New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-06

change their prouuOVo 'tJ
diateIy, dispensing with the present expen-
siye machinery of Trade We trust he sees
all this. What, then, can he mean by this
q" Pcso1rc8 :. That We the Journeymen House
Carpenter,. earnestly requestour Representatives.
in the State Legislature t. enact such law al will
secure TO the laborers their wages in the CoHstitu
fiOnoi currency of our country, which is gold aud
silver; and we pledge ourselves as citizens TO sup
port no man for office who will not pledge himself
TO the above principle
Here is involved a confession of utter inf
deity as to the capacity of the Laborers to
employ themselves and exchange their pro-
ducts with each other, and Of course sur
render of the great principle of securing to
every worker the full product of his own
labor We cannot be rash in assuming
that Mr.. Power does not expect to find a
class of capitalists who will delight in hiring
the Carpenters Of Philadelphia, paying them
every week the full product of their labor
in gold and silver and taking their chance
of getting their money back without inter
est or profit when the houses shall have been
built If he means to talk sense and not
fustiap, he cannot have contemplated as
practicable any such state of things as this
But why cannot the Working Carpea-
tiers of Philadelphia employ and recompense
themselves henceforth? The most obvious
reply is, Because they as body lack Capt.
tai, or that Credit which to many stands in
stead Of Capital. Well: let that sysse mixed
Credit represented by Paper Money be
destroyed, and will they then be better
circumstanced2 We cannot see how
Indeed, we think theywould be much worse.
Disposable Capital would be confined to far
fewer hands than at present, and those who
had it, Carpenters as well as Others would
expect and exact larger proGtfrom its use.
Mr.. Power flies in the face of nearly every
Radical ofnote in looking to a Specie Cur
rency for the Emancipation of Labor. Louis
Blanc, Proudhon, Josiah Warren, and nearly
all who have thought and won the worlds
attention to their thoughts on this subject
regard the creation of far cheaper substi-
tute for the Metallic Currency as indispen-
sable to the securing of his full product to
the Laborer. Are they not clearly right?
Money is practically measure Of value in
the interchange of commodities and as you
increase the value of the measure you en-
nance the cost of exchanges. If Congress
were to enact that no fabrics should be
measured off with any other than gold yard
sticks, and no groceries, &c. weighed out to
purchasers in any other than gold scales,
(which is exactly the Sub Treasury princi-
pie ia another application we have no doubt
that Industry and Trade would still 90 on,
but Labor would pay little heavier tax to
Capital or Trade than it now does. If Mr..
Powers compulsory enforcement of Specie
in all money dealings would not be another
and much worse application Of the same
principle, then We don't see the matter in
the right light.
If any one were to ask Mr.. Power
whether he is not in favor of the largest |
liberty we cannot doubt his answer would |
be affirmative. If any one were to ask him
how he would like law fOrbidding any
farmer in Pennsylvania to give a mechanic
bushel of wheat for days labor, or five
bushels of apples, he would answer, Not at
all. Yet here we find him gravely propOs-
ing that man who wants employment shall
not be permitted to labor for another willing |
to employ him but unable to pay in specie
A. says to B. Il want work can you en-
'ploy mep yes says B. if you will take
your pay in Bank notes, every one re-
deemed in specie, dollar for dollar, on pre-
'sentation at the Bank, some twenty miles
off but if you must have coin of me, |
can't hire you; for can only obtain money
ON my note discounted by the Bank, paya-
BILE after my crop is ready for market
Agreed says A. But here steps in Mr..
Powers law with its veto: No, A. though
the note would be worth just as much to
you as the silver it represents, you shall
not take it for your work, but must stand
idle till some one is able and willing to pay
you in silyer.'-We think it would take
several volumes of such law as this to Sc.
cure to every producer the full product of
his own labOr-or indeed any labor or pro-
duet at all.
But Mr.. Power seems to have no idea
Of any otherrelation between Labor and Capt.
tai than one Of War, He implies (see Pream.
ble) that employers acquire wealth only by
the robbery Of the tOiling maSses'-and
that what Labor requires is to be nlaced |