Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-05-15


and hear the frequent sound Of the carpenter ham
mer, the clnk Of the blacksmiths anyil--that village
we say to ourselves is fonrishing )" True. DR..
Franklin once held debt against brother mechan
ic and being put off from time to time he determin-
ed at length to push him. but passing his shop late
at night, he heard the sounds of his debtors ham
mer, and ne changed his mind and gave him further
indulgence He saved his debt with interest.
But our mechanics are not encouraged as they
should be. We purchase many things at the NORTH
from our bitter enemies, which could be as well
purchased here. And in addition to this, we put
our mechanics on the credit system which binders
them in their business and cramps their energies
Cash is the life of trade, and especially of the
chanic arts. We would as soon ask man to trust
US for piece of beef or bushel Of meal as to ask
a mechanic to trust US for pair of shoes, or for
making coat, or for mending a wagon or a car.
rage Tag as you go is the philosophers stone,
which turns all you touch into money and this is
what the mechanic is entitled to expect the hands
of his customers If you do not pay him the cash.
he cannot lay in his stock to advantage but is forced
to purchase on credit and thereby incur interest,
higher prices and the cost of exchange. You force
him, too, to depend upon the Banks for aid, which
Neither, unless you pay him. can he pay his hands;
and thus the honest mechanic, who works week in
and week out for his employer. is compelled often
to go without his wages-to purchase credit the
necessaries of lfe and is kept down and kept DOOR,
living credit half the time and the other half from
hand to mouth. This is overdrawn picture 1t
is true one. We have the reality time and
again. Let no one who can pay, but who ncgects
refuses to pay the mechanic or the workngman
the money he has honestly earned, say that be j.
friend to industry that he wishes workngmen
we'll People judged by what they do rather
than by what they sag. 1t is fashionable with some
to put off the mechanic and pay him last, if at all
but these same people are always first at places of
amusement or pleasure, spending their moncy-is it,
heirs?- complacen,lv as if one was sufftrinet
for his wages, by them thoughessly or dishonestlN
withheld But we will not dctan on" readers longer
from the article from the Age, which is follows: .
SUPPORT Your MECHANIcs.-There is no truth more
undeniable than that it is the bounden duty of every
community to support its mechanics. They are a.
worthy and Indispensable class of men, and we find
no town village four>hng without their aid.
Indeed, their presence absence is always a true
index of the condition Of the place-whether it is
advancing in wealth and Importance or sinking into
decay Whenever we pass through a village and
the cnk of the backsmths anvil-that village. we
say to ourselves. is Furnishing 1t cannot be other
wise for the producers actively employed, and
outnumber the consumers. Whenever this is the
case, the people are growing wealthy, and at the
time training the rising generation to habits OF
pursue tho vPpvsie OF this cOurse-neglects its me-
chanics and supports those of some foreign town
those who can, will be compelled to 60 to some other
place, and those who compelled by force of cir.
tO w hcrO
gate--they will cease to produce, and become con.
| sulners-in few years they becomes beggars and
| their children ignorant and vicious.
If there is any truth in the assertion that we ought
nation to give the preference to domestic manu-
factures the fact is equally true with regard to the
| community; both are sustained by the same areu-
| ments. II 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 wealthy, their custom will increase
| especially in those articles which he makes the
greatest profits for it is undenabe that as men he.
come more wealthy they also become more luxurious
and merchant will deny that articles of luxury
always afford the greatest profits The habit of i'm
porting large quantities Of cheap and made articles
Of competition with village mechanics is short
| sighted and wrong. both az regards the mechanic
| and consumer; if the merchant wonld look further
| into the operation of things, he would find that he
crossed the path of his own interest by doing so-
Let the merchant bring the case to his own door
and he, perhaps, may better understand it. Sup
pose that every individual who possesses the means
and who in his family four or five hundred dol.
lars worth of goods per annum, should, instead OF
buying of him at retail, go to city wholesale
establishment and purchase his years supply
would he not in bitterness condemn such an ber.
al course, and would he not say to him with truth,
that he warning against his interest, by
destroying the business of his town and giving it
to another and that his liteness would react upon
him in double fold by decrease of his property and
business! &c. in the case above nstanced, could
! the mechanic say the same to the merchant We
say. them lei all classes support each other and by
mutual exchanges keep that wealth at home which
if necessarily expended abroad tends destroy the
business of your neghbor, and which in turn des.
troys your own.