Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-10-04
goecia: L, The Register.

goecia: to The Register.
CHARLESTON, ". Va. October 81
The efforts OF the labor representatives,
and others specially interested in the
amelioration of the condition of the
laborer, were at the last session of the
Legislature mainly concentrated on an
endeavor to secure the passage of four
bills, the first fixing eight hours as a
working day in all work done for and
on behalf of the State, and prescribing
q severe penalty for its violation by any
State official or agent, or contractor or
eub-contractor; the second to prevent
accidents, and preserve the. life and
health and provide for the comfort of
employees in manufacturing, mechan-
dcal and mercantile establishments; the
third to prevent the employment of any
person under fourteen years of age in
any manufacturing establishment Or
workshop; and the fourth to provide
more efficiently for the ventilation and
drainage of mines, and for the safety
and health of persons laboring in them.
Some of these bills included provisions
contained in others, and one or two of
them were pushed simultaneously in
the two houses, but they all failed to
reach the Governor for approval except
the first, which is now a law. The
House bill with reference to the ventila-
ton, ETC., of mines vas understood to
and to have the endorsement of those
who are classed among the liberal mine
operators. 1t passed the House, but was
unable to run the gauntlet of the SEN
ate, where it was defeated on the last
day OF the session by a vote of thirteen
ten, the chief reason of this defeat
be PC, it was understood, the heavy ex-
penn to which it was alleged it would
subject the operators in certain sections
OF the State at the outset.
The principles of the bills to prevent
the employment of persons under four
teen years of age in a certain class OF
workshops, and to prevent accidents,
better preserve the life and health Of
empoyes in a certain class of estab-
lishments, do not appear to have en-
countered any serious opposition. They
passed the House, and seem to have
failed in the Senate because the session
nded before they had matured for final
tion, while a Senate bill of the same
tenor seems to have been hung
up in The House because there was al
ready before it a bill of its own on the
same subject. 1t is probable that bills
on this line will encounter no serious
difficulty in their passage at the next
session.
The only objection to the eight hour
law was a fear that it might be consid-
cred a discrimination in favor of labor
ers employed in a certain class of work
and render disconnected those engaged
In less desirable lines of labor. This
objection seems, however, to have
A~@oSa OA iSltCALtOh W IAO INV WCll
recognized fact that the immense addi-
tons to labor saving appliances of diff
ferent kinds in recent years render it
easy. to meet all demands on the labor
world without working for the long
daily period formerly necessary, and
TO the gradually spreading belief that
as a general proposition one-third Of the
entire day is as much as ought to be
devoted to constant manual toll. The
time thus secured, it may be reasonably
hoped, will lead to such better individ-
ual health, increased domestic comfort
and greater mental and social improve
ment as are sure to produce in the long
run a higher average type of man and a
much better citizen. 1t may be that the
Introduction of this principle into all
classes of work would at first conduce