The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1916-09-12
,,I;,o- &c ,bo Inrellirencnr.

To tho Editor of the lnteil!gencer:
SIR:-The so-callc1 eight hour law IS
not an act deserving the praise and COLI
mcndation that the President and tie
Democratic Congress arc receiving from
the leaders OF labor organizations. pnr-
ticularly from Samuel Gompers. prcSl-
dent OF the American Federation OF
Labor. Mr.. Gompers. in his Labor Day
address at Lewiston. Maine, predicatco
his communication Of the President upon
the President forcing through Congress
the ST called eight hour law and bases
his adverse criticism OF Hughes upon his
participation as Il justice OF the supreme
court of the United States. In the declS-
ions in the Danbury Hatters ana the
Arizona Anli-Alicn Law cases. Mr.:
Gompers IS reported. IN the Slnclnnai d
in reference 10 the eight hour act, ana
to The attitude OF organized labor IN re-
fuSu% 10 arbItratc tho question OF hours
OF labor:
compulsory arbitration or So
called investigation is simply way
to restrain free, necessary action on
The party of wage earners, and 10
make them more casi ly dominated
by employers. 1t only makes the
striker ! criminal and gives author
ity for falling workers who Quit
work"
Tile railroad brotherhoods have
not refused TO accept arb!tratlon.
They have declared that the, eight
of human welfare that cannot be
disputed. and therefore cannot DC
arbitratcd.
MIR. Gompers and the other leaders &C
labor organizations have assumed that
the bill passed Is IN eight hour law,
while the TACT is that it is not in reality
an eight hour law, and the Democratic
senators who discussed the question Sep
tember LIST. as shown BY the Cong eS-
sional Record OF that date. did not claim
,,.o, cjyht hour Inv. The aCl SIM
ply establishes an experimental elsht
hour day TO enable Congress alter an
investigation" 10 take definite aclon
both as to hours of labor and daily wage.
Merely a wage Raise.
Section l of the act provides IN suo-
stance that eight hours shall, In con,
tracts for labor and service be oeeHco
a days work, and the measure or staoo.
reckoning the compensation Tor serV1ctS
Of all employees OF common carriers SUP
iccl to the provisions OF the act. VINO
are engaged in the actual operation o.
trains. The object therefore, or the acl
is not to establish the hours or service:
but 10 establish what eight hours OF
service should be worth or, in otoeC
words, what should be paid LOT etsnt
hours work. If the act IS one arpitFatiIy
liking eight hours as day WORK, men
it would necessarily follow that the act
known as tho Hours Of service ACt OIL
March 4. 1907, Is repealed. In the dis
,.ussion hy the senators, it was express
" stated that the so-callcd ctEht-houE
law MAS an act 10 fix the wages. and
did NC repeal the act Of March 4. laon-
which latter is unqucStonaDlS an hourS
oS snrvice net AS conclusive upon the
question that the law is not. an eight
hour law. and does not establish an ar,
hitrarw work day Of eight hours. is The
provision in Section >, for the appoint
ment of a commission TO observe me
nnorn,icn and effects Of the institution
Of The eight hour standard work day. and
", iact and conditions affecting the re-
Iation between the railroad companies
and their employees. Mhy snou'o or there
iIcd 10 make an Investigation (oe-