252 The Labor Question 



measures have so far, on the whole, worked well. 

 Of course there have been individual difficulties, 

 mostly where the work is intermittent, as, for in 

 stance, among lock-tenders on the canals, where it 

 is very difficult to define what eight hours' work 

 means. But, on the whole, the result has been good. 

 The practical experiment of working men for eight 

 hours has been advantageous to the State. Poor 

 work is always dear, whether poorly paid or not, 

 and good work is always well worth having; and 

 as a mere question of expediency, aside even 

 from the question of humanity, we find that we can 

 obtain the best work by paying fair wages and 

 permitting the work to go on only for a reason 

 able time. 



The other side of our labor legislation has been 

 that affecting the wage-workers who do not work 

 for the Staie. Here we have acted in three differ 

 ent ways: through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

 through the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, 

 and through the Department of Factory Inspection. 



During the last two years the Board of Media 

 tion and Arbitration have been especially successful. 

 Not only have they succeeded in settling many strikes 

 after they were started, but they have succeeded in 

 preventing a much larger number of strikes before 

 they got fairly under way. Where possible it is al 

 ways better to mediate before the strike begins than 



