New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-07-14
The Want of Employment.

eminent appears about TO take measures u sup
press all hawking and peddllng through our
streets and break up all the book-stails Deer
founts, fruit-stands, &c. which so generally en-
curpbeT the sidewalks if not the carrlage-Ways OF
our most crowded thoroughfares. Now the result
here aimed at is laudable, but our rnlers begin at
tho wrong end to accomplish it. We will go
heart and hand for the clearing Of every huckster
ar pedder out of the streets Just so soon as the
Civ has provided honest undcgrading Labor Tor
every person who, not being able to do better, is
willing to work for the public for bare subslst-
ence until he can do better. Until that Is done,
great as is the nuisance of strect-peddllng, and
hardly as it bears on those who pay rent for stores
and are deprived of custom by peddlers' VIC "'A
not assent to any measure of the KIND proposed
For. consider the other side of the question.
Here is poor widow, with half dozen children
depending on her for subsistence. She has no
means, no friends no work. She can Just exc
out subsistence, until something better offers,
by selling fruit something else, IN the street.
but is utterly unable to have store and stock It,
Now it is a hardship, nuisance, or what you
may please, that this widow should obsirnct
public thoroughfare with her stand and draw or
the custom of a regular dealer and taxpayer by
her sales-bu it is far more formidable evil that
she and her little ones in default Of this resource,
should be in danger Of starvation. Rather than
so let thousands suffer inconvenience and a dlmn-
ution of gain. Who can gainsay tins
But says some burly, pot-bcllicd, wcll-to-
live citizen, let her work for living-any body
can get work that really tries to- Under favor,
sir, let us assure you that you are mistaken we
6nos better. There are thousands, yes, tens OF
thousands, now in this City, who cannot find en-
plovrnent. even at such rates as will afford them
a bare subsistence. We speak from an extensive
and intimate acquaintance, and cannot be ms
taken. If we were to admit that they do not seek
in the best manner, it would amount to nothing,
since they seek as well as they know how They
eagerly desire employment, for they are destitute
and furnishing, or living on some shred OF crcdlt
or charity. Most of them are willing to take
hold Of any thing that may offer, but nothing Of
fers, and they have paced the streets, often Tor
months, Intellectually and are ready to lie down
IN despair. Some of them have parted with gar
,nent after garment until they have barely suffi-
Gent left to cover them deccnty
Then let them 90 into the country says
Dives many Of them have come here because
they could find no work elsewhere, and have no
better prospect, 90 where they will. How shall
q widow with several children, and no relative or
near friend this side Of Europe or Heaven, no
money, and no lucrative calling, go into tho coun
1ry Go where? How pay her expenses What
10 do? How introduce herself to acquaintance
and business (? Ifshe could beg or borrow means
10 get away two hundred miles, what then How
IS she to hire a house. procure furniture, and find
employment in a land of strangers ?
well, let her 90 TO the Poor. House, then says
NE of the purple and fine linen.-Sr, have you
any idea what it is TO go to our Alms-iiou ?
Have you felt that over its gate Is virtually IN
scribed, sWho enters here leaves Hope behind 2
How can she who deliberately introduces her
yonnp children to the degradation, the Incidence,
she filth, the miasma of the Alms-house, such as
it is, entertain hope of them hereafter, cXceptto
see them early laid in innocent graves
1t does seem to us that the community must
The DUTY of somehow providing honorable use
lul Labor for all who cannot find any for them
selves. How can it longer be overlooked AT
this moment there is no general distress or paral-
ysis in the country, and our people arc IN the av-
erage as we'll employed and as prosperous as we
can expect they will usually be. Yet this very
dav there arc as many as thirty thousand human
ne;nps in this city, and one hundred thousand IN
she State who arc idle simply because they know
not where to find employment. Grant that these
are mainly women and compa ratlvely inefficient
persons. and still their labor If employed could no
he worth less than $4,000 for the State per
day, or Sl2,000,000 per year-sptficient IN two
years to complete the Erie Canal Enlargement
and the New Y ork and Erie Railroad. Why is all
this wealth suffered to run to waste AS amere
economical question, the better Organization of
Labor, its steady and effectual empoymen is OF
the very highest consequence. Why, then, do not
our great mon consider ii How long must VIC
,ya;t for some civic Napoleon or Gear Peter 10
arise whose commanding genius shall teach the
world that order, method, combination, arc not
nseIui in undertakings of carnage and strife only,
but that the spheres Of Industry and daily life,
may readily beirradiatsd by their blessings
We have thus far regarded this subject in an
Economical light only, moi as by any means It's
most important, bat as its most obvious aspect.
Its Moral and intellectual relations arc still more
.non,entous. Every day that human being Is
suffered TO remain without employment, while
feeling that tks reward OF labor is necessary to
his subsistence, that being treads dangerously on
rhe borders of vice if not OF crime. OF course,