Shorter hours of labour.
The demand for a reduction of the hours of labour, which has been so strongly and successfully urged by certain classes of our operatives, is not universally supported either at home or abroad.
The average length of a working day in Switzerland is twelve hours, exclusive of the time for meals. The general tendency is to a reduction of hours, and laws have been passed, limiting the length of the working day in some cantons to twelve hours. These changes are, however, almost entirely due to the efforts of local politicians. A proposal of this nature recently made in Zurich, and sanctioned by the Cantonal Legislature, was eventually thrown out by the popular vote.
At Rouen, Mr. Redgrave found no strong desire for a diminution of the hours of labour in the cotton factories. The operatives were chiefly solicitous for a rise of wages. On this subject the workpeople of all countries seem to entertain similar views. Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, in their report on the condition of operatives in English factories, say that the workpeople are by no means unanimous. Among the women especially, many are apathetic, and some are positively opposed to a limitation of the working hours.
In the United States, at Lowell, near Boston, I ascertained by personal inquiry on the spot, that the working hours were sixty per week, and that no indication had yet been given of a disposition among the operatives to reduce the hours.