The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-20
AN INIQUrrous LAW.

AN INIQUTT0US LAW.
 The New Orleans Item. speaking of the eight-hour law. has the follow ing:
 It is complained of the eight-hour law, as affecting government employ es, that the people do not get their mail eight hour law was made to include letter-carriers. At the end of the time limit the carrier must return to s, ths pSstocs % bringing with him the livered mail may not be delivered un- til the following day; but If delivered on the same day. the delivery Is made later than 1t should have been. Con- and an the expenses of government are importance as to arouse a protest from business men: but when we see the application Of the eight-hour system to farmers there arises fear that there will be trouble of very serious hour law; No employe of that State is permitted to work more than eight hours a day. The penalties for vio- lating the law are severe. Massachu- leSe. one of the best In the country. The college employs a number of men to work about the stables and in the flas delds' They are are not permitted to work Drs A time between milking the cows in the morning and at night is twelve hour<- Consequently the man who does tho milking in the morning can not do it at night unless ne is idle great part of the day. If the men have worked eight hours on summers day they can not go into the field late in the evening to save hay or wheat or any other crop that Is in danger of being ruined by an approaching thunder storm
 
 backs of the eight-hour day on the farm of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. They are enough. however, to show the farmers of that State that with the eight hour day in force on farms they could not make farming pay:
 The Massachusetts farmers are thinking of the advisability of teaching their representatives who voted for the eight hour labor day lesson by de- feating them at the polls at the next election. The restrictions imposed up- on labor by the labor unions have their origin in the cities. So long as they were confined to cities, the country people showed no disposition to com plain. but now that they are being extended to the country. and are ar- fecting agricultural conditions where labor Is already so scarce. there must inevitably be contest between the rural voters and those of the city who belong to the unions. The result Of such contest can not be doubtful. The rural voters and the farmers control the country. They far outnumber all unorganized. It will not do for the la> h"r unions to press this system upor the farmers So far. the state laws apply only to State work. but the fear of the farmers is that it will be grad ua1ly extended to all kinds of farm la bor-
 It is strange conception of gov ernmental functions that induces leg islators to interfere with the working hours of grown and responsible men. We firmly believe that the state. in the interests of common humanity. and for the protection of those who cannot protect themselves, should pass reason- able laws limiting child labor. but when government. either national or State. undertakes to say how many hours a grown man may work in day it is interfering in a matter with which it has no concern. That is a matter that should be left wholly to those immed- lately interested. There are numer- ous occasions where important work to be done cannot be completed under the eight-hour rule and where the em- ployes would De perfectly Willing to work ten or twelve hours for extra pay. Under such circumstances if the employer and the employe agree on the time and the compensation, govern ment has no more to do with it than 1t has with the kind of tools the work men may use.
 The Massachusetts farmers are right in experiencing governmental inter ference in farm labor. The State has just as much right to fix the hours and limits of laborers on the farm as it has to fix the hours of mechanics just that much and no more. If the rule is carried to its legitimate con- clusion the farmer must often see his crops go to destruction because the men who work for him must quit work at a certain hour, regardless of the necessities of the case or the urgency of the conditions. The eight-hour law. oi any other law fixing limit for mature men to work, is but another step in the movement towards univer- sal paternalism which Is one of the greatest menaces facing free govern ment. If the farmers of Massachusetts carry out their inclnations it may give legiSlatOrS needed lesson