Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-06

Tor him TO obtain viii make him halter
workman, more useful TO himself and 10
MS employer. He will cease To Ana
grievances, and the disposition 10 force
his employer TO terms will disappear. be.
cause the best possible terms will he for
the interests Of both.
1t Is obvious that In this note no Milan
Tor accomplishing their ends can no
elaborated In detail. | can do nothing
more tnanl indicate the objects to be OBJ.
tanned, and such methods as apnear M
present most feasible in contributing to
those ends.
JOHN swINroN.
There are few men who epeak ON la,or
matters with the authority OF John swlnton.
, anis article was bought when Mr.. swinton
whs refusing me oner oil a leading newHpaper
IN New York Of 500 per column for anytbine
IRON his pen, and when MIR. swinton refused
tne eultor OF leading American lnaqazine
VINO ohefed any price.
But OF the thousand arguments that
outtress the demand for q short work
day here are three.
Firstly, 1t is moral elevator. When
the hours OF labor in England were the
longest, the degradation of the laborer
was the lowest. just as the working
day has been shortened, time and again,
SO have the working masses risen out Of
the slough. We ell know their debased
condition between 1920 and 1850, under a
fourteen hour system; we all know the
change that is being wrought since one
third OF the time has been taken of.
we are constantly being warned that IL
the eighthour day is adopted, the
working people will wallow in drunk
enness and riot. Take the experience
on that point. When the working
hours in England were fourteen, sot-
tishness was the bane of industry, and
drunken Saturday night was followed by
soaking Sunday, "blackn Monday and
"blue" Tuesday, so that it was often i'm
possible Tor the sunken hordes to work
over i've days OF the week. After long
struggle hours were reduced to twelve,
and sottishness diminished. Not salts
fled with this, ten hours were demanded
and finally won, when again sottishness
was enormously decreased. Not yet sat
isfied, the rule of fifty-six hours OF work
per week Chat is ten hours per day ex-
cept Saturday, there being half-holiday
Saturday. was obtained, when once more
there was an immense decrease of scottish
ness, which does not prevail to one-half
its former extent, and even "black, Mon
NNJ 10 ONNbilluS uHEuOhn. IL
that the budget sent TO parliament a few
days ago that the revenue of England
from the sale of liquor during the fiscal
year just closed was nearly $4,000 600
less than for the previous year; ana that
within the past ten years the receipts Of
the government from this source have de-
creased S22 100000. Right straight along
for forty years, with the decline of work
inU hpmra haO ct =,
consumption of liquor. Here are facts
not to be disputed, and in them there is
lesson of overwhelming Importance to
mankind.
We have had the same experience in
our own country. There is by
far less sottishness among our
working classes than there used to
be when the days labor was two to three
or four hours longer than it now is. The
industries that work the fewest hours
suffer the least from drunkenness; and
base this remark upon extensive inyesti-
cations that ! have made. The brown
stone cutters, the glass-workers ard sew
eral other trades have for years had the
elght-hour working day; the cigar
makers are TO follow, reducing their
nine-hour day to the eight-hour system
on the LIST of July; the brick-loyers and
stone.masons of this city have had the
nine-hour day for over year; and very
slight inquiry will show whether this
shortened time has brought about riot and
drunkenness. The general reduction of
the working day to eight hours will, ac-
cording to all analogy and experience,
still further reduce the besotting mania,
and still further raise the moral status of
the masses. One does not need to look
far to find the reason for this.
Secondly, the shorter day is an econom-
icsl elevator. There has been great
deal Of sarcasm flung at the old couplet,
"rhe longer the hours the shorter the nay,
Whether you work by the piece or work by the
day"
But it is fact sustained by all statistics.
Wages were at their minimum in England
under the fourteen-hour day; they rose
when twelve hours were established;
they rose again under the ten-hour sys-
TEN; and yet again they rose when the
Saturday half holiday shortened the
weeks work to fifty-six hours. He who
denies these facts does it in the face of
volumes of official data, full of the de-
tails.
We have had the same experience in
cur own country Wages are much high
er than they were forty years ago with
longer hours; and 1t Is inevitable that
they must rise under yet fewer hours.
Those industries that work the fewest
hours have the highest pay; those that
work the most have the lowest; and TO
this law there is no exception. Some OF
the eight or nine-hour industries nearly
double the wages of those with twelve or
fourteen hours, could give hundreds
4 a1t.. IS do laxry q
hard to comprehend. The rates of wages
are fixed by the men out Of work. and by
reducing the unemployed gangs, the pres
sure of idleness upon labor Is diminished.
The reduction OF the hours TO eight
will give employment to the million men,
who, according TO the recent official re-
port OF the National Bureau OF Labor,
are wasting their lives in the vain search
Tor employment, and thus the consuming
power of the whole people will be en-
larged to the advantage OF all industrial
pursuits. Under machinery and long
hours, the supply of labor so far exceeds
the demand that the purchaser or EN-
plover has an undue control OF the
market.
The notion that with shorter hours
must come lower wages, is based ON an
error, tine error that the wage worker gets
the full price OF his labor as measured by
the value Of It's product. Reduce the nn-
due proportion that goes TO capital IN the
shape OF rent, profit, dividends and inter-
est. and there Is no trouble about raising
the proportion that goes to wages.
Ia the next place, there Is the argument
from mechanism. The greater part OF
the work Of the world is now done, not
IN the old-fashion Of handicraft, but by
machinery, through which new industrial
forces have been lei loose upon