Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-01
TIME OUT

TT THE bank clerk, getting ready on
| X Thursday to pack on Friday night and
dashing msdly off to the train or ferry
at ~ prompt Saturday, were to be told
that these two months of July and August
are phenomenal he would probably say
YES" The weather is phenomenally
hot in some places and phenomenally
cool in others, and there is a war and life
is in general very complicated and inter
esting. But Il would hardly occur to
him, or to the hundreds of thousands who
are in his case, that their vacations are
the great phenomenon.
Very few men could say offhand
whether Charles Lamb used to get two
weeks vacation from the East India
House or whether Nathaniel Hawthorne
got time out, so to speak, from the spell
of the Sacred Goldfish. But almost any
one can imagine the feelings of a manu-
facturer or commercial giant Of the early
nineteenth century IL he could see the
mills and factories and department stores
closing for Saturday afternoon. Vaca-
tions and half-holidays, the whole Joyous
process of week-endlng, are modern in
ventions. The celebrated bank holidays
in which every English AIRY and his
'Arriet, not to mention such less Inn
portant strata of society as bankers
dukes and Cabinet members, leave town,
date from 1871. In the Middle Ages
there were so many holy days that work
was stopped at most inopportune mo-
ments, and we have the Reformation to
thank or to blame, for the decrease.
Modernity is turning back to the older
theory. 1t is, apparently, good for a man
not to work after he has worked.
The holiday Is, however, only symp-
tom of something deeper change in the
attitude of employers to the men who
work for them. Neither philosophy nor
sociology is needed to understand how
that change came about 1t is a purely
human readjustment. A century and
half ago the factory system was only be-
ginning to grow. Men still worked largely
for themselves and women worked in their
homes. Then a revolution came, and we
are only beginning to recover from its
effects. The first principle of the older
type Of employer was TO work his en-
pAOSCS LOi GIL IilSy WSlO "Ol ti' 4iOIo
is a very terrible saying in Matthew that
they who save their lives shall lose them.
The ancient employer was saving his life
in the meanest way, by wearing out the
lives of others.
What brought about the new reforma-
ton cannot be definitely said. The claims
of ordinary decency, the obligations of
ordinary humanity, had much to do with
it. For the sake of the human race 1t is
better to believe that the change was not
brought about by purely selfish causes.
The other half of the quotation from
Matthew is that they who lose their lives
in the service of the Lord shall find them.
In purely practical application it works
out For those who began to treat their
employees decently began to save their
souls and to increase their profits. Once
that was established, the progress of
vacations and week-ends and shorter
hours and better, working conditions be-
came very swift.
There is a blue list among CONNER
cial institutions, and one of the surest
ways of determining how classy" q busi
ness house is considered is by discovering
WIdiI utiyS anu WOShS IL BlNSS 40
employees. Saturday half-holidays are al
ready giving way to Saturday whole holi-
days. One-week vacations gradually
stretch into two. The >eight-hour day is
contracting into seven. And the world
grows richer year by year.
The enthusiasts for efficiency, who are
not always quite clear as to what we are
to be efficient about. can make capital
OF the new dispensation, but the credit
is not theirs. They are willing to grant |
the best of conditions. but they demand
their price The employer who knows
human nature better than the theories of
the efficiency engineers-the very term
is absurd in relation to human beings
gives the cash and takes the return on |
credit. He knows 1t is good for men and |
women to have their time out OF bondage. |
The world has changed. and the phe-
is repeated just as the phe-
OF spring is repeated every |
year This month and next life is thrown |
out OF its rut. Fresh woods and pas
lures new bound the landscape. The |
500 does not have to be caught. There
Is no necessity OF beating the second |
floor front to the bathroom. The boss
does not have to be placated. 1t isn't
sven necessary to read the papers There
are some who spoil 1t all by packing
their desks into their suitcases and by
worrying on the Saturday they leave
about the work to be done the Monday
they return. Fortunately. they are not
many The world is still light-hearted
and the great institution OF vacations
helps it through many hard place. 1t is
4 symptom of better things. some OF
hem already here. Some are still to
come.