The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-03-09
0VERW0Rk Is A
SOCIAL MENACE
SAYS PROFESSOR
Long Day Is One of the Sur
vivals of a Past Age

The long day is one Of the most
hideous survivals Of past age. In
some industries. such as steel making
and railroad work. long hours are
maintained continuously throughout
the year. On the other hand. many
industries have rush seasons, during
which the factories work for abnor-
mally long hours and then do little
or no work in the slack season. The
hours in the steel industry are habit
ually long. Whether the long hours
be continuous or intermittent, their
result is the same. Both involve over
work.
The strain of industrial effort upon
the worker depends. first, upon the
length of the days work. and, second,
upon its intensity. Not only are hours
in American industry long, but they
continue long in the face of rapid in
crease in the industrial strain. A score
OF devices are used to speed men to
their uttermost.
Within the last decade hours have
slightly decreased in the industrial
world. but with this decrease in hours
has gone an increase in speed. The
girls in the recent shirt waist makers
strike in New York complained that
instead OF watching one needle run
ming as needles did ten years ago, at
the rate Of 1900 strokes q minute,
they were now compelled to watch
from two to twenty needles on the
same machine, some running as high
as 400 strokes a minute. The needles
break, the thread catches, the mater
ial draws dozen things happen.
no ic mia
minute counts. While the total num-
Der Of hours may be less, the total
vitality expended on the work is nee
essarily much greater because Of the
increased concentration and speed re-
quired.
Fatigue is the product Of the num-
Der OF hours Of work multiplied by
the intensity of the work during each
hour. In the steel mills of Pittsburgh
superintendent is pitted against SUI
perintendent, foreman against fore
man, mill against mill. When a rec
ord is broken it means simply that
the goal to be struggled for has been
set ahead"
Similar conditions exist in the tex
| tile mills Of New England. Years ago
a woman tended two slowly running
looms, Later, as the hours of work
grew less, the number of looms was
increased to four and six, and now,
with some houses, an operative is ex-
pected to look after from twelve to
sixteen looms.
| Overwork liz a menace to Industrial,
social and personal welfare, because
| it results in one Of the most serious
and farreaching human maladies-fa,-
tigueg Fatigue, long continued, leads
inevitably to exhaustion; exhaustion
| leads to disease, and then ultimately
to a death which is due to continual
wearing. intense work. Overwork,
with it's attendant evils, thus becomes
a problem of serious magnitude.
The waste Of fatigue is far in ex-
cess Of the waste from illness, since
fatigue Is directly responsible for the
lower efficiency Of at least one-half
Of the population.
| Fripped by the stern necessity
which compels him to earn his bread
the worker enters American industry
and. caught in its levers and cogs, la
bors on, producing what he must, to
earn what he may. Society does not
need the extra goods which his weary
fingers shape. There is one primary
factor upon which society must de-
pend for its maintenance-that is
Joyous enthusiastic women. There il
neither JOY nor enthusiasm in the vic.
tim Of the long day.
4 II the average worker in modern
Industry was engaged in an occupa.
ton Of tense interest and broad value
Leight hours might be too few, but the
n average job is a dead job-monoton
GUS. same to the point Of madness
Could you make the same motion A..
900 times day after day, year after
} year, without growing weary?
! Was industry made for man or mar
, for industry? There Is one possibl,
answer to that question. Every socia
] institution was made for man; henc,
:. when an institution ceases to serv.
man and instead demands service O
him that institution must either b,
reformed or abolished" Men and Two
men need not work twelve hours .
day in order to secure livelihood To-
themselves and for their families
; Since this fact has been established
| beyond question, the long day ha,
been weighed in the balance. foun,
, wanting and condemned to abolition
/ Yours, good Samaritans, Is the task o
enforcing this just sentence.-Profe
, sor Scott Nearing.