EIGHT HOURS' DAY

Bruce Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 1859, 27 May 1887, Page 4

EIGHT HOURS' DAY

A writer in the ' Argus ' commenting on the annual demonstration in favor of tbe eight hours' system says : — Can it be that the Eight Hours festival is but a three hundred and sixty-fifth of the year, added to the seventh of the week and the eighth of the day, and devoted to amusement, to abandonment of all the cares and purposes of life, to play, in short, in its crudest or fullest sense ? Pity if 'tis so, indeed, for then we are left without answer to those bold, blasphemous, or pertinent observers, who point to the fat and cheeky larrikin on the street corner, and say, "eight hours," to the gamblers in Chinese dens, the prowlers in public gardens and reserves, the artless labourers with their thoughts on one matter only, the hands of the clock saying "eight hours, eight hours." These are the results of your eight hours. Eight hours robs progress of large supplies of legitimate effort ; eight hoiur, makes opportunity for full play of all the mischievous propensities of nature ; eight hours permits Jeshurun to wax fat and kick ; but to train, to educate, to elevate himself! Where are the witnesses 1 They were not found at the fete in the Friendly Societies' grounds yesterday. No evidence there that any recognition had been made of the duties the new liberty entailed, and of the dangers which would certainly attend emancipation from labour with no worse provision for unoccupied houi's. They danced and they sang, they ate and they drank, in and about the white pavilions, making such a pleasant show against the dark greenery of the gardens. They rode in swing boats and merry-go-rounds, and watched fche races, and crowded into the circus and the shows. They were a merry multitude, an innocent and orderly multitude, bufc their relationship to the emblems and figures of the banners was not perceived. Possibly there are other times and seasons when display of this sort is made. Probably it is in contemplation to set apart another day for the worship of the tutelary divinities of the system. One day to rejoice about the victory, another to show how the new ground it gains has been occupied and used. Walking through the mixed multitude of holiday folks, many reflections such as those just recorded were necessarily made. Reflections crowded, indeed, for the multitude was vast, and its elements numerous and curiously mixed. None of them at all, save perhaps the blind man at the gate, exhibited symptoms of poverty or distress. They were well fed, well supplied apparently with all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life. The sort of people one may move amongst with perfect confidence, as our Governor did, sitting at ease in his carriage, composed and content. But if they were sitting and arranged a little bit, if the past, or the passing generation, were separated from

( the present and rising race, the men of 50 and upwards, say, from those of 30 and downwards, a difference is felt which is significant and painful and plain. There is something in the face of the carpenter who has been taught to build a circular staircase, to make a panneled door, or a window sash that will run easily till the wood rots, which is not found in the factory hand, who works eight hours a day at a morticing or planing machine. And the Dumfries stonemason, who can read Virgil without notes, has a different look from his young Australian male, who can whistle all the airs of the music-hall )and waltz right round the assembly hall without the slightest deviation from the chalked line. The ordination of nature gave the Scotchman the leisure which, in his own way, he used. Organisations of the trades has given the young Australian the leisure which they also use in their way. It it the best way ? There are old-fashioned folks who say id is the worst — the high road to degradation and destruction. But old-fashioned people are always narrow in their views. The question is, at least, worthy of consideration of all earnest men. It would be an admirable subject for a popular speech. What is done, and what is to be done with the leisure — the eight hours which have been taken, the new division of the day and night, which seems rather against nature, which at least makes a place, or leaves a hiatus for which her simple ordinances have not provided.