Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1861-12-04

council nor country was there, so far as I
know, any difference of opinion as to the
proper person to be selected. The retiring
chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in
favor of Gen. Mcclellan for the position,
and in this the nation seemed to give an
unanimous concurrence. The designation
Of Gen. Mcclellan is therefore in a consul
cradle degree the selection of the country
as well as Of the Executive, and hence
there is better reason to hope there will be
given him the confidence and cordial sup
port thus by fair implication promised, and
without which he cannot with so full eff
cheney serve the country. 1t has been said
that one bad General is better than two
good ones, and the saying is true, if taken
to mean no more than that an army is bet
ter directed by a single mind, though in
ferior, than by two superior ones at vari-
anee and cross purposes, and the same is
true IN all joint operations wherein those
engaged can have none but 4 common end
In view, and can differ only as to the choice
OF means. In a storm at sea no one on
board can wish the ship to sink, and yet
not unfrcquently all 60 down together be-
cause too many will direct, and no single
mind can be allowed to control. 1t con.
tlnues to develope that the instruction is
largely if not exclusively a war upon the
first principles Of 4 popular Government
and The rights of the people. Conclusive
evidence Of this is found in the most grave
and maturc,y considered public documents
as we'll as in the general tone of the insur-
gents. in these documents we find the a.
bridgment of the existing right Of suffrage
and the denial to the people of all right to
participate in the selection of public Off
GERS, except the legislative body, advoca-
ted with labored arguments to prove that
large control of the government in the peo-
pie is the ource of. all political evil. Mon
arehy itself is sometimes limited at as q
possible refuge from the error of the peO-
pie. In my present position l could scarce
ly be justified, were 1 to omit raising a
warning voice against this approach Of re-
turning despotism.
CAPITAL y LABOR.
It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a
general argument should be made in favor
of popular institutions, but there is one
point with its connections, not so hackney
ed as most others, to which | ask a brief
attention. 1t is the effort to place capital
on an equal footing with, if not above. Ia
Dor, in the structure of government. 1t is
assumed that labor is available only in con
nection with capital; that nobody labors
unless somebody, owning capital, somehow
by the use of it, induces them to labor
This assumed it is next considered whether
it Is best that capital shall hire laborers,
and thus induce them to work by their own
consent, or levy them and drive them to it
without their consent Having proceeded
so far it is naturally concluded that all Ia
borers are either hired labors or what we
call slaves, and further, it is assumed that
whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in
that condition for life.
Now there is no such relation between
capital and labor as assumed, nor is there
any such thing as a freeman being fixed
for life in the condition of a hired laborer.
Both of these assumptions are false, and
all differences from them are groundless.-
Labor is prior to and independent of capt.
tai. Capitsl is only the fruit of labor,
and could never have existed if labor had
not first existed. Labor is the superior OF
capital, and deserves much the higher con
sideratiOn. Capital has its rights which
are as worthy Of protection as any other
rights. Nor is it denied hat there is, and
probably always will be a relation between
labor and capital producing mutual bene-
fits. The error is in assuming that the
whole labor of community exists within
that relation. A few men own capital, and
that few avoid labor, and with their CAPT
tai hire or buy a few to labor for them
A large majority belonging to neither class
neither work for others, nor have others
working for them. In most of the South
ern States a majority of the whole people
of all cOlors are neither slaves nor masters,
while in the Northern States a large ma
jority are neither hirers nor hired men
Men with their families, wives, o D and
daughters, work for themselves on their
farms, in their houses, and in their shops
taking the whole product to themselves.
and asking no fayOrs of capital on the one
hand. nor of hired laborers or slaves on the
other. 1t is not forgotten that a consider
able number of persons miDgle their own
labor with capital that is, they labor with
their own hands and also buy or hire 9TH
ers to labor for them; but this is only a
mixed and not a distinct class. No prin-
ciple stated is disturbed by the existence of
this mixed class. Again, as has already
Neen said, there is not of necessity any such
thing as the free hired laborer being fixed
for that condition for life. Many independ-
ent men everywhere id these States a few
years back in their lives were hired labor
ers. The prudent, penniless beggar in the
world labors for wages a while and saves a
surplus with which to buy tools or land
for himself, then labors on his own account
and at length hires another new beginner
to help him. This is the Just, and geDer-
GUS and prosperous system which opens the
way to all, gives hope to all, and cOnEe-
quent energy, progress and improvement
Of the condition to all. No men living are
more worthy to be trusted than those who
toll up or on from poverty, none less in
clined to take or touch aught which they
have not hOnorably earned. Let them be-
ware of surrendering a political power
which they already possess, and which if
surrendered will surely be used to close the
door of advancement against such as they,
and to fix new disabilities and burdens up
on them until all of liberty shall be lost.
From the first taking of our national cen
sus 10 the last, are 20 years, and We find
our population at the end of the period
eight times as great as it was at the be-
ginning. The increase of those other things
which men deem desirable, has been even
greater. We thus have at one view
what the popular principle applied to the
Government throuph the machinery of the