The Washington herald., 1916-12-17

backed by the employees organisations,
has steadily decreased the hours of work
until now We are approaching the eight
hour workday as standard, have reached
II In many occupations, and realize that
1t Is coming Inevitably throughout all the
industrial world. There can be no seri-
Gus objection against the eight-hour day,
, provided that It Is universal. The objec-
tion Is the handicap In Industrial compe-
tition met by corporation with eight
hour working-day against q corporation
working nine or more hours. Thus II the
efforts toward shorter working day
could be more eQualized, directed against
those employments In which the working
hours are longest, there would be much
less justified opposition than now.
1t Is often stated that by the increased
efficiency Of work the same amount can
be done in eight hours as in nine hours.
1t Is true that the working efficiency In
creases with the shortening of the hours,
and the reduction from nine hours to
eight hours may not mean q decrease Of
one ninth of the output, but It means a
very substantial decrease Of output. sut-
fcient to prove a serious handicap in
competition with q nine-hour day.
Shorter hours means a decreased plant
efficiency, and thus an increase Of the
fixed cost representing interest and de-
probation of the factory investment, as
the plant remains idle a larger part Of
L operating in several shifts, utilizing
the plant by several successive sets Of
employees.
But what afterward? With the eight
: hour day accomplished, the demand will
not stop. but go toward a seven-hour
day, six-hOur day, etc. What is the ulti-
mate limit at which the decrease of the
hours Of labor will have to stop. II our
civilization shall continue? Or what re-
adjustment in our social organization, in
our standards of living, will be required
to accommodate it to a greatly reduced
labo- supply?
One hundred years ago the average
workday was ten to eleven hours. Now
It Is eight to nine hours. 1t has de-
creased about 20 per cent. The productiv-
= ity of work in these hundred years, by
the steam engine and the infinite num-
Der Of inventions and improvements fol-
lowing it, has increased at least ten-fold
probably more nearly twenty to thirty
fold. but for Illustration let us assume
only a ten-fold increase Thus with only
an average of one hours work during
the day we could now produce as much
as we did in ten hours. hundred years
ago. and could live in the same manner,
with the same standard of living which
satisfied Us hundred years ago. by
working only one hour per day. But we
have realized on the Increased productive
hours of labor, but by an increase of
consumption of commodities. In short,
We are getting the benefit by receiving
many more commodities-eight to ten
times as much as satisfied US a hundred
years agO-but not by working shorter
hours. But is this abnormal increase Of
consumption. which in spite of the enor-
nous increase OF productivity requires
HlInOst the same working hours. desira-
le. or is it even desired? Is 1t not to
large extent artificial and unnatural,
fostered by the producers? A consider
able part of the worlds work OF today
not production, but is advertising SELL
ng and all those activities which essen
tally aim to increase the production by
stimulating demand where it did not ex-
st. BY these artificial means the con-
'umption has been increased to keep up
with the production at the old rate OF
working hours.
Suppose now we should discontinue
consumption of things we never cared
for until somebody persuaded US to
their use and be satisfied with only
four to five times the commodities
with which we got along one hundred
years ago; this would give a four
hour wOTkday. But the elimination of
all the work in making US use more
than We have the inclination to use,
by advertising. selling. etc. the elimi-
nation of obvious waste and ineffi-
cheney, of duplication of production,
etc. would still further materially re-
duce the work Of the world, so that,
even without discounting the i'm
proyements and inventions which are
continuously being made, We can see
a world with a standard of living fully
as satisfactory as ours but working
only four hours a day, only two hun
dred days during the year-that is,
taking a week or two for recreation
at every holiday, and two months va
cation in summer.
This is far away. but it is no idle
dream, for We only need to look across
the water. toward war-worn Europe,
and we can see conditions which, with
the waste of war removed. would not
be far different from the above. While
the entire world is called upon to feed
and supply the allies during this war,
: the blockaded central powers feed and
supply themselves and get along fair
ly successfully. as far as we can see,
and what little trouble there Is Is due
to imperfections of the new organiza-
ton rather. But IL we allow for the
millions of producers who are kept
in productive idleness in the armies,
and supported by the best the nation
has in food. physical and medical su-
pervIsion. the other millions wasting
their energy in unproductive work In
making ammunition and war materials,
subtract the mass of products consum-
ed by these unproductive elements, the
consumption OF the peaceful part of
the nation certainly amounts to mate
rally less than four hours per day
productivity. Thus. under better skies,
the same organization Of production
and elimination Of waste would make
, the above dream a reality.
And indeed, when we think of 1t, we
see that our present civilization is
frightfully inefficient in man getting the
best use Of his life.
We live to work, a fool once said. and
millions Of other fools have since re-
peated 1t. But why should we live, II
labor Is all we get out Of II? The Church
of the Middle Ages was consistent in say
ing that We live to work and thereby to
earn eternal reward in heaven; but In
the modern age. where transcendental
religion and social life are kept separate
conceptions, we do not live to work and
tsleep. or eat to work, but we work ana
sleep and eat to live; life has become the
object; its aim. to make the best of
ourself as Individual as member Of the
family. the community. the nation, and
Of mankind in general
III then work and sleeD and eating are