CHAPTER IV.
HUGE PROFITS OF STEEL TRUST PROVE IT CAN EASILY AFFORD TO ABOLISH THE 12-HOUR DAY
Andrew Carnegie once said: "There are more ways of figuring cost than there are of killing a cat. It is simply a matter of bookkeeping." Apparently this was the principle by which the American Iron and Steel Institute was guided when it reported that the abolition of the 12-Hour Shift "would increase the cost of production on the average about 15 per cent."
Unbiased authoritative investigators have proven, and proven beyond a doubt, that the Steel Masters' contention as to the 8-Hour-Day entailing an increase of 15 per cent in the cost of production is simply another case of the Steel Trust stretching the truth to death.
Experts Show That Two-Shift System Is More Economical
In the investigation of the Federated American Engineering Society on the "12-Hour Shift in Industry" we find overwhelming proof to shatter the case of King Steel against the 8-Hour Day. Says this report:
"Robert A. Bull, in a paper before the American Foundrymen's Association, published the results of a change from two shifts on the open-hearth furnaces of the Commonwealth Steel Co., 'which,' he says, 'indicates fully a more economical and efficient manipulation of both open-hearth and boiler furnaces. Major Bull is an acknowledged expert and authority on open-hearth steel manufacture; twice President of the American Foundrymen's Association. He has been instrumental in changing other open-hearth plants from two to three shifts, even in the centre of America's competitive steel industry, the Pittsburgh District. He is still of the opinion that the savings in cost of operation, quality of product and uniformity of operation and output, fully compensate for the expense of working the 'continuous operation' laborers on three shifts instead of two shifts."
Enumerating the advantages of the 8-Hour Day which more than compensate for whatever apparent increase there might be in the cost of production the Engineers go on to say:
"As a matter of actual experience, it is known that some plants, or departments of plants, have changed from the 12-Hour to the 8-Hour shift and reduced their labor costs. Others are operating on the 8-Hour shift with satisfaction to their management and stockholders. Others have changed and reduced their total manufacturing cost."
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