Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-01-21

lation and the progressiyism and hui
| manitarianism frequently are insep-
arabic 1t took congress long while
to pass an eight-hour day labor law.
All government work done by the gov
eminent itself was put on an eight
hour basis long time ago but it was
only recently that the federal eight
hour law was made to apply to gov
eminent work contracted for by prl-
vate corporations.
1t is apparent that the present adj
ministration is fully in sympathy not
only with the eight-hour movement,
but with the plea that eight hours
for work, eight hours for play and
eight hours for sleep constitute the
proper living day for man. Secretary
Redfield Of the department of COM
MERGE probably would not have ex-
pressed himself so freely as he has
on the eight-hour matter if he were
not sure of the sympathy of his chief
Mr.. RedfieId's Position.
At meeting OF the American Asso-
citation for Labor Legislation held re-
Gently Secretary Redfteld said:
Il believe that when our factories
are run so that the workmen go home
without being fatigued from overlong
hours, and not till then, will we be
able to compete successfully against
all corners in the markets Of the
world. 1 could not afford to employ in
factory men who are half sick, who
come to work after having had bad
breakfasts, who are partly poisoned.
They would be economically unproflt-
able. And yet fatigue is part poison.
Improved conditions for labor, so
far as the United States government
can bring them about without inter
fering with states rights, have been
gradual growth. The Republicans
when they were in power did good
deal for labor, and since the Demo
Gratis have come into power they have
shown a disposition to continue the
work of the Republicans, and in some
cases to do a little better. Congress
men say it is the natural growth OF
favorable legislation fostered by the
spirit of progressivism of the times.
The eight-hour law which is at pres
ent on the statute books and which
forbids private contractors doing
work for the government to make
their men work more than eight hours
a day, was passed by congress only
after years Of contest.
Postal Service Efficient.
A high type of efficiency is
claimed for the United States postal
service by Uncle Sans officials,
who are charged with the duty of its ad
ministration. 1t is said that the single
exception of Belgium, where the traf-
fic conditions resemble those of state
rather than those of country, the
United States stands at the head or
all countries in operative efficiency
This is said on the authority of Rep
resentative Lewis of Maryland, author
of the parcel post act, who has been
digging into the subject
1t is known that Uncle Sans letter
rate of postage is enough to yield
SO 1-3 per cent profit, and the postal
efficiency of this country is attained In
spite of the high prices which must
be paid for material, stamps, paper,
etc, and the much higher wages which
are paid to American postal workmen
than to those who do the same work
in Europe.
Steady increase In the Service.
Since the year 1885 not only has
the number of pieces of mail, incfud-
ing poth domestic and foreign matter,
increased gradually, bur the number
of pieces handled by each post office
employee each year has increased 1
This increase has been going on while
the average handling individual bits
OF mail has gone down.
From 1886 to 1912 mot only have
the units of service more than doubled
in size, but city and rural deliveries
have been added, thus virtually dou-
bling the quantity of the service. Thus
even il the cost per piece of mail
naturally had remained stationary 1t
would be shown clearly that the cost
actually had gone down
The number of pieces mailed in
the year 1886 including domestic and
foreign matter was 3,474, 900 600, while
the number of employees was 122, sos.
In that year the number of mail pieces
handled by each employee per annum
was 1888. The cost for the average
mail, piece, reckoned in cents, was
LA. Eight years later, in 1894, the
number of employees had increased to-
1896, and the number of pieces OF
mail had jumped to 4,919,090000. This
resulted In the number of mail pieces
per employee per annum reaching the
figure of 26,746, and the cost per
average mail piece becoming, in cents
167.
Average Cost Has Gone Down.
Ten years later in 1904, the mum
Der of pieces handled by each employee
during the year had increased to S..
366, and the average cost per each
mail piece had gone down to 1873. Ia
1912 the average cost had gone down
to 134; the number of employees, a