The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-08-31
The Labor Question

In one form or other (says tue Baton Rouge
Advocate) the subject of supplying the me-
chanical and agricultural departments Of the
age with the requisite amount of labor tie
carry on their various enterprises, occupies the
uppermost practical thoughts of the world
The Wants Of tile Colonial Dependencies Of
| England and France in the West Indies have
stimulated the emigration of Collies from
China, and the importation of apprentices"
| from Africa, Hayti appeals to the free colored
| population OF the United States to go over to
| her rich fields and take them for the cultiva-
! ton. And All active movement is afoot in the
South to obtain repeal Of those laws of
! Congress that prohibit the slave trade Such
wide spread similarity of action and purpose
must have u common cause They do not
owe their origin to an accident in the condit
ion of the worlds affairs The inadequate
supply of cotton and sugar furnishes the reas-
ons of these efforts to obtain more labor
| Those great comforts and necessaries of cvli-
zation are not produced in the quantities de-
manded by the progress and activity of the
age. The production of both could safely be
doubled without depressing or injuling ser
iously the industrial resources and monetary
arrangements Substantially these commodities
King Cotton has an Aiexandrine ambition and
thirsts for universal sway--hut unlike the
march Of the great Macedonian, his triamphs
leave no trace Of despoliation and bloodshed
in its path. TO lessen all the burdens of life
to cheaper all the necessary comforts Of So
ciety, to Gberalizc despotism and to soften and
finally abolish the rivalry that alienates race
from race, is the mission Of the snow-erowned
monarch of the Southern fields And no less
renowned and benignant is the destiny Of Cot
toms coad,utor, sugar, in amclorating the con-
dition of mankind With universally ac-
knowledged eapability of performing these
vast duties, it is not strange that the effort
should be worldwide, which attempts to
bring into action their utmost capacities of
! service
The New York Herald gives the following
practical and at the same time philosophical
explanation Of the causes at work, which have
produced this movement for more labor
The great production of gold in California
has disturbed, it says, and is still disturbing
the value of labor in its various marts In
the thiclzly populated regions of Europe it has
| improved the condition Of the laborer has
stopped emigration IN esrt. and by giving him
| full belly has set his rain to work and made
him reyolutionist at heart. In the Southern
| States and Cuba it has doubled the value Of
| the slave In the French and British colon
les, by increasing the value of their produc-
tons, it has caused the absence Of available
labor to be severely felt. The denseIy
crowded labor marts of Asia and Africa have
not yet experienced the impulse that gold has
given to the civilized world, through II its
quicker channels OF communication, and thus
the balance of the value Of labor between the
enlightened and the semi barbarous and bar
barous countries is destroyed. The move
ment that now agitates the world is that of
the value of labor seeking its level Crowds
of negroes, Hindoos and Chinese are fastening
on board swift ships from their homes they
can earn only the pttance of three cents day
to the labor hirsting fields of California Aus
tralia, Cuba, Demerara, Martinique and the
Southern States of our Union, where they
can earn twenty, fifty and even hundred
times their home wages.
Moralists and doctrinarians may argue on
the tyranny Of masters and the suffering of
slaves but the din of the looms of Manches-
ter and the cries of the whole world for more
cotton and sugar, drown their clamor, and
stop the ears of both employer and hungry la
borer to their voices. Their labor is in vain,
1t is directed against torrent that pefvades
the whole world, and which has yet but just
begun its course Cotton has clothed men
better and thus improved their health. Su-
gar has reyolutionized the medicine and the
food of man, and increased their enjoyment
and comfort. Gold continues to pour into the
lap of industry, and to increase its profits and
its wants These are causes which will en-
dure and increase in power for generations to