Shorter Hours, Greater Productivity
By Christian Union
THE New York Times gives some interesting facts tending to elucidate a truth of which overworked Americans would do well to take note; namely, that too many hours of labor as surely impair productive industry as too few. Massachusetts is the only ten-hour State in the eastern cluster of textile districts, but the production there, per loom, per spindle, or per man, is not less than in other States, nor are wages less. A number of mills have actually reduced to ten and yet, paying the same wages as in the neighboring eleven-hour mills, have found their product and their profit satisfactory and not reduced by the change. A manager whose cotton-mill was running thirteen hours a day, and producing 90,000 yards of cloth a week, persuaded the directors to allow a reduction to eleven hours, and the weekly production rose to 120,000. In Switzerland similar results are reported. One mill reduced to ten hours, and the owners were surprised to find that the amount of wages paid by the piece remained the same as it had been under eleven hours. Another added an hour to the twelve, and the increased production hardly paid for the light. Work with a fresh brain, a cherry heart, and a vigorous body, always pays better than work with an exhausted brain, a depressed heart, and a worn-out body.—Christian Union.