Show SHORTER HOURS the working day in this country Is steadily ete ddlly growing shorter in deter defor ende to the demands ot of the various and allied organizations of laboring men according to a recent press report a resolution was introduced at a meeting of the representatives 0 of f a brotherhood advocating a five day I 1 ciril 1 avy agoti xia u pan ual paring down clown of working hours may prove either beneficial or harm fud according to resultant conditions years ago the working man put in twelve solid hours the field of industry was comparatively tree free from corn om peti tive allen alien laborers laborsaving labor saving machinery was but little known and less used ased wages were low men alen found that their time was mostly taken up with laboring eating and sleeping leisure moments were indeed rare labor guilds or trade unions came into being 1 men were organized the working daywan day was shortened and wages were raised production was speeded spee ded up by the installation of laborsaving labor saving machinery many workman being required to adapt themselves to the new order of things or seek other employment some firms in order to retain their entire personnel adopted the system of 0 laying oft off a of men so many days a month thus to insure work for all Ilo however wever this did not solve the problem of taking care of those who had been superseded by the highly eft eff clent mechanical devices that were being rapidly introduced thus the unions acting tor for the protection ot of their members felt it necessary to reduce the actual hours of labor and this policy has been continued up to the present it would bo be futile to deny that modern modem inventive genius in the mechanical ch anical field has revolutionized the labor situation in this day we have seen mechanical orchestration empty the musicians pit at the motion picture palace but yesterday as it were we saw the typesetting machine supplant the veteran typographer and hla his printing stick the farm boy who tolled in the fields from the rising ot of the sun until the going down ot of the same la Is succeeded by the scientific farmer who possesses the latest type of tractor reaper and Ira harvester ivester quite capable of performing the worle work ot of many human hands aside from the economic aspects of this gradual and complete transition and this subject may be approached from at least two opposing angles let us briefly consider the following i As a res result alt of the shortened day the var various IOUs full holidays etc the working man finds much leisure time on his hands ilow how are these hours spent Is jie he one of those useful men mch who spend every spare moment puttering away in an improvised cellar machine shop or perchance por per chanco working lif in the garden Is lt it after all advantageous to havo have a too brief working day are aie long periods of leisure beneficial to one it if no attempt Is made to improve oneself in knowledge perfect oneself in the duties of constructive citizenship give somo some thought to the arts and sciences ever with a view to increasing ones efficiency insuring ones dependents of the comforts of life and doing a full share shara of ones duty to the nation whether the constantly decreasing hours of labor will eventually prove beneficial or destructive must be doter determined ter tor mined not so much from an economic standpoint but by the tha individual d and collective morale of the vast body of americas working men |