Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01
DAVIS SEES BRIGHT
FUTUREFORLABOR
Workers to Have More Lei
sure Hours, Secretary Says
in Radio Address.
Continued From First Page0

Continued From First Page)
country, Secretary Davis called atten-
ton to the series of articles now appear"
ing in The Star. describing conditions
among the mountain people OF the pro-
posed Shenandoah National Park, less
than 100 miles from Washington.
I'VE Shoould move the poor people
from the mountains of Virginia, Ken
lucky and Tennessee" said Mr.. DAVIS.
land give them employment at good
wages, so that they could improve their
standards of living"
Much to Be Thankful For.
American workmen and employers
have much to be thankful for, IN Sec
rotary Davis opinion, for in no otner
country is there such contentment.
Worker and employer are locked To-
gether in partnership of good Wlll
which neither would care to break" ne
declared 1T has brought them TOO
much prosperity for that. believe we
are due to go on and develop SUN
further this mutual respect to the ad-
vantage of all"
Following is the text of the secre-
tary'S speech.
of the Old World. Back there where
these people came from there IS still
jealousy, conflicts of interest, political
differences that have led to open out
break. Here 12O,000,000 of the same
kind of people live and work together n
peace. Across the seas certain religious
tribes are at each others threats. Here
every kind of religious belief goes It's
way without interference from any
other. We have in America newspapers
and magazines, open forums ana every
kind of Wide-open avenue OF expression
With all of these you do not hear one
ripple of discomfort in our national
life. That is our America, as Labor
day will find it on Monday next.
In other countries labor also has
day to itself-itS May day, in the Sprlne
of the year. Ours comes in early
Autumn, when the harvestS have been
garnered and we think OF the mex,
season. That is characteristic OF oul
Labor day. 1t is day when we looh
into the future.
so Years Of History.
The other day a nationally known
newspaper, which is about to celebrate
it's fiftieth anniversary, asked me U
prophesy the position of labor in Amer.
lea so years in the future. I said tha'
IN IIllS Gay VI AZ Aso A1e%AN ~
prophesy anything, but that 1t was
safest of all to judge what would happer
so wears from now by what has hap
pened in the so years that have passed
One of the blessings that have come
to us during these so years Is more
time from work. 1t means something
that labor in America is so well of that
all over the country it can take day
off to think of its blessings and plan
for more. Fifty years ago the 10 ano
IL hour day was the rule. Except 1or
shutdowns, there were few days on. II
nv travels over the country, which ]
think it is my business to do in order
to keep in touch with our labor inter
ests, it has aStonished me to find here
and there instances where the 10, II
and IL hour day still prevails. IL
means some thing that the IL ana II
hour day and the Seven-day week is
something to aStonish us. 1t Is the in
defensible exception, which we THINK
ought not to exist. So accustomed
have we become to the shortened day
that any longer period of work seems
obsolete and wrong.
Now that we have progressed IN the
past so years from the 12-hour day, l
believe the next SO years are going to
see the worker complete his full day
production with still more leisure time
in which to enjoy the fruits OF his
labor-his motor trips, his visits to the
theater, the library, the concert hall.
The force that is bringing this about
is modern scientific business system
and the genius for invention that Is
going into high-speed, automatic ma
chinery. System and machinery are
making production so easy and rapid
that less of the day and the week Will
be needed to turn out all the COM
modities we can sell and use. In the
next SO years this system and ma
chinery is. sure to be further improved.
It is not fantastic to say that the time
will come when the days work can be
done with hardly more effort than pull
ing a lever or pressing a button. A
good many of our hardest mechanical
Jobs are performed with just that much
effort today. Ultimately much more OF
our time and energies can be devoted
to improvement of our minds and the
enrichment of our lives.
Workers Sons Fill Colleges.
believe that all our church,
schools and colleges must begin right
now to train our people for the proper
use of the greater leisure time they are
going to have. AS it is, we have raised
TO the highest pitch of usefulness the
education we have had. Now we need
to be educated in how to live, and
I believe the greatest demand for this
education will come from our millions
of workers.
Today the largest increase in college
enrolment comes from the ranks OF
the workers. It is the sons and daugh-
tiers of our carpenters, masons, pud-
dies and mechanics who most want to
go to college. Today we pride ourselves
on giving the great majority OF our
children a grammar school training.
Tomorrow we shall not be content until
all of our children will have a higher
education. I believe we will have to
build more trade schools, and then
more colleges for the thousands who
want to go on.
1t is the workers today who are con-