The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937, 1916-09-30


Before | consulted with them l. of
course, made myself acquainted with the
points at controversy and | learned that
they were very simple indeed; that the
men demanded an eight-hour day, and
that in order to make the eight-hour day
work they demanded that the railroads
pay them one-half more for over time
than they paid them for the time in the
regular day, the men alleging that was
the only way in which they could OBJ
tain genuine eight-hour day by max
ing the railroads pay more for the time
beyond the eight hours than they paid
for the time within the eight hours |
saw at once that there was one part
of this that was arbtrable, but that in
my opinion there was another part that
was not arbitrable. do not regard the
question of the principle of the eight
hour day as arbitrable.
"The first thing / told both sides
before | requested their opinion was
that | stood for the eight-hour day.
received no suggestion of any kind
from either side as to what the basis of
settlement was to be, except that the
railroad executives did suggest that
Congress give them some sort of as
surance that if the eight-hour day went
into operation they would get in
creased rates for the carriage of their
freight. | pointed out to them that it
was impossible to tell whether they
would need increased rates for the car
rage of their freights.
Gives His Reasons.
"We believe in the eight-hour day
because man does better work with
in eight hours than he does within
more extended day, and the whole the
ory of it, theory which is sustained
now by abundant experiences, is that
his efficiency is increased his spirit in
his work is improved, and the whole
moral and physical vigor of the man
is added to.
"This is no longer conjectural Where
it has been tried it has been demon
strated. The judgment of society, the
vote of every Legislature in America
that has voted upon it is a verdict in
favor of the eight-hour day.
"And therefore, said to those gen
tlemen on both sides at the very begin
ming The eight-hour day ought to be
conceded But they said: 1T will cost
us an immense sum of money How
do you know how much it will cost youF
"You remember there was case de-
cided by the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States. 1t was known as the eighty
cent gas case, where, by legislation in the
state of New York, eighty cents was es-
tablished as the charge for the unit OF
the supply of gas, and the law was con-
tested upon the ground that it was con-
iscatory, and therefore unconstitutional.
"And when the appeal reached the SUI
preme Court of the United States it said
Nobody can tell until you try to manu-
facture gas at so cents whether it is
confscatory or not Go ahead and man
ufacture gas and sell it for so cents, and
then if it proves impossible to conduct
your business upon that charge, come
back and discuss with us the confisca-
tory character of this act. And it may
be remarked in passing that the COM
pany never went back to discuss it.
Tells What He Told EN-.
81 said to the railroad executives: You
are asking that the result of the eight
hour day be predicted and the prediction
be arbitrated. You are asking for an
arbitration of conjecture, of an opinion,
of forecast of the figures of experts
based upon an entirely different expert
ence, and if you were to ask me person.
ally to arbitrate such question | would
say | am not competent to arbitrate it.
"The reasonable thing to do is to
grant the eight-hour day, not because
the men demand it, but because it is
right, and let me get authority from
Congress to appoint commission OF as
impartial nature as | can choose to OBJ
serve the results and report upon the
results. in order that justice may in the
event be done the railroads i'll respect
to the cost of the experiment
THAT was the proposal which they
rejected and which Congress put into
law, a proposal which | made to them
before I conferred with it, which |
urged upon them at every conference.
and which when the one side rejected
and the other side accepted | went to
Congress and asked Congress to enact.
81 did not ask either side whether it
suited them, and requested my friends
in Congress not to ask either side wheth-
er it suited them. | learned before the
controversy began so far as ! was con-
cerned in it, that the whole temper OF
the legislative body of the United States
was in favor of the eight-hour day.
Vote of Congressman.
when | carried it to Congress some
very interesting things happened. In the
House of Representatives the plan was