At that time, I was met with the same arguments which are now being made against the eight-hour day. The railroads and some other large employers are slow to learn, but abundant experience has shown that for the trades, professions, and crafts where skill, courage, caution, and close attention to business are required, the eight-hour day is the maximum for efficiency. Had the railroads accepted this principle, there would have been no trouble.
HOWEVER, RAILROADS GENERALLY YIELD TO NO PRINCIPLE OF PROGRESS THAT IS NOT FORCED UPON THEM BY LEGISLATION.
The Eight-Hour Law for railway trainmen just passed by Congress has been much misrepresented. During the many months of negotiations between the trainmen and the railroad managers, the railroad companies conducted a tremendous campaign in an effort to influence public sentiment against the granting of an eight-hour day to their employees. Their agents worked through chambers of commerce, many of them working through the night.
The railroad employees have been theirs is a harardous business. Their calling takes them away from their homes at all times of the day and night, in all kinds of weather. Their labor is performed under dangerous conditions. Their span of lift is short and full of grief. They have seen their brothers in other less hazardous callings secure the eight-hour day without a struggle, but they have been held to a day of indefinite hours so long as it did not exceed sixteen, and in cases of unforeseen trouble their day might exceed sixteen hours.
Men. 