Workmen's advocate., 1889-11-09
LONG HOURS.
The WOrkday in Europe.

an address from the House of Com mons throws considerable light on the question of working hours in Europe.
 In France the hours of adult labor are regulated by a series of decrees, of which the earliest, promulgated Sep tember, 1S4S, enacts that the working mans day in manufactories and mills shall not exceed twelve hours of "ef fective" or actual labor. A decree is- sued in May, 1851, made exceptions, so that more hours might be worked in certain trades. In 1885 a circular was issued stating that the limit of twelve hours per diem was not to be imposed where hand power was employed, but was to be confined to manufactures and mills in which the motive power was machinery. No workshops were to come under the clauses of the act that did not employ more than twenty hands in any one she'd The report says: "It is likewise to be borne in mind that there is in France no compulsory obser vance of Sunday, and no day of habit ual rest" The reports of the French Inspectors of Labor appear to show that the act of 1S4S is very loosely inter- preted. It is even doubtful whether the section limiting the actual working day to twelve hours was intended to include or exclude hours of rest. Practically, the legal time is made to exclude rest. This makes the working day so much the longer. Thus, one of the French inspectors states that the hours of at tendance in factories under the act of 1S48 are from five in the morning until seven in the evening, or total of four teen hours, out of which there are twelve hours of effective labor" But the same authority also states that "ef fective" time often extends to thirteen and fourteen hours in many weaving establishments. Finally, we are told that, "as rule," it may be taken that Frenchmen employed in factories are present in the shops at least fourteen hours out of every twenty-four.
 Among the countries having no laws affecting the hours of adult labor Ger many is conspicuous. Employers, how ever, cannot force their servants to work on Sundays and feast days. Elm ployment of youthful or female labor in certain kinds of factories, which is at- tended with special danger to health or morals, IS forbidden, ore made condi- rional on certain regulations, by which night labor for female work people is especially forbidden. In Germany, as in other countries also, women may not be employed in factories for a certain time after child birth. In Hesse-Darm- stadt the medium duration of labor is from ten to twelve hours; the case in which the latter time is exceeded being however, more frequent than those ir which the former is n ot exceeded. The normal workday throughout Saxony ir all the principal branches of industry is from 6 a. m. to p. m., with half ar hour for breakfast, an hour for dinner and half an hour for supper. In the manufacturing industry there are de partures from these hours, the period o1 work in weaving and spinning mills no infrequently being twelve.
 In Austria the law provides that tht duration of work for factory hands shall not exceed eleven hours out of the twenty four, "exclusive' of the periods of rest. These are not to be less in th' aggregate than one hour and half The rule can be modified by the Minis ter of Commerce, in conjunction witt the Minister of the Interior, allowing longer hours. The hours have been SC extended to twelve hours in certain Tn dustries, such as spinning mills, ant seven to thirteen in silk manufactories Sunday rest is enforced. In Hungary there is no limit laid down by law, bu the hours are not generally longer thai in Austria.
 Concerning the actual hours of adul labor in Belgium, some difficulty is sait to be experienced in getting at the facts The evidence given before a Belgian royal commission showed that railway guards are sometimes on duty for fiji teen or seventeen hours at stretch and the Brussels tramway drivers are work from fifteen to seventeen hour daily, with a rest of only an hour and
 half at noon Brickmakers work durin the summer months sixteen hours
 day. In the sugar retineries the averag hours are from twelve to thirteen fo men and from nipe to ten for women The cabinetmakers, both at Ghent an Brussels, assert that they have often t work seventeen hours day.
 In Switzerland the law provides tha normal working day shall not excee eleven hours, reduced on Saturdays an public holidays to ten. Power is r, served for prolonging the normal work ing day in certain circumstances. El cept in cases of absolute necessity SuI day labor is prohibited, and in establish ments where uninterrupted labor is rt quired each working hand must hay one free Sunday out of two. Wome cannot under any circumstances be en ..Io..nI ;,, ,n;rIt S,,ndnr lahnr Ifal