The Gem worker and the Idaho labor herald. (Boise, Idaho) 1914-1917, 1914-12-31
FOR SHORTER DAY
Health Protection LabOr's First
Need, Says Gompers.
MAN VERSUS THE MACHINE.

Demands Of Modern Industry Weak
en- the Worker and React Upon His
children--N onunionists Retard So
cial Progress.
The greatest of all problems before
organized labor today is the conserva-
ton of the physical and mental health
Of the workingmen, said Samuel Com
pers. president Of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, in recent inter
view.
Mr.. Gompers was optimistic in view
ing the future. He traced the marks
of a progressive amelioration of the
industrial life of the worllingman and
asserted that there never had been in
the history OF the world such high
and exciting prospects" for labor. In
justifying his optimism he said that a
glance into the dismal past" and a
serious reflection on the present status
of labor are enough to kindle hope and
urge men to dare things yet unaccom-
plished
The reduction of the working hours
was considered by Mr.. Gompers the
biggest question confronting organized
labor because lit viii do away with
those elements in modern industry that
are making for deterioration OF the
race.
''ln days gone by men could sit at
their benches and make the necessa-
ries of life by their individual labor.
Then they could drop their tools when
they chose and pick them up again at
any hour of the day to feel once more
the thrill of creative labor. Now, great
machines have eliminated all this, and
the workers blindly, dumbly follow
the demands of the machine. They
are compelled to keep up with the en-
CINE. There is only one other alterna-
tive. which most men would not dare
choose, Modern industry is intense.
and the worker must make an intense
application to his work to keep pace
with the machine The rapidity with
which things are done enervates the
worker and reacts terribly upon his
children"
Mr.. Gompers said that the complex
division and subdivision of labor and
the "blinding swiftness" of the pace
set by the machines must be compen-
stated by a reduction of the working
hours. This. to the worker. is as good
as an increase in wages because he
works a shorter time for what he gets
and has leisure for other and better
things
He asserted that the ''long hours of
labor" already were making inroads
into the physical and mental health of
the workers and that it BODIED i'll for
the future of the race. He pointed
out that the question was vital be
cause it affected such n large proper
ton of the population. For this rea-
son he said that the health OF the
worker was the greatest national asset
of this country.
What kind of children" he asked,
''can the people of this country expect
from vast mass of overworked men
and women who are forced to hoard
every cent they earn for the bare nee
essaries of existence?"
Mr.. Gompers believes that child la
Dor is an issue that has great bearing
on the physical and mental health of
the people. He stands for its aboli-
ton He asserts that it tends seri-
ously toward racial degeneration" He
adds:
at must be remembered that the
children of today are future citizens
of this republic. 1t is not a question
Of dollars and cents nor of industrial
supremacy. but Of the future develop
ment of the American race. If these
children are going to take an active
and healthy part in the civic and cul
tural life of the United States they
must be taken from the factories"
MIR. Gompers also wants women's
part in industry either reduced to ar
irreducible minimum or the conditions
of their labor so lightened as not t.
endanger the health Of the race. He
does not. nor does organized labor
wish to circumscribe the activities OF
women. but there are many crying
evils to be eliminated before they car
normally grow. He commented favor
ably on legislation of recent years t.
regulate women's hours. but he hopeC
for still greater changes to come.
That these things had not been &C
complished already he attributed tt
the failure Of the nonunion man {,
make common cause with the unioI
worker" He held this failure to b,
''regrettable and unpatriotic." He call
ed it an obstacle to national growti
and the health of the race. which con
tributed in large measure to the suf
fering Of ALL"