Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-22
THE TWELVE HOUR DAY
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, June 22:-The
twelve-hour day Is to continue in
the steel industry. How long it is
to continue has not been determined,
but a committee of the American
Iron and Steel Institute, which was
created a year ago at the request of
President Harding to study the
question and see if it were not feast
Bile to shorten the hours of steel
workers, has reported that in its
judgment that part of the industry
which requires continuous operation
must carry on indefinitely on the
basis of two shifts Of twelve hours
each instead of adopting three shifts
of eight hours each.
This committee made its report
through Judge Gilbert H. Gary, the
president of the institute, who is also
the chairman of the board of direc-
tors of the United States STEEL Cor
poration and the most powerful in
dividual in the steel industry.
It is an interesting sidelight on
the report that Judge Gary collapsed
before he was able to finish reading
1t to the institute and turned his
manuscript over to Charles M.
Schwab, the head of the bethlehem
Steel Corporation. The inference
drawn by many who witnessed this
unusual incident was that Judge
Gary had been working more than
twelve hours per day, for his report
stated that careful study had con-
WINGED his committee that twelve
hours of labor as a minimum did not
work an undue strain upon the
workers.
Another interesting sidelight was
Judge Gary's prefacing of his report
with a speech in which he said that
no controversy could be settled fair
ly except in accordance with the
principles of the Christian religion
and went on to say:
There are multitudes of people
who believe the fundamental and
controlling doctrine of the nations
laws should be in accordance with
the principles of the Holy Bible, and
every lawmaker and administrator
should be compelled to indorse the
practice Of it's undeniable precepts.
Since the preservation of history
commenced there has never been
anything approaching the Holy Bible
as a literary production or a code for
proper and desirable human conduct,
or as the foundation for future
hopes"
Churches Opposed Twelve-hour Day
The significance of this lies in the
fact that the movement for a shorter
work-day in the steel industry, for
which labor has been ~contending for
years, received a big impetus when
the Interchurch World Movement
made an exhaustive investigation OF
the subject and made public its con-
illusions that there was no valid rea-
son why the steel industry should
not conform to the modern tendency
in all other industries and establish
the e%ight-hour day.
Briefly, the Gary committee holds
that the twelve-hour day should no
be abolished because the workers
themselves prefer the longer hours
and larger wages, because it does no
injure the workers in any way, anC
because the change to an eight-houl
| shift would increase the cost of stee
Is per cent and would require 10000
| more workers in the steel industr.
who can not be secured because o,
the federal law restricting immigra'
ton from Europe.
No responsible representative o.
labor in general or of the steel work
ers in particular is quoted in supper
of the declaration that the workers
themselves prefer the longer worl
day. No physician or other expert /
brought forward to testify tina
twelve hours a day OF the kind o
labor required in the steel industr!
is not injurious to the worker.
Accordingly it is not surprisini
that the report of the Gary commit
tee is stirring up a veritable storm
of protest. President Harding him
self did not hesitate to say that h
was disappointed at the committee
findings and to repeat that he still
believes in the abandonment OF tn
twelve-hour day.
Apparently" said Judge Gary, /
his report, the underlying reasol
for the agitation which resulted L
the appointment of this committe
was based on a sentiment (not Great
ed or endorsed by the workmei
themselves) that the twelve-hou
day was an unreasonable hardshi
upon the employees who were con
nected with It; that it was PHYSICAL
injurious to a large percentage c
the employees; and that it interfere
with family associations essential fo
the welfare of the children; that fo
these reasons It was, ip q sense, or