St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-03-28
From the Philadelphia Manufacturer 'ia1cttS
The Wealth Of the Laboring Classes.

From, the rhiia'elphn Manufacturer eGazstta
The Wealth of the Laboring Glasses.
The articles which we have pub
| lishcd on Workmcn's Earnings and
! their Savings" contain some very in
tercsting statements respecting the
frugalty of the operatives in the man-
ufacturing districts of Great Britain
| In our own country, where wages arc
! higher, the facts no doubt if known
would be still more astonishing. The
crisis of 1851 revealed that the labor
| ing classes of New England had mot
only millions of dollars on deposit in
Savings Banks, but that ncar y all tho
single shares Of stock of the large
manufacturing companies were owned
by the operatives who wero employed
in them.
Recent official reports contain addi-
tional evidence of their prudent econo-
my. and the amount of their surplus
earnings.
In Massachusetts, according to the
Report of the Bank Commissioners,
the deposits in ninety Savings Banks
in operation amounted on November
|, 1860, to $45, ,O54, ,235, being an in
crease over the previous year Of So
629,Sl6 \ considerable portion oi
these deposits belonged, no doubt, to
, other than laborers, yet it is well at
tested that the bulk was composed
of their surplus earnings. In New
York it appears that the laboring clas-
scs are not less frugal. From the an
nual reports which the Savings Banks
have Just made to the Bank Depart
ment at Albany, it appears that the
total amount of deposits in the four
larger Savings Banks in New York
city, on Jan. l, 1861, was $33 ,293 800,
while the aggregate Of deposits in tho
smaller institutions was from SS,O0O,-
I 600 to SlO,OO0,0Oo. From this Off
/ cial statement it will be seen that
the laborng classes of New York
I city have in bank, subject to their or
: der, in hard cash, about forty millions
y Of dollars. This goes to confirm the
n assertion of Mr.. Webster made in the
Senate some years ago, that tivc-sixths
y of the whole property of the North lis
t in the hands Of the laborcrs Of the
l. North"
y The Commercial Bulletin of Boston
IS in a late issue instanced some of the
'c achievements of New England labor
u ers and mechanics which have ex-
II tended commerce or rcvolutionized in
l. dustry 1t remarked
IS The fishermen of Cape Cod had
1t hardly made their calling distinct
u i've feature of Colonial industry before
d they expanded it into the whaling
o business aud the still more hardy
e advcnturers Of the whaling fleets, dis
IS covering the rich resources OF tho
2, islands Of the Pacific, first gave birth
IA to the great commerce we now have
II in that direction.
y "A simple mechanic going ont from
II New England to work on wages for q
al foreign potentatc, has so made use OF
Is his faculties (taculties cngcndered by
his independent position at homc) III
H. discovering advantages for trade and
ic commerce, that he has laid the foun-
y, daton for a commerce with his native
it country which is yearly increasing i'll
o' magnitude. The future commerce OF
DC New England with Egypt, which now
nc promises to be large, will date its
ct first impulse to the skltul work of the
mechanics at Springfield. The Yam
-. kec machiuist who went to Cuba TO
oi set boilers and erect engines on the
ny plantations, carried with him the same
Oh independence which permitted him at
on home to shake hands with the Prcsi-
:, nF- dent, and argue with the magistrates
I'r of the land and this enabled him to
OF open up certain plans for the economy
Is. of labor, which resulted in making a
'ct market for millions of the product OF
a New England industry An unsortu-
/: nate mechanic, in doing piece Of
I'M work for his master, accidentally split
. piece of iron, and, while pondcring
OF upon the best plan to mend it the
'as a., first idea that presents itself to gen
III uine Yankee, made discovery which
ere has resulted in building hundred fac
III tories with millions of capital, and ad
ef- ded another to the industrial projects
al of New England. y poor laboring
;. man, in one of our large cities, wht
W. used to stand in water up to his knees
ca rolling logs, conceived the idea o
FAX opening up a new branch of trade
which he carried to a successful is
en- sue, the results of which are seen II
Tor our dceply,loaded vessels going t
as every quarter of the globe. lie dle'
an, and left a large fortune, which is nov
'au spreading itself in every direction t
double and swell the aggregate c
'at, our wealth One Of the richest mel
ooN chants in this city walked from hi
an native town to Boston, and earned III
,s nGs first money by going to a neighbol
'o'o ing beach, digging hand-cart full
clans, and dragging them more tina
twelve miles for sale. His name
NJ. associated with some OF the most III
till eral, charitable bequcsts, and III
are wealth is visible in some OF the IN
the blest warehouses in the city.
,ard The head of one of the largest shil
seen owning firms came from Cape Coz
inc, worked as day laborcr on the whar
ven. became master of 4 vessel, and the
rom merchant Twenty-Five OF the Pre-
II is idents of the Boston banks have CON
anc- up directly from the laborlnS classes
Ill a and if we were to specify them, the
non financial management would show II
end value of their self-education. III
9TH men who have given the most vitallt
any to our railroad interests, and wi
rru- stand in the first rank OF their man
'ule, gers, were farmer s sons, ana SO
dom through the intcrninable list. =,
1t 1--WE have cited these to show u
that irrepressible activity Of the labor'r
not classes, the power they WELD IN mo
nate ing the great interests Of society, al
,ct r. to Show the cxhauStlcss supply fro
G, in which the trade, and industry, al