San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-05-10
For the LIGHT:
THE EIGHT HOUR MOVEMENT
Practically Tested for One Year in a
Great Iron Foundry Proves
a Great Success.

eight hour movement is beneficial
to the employer seems to have been
satisfactorily settled in the affirma-
tive by practical test. Messrs.
Mather & Plat run the Stafford
iron works in Manchester, Eng
land, and employ over 1,20O men.
Prior to February, 1898, their men
worked nine hours per day, but on
that day the firm arranged with
the Amalgamated society of En-
gineers to try the eight hour sys-
tenn, provided that the men would
make no further demands for one
year, the system to be watched
carefully, tested, and a fair report
made on both sides. The agree.
ment was faithfully adhered to on
both sides, and the year of trial
ended February Is, 1894. Mr..
Mather, M. p, the leading partner,
has made his report, and it is emf
nently in favor of the eight hour
movement. He says: "Notwith-
standing the trial has taken place
in a year of depression, and the
firm has had to meet COM
petition and cutting prices, the
result in the end has been
most satisfactory. There was a re-
markable saving in gas and cleo
tricity, wear and tear of engines
and machinery, fuel and lubricants
and in the general stores. In all
there was a saving of 4 per cent,
which fully covered the loss of the
extra hour per day; moreover, the
product of the workmen was far
greater than for the previous six
years and would have been far
more profitable had not low prices
so universally prevailed. And
better satisfaction and a more
amicable feeling existed between
the employe and employer. Mr..
Mather says that his firm will now
permanently adopt the eight hour
system, and adds: "If our trial
should be the means of making
the forty-eight hours general, with
out impairing in any degree the en-
terprise and prosperity Of the me-
chanical trades, we feel that we
shall have earned the gratitude of
working men and created better
feeling between capital and labor
that must work tremendously to-
gether for the public good"
Mr.. Mather wisely adds: "The
cry for legislation to settle the
conflict between the natural and
laudable aspirations of working
men and the fears and doubts of
employers, is a danger to the
whole field of industry. Mutual re-
sponsibility and mutual benefits
can only be secured by mutual
m anagement. A srigid law passed
by mem bers of an imperial legis-
lature, whose votes are often given
hap hazard or for party reasons
or for a safe seat can never pro-
vide remedy for such conflicts as
those which arise in the industrial
world in connection with the COM
pick questions of wages and hours
of labor"
This report has been investigat-
ed and has led to the adoption of
the eight hour system in many
works and factories and especial
ly those under governmental con-
troll.
In speaking of this matter Mr..
James Keith, G. L. pioneer in Scot
land of the nine hour labor and
later of the eight hour, said;
"There are such things as cheer
fulness, willingness, increased in
telligence, reserve of energy, pre-
vention of deterioration and self
respect on the part of the better
educated and best class Of skilled
workers that come into play under
more equitable conditions, and
which, rightly exercised, enables
infinitely better results to be OBJ
tanned under shorter hours of labor
that can be possibly got from long
er, protracted and almost cOntinu-
Gus toll"
Here lies the secret of the eight
hour movements success. The Ia
Dor costs a trif1e more but only
for the employees seem
to pay more. They get better
workers, better work, and in the
end more profitable results all
around. This is no mere theory |
for it has been demonstrated in
many places as it has in the Sal
ford Iron Works. Ere long capita
lists will realize this and the eight |
hour system will generally prevail.
II. RI.