New-York tribune., 1841-10-01
APPEAL OF THE WING MECHANICS
t. the Whig Nominating Committee OF
New-Ko rk.

L iecterS AID tEeir Nominating SoHi!ltee luz 4ce'
sons which impel them 10 ask the selection of an
Assembly ,icke, composed in good part OF practi-
cal Mechanics and entirely % citizens decidedly
and consistently favorable to such change from
our present system OF State Prison Labor shall
depriye contractor. Of lucrative and prejudicial
monopoly. and relieve the Mechanics from the eP-
GRAFTON OF an unequal and most r'linoas comfe-
tiiion
We will not here 90 into thorough examine
ton OF the existing system of State Prison Labor.
Il i not necessary. II i now generally known
that the entire and most efficient labor OF sur
State Prison conyicts-each often Tor the whole
ters, Of his sentences leased ont to contractors
at agreed and very low r5ie--averaging some
twenty-five cents per day. For his Pitiance the
State furnishes 10 Contractors tho labor of some
hundreds of ingenious. abe-bodied men. all fed.
clothed watched and compelled to labor faithfully
wiihou; ether expense to the Contractors than the
meagre compensation already named. These
felon laboret- are employed in the mechanical oc-
cupations which our only means Of livelihood.
They can probably accomplish a much work daily
- We. The products Of their labor come every
where IN competition with our products. The
price Of ours-the reward OF our labor--i- maize
rally affected by theirs. II, for example, telon
Shoemaker. leased out by the Sta,a at - cents f
ay. makes two pairs Of shoes in that time. their
making costs the Contractor nut twelve and half
cents pair. He can richly afford to sell them at
twenty-five cents pair over the cost Of the mate
rias and be rapidly amas,ing fortune. But we,
who have families to support and believe ourselves
entitled to some share OF the comforts of life. are
thereby impoverished and deprived OF employment
The State Prison shoes made for twelve and half
cents pair arc sold we will sy for dollar pair
while those made by u cost the manufacturer i
dollar and quarter. Now it i idle 10 assert that
the average market price will not be affected by
The prison.made shoes, for uniform experience de-
rnon.trates the contrary. The buyer to sell again
soon find, that he can buy much cheaper of the
Prison manufacturer and he buys accordingly -
The consumer finds the Prison-madc shoes offered
at the lowest price, nnd he buys them. The neccs-
-ary result Is that the manufacturer By honest
mems labor find, his trade falling OF or ruined
He must sell much lower or not at all. He stops
ri. manufacture or demands that the work be done
by at starvation prices. Can any one fail to
sec that are deprived OF employment, Of its
ust reward, mainly by the operation of the State
Prison system
We have given but single view o; the evils in
lic,ed on US by the State Prison Labor now per-
formed. Its effect in filing our workshops with
prson-made associates competitors and rivals, we
nave not insisted on. The utter prestraiion and
abandonment to the Prisons Of some trades, we
navo not urged. Yet we think we have even here
addueed eaough to convince any tnir-mndcd, in
,clligent man. who intends to live and 10, live,
Ia, the present system must be abolished. Let
no one propose or hope for compromise between
right and wrong. One such device has already
been tried. and the result miserable mock
cry OF our hopes. Warned ~ that example, we
demand that the internal econom my of our Prison,
De now So modified that the products Of ielon labor
hall not come at all into market in competition
with the products Of the honest and free Mechan-
ic- of our State.
We ask of you, fellow citizens and friends. Your
your influence, and Your hearty coope-
ration in this good work of Relief and Reform.
We ak it on the common grounds already men
toned out We ask il of you also as members of
he Wing Party, 10 which we are attached by con-
,ictiou. By preference. by mutual eforts-by the
memory of reverse, nobly borne and triumphs man
fully achieved. We ask your cooperaionas Wings
ier the following
l. Because the Wing Party. with incon-idernble
exceptions. have been uniformly favorable to the
PROTECTION or AMERICAN INDUSTRY. Oar Po-
tcal Opponent, may proclaim themselves alvo-
,atcs of that strange sort OF Free Trade, which
consists in opening onr own ports 10 the ships and
of all the world leaving other nations
10 admit or shut gu, our productions at pleasure;
put the Wings a. Il body have uniformly and Justly
insisted on reciprocity OF benefits or a refusal to
admit freely those foreign products which come III
with our own. Others have adyoca
led the policy of buying where we can buy cheap
aSt; but the Wing. have always insisted that the
mere money value of the rival foreign and domes
nc articles did constitute an absolute criterion
that we nigh, buy for he fewest d.ars of for
egners who exclude productions, YET substan-
italy pay much more than in buying at a higher
nominal price of our own artisans. In other words,
j, i, no, the number of dollars paid for thing,
out the effect Of buying it on the reward. of Indus
Try in our own country-not how much i paid,
out how it is paid-iha; Is the great consideration.
Need we urge that these propositions cover the