Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 255, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1916 — READ THE ADAMSON LAW [ARTICLE]

READ THE ADAMSON LAW

Myron T. Herrick, speaking to a business men’s meeting at Cincinnati, said: Whether the Adamson law has advanced or retarded the establishment of an eight-hour day is a moot question. I should like to see a copy of the Adamson law in the hands of every American citizen. It Is short. Section 1 provides that eight hours shall be deemed a day's work and the standard for reckoning compensation for certain classes of railway employes. There Is nothing in this or any other section of the law prohibiting a man working more than eight hours, or that will penalize an employer for discharging him If he refuses to work more than eight hours. The only thing guaranteed to the workman during the experimental period that it is provided the law shall be In force is that he shall be paid for eight hours’ work, and that for the hours he worked in excess of eight he shall be paid extra at the same rate. Section 2 provides for a commission Of three to observe the operation and effect of the act and report to the president and congress In not less than six nor more than nine months, at its discretion. Section 3 provides that for a period of thirty days following the report of the commission the wages of the railway employes affected by the act shall not he redueedr- Thls t*' thc -Samo as saying that the railway managers, following the thirty-day period and in the absence of another law to the contrary, may reduce the wages of the employes. Such action is the aqtomatic and Immediate end of the Adamson law. Such good as may ultimately come of the Adamson law will be the result of the Investigation of the commission as to the operation and effect of raising wages by law in a private and competitive business, and these po» sess sv.ch possibilities of value that I, If In congress, would not vote to disturb the dommission in its work. The American nation ypas founded by people who came to these shores to escape autocratic government, and It is well to take heed lest we drift Into autocracy ourselves In our careless seeking of immediate and probably temfcoTary gain. Do we want to surrender to government the right to fix oifr hours of labor and our rate of wages? In our Industrial life we shall continue to have good years and lean years. If government reduces our Iburs and increases our pay in good years, It oan fncreasd the hours and reduce our pay In lean years. f