Year: 1866

Mr.. CHAIRMAN IL was in hopes that
| when this bill should come up for consid-
Grafton there would be full Senate, and
that this bill would receive careful con-
sideration. The Senate has not, perhaps,
had before it subject of so much interest.
No subject now seems to agitate the great
and worthy class of our laboring popula-
ton so much as this. In New York, Mas
sachusetts and Ohio, grave and concerted
movements are being made by all classes of
artisans to ameliOrate their condition.
These movements do not seem to be the
offspring of passion or excitement, but the


result OF conviction and deliberate purpose
formed from past and present experience,
and based upon incontestible premises.


| had thought of being prepared to pre-
sent some statement as to the effect of labor
upon the duration of life among the labor
ing classes, and to conclude theretrom the
great humanity as well as the great advan-
tage to the world, of that amount of phys


cal labor only which does not daily ex-
haust the strength OF the laboring classes
of this country-but Ihave not found the
time so to do. / believe the arguments are
conclusive enough without such show
| ing. .r ..,.....--. .,........ .r.....-. o..
1t cannot be doubted that the laboring



| physical, social and mental. We see and
know that the forms of men are marred by
this incessant toll, week after week, day af-
ter day, hour after hour, through the weary
years of life. Premature age with its un-
mistakable signs is observable among the
people. Muscular straining soon renders
the body inelastic, and breaks it: and the
violence of constant friction wears out the
most robust constitution. The vital ener-
gies become dull and palsied, and unfit to
support life and accomplish its ends. So
cially, how inestimable are the deprivations
of those who do no not see the sun light
except through the crevices of factory or
a foundry. From daylight till dark, under
the present system, the laborer plies his
avocation, either in the fierce heat of the
forge, or in the equally eXhausting routine
of steady and tiresOme vigils over the other
varied branches of industry. ..r.
10 those who have thought OF the labor
er's affairs, it is mystery how he prepares
for his family at home-how he finds time,
at morning or revening, for the performance
of those duties which are essential to the
comfort of those he leaves during the day.
| Sir, under the present system the labOrer
| must be almost a stranger at homeland
when is added to his daily labor of ten
hours, the time employed at home, full fiji
| teen hours is expended of the twenty-four
| in labor, which is too much for the body
| long to sustain. But where is that mental
culture to come from which is essential to
the proper productive efficiency of labor
| Physical eXertiOn, unless directed by an in
| telligent mind, is OF but little value. Pro-
duction depends upon labor intelligently
| applied. The work of the handsisdirected
| by thought, and the principle in all eXertlOn
| is, that skill, success, advancement and et-
| feet depend upon the clear and instantan-
eous realization of the thing to be done.
| The mind becomes stupid and uninventive
when the body is exhausted. The body and
mind depend upon each Other-act and re-
act upon each Other-tire each Other-and
both the invention and physical instrument
talities become helpless and unproductive.
Excessive labor defeats the ends of life,
destroys its own purpose, and breeds dis
ease and misfortune.


A writer in the North american Reuie,o for
January, 1866, says: "There is no doubt
that man working certain time with elas-
tic vigor and determined purpose may ac-
complish as much or more than by listless,
sluggish, irksome application to work dur
ing much longer period. The hours of
labor may be SO long as greatly to impair
the bodily strength, and thus directly
diminish the effective power" The same
writer further says: ut was always true,
that intelligence added much to the eflicien-
cy of the laborer; but it is more emphatical-
ly so now that so large portion of the
work requiring mere force is performed by
the action of machinery demanding inteli-
gence to design and construct it, and then
to superintend its movements. The in
tellectual improvement of the laborer is
then of great Importance, even in the
merely economic aspect of the subject
which we are considering. This improve
ment requires not only time, hut mental
effort, to which physical exhaustion by la
OrfOolOng continued is very unfavorable.
lt is, then, good economy to combine the
two, and unwise to task all the powers of a
man in mere muscular drudging, to the ex-
clusion of the mental effort which his in
telectual health and progress demand"
With ten hours labor in the workshops and
tive at home, and the time for sleep which
ought not to be less than seven hours,
where is the opportunity for mental i'm
provement? There is none. But besides
the effect upon the prOductiveness of labor,
this want of opportunity for mental i'm
provement has an equally important bear
ing in other directions. The laboring man
is citizen, and interested in the govern
ment of his country. Thelaborer will nev-
er be benefited by the legislation of capi-
tai. He must see to it himself. He is in
terested in tariffs which make high priced
goods, and in workingmen's associations,
which protect labor from monopoly; and to
understand the principles which govern
these affairs requires examination and
thought. And he is likewise interested i'm
the administration of the government He
votes, and those votes may tend to his own
interest or injury to the safety of his free
dom and the preservation of his equality.
All these interests require the opportunity
for reading and information. at't


To us who vote upon this bill there seems
to me very peculiar consideration. We
cannot be personally interested In the
question of eight or ten hours labor. The
workingmen are most interested in it.
They the better know and feel the necessi-
ty for change. We may not have expe-
ricnced the reasons for the change. They
have, and speak In their own behalf and ex-
press their desires. Upon what theorymay
we refuse this request l have heard this
movement opposed, but it has been by cap
italists., (Here Mr.. Hollister said the oppo-
sition came from the working men, and
Mr.. Sadlerremarked that the hands on some
railroad were complaining that their en-
ployers would not give them employment
for more hours In day. Mr.. Critchfield
replied that he had not heard of single
workingman objecting to the diminution in
the hours of labor; that there might be
exceptions to the general desire, as mem
toned by Judge Sadler; that there were
exceptions In every such case, but that the
confirmed and deliberate purpose of the
majority of the laboringmen, as expressed
bV their conventions and Associations ali