The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1901-02-14
IN THE
LABOR WORLD
Short Hours.

=
the Austrian economist, to show that
were all able bodied adults between the
ages of 81 and As put at productive la
Dor, using the present machinery and
mechanical appliances, it would require
2h hours per day from each to supply
all the wants of the people of that coun-
try, have been called in question by
some. But now comes an American stu
dent, j. L. Franz, and proves, in the
December issue of the international
Socialist Review, that better showing
even than this can be made for the
United States.
The problem Mr.. Franz set himself
was this: Proceeding from the present
state of mechanical productive power,
how much time or daily labor would be
needed under Socialism to create all
the means of comfortable standard of
life, wholesome recreation and the high
est possible culture for all the members
of the commonwealth"
Taking the thirteenth annual report
of the United States commissioner of
labor as the source of his facts, he finds
the labor cost of % agricultural pro-
ducts. Thus the labor cost of bushel
of barley is five and fraction minutes,
or, expressed in the money equivalent,
two cents; Of bushel of wheat, a little
over nine minutes, or 3.44 cents; of a
Of no (ho1o6N
minutes, or $1.29.
Now, selecting wheat from among the
other articles, he proceeds to ascertain
the aggregate" labor cost Of bushel
of wheat-that is, the lacor cost from
the time the ground is prepared and the
seed sown to the time the wheat is de-
livered to the retail wheat merchant. To
the labor cost of 9.43 minutes he adds
the other costs, as follows, seed grain,
One-twelfth of bushel, 10 of minute;
loading, transferring grain from stor-
age bins to steamship, "a of a minute;
unloading, transferring grain from canal
boat to storage bins, 80 of a minute;
railroad freight, l. 900 miles, per ton per
mile, Fl Gao bushels to one tom 10 min
utes, fertilizer, minutes; depreciation
of machinery, implements, ETC., min
utes; superintendent, bookkeeping,
clerical labor, etc. - minutes cost other
than specified, 5 minutes; total aggre-
gate cost 5O.O6 minutes, or 1883 cents.
Then for the sake of having round
figures for easier reckoning, he adds
ten minutes to the aggregate cost, thus
making one bushel of wheat cost one
hour in labor.
He next finds that $50 ZOO, 900 bushels
a year is the amount needed for home
consumption; and that the number of
persons now actually engaged in pro-
duction of this quantity of wheat, in
Guiding small farm owners, members of
their families and laborers, varies in the
neighborhood of 100000.
AS it takes only one hour to produce
one bushel, to produce 35O,O0O,OOO bush
els. it will take exactly the same number
of hours; thus a million persons would
need to work only about 81 days of 4
hours each, or 800 days of 1 hour each !;
or 100000 persons working four hours
all the year through, Sundays and holt
days excepted. could produce all the
wheat needed by the entire population
of SO,00O,0O0 people.
These figures, derived from an in
vestigation of the cost of wheat produc-
ton, as basis, and extending his in
quiry to the manufacturing industries,
Mr.. Franz arrives at the further con-
clusion that lone hours work per day
of 5O,OOO,O0 adults and able-bodied per-
sons of this nation is sufficient to per-
form all the work reasonably required
to satisfy the national demand for all
the products or services available from
agriculture and manufacture, transport
alton and distribution, and also OF
science and art-in a word, of all kinds
Of occupations that are to furnish the
means of sustaining, elevating and re-
fining them.'
In other words, if our Industrial sys-
tenn were properly organized and placed
on a scientific basis for wealth produc-
ton and distribution, we should need
to work only four hours a day for three
months in the year to produce all the
necessities and a goodly supply of lux
uries Of life.
In New Zealand, where railways are
owned by the government, small ship
pers secure as low rate as larger ones.
A farmer can send Sc pounds of garden
truck to market in the city for only II
cents.
A seven-pound parcel can be sent
anywhere in New Zealand for % cents.
The government owns and operates the
railroads.
SchOck & COpelin Misunderstanding Co.
Few of the general public realize the