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Labor History - 14: Ten Hour Day III

November 2, 1970

Labor History - 14: Ten Hour Day III

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Title
Labor History - 14: Ten Hour Day III
Creator
Wright, Fred, 1907-1984
Contributor
Lerner, James, 1911-2003 (contributor)
University of Pittsburgh (depositor)
Contributor
Lerner, James, 1911-2003
Date
November 2, 1970
Identifier
ue13.3.1.014
Description
This cartoon depicts the spread of the 10-hour day through legislation in various states such as New Jersey and Ohio, resulting from pressure on state legislatures. Caption 1: The 12-hour day was being whittled away slowly in the late 1840's. At Trenton, N.J. the "Friends of the 10-Hour System" came into being in 1848. At public meetings, through political action and strikes this was made the major issue. The Democratic Party was persuaded to nominate shoemaker Charles Skelton for Congress in 1851 on a 10-hour day platform. He was elected. Caption 2: Pressure on the N.J. state legislature by the Trenton Workingmen's Assn. resulted in passage of a state law the same year setting 10-hours as the normal work day. By the beginning of the Civil War (1861) the 10-hour day had been won for skilled mechanics but most factory workers still labored 11 or more hours. It had taken 30 years of hard work to cut the average work day from 12 1/2 hours. Caption 3: During those years Pennsylvania set 12 years of age as the minimum starting age for working in commercial jobs (1848). Ohio came through with a 10-hour day limit for working women. The employers were tough. They held firmly to every minute of labor but while the fight was hard, it was uniting workers and laying the basis for the country's first national unions. UE News, Vol. XXXII, Issue No. 22
Type
still image
Genre
comics (documents)
comic strips
layouts (printed matter)
Subject
Politics and Legislation, Average Work Day
Source
Labor History Series (Series 13.3.1), Fred Wright Publication Plates (Subgroup 13.3), Fred Wright Papers (UE.13)
Collection
Fred Wright Cartoons
Contributor
University of Pittsburgh
Rights Information
In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/