The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-25
MAKE DEMANDS FOR. EIGHT HOUR DAYS,.
 SIX DAYS A WEEK
Committee on Labor Hears Ar gumentssFor and Againstil
 State Institutions

Hartford. March 25.-The commit tee son labor faced numerous bills on the prople1ns as to how many hours a day, and how many days a week, men shall work for the. state of Con necticut, yesterday afternoon Minis ters and lawyers locked horns nrl these matters, so did employers. and employ esn while, all along the$ line 1t wassa clear case Of humapitarjan in terests versus the aNEn EntgrdolIar. Nows7 the question naturally arises. where will the labor committee get off n
 The first group of bills before the comrnittee principally concerned the, numtle of* hours state employees should work5per day. These bills at fish eighth hour laws, principally through the. medium of triple shifts of help iaae the institutions affected. Representative Joshua Meltzer.. of .Bridgeportsz Charles J. Donahue Of New sIiaven, president of the State Federation. of Labor. spoke in favor of the eight hour proposition.
 The arguments of the opposition were that in certain state institutions for boys and girls, the nome life systen'.. prevailed, and that such a. place then became a great household, were. subject to similar duties and working hours as the housewife. It was pointed out. in this respect, that night work, or long hours of regular employment were unavoidable. It was also shown that in such a house held, there were accommodations for but one set of help, and that there could not possibly be accommodations for three shifts.
 Chairman George C. Chandler of Rocky Hill provided the central idea. for the defendants of the. eight-hour proposal, when he asserted that the state should be an ideal employer of labor. Other arguments were against the cold bloodedness of the proposi- ton that a state enploye could take his job or leave it; against the state ment that such a system could be called a household system, in that tho housewife could rest. when she was tired, or go. to Polls any time she saw fit. It was further pointed out that the state had framed an eight hour law tor private employees. and yet was itself the chief violator of this law, with respect to it's own en1- ployes; that such law would prove sound not only scientifically and morally, but also Financially, since men woufd be the better prepared by normal rest for work, and the reduc- tion Of labor would actually tend to increase wages, not reduce them: that the state makes appropriations for it's militia and other public benefits. and should not balk on the slight expense entailed in this instance
 A second group of bills before the committee concerned the question of one days rest in seven. The best bill of the lot permitted Sunday labor only in eases of extra rdinary emergency. where employees worked the other six days in the week, while in the case of regular Sunday work, employees should have some other day in the week off. Rev. Dr. R. H. Patter of Hartford, T. Nj. Crowley Of Hartford. Rev. E.. L. Wismer of Bristol, and Alexander Angus of Hartford spoke for the bills M E. Brewster-Greene of Bridgeport spoke against them. Favorable arguments were that pub