Evening star., 1922-12-24

I man of New York did not regard tn,
tWelve.hour watchman as a cause Of in.
creased fire risk. The statement of one
person is not sufficient to determine the
general attitude Of insurance men to.
ward the question Of the twelve-hour
shift for watchmen. But to date the
insurance rules all contemplate twelve
hour shifts Police officers. on the
They do not think that watchmen any
more than policemen are going to be
emcient on twelve-hour turns.
interesting facts were found by the
INVESTIGATORS among the retail stores.
There are types of retail stores. as drug
stores. soda fountains. and small shops
| which are open for twenty-four hours.
or until late at night. There is less
! standardizatfon Of hours In this group
Inan any Of the industries Investigated.
| II would require very detailed inyesti-
cation to determine the proportion Of
employees on long and on short shifts.
however, 1t Is known that one or moro
OF tho men in these stores work eleven.
Twelve or longer hours per day.
Store Hours Shortened.
In 1915. 2.45s Ohio stores reported to
the industrial commission as to the
hours Of work per week. Ono hundred
and thirteen reported a working week
OF seventy-two hours or over. In 1919
seventy stores out Of 1858 reported a
seventy-two- hour week.
Statistics indicate that there Is Soma
twelve-hour work among the EMPLOYEES
OF theaters. amusement parks, bowling
alleys. barber shops and undertaking es-
adjustments. In fact, these general
services are almost the only activities
outside Of the continuous industries
"3sre n1 tweiye-hour day is to be found.
M nak =
concerning Sunday holidays in the
three-shift system which gives every
man an opportunity to enjoy his church
and his family on Sunday, without in
% vo,vlne the expense Of the floating
down the open hearth furnace at the
week end.
CAance for Sunday Holiday.
Another important aspect of the |
engineering inquiry concerns the
noating gang" and the Sunday holi-
day. On the two-shift system the
mon are given a six-day week by
means Of the floating gang" an
auxiliary crew Of laborers which
takes the place Of Individual labor
ers In succession for one day each
week. This is . great and kindly re-
.ASA a. otiA Sh0 OAu 6CtSu-uAy week SyS- \
tenn, when q man worked 81 hours
per week for 81 weeks of the year,
but 1t is open to a great objection
On the part Of the men. They want
The free day on Sunday; on other
lays Of the week they cannot enjoy
the freedom SO much; only a frac.
ton Of the time does the floating
gang" system give each man q Sum
lay of. While this is primarily q
question. it has it's tech
aical aspect, because It expresses IT.
self In men leaving the work for I
other industries. large labor turn
over. irregularity Of work, etc. Ii
There is an unbelievable lack of
pertaining to the twelve
1our shift. There are no statistics
covering the matter Of shift work, ! Z
Tor has the government or any other !
lgency collected figures which show 9
he number of twelve-hour workers. =
The federal government, through the q
ensus OF manufacturers, and some q
4 the states, as Ohio. Massachusetts +
nd New York, indeed, collect masses I
1 figures on hours. But the state
cures are usually union regulations
vhich generally do not apply to con-
employees: while the
olnminous statistics on hours col