New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-25


The wrongs Of seamen have at last found hear
ing in the only quarter in which their vigorous and
conclusive vndication could bereasonably expected.
After long delay the Chamber of Commerce
has taken 8 single step toward reform.
Many commercial houses Of great wealth and
weight have agreed to discard the perncious and
demorslizing system of advance wages This is
progress in the right direction which we gladly
recognize. If persisted in, it is sure to dethrone
the keepers of boarding. houses and grog shops and
to take from the scoundrels who have so long
monopoized the earnings of the sailor their fatal
power over unfortunate men. Should this arrange
ment be consummated, we shall witness closer
relations between the employer and the employed,
and the shipOwDer will approach BY several degrees
nearer to the Woodworking and hardly-treated
creature to whom he owes his wealth. This will be
something germane to the changes which have &C.
CURED in the employment of land laborers. Hany
thing be certain in the most uncertain OF sciences
1--WE mean that of Political Economy, it is this;
that labor being the grand producer of capital it is
better that capital, for ts own sake should stlnu-
late, encourage and cheer the thews and snews
upon which it depends In the abstract, we sup
pose every merchant understands this. When
ship drops from her DOCK and is starting upon her
voyage it is in the power of her owner to make Of
her crew enemies or allies. Certainly be will not
think the chances of the voyage the worse, because
the whole forecastle is his friend or because the
master of the ship knows that he feels an interest in
the welfare of her company. We think that the
change proposed will do something to promote this
.ymputny. IL VIII, if fully developed, drive the
middemen into more honest business
But the reform must not stop here. If the sailor
is to be elevated to something like responsibility
we must pause and ask how it is that he has sunk
into such degradation. How is it that ne is CEN
tury behind every other laborer3 How is it that
while the farm. workman can lay up hundred dol
lars in year, and at the same time live in a neat
homestead, and rear a numerous family, the sailor
has no home, and very seldom cultivates social re-
lations In reply TO this interogatory 1t is very
easy to beg the question. 1t costs no very pom
derous logic to say that being upon the sea the sailor
is OF to be estimated by the Laws Of terra frmd.
1t ia very pleasant to assert that, being sailor,
he must of necessity be pauper. great
many folks think it is triumphant refutation
of all accusations to say, "He iss sailor" We do
not propose to submit to this summary disposition
of the case There is degree ofrefnement IN the
cabin. The gentleman who tales his daughters
across the Atlantic to see Paris, Dies not ind that
a ship is intrinsically demoralizing The captain
who swaggers up and down the qu,rter deck comes
home to his family mild and genial creature. lie
losses bis baby upon his knee, ju't as II ne mad
never Drained man with handslike, and Kisses
his wife with no touch of homicide in his sauta-
ton. We cannot understand VII! the climate &"
the stern should be so much healthier than thet OF
the stem. Really, there must have been a lorna!
determination that the sailor should be nobody, ana
lurking suspicion that ships canIot pay interest
Of money without driving, hoggDg, swearing
starving, cheating and numbering. 10 this We nave
ae of the few "reminiscences of the arbarous ages,
in which seamen were keel-haule< ana hogged
through the fleet. We have abolished the orutahly
of the cabin but weare afraid 10 abolish the ora'
tally Of the forecastle.
The commercial world attempts to atone tor It's
sin by building few chapels, by enfowihg 'e"
boarding houses and by subscribing lew doiiars'
Is it in this way that dust can be thrown INTO the
eyes of God Will anybody tell US why the sailor
should not be as comfortable and IS prosperous as
any laborer Why he should not have eood wages,
good food good treatment and weii-'en'iia'ea
berth There is nothing which necessi'a'es inc
mesgerness and misery to which Dc is su'o''eu.
At the other end of the ship they have soft tack
fresh meat, milk, eggs, poultry and vine; ID Inc
forecastle, only wormy biscuit besn-codee and pu-
trid beef In the cabin are pleasant Conversations
and constant interchange of the aneiites oi nie;
in the forecastle only profanity coarsensss ana heen
tiouspess In the cabin are books and games and
hundred expedients to asy the tedium oitne voyage;
in the forecase the sole resource is greasy PACK OF
cards and dirty pipe. In the CABIN Is comfort;
in the forecastle only squalidity. we 'aAe 'nis
poor mariner, we cheat him, we s'ar'e ninl' We
beat him and in hundred ways we aenoran1e Inn;
and when he makes little desperate protest against
our injustice, We bind him over, snd IN de'aai' OF
bailors, we put him into jail
No worker for wages upon the Hnd submits 10
such ipjustces. No worker upon the sea should
be compelled to submit to them. We must nave q
radical and thorough reform. II men who earn
from $50 to $50 in month on land are able to
sustain families and to provide Themselves with all
the neeessariss aud not few d The laIsre' Of