New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-02

"'S'N 'ohStuSi Oif NOfN hoAu.
?. There is a nall class Of Clerks who rs..:.
salaries offs 600, and some even higher but ,hs..
are men of remarkable caPacity-of unusual -,
ent-who know how to do the work of two
three ordinary men, and do it betterthan ord,,,.
men could. They have generally spent s.v.,.,
years IN learning how to be as efficient and v,L,.
Bile as they now are. They are now xecei,iny ~
not merely for rare faculties but for tba.a 49,! -
compensed years-just as lawyer often rec.;,..
500 for days work, but that days work rail-.
includes many days and dollars spent in ouaEf,
ing him to earn 500 tnominallyl ia sngI. a.
3. Now as to City Mechanics: Ii is not t,,.
that they receive an average Of $l2 per week No.
$40. There few trades which pay such wages.
but those who follow them are Obliged "a st,nt
idle good part of each year. In our own bushes.
printing! the average earnings Of all the Jou,-
neymen do not exceed s. per week, and We think
fall below that sum. True, on Morning D.il,.s
like The Tribune, the pay is liberal but eonsid.
er how il hast be earned-working from II AN.
to or next morning, Often later,) and liable TO
be called up abruptly at any time after gon,
to bed on the reception of important news. Con.
siderng the wear and tear of constitution and
eyesight, such labor could hardly be too literally
recompensed. There is no comparison between
this and the regular, seasonable hours aud health
ful toll of the farmer. And we worked sew.
eral years in various parts of the country with.
out once stumbling on neighborhood in which
the farming class, as whole, worked so STEADY
and faithfully as do the mechanics of this CITY.
4. Well, now, as to rural labor: 1t is true that
farmers in spring and summer work more than
ten hours per day; but in winter they work less.
and we are not sure that they exceed in the aver.
age ten hours of faithful labor each per dav. If
they do, they work too much, and we are in favor
of legal limitation Of their hours. But consider
that the farm laborer stops for rain, while the me.
chanic does not, and it might be fair to make the
agricultural days work eleven hours instead of ten.
That is point to be considered. An average of
sixty hours solid, energetic work per week. is
enough in any vocation; il any work more, wesre
in favor of a reduction in their favor.
>. Then as to Wages The current rate in any
vocation is usually affected by the difficulty and
cost Of fitting for efficiency therein. IT, for in.
stance, an intelligent, hardy young man can Learn
in one year to be a good shoemaker, while four
years would be required to make him as good,
gunsmith, the wages or weekly earnings of gun.
smiths will naturally exceed those of shoemaker
And as it costs little time or money to qualifys
rugged man for some sort of efficiency as a farm
laborer, and he can fully earn his living while &C.
quirng this proficiency, it is very obvious that an
average farm laborer cannot obtain 30 high wage,
as skilliul mechanic whose trade has cost him
the three or four best years of his life.
6. Moreover, if the city mechanic Tor clerk en-.
Joys any such dainty fare as &C. d. imagines
he must pay for it out Of his stipend, while the
farm laborer receives his board over and above his
wages--a rather important consideration. Tastes
differ as to ieod but re never found any mechan.
les boarding house land we have tried numbeh
so inviting as the table of any thrifty farmer who
produces fruits, milk, butter, &C. and who serve,
up his peas, beans, squashes, &c. fresh from the
fields where they were growing a few hours be-
fore. Bad cooks are indeed visitation which
intercept and peUert some Of Heavens essential
bounties; but they are by no means confined TO
the rural districts.
Z. Now as to &. DIS assumption that a country
farm laborer can never save any thing-n is not
true and he ought not to assert it. Take a
young man of twenty-one, industrious, healthfnl
and tolerably familiar with his business We say
he can hire out for $l2 per month for the year.
average) throughout our Northern Free States.
He ought to clothe himself with $50 of this. and
have 800 clear at the years end. This he should
invest or lend carefully, and work the next year;
and so for five years, when he will have 500 TO
500 laid up according to his general health and
good work. Now he Is in position to marry one
who has been equally industrious and saving, and
this should be The end Of his hiring out He
should now hire small farm, if he does not fee,
able to buy one stock it with the proceeds of his
past toll and resolve to work il as thoroughly and
any works his larger and
more snowy estate. If he does this industrously
and frugally, lets liquor alone, keeps out of law
suits, and makes rule of making out at least
-wenty-four fair days work on his farm in each
month, no matter what may offer to call him away
rom it, he may own his place clear of debt within
ten years after marriage, live easily thereafter,
and start his children in life considerably ahead of
where he began.
Bat if young man will begin by spending on
fine clothes and frocs all he earns for the FIRST two
or three years of his independence, then marrying
wife as foolish and mproyident as himself and set
himself down in a cottage on the corner Of some
great mans farm, to work by the month or day
whenever he is wanted las the dog comes when
whstled for and lie idle when not so required, he
will of course live and die poor, and we don't see
how he is to help it. He certainly will not by
moving to the city.
If the farmers mind remains .undeveloped, as
c. d.. asserts, the fault must be his own. Ills
labor does not usually tax his brain feathers
weight in comparison with the ncessant anxeties
Of the professional or mercantile man and even
though he works all the sunny hours Of six days
in each week there are still many more boursthan