The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-12-29
The SHORTER DAY
Why Eight ,iours Should Be The
Limit For Toll.
BENEFITS ALL MANKIND.
Results Prove That Brief Work Period
Is Economically Wise as Well as d
Boon to Humanisy-The Foremost
Demand Of Organized Labor.

Boon to Humani.y--The Foremost
Demand Of Organized Labor.
Why IN eight hour tlay2 Why not
four hour day? Whp the frivolous
query was once put to i representative
of labor appearing before a congress
sional committee why wolN at all?
The reply, in soberness and earnest
ness, is that, whatever may h. the fu-
ture workday when mans coiamanl
of the forces Of lature shall have
reached its limit aud tile Instruments
OF production been carried toward per-
lection, 1t is the consensus az opinion,
first. that today's prcssaNt.gn in indus
try is amply sufficient to yield +,
wages what win permit olr wage-
workers to support their families nc
the American standard o. living. and.
second, that eight hours are IT'S many
as man Of average strength ard
health can keep up t!lp exertlun of hl.s
physical and mental forces, doing JUS
tice to his work, and retain his power;
during the full possible working period
of a lifetime.
1t is to be kept In mind that the
workday for men usually governs the
length of The workday for the child
labor and the women's labor in any
given industry,
AT the present stage Of the discussion
OF reducing the hours OF the workday
it is no longer necessary to SET out to
prove the benefits 10 mankind gained
everywhere In industrial life through
cutting off all the hours Of employ
ment above ten. On the shelves OF
every public library In our cities are
books and reports by the score telling
Of communities made more healthy,
more sober, more happy, more enlight-
ened, by removing the burden of the
intolerably excessive toll to which the
workers generally We're formerly driy-
en-. TO lop off the two, three and
even four hours above ten was long
step toward substituting humanity for
brutality. More than that eeonomi-
cally nothing was lost. At the end OF
the year the worker on the average
yielded as much output at ten hours
as at the longer day. He worked
more days, he applied more muscle to
his task, and he rose from an automa-
ton drudge to an intelligent mechanic.
With the progressive intensity Of
application under modern methods and
speeded up machinery workmcn BY
daily experience know and with hard
ly an exception the trained and care
full investigators of working class life
employed by either the government or
sociological agencies are by diversified
observation convinced that ten hours
In an industrial pursuit strain the
nerves and weaken the general ply
sique of even strong men, the total
result being detrimeut to the race.
The laborer's strength dininlshes
gradually In the course Of the day.
The last hours count against him
most. Bodily ailments then develop III
his weak spots. The quality of his
work then falls off.
The testimony as to what the wage
workers who enjoy the eight hour day
| have done with the two hours now
their own which once were given to
| the employer Is to be seen In num-
| Der of calllngs in many parts of the
country. One effect is beyond doubt.
| Their new found time they have EN-
ployed in such a way as to decrease
| the death rate and hence obviously
| the lost time through illness in their
occupations Every trade union which
! pays q death benefit shows from its
| books a decrease in payments per
| thousand members since 1t has had
| the eight hour day. In this fact alone
| the body Of the argument for an eight
hour workday on the score Of health
Is carried to the point of conviction.
| Men who are living longer than their
predecessors at the same calling are
obviously living better In all the i'm
| plications Of the word. They and
| their families are housed better, dress
| ed better, fed better. educated better
! In all respects, as a whole, are hap
| pier. This truth Is to be seen in many
industries and communities
In proposing an eight hour day the
| first question to be settled Is economic.
| 1t Is whether the total output will
warrant the possible lcseening Of eifec-
! tive toil--in other words. cen society
sustain itself and progress on eight
hours work? To this query the indus.
trial wageworkers reply: There has
| been no diminution of output b. rca-
son OF the reduction of hours Of labor
from ten to eight. In not few occu-
| pations the output has not varied from
| the results Of ten hours, the number
I OF human workers remaining the same
in proportion. Workers with the aid
Of new machinery within the period OF
the present generation have in nearly
all occupations vastly increased prod
uct The eight hour day has given
more. not less of material things IA
the world. A whole continent, rs Il
the case with Australia, may have the
eight hour day and mankind be the
richer.
| 1t is clear that the eight hohr day IN
not only boon to the men, women
and children who toil--to humanity
but that through 1t when 1t shall have
become general the present total pro
duction of society will be increased.
IL, 40 Ia