Show SHORTER HOURS the tha working day in this country Is steadily stoa dily growing shorter a arter in defor defer ondo onda to the demands of the various and allied organizations of laboring men according to recent a recent press report a resolution was waa introduced at a meeting of tho the representatives ot of a brotherhood advocating a five day aup I 1 a pun pull ual paring down or at working hours may prove either beneficial or harm ham fud lid according ace or d in 9 to t 0 resultant r as ul tan t conditions years Y ears ago the borki working 11 9 man put in twelve solid a hours the field 0 of industry was comparatively free from competitive peti tive alien laborers laborsaving labor saving machinery was but little known and less lesa used wages were low min men found that their time was mostly taken up UD with laboring eating and sleeping leisure nio moments ments were indeed fudd rare labor guilds or unions came into being men were organized tho the working gifty day was waa shortened shorten ed and wages wadea were raised production was speeded up by the installation ot of laborsaving labor labar saving ma machinery chinery many workman being required to adapt themselves to abo new order ot at things or seek other employ mont somo some firms in order to retain their entire Pors personnel onnel adopted the system of laying ott oft a ot of men so many days a month thus to insure work tor for all however this did not solve the tha problem ot at taking care ot at choso who had boon been superseded by the highly ett off clent elent mechanical devices that were being rapidly introduced thus thua tho the unions acting tor for the protection of their members felt it necessary bari to reduce the tha actual hours oft of labor and this policy has been continued up to the present it would be futile to deny that modern inventive genius in theme the me cli anical field has revolutionized tho the labor situation in this day wo we have soon boon mechanical orchestration empty the tha musicians pit at the motion plat uro palace dalace but yesterday as it were reia we saw tho the typesetting machine suph sup plant tho me veteran typographer and hla his printing stick the farm arm boy who tolled in the floyds from the rising of of tho the sun until the going down of the same la iq succeeded by the a scientific farmer who possesses the latest type of tractor reaper and aad harvester aulta capable ot of performing tho the work at 0 many human hands aside from the economic aspects ot at this gradual and complete transition and this subject may be approached from at least two opposing angles lot let us bristly consider the following As AB a result of the shortened day tho the various full holidays etc ate the tha working roan man finds much leisure time oil on his hands bands how are ara these hours spent Is lie he one of those useful men who spend every spare moment puttering away in an improvised cellar machine shop or perchance per chanco working in a the garden Is it after all advantageous to have a too brief working day are aio long ions periods of leisure beneficial to one ona it no attempt to Is mado made to improve oneself in knowledge perfect oneself in the duties of constructive citizenship give some borne thought to the arts arta and sciences ever with a view to increasing ones efficiency insuring ones dependents of the comforts of 0 life and doing a full share of on buea a duty to the nation whether the constantly decreasing hours ot of labor will eventually prove beneficial or destructive must bo be determined doter ter mined not so much from an economic standpoint but by the individual and collective morale of 0 the vast vait body of americas working men |