Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-03-22

cessity which promptsto such outbreaks, must
be strong and urgent. Speaking of the Lynn
strikers one says that he knows that they are
terribly oppressed. They themselves, in aletter,
say: The low prices for which we have been
obliged to work during the pastfew winters have
tended to reduce us to state of poverty, and
any funds sent to US will be gladly welcomed and
gratefully received
We will not here discuss the question, are
these strikes justifable. Necessity knows no
law;' and when the poor laborer has wife and
children dependent on him for bread, If his low
wages will not buy the necessaries Of life for
his family, the never-failing instincts of his ma
ture will cry out against his oppressor. But
we desire to contrast the condition of these Nor
thern hirelings with that of our slaves.
These hirelings, from the position they occupy,
are o continual prey to the capitalists. The
bond of union between them is plunder on the
one part and the simple desire of subsistence on
the other. The capitalist pays so much to each
laborer, who out of this pittance must meet all
the wants of himself and family. This pay is
in money, and amounts to about one dollar pei
day. This is barely sufficient, under ordinary
circumstances, to keep them living and out OF
debt Hence in times Of pressure-such as a
strike, a money panic, or when provisions are
run up by their scarcity-these hirelings are OF
the mercy of those who hire them, or the public
at large. A merchant Of New York addressed
letter to the meeting mentioned above, and
proposed to give one thousand dollars to aid the
Lynn strikers; and large subscription was
raised for the same purpose at the meeting
That was its object; and its necessity grew out
of the avowed poverty of the cordwainers. Un'
less assisted by others, they could not hold out
in their demand for higher wages; and would
have to yield to their bosses and serve them
again for mere song. For the capitalist car
subsist on his capital, independent Of the labor
er, longer than the hireling can on his wages,
being dependent on his labor for life and on the
capitalist for employment Such is the extent
Of this mutual plunder and dependence, that the
laborers of Massachusetts, have been advised fol
sell. protection to organize stock companies
make their own shoes; supply the trade in al
parts of the country themselves, and thus realize
the marketable value of their industry and toll
At the South there are never any sach con.
tests between labor and capital The master
being compelled to take care of his slave, at al
times and under all circumstances, the slave
never feels that anxiety about himself, his wife
and his children, which keeps Northern society
in ferment The free-negro at the South ano
the cordwainers of Massachusetts are in muct
the same condition; because they are both poor
and are debarred by their condition from the
protective arm of capital. We make this COM
parison in all charity; yet the slave feels tha
he is above the free-negro, and would pity tht
cordwaiper if he knew his distresses. He il
without care and thought for himself at all times
The greatest shock in the marts of trade, ant
the greatest famine in the harvest fields, never
reach him. He is fed, protected, provided fol
and made to work-all that his rude nature re
.quires to make him happy. The richer his mas
ter becomes, the better contented he is, because
his home and living are the more certainly Sc
cured to him; while the richer the capitals
becomes at the North, the greater is his power
to plunder the cordwainers, and the more grind
ing is their poverty. Whoever contemplate'
slavery at the South in this light, must be stolit
indeed, if he does not see in it the finger of Goo
writing down peace and prosperity to society
1t is the essence of the Scripture truth: 'Th'
rich and the poor meet together the Lord il
the maker of them all ; the only state in which
the white man and negro can exist together will
peace and mutual advantage.