The wageworker., 1909-08-07

1
to the National Conservation Commits
| sion, and just issued by the govern
ment printing Office at Washington. it
is expressly and unequivocally stated
that the most careful investigations
show that the eight-hour day re-
suits in a higher individual and gener-
al efficiency both as to quality and
quantity of product Professor Fisher
says:
| The present working day is strfk-
ing example of the failure to conesrve
national vitality. In order to keep la
bor power unimpaired. the working
day should be Physiological e., it
should as would enable the average
individual to completely reeuperate
over night Otherwise, instead of a
simple daily cycle, there is progress
sive deterioration A reduction in
the length of the work day would be
a chief means of improving the vital
ity of the workmen, as well as the
worth of life to them
The fatigue of workmen is largely
traceable to their Ionk work day and
serves to start a vicious circle Fa-
tigue puts the workman in an abnor-
NAL frame ofmind- He seeks to dead
en- his fatigue by alcohol, tobacco. ex-
citing amusements, and excesses of
all kinds The momentary relief which
he thereby purchased at the expense
Of an increasing susceptibility to ia
tigue. resulting sooner or later in
complete depletion of his vital ener-
gies and in the contraction of tuber-
culosis or other fatal disease The de
crease in the length of the working
day has not dimished the total out
put
An instance in which the eight
hour day superseded the nine-hour day
with entire success is the case of the
Stafford Iron Works. of Mather & PIatt.
at Manchester, Eng. which changed
to the eight-hour day in 1895 As the
firms products were subject to keen
competition in both home and foreign
markets. it was obliged to look care
, fully after the labor cost. and its con
clusion that such cost did not increase
in consequence of the reduction in
working hours was reached after ex-
: tremely accurate comparisons by ae-
/ countants, who of course took into
consideration the saving in consunl
/ ables. wear and tear fuel, etc The
bureau of labor inquired of Messrs
Mather & Platt if they were still on
t the eight-hour basis. and received a
i reply dated May "a. 1904. in which
: they stated that:
3 ~'Our experience since the first year
: in which it (the eight-hour systeml
a was tried has fully borne out the con
n elusions then arrived at, and we are
5 fully satisfied that as regards the com
+ parison between eight and nine hours
: per day, the balance of advantage i
+ in favor of the shorter period (a1
In 1904, the hours of labor of about
/ $4,000 workmen in British government
J. factories and workshops were re
dueed to forty-eight hours per week
OF this number, 1s,s00 received re
duction of five and threefourths hour:
p a week and 24.3OO had their time re
duced two and one-half hours a week
With no change in piece rates th'
II workmen were able to earn as muel
as formerly Day workers received al
e increased hourly rate of pay to max
II their earnings per week of forty-eigh
hours equal to those per week o
e fifty hours 1t was not found necessar,
4 to increase the number of day work
IL ers- (bf
In 1899 the owners of the grea
Leiss optical goods factory at Jena
Germany, introduced the eight-houl
day and then made careful records o
= the results In 1908 it was announces
that although the aggregate numbe
of hours worked had decreased Is pc
~ cent the output per hour had increase
16-2 per cent (c)
AT Liege it was found in a sulphur
~ ic acid establishment similar TO
:. foundry (d) that shortening the wori
- ing day from eleven hours to ten fror
ten to nine. and so on gradually dow
to seven and one-half, resulted. /
= each case, in an increase of the on
an put
The Solvay Process Company, I
Syracuse. installed in 1892, systel
of three eight-hour shifts in place I
,et the two previous shifts of eleven an
lc- thirteen hours, respectively 1t va
at stated by the assistant general ma
as ager in 1905 that the change had CO
ed siderably lessened the wear and te;
on the men, and that they could