The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-03-01
EIGHT o ENOUGH.

tiCiO . obyhhth& ." tHO
a man can do ss much work In eight
hours, vigorously employed, as In ten,
necessarily not so vigorously used, the
the fact remains that eight hours is
enough for q man to devote to his daily
task. OF course there will be some
physical exertion that he will have to
expend beside this, for he must go to
aud fro, he must dress himself, he must
lay In his provisions, etc. Laboring
eight hours he al 6nd time to do these
other things, bat If he works ten hours
out OF the twenty four be cannot, Is
pecially In short winter days. The real
aud paramount reason why eight hours
10 enough for a mans work Is, that
with more of his time occupied In that
way he does not have sufficient leisure
Ia which I o educate and ft himself for
the duties Of life. What religious side
can there be, what humane side, what
educated side, to the life of 4 man who
labors hard for ten hours, and sleeps
through all OF the other fourteen hours
that he eau spare from eating and going
to aud coming from mis- place OF laborI
None.
There must DO those who toil1 Yes,
no doubt. and &C there will always be,
| but already we can see wherein the
| condition of the laborer has been
materially smeliorsted. Will anyone
pretend that all has been done In that
direction that is likely 10 be done?
| Hardly. The socialists dream 10 Euto-
| pan, 10 sure never to come to pass and
Il should not. It would remove all in
oentive to excellence aud would bring
humanity down to q dead level. 1t lie
undesirable even If It could be attained
But there are many ways In which the
condition Of mankind can be improved
which are entirely compatible with
preserving Q system Of requirement,
aud degrees Of comfort In cousonauce
with Falent, merit, industry and tIu-
xallty. One Of these 10 TO shorten the
honrs of labor. When this shall be
done, and In good time II will be nc.
complisbed, when through the laws
special privileges are granted to none,
when special burdens are imposed up
OIL none, with due safeguards every
where for liberty ~ithout license, then
tue people of America will have ~
q arly an ideal sys'em Of labor snd
government as man IA well conceive
Toward q consumation so d~evoutl>
to be wished all good men should IA.
Dor, bat how, aye, there's the rubi
"Eight hours for a days work" In q
newspaper headline, niue times In ten
means . ~demagogic attempt to iufiame
the lsborer against his employer, ip
order to catch votes. Nothing could
we'll be more unfortunate, as no ques'
tIon can be more complex, or demand
better thought. There are ten thousand
new Adjustments 10 be made before !,
can be brought about. The bricklayer's
4tional union in convention at Kansas
City some months ago saw this, aud
almost unanimously refused 10 ask TO,
Q reduction to eight hours. They have
but recently reduced their working
tune from ten to nine hours. and they
want TO try that for a while. lie not thai
r~easonsbie2 Long ago. probably thei'
guild worked twelve hours a day, the,
eeven, then ten. For q hundred year.
tncy stayed ut that. When their hours
are shortened ten per cent are the!
ut VI a spirit of unrest. 10 remain sat
i,ded with that radical reform but 9
f,w weeks2 That would be uuwise. II
Il lar better TO prove we'll what 10 good
before demanding q further change.
The Federation Of Labor, we see il
stated, 10 about to make q great COLI
o red movement in May In favor o.
the eight honr day, aud there are talk
OF strikes, raising money to support th'
men while they are out. and all that
the old story, the cause Of the failure
: Q ID the decsdence of the Knights o
L ,bor, as IL will be, II tried of the Fed
Q alton. Better let strikes alone. The,
ane bad things. They are costly thingf
ruev are hard on capital, bat they al
b rider on labor Turn Q deaf ear, YORK
i gnan, 10 all appeals to join In a gen
eral strike they always tail, becau'
the, are sure to lead to excese. whel
D ,ulic opinion becomes array.d agains
tnrm and they 70 DOWN. Nothing C, n
Ia this land of thought aud ideas sue
Q ,siDliy withstand an aroused publl
o union.
We do not look for any consider able
muedia,e result from the Federation
IN vemepl in May. There may be
trade here and there. W here concession
have already been made. 10 which III
eight hours will be conceded. The
Will be few. The great good to com
from the undertaking will be the atten
ton which will be attracted to the sui
ject by the discussion. Tho in;eliigen
men who are Interested IN the matte
should DO able TO keep this up, on th
b, rostrum, In the newspapers aud maya
, zines, until q majority Of the people c
/. the country See tbs necessity for th
reform and earnestly favor 1t. Whe
that time comes the thing will be az
complisned.
Ii is such q complicated thing. Sc
low il will upset calculations aud Nj
! engagements here, how 1t will necessI
0 tate new machinery therel II the ina
10 the factory and Ia the shop work
but eight hours why should the woma
q. III the kitchen labor tor twelve Or fouI
teen7 This trade . stand the chang
, At once; that one cannot. The farmer
What Ii he to do about in lie is @ ma
With aspirations aud hopes. Now h
can barely make both ends meet by Ia
boring from dawn TO dark. Hos CO
hs live and work but eight hours "a
, he tweniy-tourr There 10 q maze,
lsbsryuih OF details 10 consider. w
would not be understood 10 say tbs
no change should be attempted ant
all can change at once. u, no, gain
.tep here, iben another there. That
the strong objection TO the plan Whic
20 hear the Federation is to pursue