The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-10-26

the following good argument for
the eight-hour day:
"To consider the saving of life
at this awful time when millions
of lives are beig sacrificed daily
seems very sensible and humane.
Every human life is needed to fill
the gap left by those lost in battle.
The mass of men taken into the
Army has left vacancies in offices,
shops and stores. The Nations to-
day have considered how to con-
serve every human being who has
hands or mind to use in doing the
worlds work. 1t is time to put
an economic value on eyes and
hands. The wealth of the wage
Garner is in his right arm-even
the loss of finger lessons his earn
ing capacity. The women who work
in factories are also home workers
the loss Of right hand or fingers
shuts off all chances of work such
as women do in the home. The
nervous shock of an accident in the
factory is felt through life time.
We believe from these causes, many
life long invalids are burdens upon
the families of the self respecting
wage earners. Charity books will
reveal many who get on these pages
because of injuries while at work.
"The relation between fatigue and
accidents is very close-but not yet
considered seriously by government
or people.
"The latest German statistics, and
we know that no country has been
more thorough in this line, prove
the statement that the accident rate
is highest in the fourth and fifth
hours of the morning. Our coun-
try, France, Belgium, Italy after
four years study of 5000 accidents
occurring in machine shops of it's
railroads, have proved by investiga-
tion that the fateful hours for ac-
cidents are those of the late morn
ing and afternoon. 1t is unnecessary
to go further to show that wear
mess has direct relation to acci-
dents.
1--WE cannot go into the physio-
logical reasons-but we have proof
that accidents in factories do not
all come from unprotected machinery,
or from the indifference and care
lessness of the employer. Two
thirds arise from purely human con-
ditions-weariness, fatigue of mind
ad body, numbness of muscle, repeat
ing single monotonous process.
"Carelessness often comes from
doing over-over endlessly, one
single thing-feeding folding ma
chine one, two, three-forty thou
sand sheets of newspaper, sewing
hundreds of yards of shoulder seam
until the eye is tired of watching
the glittering needle flash up and
down. The tired eyes of the sew
er neglect to watch and the finger
slips under the needle. The hands
gets caught in the same way because
the mind and the eye revolt against
watching too constantly for too many
hours a tedious process. The wo-
man who sits at a machine making
eyelets in the uppers of shoes
she is working piece work, making
1000 pairs day, 7 shoes minute,
a hole a second-her lap is full of
these uppers-she watches one at
time and runs it through the ma
chine-keeping her eye. rivited on
the eyelet-making foot. This work
er dares not relax her attention a
moment.
"We all know that we lose con-
troll of our muscles when the mind
is tired. We grow careless when
we do one single act continuously.
We reply on our habit and we for
get to swatch OUT. These are only
few illustrations of the specializa-
tion and monotony of the mechanical
work done in factories today, the
winding of telephone wires, the sort
ing of thousands of cocoa beans, the
wrapping and packing of soap.
Wherever we see piece work and
specialization we find monotony and
weariness and constant injuries, both
major and minor.
"We have been too apt to think
only of the accidents that occur
from unguarded machinery or the
atmospheric conditions of work such
as intense heat or glare or cold or
darkness. But we are hearing from
studies made in all industrial coun-
tries that the human body-its mind
its nerve centers-its feelings, all