South Bend News-Times, Volume 37, Number 121, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 30 April 1920 — Page 14

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jKJOBOB Y WORKED

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'"TT TTUAj six-hour working day be

ar economic possibility! On all sld?s Is heard the

demand of the workingman for a phoiter work day. From the 12 hours of labor which his grandfather called a day' work, he has, after many bitter struggles, succeeded In loppln.r off two to four hours. Today It is generally conceded that eitfht hours of hard work are enough for one day If th efficiency of the worker is to be maintained. In the majority of trades the 48-hour week has long prevailed. A world devastated by war 1 today crying aloud to its workers and its manufacturer to produce more goods. "Kvp the mills, the mlrres, the factories hard at work producing the raw materials and th manufactured goods which ar needed, and needed badly. Oite ns mor food, more cotton, more wool, more lather, more steel gire us raoreof everything!" That ts the. appeal, the supplication, even, of the world today. Will it b possible, to answer that appeal if a short work day is granted to labor? Or Is it possible that a short work day will rmlt in increased efficiency, so that tiro man who produced a certain quantity of manufactured product or raw material In eight hours will bo able to produce the same quantity, or even more, by working harder In sii hour? lie YTonldnt Work. And when will the demands for shorter hours end? Will all trades finally b grartcd a 39-hour week, or is It the ambition of the workingman to emulate a well-known character in Sussex county, Delaware, who eincerely believed that wnrk was an affliction with which some malignant devil had cursed the human race, and who itradfastly refrained from work throughout his life? But he died when he was CO years old an age when some of the world's greatest men huve accomplished superhuman tasks. This eccentric Delawarean we shall call him Jonas Brown for purposes of identity was fortunate in having a

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mind, not so much a question of hotm aa It la a question of intensive effort. That's what counts and It li In Intensive effort that we have to Increase. 'The laborer Is thinking of his work in term of hours. lie Is suspicious of any plan that would result In more Intensiv work. And I can not but realise that It li a natural suspicion. In tlmea past he has been worked almost to (frath. Brit, nevertheless. Intensive work means tncre&aed efficiency, and Is necessary If t& to hav a shorter work day. "I think a. six-hour day Is tufflclent In certain occupations. The miners are entitled to a eix-hour day. Their woTk Is dangerous, it has been poorly paid In the past; it Is dirty, disagreeable, hard work, that saps energy. Six

hours of it Is enough. I wtrald say

way to get them but to work harder for them. We don't produce enough food. Why? Largely because working hours have been cut down, resulting in leas food products and higher prices. "When the American people realize

"When the manufacturers change their present arbitrary attitude and meet labor on fair gTound the laborers will do their part for Increased production."

"Hey, go 'round to the back building. If the boys brought any whisky it's there. If they dldnt. ft ain't."

that six hours' work was enough for h,her "tandard lTln

the women who work in laundries as ore boc" or wor- 1 imn

Fishing Hard Work. Jonas Brown was fond of pike fishing. He frequently visited the nelgh-

wealthy father, who set him up as the boring stream until some of his frrends

pioprtetor of a well-stocked general told him he worked harder at fishing

a nil r4 rsaMinfi wfll tmll To n

Olaring at the Tillager. Jonas half laundries are conducted at the present cboof Band"1

mM from h rortH chair, and with time. Their energy Is also sapped.

more effotf than he had srai in a But the conditions that now prevail fewer tourfl-

year he caM h!s Jack-knlfs far down could be improved so that the prople

the road.

rather than a lower standard with

er hours. 'But to have men willingly work

In landries crald easily work eight longer hours the employer must make tourB better working conditions. They are a locomotive enrineer can not be to face with, that problem now.

But all men are not Ilk Jonas (ft h!g enclae for eIrht They must choose between being fair

store in the village in which he lived, than somt of them did at plowing and BlOTn- H ar6 mra who wint nourg day after day without feeling to their employes or granting fewer But that didn't put ambition into planting. The horrified man threw h1h wa9 foT work and that the great nervous strain. But a rail- bours of labor.

Jonas. down his vtea rrt.ok and retired to his wor ßUl Uüno weu' "r aiBW mad conductor or hrakeinan Is not "I think that some organization

"Ain't I the old fool!" he mattered.

H selected a comfortable rocking rocking chair. He never fished after mMJ1T other men who live year after Bubjectwj to the saEae strain and can. might come whtreby the workman

chair from th stock, had a boy take that. yer cn U8 ccm1 wraiia 01 a thcrtfore, work longer. I should my geU a fair share of the products of the it out on the porrt. and ther he Dut to pass airay the time he usvl father wno volley waa to work his tha atnUj ejreaktng, a atx-hour butnesa in which he and hla employer pnt his time from that day on. He whittle long, curly shavings from Dfa lon t0UTt V P7 11 " day should be established la til occu- are nututlly ewgod- I do not mean announced publicly that h had never blocks of white pine. Ha became an tle M h ha4 to" patlona that are ha.zardoua. that are that he should share in the profit worked and never Intended to work. exTt at this. The boys of the village Ia onJcr 10 lo Ät ciatter of nerTe-tryliif and that t&ie core thaa alone but that a proportionate share Every little while a customer would would stand open-mouthed watching horter hours and iU relation to pro- a reaaoIiable amount of energy from of the producta turned out are his, and disturb hin. him whittle, And then some rillago ductlc2 t different angles, the lfae nea engaged In them, he benefits bj their aale. If the em"Any sugar today. Jonas T wag said In his hearing that if h-e wmr is going to present several e yrant Too Mnch. ployer is to stop the agitation that is "Oh. damn it! I suppose I hame. Go would work as hard as a carpenter as TltT1 of question, Bllt j . la? gij.fcour going on he must co-operate with his In and help yourself." he did with his jack-knife he could An Economist's Opinion. day, applied to industry generally, men. And then the workingman will A man with a Jug night walk along easily build a house for erery nan. Dr. Simon N. Patton has this to lay would work out not object to longer hours, trecause he the read. Jonas would know what he woman and child in the vlllag. Jonaa on the subject: "Our standards of life are rising all will know that his woTk will help him wanted, and It was his custom to call heard him. and his wrath and dlscon- The gTeat gain to be made In our the time. We want more things to realize a high standard of life for hinout: .... fiture were worth going many miles to life by Increased production is. to my make life pleasant and there is no self and his family.

Don't Waste Fuel e TUE seemingly Incongruous campaign in which coal men are engaging of urging upon the public economy in the use of coal and teaching or endeavoring to teach the public how to get more cut of coal needs explaining. On the surface it would eeim selfinterest would impel the coal operators to have the public use the largest possible cruantity of coal. As a matter of fact the coal man must make coal cheaper or its uses will be restricted. He can not rcduco the price. The public. If It arails ltsell of the opportunitj, aSorded by Instruction given, can get more out of the coal It buys. If coal Is cheapened by Increasing its power through the elimination of waste, the coal man will be ca!e more secure in his position. That is all there Is to it Chemical engineers declare it would be easier If proper methods were employed In the burning of coal to get as much heat and power out cf six tons of coal as now are obtained out of

seven. They tay this country wastes 100.000.000 tons of coal a yrar. They declare that In only comparatively few planta and on comparatively few railroads is the attention given to th coal that the subject demanda, but they believe the high costs of coal ani of everything enterlcg Into manufacturing will force a reform that will be of lasting benefit to the country. ßo far as the coal operators are concerned they are meeting more and more opposition or competition from oil and water power. In New England oil has made considerable headway, some of the big oil companies having established stations there for supplying big manufacturing concerns smd entering Into long-term contracts to supply the users with the fueL Oil Is cheaper than coal and easier to handle, but the costs cf transforming power plants from coal burning to oil burning are heavy. New England offen a good field for the oil people, as there are no coal beds nearby and the oil people can lay thir fuel down at the ports without much expense. Transportation expenses from iho coal fields cf Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other territory handcaps the coal man. Now he fears the oil people mar invade other sections heretofore controlled by the coal people.

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