Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-08-24

Inal respects no ODllgatOnS; beside I'M
utmost devotion to freedom, the despo
tsm that acknowledges no rights; beside
the most enlarged philanthropy, the cruel
ty that turns the world into a charne
house; beside The lberalty that fills al
empire with its monuments, the avarict
that slarves mankind by millions.
We have no right TO be idle spectators
of these things; for though they are no
specially sent for our improvement, vel
we should be criminal to overlook them
Our duty is 10 regard them as warnings
and to institute rigid sef.examination
for the purpose Of purging ourselves Of
any thing like them, and Of preventing
their introduction. Have we then any
thing similar? Some of the States have
criminal codes which command similar
cruelties in whipping, cropping and
branding, and the nation is dsgraced by
a code which commands the whipping of
sailors. We ought to be ashamed of hav-
ing retained such remains of barbarous
ages, snd while retaining them, should be
sparng of taunts against the British for
cruelties of deeper die. And we do not
taunt them in spirit of hospitality. Our
object is TO hold up such crueltes wher.
ever perpetrated, TO the execration of hu-
manly, as the means of returning them.
We may also mention the punishment of
death as a remnant of barbarism which
iit, 10, init and fOoI
Ings with the spirit of cruelty. But to
purify our country Of these barbarous re-
mains is not sufficient. We must omit no
exertlon to prevent the introduction of
that poisonous fountain, aristocracy,
whence flow all the waters of bitterness
that inundate England. If once an aris-
tocracy be established in our country, we
mean entrenched behind the bitches and
ramparts of law, it will grow and expand
and fasten upon every thing, tilE it produ-
ces the whole system ofEnglish contempts
and factory cruelties and legal butche-
lies. Aud how can it be established?-
BY Banks and protective Tariffs; by in
stitutOns that will increase the wealth
Of the rich and the poverty and number
of the poor, and by laws that will enable
one TO command the services Of thou
sands at the expense of the whole? Under
the protective system, that system which
robs the many for the benefit of the few
has grown the enormous manufacturing
wealth and the appalling manufacturing
poverty of England. What shall prevent
the system from producing the same re-
suits in our OWE country? The present
generation Of operatives are well educa
ted, aud labor in factories from choice
and not necessity. But will the next gen
Grafton resemble them? Wilt lose none
of fthese elements Of character which dis.
tingush it from the present oppressive
generation of England, and constitute lis
security against the deteriorating in1u-
ence OF the corporate factory system?-
lflt lose any portion Of lhem, the next
generation will lose still more, and the
deterioration will proceed till all be lost.
Let us then be wise in season, and care
fuIlyprevent the introduction of the sys
TEN, not by prohibiting manufactures,
but by leaving them to their equal chance
with other business, by granting them no
monopoles, by excluding children under
ten years of age from labor in factories
and by prohibiting the employment of
minors in any labor beyond eight hours
daily. The remainder of their lime, de.
voted to education and necessary relaxa-
ton and rest, would be spent more use
fully to the public, than if it were con.
sumed in factories for the benefit CT
rich few, at the expense of health and
morals.
A potent auxiliary of the factory sys-
TEN, and consequently a potent engine
in creating aristocracieS, is the banking
system. With tariff to create monopo-
lies, and banking system to enable the
monopolists to control the currency, we
shall before another generation passes,
have a "dynasty of associated wealth."
which, in the plenitude its avarice, will
infict upon Us all the cruetes which le-
gal and conventional aristocracy has i'm
posed upon England. We are free now.
Let us remain Sc, for freedom is more
easily maintained than recovered.