The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-09
HAS MADE HAPPY HOMES
INCREASES THE BETTER ELE-
ME1NTS OF SOCIETY
REPORT ON EIGHTHOUR BILL
Contends That ms Hours of Toll
Are Decreased, CitIzen4hip Is
Improved ard Crime
Lessened.

WASHINGTON. May SIN view Of the
recent eight-hour movement throughout
the country. the report made to the house
of representatives, today by Chairman
Gardner, Of the committee on labor. on
the Gardner eight-hour bill and the gen
eral subject of eight-hour legislation, has
a timely interest The bill requires a
clause In all government contracts that
labor under contract shall not exceed
eight hours daily The report says in
part:
ut is coutended by the advocates Of
the shorter day that the additional leisure
gwen TO labor in any instances of tho
shortening of the work day. as it has
been shortened, step by step. from six
teen hours 10 fourteen. twelve, eleven,
ten. nine, and, In many Instances, eight,
mas resulted in a decrease OF intemper-
ance among laboFers, the acquirement of
better tastes and desires. resulting In bet
ter homes greater domestic felicity. with
an increase of laudable pride as to the
clothing of themselves and those depend
ent upon them. In word has increased
their interest in home and better social
relations, raising their moral status and
has made them much better consumers
of the products of labor. and henca re-
suited In increased production.
The proposition that without Varia-
ton. the elimination of intemperance,
poverty. pauperism. Ignorance, crime
move
to the increase Of tho social opportu-
mites Of the laboring classes stands
without Impeachment of it's historical ac-
curacy. No recognized authority today
| combats the proposition that the condi-
| ton of the Iaborers has improved with
every reduction in the hours OF daily
! service that has UP to this time been
made. Nobody Is disputing that he has
! become a better consumer with each re-
ducuon. No reasonable person would for
ia nsA ..sff Ton
the work day should again be heightened
to fourteen or twelve hours. When the
hours Of work were so long that workers
had no social opportunities they resorted
to stimulants for solace. and the saloon
for society, where they encountered an
iron law for spending which could not
be disregarded without loss OF caste In
the only society in which they had op-
portunity to enter. \ gentleman Of re-
sponsibility and exceptional opportunity
for observation has borne testimony that
the shortening Of the work day has ban
ished blue Monday
SIGNIFICANT SILENCE.
"a significant fact In connection with
the shortening of the work day at vari-
Gus times during the present century is
the entire silence on the part OF the older
school OF economists in regard to the ef-
feet Of the shorter work day on society
business Industrial conditions or the Ia
| borers themselves. II is nowhere claim
ed insofar as your committee is aware.
that any reduction in the hours OF labor
mas had detrimental ERECT on business
on manufactures. on labor - q unit or
individual laborers. The advocates Of
the short-hour theory, on the other hand,
traced the moral. social and financial i'm
prOvement OF the labOrer to this cause
and aUege that business was at no time
injured, but improved II affected and
that production was stimulated and con-
sumption increased.
Economists who advocate the eight
hour day contend with great plausibility
that the shorter daY results in an in
crease OF wages without an increase OF
price, as greater consumption enlarges
production and the larger the scale Of
production, the cheaper the given article
Is produced that the labOrer when ne
has leisure. resulting from the shorter
hours has new aspirations ambitions