EIGHT-HOUR MEN

In a recent article, Mr. E. G. Buchland, vice-president of the New-York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, strongly condemns the labor unions for demanding an eight-hour day. "This nation", says Mr. Buchland, "was not built by eight-hour men and it will not be maintained by them. It was built by whole families working from dawn 'till dusk in the hope that what they produce and save will be theirs and not anothers'." Therefore, argues the New Haven's manager, any change from the methods of our forefathers must inevitably result in the downfall of industry and the ruin of our country.

There is a popular song whose refrain runs thus: "Isn't it strange how the times have changed since Grandpa was a lad". Man faces now, as always, the problem of working longer hours and so producing more, knowing that beyond a certain point the fruits of his labor will accumulate faster than he can use them in his shortened period of leisure. Somewhere a balance must be struck. It is possible, however, to increase the productiveness of labor through the improvement of the material arts. This is what the present age is doing. We now turn out in our eight, nine and ten hour days as much as the founders of our country once did in twelve, thirteen and fourteen. The demand for shorter and shorter hours is thus the natural accompaniment of our industrial development. It furthermore puts continual pressure on the employers to keep their plants at the highest possible pitch of efficiency.

If, therefore, the present-day workman chooses to strike his balance at eight hours, he is fully entitled to do so. But he must be content with the resulting return; he has no right to expect nine and ten hours' product for only, eight hours' work. This is what he all too frequently falls to see, but the fault is his and not that of the theory of wages. "The demand for the eight-hour day" says Taussig in his "Principles of Economics", is entitled to all sympathy and support", and the modern laborer is quite as adapted to his day and generation. He is no less to be respected because he does not, as did his forefathers, toil "from sun to sun".