inp 
L*ural 
EXCELSIOR 
II l*nrk How, Now York. 
IliilVnlo Hi., ItochcMtcr. 
NEW YORK CITY AND ROCHESTER N. Y 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JULY 2 
,jT Clerk’s Office erf the Platrlot CooTt of Ik e Unitea States for the Southern District of New York .] 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, 
who works in the field, no muUer what the 
length of a legal day's work, will work as 
many hours as he has strength to work it lie 
is paid tor it.; and lie will do the more work 
per hour In proportion as he knows that its 
performance is not compulsory. 
We do not say that the limner shall do 
more work than lie does now. lie will not 
be likely to do more Hum lie regards it 
THE TEN-HOUR SYSTEM 
I SEE in Uithai. of June ID, that the Now York 
Farmers’ Club have takon the subject of “ work 
by the hour" In hand. You also have an able 
editorial on the subject, which, whilst it ex¬ 
presses no opinion as to how many hours shall 
constitute a day’s work on the farm, brings the 
point fairly and squarely before the lanners 
and laborers, to lie discussed and decided by 
themselves. 
The question, however. Is one which will he 
found very dilhcult or solution, more ('specially 
In tills country, as the herd for several hours in 
the middle of the day U so Intense (hat both 
men atld horses have to take It very cool, or run 
the risk of going under. Now, lot us take the 
eight-hour system, which is the especial favorite 
of tho masses, and seo how it. will work upon 
the farm. 
Commence tho day, say at, seven o’clock A. M., 
and tho horses aro to ho fed, curried and geared ; 
this will consume at least one hour, and leaves 
throe hours for Held work during tho lirst half 
.• a.... ,\f ,.levi,n o’clock stop for two 
And every man will do all that lie finds* it 
profitable to do, if lie is not indolent or 
vicious in liis habits. It is true, however, 
that there is not one employer in one hun¬ 
dred, in any department of industry, who 
does not devote more hours to hard labor, ot 
some character, than his employes. And 
while we see no reason why a farmer should 
do more work because he pays his men by 
the hour and for all the hours they work, 
we do see that the system which may result 
from such adjustment of labor, may make 
his (the farmer’s,) work less, and lighten that 
of his household. 
If ii farmer bites a man by the month,and 
the ten-liour system is applied to bis labor, as 
it ought to be, then the laborer must give two 
hundred and sixty hours’ labor tor his month’s 
wages. The fanner pays him accordingly. 
If the man finds it profitable to work twelve 
hours per day instead often, and the farmer 
finds work to employ him these extra hours 
profitably, let the man Vie paid tor the extra 
work. There is neither injust ice nor oppres¬ 
sion in such adjustment, of the relations ot 
the employer and the employed. Knowing 
just what labor he lias a right to expect from 
his employe, whom lie hires to do a month’s 
labor, the adjustment of price between them, 
which is always a matter of agreement, may 
be just as equitable, so far as future profits 
to the farmer arc concerned, as it can by 
anv nossihilitv be under the present iudefi- 
We should certainly oppose any enact¬ 
ment which should compel any nun to work 
a less number of hours per day than he and 
his employer might agree upon, just as we 
should oppose any enactment which should 
prevent a farmer selling two bushels of grain 
for the price he ought to get for one bushel. 
Bat if the farmer sells us a bushel of grain 
for a stipulated price, we want to know just 
what a bushel of grain is and how much we 
arc to expect lbr our money; and the farmer 
wants to know just liow many pounds of the 
cereal he is to let. us have. So if we hire a 
man to do a day’s work on our farm, we 
want tho day measured, so that we may 
know precisely lmw many hours’ service he 
is to give us for the stipulated price; and 
the man we employ has a moral right to 
know what measure of labor we have a right 
to and he must give. 
A discussion about, the effect of the appli¬ 
cation of this law of legal measurement to 
purchased time, and the expression of appre¬ 
hensions as to its demoralizing effect upon 
farm industries, seems to us just as silly as 
to discuss the question of t he legal measure¬ 
ment of grain, vegetables, fruits, etc., when 
ottered on the market for sale. 
There Is a good deal else in the foregoing 
communication which wo neither concede 
nor indorse. But we print the article entire 
for the purpose of fastening attention to this 
it, was several milos distant; and there, in bil¬ 
liard saloons and scenes of dissipation, spend tha 
evening; no matter If they be late til getting 
home, they have till seven next morning- ere 
they corn mence. And if our young men would 
go to ruin, might notour young women also? 
And then what would become of us as a nation ? 
Why, sir, wo would in a few yours be among the 
nations that were. Our very name would boa 
by-word and a reproach amongst the children of 
men. 
Home time ago Congress passed u law making 
eight hours a legal day’s work in tho Govern¬ 
ment yards; previous to that ton hours was the 
rule. Now, 1 usk who pays the men that, work 
in the Government yards? Is It Congress? No, 
sir; it is the people—tho farnw'H. And tell mo, 
I pray, what right had Congress to take from the 
millions of hard-working, iate-and-early fann¬ 
ers and give to the mechanics and laborers in 
the Government employ ? They had no light at 
all. H would have shown more wisdom on their 
part to have made an investigation into tho 
workings ol’ the system, thou enforce It, and see 
that the people actually got ihoamoanLoi' work 
they were paying for, in tlio suite ratio as pri¬ 
vate workshops of the same branches were re¬ 
ceiving. Ho' the ends of cert ain political dema¬ 
gogues would have been frustrated by such 
action, which ends were bet ter accomplished by 
passing the eight-hour law- not that they were 
prompted by love to their poor laboring fellow- 
men, but that they wanted their votes to send 
them back to Congress, there to suck out more 
of tho life-blood of the nation. 
I do not wish to be understood as want ing to 
keep the laboring man's nose on the grindstone 
all the time; pot at all. I want fair play for all. 
ought to bo for another; for why should a man , 
who hires by the month do more work than lie | 
who hires by the day ? < 
And now pray in wliat way would the laboring ] 
classes be benefited by such a law? For my 
part I cannot seo it in a favorable light any way 
I can view It,. I can see nothing but oppression 
for the honest poor man in the working of such 
a system, for to carry out this theory aright 
there must be a general law forbidding all pui- 
tlos to work any longer than the stipulated time. 
And if it Is wrong for one nnui to work more 
than eight hours—especially if that man has no 
business matters to vox and trouble his mind 
with—how much more important, nay, neces¬ 
sary, that the farmer who owns the crop, has tho 
taxes to pay and everything lose©to in general, 
should be withheld from injuring himself and 
his family by working lute and early to raise 
crops to get money to pay The tuxes, to support 
the Government officials, whoso name are " le¬ 
gion," and who, should ho fail to pay, will sell 
Iris homestead and turn his family out- in the 
cold. This man bus a great incentive to work 
late and early, especially if he is a man ot gen¬ 
erous disposition, r. good husband and a loving 
father. I say therefore that to secure tho thor¬ 
ough working of this law aright astringent Na¬ 
tional law is necessary to require its observance 
by all, that all may derive benefit from its work¬ 
ings alike. 
Suppose such a law in force, how would it af¬ 
fect the poor laboring mart? I venture to say 
not one-fourth the amount of grain would tie 
sown, as farmers would aim to raise no more 
than necessary. Where, then, would tho price 
go to? And farmers would not. hire one day to 
two now. This would certainly be against the 
honest laboring man rattier than In his favor. 
And finally the poor man himself would rise up 
against such a law. 
Now for the social point of view: Our young 
mob having nothing to do after five o’clock, 
would find they had time to go to town, oven if 
said yards receive for ten hours. It Is barefaced 
robbery of tho people — yes, I must say It, of 
the farmers; for the farmers are tim foundation 
on which the wliolo country reBt*. They are 
they who boar tho brunt of a taxation that sup¬ 
ports the country; and it is they who have been 
robbed; it is they who have been wronged. 
Now the source of wealth, in this country, 
being in the soil, it behooves every farmer to 
work late and early when ci’ops are being 
handled. Not only is it to the fanners’s interest 
alone hut to the interest of every man, woman 
ami child in the land that the fanner should be 
successful In securing a bountiful harvest in 
good order, since tho same will enrich not only 
l ho farmer but tho whole country lu general. 
And if any more laws are needed on the subject, 
one is surely required to compel ull loafers and 
those not having employment in cities, towns, 
villages and croHS roads to turn out into tho 
country and work. Huoh a law, properly en¬ 
forced, would not only cheapen the staff of life 
but have a very wholesome effect on the class 
of persons in question. 
Permit me to state that ten hours* work in the 
field should be required, and the chores extra. 
Hay get up at. five lu the morning, feed, curry, 
gear, do the other chores, cut breakfast and be 
ready for the Held by seven o’clock ; half-past, 
eleven for dinner; half-past one be In the field 
again; at half-post five another half hour lost in 
eating supper, and at seven o’clock turn out. 
Thou tho stuck to bo attended to, which need 
not take Long, and thus both farmer and hands 
enjoy a short respite ero going to slumber. But 
this is something Teamed, sue law-makers can 
do much with. In the winter, days are short; 
