separately as follows : (1) What would be its effect
upon wages ? (2) What would be its effect upon
profits ? (3) What would be its effect upon rent ?
First, then, what would be its influence upon wages
■— i.e., upon the general rate of real wages ? The cor-
rect answer to this question largely depends upon the
extent to which the hours of labor are reduced. That
is to say, it will depend not so much upon the number
of hours per day the laborer shall work as upon the
extent to which his unemployed time shall be in-
creased.
Section II. — The Principle which should Govern the
Reduction of the Hours of Labor.
Before entering upon the consideration of the main
question, we will" digress a moment to call special at-
tention to this point. We do this because the failure
to recognize its logical and economic importance has
* See chapter on Piece-work.
244 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
led the well-meaning and often uneconomic friends
of short-hour legislation to urge it for sympathetic
but untenable reasons, and thereby expose the move-
ment to objections which would otherwise have been
too inexcusable and absurd to be injurious. For ex-
ample, according to the humanitarian and " ideal
equity" point of view from which this question has
hitherto been presented, it is held that the hours of
labor should be reduced the most where the labor is
the hardest and the working day the longest.
Now, this is just the reverse of being correct, and,
like nearly all conclusions induced by sympathy and
ideal conceptions of an " ought to be" social state, it
is an economical and philosophical inversion. The
error involved in this idea is of the same character,
and arises from the same source as that which impels
the endeavor to plant high morality in extreme pov-
erty and to inaugurate ideal co-operation amid the
social conditions of barbarism. It should always be
remembered that unemployed time, like wealth, will
prove to be an advantage or a disadvantage according
to the capacity or incapacity of persons to wisely
employ it.
Although we have repeatedly emphasized the fact
that wealth is an indispensable condition to progress,
we have more than once pointed out that even wealth
cannot with any permanent advantage be distributed
in advance of the social need or general capacity
of the people to wisely consume it. Were it possible
to arbitrarily double the wealth (wages) of the laboring
classes to-morrow, it would not increase the average
comfort and well-being of the masses, simply because,
as before explained, such a sudden increase of wealth
in advance of the natural development of the social
SOCIAL BASIS FOR LESS HOURS. 245
wants and character necessary for its wise consump-
tion would inevitably lead to reckless waste, dissipa-
tion, and vice in a thousand forms. But four times or
even four hundred times as much wealth can be safely
distributed among the masses, if it comes in response
to, instead of in advance of the social need and ability
to nominally consume it. In short, whenever the dol-
lar precedes the want, it means waste and dissipation ;
but when the dollar is preceded by the want it means
wise consumption and social progress.
In the same way and for the same reason unem-
ployed time will prove to be idleness that injures and
degrades, or leisure that develops and elevates, accord-
ing to the capacity to socially utilize it ; and this, in
turn, depends upon the simplicity or complexity of
the existing social condition of the people. And, as
repeatedly explained, the wants and desires, or the
social character, of a people are always commensurate
with their social opportunities. Accordingly, we find
that where the laborer's employment is physically the
most exhausting, and the normal work day the long-
est, his social opportunities are the smallest, his life
the simplest, and his character the lowest and weak-
est ; and, consequently, his ability to wisely utilize
unemployed time the smallest.
Thus the American laborer can with advantage to
himself and the community consume from two to five
dollars a day, while the sudra of India would be sur-
feited and demoralized by half that amount.* For
* Sir Thomas Brassey referring to his father's experience with the
coolies of India, and the effect of a sudden rise of fifty per cent in
their wages during the building of railroads in that country, observes :
" The Hindoo workman knows no other want than his daily portion
of rice, and the torrid climate renders watertight habitations and
246 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
the same reason, the laborer in Russia, who is em-
ployed from thirteen to seventeen hours a day, sub-
sisting chiefly upon black bread and water, could not
at once employ to social advantage as much unoccu-
pied time as the laborer of America, England, France,
and Germany, whose opportunities and material con-
ditions have been better, and whose social character is
correspondingly higher.
Obviously, therefore, to make the greatest reduction
in the hours of labor where the work is the hardest
and the working day the longest, is to give the great-
est amount of unemployed time where there is the
least capacity to use it to personal or social advantage,
and thereby defeat the prime object of the measure.
In truth, a reduction of the hours of labor, in order to
be economically and socially effective, must be applied
inversely in degree with the industrial and social deg-
radation of the masses. In other words, its applica-
tion must be governed by the principle that the ability
to utilize new advantages of whatever kind is propor-
tionate to the extent of previous social opportunities
and character. That is, " to him that hath shall be
given," not as a matter of favoritism, but simply be-
cause he only can appreciate and use, and hence derive
any advantage from having it. A clear understanding
of this principle will not only prevent the friends of
short-hour legislation from exposing the movement to
many unnecessary attacks, but it will also forever ex-
plode that stale, illogical, and superficial objection,
" that if twelve hours' labor a day is better than four-
ample clothing alike unnecessary. The laborer, therefore, desists
from work as soon as he has provided for the necessities of the day.
Higher pay adds nothing to his comforts ; it serves but to diminish
his ordinary industry.'" — -" Work and Wages" pp. 88, 89.
ABSURD OBJECTIONS. 247
teen, then six must be better than twelve, three better
than six ; and that even none would be still bet-
ter." It might with equal force be said that because
moderate eating is more wholesome than gluttony, to
abstain from food altogether would be even better than
moderate eating. Indeed, if there were any sense in
such talk it would follow that sixteen hours' labor a
day must be better than fourteen, and eighteen or
twenty still better than sixteen. Therefore, the
surest way for the masses to obtain wealth and com-
fort is to work the whole twenty-four. Although the
utter imbecility of such reasoning when carried to its
logical conclusion is apparent to the dullest mind, it
has been for more than a quarter of a century one of
the stock arguments of the opponents of short-hour
legislation.*
Now, to recapitulate, we have seen, (1) That in-
creased social opportunities tend to increase alike the
wages of the laborer and the wealth and progress of
the community. (2) That leisure time constitutes
social opportunity. (3) That unoccupied time is lei-
sure only proportionate to the existing capacity to
socially utilize it. (4) That under the wages (or fac-
* The New York Evening Post, one of New York's most respectable
dailies, which takes special pride in the soundness of its economic
reasoning, on the 1st cf May, 1886, in an editorial over a column in
length, devoted to a criticism of an article of mine on the eight-hour
question in the April number of the Forum, employed the above argu-
ment in the following language : "It is sufficient, therefore, to sug-
gest that the principle that we have considered may eventually lead to
the entire extinction of the primeval curse of labor. We know of no
reason why, if a reduction of the hours of labor infallibly leads to an
increased production of wealth, the condition of the race should not
be infinitely improved by the general cessation of tiresome exertion."
And this editorial was reprinted entire in the New York Nation for
May 8th, 1886.
248 WEALTH AND' PROGRESS.
tory) system of industry, the most feasible way of in-
creasing the leisure and, therefore, the social oppor-
tunities of the masses is by a general reduction of
the hours of labor. (5) That while a reduction of the
hours of labor is the only practical means of increasing
the laborer's leisure, whether the unoccupied time
given to him by such a measure will tend to increase
his leisure or add to his idleness, will depend upon
whether or not the extent of the reduction is in excess
of the capacity of the average laborer to use it to his
personal and social advantage.
It will thus be observed that while the principle here
laid down is universally sound, if it is unscientifically
applied the result may not only prove to be not bene-
ficial, but it may be positively injurious to the best in-
terests of the community. Manifestly, therefore, the
extent to which the hours of labor are reduced must
be an important factor in determining the economic
effect of that measure upon the community.
SECTION III. — How much can the Hours of Labor be
Safely and Wisely Reduced ?
If we were called upon to answer that question for
the Patagonian, the Jamaica negro, or the coolie of
India, where hand labor and " natural idleness" pre-
vail, we should probably find that larger social oppor-
tunity for them lies in the direction of a closer contact
with the industrial whips and spurs of the wages Ol-
factory system, with its machinery and division of
labor, and even by an increase instead of a reduction
of the hours of labor. And if we were considering the
question in relation to the laborers of Russia, Turkey,
APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE. 249
or Austria, where the wages system exists only in its
first and most barbarous stages, and where the laborers
work from thirteen to sixteen hours a day, living
mainly on black bread and broth, amid the social con-
ditions but slightly removed from those of the Middle
Ages, a reduction of the hours of labor to ten per
day would probably give them all the unoccupied time
they could safely be trusted with.
But we are not considering the question with refer-
ence (except indirectly) to the laborers in the lowest,
but to those in the highest stages of civilization — not
in relation to those whose social opportunities have
been the most limited, but with reference to those
whose opportunities have been the greatest, and whose
social character is accordingly the most highly differ-
entiated. If this proposition can be successfully ap-
plied in a few of the most advanced countries — as
the United States, England, France, and Germany,
and, perhaps, Belgium and Switzerland — nothing can
prevent it from extending to the less developed coun-
tries as fast as they adopt improved methods of pro-
duction and become a part of the modern industrial
system.
We will consider the question, then, with special
reference to its effects in the United States, England,
France, and Germany. For while these countries are
politically distinct, and in some respects quite differ-
ent, economically they may be regarded as practically
all one. They all employ the same methods of pro-
duction, pursue the same industrial policy, and very
largely buy and sell in the same markets. In fact,
the present means of transportation and communi-
cation are such that a change of a half cent in prices
in any one country is felt almost simultaneously
250 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
in them all. And despite superficial perturbations
resulting from discriminating tariffs and other local
causes, the remarkable uniformity of industrial de-
pressions* clearly shows that the industrial prosperity
of all thdse countries is governed by the same general
economic causes. It is not only true that for all the
purposes of economic reasoning and for industrial legis-
lation these countries are one, but whatever will dispel
the industrial and social chaos in those four countries
will redeem all Christendom, and give civilization such
momentum that even in Asia and Africa the days of
barbarism will be numbered. What are the hours of
the average working day in those countries, and how
much can they be safely — economically — reduced?
In this country, outside of Massachusetts,*!* except
in a few limited trades, the hours of labor range from
eleven to thirteen per day. Although data for ascer-
taining the exact average for the whole country is
difficult to obtain, it may safely be placed at eleven
and one half hours. But in order to be sure of under
rather than overstating the case, we will put it at
eleven hours.
In England they are fixed by statute at nine and one
half, in France at twelve, and in Germany, while there
is no law regulating the hours of labor, custom has
limited the nominal working day to twelve hours. %
* See First Report of United States Commissioner of Labor, 1S86,
p. 290.
f Since writing the above, a ten-hour law has been adopted in Rhode
Island, and bills have been introduced into the Legislature in Maine
and New Hampshire for that purpose.
\ In many parts of Germany the hours of labor are thirteen and
fourteen per day. See Young's "Labor in Europe and America,"
P- 573-
A N EIGHT- HO UR S YS TEM. â– 251
Thus, in these countries, taken all together, the aver-
age working day is about eleven and one eighth hours
a day. How much, then, can these hours be safely
reduced — i.e., how much can they be reduced without
promoting' dissipation, instead of improvement, among
the great mass of the laborers in those countries ?
It should ever be remembered in this connection
that wise statesmanship can never do more in economic
and social affairs than influence the direction of gen-
eral tendencies, and also that it is the character of the
great mass — the seventy or eighty per cent of the
community — that determines the direction and moulds
the character of the social and political institutions.
In the light of experience, to which we shall here-
after refer, and the present highly complex industrial
conditions in the above-named countries, there can be
no doubt as to the economic and social safety of re-
ducing the normal working day for adults to eight
hours, and that of children under sixteen years of age
to half time.
SECTION IV. — The Direct and Immediate Effect of an
Eight-Hour System.
What would be the natural effect upon wages of the
general adoption of an eight-hour system in the
United States, England, France, and Germany ? In
order to understand the proposition clearly, we will
consider, first, its effect upon wages if it were adopt-
ed only in this country. According to the last cen-
sus (1880), the total population of this country was
50,155,783. Of this number, 36,761,607 were over ten
years of age, and 17,392,099, or nearly one half, of
252 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
those over ten years of age were engaged in the vari-
ous occupations. Of these, 1,017,034 were engaged in
the various professions, as lawyers, physicians, clergy-
men, teachers, journalists, actors, etc., and 1,479,634
were manufacturers, merchants, bankers, traders,
clerks, etc., leaving 14,895,431 who properly came
under the head of laborers. Of this number, however,
4,347,617 are farmers and others engaged in agricul-
ture, who work for themselves, and hence they cannot
be strictly classed as wage-laborers, although a large
per cent of them work for wages a considerable por-
tion of the time, and would be directly affected by an
eight-hour system. The remaining 10,547,814 are ex-
clusively wage-receivers. In other words, thirty-four
per cent of the whole population actually participate
in industrial pursuits. Twenty per cent of the whole
population — sixty per cent of those engaged in all occu-
pations — and seventy four per cent of all engaged in in-
dustries, outside of agriculture, work for wages. If we
exclude from this number the 1,075,655 domestic ser-
vants, there are still 9,472,159 persons actually engaged
in productive industries who work exclusively for wages.
The general adoption of this measure would properly
include the whole 14,895,431 ; but, in order to avoid
captious objections, we will consider its economic effect
upon the laboring classes, if only applied to the 9,472,-
159 who work exclusively for wages. This number
consists of 8,353,803 adults of both sexes and 1,1 18,356
children under fifteen years of age.
All considerable industrial and social changes pro-
duce two effects. One is immediate and more or less
temporary, and the other secondary and permanent, in
its character. Whether the latter is in harmony or con-
flicts with the former depends upon the economic
THE FIRST EFFECT OF EIGHT HOURS. 253
soundness of the measure adopted. Most legislation,
especially upon industrial questions, has been adopted
with special reference to its immediate effect, and
often in utter ignorance of the natural tendency of its
permanent influence ; and not infrequently the latter
has proved to be the mere reaction and its effect to be
the opposite of the former. Such has been the case
with all abnormal expansions and contractions of the
currency, and, indeed, with all attempts to regulate
wages, profits, interest, rent, etc., or to otherwise im-
prove society by means which do not first operate
upon and through the social opportunities and charac-
ter of the people.
The adoption of an eight-hour system, however,
would be an exception to this rule. Its immediate
effect, which is all that has hitherto been recognized,
would, as we shall soon see, be in perfect harmony
with its ultimate and permanent economic influence.
The first and immediate effect of the general adoption
of this system would be to reduce the working time of
the 8,353,803 adult laborers three hours a day, or about
twenty-seven per cent, and that of the 1,118,356 chil-
dren seven hours a da} 7 , or sixty-four per cent. This
would withdraw 25,061,409 hours of adult labor and
7,828,492 hours of child labor from the market with-
out discharging a single laborer. The industrial vac-
uum thus created would be equal to increasing che
present demand for adult labor thirty-one per cent,
and that of child labor fifty per cent. In other words,
without increasing either our home or foreign market,
but simply to supply the present normal consumption,
besides creating a demand for 1,118,356 children under
sixteen years of age to work the other half day with
those already employed, it would create employment
254 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
for 3,552,059 new laborers. In order to do this, about
twenty per cent more factories and workshops would
be needed, besides setting all our present idle machin-
ery in operation. This, it is needless to say, would
create a further demand for labor in the mines, quar-
ries, forges, furnaces, iron works, and other industries
that contribute to the building and equipment of the
new factories and workshops.
Now, enforced idleness is the greatest obstacle to
social progress. All careful students of social economy
have come to recognize the fact that nothing can per-
manently improve the condition of the laboring classes
which does not dispel that industrial terror, enforced
idleness, which is exactly what the uniform adoption
of this measure would succeed in doing.
According to the report of the United States Com-
missioner of Labor (1886*), there are in this country
about one million unemployed laborers, or about five
and one half per cent of the whole number engaged in
all occupations. This, it will be observed, is only a
little over one fourth (twenty-eight per cent) of the
number of new laborers that would be required by the
general adoption of this system. There are no exact
data as to the number of unemployed in England,
France, and Germany. It may be safely assumed for
* The exact language of the report is as follows : " Applying the
percentage arrived at (seven and one half per cent), we obtain a total of
998,839 as constituting the best estimate of the possibly unemployed in
the United Slates during the year ending July 1st, 1885 (meaning by
the unemployed those who during the time mentioned were seeking
employment), that it has been possible for the Bureau to make. It is
probably true that this total (in round numbers 1,000,000), as repre-
senting the unemployed at any one time in the United States, is fairly
representative, even if the laborers thrown out of employment through
the cessation of railroad building be included," pp. 65, 66.
THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED.
255
general purposes, however, that, on the whole, the
proportion to the number actually engaged in the vari-
ous occupations is approximately the same as in this
country.
According to the latest returns, the total number of
persons engaged in the various industries in the above-
named countries is as follows :
Countries.
France
Germany
England and Wales
Scotland ,
Total
Persons
Employed.
14,996,998
18,986,494
11,187,584
1,606,984
46,778,060
Per cent
of Popu-
lation.
43
42
43 h
43
Assuming the unemployed to constitute five and
one half per cent of this number, as in this country,
there are in those countries 2,572,793, which, added
to the 1,000,000 in this country, makes a grand total
of 3,572,793, being only 20,734 more than the number
of new employments created by this measure.
It is thus clear that the general adoption of an eight-
hour system for adults and half time for children under
sixteen years of age in the United States alone would
nearly absorb all the unemployed laborers in America,
France, Germany, and England, including Scotland and
Wales. This, we repeat, is not a fanciful speculation,
based upon an imaginary expansion of our home or for-
eign market, but it is what would necessarily result from
the natural operation of economic forces in the effort
to supply the present normal consumption. The em-
ployment of nearly four millions of new laborers would
necessarily increase the number of consumers, and
256 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
thereby enlarge the market for commodities to that
extent. That such a result would tend to increase
wages is very clear. Although wages would not neces-
sarily rise in the same proportion that enforced idle-
ness was reduced, all the influences would be in that
direction.
By the absorption of the unemployed and the con-
sequent diminution of competition among the labor-
ers for employment, the power of the direct influ-
ences that tend to promote the rise of real wages
would be increased. In other words, the power of
natural forces to raise wages increases as the opposing
pressure of enforced idleness is diminished. Mani-
festly, therefore, the adoption of the measure under
consideration, by absorbing the enforced idleness and
able-bodied pauperism in this and the three leading
countries in Europe, would at once tend to reduce
poverty, increase the consumption of wealth, and raise
wages.
If this would result from its application in the
United States alone, what, it may be asked, would be
the effect of its adoption in England, France, and
Germany at the same time ? Let the facts answer.
The number who work for wages in those countries,
according to the most recent data upon the subject,*
is in France, 8,700,515 ; Germany, 10,970,845 ; Eng-
land and Wales, 9,317,374, and in Scotland, 1,324,077,
making a grand total of 30,312,811. Of this number
there are of both sexes engaged in domestic service,
in France, 739,544 ; Germany, 938,294 ; England and
Wales, 1,803,810, and in Scotland, 176,565, making a
* The official returns in the respective countries as given in
J. Scott's latest " Statesman's Year-Book" for 1886.
CREA TES NE W EMPLO YMENTS. 257
total of 3,658,213, leaving, exclusive of domestic ser-
vants, 26,654,598 who work for wages. Exactly what
proportion of this number is composed of children
under sixteen years of age I am unable to ascertain.
Fortunately, however, we have those facts for this
country, which will serve as a safe basis for an approx-
imately correct general estimate.