The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-01-24
ELEvATEs THE MASSES AND IS GOOD
FOR THE REPUsLlc.

Shorter Hours Lift the Standard OF
cItizcaship-Traa Unions ncneat
Aot OnIy tie workers. bat the
whole social syafeIn.
The national movement Of the print
Crs for an eight hour day Is another
manifestation Of that growing iliso-
lence Of labor which causes stout old
gentlemen In easy circumstances to be-
come apoplectic. Nevertheless 1t ought
to succeed and doubtless viii, for the
printers are well organized. and there
Is nothing so eificaeious dis organization
to extract money from the capitalistic
purse.
Eight hours IS quite long enough for
any white man 10 drudge DIT manual
work Half century or 50 from now,
II the world In the interval shall pro-
gress instead of going to smash, the
s aF-o5t Isidifay will be much shorter than
that. for the clipping OF hours and the
rise or wages constitute an important
part Of the process BIZ which fairer
division Of the good things Of life Is
being achieved.
About the only argument offered
against the eight hour day for printers
is that the employers don't Ike IL. No
widespread betterment Of workingmen
has ever been accomplished with the
approval OF the employers. Every adj
vance has been the result of o won bat
tie Capital and labor, as the political
sy, a. = xr.Y,rs Y13e 3tss etsvapSrt y1e teS%s9
and fears to offend either tells as, are
necessary to each othar--partners So
they are In production, but when IL
comes to separating into two piles what
their common energy has produced they
are antagonistic IN interest and there
fore enemies. Labor gets from capital
only what it can extort, and the more
labor succeeds In extortIng, speaking
largely, the better 1t Is for everybody
concerned, which means the whole COM
munity, including the capitalist In the
long run. National wealth III It's poI!ti.
cal aud social good effects Is not to be
measured by its total, but by its distri.
button The more hands It Is In the
greater the country's prosperity and the
higher the level OF its civilization.
1T is necessary to view the eight hour
movement broadly to consider general
effects and not to faster the eye of
hostile criticism upon details upon the
workman who wastes og vilelv misuses
bis time The Industrial history Of the
past century proves that shorter hours
and higher wages lift the standard Of
living. Of intelligence, Of morals, or
citizenship In countries where the
long day prevails so do low wages,
aid SO do ignorance. class hatred and
the most promising elements for revo-
luton. The surest way to create a
dangerous proletariat Is to press the
people down and force d hopeless ami
NAL life upon them-as in Russia, for
example.
The American printers have behind
their movement the sympathy OF all
the other trades unions and their finan-
ciai help should it be needed. Every
trade which has fought for and com
PEELED the eight hour day win feel that
the printers cause is their own. SO
will every trade that has not yet won
1t, but wants it And every trade
should have It. ANY business that
can't prosper on the eight hour day or
on paying overtime on the eight hour
basis ought to quit 1t Is not suited for
the United States. The community
has the strongest kind Of interest I'D
the matter-a deeper interest than that
Of the employer who affirms, as en-
ployers in every line have successfully
and mistakenly done. that eight hours
would ruin him. It il bad for the re-
public to have masses Of men, as in
the coal regions and the sweat shops
who are brutalized by horrible strug
gle for bare subsistence. Imbruted
masses breed men like Baer. who sin.
cerely regard themselves as born to
leadership over their less lucky fellow
creatures And there should be no
room FOR nm order of nobility In re.
public, especially for nobility without
a tradition OF public responsibility. II
Mr. Baer has serfs, even though they
are, as he thinks, a gift from heaven
which Is too busy to do All It's own
work and therefore needs deputies on
earth Mr. Baer's serfs can't possibly
live life that ITS them to vote.
Trades unions have their defects. like
other human institutions. They are not
always fair or tolerant or humane.
They may at times be enemies OF free
speech and resent the truth about
themselves and contemn the law in
seeking their selfish advantage. they
may, in brief. be as busincssIke and
| tyrannical as the Standard OH trust 1t.
self But, on the whole, the trades I'M
ions have been the most socially benef.
icent institution that has arisen in mod.
ern days They have opened to the
workingman the secret OF his strength
and taught him to fight his own bat
/ ties; they have lifted the laborer to the
status of citizen, to that Of being
who feels that he has a right to de-
cent share Of what be earns. and have
rid his mind OF the notion that others
are born TO guide him and guard him
/ and provide for his welfare: they have
made man OF him and placed iii his
hand the most telling weapon vet forged
FOR lighting against the curse Of pcver-
ty.-Arthur McElwen In San Francisco
Bulletin.
MkssuuFfss Ycfnbk Hons Yn~w