The Arizona champion., 1891-03-28
THE WORK DAY IN EUROPE.
Longer and Wearier Than
 Man can Well Stand.
TEN HOURS IS A SHORT DAYS WORK
Official Reports for all Gontinental
 Countries.

A return just issued in pursuance ot an address from the house of commons 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 September 1S48, enacts that the workingman's day l in manufactories and mills shall not ex, ceed twelve hours of effective" or actual labor. A decree issued in May, 1851. made exceptions, so that more hours might be worked in certain trades. In 1885 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 manufactories and mills in which the motive power was machinery. No work shops were to come under the clauses of the act that did not employ more than twenty hands in any one shed. The re- port says: "It is likewise to be borne in mind that there is in France no compul- sorry observance of Sunday, and no day of habitual rest"
 The reports of the French inspectors of labor appear to show that the act of 1s4S is very loosely interpreted. It is even doubtful whether the section limit ing 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 attendance in factories un- der the act of 1S48 are from in the morning until in the evening, or total of fourteen hours, out of which there are twelve hours of effective labor. But the same authority also states that defective" time often extends to thirteen and fourteen hours in many weaving establishments. Finally, we are told that, "as a 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. Employ ment of youthful or female labor in cer tain kinds of factories, which is attended with special danger to health or morals, is forbidden, or made conditional on cer- tain regulations, by which night labor for female workpeople is especially for bidden. In Germany, as in other coun- tries also, women may not be employed in factories for certain time after child birth. In Hesse-Darmstadt the medium duration of labor is from ten to twelve hours; the cases in which the latter time is exceeded being, however, more fre- quent than those in which the former is not exceeded. The normal work day throughout Saxony in all the principal branches of industry is from a. m. to p. m., with half an hour for breakfast, an hour for dinner and half an hour for supper. In the manufacturing industry there are departures from these hours, the period of work in spinning and weaving mills not infrequently being twelve hours.
 In Austria the law provides that the 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 the aggregate than an hour and half. The rule can be modified by the minister of commerce, in conjunction with the minister of the interior, allowing longer hours. The hours have been so extended to twelve hours in certain industries, such as spin ming mills, and even to thirteen in silk manufactories. Sunday rest is enforced. In Hungary there is no limit laid down by law, but the hours are not generally longer than in Austria.
 Concerning the actual hours of adult labor in Belgium, some difficulty is said 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 fifteen and even nineteen and half hours at stretch; and the Brussels tramway drivers are at work from fifteen to seven teen hours daily, with rest of only an hour and half at noon. Brickmakers work during the summer months sixteen hours day. In the sugar refneries the average hours are from twelve to thirteen for men and from nine to ten for women. The cabinetmakers, both at Ghent and Brussels, assert that they have often to work seventeen hours day.
 In Switzerland the law provides that a normal working day shall not exceed eleven hours, reduced on Saturdays and public holidays to ten. Power is re- served for prolonging the working day in certain circumstances Except in cases of absolute necessity Sunday labor is prohibited, and in establishments where uninterrupted labor is required each working hand must have one free Sunday out of two. Women cannot under any circumstances be employed in night or Sunday labor. Italy has not legislated for adults, but has made reg ulations for child labor. Sweden is in the same position. Spain and Portugal have done nothing. The general rule in the latter country, applying to old and young, is to work from sunrise to sunset, an hour and half being allowed for meals. In the Netherlands law was recently promulgated to prevent ex cessive and dangerous work by grown up women and young persons. In Tur- key the working day lasts from sunrise to sunset, with certain intervals for re- pose and refreshment. In Russia, where there are no laws affecting the hours of adult labor. the normal working day