The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1916-10-19
Eight Hour Day an

WllheSUdIf0, "a, saturday night, Col. Roosevelt
ueclared that arbitration would have been the
proper method of averting the threatened nation
Wlde railway strike and instanced the application
Of this principle in 1902 when he settled the
anthracite coal strike.
Mr.. Roosevelt declared that the action he took
WhlIe President exactly what Mr.. Wilson now
says the law should make obligatory and that
Wilson now admits that his (Wisons) action
was SO bad that laws should be passed so that
such action never again be repeated and that
he will ask Congress when it meets to do some
thing to render it impossible for another Presi-
dent ever to repeat exactly what he has done.
Col. Roosevelt said in part:
Mr. Wilson has adroity maintained that the
question at issue the eight-hour day. This
is not all fact The question at issue was the
question Of wages. The law does not say that
there shall be an eghthour day. 1t says that
eight hours shall 'be made the measure Of days
work for the purpose Of receiving compensation"
In other words it primarily an increase Of
wages and not diminuton Of hours that
aimed at.
believe in the eight hour day. 1t is the ideal
toward which we should tend. But I believe that
theremust be common sense we'll as common
honesty in achieving the ideal Mr. Wilson has
laid down the principle that there is something
sacred about the eight hour day which makes it
improper even to discuss it. If this is so, if it IS
applied universally, then Mr.. Wilson is net to be
excused for not applying it Immediately where he
has complete power, and that is in his own house
hold. If the principle of the eight hour day is
sacred and not to be changed under any crcum-
Stances then the housemaid, who in Mr.. Wilson's
house arises at seven must be left off at three il
the afternoon; and if Mr. Wilson's butler is kept
up after a State dinner until ten, he must not
come on until two Of the following afternoon, and
no hired man Oh farm must get up to milk tho
COWS in the morning unless he quits work before
milking time arrives that same evening. OF
course, the simple truth is that under one set of
conditions an eight hour law may be too long or
at least may represent the very max mum OF
proper work; where there may be other
dtiops under which a working than
eight hours one day gets one or two days OF COM
plete leisure following or where the work is in
termttent throughout the day, or is of so easy or
varied type that no exhaustion accompanies it,
or where rush Of work for a few days will be
compensated by complete leisure certain other
days. 1t is ridiculous to say that an engineer or
a high-speed train under especially dimcult con-
ditiOns, engineer of a lOW-speed train under
very much easier conditions, a farm laborer in
harvest time, engaged a Waterman
through the quiet work of the night or
engaged in the eXhausting work Of a steel puddler
in a continuous seven ays-a-week, night and day
industry, should, be governed by precisely the
same rule or by the same rigid application in de-
tail of a sound general principle
I heartily believe in a proper limitation by law
of hours Of work in the railroad service, and [
recommended LEGISLATION to that effect when was
President. [ believe in the wages in any in
dustry being just high as it is possible to make
them without injustice to the capital invested and
to the public which is served, But it is mere
truis1n to say that it is impossible to get this
ideal achieved unless an honest and dlspasslonate
effort is first made by the proper commission to
ascertain the full facts in the particular case AS
regards the railroads. we have to consider the
wages paid to the different classes of employees,
the interest on the investment, the earning power
of the road, and the kind Of service that must be
rendered to the public. 1t is impossible to secure
a proper solution of the problem unless all these
factors are considered. Mr.. Wilson absolutely
declined to consider any of them. He declined
even to ask what they were We have not at this
moment one particular of trustworthy infOrma-
ton which will enable to: decide whether the
demands of the men just not. | wish it
distinctly understood that am not trying to pass
Judgment upon the justice of the case. | regard