New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-01-24
LABOR AND CAPITAL.

Cash abundant and Labor relatively scarce;
so the laborers in many trades struck for an in-
crease of wages, and carried it. They said,
Everything else is rising; Labor is worth
"more than it was when our present rate
"of wages was fixed; 80. we must have
"more psy'-and We thought their demand rea
sonable. But sirce then, everything is changed;
Business has been and continues disastrous; Money
is relati, ely scarce, and Labor is drug ia the
market, as is evinced By the thousands clamOring
for employment and subsistiDg on aims. Where
FORE the employers say they can no longer pay the
advanced rate of wages, but must go back to
the old one And this resolve, We have no doubt,
will prevail in almost all trades.
Why not When Labor was scarce aud in
good demand, the workmen exacted an advances
now that Labor is superabundant and drug, the
employers say the price must go back again. We
do not see why this is not as reasonable as the
requi,ition for On advance was.
"But," cay the laborers, "we can't afford to
work at the reduced rates proposed. Pro.
Visions, Fuel and Rents ara s" high that We
cant 1--we in comfort on less than the wages we
have been receiving"
Stop, gentlemen let us look into this business.
You say you can't afford to work for twelve shil-
liDgs, or twenty shillings, or whatever the
reduced rate may be, and, for that reason,
must have more. Do you buy Labor Cor its
product, which is the same thing on the
principle which you thus impose on others
Do you pay fourteen shillings each for shirts
90 as TO afford the seamstresses who make them
a fair living, when you can buy as good in
the market for twelve Suppose we should de-
monstrste to you that we could not really afford
TO sell THE TRIBUNE for less than three cents,
would you continue to take it when you could get
another paper that would answer for two Nay
Suppose grocer were to ask you to buy his
Tea, Coffee, Sugar, or whatever other article
he deals in, at a certain price, because that
was the lowest at which he could afford it,
though others were selling either side Of him
ten or fifteen per cent. lOwer-wOuld you not
laugh at him Would you not say: "My good
fellow, what you can afford is nobodys bust
ness but your own; if you have made bad
venture, let that teach you wisdom for
the future; but what you can or can't
afford, is no concern OF ours. If you can sell
{" tain elsewhere we are ready to buy; if not,
I'VE shall 20 to him who sells cheapest" Now,
| if the merchant must sell his commodity for
what ii will fetch, whether at profit or at
loss, how can you require him to buy yours,
not for what it is worth ia the market, but fer
what you think it ought to bring to afford you
fair living How is he to live, if he must buy
| for what the seller sees fit to ask, and sell for
what he can get
| The truth is that the basis OF maukind's
dealings with each other 10 not abstract
Justice, Gas We think it should and ultimately
must be, but Necessity. Buy as cheap as posi-
bic and sell for the most you can get. That lie
the actual law-we did not make it and don't like
ii, but we are not able forthwith to change it
for We have tried and know. Neither did the
merchants or employers make it, though they
probably admire it more than We do. b. sure
that il can never be changed on one side only
when 1t goes, you will have to buy your Coats,
Shirts, Boots, CsL, and other necessaries, as
well as sell your Labor, on very different prln-
cPe from that now prevailing. Jus. fancy
an artisan going to market, and finding there a
farmer who beseusht him to buy his beans or po-
tatoes for twenty.6v per cent. more than the cur
rent price, urging that his crop had been cut short
BY drOuth, and that he honestly could not afford
his potatoes for less than fourteen shilngs, though
others were selling on either side of him for
twelve. How many Of them would 4 whole
Pak.fall of clamorers for higher prices than
the times afford, be likely to buy on this consid.
eraion'
There 10 . sut Of Labor at present IN our