Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-10-16
OPINIONS BY
PRACTICAL men
Just What the Eight.Hour Law
Will Do to Bust
ness.

Dor with us means service. Our 1lrSt
duty is to our guest. Many emergen-
cies occur in this business-the uncer-
tain arrival and departure OF guests
delays and congestion of trains and
boats and other circumstances that
cannot be met with when the hours OF
service are fixed by law without an
Improbable amount of labor. Few
hotels are financially successful. one
of the direct causes being the neces-
sity of carrying an excess of space and
help to meet ordinary demands OF the
travelling public. The strangers first
impression Is the most lasting. A
city is known by the character OF its
hotels. The traveller does not COM
pare us with our neighbor, but COM
pares US with the hotels of other
places, and if we are lacking In &C.
commodations and service the COM
our city condemned"
Chas. H. Goodrich, Salmon Gamer:
IAN Eight-Hour Law, If strictly en-
forced, would have a most disastrous
effect on those engaged in the busi-
ness we are. Our product Is per1sha-
BILE and unless cared for promptly the
result is a waste Of food fish which
would not only mean large financial
loss to US personally, but loss to the
public generally through an unavoid-
able loss of food, product. We will
cite another instance. Our pile driver
was 81 days driving one trap. During
that time it actually worked not to ex-
coed fifteen days. The rest Of the
time the men did nothing. This was
unavoidable on account of the wealth
er. When weather permitted the crew
worked long hours, in some cases
fourteen hours. Had 1t been compul-
sorry to work not to exceed eight hours
even when weather permitted it would
have nearly doubled the expense. The
law would also make double crews
necessary on all our small launches
and would render many lines of work
impracticable altogether"
Mr.. H. J. Bailey, Lumberman: "The
writer's personal observation con-
vinces him that a compulsory Eight
Hour Law would not only great,
handicap the employer who has to
compete with labor across the line in
British Columbia, but would act as a
boomerang, and strike the wage earn
err himself like a lightning bolt, for
this law would not give him more than
eight hours pay for his eight hours of
service, which would mean materi..
reduction in his income. and this in
the face of a steady advance in cost
of living would constitute an irrepar-
able injury to him."
Mr.. H. c. Henry, Pacific Creosoting
Co.: What the operation of this law
would cost our company is difficult to
say, but for additional clerk hire, SUI
pervision, additional equipment and
men, delays and difficulty in handling
output, it is safe to put this increased
cost at from 10 to 20 per cent. We are
in competition with plants in other
states and British Columbia not sub
ject to such restrictions and would
find ourselves unable to meet their
prices and keep alive. To the Greco
soting Industry and the employees Of
same, the Universal Eight-Hour Law
would be calamity"
w. w. DeForest, Shoe Manufactur.
er: 1--WE operate our factory almost
entirely on piece work basis. When
ever a department is behind on it's
product we have the operators work
longer and thus give our regular EN-.
ployees the benefit of the increased
earnings. This we would not be like
ly to do If we had to pay so per cent
extra for the work so done. 1t is ne
cessary for us to market our product
in competition with the East and
therefore, there is limit to the cost
of production. We are buying all our
raw material at as low prices as East
ern houses, but our labor costs more"
Mr.. George Ker, Manager Mckee
Company, Supt. 1000 acre farm, Yaki
ma County: 1T would be physical
impossibility to operate our farms
and make it pay anything under the
Eight-Hour Law This law does not
and cannot be made to fit the condi-
tions of farm management. Irrigators,
for instance, work IL hours day. The
labor is not hard but requires special
knowledge and experience. Many of
these men have been with us from -
to IA years and one man since 1885.
An unframed man cannot be put on
this job and if we had to double our
forces of irrigators, it would be impos-
sible to obtain experienced and COM
petent men. Hop pickers who work
on piece basis would not be induced
to harvest hops with only eight hours
work"
Mr.. Stanley Coffin, Sheep Grower
and former Secretary of the Washing.
ton Wool Growers Assn. THE Eight
Hour Law which will appear on the
ballot in November as Initiative
Measure Nc. IS, if enacted into law
will put an end to sheep raising on an
extensive scale in this state and throw
hundreds of men out of employment,
as we'll as destroy thousands of dol.
lars of invested capital"
Looking For Fair Play.
The employers of Washington are
in favor of the First Aid" principle,