desir- ed was practical law and they were not par ticular what form it was in so long it ac- cOmpllshed the end III view
 Hon. Henry Hammond said he wished publicity could be given to some of these bills, as he presumed that both manufacturers and laborers would like to be heard. He doubted whether any children were en- ployed in factories under ten years of age
 He thought there was danger in passing such
 laws without careful consideration and dis
 cussion. He said he did not think the leg islature could regulate the matter of pro1uc- tion.
 Alexander Troup said he had hoped that
 the representatives of the labor interest would have had something to say the ten hour law. He was here to say something in
 favor of the ten hour law. It was calcu-
 lated to lift up men, women and children.
 He compared the factories in some portions of the State to the former slave labor in the South. He said he supposed it would be said that he was here as poli-
 tieian, but his object was to lift up the laboring class.
 He said that he had been in the eastern
 parts of the State and had seen children in
 their calico gowns much under ten years of
 age going to the factories while the stars
 were still shining. He said there was no danger from over-production. The trouble
 was under-consumption. In New Haven
 said the speaker, we don't pretend to work over ten hours day and our people are
 better fed and better clothed than they are
 in Eastern Connecticut. It is for the interest of the manufacturers as we'll as the workmen
 that the men should not work more than ten
 hours day. Said MT. Troup: We.want a
 law that there will be no mistake about; a
 law that will not be imperative after it has
 passed, but will be operative. In the interest
 of humanity he advocated the passage of
 some such law as was proposed.
 Henry Hammond, in reply to MT. Troup, said there no truth in the statement made by that gentleman that the workmen i,,t tIo foafo in ark If tba State were like slaves. There was no more independent class in the world than those who worked in the factories in his section. Bryan Mahan, of New London, said he agreed with MT. Hammond that there was
 no need of hurry in the matter, but the workingmen did not propose to be caught mapping and if MT. Hammond proposed to
 bring the manufacturers here to oppose this bill he wanted to know it so that he could be
 prepared to meet them.
 It was in the interest of humanity and in
 the interest of justice that this bill should
 pass.
 MT. Pyne said he had found that those who
 were to be the most benefited by a law were,
 as a rule, most opposed to it. There has all ways been opposition to the ten hour law in other States, but we hear none of it now He said that he believed that if one State adopted the ten hour law and the adjoining States worked eleven hours, the matter could De overcome Dy fOluSlIlS lO Duy Gue SOOuS III the eleven hour State, or in other words, as it is termed nowadays, 'sboycott" them. MT. Busche, of New Haven, said to the committee that they might draft all the laws they pleased, but it would do no good as the
 laws would never pass. The Senate, he
 said, would sit down upon them without ceremony and that would be the end of it. Mir. Whiting, of Hartford, said the only way was to make the law and then enforce it. If men say to the manufacturers we don't want to work but ten hours day they will tell them to get out. If law was passed
 they could not employ men but ten hours. Mr. King said he did not believe there was
 one in ten of the men, women and children that would refuse to sign petition for ten hour law. There might be 8 few, who are afraid of the bosses, that would refuse to sign it, but the majority would sign ten
 hour or an eight hour law.
 MT. Whiting said there a concern in Hartford that worked from twelve to sixteen hours / ay and every one of them was in favor of ten hour law, although they were afraid to sign such a petition for fear that their employers would find it out and dis charge them.
 MT. Goodwin, representative from Sails bury, appeared and said that such law was before the legislature last year and there was not woman that appeared before the com
 mittee to advocate this bill. He said
 that if such bill passed he
 thought the men would crowd the women out of the factories. He thought it was dan
 gerous to enact such laws. He thought if a ten hour law was passed it should be general
 all over the country. If one State had a ten hour law and another an eleven hour law, it
 gave one an advantage over the other. F. A. Perry, cabinet maker, of Hartford, advocated ten hour law on the ground of humanity.
 After an expression from several others of a similar purport: the hearing was ad-