Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1839-09-17
Tile TRUTH.

one Of our articles anu So'a's- - -,
place 4 before our readers only because we
desire that truth should be inculcated, Many
vonno mo, consider themselves geniuses and
believe that they win become Websters,
Claws, Calhouns, Prestons and M'Duines' IN
the-next generation; parents think tne same
and their SONS are broughtup in idieness; hence
the world IS literally filed with professional
men--doctors. preachers, lawyers and legisia-
tors, and aspirants to scientific and political
distinction. and few are taught to gain Their
own living in the way the Maker Of the Uni
verse has ordered, while mechanics, tlllers OF
the soil, and the producers of the intrinsic
wealth Of a nation are scarce and rarely to be
met with, particularly in the South.
Meehimcs.--The Columbus (Missis-
sippi) Argus, makes some sound refiec'
tons in commenting on an article from
the Star, relative TO the Importance OF me-
chanic professions:
Everybody is talking about the Com,
mercial Emancipation Of the South, and
meetings and conventions resolve that we
are suffering grievously because the North
supplies us with fine coaches, mahogany
chairs, Lowell cottons, shoes, hats, and
ereyything necessary for our comfort or
luxury, and that we are sadly msused be-
cause the Northern people send their ships
to take our cotton to market. Now, how
are we to bring about this emancipation I'M
less we first commence the good work by
emancipating ourselves, our sons and
daughters from indolence? We cannot
but if we can raise among ourselves, hat.
tiers, tailors, shoemakers, blacksmlths,
coachmakers, chairmakers, printers, ship.
wrights and sailors, there will be fair
chance of attaining to the desirable re-
suit of Commercial Emancipation" and
| not before. Those who talk most about
the suffering south, are the last to put their
sons TO trades--nay, they would almost
disgrace themselves in their own opinion
if they gave their sons any profession at
ALL by the Saceat Of thy broU thou shalt
eat bread" was the curse the Almighty
pronounced against the. first man; and as
it is Gods will that we should thus live, let
us make labor honorable, that our sons
may feel they do not sacrifice dignity,
honor or station, by learning some art;
and that when storms and tempests arise,
and wealth and competency vanishes, they
fhave something left which the "world
cannot take away" and which can never
be lost.-namely, a Coop TRADE:"
There never was a doctrine more I'M
true than tine now, We trust, almost obso-
lete one, derived from the false distinctions
of monarches, that mechanic professions
are mental and beneath the station of a
true gentleman.-.-The truth is, they are
the only professions that have substance
and reality and practical utility. All else
seems, on reflection, 10 be mere specula'
Observation-Disclosures" leather and
prunela." The greatest men in the an.
nails of the world-the men who have done
most to enlghten it, and advance the pros.
perity and the Liberties Of the human race
have been mechanics. II is the direcfReSI
of mind the plain good sense their pursuits
inculcate, which has led TO those immortal
discoveries that have enriched and amelo
rated the condition of the whole human
race. Name but an Arkwright, Fulton
Watt, Franklin, Whitney, &c. DC.
and where among the closet men, the
academicians, the doctrinaires, do you fno
their equal. True Newton. Laplace, Gay
Lussac, Davy, &C., have discovered great
principles, but nothing that compares with
the comprehensive usefulness that has
come from the inventions of mechanic
minds. Let the sickly races Of a pam.
Ipcred nobility, turn up their noses at me-
chanics as they do at merchants. 1t is to
the arorking men only that the ''rod ofem.
pre-" has been given; and the revolutions
on the e ODE from mechanic inventions o.
steam and the press, and which are hourly
advancing with pace that exc ties aston.
ishment, prove incontestihly that the pro.
gress Of mind, of human liberty and civil
ize;ion, and ofmechanc labor are indisso
lubly welded.
TURKEY. Few viii regret the apparent
| crl1uhlinr To piecpS of tho Trrl. ich Et11