LOCAL INDUSTRIES.-No. 9.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6099, 4 June 1881, Page 6

LOCAL INDUSTRIES.-No. 9.

THE EIGHT HOUJJS SYSTEM. The hindrance caused by the eight hours system to new industries, or ;to. any industries whose conductors have to compete with foreign traders, arises from the : simple fact that an employer who has to pay, say JOs for. eight hours' work, gets one-fflA less result: out of his 10s than an employer who gets ten hours' work for the sanio sum, and is, therefore, put one-fifth, backward in the race for custom.

"Workinf: mcu argue that the greater energy they are capable of putting forth by working the shorter hours makes up fully for the shortness of time. This in any case is doubtful, but even if true as to manual labour, it is not true where special machinery is used, which ean only yield a definite amount of produce.per hour. If the workers declare that they could make the machines run so much quicker as to make them do ten hours'work in eight hoursj then their, foreign competitors, who work' ten hours; 1 cbtild equally well make their machines; do twelve hours', or > twelve and a-half hours' work, in ten hours, and ■still maintain successful competition.-.;.. ; . .-,.- •: i ;.■ : But the workmen may say that they-claim : the short hours on another basis. liiv.oliv countries the-working mail is down-trddderii-! and gets less than his sliare of the profits of' a , trade by, perhaps, a great deal more than a fifth ; and the-vrdrking ei=tht hours instead: of ten, at the same pay, gives more pay to the workman, even if his employer gets less,~ --the-sharing- of ■' profit is. more equitable. In some cases this■ is true, , but not in-all by a very long Way.; but even if. trueyu'a: serious <liiestion arises out of it: .While the; employer got the disputed snrplusisharei-.be generally added a large portion.of if to-fhie' capital, whereby either- more men : could be employed in future;; or i -those, already-j em-, could gethiglverwages. AVhereas.when 'tho gets it lie too often inotionljn < .thinks it iisbless to save; , : but: he4eels;that h<s: has a: perfect-right 3 to spend'eaeh rWeek's iwage'as "he- gets-iifr'; . and. that; share iof the jcapital distributed for consumption every, jweefe, -which alriount| to 'the unnecessary jfifth; is wasted.'and loit from the : country's i wages fund. This makes a serious difterence ;in : the'national wealth. If, however,-:■ the' ÜborJimewsave weekly the surplus fifth (which [they; extort from their capitalist employer: ;under?th& eight-hour systeini : and prevent ill-ira from saving); , and invest their savings hi \reprodnctlve enterprise,-then-tha country haisuffered no diminution of'its wealth •• for jthere"has_ simply;:been a transfer of saved: icapitaV from:one hand to'several, which, is a ■vast advantage to the country's'well-being—-■ ;if it is not bought'at too greata cost! "-. <' c: i The workmen'mayi however, have: I ground whereon to base their preference for- : short hours of labour. They ''■ iiiay say- , ' man , - I does not live-to eat" nor -to' spend- all his ■ tinie'grovelling for mere fojd and clothes;-to; jkeep' him and his-- , alive.'•■- JjOng :hoursi-of» I labour tend' to ' soul with: bod^ 31, ! shorter hours of labbur would amply provide for the body, and the leisure hours give o]> iportunity for.culture : and-elevation, -■ ■ :v?J ; Thia claim is sound and honourable, and : redounds to ■ the credit - and intelligence ■of ' those.who put ifcforward ; but unfortunately,■ very few of those 1, who support "this view have'any conception of what it implies; It implies either fcteir living on affth iessoi the food, clothing, fuel,'fee.', that they ; used to enjoy under the ton hours pay; ormalrnff some one else jxnj a fourth more for everything siiclv workmen produce,, so as' toenable the workmen to enjoy the same condition of comfort as formerly. ■' ■'■ •■■ ■.■.U^'','] " Suppose a farmer and a bootmaker agree to reduce their hours of work from 10 hoiirs i to S, while still valuing their labour at the same rate as before—say Is an hour. (We will leave out the consideration of material and tools, &c., to simplify- the illustration;) The farmer working short hours conldonly. plough § acres instead of 10 in a certain number of days,, he ■ could only grow 8 bushels of Wheat instead of 10. The maker conld only make 8 pairs of boots- in. a given time instead' of ten. If now they want to exchange their goods (and 3f before the shortening of their hours, a pair of boots was worth 10s worth of wheat), the farmer will still - wish to. give the -shoemaker 10a worth of wheat for a pair of boots. ■'■ While the shoemaker worked 10 hours a day, the 10s worth of wh eat he got for - the ;pair of boots made in' the day, was enough to pay all his expenses and supply him with'food for oiie day ; but nowhe must make taesame quantity spread over a day and a quarter,. for it takes Mm S hours in one day, and 2 hours in the next to finish the one pair of ■: boots so that he hiust eat and yw'd a> fifth less each day than he used to do. •• J '"'■ - ,

But suppose he refuses to diminish his '• food and expenses, and demands still 10s worth of Wheat for-his one day's work as! before • (that is'; 1 his : full former day's wage), i though it takes him a day and ii quarter to ; make the boots; then the farmer must pay , him not only Bs, the Value of the proportion of wheat grown byhini in workiug a eight hours, but 2s out Of the value of his \ own next day's work-{to make up £oi one. day, at 10s s of the shoemaker's demand), 1 'and atso a further 2s , 6d to payfor the extra' quarter-day at 10s, during which the shoe- : maker has to continue working to turn out; one pair of boots.. -

In the same way the farmer may say, "I am jiofr content to hiake.a pair of boots last me a fourth longer._than they used to do, in fact, I cannot do it, so to enable me tq pay, your high price for'bqpts I must raise myi price for wheat. Formerly I could grow in; -a given. time 10 bushels,.worth, at: 4s "ji bushel, 40s ; now I can only produce in a similar time : -S bushels, worth,, at the old valuation, 325. Yo.ii. must allow me 5s a : bushel, and so make my day's work worth what it was, and even then I shall get. the worst of the bargain, by .the price of lialf-a-' bushel by each pair of boots I buy." i

. This ia bad enough; but if an employer has to pay them these high' rates, he is putin a difficult position. , ; ff the business be such a one as is capabls.of yielding ina country where men; \M>rk : ,";'lo jiours, only just a sufficient ." net produce of iudustry" , to allo\y a most moderate share ; p£ profitto capitalistj-employer,, and labourer, rt.wilJ be quite impossible for a similar busiu'.'ss; to be carried On in an' B;hour country without an outrageous ." protection." Suppose? in the 10-hour country tlie net surplus amounts, to 15 per-cent, on each £100 employed,— '- divided into 5 per cent, interest on; the capital, £5 aa reward to the conductor, and 6d out of every 10s for the labourers to waste On their enjoyments, or to save. Then in the S-hour country each 8-hour man demands 10-hour pay, that is every Ss formerly paid must be increased. to 10s, or every 10s; payable in wages must be increased to 12s 6d. The labourer thus gets a. 25 per-cent, share :out: of a business that is only capable of yielding 15 per cent.; so that if the business goes on for any length of time, not only can neither capitalist nor employer get any return, but the capitalist ■is reduced 10 per cent, each time it is turned over. (That is, that part of it which consists of wages.) ; If the business yields even 25per cent, on every"turn over" of. the capital employed, the extra pay. to the artizaus absorbs the whole of- it, arid leaves nothing for capital or manager. Such a business manifestly cannot continue on such a basis, and certainly will not be capable of yielding a high rate of interest; and it will need a very great deal of such, "factitious support," as I mentioned in article_S,-. to enable it to stand at all. It is also manifest that such a business can never compete with its rival in a 10-hour country, except hij one means, and that is, if the raw' material worked upon is so vastly superior.; or so cheaply obtained, or the absence of rent or other charges be so marked, that .these alone give the local business an advantage greater than 25 per cent, over its foreign competitor. If it can do this,, then it is an. industry " suitable" to the country, and is fully entitled to protection by the State, since no loss would result from the carrying on of such business, either to the capital of the country or to the poetets of consumers of the articles produced, if it cannot command this exceptional advantage, or if the raw material be imported from the competing country, then it could only be enabled to continue, as a trade employing labourers working eight hoursaday, by three means,, almost all : equally unlikely-'to:find acceptance, ;' .- . .; \ ' ; f ■ y': ■

Ist. If the essential disabilities of the trade (namely, ..the eight-hour system, or the non-supply of eheap raw material) prevented it from existing without 25 per eenti protection, then all consumers would have to pay 25 per cent, liiore for the commodities produced ; and a 23 per cent, protective tax .would.have to be imposed, over and above a tax that would be required to convert local demand to it.

2nd. If the drawback inflicted bv the short hoursjwere made up for by the men only taking eight hours pay for eight hours work, audxhe raw material used were sufficiently cheap, (the owners of the plant employed would still lose a fifth part of the return due to their capital lying idle for two hours a day, bat)

eight hours 'S2JS& then a protective ta'i £'% & t7le couritW" : - ■« ■ cent, would-enable fte $&?£ 6i .» p 4: s * ■ the result being; that aTS,,* 0 coa "-.'>'£>' pay dearer for the wa r<s \sr^ U^ 6rs '*°oIS ■"» county's capital the' i f^^£&-^%«^ : --3 tbatartizans.might havei™™♦pelves,' Eo ; m.ght eat,, drink, and # ar ~tr the ■ nothing-of waste? ": - " say ' wimnjt StiSoSSuf e ' - : only eTyht hours'pay ? ■ of • / In the third ca£e Wc-uH +1,,; ■■'.-' lieve that the w,S *,»% , capitalise what was taken out V* * : pockets ? out oJ -onsnmera?, .K the public are satisfied da to" all " of these positions, then- theV inavik , . special tax for this, oiie S sl edition to Protective^^,^ "w ■ - Several .other grounds, 1 f°r;oa . ' .. : ..'K.tte , V pr.jf paruatteata^ sfied ' ' is not great .enough ' pprtipn, of thb;.ua\nmni; SriL nfficie P - boerce the «. to . .:•■■■ hot natural facilities bav ° ; > • for its ravages; ictUMi-e n P '■ - : the .e gh^hpu^s^t^Wth^pent • S p e a,3l;ta X ,.%hiie-they • Aimmish their consumption^"to ' ■ *a™tali S e^ e^on^&>Se >inuseonSiS :^ to their; fhen.&d ' ':; rank ,vith some SS : l good deal about..' -•■-?""■■-•'>■■ ... ■ _.* ■■■ ihoar labour, : WefeS . ,theiropportiinities sscdre to-ftons ; P - y clijrerence between 20 per ;; eention each tarn : .over qf ; ,hpr yages fuod and,the profit she . ; * ;may beuble to obtamfromsueh Sources : ' ihapperito yield more than, they absorb ■ ; daliour is not for-by a 25 p£r : : .superiority in its of pro* idisbnguished worked)' ' :cost;of material ana;fcfei&V'are not inade , ■. "P for by the <protectu>f?;!ix£6td(d them b, the freftf and resulting from distance from the'jcompeting country ca a - ■ ' -not. demand o£ ! sound commercial econbeiy; ;• :: , ? '■ i;: If,tKe protection is-sought on the gvovtod of rocm( economy,; for affording tlie opportunitv • fat, intelleetiial advance of : the workinff cesses, or for shutting put the- competitioS jof Svhc^e 1 competition, would canse us ■'■' • to-be uragffed,down in the scaleof humauitj* ' ; then atotally.different set -of. considerationa ' ■" : comes. tniTheii the policy woifld be commendablo,;3ad,cre"drtiable:;to the nation; forthea the nation'and'the-individualg-in it would make hidwn sacrifices-for well 1 defined 1 advantages; buftJie protective -tasatitin of all industries JocUities. are not of such n'atiire-thdl-n -• mere .increase, of devidnd. for their produetions, Would; niake them payable and would simply cause one of twojevils.'. B wq'uld either make all con- ■ siimefs pay an eitra price foir theirgdods, • wfiieh-would yield ; to-the treasury a sum diminished • by: tho. Cost'of collecting (and : thus-■ waste-the * nation's money); or, by simply diverting the deman<3 from imported goods to locally; made yield nothing whatever to the revenue; .while sMriijilatiiig trades in which a percentage of waste.'ehual-to the rateof duty, would take place each time in article <yaa mude and Bold, "iause^^-further waste, by drawing capital trades to un- : : profitable onesj-andy no favourable change eoiild ever ODiueJ'iii-the: inefficacy of'the CDgagea, the trades thus artificially?start;ed could never become Sufficiently established to stand alone, and the cbuntry's' \Vealth would be ' c.:■■h.iW- - . Ecoxomist.