New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-11-29
Advice to Lnborers-socinl Organization.


them through your columns, what am now
about to say thought, however that thousands
more at home could give advice as well l. and
forbore
Some remarks of yours this all on the pros
pect of suffering during the coming Winter in
your City have brougbttfT subject again to mind,
and if YOU will permit VIII speak. would say
to all persons who are ruling 10 1c0rk, and who
find it difficult to live comfortably IN the City
Flfe to tie Country-yes, flee 10 the country,
There is no folly to me more astonishing than that
of persons. able and willing to do even half
| DAYS work in day staying In the city to freeze
! and starve, when the country IS tull-tuIl, and
! OVERLOOKING, of all the bounteous stores oil Provl-
] deuce and a constant rant Of tGbor-yes con-
| slant rant Of labor | have resided in eight or
ten different townships and have been more or
/ less acquainted in scores Of Others in different
parts of the States of New York and Ohio, and
/ have never yet known place in which there was
/ not a coed demand for the labor of men and wo-
men at good living prices. Nay, have never
| known place in which there was not felt rant
/ of faitlfUl lahorers, both male and female. So
I empbatcally is this true that lab0rer possess
/ ing reasonable skill and judgment, and faithful
uess, as soon as his or her character is known, is
at a premium and holds the market, in a degree,
in his own hands. He may almost make his own
terms.
The reason of this is obvious. In the first
place there are thousands of untGthtuI persons
/ living as laborers and in the second place,
world of fertile land is open at low price, and
the Steady, industrious laborer-he who alone is
worth his bread, has scarcely "hired ont two
wears before he has money enough to pay tor
moderate sized farm, and he will "ha1e an no
longer but become a farmer Tor himself Or II
a mechanic, he sets up business Tor himself or
often throws by his tools and buys farm At
the same time the Ste0dy, Industrious young fe-
| male domestic is sure in a year or two to be
! picked MP by the young farmer or mechanic atore-
/ said, and leaves her employer often to f0o6 fo"9
! before another can be found to Till taHhtHlly her
place. To me it sounds like romance to hear OF
/ faithful hearts and willing hands suffering want.
! do not however doubt that the state OF things IN
our large cities is different. But repealed
/ them come 10 the country Why do they coagre-
gate together in one spot in the broad and-eat
up every thing and then starve. Letthem come 10
/ tie country. And let me suggest to you my BRO
Their in the cause of human reform, that III TINS
case, at least, the evil is not due to the malorgan-
ization of Society. How can you prevent men,
or how can society be organized so as to prevent
men from having their work done at the cheapest
rate they can obtain If allwho supply will COLI
gregate in one place, and glut the market, they
must expect to labor for low wages It's Nature
penalty for their foolish, though unthinking crime
of leaving employers in the country to suffer Tor
want of that labor which nature has provided Tor
them.
Nv brother it is not so much the mal.organza-
ton of society as 1t IS the malorgahlZatloh Oh
persons heads e. the want OF good sense, that
leads laborers to crowd into the city where nature
never sent them You cannot remedy this by re-
organizing society. May it not be, Mr. Greeley,
that some other of the evils in society which re-
Organizers and | with them, deplore, are due to
the imDrovidence and shortsightedness of individ-
uals, more than to the malorganization OF soce-
| ty? =.
E The advice our correspondent gives
to the crowding toilers in cities has been
often enforced in these columns, and we
gladly give place to it again. There is,
however, difficulty in putting it in prac-
tice How shall laboring family in this
Metropolis know where to go in the coun-
try with certainty of finding work and a
comfortable subsistence? They have no
friends to write to in the interior, and no
means of making the preliminary arrange
ments necessary before removing to new
home No laborer who can squeeze out q
living here, will take his goods and family
and set out on an indefinite journey in
search Of a better position. He cannot af-
ford it and will not run the risk.
But if there were an agency in the City
for the purpose of obtaining and imparting
thorough and reliable information with re-
spect to the chances for labor in every sec
ton of the country, a great deal might be
done toward relieving US Of our surplus
workers and settling them where they
might in time become independent on farms
of their own. And we submit that the
agency we speak of might very properly
come within the scope of the Association
for improving the Condition Of the Poor.
We are aware that the several Emigrant
Societies attempt in some measure to DO
this work, but they do not cover the whole
field We are persuaded that great part
of the money dispensed here every Winter
in the form of charity might be saved by
such an agency if energetically and judici
ously conducted.
Our correspondent goes on to argue that
the crowding of laborers in cities is not
caused by defective social organizations
but by the want of good sense on their
part. There are many social evils, he
says, which are due more to the IMPROVE
dence and short-sightedness of individuals
than to the mal-organization of society
Now, this strikes US as begging the ques-
ton. These individuals are notresponsible
for being such as they are described. And
though, as things are, we do our best to
rouse every class to wise and profitable
action. we are still convinced that con-
trary course on the part of any number, if