The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-04-08
SUPPORT YOUR MECHANICS,

SUPPORT YOUR MECHANICS.
The following sensible remarks, which we
find in some of our exchanges, we transfer
to our columns, and would earnestly COM
mend them to our readers in this place and
the State at large:-
There is no truth more undeniable than
that it is the bounden duty of every COM
munity to support its mechanics They
are worthy and indispensable class of men,
| and we find no town or village fourishing
without their aid. Indeed their presence
or absence is always true index of the
condition of tue place-whether it is ad-
vancing in wealth and Importance or sink
ing into decay. Whenever we pass through
village and hear the frequent sound of
the carpenters hammer, the clink of the
olacksm1Jh-s anv1l-that village, we say to
ourselves, is hourishing. 1t cannot be
! otherwise, for the producers are actively
employed, and outnumber the consumers.-
Whenever and wherever this is the case
the people are growing wealthy, and at the
same time training the rising generation to
habits of industry and morality. Where. if
city or village pursue the opposite of this
course-neglect its mechanics and supports
those of some foreign town-those who can,
will be compelled to go to some other place,
and those who are compelled by the force
OF circumstances to remain, will become
idle and profigate-they will cease to pro-
duce, and become consumers-in a few
years they become beggars, and the children
ignorant. and vicious.
If there is any truth in the assertion that
we ought, as nation, to give the preference
to domestic manufactures, the fact is equally
true with regard to the community: both
are sustained by the same arguments. IF
a merchant would have around him sub
stantial customers, let him by every means
in his power, support the mechanics of his /!
village, and as they become more wealthy, |
their custom will increase, especially in |
those articles on (which he makes the greatest !
profits, for it is undeniable, that as men
become more wealthy they also become
more luxurious, and no merchant will deny
that articles of luxury always afford the
greatest profits. The habit of importing
large quantities of cheap and half made
articles of competition with our village
mechanics, is short sighted and wrong, both
as regards the mechanic and Consumer:
and if the merchant would look further into
the operation of things. he would find that
ne crossed the path of his own interest bv
doing so. Let the merchant bring the case
to his own door, and he, perhaps, may
better understand it; suppose that every
Individual who possesses the means, and
who uses in his family four or five hundred
lollars worth of goods per annum, should,
instead of buying of him at retail, 90 to
some city wholesale establishment and pur
'hase his years supply-would he not in
bitterness condemn such an illiberal course,
md would he not say to him with truth,
hat he was warning against his own interest,
y destroying the business of his town and
living it to another; and that his littIeness
'ould react upon him in double fold by the
ecrease OF his property and business! So, s
the case above insta need, could the l
lechanic say the same to the merchant =
We say, then, let all classes support each {
ther' and by mutual exchanges keep that a
ealth at home, which, if necessarily ex- !
ended abroad, tends to destroy the business n
your neighbor, and which in turn des- n
oys your own.