The Nenana news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1916-1918, 1917-05-05
ONE DAYS REST
IN EVERY SEVEN

Labor Legislation.
For man, as for the lower organisms,
activity is necessary TO lite. II not eX
ercissd the body becomes fabby and weak;
if the vital organs abandon their functions
extinction is certain and swift.
Every action, however, results i'll it.
self in a sort of death. AS l write this
article the muscles in my hand and arm,
the nerve centers which function the act
and the brain cells which will it are un-
dergo1ng tearingdown process. and
unless they are replaced l must eveniu-
ally cease work. In the course of the
tearing down and building up processes
new products are set free in the system
which are poisonous TO the surrounding
duce efficiency Not only that, for the
blood in its effort to carry off these pois-
onous impurities will, if not properly re-
vitalized, deposit these impurities i'll the
surrounding tissues instead of completely
throwing them off, and If long continued
the entire system will become affected
and the body is said to be tired or fa-
tigued. As a learned LAWYER, now a
member of the supreme bench has said:
AN ever-tired person is literally pois-
oned person. poisoned by his own waste
products. "
Due to the monotony of labor. the
speeding up, and the long hours preva-
lent in American industry, it has been
noted that frequently the ordinary mite
rest is insufficient 10 repair the wastes OF
/ a wage Gamers dav. Thus the man goes
back TO his lathe and the girl to her
loom, little less capable OF Tuesday
than on Monday, and much less capable
on Saturday than at the beginning of the
week. The fatigue products have accum-
ulated in their systems, and 4 longer
necessary to restore the system to normal
This respite is furnished by the Christian
Sabbath, and one of the unwIse innova-
tons OF the French revolutons,s was
that they put their rest days ten DAYS
apart instead of seven. .:..
In many American industries, however,
! the weekly rest day has been neglected
IN steel mills, paper pulp mills. public
service utilities such as electric power,
street car systems, railway and steamship
lines, ,lrug stores, and MANY other forms
of activity that can be readily called TO
mind, thousands of Hen and women are
! toiling weeks on end with never a day S
iuterrnission until the heart and body
rebel and the worker is forced to report
sick" The number of such seven day
workers III the United States is not known
accurately, but IN Minnesota the men
alone were found to number nearly 100,
900, or about IA percent of the total num-
Der OF males gainfuily employed. In
Massachusetts a special legislative Com
Inittee on observance of the Lords Day
estimated that about 222 600, or more
than percent of the entire population
OF the state, were engaged in seven-day
labor. In New York 1875 percent of the
members of trade unions reported them
selves as working seven DAYS in the.week.
In addition to the physical effect of
unremitting toll upon the wage Garner
the moral and social effects are equally
marked, BY unrelieved fatigue Jack is
made not only a very dull, but vicious
boy as we'll. The craving for excitement
and strong stinlulants replaces all that is
best in recreation. Family life is de-
stroyed, the cultivation of worthy friends
and interests is hanlpered, and intelligent
exercise of the duties of citizenship is
frustrated. A democracy cannot afford
to continue the production OF such atype
of manhood or womanhood. Even on
the basis of dollars and cents. its most
frequent excuse, seven day labor does
not pay for itself. Under stress of world
war Minister of Munitions IiOyd George