The Washington times., 1923-10-08
AGREES
4-HOUR DAY
COMING
Mayor OF Lyons Believes; How
ever, French People VIII
Never Accept 1t.

Edouard Herriot, leader of the
radical wing of the French Chamber
Of Deputies. mayor of Lyons. France.
for the past eighteen years and one
of the leading industrialists of his
country, agrees with Charles r.
Steinmetz. the American electrical
wizard, that one hundred years
hence the working day will be re-
duced to four hours because the &C.
complishments Of electricity will
have redeemed man from endless
and hopeless drudgery.
In addition to national politics,
municipal affairs and industrial
economies there is another subject to
which M. Herriot has given thought
and study-that ls electricity and its
future development in its relation to
the improvement Of industry gen.
orally.
When asked II he agreed with Mr..
Steinmetz that within lone hundred
years electricity would prove the re-
deemer Of the race by lifting 1t out
of hopeless drudgery to a four.hour
working day, he replied:
Truth On Electricity.
''I believe implicitly that electricity
will do everything Mr.. Stelnmetz
claims for 1t, that it will relieve hui
man drudgery, and that 1t will re-
duce today's work Of eight hours to
four, but do not believe that four
hours work a day Ia enough for man.
It might be sufficient so far as
physical labor is concerned, but ! do
not think four hours Of labor each
day will ever accomplish Mr.. Stein
metz's ideal and create q more In
telligent and self-expressive race"
"Why?"
Because do not think human
nature will have changed 80 com
pletely within so short tme-or
even ever. From personal expe-
rience have learned that very few
OF US will work or try to improve
our minds unless we absolutely
have to. Those Of US. who are
hungry for knowledge find plenty
of time to crafty our thirst even
with the prevailing eight-hour work.
ing day-and those Of US who are
inclined to be lazy will only work
as much as is absolutely necessary,
"As for France" he continued
where there il SO much work to
be done not even the next hundred
years will enable her to cut the
working schedule"
"5ow is France developing her
electrical resources? he YVES later
asked.
NJ. Herriot's face frightened at
once, 1t was evident that was a
subject he enjoyed discussing.
Phone DEVELOPMENT.
"As rapidly as conditions permit
In fact there are some very big
developments already started or
the cataracts Of the River Rhone
At the present price of coal cleo.
trictty has been saving grace to
France, and we have used 1t as
motive power wherever wa were
able to do SO. 1t has been inval
liable for weaving. knitting, rail
roads, mountain trans and auto
buses. There Is scarcely a fac
tory Of any size in France that is
not completely electrified. We have
found since using ii to such a great
extent that electricity has not only
been cheaper, but that the actual
manufacturing output has doubled. -
How about the electrical house
hold appliances?"
81 will venture to make the state
ment that we in Lyons use as
many, IL not more, electrical house
hold appliances than any other city
in Europe of the same size. In
my own home we cook by electricity
entirely. Today, even the suburbs
and provinces have electricity, but
needless to say, we do not use II
with the same extravaganza you
Americans do. In fact, the ex
travagance of the advertising signs
along Broadway quite staggered
me-, he smiled.
Then M. Herriot went on to ex.
plain how France was developing
her water power. He told of a
law that had been passed recently
to harness the half a dozen cata.
racts of the river Rhone.
NJ. Herriot then concluded by
telling something of the enormous
hydro-electric development which
Is now being pushed to completion
for the utilization of the water
power Of the half dozen falls of
the river Rhone. This river, which
has its source in the glaciers of
the Alps, flowing across France to
the Mediterranean, has a total drop
from source to mouth of 5,898 feet.
BY placing hydro-electric general
ing stations at each of the major
falls and rapids in the 5O4 miles
of its course billions of kilowatt
hours Of electric energy will be
developed at points comparatively
near to some of the larger in
duStrial conterR