Show THE SIX HOUR DAY the struggle of industrial boilers toilers for a shorter workday work day and better working conditions is a long story that would fill many volumes but it has been on the whole a successful struggle 19 most countries and while the methods employed to secure victory have been at times open to question there is no doubt that both employer and employee are better off today because of it to illustrate what has been gained we need only reflect upon the fact that the first hour legislation on record was passed by the british parliament in 1802 and limited the labor of children working an factories to twelve hours a day america secured wide adoption of the ten hour day in 1835 while the eight hour day made little headway until about 1886 r and is yet by no means fully in effect in the united states al though it prevails in trades that are effectively organized as ell as I 1 n others embracing about one half of the wage earners of the country excepting farm hands and domestico domestics recently and especially since we have been experiencing an unprecedented blight caused by unemployment the six hour day has been strongly urged as a means of rehee for the workers displaced by machines not only the six hour day but also the five day week in fact such a schedule has been adopted already in some industrial plants under present conditions it seems that the shorter work day and work week offers the only practical solution to the ment problem whether this idea will make headway and even dually lead to a permanent policy remains to be seen but the trend seems to be in the direction of less hours of labor especially for who toil with their hands |