Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-04-21
THE TOILER'S DAY.
Results of Thirty Years Agita-
ton in England.
SHORTER HOURS IN MANY PURSUITS

Trades in Which the Time Has Been
Curtaiied and Some in Which the Old
Day still obtains-More Trouble at
the Chicago Worlds Fair site-Five
Hundred Laborers Strike for Eight
Hours and 81. .5-The Contractors De-
clare They VIII Fight.
LONDON, April 81 There was laid upon
the table of the house of commons yes
terday, in response to motion by Henry
Broadharst. the representative of the
London workingmen, a return showing
the number of hours worked per week in
the chief trade and manufacturing circles
from 1850 to 1890, as we'll as a resume of
the effects of the restrictive measures
adopted by parliament at various times.
The blue book opens by saying that in
Lancashire the hours of the agri-
cultural laborer have fallen form
sixty TO forty.eight hours per week,
though it seems this applies to winter
work only. for in summer sixty hours
week is the rule. From sixty to fifty in
summer and winter may be taken as the
average hours of a laborer on land in Eng
land.
ABOUT the DOCKS.
The return as to the lockers is very
curious. In 1850 the Liverpool decker
worked from forty six in summer to forty
three hours in winter Last year the
hours are given as ifty-two and a half
and fifty-three, and the men are not al
loweG half hour for dinner on Satur.
days. In London the dock laborers work
hfty-seven hours per week, the lightermen
from ninety-six hours to seventy.two. The
wharfngers, who in 1850 worked seventy
two hours per week, only do that now in
winter time, when ice chokes traffic and
business is correspondingly argent. 9th
erwise the tale of work is reduced to fifty
four hours week.
Bakers and Brickmakers
The bakers in London u sed to work sew
enty-two hours week, summer and win
ter. They now have fifty-four hours
week. In Birmingham the bakers in 1880
had to work eighty and ninety hours a
week. Now they have managed to cut
their hours down to from sixty-ive to sew
enty, and in some cases only from ninety
to eighty. In the brick making business
sixty hours was reckoned a weeks work
ten years ago; now the working week
ranges from forty-eight to fifty-four In
are from fifty-one to forty:fve.
Men Who Build Houses
Sixty hours a week was not thought
too hard for carpenters in 1880
Now in London the working week with
them is reduced to fifty-two and one-half
hours alike in summer and winter, and in
no case do carpenters work more than
ffty-six and one half hours a week, ex-
cept in Ireland, where at Sligo they work
sixty hours per week. In the painting
and decorating trade in London thirty
years ago sixty hours a week was the rule
all round. That was also the rule with
plasterers, who now work only ffty-two
and one-halt hours in summer and forty.
seven hours in winter. Skaters used to
work sixty-one hours a week; they now
work fifty hours. Stone masons
vary in their hours. In London their
work consists of fifty-six and ona-half
hours, but stone carvers work only forty
seven hours.
Hours of Labor at Mines.
The coal miners vary very much. In
Northumb erland the hewers used to work
sixty hours IA week; they now work thirty
eight hours The boys have reduced their
hours from seventy-two to thrty-two and
one-half. The pumping engine men work
sixty-six hours per week, but, then, in
1850 they worked seventy-two. The fire.
men still work eighty-four hours a week,
as in 1850; in fact, the hours of surface
men at collieries seem longer than in any
other trade in the country. In Lancashire
the miners since 1850 have reduced their
hours from seventy two per week to fifty;
seven and a half; in Staffordshire from
sixty to forty-eight. In Yorkshire sixty
hours used to be the rule. These miners
now usually work only forty-eight hours
per week.
No Relief for Railroaders
In Wales the hours are fifty-four a week.
and the same holds good of Scotland In
the printing trade the hours have been re-
duced from sixty week in 1880 to fifty
four in 1890. But among railway men
no progress is recorded. Drivers still
work sixty hours n week and signalmen
in "twelve-hour boxes" seventy two hours
a week. Among shipbuilders forty-five
hours week seems the usual thing, only
the hours vary in the different shipbuild.
ing trades In the textile Industries the
hours have fallen in the last forty years
from sixty per week to fiftyJsix and a
half.
STRIKE AT THE WORLDS FAIR SITE.
Five Hundred LabOrsrs Demand More