Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-21
The Mo ber of Hours Of Toll Fixed
by Custom or Contract for
LABOR IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Workers Who Are Kept Steadily at Their
Tasks From II to 19 Hours
WITHOUT TIME FOR REST OR SLEEP

very opportunely, ana aHord convenient
means of comparison with the hours oi
labor that prevail in Britain.
So far as regards laws regulating the num-
ber of hours a man shall work, the great
majority of our representatives in for.
eign lands have the same story to tell
that such laws are non-existent. Of the
different States forming the empire of Ger.
many none have any special enactments on
the subject, the Imperial Legislature alone
being competent to deal with it, and that
body has left adult labor entirely uniettered,
except in forbidding the employment OF
women in certain kinds of work, and enact
ing that employers may not compel their
workmen to ply their vocations upon Sum-
days or feast days, only where the special
nature of an industry precludes the work
being postponed or interrupted.
In 1886 the Belgian Labor Commission
pronounced against any legislative inter-
ference with the freedom of workingmen.
Neither in Sweden, Denmark, the Neither
lands, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Italy,
Greece nor Turkey has the idea of fixing the
limits of working day by law been enter
tanned; while the Roumanians. Bulgarians,
Servians and Montenegrins, if they agree in
nothing else, are of one mind as to leaving
masters and men to make such arrangements
as they deem best for their interests.
LONG HOURS AND HARD WORK.
Very little information is youchsafed as
to the actual working hours in the countries
where freedom of contract remains unchal-
lenged; but we are not left quite in the
lor 10 Ian oxvo tow in ho1es
Journal, that a Turkish working day lasts
from sunrise to sunset, with certain inter-
yaIs for refreshment and repose. In Mon
tenegro the day laborer begins work between
and 6 in the morning, knocks off for
half an hour, works on till noon, rests until
2, and then labors on until sunset. This is
in summer. In winter he commences work.
ing at 7:30 or 8, rests from II to l, and works
uninterruptedly from that time to sunset.
The rules respecting skilled labor are the
oretically the same, but considerable laxity
prevails in practice. In Servia
t&e principle of individual convent
ence rules in every case. In Portugal
from sunrise to sunset is the usual length of
the working day. With field laborers and
workmen in the building trade the summer
working day begins at 4:30 or 5 in the MORN
ing and ends at Z in the evening, two to
three hours rest being taken in the middle
of the day. In winter the hours are from
80 to 8, with short interval of repose. In
the rule is II hours in sum-
mer and 10 in winter, with an hour and
half allowed for meals.
Eleven hours is the average days labor in
Belgium: but brewers men work from 10
10 II hours; brickmakers, I6; the cabinet
makers of Brussels and Client are often at
work II hours a day; tramway drivers are
IN duty from Is to II hours, with an hour
md a half off at noon; railway guards some
lines know what it is to work 1917
hours at stretch; and in the mining dis
riots women are often kept at truck loading
THIRTEEN HOURS DAY.
The normal work day throughout Saxony
$ 13 hours, with 2 hours allowance for
neal taking. In Baden the medium dura-
ion of labor is from 10 to II hours; but in
ome cases it far exceeds this, often rising to
ID hours in stoneware and china works and
,otton mills; in sawmills to II hours; while |
he workers in sugar refinerieS, where the |
hift system is in vogue, work for "a hours, |
md then have "a hours free; and in too |
many of the Baden factories Sunday work |
s the rule. In Russian industrial estab- |
tuc ulucTcHCc Ill buc WOThluS
lours is something extraordinary, varying |
rom to 20. SIT is remarkable that these |
reat divergences occur in the same branches |
f industry within the same inspectors dis |
rict, and among establishments whose |
,roduce realizes the same market price,"
The only European States in which the /
aw controls, or pretends to control. the dis |
,osal of q grown man or woman's time are |
Austria, Switzerland or France. In the
rst named the factory hand must not work |
nore thau IL hours day, exclusive of an
our and half for refreshment and recuper-
ton; and in mines the actual working
hit is limited to ten hours; but these rules
re liable to modification with the Joint con-
ent Of the Minister of the Interior and the
finister of Commerce; while in special
ases the Industrial Officer of the district is
Empowered to permit temporary increase
n the working hours for period of three
7eeks or less A permanent extension of
ime has for some reason been given by
Ministerial ordinance to spinning mills and
ilk factories, by which the hours of labor
ave been heightened to II and Ii hours re-
pectively.
SUNDAY LABOR PROHIBITED.
In Switzerland working day must not ex-
eed II hours, with one hours interval,
between the hours OF 5 A. NJ. and
NJ. during the months of June, July and
lugust; and between 6 A. NJ. and P. NJ.
uring the remainder of the year, the time
, be regulated by the town clock. On Sat
rdays and holidays the workshops must be
osed two hours earlier. Exceptional and
.mporary prolongation of the working time
obtainable In cases of necessity, "but not
mpiy to suit the convenience of the en-
loyer." Sunday labor, except where it is
necessary, is prohibited alto
ether; and under no circumstances is femi-
inc labor permissible on that day. On Or
mary days any woman having household
look after is free to leave the shop one
alf hour before the midday rest.
The hours of adult labor in France are
gulated by a series of DEGREES, the earliest
which. promu gated in 1848. enacted that
le workingman's day in manufactures and
ills shall not exceed Il hours OF "effectual
bor." In 1851 another decree exempted
rtain occupations from the Limitation; and
1885 it was officially laid down that the ,
hours limit was confined to such manu-
ctories and mills as were moved by ma
inery by day, or machinery in motion by
" and night without extinction of fires:
i'd that no workshops employing less than
hands In any one shed came under the
W of 1S4S. OF the 100000 or 1000, 900
ople earning daily wages in France, not y
ore than 1.00O,00 are computed to be sub
ct to the provisions of that law; indeed,
e inspectors of factories only record 359,-
0 adults, OF whom Al per cent are women;
d IT may be accepted that Frenchmen in !
ctories pass at least IA out of every "a :
urs in the factory; while the workers out
lie, such as carpenters, masons and labor !
), work Tor any number of hours inclina-
IN may prompt or necessity compel. $
AMERICAN WORKERS HOURS.
The United States are by no means united
the subject of labor legislation. Most of I
EN- are content to leave it alone. New
,rk pronounces eight hours a legal DAVIS n