Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-01-18

from the closing prices Of Tuesday.
There was no material change in breadsuffs yes
terday. AMERIcUs
70 the Editor Of the 4muican Organ
SIR: There is in your paper Of Friday, Goth De-
cember, an extract from the New York Mirror,
which, suppose, you copied as belonging to the
news Of the day, and not with any intention Of en-
dorsing its sentiments The extract in question
aims censure At the laboring classes for the ef
forts they have recently been making to adjust the
price of their labor to the advance in the price Of
all the necessaries Of life, caused by the influx Of
gold from California. The writer for the Mirror is
hard on what be is pleased to call combinations
against capital--war upon capital he terms it, This
is unjust. The laboring class, finding that these
enhanced prices had rendered the pittance they
were getting for their labor inadequate to their
support, and that, notwithstanding the daily ar
rival Of large numbers Of laborers from Europe,
there was still demand for their services, set
about endeavoring to procure such an advance
in their wages a. would save their families from
want; In which endeavor they were partially sue
cessful, though the advance obtained has scarcely
in any instance, been in proportion to the in
crease In housefent and other things which
make up the profits of capital This was done
for selfpreservation, and not with the intention
of warning on anybody.
A rev,ilsion--a money crisis has come upon
us. We have stretched our credit too far, and
payday has arrived. Labor and capital are stand
ing almost still, earning little or nothing; but
hunger and thirst still require to be satisfied.
Capital, which can afford to stand stil, says that
labor has been too well paid, and that fit would
reduce its demands, q portion Of 1t might be
employed. Now, one of the effects, If not the
cause, Of the reyulsion-in trade Is that the pro-
ducts of labor and capital will not sell and win
the writer for the Mirror, or any one else, guar
antee that If labor could be obtained for moth
ing, capital would exhaust itself in purchasing ma
terias to set labor In motion in the manufacture
of articles which would not SELF And il capital.
lists did employ abor now at a reduced price,
or at no price, in the manufacture of articles to
be brought into market and sold at proHt-yield-
ing rates years hence, or upon the revival Of
trade, would not market, thus forestalled, still
further defer the time when the wages of the
laborer would enable him to give to his family
some of the comforts of lifef
The cause Of the great rise in the price Of all the
products Of labor, and Of labor ITSELF is the influx
Of gold. A reduction in the rate of wages, while
the production Of gold is not diminished, would
therefore only impair thr ability of the working
classes to consume the products of each others
labor, and thus injure both capital and labor while
the increased value given to gold by such an ope-
ration would only enure to the advantage of the
salaried officer and gold-digger. The working
classes, whilst looking to their own true interests
never war upon capital for 1t Is capital that puts
labor in motion; and the capitalist has no right to
suppose, when the laborer objects to reduction
of wages that he aims at the destruction Of capital
Would II be fair to say that the owner of house.
when he demands the highest rent he can get, is
making war on the community
Considering the quantity Of gold that is coming
from California, Australia and the Ural mountains
the increase in the price Of labor in England the
activity given to certain branches Of trade by the
war, and the number of lsborcrs carried to the
Crimca, TO murder each other in cold blood, like
the gladiators in old Rome, ! do think II would be
highly njudicious in the capitalist looking only to
his own interest, to endeavor to deprive the labor
ers of the means Of giving their families the CON-
forts Of life for the time to come, by giving half
livelihood to some, whilst the others are left in
state Of starvation.
When crisis like the present happened, some
twenty years ago, we were saved deal Of trouble
in hunting for the cause Of II by just saying that
the Bank Of the United States had caused 1t all,
for the purpose Of Specializing on the distress Of
the country. II would now be Just as reasonable
to say that the Independent Treasury had caused
it. Neither bank nor an independent treasury,
nor mines of gold, nor gold dust flowing up the
Mississippi, can cause or cure such evils. IL all
the gold locked up in the vaults Of the independ-
ent treasury were put into the channels Of trade,
trade would at once swell into proportions large
enough to swallow IL, and money crisis would fol-
low. These things win happen, under any circum-
stances, and the only remedy for them is individ-
usl economy and forbearance. Capital and labor,
which generally get on hsrmoniously in times Of
prosperity, should not quarrel in adversely. have
always regarded the independent treasury as a
stupid and corrupt continuance, but ss the majority
Of the people appear to be satisfied with it, would
not disturb II II / could.
Finally, az money that IL paid TO lsborers, and
spent by them for the support Of their families,
flows more bene6cislly into the channels of trade,
and tends more to swell the profits Of capital than
when II takes any other direction, capitalists them
selves should always be pleased when labor Is we'll
rewarded. WoRKr.