New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-18
NETWORK TRIBUNE.
NETWORK, FRIDAY, JULY ls, 1851.


preamble and resolutions they adopted are
before us. drawn up in direct, buslness-iIke
language, and exhibiting on the part OF their
authors clear understanding Of what they
have in view.
We are told in these documents that the
first means of elevating this class OF work
ers IS to establish State Mechanical In
stitute for the purpose of stimulating IN
ventive genius and productive skill by an
uual fairs and other means used by such IN
situations. as well as by school for theo-
retca and practical instruction IN the me-
chanic trades, to take to some extent the
place of the present system of apprentice
ship. and for this school it is hoped that the
aid of the State may be obtained
Next it is earnestly recommended that
the Legislature should pass law requiring
that the books of instruction used IN the
Free Schools, which are supported by pub
lie money, shall be the work of Georgia
authors and Georgia publishers. At pre-
sent all these works are bought from the
North and East, not as we are told, because
those sections can furnish them better and
cheaper, but because the State has made no
effort "to cultivate an opinion favorable to
such an enterprise" And all this is done
- to the serious detriment of the vital inter
ests of the South, and at the imminent ha-
card of demoralizing the minds of the rls-
ing generation, in reference to Southern IN
stitutions and Southern political economy.
The next topic discussed by the Conven-
ton is the employment in mechanical pur-
suits of convicts in the Penitentiary, which
is condemned as degrading that sort of labor,
at the same time that it offers premium for
crime, rather than iHfcts punishment. Let
the convicts be employed in building roads,
opening water courses, mining, and other
occupations requiring mere physical force
and endurance, but let the mechanics of the
State be relieved from the odium which
brushes their pursuits Then these pursuits
will revive, and career of unbounded pros
perity and renown will open upon " the
Empire State of the South"
Next, the question which we lately no.
ticcd in connection with the Mechanics of
Virginia, is taken up, but in rather differ
ent spirit The chief reason why slaves
should not be instructed in mechanic trades
in Georgia seems to be because they are
thereby more inclined To run away and 70
induce others to make the same fugaciouS
experiment. Nearly all the escapes of
slaves from Georgia and several other
! States, are to be attributed to this perm
cious influence" A few negro me-
chanics in towns and cities have done
and can do more practical injury TO the
institution of slavery and its permanent Sc
curity, than all the ultra aboliuonsts of the
country" The trouble is that mechanical
occupations enliven and elevate the mind of
the negro, "leading to desire to read and
write, the qualification of which is often OBJ
tanned in clandestine manner, by which he
| is furnished with facilities for making money
and led into depravity and dissipation,
thereby making him restless and unhap-
nv, and an unsafe associate for the dutlful
! and contented negroes of the State, of a
! lower grade of condition" Besides, the
! fact that slaves work at certain trades pre-
vents educated and aspiring young men from
engaging in them. But if bondmen and
criminals, "persons of inferior morals and
minds" should be excluded from such en-
ployments, Georgia's sons will evnce de-
sire to enter the workshops of the State and
contribute to make 1t great and independent
All the mechanics ask is the encouragement
necessary to raise their callings I'm the
scale of responsibility and usefulness, as
well as secure on permanent basis the pecu-
liar institution of the South.
When the vote came to be taken on the
adoption of this platform, an attempt was
made to strike out all relating to negro
mechanics, but it was defeated by large
majority A supplementary resolution was
then adopted declaring the firm adherence
Of the Convention u slavery as II Is, and
their utter detestation of northern aboli-
tionists and fanatics
While we have no admiration for the Gu
rious confusion of truth and error contained
IN the declarations of this convention, We
hail it as an encouraging sign 1t shows
that the essential and ineradlcable antago-
nism between slave and free labor is felt even
in the central slave states, and that those who
| feel II first and most keenly are .nnXinlr t,1r