The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1859-03-31

| ~ tcSOUiCc UuL GHe OdTDdllluS InelHOu Vi
making one region desert and striking
your tents and moving to another And
where is your creative power in the high
er regions of art, literature, theology, phi
losophy, politics, character Let the
best civilization of the age judge between
you and itself And this you call sue
cess-to sacrifice the creative energy of
fifteen great States to carry labor back to
the age of the Pharaohs to make your
self cipher in the forces of an intelligent
and Christianized industry; and boast of
the cotton and sugar and tobacco you have
received in exchange. Ard this Free
Society you call failure, which is increas-
| ing faster in creative powers, in every
realm of life, than any previous commu-
nifty on earth Could you cover CONT
nent with your products, and spin shroud
of your cotton wide enough to wrap hu-
mauity for her burial, one free nan, edu-
Gated in the school of Christian indus
try, would be sufficient retujaton of
your shallow philosophy
| And the same logic will scatter to the
winds the affectaton OF superiority, which
in free State like ours, plumes itself on
the distinction of laziness, and thinks gen
tility only the perrOgative of the drone.
Could the young man that saunters the
streets to forget the tagging hours, and
the maiden that scorns the severe toll of
body and mind, but know what they are
doing and becoming thereby, they would
awaken from this dream of folly. For,
pray tell me, is not true gentility also true
nobility of character? Is there any genu-
inc superiority other than spiritual power
and worth and when you desp'se labor
of the hands and mind, do you not re-
nounce that chief glory Of man, his crea-
tive life +? If you make nothing in the
realm of nature, or think nothing of the
realm of ideas, or mould no character or
shape no social result in the realm of HUI
manity-what are you but an underling,
worthless pensioner on society, taking
the back track towards brutality and i'm
potence Is your laziness fraught with
| joys to compensate for the abdication of
your throne of creative dominion Are
! you satisfied to gravitate towards the IL
rational animals for the sake of their pleas
ant sensations and exemption from care
Do you shrink from that trouble, toll and
anxiety which are the inevitable accom-
paniments of all human achievements ?
Learn that the utmost of these is only a
penny toll paid at the gates which open
into new regions of grandeur and lowell
ness and that he who really understands
himself, quite forgets these i'll the inspira
tion that burns higher, as he mounts the
steep ways of Power Aim t. be the best,
if you will, but show US your title in crea-
tive toll, superior to any other, before you
expect of US reception of Your claim.
Since Free Labor is valuable, chiefly
for its spiritual results on man, it will only
be found in its genuine form where man
applies the highest faculties of his nature
to the occupations of his everyday exer-
else. Where every citizen puts his whole
soul into his work, and makes it the ex-
preston of his finest conception of manli-
ness or womanhood ; where people writes
out its grandest ideas of truth, and JUS
tice and grace in the colossal dialect of an
intense and varied industry, then shall we
know what Free Labor can do. Thus we
have only to look at the productions of
any country to understand how far lib
eral and elevated idea of work has advanc-
ed. Anybody could read the whole phi
losJphy of Chinese art and life out of the
manufactures of China. In the evidences
of minute and patient drudgery, the gaw-
ky forms and richness of material display
ed in their manufactures, we discover the
mark of an unprogresslve nation, where
life is so cheap that a mans whole exist
ence eau easily be spared to the eIabora-
tion of one corner Of shawl, or the cary
ing on the leg of table, where with the
richest material and the utmost patience
to mould them, the same stereotype fg-
ures and shapes proclaim that generation
after generation is inclosed in wall of
self conceit and slavish routine. Compare
with this spectacle the industry of the
British islands. and behold in its ever-ex-
panding variety, Its constant improvement
in all the appliances of machinery. its
growing beauty, its thoroughness, the evil
dence that here man is gradually approach
ing true idea of the mission of toll.
Tested by this rule, we shall find much
to criticse in the industry of our State.
We may suppose that Labor is free in our
O. eat commonwealth; and so it is redeem
ed from the infamy of personal slavery
but free from many hindrauces to its high
est development, it is not. We are yet
in transition state from the barbarlsm OF
servile labor, to the Christian civilization
of truly enlightened and purified idea OF
work. Industry is yet embarrassed by
the obstinate tyranny of corporations by