It was found that everywhere, even abstracting from all
other cultural and social interests, a moderate shortening of the
working day did not involve loss, but brought a direct gain. The
German pioneer in the movement for the shortening of the workingman's
day, Ernst Abbe, the head of one of the greatest German factories,
wrote many years ago that the shortening from nine to eight hours,
that is, a cutting-down of more than 10 per cent, did not involve a
reduction of the day's product, but an increase, and that this
increase did not result from any supplementary efforts by which the
intensity of the work would be reinforced in an unhygienic way.[41]
This conviction of Abbe still seems to hold true after millions of
experiments over the whole globe. But the problem of fatigue has
forced itself on the consideration of the men of affairs from still
another side. It has been well known for a long while how intimate the
relations are between fatigue and industrial accidents. The statistics
of the various countries and of the various industries do not
harmonize exactly, but a close connection between the number of
accidents and the hours of the day can be recognized everywhere.
Usually the greatest number of injuries occurs between ten and eleven
o'clock in the forenoon and between three and four o'clock in the
afternoon. The different distribution of the working hours, and of the
pauses for the meals, make the various statistical tables somewhat
incomparable.
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