The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-04-08

ap,ntv treasury for the prosecution of works not
absolutely necessary; and hundreds of individual
citizens have come forward to contribute to the
fund for the relief of the unemployed workingmen
although in times like these very few even Of the
Weather classes can do more than meet their own
obligations and provide for their own needs. On
all hands the most active and sincere sympathy
has been manifested for those who are suffering
most keen!y through the general prostration of
business; and if the evil has not been remedied it
is because OF It's magnitude, and of the embarrass
ments of those who are willing to do all in their
power to mitigate it. 1t must, we think, be evil
dent to every one who will reflect calmly and fair
~ upon the subject, that the disastrous condition
of affairs here cannot possibly be rectifed by a
further resort to the which have afforded
temporary relief to so many of our citizens. The
trouble is too deeply seated to be reached by mu-
nicipal legislation or individual efforts. The
whole body polite is wrenched with the throes of
what may be mortal CONFUSION, and no one
feels so secure that he can forget his own anxietes
or forego his own interests for the benefit of his
| neighbors. In such an emergency all attempts to
compel men to make sacrifices which they deem
too onerous, must be wholly futile-every endea-
vor to ameliorate the situation ofany class by the
forcible violation Of those fundamental laws which
constitute The basis Of civilized society, must be
productive solely of ruinous consequences
Recognizing as We do the difficulty of dealing
with the serious local issues which the present
crisis has forced upon US, we could but read with
infinite regret the proceedings of the workngmens
meeting which we published on Saturday. Upon
the temper in which the speakers thought proper
to discuss the matters under consideration, we
need scarcely animadvert, for we are quite sure
their audience must have appreciated the folly and
criminality of the infammatory appeals which
were so causelessly INDUCED in. But it is not
improbable that some of the faacious, though
familiar arguments which were so confident
| ly addressed TO the meeting, may have
produced transient impression on the more
excitable or thoughless portion of it, and if such
should be the case, we would urge those who were
so affected to weigh well the words and projects
of their advisers before they blindly follow their
counsels. The two leading ideas which the speak
| ers sought to incucate were-that the unemployed
| workingmen have the right TO compel some one
to keep them at work; and that the city, and also
the merchants and bosses are bound to appro-
pirate their resources TO that purpose. Now we
do not propose to discuss the question as to
whether one man has the right TO force his labor
| upon another, or TO exact payment for services
that are not needed, for these propositions may be
safely left to the dispassionate judgments even Of
those to whom they are addressed. In a calmer
hour we are sure they would repudate theo-
ries which are at war with the primary instincts
and practices of all classes of society. But lest,
in an unadvised moment, any man should be
tempted to give countenance to movement which
might, although unjust, be supposed to be tenn
| porarily advantageous, we would briefly direct
his attention to the inevitable consequences of an
attempt TO follow up the suggestions that were
made 10 the meeting on Friday. 1t is perfectly
certain that any violent attempt on the part of
labor to procure employment will defeat its own
ends. The instant that labor and capital cease to
work tremendously together, that instant do both
begin to suffer. Out of continued struggle be-
tween the two, as has been over and over again
demonstrated, only ruin 10 one or both can en-
sue. Capital, however, has this advantage, that
it can always; at its own time, and at greater or
less loss, retreat from the contest; but labor if it
does not conquer in such controversy, has moth
ing to fall back upon. The necessities of life con-
troll its motions, and the moment it destroys or
drives away capital, iii reduced TO fearful straits
Suppose then maj GRITTY of the people were TO
demand that the city should keep them in work,
and that the common treasury should bear the
burthen, would not the overtaxed public seek in
vesments elsewhere, and would not houses and
| LAM bn Of of oil =,
rates. until the corporation and the individual citi
zens were alike beggared? Labor must then
emigrate or perish. Suppose dominant class
was to insist that the merchants and bosses"
should give it employment, would not the latter
at once transfer their capital and business TO some
! other field, and thus diminish the very resources
to which labor was looking for livelihood for all
| future time? Labor would then find little conso-
lation in ruined factorcs and closed workshops
ThrsU are, we know, very obvious suggestions,
but they are strangely overlooked every time that
unemployed workmen assemble to consider how
they may best procure employment. 1t cannot
surely be necessary 10 dwell at greater length
upon this topic, in order to convince any intelh-
gent workngman of the unsoundness of the views
TO which we have adverted, for he must see at a
glance the impossibility ofmaking merchants and
"bosses" freight ships and run factories and build
houses at time like this of forcing them to pay
wages for unremuneratve labor, or to submit to be
taxed for that purpose. No power on earth can
compel them to consent TO the sacrifices such a
course would entail upon them, and if they cannot
otherwise escape, they will quickly transfer them
selves and their capital TO some safer or more con-
genial place.
But there some other points to which it is our
duty 10 refer in this connection. The meeting Of
Friday is to be followed this week by others of
similar character, and as these will IN all proba-
bility be more numerously attended they will ex-
ert a corresponding influence upon that class in
whose especial behalf they will be called If,
therefore, the unemployed mechanics of Baltimore
desire, as we doubt not they do, to give the ques-
lions submitted to them not only an intelligent
but an honest examination, they should not only
weigh the arguments addressed to them, but they
ought also to take into consideration the character
and position of those who volunteer to be their
advisers Before they consent TO follow the lead of
any man, let them first inquire whether his motives
are pure and his aims honest, or whether he is
merely sefseeking knave and charlatan If
they are appealed to in such language as was ad-
dressed to them On Friday, let them boldly chal-
lenge both the integrity and good sense of him |
who uses it. Can any right-yninded mechanic be
gulled into the belief that his brother is starving,
when the latter tells him in the same breath with
which he cries for bread that he has spurned the |
hand which offered him food? Does the wrecked |
sailor refuse the cup Of brackish water, or does
the hungry wanderer reject bitter root? That |
men ought ordinarily to have fully and freely all
and more than all of the necessaries of life, no one
will deny; but if it pleases Heaven to send among
them war or famine, or an unprosperous sea-
son, shall they say they will submit 10 no priva-
lions? 1t is sheer hypocrisy and folly for any
man in time like this, to aver that he is hungry
and at the same moment to fling away half a loaf
because he and thousands like him cannot get a
whole one.
There was also another extraordinary notion
thrown out by some of the speakers at the meet
ing on Friday, which deserves notice They
would, they said, rather starve than tdemean la
bor'' by working for time on half wages and
this foolish declaration will doubtless be repeated,
and perhaps applauded, at the meetings which are
yet to be held. Is labor then to be considered as
reputable or otherwise according to the price
which is paid for il? Does man tdemean" him
self or his vocation by working for low wages
when he can get no more profitable job? Accord
ng to this new theory workman "demeans' him
self by accepting seventy-fye cents a day al |