Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1845-10-02
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THURSDAY. OCTOBER 2, 1876.
"1llE FACTORY sYSrEM.n


iongnrs delighedy II something new under
til, iof Labor and Capital 10 be oggefheads or
# II were something peculiar TO 'be Factory System"
the denorallzng influences despoc character OF which
they 50 love 10 descan upon And yet, what department
Of ufnan Industry does every day exhibit the same
eternal struggle which began with the curse that doom.
I'd 10 ea his daily bread in the sweat VI his brow "
and will ierminae only with his exstence} Dow not
see every day, around US, perpetual struggle between
Employers & the Employed between those who have to
buy labor ith money, and those who have buy mo
oey with labpr-lhe former eudea vorng to obtain the
greatest possible amount If work for the least possible
eomrensatun While lie latter endeavor to perform as
little labor as they can. and for that little the
greatest amount oil compensation hch may be extorted
fom The necessities Of The employer This, indeed, is
the great game OF life, in which in-essandy
foyed Aud YET because in the factories Of Allegheny
city, The girls employed have held "mass mee;ing,"
Ia protest against system which requires them labor
Two hours Ief diem longer Than Hey think expedento or
just lie -1aHh Iafers prompt al seizng upon
~ 'iIa" Which may prop ibe' sinking cause conspcn
ansy parade before their readers of the peculiar
inqaes Of he tariff system, which is, from this sola.
ted case 1gcdg assumed To be one which enables the
wealthy capitals, 5 as0z - over the humble laborer!
As well might the assertion be predcaed Of the ship
0wrer, whose rich agosies" hiring thousands into his
pocket. while the sailor who navgaes them through the
perlons deep receives only his daily lions of coarse
iood aud mere phtance AT the end Ct Lis hazardous voy
aze-or oi the farmer whose golden havesls reaped
by other hands than those whca filled with the pro,
is Of his yearly to-or of The merchant whose
nua gains swell the Golfers Of those no toll In his
service.
Between Labor and Capital the union is indissoluble
and it is tssenla To bohahd the relation between them
IS adjusted by law mfexltle as the circumstances
ii which 1t had its birth That law fixes the wages Of
labur-and is no mlre in the power Of the wealthy
capitalist than Of The poor laboer evade although beth
may as they often do, rebel against It's reqnisilions.-
Whenever Capital Is abundant and Labor is scarce the
wages Of the Iaboer necessarily high and il may
II often does, dictate lis own terms to Capital So
the other hand, when Capital is scarce and Labor is
abundant the wages Of Tie ab1er are necessarily low
because The situation Of the parties reversed and Cap
al becomes The dictator. Whenever " strike p there,
fore Gas it's called amocg aborers either 10 pro
cure higher wages, or, in the OF the factory girls
Of Allegheny city, fo reduction Of the hours of labor
II grows out Of change Of those relations When they
agreed with their employers 10 work twelve hours day,
1t was because necessity compelled III IN 10 yield 10 re
QUESTION against which they now ebel-and that rebel
lion grows cut OF the fact that Labor being in de-
maud than before they safely assume this aiti
tudc Aud to what is their ability to take this
ground ascrbabe2 Unqueslonably 10 the tariff system
which by opening employment of Ca
pal, opens at the time n wider field to The Labor,
er, aho without it, would find himself slill more at the
mercy Of the capitalist than he is.
But even put upon this event, (Which, although ol
ordinary occurrence is magnied into ala of 50 much
mpouance.) all the quence ascbsd it; and wha
does 1t proved Of the thousands If manufacturing es,
adjustments in tue Union the abores in one Of hen
demand reduction in the hours Of labur-and assuming
hen complaints to be just. the Anti lariI papers, shut,
ting Their eyes 10 the blessings CO erred Labor b,
thus dversying and extending lis employ menis alb
snrdly contend that the very system which affords them
the Of livelihood the oftheir wreol edness
and degradation! II the master manufacturers are as
extoronate and lyrannical they said be- why
do moi their aborers abandon them and their al,en
lion to other pursaits2 Are we told that they find al
other departments of industry filled ,uovtrnowing. anc
thai they must work in these establishments or starve
Where, then can stronger argument be found in iavo
Of the system which draws of many thousands from
avocsons already oversiocked and which opens to then
additional fields Of labor Suppose the tariff be SO al,
tered as to PROSTATE the manufacturing establishment:
4
Il which affords employment many thousands of la
Il bores. What is to become Of thenl w III not much o
the capital Withdrawn from manufacturing be idle or b,
transferred To European workshops. TO give employment
Gas Ten jackson once srlknIy remarked to foreur
papers,, at The hazard Of making paupers of our Owl
people, by the humiliation Of this great department
Domestic Industry There may indeed in that event
be no Lords of the Loom and Of the Force as tn
master manu- tacluters sometimes styled for the pur
pose oil heaPoa odinm upon the Protective sysiem-bu
cry and Starvation he IDS of men and women
and children to whom those looms and forees afford EN-
plnymeht and comfort. Even The system be- as is I'm
toely alleged, which enables the employer to real
ne vast wealth, should, by destroying IT, unly clnr
butte 10 argument the of orcnn manufacturer.
by making them soppyers, instead Of promoting the
=, prosperity Of our own
f The truth Is, however, that, in a vasl number of in
sanoes--we imagine In ayrily Of them--the lacto
Ties are joini-stock concerns, and is known tina
IN no mcunsdeabe number of them The aoorers art
: themselves to great extent the pruprielors-ma
y ny of them being Stockholders. Those who are
deslrons OF forming opinion Of The system
which, Ike all 9th ers has lis dark as well as ii.
pies, Ike that OF Allegheny city, hat upln broader the
aires, IN which its capacity for usefulness aad It's moral
as well as econon cal tcndenc es have been fully
tested and exemplifed Let them read Miss hlarti-
neau's and the Rev If