New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-08-01

The N. Y. Times, in an article exulting over the
alleged failure of the recent attempts on the part
Of the merchants and shipowners to do away with
the system of advance wages to sailors-a failure
which The Times takes to itself the credit of hav.
ing foreseen and predicted-fas into Curious in
consistency. In the first part of its article it un.
dertakes to explain the alleged failure upon philO-
sophica grounds of inevitable necessity. In fact,
it is not merely the alleged failure of the scheme
for aboliihiDg advance wages over which The Times
exults. 1t includes in its shouts Of triumph, and
also il its philosophical explanations, all the efforts
of patient and persevtring philantbropists for the
last thirty years to improve the condition of Sailors
and to convert them into prudent careful and con-
scen.ious laborers. The philosophical explanation
which TIL. TINES vouchsaes of this alleged failure
il tits: that Jack is an &" intractable subject"
wholly Incapable Of reform or improvement; and
that oil labor and all efforts having that object in
view must, from the necessity of the case, be just
50 much labor thrown away. Sailors, according
to TIE Times, do not feel and do not reason like
other meD and motives which might reasonably be
addressed to other men are thrown away upon
them. No man, according to The Times, ever
goes to sea as sailor for the sake Of gain, but for
the love of the excitement of sea life or because
lie cannot keep sober on shore. The offer made to
the sailors of twenty. fTe per cent more wages if
they would ship without the usual advance was,
says Tkt Times, proposal so greatly TO their ad.
vantage that no other class Of aborcrs would have
rejected it. but Jack does not 90 to sea for the
,f II;sf svnrita ffo and - ha
"leen banging over the door Of his boarding house
"is, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the BUSH
"The present enjoyment is all he looks for"
Such is tie picture of sailor character which
The Times draws for the purpose of explaining
Why they refuse to give up advance pay, aud
take Increased wages instead. 1t is HOt put into
their heads by parties interested in perpe!usting
tie present system. 1t is alack of shrewduess, a
lack Of discernmeDt on the part Of the sailors;
incapacity of locking forward to the future and
providing against il. But when The Times, in the
latter part of its article, undertake. as it does to
OF their employ but why they listen to and
tale the advice of their landlords, it changes IFS
tune entirely II is not that the landlords csjole
the ailors. No such thing. "A vast amount of
tn, ughtless yituperation,' 50 The Times assures
us, las been "poured out upon the heads of ship.
"piug masters and sailor landlords" The fact is,
if We believe The Times, that the sailors have the
bsss rsas0ns for trusting those persons, and in
eclng so they do but act in accordance with the
dictates Of reason and good sense. "Sailors
know that their role reliance, when in port,
waiting for ship, is their landlord. He takes
A" item when they have not cent in their peck.
cts, furnhes them with such comforts and
90 necefssres as they need, Dnd trusts to their
" months advance for his pay. 1t is quite natural
" that Jack should trust those who trust him; the
4" relation between him and his landlord is not q
" enc sided one. If the shipowner exhib ted the
" ssme degree Of confidence and good will towards
" Jack that his Landlord. does, we have no doubt
" that the relations between them would be quite
g as Close and friendly. Doubtless the shpowner
ftels stronger degree Of intsr rest in the welfare
" of sailors than tie landlord does; but Jack has
" no means of knowing it. There is no personal
" intercourse between him and his employer, and
I" the officers who represent the shipowner, do
"nct ulhappily, in the majority Of cases, conduct
'themtelyes in q manner to make the mpoyee
"anxious for q more intimate acquaintance"
Sailors, if We are to believe The Times, in deal
ing their employers are reckless fools looking
only to the present, inaccessible TO the ordinary
motives Il seF. hterest, and not able to recog-