I08 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [24O 



when the rolls started at five in the morning. After allow- 

 ance for the time required to heat the furnace before the 

 rolls began to operate, and the necessary time for drawing 

 the last heat, this regulation did not limit working hours 

 beyond a twelve-hour day. Resort was next had to limit- 

 ing the daily output in the several mills — bar, nail, plate, 

 and guide — to a fixed tonnage." This measure likewise 

 proved ineflfectual, since the work-men either employed 

 the same time by working less vigorously or — even more 

 commonly — violated the fixed limit. Finally, after repeated 

 efforts, spurred on by the widespread agitation of the 

 American Federation of Labor for the eight-hour day, the 

 union, in 1892, adopted the so-called " nine-and-a-quarter- 

 hour " system for all finishing departments.^" This clause 

 fixed the length of the work day at " nine hours and fifteen 

 minutes from the regular time the mill begins to roll until 

 the first furnace commences to charge the last heat." This 

 rule has remained valid up to the present. ^^ 



The Amalgamated Association, in its attempts to intro- 

 duce the eight-hour day in finishing mills, encountered diflfi- 

 culty analogous to that experienced in the boiling division. 

 The movement met with opposition both from the employers 

 and the workmen. At the St. Louis convention of the 

 American Federation of Labor, the representatives of the 

 Iron and Steel Workers registered their votes in favor of 

 the eight-hour day " in order to have the matter go out as 

 being unanimous, but with the distinct understanding that 

 it was utterly impossible [for the union] to enforce the 

 movement in the mills at present, owing to the diversity of 

 work and the irregular hours " of employment of the mem- 

 bers "who work on the tonnage system. "^^ All members 

 were urged to attend the mass meetings and show by their 

 presence that the union " at heart " favored the propaganda, 



» Proceedings, 1878, pp. 176-177. 



'f ProccedinRs, 1892, p. 3856. 



"Western Scales of Prices, 1916-1917, pp. 21, 22, 32; the clause is 

 inserted in scales for bar and 12-inch mills, specialty mills working 

 pipe or skelp, guide, ten-inch, hoop, and cotton tie mills. 



12 Financial Statement, January 31, 1889, pp. 6-7. 



