The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-04-16
X COMPULSORY ALTRUIST.

governmental institutions urges the legislators of states and Territories before final adjournment to deliver to the Governors and others in their respective states, power to suspend or modify restrictions ill the labor laws when requested by the Council, and Secretary Lane calls attention to the serious shortage in food sup ply, and points out that the salmon pack in Alaska is an important fac tor in the food situation, urges that eight hour. bill now pending before the legislature, so that its provisions may be suspended upon the declara- ton of an emergency by the council or by the Secretary of the Interior.
 Moreover the eight hour day is suspended in naval yards and gov ernment works so that employees may be rushed during these days of strees.
 As usual labor is to be the all truist, compulsory al- truist it is true but the class which is compelled to eprform wonders for the welfare of the rest. Now precisely the same thing has been gone over by the other Delligerent nations. The eight hour and other lah under much difficulty and which had been literally wrung from re- luctant employing class, were abol- ished and the worker was driven tC a speeding up schedule that had our own efficiency artists backed off the map.
 In those countries they knew no better. They believed by working labor twelve or fourteen hours day they could increase output so great " that out of one day s work trey cc.lld get as much as they did out of two before the war. And there was some amaZement when they could not. There was astonishment when they found that the lengthening Of the work day was followed by de- crease of hourly output and they set about themselves to examine the reason The result of that inquiry, or rather those inquiries, was that they went back to the shorter work day. increased the amount Of rest and the frequency of intermissions, as well as the expense of providing the workers with food cr entertain ments during those minutes of in- termission They discovered in the long work day one thing that nothing could overcome; fatigue, and fatigue was so serious in it's results that after it had overtaken men, women or child ren performing overtime, the whole output for long time afterwards was affected.
 These things are known to inc United States government: they have been made the subject of spe- cal reports and have been published | p~ the Bureau of Labor Statistics. | Anr' if there is anything proved, it {, is thet the long work day seriously | affects output: that the less over lime there is the better and the best results invariably follow good rests, wholesome working accomo- datiops and short working days.
 Consider this from the British Home Office (similar tu the Interior report: "A worker employed for eight hours may pro- duce more than another worker of equal capacity working twelve hours a day.
 fAcproup of workers showed an ab- solute increase of over 5 per cent ,os nntput as a result of diminu- ton of 16 1-2 per cent Tn tne length of the working day. Another group increased their average rate of output from 262, to 276 as re- .sult of the shortening of the day from 12 hours to 10. and to 3l6 as a result of a further shortening of the day two hours.
 Take one table from memorandum submitted the Minister of Munitions hv the Health of Munition Workers committee''-suggestive office that!I