Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-01-27
AGNES NEST0R TALKS ON
W0MEN'S EIGHT HOUR LAW

The "open shop" means the non.
union shop, said the speaker, where
the worker loses every advantage he
has gained--where individual dicker-
ing for Jobs sets the standard Of liv-
ing on the level of what the hungriest
man will work for. 1t means the TAX
ing of children out of the schools at
immature ages TO place them into
factories, the return 10 sweat-Shop,
piece-work conditions; it means
q place in which union men
may not demand healthful
conditions, hours of labor that
are conducive to longer life, and
fair wage. 1t means the destruc-
ton of the standards of living as
have been established in a commun-
ity through collective bargaining.
The influence of organized labor in
a community, said Miss Nestor, was
beneficial to all. The non-unionist
shared the benefits with the unionist,
and local business profited by the
prosperity of the worker.
Miss Nestor is q member of the IL
inois State Legislative Labor Board,
which is endeavoring just now to have
an elght-hour day established for
women workers. The health of the
working mother and the sturdiness of
future generations of workers are the
main arguments in favor of the short
er work day for women. Mothers who
work long hours in office or factory,
said Miss Nestor, cannot be expected
to bring into being sons and daugh-
ters endowed with the health and Wig
or that should characterize the Amer
ican race. Before the organization of
the Textile Workers Union, women
in the large eastern mills worked IL
hours a day, two hours before break
fast, five more hours until noon, and
five more until the end of the weary
days toll. The Textile Workers
union has reduced these hours, and
textile workers have since enjoyed
more of the blessings of life.
To illustrate the benefit of the
shorter work day, Miss Nestor said
sion consisting of four physicians,
two representing the employer and
two the organized workers, was re-
Gently appointed. They made exnaus-
tive experiments, and finally deter
mined that the hourly output secured
in the shorted workday was greater
than that of longer workday, and in
many instances exceeded that of the
day in which the hours worked caus-
ed undue fatigue to the worker. The
"open shop" then would lower pro-
duction, and it would be poor busi- !
ness to work long hours.
AS further illustration o' ene bad
results from long hours Of labor for
women, Miss Nestor cited govern
.xaoik4 akntistics gathered during thu
late war. Pennsylvania, she said, was
the last state up TO that time to limit
the hours of labor for women workers,
and Pennsylvania drafted men
scored the lowest in physical condi-
ton of any state in the union. Massa-
ehusetts, the first state to adopt the
S-hour workday for women, produced
soldiers that scored the highest phys !
ically. Thus it is seen that the moth
ers of Massachusetts produced more
perfect sons than the mothers of
Pennsylvania.
The greatest thing we can do, Miss
Nestor said, is to preserve and safe
guard the health of our women,
through the adoption of the S-hour
work day.
Musical numbers were rendered by
Miss Marcella Lawless and Master
Francis Williams. Francis, five years
old, sang '"The Hat Me Father Wore"
accompanied by Miss Lawless at the
harp, and character song accom-
panied by the piano. Miss Lawless
rendered two excellent harp solos.
BARRIERS Union Instals.
The BARRIERS union held it's annual
installation of officers Wednesday