The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-07-05

|
requiring that all work done by con
tract for the government shall be
done by eight-hour labor Mechanics
and contractors alike are penaliZed
for giving or taking work for Ion
ger day. Overtime is forbidden, al
though extra pay at higher rate is
boon to the wage-earner. The bill
goes beyond primary contractors and
penalties them for infractions OF the
law by subsidiary contractors, how
ever far removed, if the materials are
produced by work done in a longer
day. The bill is labor's own bill and
yet it may turn out that, like other
such laws, it does not work as ex
ected 1t may turn out to be consu
tutional, although a similar law in
this state was declared unconstitu
tional, and it was necessary to amend
the constitution TO give the state the
power this law assumes.
The practical difficulty is likely to
rival the legal. Every manufacturer
doing government work must aban
don it, or must maintain separate
organizations for public and private
contracts 1t is not possible to work
separate sets of men on separate con
ditions of work in the same shop
Contractors on government work who
can dispense with ii will do so
Those who retain the work are likely
to be the less responsible, to the dis
advantage of the government. Such
firms are not those doing best or
cheapest work The men may be as
much displeased as the employers,
Their expectation is for eight hours
work and ten hours pay. Eight
hours work and eight hours pay are
not attractive under the present mar
row margins of wages above the cost
of living. For some there is nc
such margin, and any reduction OF
pay would be as much calamity Tor
them as it is for the employers to
forego the product of work done in
the two hours Topped off at the ex'
pense of the taxpayers.
1t is said that as much may be
done in the shorter as in the longer
day. 1t may be, but they are san
guine who expect 1t. VIII the unions
allow the imposition OF pacesetters or
the speeding up of machinery which
presumably is now operated at the
best practicable speed? Is it wrong
TO say that the object of such legisla-
ton is to make work. that is to say
to reduce product so that more hands
shall be necessary to turn out SINH
lar quantities? The interest OF the
public is rather in the output than in
the length of the working day and
il is not too soon to ask ultimate con
sumers to consider how they viii be
affected if, as is designed. this bill
shall be the entering wedge Tor uni
versal eight-hour day. If under pres
ent conditions of production there is
complaint OF the high cost of living,
how will ii be when costs of produc-
ton are increased say 20 per cent?
AS a general thing it may be said
that labor will lose by an eight-hour
day. Nobody can get anything for
nothing Just because he is a unionlst
Labor must pay its part OF the in
creased cost of production. Because
the eight.hour day is established by
law the economics are not altered.
1t will be a happy surprise If il
shall prove that the law is either con
stitutional or practicable. If this
attitude OF reserve toward the law
whose purpose is claimed to be ben
evolent is wrong, it is because labor
is to blame for seeking to do by law
what it cannot do otherwise. There
are many shops where man can
choose the length of his day, but
there are no shops known where men
take an eight-hour day at their own
cost. 1t is essentially immoral for
a man to take his leisure at the cost
of another by command of law. II is
a prostitution of the process of gov
eminent. Public-spirited citizens re-
gard government as something for
them to support. Privilege seekers
regard government as something
which gives what cannot be had hon
estly otherwise. These days are not
favorable to privilege either for labor
or capital.-New York Times.