The Toiler's Day
London, April SL - There was laid upo the table of the house of commons yes terday, in response to a motion by Henr; Broadharst, the representative of tb Liondon workingmen, a return showin the nuniber of hours worked per week i the chief trade and manufacturing circle from 1850 to 1890, as well as a resume o the effects of the restrictive measure adopted by parliament at various times The blue book opens by saying that i Lancashire the hours of the agri cultural laborer have fallen form sixty to fortyeight hours per week though it seeins this applies to winte work only, for in summer sixty hours a ■week is the rule. From sixty to flfty i sumnier and winter may be taken as th average hours of a laborer on land in Eng land. Labor About the Docks. The return as to the dockers ís very curious. ín 1850 the Liverpool docke worked from forty six ia suuimer to forty three hours in winter. Last year th hours are given as fifty-two and a hal and fifty three, and tlie men are not a] loweu a half hour for dinner on Satur days. In London the dock laborers work fifty-seven hours per week, the linhtermen from ninety-six hours toseventytwo. Th wharfingers, who in 1850 worked seventy two hours per week, only do that now in wiuter time, when ice chokes traffic anc öusiness is correspoudingly urgeüt. Oth erwise the tale of work is reduced to flfty íour hours a week. Bakers and Brickmakers. The baker ia London used to work sev enty-two hours a week, summer and win ter. They now have fifty-four hours a week. In Birmingham the bakers in 188C had to work eigtity and ninety hours a week. Now they have managed to cut their hours down to from sixty-flve to sev enty, and in some cases only from ninety to eighty. In the brickmakiug business ixty hours was reckoned a week's work ten years ago; now tbe working week ranges from forty-eight to fifty-four. In Scotland the hours in the building trades are from fiftyone to fortyfive. Men Hlm Build lioiises. Sixty hours a week was not thought too hard for carpenters in 1880. Now in London the working week with them is reduced to fifty-two and one-half hours alike in summer and winter, and in no case do carpenters work more than fifty-six and one half hours a week. except in Ireland, where at Sligo they work sixty bour per week. In the painting and decorating trade in London tbirty years ago sixty honra a week was the rule all round. ïhat was also the rule with plasterers, who now work only fifty-two and one-half hours in summer and fortyseven hours in winter. Slaters used to work sixty-one hours a week; they now work fifty hours. Stone masons vary in tbeir hours. In London their work consista of fifty-six and on-half hours, but stone carvers work only fortyseven hours. Hiiurs of Liilxir at Mines. The coal miners vary very mucb. In Northumberland the hewers used to work gixty hours a week; they dow work tbirtyeight hours. The boys have reduced their hours from seventy-two to thirty-two and one-half. The pumpingengine mea work sixty-six hours per week, out, then, in 1850 they worked seventy-two. The flremen still work eighty-four hours a week, as in 1850; in fact, the hours oL surface inen at collieries seem longer than in any other trade jn the country. In Lancashire the miners since 1-S50 have reduced their hours from seventy two por week to fifty; Beven and a half; in Staffortishire from sixty to forty-eigh', Iu Yorkshire sixty hours used to be the rule. These miners now usually work only forty-eight hours per week. No Relief for Railroaders. In Wales the hours are fifty-four aweek, and the saine holds good of Scotland. In the printing trade the hours liave been reduceil from sixty a week iu 1850 to fiftyfour in 1890. But amout; raüway men no prom'ess is recorded. Drivers stil! work sixty hours a week and signalmen in "twelve-hour boxes" seventy two hours a week. Amona; shipbuilders forty-flve hours a week seems the usual thing, only the hours vary in the different shipbuilding trades. In the textile industries the hours have fallen in the last forty years from sixty per week to fiftysix and a half.
Article
Subjects
Labor Reform
Labor Union
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus
Henry Broadharst
London