1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



471 



on prices based upon the ten-hour day, 

 are losing money, and in some cases 

 are going into bankruptcy. Such 

 works are consequently very much de- 

 layed and in some cases are at a stand- 

 still. 



The newspapers reported only a 

 few days ago that laborers on Govern- 

 ment work on the Ohio River had 

 gone on a strike, because they were 

 cut clown from 10 hours to 8 hours, 

 presumably with a corresponding de- 

 duction in pay. In many cases the 

 Government and contractors are com- 

 pelled to give at least nine hours pay 

 for eight hours work. Even then, on 

 account of the great demand for la- 

 bor, it is very difficult to get men, be- 

 cause they would rather work io 

 hours in order to get the additional 

 pay. 



When labor is scarce the best la- 

 borers take only the better kinds of 

 work and so we have the condition 

 that on many works labor is more ex- 

 pensive, is harder to get, and is less 

 efficient. 



The result of the enforcement of the 

 Eight-hour law must be a very large 

 increase in the appropriations for 

 work already authorized by the Gov- 

 ernment and in all future work. 



It is certain that the work of the 

 Government will hereafter cost from 

 io to 20 per cent, more on all items of 

 labor than in the past. 



In the face of all this it is a fact 

 that the laborers are more contented 

 when working ten hours than when 

 working eieht, not only because they 

 can earn more, but because on most 

 construction work they are located at 

 a distance from centers of population 

 and there are no forms of occupation 

 or amusement available during the 

 non-working hours, except those of 

 drinking, gambling', and the like, for 

 which facilities are always supplied in 

 the neighborhood of construction 

 works by those who engage in busi- 

 ness of that character. Although a 

 large proportion of the workmen can- 

 not resist the temptation offered by 

 such resorts, yet many realize that the 

 opportunity to save money is greatly 

 diminished by an increase in the num- 

 ber of hours which are not devoted to 

 labor. 



This is practically true in all cases 

 of out-door work, where the condi- 

 tions are healthful as io hours work 

 under such circumstances not an un- 

 due physical strain. 



RECONNOISSANCE OF MARYLAND 



FORESTS 



p W. BESLEY, State Forester, is 

 * * making a brief, general study of 

 Maryland forest conditions an inves- 

 tigation which will call him, in turn, 

 to all the counties of the State. He 

 has just made a preliminary examina- 

 tion of the Eastern Peninsula, espe- 

 cially of Wicomico County, in which 

 he secured notes for the preparation 

 of a forest map to be published in a 

 report on forest conditions and possi- 

 bilities. About 5 per cent, of Wico- 

 mico County is woodland. 



Mr. Besley is immensely pleased 

 with forest possibilities in that re- 



gion. It is within the range of the 

 loblolly pine, where abandoned fields 

 grow up rapidly to this species and 

 make, in a few years, an excellent 

 stand. Such lands with a io-year-old 

 pine thicket upon them can be bought 

 for about $io per acre, and in 30 years 

 they will be worth, at present prices, 

 from $50 to $70 per acre for the tim- 

 ber alone. For a pine stand 40 years 

 old one man has been offered $60 per 

 acre for the timber alone. Timber of 

 the same age and quality on a five- 

 acre tract adjoining sold recently at 

 the rate of $71 per acre. The risk of 



