Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1886 — THE LABOR SITUATION. [ARTICLE]

THE LABOR SITUATION.

The Great Movement of WageWorkers for Shorter Hours of Labor. The Situation Just on the Eve of the Great Battle—History of the EightHour Agitation. From the mass of telegraphic dispatches to the metropolitan press on the morning of the Ist of May we glean the following summary of the industrial' and labor situation at that date: At Chicago the eighthour agitation had resulted in closing all the furniture and box factories and in the suspension of work at most of the iron and brass shops. The great army of meat-pack-ers threatened to strike for shorter hours. Workmen in the lumber yards dedemanded the eight-hour concession and double pay for extra work. Freight-han-dlers at the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and Chicago and Alton freight houses struck work in consequence of a refusal of the companies to adopt the eighthour system. The workmen in different manufacturing establishments had either struck or were threatening strikes on the same ground. The demands made by laborers were not uniform, nor were the answers of employers to the propositions of the employes. The Furniture Manufacturers’ Association at Grand Rapids, Mich., decided to refuse the demand for a reduction of hours of labor to eight accompanied by a 10 per cent- advance in wages. It was decided to treat with employes only as individuals. The Woodburn-Sarken Wheel Company, of Indianapolis, the largest establishment of the kind in the country 7 , refuses to pay ten hours’ wages for eight hours’ work. The 6,000 miners and laborers in the Clearfield(Pa.) region were ordered to stop work if the scale adopted by the Columbus (Ohio) convention was not signed. The army of idle men at Milwaukee has created apprehensions lest an outbreak should result, and arrangements had been made to swear in seveial hundred special policemen. A New York dispatch of the Ist inst. says: An extended inquiry by Bradstreet’s as to the details of the agitation by labor unions generally to secure the adoption of the eight-hour day shows that the unions have already gained some ground and that the members will strike if necessary in large numbers to enforce the desired rule. The 35,000 anthracite miners in Eastern Pennsylvania demand the eight-hour rule and threaten to strike. They would do so to-day were they sure of the Luzerne and Lackawanna region men, where the organization is not as perfect as elsewhere. Missionary work is being done at the north to the end that the demand may be enforced. From Chicago word comes that a careful canvas reveals 62,000 members cf various trades who will strike if the demand for eight hours is not granted, including 35,000 packing-yards employes. Associated foundrymen and metal-workers in New York and vicinity to the number of 20,000 promise trouble if nine hours are not granted them as a full day’s werk. At Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Detroit there is promised a very general demand for the eight-hour day. and in the event of its refusal strikeb will follow. It is noticeable that the furniture, wood-workers, and building trades unions are those most prominent, as a class, in the demand for fewer hours of work per day. At St. Louis, Louisville, and Philadelphia concessions have been made by manufacturers, and in a number of instances compromises have been mado at nine hours daily at ten hours’ wages. In most all directions it is reported that many manufacturers will make concessions if it comes to the question of a strike. There were to-day over six thousand men striking for eight hours per day, two-thirds of whom were at Chicago a'nd Milwaukee. There are records of the eight-hour day having been granted to at least thirty-two thousand workmen, two-thirds of the total being at Chicago, and one-half of- the remainder at Louisville and Philadelphia. There are also twenty-five thousand workmen at Chicago who have asked for eight hours per day, without as yet threatening a strike, fifteen thousand at New York City, and ten thousand scattering. Excluding the six thousand men now striking for eight hours, there are reported to be one hundred and five thousand men, 'exclusive of many at Baltimore and Milwaukee not enumerated, who will promptly strike if the request is not granted. This total includes the 35.000 anthracite miners, the 50,000 mentioned at Chicago, and 6,000 at New York, but does not cover the 20,000 metal-workers in the vicinity of New York who demand nine hours. At least 12,000 skilled workmen throughout the smallor industrial cities in Pennsylvania have asked for eight hours, and will compromise on nine hours per day. At many points the subject has not become actively prominent, notably at Pittsburgh, where so much of the work is piece-work, not dependent on hours of labor, and at Wheelingh W. Ya. In such lines at Pittsburgh as the demand has been made, there has been a compromise of nine hours. There is apparently very general demand for reduced hours of daily labor among trades unions. It is probable that the larger proportion of the employes’ demands will be settled by compromise or mutual concessions. In others, to a significant degree, the demand for eight hours with ten hours’ wages will be pressed with strikes. The nine-hour compromises hava generally been passed on ten hours’ wages, amounting to an advance of 10 per cent, in pay. Active rt sistance is promised by many manufacturers to pay 20 per cent, advanced wages, or ten hours’ pay for eight hours’ work. In brief Bradstreet’s reports 105,000 men who will strike—Bs,ooo for eight hours and 20,000 for nine hours—6,ooo men now on strike for eight hours, and that eight hours have been granted 32.C00 employes at various points. There are additionally 75,000 men who have asked for the eight-hour rule, but who have not stated they will strike. At leading centers alone it is probable that over 225,000 industrial employes are actively interested in the movement.

History of the Eight-Hour Movement. It is difficult to fix an exact time at which the eight-hour movement can be said to have begun. Previous to 1856 twelve hours . constituted a day’s work. In that year the working hours were decreased to ten, and, generally speaking, have remained un- - changed up to the present. The eight-hour day was established in Australia thirty years ago, and one day in each year—April 21—is celebrated in commemoration of the event —just as it is proposed to celebrate May 1 in this country hereafter for a like reason. The eight-hour movement in this countiy received its first noticeable impetus just after the war of the rebellion, and a million and a half of men, mustered out of the army, were thrown upon the labor market, overstocking it to a distressful degree. Eight-hour leagues were formed throughout the country with the avowed purpose of securing a decrease of working hours, in order that there might be a corresponding increase in the number of laborers, thus affording the idle soldiers an opportunity of earning a living. In 1866 a labor convention was held in Baltimore, at which delegates were present from all parts of the United States. It pronounced in favor of an eight-hour working day. Very little was said concerning any change in current wages. The stone-cutters’ craft was the only one which, at that time, secured tijg eight-hour day. The agitation of the movement has continued more or less actively ever since.