The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-02-13
SPECIAL PRIVILEGES.

There is no source of wealth but pro-
ductive industry. There are many occu-
patlons which are useful, though non-pro-
ductive: as the schoolmaster, the merchant
or the exchanger of labor, Ito certain
extent,) and others not necessary to emu
merate; but it is only by productive labor
that the wealth of a nation can be increa-
sed, lis people supported, or its government
maintained. AS the world was supposed
to rest upon the shoulders of the fabled
Atlas, so, IN reality, governments and peo-
pie rest upon the shoulders, the brawny
arms and huge paws of the producing
classes.
The greater the number OF non-produ-
GERS in proportion TO the number of pro-
ducers in any country, the greater amount
of labor must the latter perform, and the
smaller the amount of their earnings they
can appropriate to their own use. Conse-
quently, when the non producers are most
numerous, the producers are most mlsera-
BILE, over worked, under fed and not taught
at all.
Wherever there is a standing army; an
established church, an hereditary nobility;
monarchy with its attendant places and
pensions; there are the producing classes
most depressed; laden with burdens grie.
vous 10 be borne; compelled TO toll day
and night for a mere pittance, just suffi-
cient to keep body and soul together and
prevent the machine from stopping for
want of oil and fuel.
The constitution of the United States
forbids the existence of privileged orders
in the country; but our legislatures have
been busy creating an army OF non-Produ-
GERS TO be supported in idleness, affluence
and luxury by the producing classes, and
every day is adding to their number and
| proportionally increasing the burdens ot
those who work for all. We have, il is
| true, no standing armies; no established
church; no order of nobility; but we have
substitute for all these in our paper
money system and its attendant consequen
ces, and IN the various corporate bodie:
upon whom our legislatures have seer
proper to confer special privileges at the
expense of the rest of the people.
matters not what name they are called by
or from what source they derive thei
warrant to live without work. whethe
from the nod of an emperor or an act o
the legislature, the result is the same
''they toll not, neither do they spin -ye
they dress in broad cloth and fine liner
and fare sumptuously every day, while
the wealth producer can barely earn enough
under the most favorable circumstances L
support his family decently, laying uI
nothing for old age and leaving to his chill
dren only an Inheritance of toll.
II is estimated tha. if all men were en-
gagged in productive industry, it wouI,
; require but 3 or hours daily labor from
each 10 ensure competency for all, bu
t as the matter now stands even in this ia
vored country, the labor and the compe
tency are most equally divided. On
most of its products.
) No man can do more than make Twin
by work, unless his occupation chances t
be of such a kind as to ensure him III
receipt of the whole product of his labor
Tie must appropriate to himself part of tn
: proceeds of the labor OF others before h
can begin TO accumulate. And even her
the disparity of reward between productiv
! and unproductive employments hold
good. The man who invests real capita
in productive industry, benefitting tn
community by furnishing EN- plov ment an
e increasing the wealth of the state, NAV i
time, by strict attention to business, indus
try and economy, realise fortune: but
is among the non-producers; the dealer
In stocks; the shares in banking privilege
and members Of interpretations alone thu