Wichita eagle., 1889-05-22
.ai1g eagle
THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY.
The Agitation for Reduced Hours OF La
Dor in Europe and America.


labor is creating quite stir among
working classes on the continent. In
Belgium, where it has gained ground
wonderfully of late, the only objection
seems to be that working men are SO
poor that the reduction of wages
which must. for time at least, follow
the shortening of hours will reduce
them to starvation. To guard against
this the Belgians have joined to their
eight-hour movement an agitation in
favor of a minimum rate of WAGES. u
A noteworthy feature of the present
movement toward an eight-hour day
is the apparent desire On the part OF
the men who are conducting it to avoid
every appearance of sensationalism or
violence. There is to be no sudden
change by strike; no industry is to be
menaced; no harm done to property or
commerce; no threats are to be en-
ployed. The measure is to be effected
by gradual change OF public sentiment
and the voluntary and deliberate de-
cision of both employers and employed
that it will be to their common inter-
est.
Discussing the question of shorter
hours, the Philadelphia Times says:
''ln many industrial callings eight
hours are quite enough for men to
possibility to place any arbitrary re-
striction upon employers and en-
ployed, and it must not be forgotten
that the majority Of working men and
women-which includes the workers
in field. forest. mine, factory, count
ing-room, store, and shop-are beyond
the reach of any statutory regulation
as to working hours. This fact must
suggest extreme caution in moving for
shortened hours of labor by law"
The eight-hour rule" says the
New York Tribune. will doubtless
come eventually, though it must be
remembered that the process of
shrinkage in the length of the working
day, which has gone very far in the
last fifty years, must end somewhere.
The argument in which the movement
seems to find It's chief support is that,
if the length of the working day is cut
down one-ffth, the number Of those
who can be employed will be increased
one-ffth- Probably not many of those
who are Influenced by such assertions
stop to reflect that the reduction in the
amount of labor a working man would
do would be inevitably followed, at
least for a considerable period, by
reduction in the amount of money he
would receive Not even the authority
of the National Government over its
employees has been able to arrest the
operations OF this natural law"
In England the eight-hour question
is even more vexed than in this
country. The fearful congestion of
the labor market there has invited
the attention of all parties-Conserva-
tive, Liberal, Radical and Socialist |
the feeling is strong that /
the present situation demands the |
adoption of new and effective measures. /
It is thought that if railway servants |
in Great Britain worked only eight !
hours the railroad companies would |
have to employ about three hundred |
thousand extra hands. This might |
play havoc with the dividends, but |
it would certainly materially re-
lieve the pressure on the labor
oplyn ha
extended to other occupations |
there would be in England an immedi- |
ate demand for about million moro
workers. As there are only about !
seven million workers in England,
this would represent very large pro-
portion of extra hands wanted. Thus |
it is that the eight-hour day agitation
is gaining ground.
Herr Won Beveren, Belgian who |
has made considerable reputation il
his native country as political
thinks that an interna-
tional treaty fixing the days work in
all countries at eight hours is neces-
sary and urgent. In support of this
theory he advances six reasons: %
The trades unions are not strong
enough to limit universally the hours
of labor: CD if they only reduced the
hours in some trades, this would pro-
duce an injurious and anti-fraternal
among workers; (3) with
out law TO fix the hours of labor
those who work at home or in small
and unorganized trades would still be
overworked; a. without such a law
the struggle between employers and
their men would be perpetuated-it
would break ont again and again at
every fluctuation of the market; (5)
such law Is practical, for it has ex-
listed for ten years in Switzerland. and
when, recently, 1t was renewed, the
employers made less opposition than
when il was first introduced; 60 that
1t was pure utopia to count on the
goodness of employers-some among
them might be actuated by the best
and kindest motives. but the keenness
Of competition placed on them the i'm
possibility of making concessions.
Chicago News
CHiLDHOOO'S DREAMS.