The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-10-07
TUESDAY. OCTOBER :, 1919
A DAYS WORK

- ANNe'i iCSiuNAlb NAp NNSINCo OH III
terest in shortening hours of labor
asks The Banner to print the follow
ing from Capper's Weekly:
ut is remarked by the indianapolis
News that the farmers, the largest
class of workers in this country"
work the long day thru and do not
agitate for a short day, or for shorter
hours for work, while labor in factor
les stands for the 8-hour day and no
longer and the News thinks that in
time when production is the crying
need, the farmer should not be the
only worker to work long hours
\'In factories the S-hour day has
come to stay and it is idle to complain
against it. The man who stands be-
side machine and for hours
tends it goes thru mental and
physical ordeal entirely different
from the brain worker. the manager
or the farmer himself.
This means lowered production.
Painstaking Investigations by employ
ers demonstrate beyond question that
after certain period of work at
machine, a workmans efficiency falt-
ers and lags, his attention fails and
his productiveness declines rapidly.
Increased hours in the day for factory
workers do not mean greater produc-
ton at such monotonous work
I'VE are getting authentic reports
from factories which prove that men
actually produce more in s hours than
where a longer working day is pre-
4 soribed. This was proved in war
I ~ RI in, g., @
/ day does not stand for limited produc.
ton but for maximum production"
| This is one side of the argument.
The other is presented by the Corn
Exchange Bank of Philadelphia 1t
has made an investigation of the pay
and product of labor that shows some
very interesting facts. In a large
manufacturing plant in Philadelphia
The product per man per hour has de-
creased one third since the beginning
of the war but, under exactly the
same working conditions and during
I the same period. the wages of the
men have increased 100 per cent. The
bank reports that an investigation
covering several states shows that
\ since the beginning Of the war the
wage per man per hour has increased
t24o per cent while the product per
man per hour is only sixty-two per
cent of what it was.
Commenting on this report of the
Corn Exchange bank the Brattleboro
Reformer says:
This finding nullifes the claim of
men that they can produce as much
in an eight hour as in nine hour day
or that increased pay will bring in
creased labor 1t also shows where
very large item in the Increased cost
of living lies. 1t also tends to confirm
the statement of e. III. Gary that
unionism kills industry.
"One wonders whether or not such
sharp bargaining will permanently
ibenefit the laborers Probably it will
not. The advance of wages, shorten
ing of hours and other improvements
in the conditions of labor have been
quite largely brought about by the
sympathy of the public with the labor
ing man. The public has felt it was
only fair the working man should re-
cecive more nay and it has been in
terested in the improvement of the
conditions of the wage Garner. But
when the public learns that the labor
er is not responding to the advant-
ages that have been given him and is
really giving less labor for his great
lily increased compensation this same
sense of fairness will cause reversal
of feeling The public finally has to
pay all these increases in the cost of
production and it will not support
such a one sided and unfair deal
The Brattleboro paper the Corn Ex-
change bank Capper's Weekly and a
million others may argue over these
questions until kingdom come and
they will get nowhere except into con
troversy.
The tendency of human nature is to
get all it can and grumble for more
Employers are worried over the in
sistent demands Of labor and labor
points out the wealth gained by a few
employers and is convinced that all
labor should receive more
Continued strife leads only to
hatred and violence. What the world
needs is the creation OF tribunal, as
fair and just as can possibly be made,
which shall consider each case on its
merits and make a prompt decision
which shall be binding on both par
ties The whole world is crying for
production and neither those who
work nor those who hire. can afford
the losses due to prolonged conflict.