Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-05-05

some-s Says There Will Re No Peace Un-
 til the Eight Hour Day Comes. Samuel Gompers, the president of the American Federation of Labor, who has been visiting the larger cities i'll the east in the interest of the eight hour work day movement, was asked by a reporter what would happen on May 1, that be- ing the day set for the enforcement of the eight hour day by the labor unions. He replied:
 will venture to say that more than 500, GOO workmen will, beginning some time in May, work an hour or more day less than they work at the present | time. ,
 "Will there be great strikes to enforce the eight hour ruler" asked the reporter.
 Most of these 500, 900 will get the eight hour day without striking for it, !" was tho reply. I do not want to predict that there will or will not be strikes ed, there is no telling where they will end. do not know at the present time that any great strikes are contemplated or will be necessary.
 What branches of trade will lead in l the movement"
 1T cannot say that at present. The data are at the headquarters of the fed eration, and l cannot speak certainly without them. The building trades llxx1 l. 5axx s.. | tho larger cities. Some of them, though, still work nine hours, and these men very generally will demand and will get without strike the eight hour day. 1 There are some local unions in this trade unattached to any national organ l ization. These unions will make the demand, and think that they will get l it. U
 Are these unions in the cities you have visited?'
 Some of them are. There have been many conferences lately in all the cities between the representatives of the trades l unions and the employers in reference l to the eight hour rule The men have l been met in spirit of fairness. The re- suit of these conferences will be seen in the large industrial centers about May 4, which is the first Monday in the month. The day s work will be iessened, but there will be no decrease of pay.
 Does it extend to all trades2'
 "Oh, no; it does not. In many trades l the hours of labor have been ten or eleven a day. In many of these the hours will be cut down to nine. The eight hour 1 day will not be asked for in these trades. However, do not want to predict At this time, as told you, it is extremely difficult to say what dimensions this movement will take. The reduction ill l the hours of labor is due to several I causes. The great advance in machin- cry, the discovery and application of new forces to industry, the improve ments in the tools of labor, the divi- sions and subdivisions in various depart | ments of labor, all tend to increase the productivity of the laborer
 .sAt the same time the capacity to consume has not increased. With this increase i'll the production capacity of the workers the army of the unem- ployed has become more vast. These unemployed are always menace both to the employer and the employed The support and control of these men and the lessening of their numbers are a great social problem, to the working out of which thousands have devoted theiY energies. Federation men claim that the reduction in the hours of labor is the most rational of all the plans. Ev- cry man agrees that something must be done to relieve the abnormal conditions of our industrial and commercial affairs and to make the existence of those now unemployed somewhat more consistent with humane conditions. The disagree ment IS as to the methods Some advo- cate revolution. The trades unions ad- vocate evolution. We believe that there has been no proposition which is so thoroughly calculated to bring about better and more consistent and advan- tageous solution of the question than the one offered by the American Feder- ation of Labor in the movement to re- duce the hours of labor I have found this to be the opinion of the employers and the employed in the cities I have visited. l have found, too, in these cities a greater tendency on the part of the employers to meet the men and to grant their just demands. The tendency is to meet them in Q spirit of fairness to meet them half way, in fact. I have found that large number of employers have learned to respect the trades unions and to recognize that concession is bet ter for all concerned than conflict I find they have also learned that the agreements with the representatives of trades unions are more generally lived up to in every way than are agreements with individuals. am certain that the limiting of the hours of labor to eight will come There can be no industrial