New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-11-22
WORK AND WANT.

the Work by which tie whole must be sab
sisted Half Of these arc employed in Cook.
cry and other merely subsidiary occupations
leaving about Five Millions to clear away the
woods. and drain the swamps, and break up
the stubborn earth, and plOw SOW, till and
harvest-to WELD the sledge and push the
plane and guide the spinning frame, and DO al
the Productive Labor OF the Country How
many of these Five Millions, think you, stand
this day idle for want of employment In our
judgment-fouIded on much observation and
inquiry-nOt one less than Half Million who,
if they had only work to do, would very gladly
add at least One Hundred Millions per snngm
to the aggregate wealth of the Country.
Have you ever thought of the immense
waste involved in letting these men stand idle
for want Of employment Let q great FIRE
sweep away Ten Millions worth of property,
and what lamentation resOunds through the
land What a wreck what calamity what
g ruin and yet nobody seems to be very
much the worse for it. Pass the scene of that
sre q year after its occurrence, and you viii
find the burnt district rebuilt with decided
iIeprovements-tbe streets often wider and
straighter-tho houses more spacious lofty.
substantial and cOmmodous-the workshops
more capacious and convenient, and the ware
houses better constructed and better filed
and meantime thousands have found satistac-
tory employment aud earned a good living in
rebuilding and reflling that burnt district.
Still, she FIRE was calamity and its author,
if he meant it, a great villain but it was
trihing disaster compared with the unwilling
dleness from year to year, of Half Million
human beings. For all these are real suffer
ers not merely in their Physical natures, bus
in their Intellectual and Moral also The man
or woman whose only dependencies Labor, and
yet can find nothing to do, lives from day to
day in state Of uncertainty, anxiety,
sespondency, most unhvOrable co mental or
moral Improvement, and is peculiarly exposed
to the temptiugs Of dissipation and crime. 1t
is from the class of idlers-inyOuntary at first,
but gradually acquiring taste Tor an lndolens
and irregular life-tbat the ranks Of the crimi
nal aud desperately vicious are continually re-
cruited.
In their loss we are all losers. The laborer
out of work is often a burden on his needy
relatives and friends who are less unfortunate
than himself The grocer trusts him ut risk,
or loses his custom entirely. The HORSEPOWER
elects him for non-payment of rent, and be
either becomes q non-paying tenant Of some
other landlord, or else there is one tenant less
than formerly, and he lodges where he can.
The farmer sells less food, for the idler must
pick bones or MUNICH crusts for subsistence;
and 30 the halter, shoemaker, tailor, publisher,
&c loses custom and finds his business con-
tracted by the inability of the poor to Gnd
work.. There is not one of us who would not
be doing better business to-day if every one
who wants work could have il.
And why should Labor run to waste OF
all the grain grown on the earth, not the first
busLel is lost for want OF demandfOr il there
is not a bushel which the owner could NOT sell
to- day by offering it low enough. So Of every
thing useful produced by human labor; not 50
Of Labor itself There are thousands, nd will
soon be tens of thousands pacing day b.
day the stony streets of our cities, seeking
work in vain, and willing 10 work for any wages
so they can but earn bread Their importu-
mites for employment disturb and impede those
Who have work enough, but who cannot find
convenient time to do il because Of constant
Interruptions from the idle aud destitute en-
treating for something TO DO On every side,
loss and embarrassment s.e directly imposed
upon all by the fact that so many are without
employment and gradually losing heart and
hope.
Men and brethren these things should not
be-nay more: they need not be We admit
all YOU have to offer respecting the incficiency,
lack of energy, &c, Of those who lack employ
ment-ve know that, as Carlyle saws, " dis
tressed needle-wOmen are generally Distress
ing needie.womcn' and that if every body
were as clever. as well behaved. as well in.
structed as y0a are, every body would find
work. But great many are not-what is 10
be done about it Are they likely TO acquire
the capacity they need by pacing the streets
and sleeping on celar-dOors On the contrary,
does not every days idleness in destitution
tend TO render them less effective. less sAilliul,
less exemplary, than Jbey otherwise would be
Suppose we were 10 take them all out Of the
streets, and say, Here, you men, women AMI
" children VINO can find nothing to d.! the
~ State (or the City Will set you to work anl
" give YOU bread until you eau do better -
their living would. al the worst, only come on,
of the community, as it does. in more irrecu-