ional and State legislation failed for many years to reflect its
growing economic strength. The scant success with legislation resulted,
on the one hand, from the very expansion of the Federation into new
fields, which absorbed nearly all its means and energy; but was due in a
still greater measure to a solidification of capitalist control in the
Republican party and in Congress, against which President Roosevelt
directed his spectacular campaign. A good illustration is furnished by
the attempt to get a workable eight-hour law on government work.

In the main the leaders of the Federation placed slight reliance upon
efforts to shorten the working day through legislation. The movement for
shorter hours by law for women, which first attained importance in the
nineties, was not the work of organized labor but of humanitarians and
social workers. To be sure, the Federation has supported such laws for
women and children workers, but so far as adult male labor was
concerned, it has always preferred to leave the field clear for the
trade unions. The exception to the rule was the working day on public
work.

The Federal eight-hour day law began to receive attention from the
Federation towards the end of the eighties. By that time the status of
the law of 1868 which decreed the eight-hour day on Federal government
work[71] had been greatly altered. In a decision rendered in 1887 the
Supreme Court held that the eight-hour day law of 1868 was merely
directory to the officials of the Federal government, but did not
invalidate contracts made by them not containing an eight-hour clause.
To counteract this decision a special law was passed in 1888, with the
support of the Federation, establishing the eight-hour day in the United
States Printing Office and for letter carriers. In 1892 a new general
eight-hour law was passed, which provided that eight-hours should be the
length of the working day on all public works of the United States,
whether directed by the government or under contract or sub-contract.
Within the next few years interpretations rendered by attorney generals
of the United States practically rendered the law useless.

In 1895 the Federation began to press in earnest for a satisfactory
eight-hour law. In 1896 its eight-hour bill passed the House of
Representatives unanimously. In the Senate it was introduced by Senator
Kyle, the chairman of the committee on Education and Labor. After its
introduction, however, hearing