Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-03-28
EIGHT-HouR ExTRAvAGANcE.

! That is a remarkable bill, No. gSa,
which the assembly committee on
manufactures and labor has favorablv
reported-a bill to apply the eight
hour principle to every species of pub
| lie work. 1t is a preposterous propo,
sition which, if We mistake not will
receive a very severe jolt indeed Just
as soon as the hard-headed legislators
set a fair whack at 1t.
The measure is universal in Its
sweep-that is, universal in relation to
every kind of public work. 1t affects
road-making through the farming re-
gions and janitor service in school
houses and town halls. 1t applies 10
| the erection of school buildings, sn1
will enormously increase the cost OF
their erection. Street,sweepers and
gutter-cleaHers in Madison and al 9th
er cities will work but eight hours
| day, and this also viii be the rule il
all mu.sic.pal electric, water, gas ana
| power plants.
What do senator's and assemblymep
| from town, village and city think OF
| this proposal to increase at one fell
swoop the cost of all public labor by
| one-fifth: for a reduction from rem To
| eight hours daily amounts to just tsat
magnitude of an increase? The farm
err member of the Legislature Is seldom
able, while at home, to feel that his
| daily work is done even at the end Of
ten hours, more often twelve: and
what merchant, especially in the VII
! lagos and small cities of the state, can
| close his store doors at the end OF
short eight hours daily? Not one Of
| them can, rot one of them uoes
| Their what earthly sense or reason Is
there for extending this unusual favor
to persons in the public emploJ?
/ Usually the latter are exceedingly Wen
paid-often overpad. 1t is notorious
that places in the public service are
always eagerly sought as sinecures.
Why make them still more desirai e,
and all at the expense of the tax
payers in general?
| 1t is a loose, faulty, reckless, propo-
sition with which there can BE- no
| general sympathy whatever Farm
ers desire, as they should to keep
I their sons at home, but here comes
| miSchievous scheme to entice Il EN-
away from the farm, where an eight,
hour day is unknown, to the villages
and cities where a multiplicity o.
eighthour soft-snaps await them; and
/ this very eight-hour bill would increase
| the number, of such jobs by one-tfth.
The ordinary 10-hour worker in the
public service does not even now do
as much as the private workman in
eight hours. He is a leisurely indiyid-
ual as a rule. This eight-hour pro-
posal would bring his actual services
down to about siX-hour basis Of hon
est effort.
And, in actual practice it would OPP
crate to work injustice to all employ
ers, whose employees, too, would soon
he demanding an e:ght-hour day, since
all their associates in the public serv-
ice are so favored. The measure is
of most far-reaching possibilities for
disturbance and mischief Nothing
more radical has ever been proposed to
}, {; Wisconsin legislature.
There is not shadow Of warrant
for this eXtravagant innovation, and
few legislators in close touch with
their constituents but understand full
we'll that a trying ordeal at explana-
>tiOn awaits them If they fail to exert
their energies to the utmost in effect
ing the defeat of the obnoxious meas
ure.-Madison Democrat.