SCIENCE -S UPPLEMENT. 



FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1886. 



THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY. 



Considering the interest which is everywhere 

 awakened in face of the coming determined agi- 

 tation for an eight-hour day, the pamphlet by 

 H. W. Fabian, on 'Der gesetzliche achtstundige 

 normal -arbeitstag ' (Social science publishing 

 company, New York), is quite opportune. It 

 constitutes the first number of a cheap series 

 devoted to economic and social questions. Apart 

 from its purpose of concentrating certain facts 

 concerning the development of legislation on this 

 subject, it is perhaps noticeable as indicating the 

 diffusion of the writing and theories of Marx. 

 His philosophy is accepted as laying the basis for 

 state action in economic matters. It is a debated 

 question, even among the labor-leaders, as to 

 whether they will be able to carry into successful 

 operation their plan for the general adoption of 

 the eight-hour day on May 1, 1886. This is the 

 date determined upon by the federation of labor 

 unions of the United States and Canada. Such 

 a thorough-going undertaking has immense diffi- 

 culties before it, if it is managed simply as an 

 economic movement. Many trades are not thor- 

 oughly organized ; large numbers of workmen 

 have no savings ; and of course, if a general strike 

 in all industries be resorted to, there could be 

 little hope of mutual aid. Again : the system of 

 piece-work is a standing obstacle. This is seen 

 in the case of cigar-makers who work in tenement- 

 houses. Mr. Fabian, therefore, urges the neces- 

 sity of combined political action : economic forces 

 alone are not sufficient. Those who are perplexed 

 and possibly exasperated by this movement should 

 make themselves familiar with the history of the 

 labor-day. Even so conservative an investigator 

 as Thorold Rogers has shown, that, in battling 

 for the eight-hour day, the workman is only 

 claiming his inheritance which he possessed less 

 than five centuries ago. The demand is not a 

 radical one ; and no question was ever more 

 temperately discussed than this at the recent 

 Washington labor congress. For more than a 

 quarter of a century the working-day in Aus- 

 tralia has been of but eight hours ; and last April 

 the anniversary of its introduction was celebrated 

 by artisans, manufacturers, and government offi- 

 cials. All these united in a declaration of its 

 success. E. Y. 



SHELL-FISH IN CONNECTICUT. 



The ; Fifth report of the shell-fish commissioners 

 of the state of Connecticut,' for 1885, shows that 

 the total area of oyster-grounds, for which appli- 

 cation has been made to the commission (or their 

 predecessors in certain places, the town committees) 

 exceeds a hundred and twenty-four thousand acres. 

 This, it is understood, excludes all natural beds 

 or property owned by towns for the common bene- 

 fit. Of the total, nearly eighty thousand acres 

 have already been granted, of which sixteen 

 thousand two hundred are under cultivation. 

 Such portions of the remainder as are held for 

 speculation, and not cultivated, revert to the state 

 after five years, at the order of court, on a 

 proper showing. In 1885 there were four hundred 

 and twenty-three tax-paying cultivators, and the 

 nominal price fixed on the grounds has yielded 

 the state over fifty thousand dollars. The com- 

 missioners recommend the repeal of that section 

 of the law which excludes non-residents from its 

 privileges ; as the local oyster-growers have had 

 full opportunity for securing such lands as they 

 could use, and, ignorantly or intentionally, non- 

 residents have secured ownership through a 

 merely fictitious compliance with the letter of 

 the law. Of taxes levied, all but fifty-five dollars 

 have been collected ; the tax produced nearly eight 

 thousand dollars the present year, and nearly 

 eighteen thousand dollars during the entire three 

 years. Much available ground still remains open 

 to designation. 



The experience of cultivators shows, that with 

 proper dredging vigilantly kept up, and a suitable 

 state supervision of the natural beds, the starfish 

 may be kept under so as to do but little damage. 

 A new pest was reported in the worm Sabellaria 

 vulgaris Verrill, which builds interlocking sand- 

 tubes with great rapidity, which, when numerous 

 enough, smother the oysters on which they rest. 

 One bed containing seventy-eight thousand bushels 

 was nearly destroyed in this way : but it seems 

 that such a result is very rare, as no further 

 serious damage from this cause has been reported, 

 and it is possible the loss in question was over- 

 estimated. 



The oyster-fleet of 1885 comprised 49 steamers, 

 with a capacity of 50,525 bushels. 



Mr. Bogart, the efficient engineer of the comis- 

 sion, reports on his part of the work, which is 

 chiefly occupied with the survey of the state 

 oyster-grounds, and the determination of bound- 



