The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-02-19
~ ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

People work too much
This sounds heretical but its the
truth.
That is, on the average.
Hours are too long, too little time
too meagre hiatuses in which to cult
vate the soul
The other day the supreme court of
the state Of Ohio declared constitution
al the law of that commonwealth linn
ittng the hours OF workingwomen. in
certain industries, to fifty-four hours a
| week
| Nine hours a day.
| Nine hours each day is too many to
devote to the doing of one thing. No
human being should devote nine hours
each day to work.
| Compared with former conditions
when employers drove their employees
like SO many cattle-on and ON and on
| to the point of exhaustion. twelve to
fifteen hours a daytime hours seems
| almost milleniumistic.
Arnold Bennett in his novel Clay
| hanger" draws a terrible picture of
little boy of seven years, going to
| work at four o'clock and working until
| ten at night in the English mining dis
trict-all this time in a foul den
| crowded with other children and men.
This. of course. is thing of the
past But there are conditions in this
| country at present which are not less
evil in comparison.
The child labor in the cotton mills
and other industries, for one.
A social sore that will never be heal
ed by anything less than a Federal
law. One of the measures introduced
and fought for by Albert J. Beveridge
in the Senate of the United States but
which was defeated by 1.-The interests"
!! whose Hobbies, while not as fragrant
and conspicuous as at one time, are
still constant and devious in operation.
And it is all attributable to one
thing-human greed.
The acquisition of money should be
limited to a certain amount by the
state.
When a man had builded up a for
tune to legitimate point, he should
be ruled out.
more than SO much.
Fortunes like those of Carnegie and
Rockefeller are disgrace.
1t puts the rest of the world to a
certain extent in the position of being
pensioners on their bounty.
And-despite their gifts to educa-
ton and philanthropies-not two har-
der employers than these ever existed.
The men in the steel mills formerly
operated by Carnegie were no better
than slaves.
AS stated before too much time is
taken up in the pursuit of the dollar
too little in leisure and contemplation.
In Richmond, in instance. eight
hours is long enough for anybody to
work at anything. Six and seven en-
ough for most.
There is daily the ridiculous specta-
Gle of business men going to work at
half past six and seven o'clock.
Clerks hustling along in the dawn.
Workmen plodding to the factory
long before daylight.
And what for?
We all die in the end.
Competition may be the life of trade.
But it's the death of humanity.
And under monopoly, the foundation ;;
of the structure-the men who do the
actual producing-fares no better.
Herein is the special benehcence
which obtains through the medium of
the labor union.
The limiting of the hours Of work
and the standardization of wages.
Almost all unions have the eight
hour limit.
And forty-eight hours constitutes a |
working week.
There arc some which make it nine |
hours and few ten.
Here is where what is termed ia
Dor" has the advantage over those |
who work in 1.-The business world"
The latter are at the mercy of their |
employers both in the matter of hours
and wages. And that they are screwed |
down to the lowest point is known to |
the most SUPERFICIAL observer.