The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-06-01

So IL Is, IL uout IS the only articie we Hooo'
But let US look little further into the subject.
Let US consider the question proponnded. as to
whether we are more prosperous than we have
been, or have only "hummed" ourselves into
that notion. -
A few years ago there was general muir
muir throughout the country on account of the
'.,hard times" everybody had to encounter
Some of the aged among Us who can recoilsct
so far back as twenty, or even fifteen years, no
doubt remember that it was the universally
concurrent opinion that the times were hard
When those times commenced we do not
clearly remember. for our recollection does not
carry US back to a period in which they were
/ not aaid to exist.
The mechanics and laborers of our cities
used often to loiter in idleness, even beneath
the summers sun; the carpenters would
work for levy less or levy more than dol
lar day; bricklsyers, masons, and stone-cut-
tiers received bat little more; laborers worked
for three-quarters; and, in cities north OF this.
| printers were fain to receive from five to eight
dollars week-some of them, indeed, working
on the morning papers at the latter rate OF pay;
while in this city good clerks and business
men were readily obtained for five dollars per
week.
/ In those days the products of the farm and
garden were correspondingly low, because the
! depressed condition of the city laborer sympa-
thetically affected every department of indus
try; yet coffee, sugar, linen, cotton, and wool
len cloth, and vast catalogue of things deem
ed essential to our comfort, were held at twice
their present prices-some of them, indeed,
even higher than that
The ten hour system was not then recog
Missed either, and men in most OF the handIcratts
worked ''frum sun to SUM- in constant terror of
the frown of employers whose prosperity was
but little greater than their own.
Men of short memory or very brief expert
ence may hardly credit these statements; but
they are nevertheless true, aud even worse de-
scrip.ions might with truth be given.
But how is it now2 Carpenters, bricklay
ers, masons, stone cutters, and laborers have
doubled their daily recompense and abridged
their hours of labor; cash terms are universal
ly exactsd many of the necessaries well as
of the luxures of life have wonderfully fallen
In price, in consequence alike of the increased
facilities of production and of transportation, both
of which results have been promoted 10 so
great degree through the ingenuity and en-
terprise of our people; while nothing has risen
except what our own people produce and the
lands and tenements they occupy. Wherever
skill, thrift, and industry prevail, prosperity
| is found. The penury that displayed it's thread
bare attire among our workingmen may now
be sought in vain. 1t exists nowhere except
in the abodes of idleness and vice. II indeed
our people were content to live on as they
lived in the days 10 which we point, there are
few of them who could not treasure up full
one half their ample earnings.
A great change has come over US truly. We
are moving on, and the questions are often
asked, "What has produced this changed"
''Will it last2' We shall not essay an nfal-
lible reply to either of them; but we think it
has been fully established that "needy foreign
ers,'' who come hilher to increase the number
of producers, DO not, as has been sometimes
unwisely and inhosptably affirmed, "take the
do but open the approaches to our productive
fields cultivate the fertile sol, and add to the
sum of our prosperity. Nor does high or
low tariff seem adequate to materially impede
our approach to success, no matter whether
specific ad vaorem, and no matter how art
fully may be contrived the tariffs of those ma
tons with whom we have commercial inter-
course. Nor can a war costing thousands of
| lives and millions of treasure drive us into
| liquidation and subdue our nationality nor the
weight Of additional territories sink US; nor the
| portentous threats of disunion repress our
growth; nor the discovery of gold fortunately
requiring hard labor for its procurement y ener-
vate and degrade US. We can withstand them
ALL and still possess abundance and to spare,
and still move on to increasing prosperity.
To attempt to recte the causes leading to
this unexampled condition of things would
We fear, give offence to every able and inteli-
gent statesman and politician in the land for
who among them does not claim for his own
| wise schemes and adroit tactics the merit of
the whole2 But we find prosperity around
US, we exult TO witness it, aud we desire to
enjoy 1t; yet not without remembrance of the
future-that uncertain future that is ever
hidden from our view, until it has become the
present or the past
Our hopes and our convictions tell US that SO
long as there are uncultivated fields within our
wide domain, and rich mineral resources beneath
our feet-so long as the living wealth ofthe ocean
may be obtained, and skill and industry may
produce things needfnl for the welfare of man
or traverse the earth, the ocean, or the air
and whilst republican freedom and equality
shall be cherished by our people-so long vii
, the prosperity of our country continue to cheel
and to bless her children.
How there can exist any other condition o
, things than that of general prosperity among
people the theory and practical operation o
whose institutions demand that every man shall
be producer, is problem of most Difficult
, solution. The existence Of such state of so
ciety is even yet not literal reality; but GU
> approximation to 1t is surely closer than an,
other nation has ever attained, and it is per