The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-23
LABOR LEGISLATION.
CONSIDERED IN CONJUNCTION WITH
TAXATION.
Dresser on the Eight Hour Law
Class Observation-Disclosures of Mort
gaGes-'A Suggestion from France
Effects of a Tax on Land Values.

Class Legisiafion-Tax king of Mort
gages-A Suggestion from France
Effects of n Tax on Land Values.
Our legislature is certainly very kind
ly disposed towards labor. They have
passed quite a number of bills in the
interests of the workingman, the latest
being the eight hour law. It fixes
eight hours as a legal day in all mines
and shelters. The passing of an eight
hour law has always been one of the.
demands of organized labor, and in
response to that demand many states
nave passed such a law. l have never
seen where it has resulted in any slpe-
clal benefit to the workingmen In
most cases it is a dead letter 1t is
so IN Wyoming. An eight hour law
was passed there a few years ago ap-
plying to mine workers and EMPLOYEES
OF the railroads outside of train hands
Ihe employers protested against it,
put when they saw it was bound to
pass they changed their form of pay
ing wages from the day to the hour
instead of paying $3.50 for a day of
ten hours they paid % cents per hour
or 81 for eight hours. The 1925 man
got $1S0 and the S1.25 labor 81 per day
OF eight hours. Miners working by the
u9n worked the same as ever-siX, eight
or ten hours, as they pleased. The
Chinaman, Fin and Hungarian worked
their usual ten, twelve and fourteen
hours per day. The law made no differ
ence, and today the day men are work
ing from seven in the morning till
half-paSt five in the afternoon, with
h,llf
other attempt to lagislate against the
results of a natural law-the law Of
supply and demand. cas- long as there
IS an over-supply of labor the worker
is forced to accept a day of ten, twelve
or fourteen hours, if that is the condi-
ton upon which employment is offered
The remedy is at once clear and SIM
pie. Kill off the over-supply of labor
or open new avenues of employment.
But it is theory with some labor
reformers that a reduction of hours,
even with a reduction of wages, is a
benefit by providing more men with
work. These men become consumers
of goods, which means an increased de-
mand for labor, and this, by lessening
the surplus labor, enables the workers
to demand higher wages. BY some
mental blindness these theorists lose
sight of the fact that a reduction of
hours and wages at once lessons the
purchasing power of the wage earners
20 per cent, that 90 per cent. more
workers will not be needed to do the
additional work through reduction of
20 Per cent. in the length of the work
day. 1t simply means that 20 per cent
of the workers wages is paid to enough
more men to do the work in eight
hours that was formerly done in ten
hours. A larger number of men are
able to purchase only the same amount
of goods that a less number of men
formerly purchased.
An eight hour day has been secured
in a number of trades, but it has come
through force or concession and not
by legislation. Where a trade is well
organized and the amount of surplus
labor is comparatively small strike
or the fear of a strike will bring a
reduction Of hours or increase of wages.
But the class which suffer the most
severely from long hours are unable
to secure any redress either through
legislation or combination. Their en-
ployers are as helpless to grant them
shorter hours. The generous employer
who would do so could not hope to
compete against his competitor who
hours. I think it was Carlyle who
said that the condition of labor in any
trade is fixed largely by the meanest
employer in the trade, and we see how
this can be SO.
1 think an eight hour day for gov
eminent, state and municipal work is
all right. The workingman gets the
benefit of this, however, only where
the government is the direct employer.
In this case government can afford to
give a fair wage for eight hours work
1t is not necessary for it to hire labor
for the lowest wage it will accept. To
be sure, the tax payer will have to
Pay the difference between what mu-
nicipal labor is paid and what it might
have accepted. But he Will probably
have that much less to pay out for
charitable purposes. If the municipal
work is done by contract the laborer
does not get the benefit of am eight
hour day. The contractor is likely to
give that as a reason for demanding
more pay for his contract, but as he
goes into the open market for his labor
he gets it for the lowest price.
One thing is peculiar about these
eight hour laws-and Uta.h's is no ex-
Ception-and that is, they are class
legislation. Only miners and en-
ployees in shelters are placed under
the operation of this law If it is be-
cause the workers in other depart
ments have already secured an eight
hour day, is it not a fact that they
secured it without the aid of legisla-
ton? If other departments of labor
have been unable to reduce the length
of their working day, it is because
conditions are different and legisla-
ton cannot alter conditions
If our legislators had considered this
fact L think they would not have tried
to tax mortgages. 1 suppose this is
designed to be in the interest of the
other fellows who pay taxes The pur-
pose is certainly laudable and the ar
gument plausible. Here is rich
money lender with several thousand
dollars out on mortgages. He ought
to be taxed, therefore we tax him. 1t
is evident that he pays money into the
treasury and the object of the law
seems to have been accomplished. But
who has really paid the taxes? The
borrower. The lender simply added it
to the interest, or the payment of the
tax was enc of the conditions upon
which the money was haaned. Neces-
sity knows no law. The man whose
necessities compel him to borrow mon
ey must accept the terms the lender
makes. He will pay the taxes, pay for
the abstract, pay the fees, pay illegal
interest This is why you can't make
the mortgage pay the taxes and usury
laws are of no avail.