Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1845-11-04
PROTECTION OF LABOR

!
SONS, have been occlpied with questions
the solution OF VIII CHI looked really or os
tensibiy to the-"Proteclion Of Labor
Ard yet, after forty or more years of legis
lating on The subject. at an expenditure o.
what it would cost forty millions of DAYS Of
hard labor 10 accumulate, it begins to be
| perez; we'd that labor hasnot been protected
and that /; needs no protectlon-at least in
the sense in which The word protection is
generally understood. Our illustrations
under each Of these heads must necessarily
| be brief
Labor has not bsen protected. Every
measure of the Government, having this
for its ostensible object, has in reality look
ed only to The protection Of Capital invest
ed for the purchase and sale OF Labor. and
TO encourage the further investment Of Cap
ital for the same purpose. Laws the mos
paIpably unjust, and prejudical to the IN
teresls of a majority Of the States and of
the people, have been enacted, at their in
sigaton and Gordon Of Custom houses e.
rected along our whole maritime and inland
frontier. with an ever hungry swarm of
officers, fed and iattened at the public ex-
pense, 10 enforce those laws; scheme af-
ter scheme has been devised and debated:
and change succeeding change adopted. TO
protect this particular interest, or 10 APP
pease that particular section, which had
become rebellous under the aggravated
wrong of the system; and 10 this result has
the action Of Government invariably ten
ded-'to such base uses hath it come at
last" Capital invested in our country,
thus protected against Capital similarly in
vested in Europe, further investments were
thus stimulated at home. This in turn, by
increasing competition. and at the same
time bringing it nearer, and also by. increa-
sing the supply, diminished the prices Of
manufactured goods, the profits on capital
invested, and of necessity, as measure Of
self-preservaton, the cost of protection or
manufacture, which is Labor,an nothing
but Labor. The price Of Labor, which
always depends more on the want of the
purchaser than on the will Of the seller, is
therefore first reached by an unnatural in
crease of competition or any excess OF its
product beyond the wants of the consumer.
Capital wants interest on the investment -
This is the first want:-out Of which all
its other wants must grow, and to the graf
ification of which all its action must tend.
1t wants Labor, but if Labor cannot be
purchased at price, it will not be pur-
chased. Capital can keep itself can
can cIothe itself in the ilsos,, aud coed IT
self on the daintiest; but Labor cannot
keep itsef-it must sell itself or Skarue.-
Necessity, stronger than law, compels the
sale of it, and regulates its price. Law
not been protected.
Labor needs no projections. Laissez
nous fare"-let Us alone-is and has ever
been its motto. 1t looks only to the sup
ply Of the wants of the individual, and to
this it is always adequate, even under the
most uniavorabe circumstances. Who
can doubt that if Labor in England was
left to itseIf-if the Queen aud her squall-
ing 5abies-the Archbishops, Bishops and
Prebendaries, with all their franchises
the Lords, spiritual! and temporal, with
their rentroIs and title deeds-ihe Com
mons, with all their wit, wisdom and sa-
gacty-the Judges with all their laws and
! learning--and the whole army Of Bankers.
Government Pensioners and Stpendares
of every name and description, with their
Magma Charta the ''glorious British Con-
| stltuton''-to boot, were all annihilaed-
banlshed--driven out of ofiic existence
and authority at once, iE an instant--now
who can doubt but that Labor would be
better fed, better clothed, better educated,
and thus better paid than it had ever been
before; or ever will be, till some such
glorious revolution is effected? Yet in
that country as in this, the Paper Money
system has been tried till il died--as it is
here dying-of its own inherent rottenness
and corruption. Their Manufacturing in.
terest has been protected by Tariffs till
almost every kind of manufactured arti-
Giles is protected, 10 degree equivalent tC
a prohibition Gifts importation. Agricul.
ture too, has had its share of protection.
and foreign bread stuffs cannot be import
ed until the price has reached the siarva.
ton point And after all this "Proectior
of Labor" in ireland, six millions of '.lhe
finest peasantry in the world,'' principal
/ Iy rm-laborers, have "a scarcity Of thirC
rate potatoes, thirty-six-weeks in ihe year
probably about the same number of manu-
featuring operatives in England every yeal
are literally pershing for want OF comfort
able shelter and necessary food Thei
cries and groans even now, 60 up TO the
throne Of the Eternal: and so sure as On
nipotent Justice reigneth in the earth, sc
sure shall their suiferings be speedily anG
terribly avenged!
OPENING OF THE BEAUHARNoIs CANAL
On Saturday, the remaining link in tn,
new chain of navigation from the ocean Il
Lake Erie was opened, and sleamboa
passed through. 1t is known as the Beau
harnois Canal. and BY overcoming the rap
IDS from Coteau du Lac to the Cascades
uniting Lake 81. Francis above with Lake
ST. LOUIS below. The canal is eleven mile
and three quarters in length. so feet wild
at bottom. 100 fee; wide al the top wate
line, and 10 feet deep. 1t has indeed ,mor
the appearance of small river than a ca
nal Montreal Herald. Oct. ii.
i LAKE SUPERIOR The steam propelle
Independence we are Informed. was it'll
in one hundred feet of the Lake on FriGay
last, and before this time, is doubtless
floating on the waters of Lake SUPERIOR
The use OF steam on Lake Superior ma,
be regarded as an event Of no common in
teresis. Where ever this mighty agen
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