Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-11-03
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOV. 3. ISIS

Ioond some comments from a London paper, on
the condition of laborers in Englands 4llleaa c-
count is wondrous pitfnl one, and there is no
man of Properfeelings who Eill read it without
sympathetic chord being touched in his boz
som. We congratulate ourselves in this country
that the condition of the laborergisi not like
what it is in England Thank Heaven, it snot
neither does it promise to be in our day and
generation. 1t is in places-in the crowded
throughtares-in many of the big cities and
towns. but it is so.hecause the laborers them
selves eitbeFcanntt OF will not, help themselves
to something bel er. The mass of men who
labor, naturally enough, Just like all other men,
want to labor in places where mankind "most
do congregate." We sometimes think that to
many people half loaf in cityis infinitely
preferable to whole one in the country
There is charm, an. excitement. about social
life, about moving among masses Of humanity,
that leads men down to the very gates of pos
verify "Better to dwell in themidStro OF alarms"
they would say with Alex, ,Selkitk,, than to
reign monarch of aIT they survey some distance
off from mass Of people. Men are, or at least
have beenlso described, "gregarious animals"44
they love to move in focks and herds together,
just like the lower creation, AID even compara.
tive isolation on a full stomach is desolation
to them. We see no remedy for this, exr
cept in the stern necessities Of life, and
even that will. only at intervals, Eand under
the severest pressure, work a 'counteractite..
IaborerB in New York, Philadelphia and else!
where, will parade the streets with bloody
banners, on which are inscribed "Work OF
Deathr-they will threaten aud even execute
lplnnder and robbery before they will leave the
haunts ola thick settlement. Poets may sing and
orators may, extol the beauties and innocence.
health and the countless blessings of sylvan
shades-and3o tho lowing of lkine-zthe sweet!
smelling SAVIOUR of the new moygn grass. and all
that; bbtlfor all the laborsrsw will shy, givetne
crustin the city and let those whoprefer take
"a cot in the valley" To own land is ~ very
agreeable:idea to most people or5poor-
but to dig and grubTT-hoe and plough, atatbe
present standard ofsngricultural remuneration,is
not attractive Men reason that they can live
and bneatheinstOwn-that theyamight do so5in
o somewhat,improved condition.inI the country;
but the incentive-the promise Of more than
n ,Passing living is wanting, and they willnot
consent to leaye!G precario,is state}of existence
in!the city for certainty a mere subsistence
In the country. Real active; manual labor, it
seems to us, has bechsundergoing gradual dis.
courageme this. country for the. last decade!
PeopleIhage gotito believe that there is some
thing in the old adage which teaches that s.there
sis5bht aasi&peneeih difference between him who
works and him who does not work. :" They see
men walking thestreets- dressed 5well--with oilys
skins and the flushed cheeks Of good and even
beg, yet who have, Uncommon parlance, ssno Wis
ibe means fsupPort,' =, and they, the lockers on
are excited into the hallucniatlon that there is
some secret well spring of competence without
labor, that is to be found by hanging on to the
crowd Mnlttudes thus live in hope Of a good
time coming, their children go idle, learn all
sorts of vicious PRACTICES are frequently before
the authorities, and still their parents hope, on
against hope and viii not give up the ship. We
have looked at this matter good deal, here in
this little of ours, and we have thought up
on itdnd ferreted into it by inquiry and. obser-
Walton ies far as we could, and we cannot but
conclude that, the tone of labor has not only be
come demoralzed, hut that the idea fslabor
shas positively been und rgoings Kind of inyol.
Iuntary abandonment in the eyes of the people.
PVSSlol6'S ileaSC
possible effort, is becoming the great .'crcum-
,locutiOnp study of the people, Our country
for theslast ten; years, has been great cauldron
of hot excitement the subject Of trading aud
spCculating. To get gold, to get limo, bonds,
stocks, has been thee dream of the masses, Just
asitwas the jamestown colony, to "digs gold,
washgold, refine gold and load gold" a sort
of era like that OF the mississippi Bubble" of
sJohhLd&'s day, has been aud is'still upon US.
Labor Of ell kind. .hl but especially uueducated
labor, has. fallen into the contempt of the PEG.
pie WHAT is to come ora all t,is We do not
know. It seems to be the peculiar mission and
natural disposition Of capital to debass labor
andto despoil It'll al! possible ways. They are
Chased, as mutual helps, ''naturd allies'a by
Political Economists, but they; do not work to-
gethSrs They. pun apart, They are always
jealous f eaehsother, they take all possible al.
vahtages of each other. Gapitalmore often, on
account Of the .spperiQrl intelligence of its
thelfnsuisn, Breaches b. i Is
ver-reaohed tbys it, Thus itssis that la
Dor hsgL .Resqs sts6flily3 dshsareInd in this
country; The schools and colleges have. not