San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-02
8-HOUR DAY
SUCCESSFUL
FROM START
Steel Mill Workers Are
Satisfied With Less
Pay.
SHORT HOURS PLEASE
Change From l2-hour Day
Will Soon Be Com
pleted.
SHORT HOURS PLEASE
By p. j. REDOY.

itself q success after three weeks OF
actual practice.
just three weeks ago when the
comparative few of the many
thousands who produce the most wide
" used metal in the world, went on
the eight-hour shift, it was explained
that it would be at least eighteen
months before the three shift eight.
hour day would apply to all steel
workers.
1t can be stated on highest author
ity today that the United States
Steel Corporation and many of the
independents as well expect to have
all their workn down to the eight
hour day BY the end of December,
1928.
w. p. Gleason, superintendent of
the United States Steel Corporation's
subsidiary plant here, is sponsor for
the statement that to date the eight
hour day has been successful, and
in making the declaration he paid
high tribute to the men below who
turn out the raw material which has
frequently been called the most i'm
portant basic commodity of the age.
The change so far has been at
tended with happy success Mr..
Gleason said.
"The unequaled leadership Of Judge
Gary and the loyal work of the rank
and file have made it possible to do
this without noticeable disturbance
to output despite the great problems
it presented and in the face of the
still existent labor shortage"
Affects All Workers.
N~~%a,x &C tba Iapo supar-
intendents and foremen told the
the change which affects all workers,
and they have become trained and
drilled to the change, the output and
efficiency will more than counter bal
ance the millions of dollars which
will have been added through the
payrolls through employment of ad-
ditional men.
There is of course heated division
BE- of opinion among the workers when
questioned about the eight-hour day.
The few who have been fortunate
enough to get it at the start are
jubilant.
Their wives and youngsters are even
more so.
George Jordan, an assistant fore
man, in one of the open hearth fur
naces, was told today that on Monday
he will start working from s a. m,
to 4 p. m, instead of 6 to 6.
He knew it means about $50 a
month less in his envelope, but he
stopped on his way home to buy his
wife a present in celebration.
Jordan lives in one of the company
built brick apartment houses of the
better class.
1t is workers of this calibre, ut
least one generation American, who
are most enthusiastic and who will
benefit most by the change from
twelve hours.
at is only the foreigners who are
willing to slave for the few extra
dollars for half Of their lives" said
Jordan.
1--WE Americans would far rather
make little less money, live a little
more naturally and take chances of
work"
Meanwhile workers still bound 10
the gruelling tolls of the twelve-hour
day have grown weary of waiting.
They have read in some papers
and have heard from a very few that
Gary is on the eight-hour day."
But to them the new short day is
I still q Utopian goal, not yet attained
and as vague and as indefinite as
I the pot of gold at the end of the
!. rainbow.
And none Of the many the writer
interviewed expressed hope that the
four much to be desired hours of
i leisure would soon be theirs.
/. Their chief reaction is a feeling of
Jealousy toward the very few who
have already been granted the four
extra hours Of liberty.
The majority have wanted IL 20
much and 50 long and so vainly that
they think still there is a trick in
it all somewhere.
\ Anxiously Await Change.
It is the same with their wives
and children.
John Anderson, who is one Of those
who keep the brick ovens repaired
lives next door to an open hearth
worker who is now on an eight-hour
shift.
I'm still ct the same old shift >
he said, "and I'll believe I'll get ar
eight-hour trick when l get it.
"Yes, George got it, but how d.
] know it'll last?
"How do like it?
ais Coolidge Presdent?"
~ So ii went in a dozen homes ant
1t took less than a minute of con
n versation for the writer TO divin
correctly whether be was in a bom
q whose head was working eight hour
or twelve.
There was invariably a brightness
an atmosphere of contentment in nh
former that was lacking in the lat
ter.
The movie theaters are the onl
business places that have noticed IN
differences for the better so far.
Other business places say that. q
course, reduced salaries mean les
buying, but they point out that ther
will be additional men on the pay
rolls which will offset the former.
One thing is certain. The pla
must continue
There would be an upheaval {
serious proportions at the slighte.
backward step from the eight-hou
day.
As a matter of fact, it is unquei
tionably this spirit of petty jealous
and semi-unrest among those who al
still on the twelve-bour shifts tina