The Twelve Hour Shift in Industry

M IN GENERAL STORKING CONDITIONS?IMPORTANCE IN INDUSTRY The people of the United States realize today more clearly than ever before that the main business and obligation of industry is to produce goods, and to produce them at as low a cost and in as great abundance as possible. But important as the production of goods obviously is, the effect of industry upon those who labor is hardly less vital. For many persons, that portion of their time devoted to labor constitutes a most important factor in their lives, either in what it introduces into their experience or in what it shuts out. That is, the conditions under which men live during that part of the day devoted to work, the character which the task stamps upon mind and body, the sort of life outside of the shop which men's occupations permit them and their families to enjoy, these things have almost as important a share in determining the comfort and well-being of society in general as does the quantity of goods produced. Hours of Labor?Interest in the Subject. This clearer appreciation of what may be called the human factor in industry has led in recent years to the changing of industrial practice along many lines: to workmen's compensation and accident prevention; to the cleaning up and beautification of factories; to the establishment of relations between employers and employees so planned as to make men feel that they have an important relationship to a greatenterprise. However, of...