The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-28
F,om ne Chsrleston .Msre,.ry.

WAGES OF LABOR.--1 ne lOIlOWinR eAtrdct -
from late number Of the London Times. or
course there can be no dispute about the au-
thenticity or correctness Of the statement. beg
you to republish il with few comments which.
will attach to the article 1t is headed "Wages
in Ireland" and is as follows:
"At the petty sessions, lately held at kenturk,
Ireland, an Irish farmer, Green by name, was
summoned by one of his laborers for the sum
of one shilling and six pence, which, We might
suppose, represented days work. 1t appeared,
however, that 1t was claimed for three weeks
work, done ut the rate of one penny per diem.
during harvest time-for eighteen days, eighteen
pence There was no dispute about the fact of
the labor having been performed, the farmers
reluctance being grounded on the exhorbitant
character of the demand. DIR. Green declared
that he should never have thought of engaging
q staryeling like the complainant Walsh at that
money, when he could get the best men in the
country for rs little. He could bring witness
to prove that the wages really covenanted for
were one half-penny per week it was purely
commercial question; he had made q bargain,
rs he averred, in accordance with the state ofthe
labor market in that locality, taking into consi-
deration the capacities Of Walsh he considered
that bargain was a bargain, and ought to be
kept finally, he rendered the three half-pence
as the amount oft the legitimate claim. Astound-
Ell by such an offer, the magistrates demanded
of Walsh what he had obtained in the way Of
food from his employer. They received for ans
wer as follows whilst was with him was
obliged to be up in the morning about four
o'clock, to let the cows out of the sleeping-ield,
and remain herding them until the other men
would come to their work, and used then to be
obliged to work with them all day, and get moth
ing for my support but bit ofdry Indian Cruel
1Sr;xr 10 and al,
before my face, but would not give me drop"
Under these circumstances, the magistrates gave
orders for the payment Of the more exhorbitant
sum of one penny per day, not, however, without
renewed objections on the part Of Mr.. Green,
who stoutly maintained the justice and the sac
redness of his bargain"
Is it not n mockery to call such q sum as one
half penny per week for labor in harvest, wages
1t is the wages of death, and the curse of
country where one class own the whole of the
soil without being under any obligation by law,
or self-interest to feed and clOthe those who
perform the labor Of tilling and making it bring
forth fruit and human food in abundance-food,
too, which, like Tantalus, they are daily doomed
to see without daring to taste. No doubt the
plaintiff in this case is doomed in future to fore
go the luxury of little corn meal Cruel and the
wages of half penny week, for he is now
marked mamie is one who has dared to rebel
against the exterminating institutions of free
labor in Ireland, and he will be cut off from the
scanty pittance that has hitherto sustained life,
and he will be soon numbered amoung the thou
sands of roor "starvelings," as the defendant un-
fcelingIy calls him, who have already suffered the
cruel punishment of death for the crime of poy-
erty.
1t will be said there is no similar state of
things in America, and therefore no need of har-
rowing up the feelings of those who have a
heart to sympathize with atlction, by the reel
tai Of such tales of misery. True. But how
long would it take to produce Just such results,
if the three millions Of human beings, who are
now fed and clothed better than any other three
millions of laborers in any country on earth,
were turned loose like the poor Irish, without
foot of land to cultivate, or roof to shelter
them, and without any provision whatever for
/, food and raiment!
am often asked at the North, where was
born, and have always resided except in my So
journngs in the South, where have no interest
whatever in pecunlary point Of view, how
can advocate the institution Of slavery, as it is
well known have done by my writings and
public addresses for some ten years past Do
need to give any other answer than the above
extract from the London Times? | advocate it
because ] desire that may never live to see the
wages of labor in America reduced to that point
of Internal wickedness which now prevails among
people who are constantly denouncing those
who own slaves, as " inhuman monsters" While
their own flesh and bloc! is perishing for want
or sustaining life upon the very garbage of the
earth that the "poor slave" would spurn from
him with ms much disdain as full fed London
Alderman, after creating an appetite at an abo-
liton lecture and satisfying it upon roast beef
or turtle soup
advocate it, because after years of careful
observation throughout the entire South, have
never seen as much human misery among the
hundreds of thousands Of slaves that have seen
in all conditions of their life, as have seen
among the negro population in the course of
thirty minutes walk from the very centre of
wealth and luxury in the city of New York.
advocate it, because hope am philanthropst
and willing to advocate any system, care not
by what name 1t may be designated, that pro-
duces the greatest amount of human happiness
to the greatest number Of the human family
remain, most respectfully, yours &c.
SOION ROBINSON.
Charleston, Dec 81, 1850.