The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-12-20
SHINES STARTS
Battle TO0NLL
EIGHT.i1HOURDAY.
German Capitalist Opposed by
d Twelve Million Members
!, of Labor Unions.
( BY MILTON eRoNNER

BY MILTON sRoNHER
BERLIN. Dec. 2o.-Jmagine
1ohnlD. Rockefeller, sr., sitting in
the House of Representatives at
Washington and listening to a
speech by q labor leader like Sam
Gompers, also a congressman, and
You have some idea Of what 1t
10 like TO see Germany's industrial
colossus, Hugo SHINES, sitting in
atle Reichstag and hearing him:
self denounced by Social Demo.
Z cratic leader.
1.-THE Rockefeller Of Germany, the
man who owns mines. steel works,
street railway systems, banks and
newBpapers, also finds time to be q
member OF the German legislative
body.
i heard him vigorously scored
w DR.. Rudolph Breltscheid, one
ot the intellectuals In the Social
Democratic party, the biggest
party numerically In Germany.
u II was a never.to.be.forgotten
seem, lot only because OF the per.
sonalia Of the men Involved. but
because they represent clashing
Interests in what Is looked upon
one Of the most important and
fitterie contested problems of
presentday Germany.
Breitscheid started out oy OK.
coriating the German Peoples
Party as a SHINES party.
~ warn you" said Breitscheid.
pointing a long menaclng finger
at SHINES, "that the working men
and women Of Germany will not
allow You and your kind to tear
A down the eight-hour law or to de.
stroy the eight.hour principle.
All the time Breitscheid is
speaking SHINES shows that the
dynamic existence he has been
leading in pilling up vast riches
has begun to tell on him. His
dead white face never shows a
trace Of color; his hands are
never still.
SHINES did not reply to Brett.
seteid. He simply listened.
One Of the first things the
Working classes won in Germany,
when the republic was establish.
Cd, was the enactment into organic
!, law of the eight.hour statute
MANAGERS OF great Industrial
plants have always sneered II was
merely an excuse to work more
yhan cisht hours and get double
f4y for overtime.
Not long ago at meeting Of
German industrialists, SHINES
fnade I = speech in which he said
II dc German mark. was. .oxarS 20
staitil!Zed. Il Germany was to
paw tho Preparations demanded by
tlis alEes and thus get rid OF the
ttnties tr occupation, II she was
Ser 10 set her own house In or.
tesR size would have to produce
u NJ goods and to do this her
ptolile would have to work longer
anfirs.
ia stid no one would dream Of
atstt is, the letter OF u o Ger.
ran .iFht-hour law, but German
ysfllter would simply haze to
! ltlSe IN their minds for the next
~ Str Is years they. would have TO
work ut least ten hours a day. AMI
aes didh't stress very strongly any.
tiiIns etout getting extra pay for
extra hours.
THIS srtech was at once taken
4 ~ asa challenge by the labor
forces hll over the country. There
are perht ps twelve million men
pal Nor'er who belong to labor
uhihns. Ard the most Of them are
ff.lia I'd either with the Social
Bcnoc, attic, the Centre, the Dem.
netftic or the Communist parties
shlel. together have a big ma.
i5risy In the Reichstag. :
Tic Social democratic PARTY as
q larty formally declared itsel!
| $50 st tny talupering with the
pishthonr law or the eight.hour
nffndi; lie. 80
But thu SHINES proposition isn't
lead ,et. SHINES Is bulldog for
sertinecity.
IN the meantime other big Elm.
Sployers of lapor have been feeling
out their workmen with two new
propositions:
BfRST-they would continue to
pay their men for the regular
eighthour day. But for the extra
two hours they would pay them III
goods. For. instance, worker in
q sugar refinery, would be paid
overtime Ia sugar; a worker in u
Hour mill in flour.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in products
IS obviously impossible in many
industries. For instance, an en-.
ploy in a rolling mill wouldn't
Hant TO be paid with a steel bar,
such cases employers would
pay the men their overtime in
niarks.