Evening star., 1921-03-23
Editorial Digest
Making Steel in Eight Hours.

y" uCu lEo lHtercnutC0 Wo1IO OAoSc.
ment attacked the unsatisfsctory condi-
tions in the steel industry. Judge Gary.
chairman Of the United States Steel
Corporation. had nothing to say in reply.
Now. after lapse of several months. he
announces changes which mark the end
OF the worst Of those conditions, and tho
American press regards the new policy
as the result Of the agitation which the
lnterchurch report started. Tho aboli-
ton of the seven-day week and tho
tWenty-four hour turn when shifts
change, and the promise Of an eight
hour day instead Of twelve. as at pres
ent are greeted almost universally in
editorial columns an a ''we9con1e sign Of
progress." the New York Globe tnde-
pendent) phrases it.
Most Americans. according to the Bos-
ton Herald independent republican,
OF workers labored every day in the
week twelve hours a day and endured
one day of twcnty-four hours twice
month until the interchurch report
on the steel strike challenged public at
tention." Since then. the Sioux City
Tribune dndcpendenD finds public
opinion has beat upon the Steel Cor
poration' SO forcibly as to cause it Ito
feel most uncomfortable and to institute
reforms. But the Rocky Mountain News
tDenver. independently points out, as do
several other papers. that the action now
taken is merely carrying out a program
approved nine years ago. and While
coming at this time lit is the most ef-
fective kind of answer to the recent
criticisms of the United States Steel Cor
poration. still 'it should be recognized
that it comes now as the result of de-
cision reached long before these criti-
ciSms made their appearance"
But whatever the influences which
have wrought these changes in the
Dig Steel Corporations working poll
cies. the New York American Gnde-
pendenO thinks they deserve to be
is a pleasant thing to see a great
corporation like United States Steel
using part of its profits to maintain
the wages and reduce the working
hours Of it's employees 1t is graft
flying to the Buffalo News (republi-
CAM from another point of view, as
demonstration that corporations
of whatever kind are coming more
and more to regard public opinion,
and to seek its approval" and as
ness has done more Of itself to put
its house in order than ever the law
could make it do
AS a number of writer's point out,
the change is peculiarly timely. The
Cleveland Plain Dealer independent
democratic) notes that there is no
emergency demanding capacity out
put. The steel industry is operating
on a part-time basis. and labor is
plentiful. The time would appear to
operation the new time schedule"
The New York World (democratic)
workers alone may Involve $50, ,ooo. 900
or 500, 100000 in housing plans. Thus
Unemployment not only directly in
the steel trade. but in the building
trades. In the end, like most cases
of shortened hours. it will no doubt
prove consistent with heightened
economy"
found in the Rockford Gn) Star Gin
dependenD. which feels that "a bet
ter America in every way will be ex-
pected from the more humane re-
gime." and it bases its faith on the
day and six-day week there will be
no excuse for loafing on the job, for
anything else than hard. sober, pro-
ductive work. And after work there |
apathy with which home, families and
used to be regarded by
overfatigued workers"
However, the Indianapolis Star Gn-
dependent republican, asserts that
the facts have not sustained this
idea" which, it says, it always ad-
vanced in arguing for the short
workday. Further. it maintains. dis
with the long hours
seems to be less active among the
workers affected than the public
has been led to believe" This belief
finds support in the heart of the steel
industry in the opinion expressed by
the Pittsburgh Gazette Times (re-
that the new policy may
be acclaimed less enthusiastically by
the men directly affected than by
those outside the business who have
la bored zealously for their relief"
To this the Minnesota Star (Min-
neapolis, Ind) replies that this is
an argument for higher wages, and
not for the retention of the twelve
hour day" Even as "the undesir-
ability of the twelve-hour day from
the physical. moral or social point of
view needs no argument" the Spring
that there should be no question that
la Dor should receive pay sufficient for
a suitable standard of
living" even under a reduced work
ing day. and that the steel industry
or the public which supports It's
able to provide the pay
sary, the New York Globe dndepend-
ent) thinks, even though it became
customary" and lin other lands the
old system has been rejected. almost
una nimously."
One of the most important factors
Of the new policy. as the New York
Evening Post independently sees it,