Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-07-16
Laaosaaag CzaSses OF the East.



much care, without perceiving that crisis as to
the relation Of wealth & labor is approaching It
Is useless TO shut our eyes TO the fact and like
the ostrich fancy ourselves secure because we
lave 50 concealed our heads that we see no GAN
ger, We OF our children will have TO meet this
crisis. The old war between The Kings and the
B3rous is well nieh ended, and SO is that between
the BaYous and the Merchants aud Manutaotu-
9srs~landed capital and commercial capital. The
business man has become the peer Of my Lord.
And now commences the new struggle between
the operative and his employer, between wealth
and labor. Every day does this struggle extend
further and wax stronger and fereer. What or
when the end viii be God only knows.
In this coming contest there is q deeper q1les-
ton al issue than is commonly imagined a ques
ton which is bur remotely touched in your CON
troyeFses about United States Banks and Sub
Treasures, chartered Banking and free Banking
tree trade and corporations, although these con
troversies may be paving the way for it to come
up We have discovered no pfessntiment Of it
n any Kings or Queens speech, nor in any
Presidents message. It is embraced in no pop
ular political creed Of the day, whether chrsten-
Ell Wing or Tory, JusrE-n1ILIEU or Democratic
No popular senator. or deputy, Or peer seems to
havean glimpse GIFT but it is working in the
hearts OF thu million, is struggling TO shape it.
self, and one day ii will be uttered, and III thun-
der tone. Well will it be for him, who, on that
day, shall be found ready to answer it.
What we would ask, is, throughout the Chris
tan world, the actual coudit;cu of the laboriuss
CLASSES, viewed simply and exclusively in their
capacity of laborers9 They constitute at least
Inolety OF the human race We exclude tho no.
billtY-We exclude also the middle class, and in
Guide only actual aborers, who are laboFers aid
not proprieofs owners of none ofthe funds Of pro-
duction; neither houses, shope, nor lands nor I'M
plements of labor, being therefore solely depeTl-
dent on their hands We have no means Of as
csrtaining their precise proportion to the whole
number Of the race ; but we think we may esi-
mate them at one-llaf. In any contest, they will
be as two to one, because the large class OF pro-
prletors who are not employers, but laborers on
their own lands or III their own shops will make
soulmon cause with them.
Now we will not 80 belle ouracquaintance with
political economy, as to allege that these alone
Ysrforn all that is necessary 10 the production Of
wealth. We are not ignorant OF the fact that the
merchant who is literally the common carrier and
sxchangesdealer performs a useful service, and
10 therefore entitled to portion OF the proceeds Of
labor. But make all necessary deduction on his
account, aud then ask what portion of the remain
der is retained either iii kind orits equivalent in
the hands OF the original producer, tha working
man All over the world this fact atares us in
the face: the workingman is poor and depressed
while a large portion Of the non-workingmen, in
the sense we ROW use the term, are wealthy. 1t
may now BE- laid Down as general rule, with but
few exceptions, that men are rewarded in an in
verse ratio to the amount OF actual service they
perform Under every government on earth the
largest salaries are annexed to those offices which
demand OF their incumbent the least amount of
actual labor either mental or manual. And this
ls in perfect harmony with the whole system of
PREPARATION of the fruits Of industry, which obtains
in every department of society Now here is
the system which prevails, and here is It's result.
The whole class of simple laborers are poor, and
in general unable to procure anything beyond the
hare accessories Of Life.
In regard TO labor, two systems obtain one
that OF slave labor, the other that of free labor -
OF the two, the first is, in Judgment, except
70 far as our feelings are concerned, decidedly
the least oppressive. If the slave has never been
a free man, we think as general rule his suffer
lngs are less than those OF the Tree laborer at
wages. AS TO actual freedom, one has Just about
as much as the other. The laborer at wages has
all the disadvantages of freedom and none Of lis
blessings while the slave if denied the blessings,
is freed from the disadvantages. We are no ad-
vocates OF slavery we are as heartily opposed
10 it as any Northern abotionist can be but
we say frankly that, if there must always be
laboring population distinct from proprietors and
employers, we regard the slave system as deci-
dedy preferable to the system at wages. 1t is
no pleasant thing to go days without food-to
lie idle for weeks, seeking work aud finding none
10 rise in the morning with wife and chill
dren you love- and know not where to procure
them a breakfast, and to see constantly before
you no higher prospect than the almshouss. YET
these are no unfrequent incidents in the lives of
our laboring population. Even in the SEASONS Of
general prosperity, when there was only the or
binary cry of '!hard times,7 we have seen hun
dreds OF people in no very populous villages, in
wealthy portion OF our common country, suffer
ing for the want of the common necessaries of
life, willing TO work and yet finding no work TO
do. Many and many is the supphcation Of a
poor man for work merely for his food, we have
rejected. These things are little thought of. for
the applicants are poor they fill no conspicuous
place in society, and they have no biographers
But their wrongs are chronicled in heaven. It
10 said thare is no want in this country. There
may be less than III some other countries. But
death by actual starvation in this country is we
apprehend no common occurrence. The suffer
ings Of quiet, unassurnlng, but useful class of
females III cur cities, in general sampstresses too
proud to beg or apply to the anashouse, are not
easily told. They are industrious they do all
they can find to do but yet the little there is for
them to do, and the miserable pittance they re-
ceive for it, is hardly sufficient to keep soul and
body together And yet there is Il man who
employs them to make shirts, trousers, &c, and
grows rich OF their labors. He is one Of our re-
spectacle citzens-perhaps is praised in the
newspapers for his liberal donation 10 some char
table institution. He passes among lis as pat
tern of morality, and is honored as worthy
Christian. And why should he not be, since our
Christian community is made up Of such as he,
and since our clergy would not dare question
his piety, lest they should incur the reproach OF
inhlelity, ana lose their standing and their sala-
ries? Nay, since our clergy are raised up elu-
Gated, fashioned and sustained by such as hel
Not few OF our churches rest on Mammon fol
their foundation. The basement is traders
shop
We pass through our manufacturing villages
most Of them appear neat and lourishing. The
operatives are we'll dressed, and we are told wei
paid They are said to be healthy, conteptet
aud harav This is the fair side OF the nicturl