Eastern times., 1855-03-15
eastern Gimfs.
BATH, MARCH Is, 1855.
= American Labor VS.. Foreign Labor.


know nothing organ Of this city, of Thursda,
last. In looking it over, we proposed 10 our
self the task of making few comments upor
il, but upon careful review we can see moth
ing IN II bus a tissue Of false statements o
fact, and medley Of nonsense and the mos
peurile folderol, proving conclusively that Il
the writer is not know nothing BY associa-
tion, he is at least one by virtue of mental or
gani-otioa, unless the article in question
grossly bellies his intelligence. After lgnor-
ing all old political issues, and tauntlng his
former whig associates for their obsoeteisms,
he launches forth as follows:
"What are the facts, Simply thcse-that
foreigners who herd 10 these shores are uni
versalIy of the laboring class in the old world
and of the most abject and servile-that these
foreigners group themselves together in or
near the great maris of business, and thus sue
coed in great measure in controlling the pc
cuniary and social interests of our American
laborers-that they submit quietly TO any ex-
action demanded by the money lords, and thus
inevitably bring about the depreciation of la
bor-that they are separated from all our ma
tive population by an imperative necessity
that they employ this separation TO the injury
of the former. Such are known TO be the
leading facts in this connection"
Let the reader carefully note that the only
practical point made in the above is that the
servility and abjectness of the Immigrants
lead them to submit 10 any and all the oppres-
sions which the money lords see fit TO heap
upon them,. and thus labor is degraded and
cheapened. and our native born laborers are
obliged either 10 abandon the field altogether,
or place themselves on level with the igno-
rant and degraded foreigner, and submit 10 the
same oppression as he does, and for the same
miserable equivalent. Now see how efectu-
ally our modern philosopher knocks his own
argument and facts into a cooked hat:
"Domestic service, labor in the household,
has been in the same way cheapened and de-
graded. In how many families throughout
the land can you find American 'helpl' Not
one in thousand. What is the consequence
Everywhere new suffering has been added
10 the previously enormous stock to which we
had TO attend. Not only is the labor rendered
RTCdtlf utNTtCidltu Ill Ndluc, Out Nv ulll vi
combinations among the foreign servants, for
this less valued labor higher price has been
forced. Ii is not here as il is in the other two
callings, the agricultural and manufacturing.
Ifexcessive wages are demanded there, the
remedy fc- the evil is at hand. Plenty stand
ready to supply any vacant places. Not so
here. In order TO make such services worth
anything, foreign girls have TO be initiated into
Il arl L 4
Once educated in this manner, and they are in
a position to affix their own price by agree
ment among themselves. Most prefer to sub
nit TO this exaction rather than undergo re-
peated applications of the 'breaking-in' pro-
cess. Combinations are entered into in every
place of any size, and thus this most impor-
tant branch of our daily needs has passed COM
pletely under their control" +"
We shall not pause here to show the dis
crepancy between the two extracts we have
quoted this is apparent to the most super
fetal view. The most stultifed can see that
while the foreigner dictates his own terms,
and maAs our employers submit to any exac-
tions he sees fit to impose, he does not cheap
en- labor, or crowd the native laborers off the
track. But is il true that nariNe girls are
crowded from our kitchens, and our domestic
service by the foreign girls Is it true that
enough of native born help could be found to
meet the wants of our people, and that too, at
reasonable rates of wages! The truth is, our
native born girls, those who are virtuous, in
dustrious and trustworthy, stop but'a short
time between the school-room and. promotion
to tho head of family. Such girls early be-
come wives and have families Of their own, or
they turn their backs upon the drudgery of the
wash-room and the kitchen for the factory, the
workshop or the printing-ofice. Vast num-
bers of these girls are now relieving young
men from their confinement at the printers
case, the merchants counter, and various 9th
er positions, thus allowing them to take an
airing upon the farm, in the forest or in the
mines. 1t is not true that foreign labor sup
plants native labor in the household, but in
oar extremity we have availed ourselves of
foreign domestics, the choice not being be-
tween them and our own native girls, but be-
tween them and none at all. These things
are too well understood by all our house-keep-
ers TO need a word in their support. We will
make one,extract more from the know moth
ing organ, and take our leave of it:
sTake our manufacturing towns for an il
Nstraiion. Look at Lowell for example, the
leading manufacturing city in the Union.-
When she began her existence as a distinct
town the American element preponderated
largely, indeed almost TO exclusiveness. How
is it now Year after year native operatives
have decreased with frightful rapidity
places been supplied by the lowest class of the
irish, until at the present moment und0ubted-
ly nearly or quite fve-eighths of the laborers
employed in the mills are imported foreigners.
The fact has made itself apparent 10 the most
casual observer and has been established by
actual statistics. Whole sections of the city
are engrossed by the miserable habitations of
these valueleSs and degraded beings. Neigh
borhoods have been blighted by their increas-
ing extent. The general appearance of he
city has been proportionately changed for the
worse Rents are kept up to a high figure.
w ages can be 'cut down with comparative
impunty. The owners know full we'll thai
this eli IS will submit TO almost any reduction.
We grant that it is but natural for capitalists
to secure this labor to the exclusion of native,
since the latter is always higher priced but