Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-08-08

generation, hundred, or a thousand
years, ~ single thought are often
swept away from the path along which
the human mind is travelling. The
benefits thereby accruing to man kind
are alike shared by the deserving and
the undeserying in greater or less lie
gree, according to the limits Of time
id condition, but nevertheless shared
BY All TO some degree.
The discovery Of steam. the discovery
Of electricity and thousand and one
other discoveries, have tended and
have shortened the hours Of labor Of
man in his continual effort to gain the
necessities. comfor, aud luxuries Of
| life And The tren of the times is TO
still further reduce the hours of labor.
The point Of progress reached Il ing
all lines Of human action makes it i'm
perative that they be shortened, and
when they are shortened all alike
the deserving and the undeserving-
will share in the general good thus at
tained as to-day are enjoyed shorter
hours Of labor than our fathers and
grandfathers enjoyed in their day
In all candor it may be asked, what
bearing has the morality or immortality
of the individual on the question
whether or not eight hours shall con
stitute a days work? WHAT argument
is it either for or against the eight hour
proposition to say that such one
spends eight hours at labor, eight in
sleep and eight in a saloon drinking
and spending his earnings in riotous
livingY Or, on the short hand, what is
it to say that another spends eight
hours at work, eight at prayer and
eight in sleep? Is it any argument
against an eight-hour day to say that
some will abuse the additional leisure
thus obtained? All good things are
abused by some, but this is no reason
why others should not have good
things.
The question, therefore, is not how
will this one or that one spend his
leisure. but it is. do the conditions of
the times warrant in making the
shortening of the hours of labor inn
perative and necessary To the we'll
being of all: Now all this talk about
men striking for shorter hours in
imitation of some one else, or because
a walking delegate tells them to do 50
is absurd. The eight-hour day is not
-mierobe of the strike disease.
Neither does the number Of hours
enter into the question, save in a
5 aeondary way. The question to be
considered is, has society come upon a
time when the hours of labor may be
shortened. and at the same time ac-
compIish theamount Of labor necessary
to the well-being of the human family
If it is found that the wants of men
are fairly we'll supplied, aud at the
same time that there are many idle
men, it may be safely concluded that
it is time TO shorten the number Of
hours of labor in the day. And in a
case Of this kind the initiative step
boxing to such shorteningImust come
from the Iaborer, for no other reason
than that he is the one most nearly
affected If he cannot reason en-
ployers into the same way Of thinking
wlat other thing IS left for him to do
t. better his material condition save
TO strike.
Allstrikes, whether against a reduc-
ton Of wages or for an Increase Of
them, or for shorter hours Of labor. are
but an expression Of mans inherent
iudomitable and undying hope and
ambition to better his condition the
same hope and the same ambition that
has governed man for all time and
brought him to his present state Of
civilization
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Twentieth Century Medicine.
Cascarets Candy Cathartic are as