Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1849-01-11

| questions BY the reward OF rllelr labor they
should be enabled to elevate their condition in
society, to command for themselves and families,
not merely the necessaries, but the comforts and
even the luxuries Of life-to give to their chill
dren the benefits Of reasonable education, and to
ensure competence when age has disqualified
them for active employment. The price oflabor
is regulated by its demand, and the value of the
article it produces. When the demand for labor
is SMALL and the produce ofthat labor low in price,
the reward of industry is comparatively reduced;
when the demand for labor is increased, it rises
in value and receivesan adequate reward. Hence
whatever increases profitable labor, is substanti-
ally beneficial to the working classes, and affords
them the means of comfort, the delights of ratio
nal enjoyment, and the opportunity of exalting
their condition and performing with safety to the
country the duties of citizens.
The manufacturer, if he be sustained in his en-
terprise, produces this result, by opening to the
laborer new source Unemployment. 1t is fire.
quently urged, that the system of protection to
domestic industry is of more interest to the man.
ufacturer than to the laborer.as it enables him
to dispose of his fabrics for higher price, and
TO realize better profit on his capital but is not
the capitl ]; of the laborer also involved in the
fabric and does he not receivea reward in propor.
tion is the value Of the article!
Let it be remembered, also, that his daily
bread,-the wants of his family,-the education
of his children. all depend upon the success of
the establishment at which he is employed, and
the objection can have but little weight. II is
also urged that a reduction of nominal values
to specific standard, would produce result,
requiring for domestic labor no protection on the
part of the government A doctrine of that ma
ture is radically wrong, and at varience with the
principles on which our free government is found
oil Rr,n Io,x,p oplor IL &c L.
Dor to specific standard allow no greater re.
ward for industry in this country than in Eng.
land, and the working classes are necessarily
forced into the condition of foreign operatives,
compelled to labor constantly and diligently to
earn for themselves a miserable subsistence
All the luxurles, many of the comforts, and even
the necessares of life, must be denied to them,
while the education of their offspring must
be wholly neglected These observations apply
to tie laborers engaged in the business of mining,
and Transporting our coal to market as we'll as
to the operatives more directly employed at man.
ufactorles. After the demand for houshold use
is supplied. this article must seek market in
those districts of country where manufacturing
industry abounds, and the demand for it increases
or dlmlnlshes in proportion to the active opera
tions Of these establishments. Hence, every
fire that is extinguished, and every wheel that
ses its value in the market, and reduces the pri-
ces of labor, by lessening its value to the owner
of the article. When to this is added the fact OF
competition from. abroad, underselling in the
home market the domestic article, the occupa-
tion of the la5orer Is destroyed, and the ruin is
complete. The revenue system invites such
result; while the system of discriminating for
protection forbids it.
Other classes of society are also inuriously or
benefcially affected, as the laws on this subject
favor the one or the other policy. The agricul-
turalist, inclined to measure the general welfare
by the prices of his produce, and to remain con-
tentec while these are satisfactory is required,
only. the exercise OF his practical knowledge, to
be informed, that Re Suffers also by policy which
strikes down the manufactured. The home
market is his only sure reliance. The condition
of things abroad may afford increased prices for
the produce OF his farm; the miseries of unhap-
py Ireland, and the unsettled state of public af-
ia irs i'll other parts of the world, may create
temporary demand for grain, and thereby aug
ment the value Of his productions; but it would
be unsafe to depend on contingencies of this !
ture, over which his government can have no
control. The entire produce of his lands, wheth- |
er distant or near the foreign market, must de- /
pend for an uniform and fair price on the home /
demand. Any other reliance is dependent on
the policy of foreign governments, the convul-
sions of unsettled power, and the unfruitful har-
vests of other producers.
1t is not, however, in enhanced prices alone
that he finds his reward. In the home market |
he is his own factor, avoids the risk of agencies,
the dangers of transportation and Can select his
own time for the disposal of his produce. The
manufacturer carries to the market, in the fab
RIGS he proposes to sell, the produce of the far
mer, who is thereby relieved of the razard and
expense of conveyance.
In another fern he is still more largely bene-
flied. One of the elements of wel-regulated
society, is unity of interest. Whatever may be
said to the contrary, no natural antipathies exist
between capital and labor. They are dependent
on, are supported by, and receive vitality from,
each other. The manufacturer who invests un-
der the fostering care of government his capital
in profitable industry, opens new source Of
wealth to the farmer, the artizan, and the la
borer.
An industrious population, whose reward af
fords comfort and competence, gathers around
him; other class es attracted, and the store
house, the workshop, the school, and the church
are erected; villages spring up; the din of active
industry and the sound Of enjoyment minge to-
gether; roads are opened, bridges are built,
lands rise in value; and the farmer finds mar
ket at his door, not only for his ordinary surplus
produce but also for numberless articles which
were deemed unworthy oftfansportation. From
that rfowing fountain, by an hundred rvcIets,
wealth is poured into his treasury,
These are few of the many advantages of the
ngriculuralist and the laborer, aris ny from a