The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-04

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 Farmer:-In this article I beg leave through you valued paper to indulge In a heart-to heart talk with the workingmen of Connecticut, of whom I am one. In my talk l hope to suc- reed in impressing my fellow work men with the fact that the e1ght-noul low which is inculcated in the Adam son bill, recently passed by the na- tional government, both for the pur- pose of, averting a most disastrous railroad strike and also for the pur- pose of lessening the hours of tail Of railway employees by increasing 1helr pay, is one of the most valuable ana beneficial measures ever leglslated upon for the great masses of the peo- pie, who are the workingmen them- selves. And I hope also to disclose the absolute and ridiculous absurd1ty of Charles Evans Hughes in stalking up and down the country reviling this legislation are monumental insults to induce the workingmen of the Un1- ted States to cast their votes diametrl- cally opposite to their own best inter- ests As have said in other articles, Mr. Hughes arguments against this legislaation, are monumental insults to the intelligence of those who" earn their bread by the sweat of their brow"
 To begin with, are there any work lngmen in thes state of Connecticut who are not familiar with the work Ing hours of Wall street, as reflected through the New York Stock Ex- change? To you workingmen who are not posted in this matter, and also in order to impress it upon the minds of you who are familiar with the facts, will say that these working hours for the financial interests are just five hours a day. In other words: The New York stock exchange opens at 10 a. m. and closes at 3 p. m. Which means that while the great masses of workingmen are toiling on the aver age ten hours a day, Wall street mani pulators of the result of the, toll of the masses work just half as long on the average. While the masses are putting in half of the ten hours which they work, Wall street takes it's ease in costly automobiles and magnificent yachts for the same length of time or longer each day. And yet, when the national government proposes to re-
 
 class of the masses from ten to eight hours. Wall street, through it's chos- en candidate for president, holds up its hands in holy horror and yells murder!
 No one has ever head MT. Hughes enter a protest against the fact that Wall street works only five hours a day, and not murmur has come II f1c% Ia oic1o tiNv which increases the wages of the great financial interests which con- trol the money channels of this na- ton. But the minute that legislation makes toward the betterment Of those who toll and sweat for a living, and who are among the real producers of all of the wealth of all nations, then this man who as a judge was eager and anxious to remove the roofs oyer the heads of the striking Danbury matters and who was as silent as the tomb over the failure of the govern ment to collect fine of $29 9,000, 900 from the masters of Wall street, has the brazen effrontery to ask the toil- CTS of the country to repudiate this legislation which has benefited work ingmen by voting for him. His very
 
 the event of his election he will un- doubtedly work for the reversal of the Adamson law.
 Should the Adamson law be repeal ed. it~would mean the turning back of progress for workingmen throughout the United States. for it is impossible to hit one branch of labor withou, hitting labor in all of its branches. five I,oI oh z, working day for Wall street, I wish to ask my fellow workmen why eight nous are not enough for the great masses of workers, and especially for those workers who operate the trains on our great railroad systems? Lclaim, and believe that every individual who thinks at all on the subject will bear me out in the claim, that the overwerking of men who run trains directly jeopardizes the lives of pas- eengers who ride on trains. I claim that it is just as essential for work ingmen to have an eight hour day for recreation and diversion as it is for Wall street to have a thirteen hour day for the same thing. In other words, an eight hour day means eight hours work. eight hours play and eight hours sleep,
 In these days of speed, speed, speed, men do far more work in eight hours than they did when they worked from sun to sun. This claim is substantial ted through the fact that the eight day at the present time is ani eight hour spurt,, while those who formerly worked from sun to sun did their work in more or less ieisurely man. ner, Twenty-three years ago men drove the machines in the various lines of occupation in which they gained a livelihood. Today the ma chimes, through constant speeding up, drive the men, and a machine can wear man out far, far faster than a man can wear out a machine. Of course MT. Hughes, whose record proves plainly that he has never in- terested himself in the welfare of those who toll, van be no judge in this matter, for the simple reason that\he has not been driven by a mechanical ma chine. although he is pretty well tenmeshed in the coils of political machine at the presen time, whose tenticies reach out to Wall street.
 can say without any reserve whatever that rumors are rife that enemies of the Adamson law are beasting at the present time that Mfr Hughes will win because he has the money back of him, and that if the election cannot be carried for him any other way 1t will be bought. hauo heard h11Sinasc rnep eypracS fbic