Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1861-02-14
veloped in the practice of the world, but

feet of this is to breed hostility between
the rich and the poor; to generate con-
Aict between the employer and the employ
ed; to array enterprise against industry ;
to induce strikes among operatives, injuri-
GUS to both parties, without relieving the
complainants to divide the products of in
dustry so that the fine -four goes into the
hand of the capitalits, and the bran, with
out suficiency of that, into the hands OF
the laborer; to stimulate luxury, ostenta-
tion and riotous living, in the one party, and
to apportion disease, starvation, squalld
poverty and death to the other; and to con-
duce to tie enactment of laws in favor of the
pecuniary interests of the community to the
detriment of the masses who have 20 capt.
tai. As the picture of this subject has
been well drawn by the author of the ablest
Fast-day Sermon of the season, we quote
it.
"Where labor is free and the laborer not
a part of the capital of the country, there
are two causes constantly at work, which,
in the excessive contrasts they produce,
must end in agrarian revolutions and intol
cradle distress. The first is the tendency
of capital to accumulate. Where it does
not include the laborer as part, it will en-
ploy only that labor which will yield the
largest returns. 1t looks to itself, and not
to the interests of the labore.. The other
is the tendency of population to outstrip
the demands for employment. The multi
plication of laborers not only reduces wages
to the lowest point, but leaves multitudes
wholly unemployed. While the capitalist
is accumulating his hoards-rolliDg in ef-
fulgence and splendor, thousands that would
work, if they had the opportunity, are
doomed to perish of hunger. The most
astonishing contrasts Of poverty and riches
are constantly increasing. Society is divl'
ded between princes and beggars. If Ia
Dor is left free, how can this condition of
things be obviated? The government must
either make provision to support people in
idleness, or it must arrest the law of popu-
latiou and keep them from being born, or
it must organize labor. Human beings
cannot be expected to starve. There is
point at which they will rise in desperation
against social order, which dooms them to
uakeduess and famine, whilst their lordly
neighbor is clothed in purple and fine linen
and faring sumptuously every day. They
will scorn the logic which makes it their
duty to perish in the midst of plenty
Bread they must have, and bread they will
have, though all the distinctions of proper
ty have to be abolished to provide it. The
government, therefore, must support them,
or an agrarian revolution is inevitable
But shall it support them in ieleness 2
Will the poor, who have to work for their
living, consent to see others, as stout and
able as themselves, clothed and fed like the
lilies of the field while they toll not, uei-
ther do they spin? Will not this be to
give premium to idleness? The govern
ment then must find them employment ;
but how shall this be done t.? On what
principle shall labor be organized so as to
make it certain that the laborer shall never
be without employment, and employment
adequate to his support? The only way in
which it can be done, as permanent ar
rangement, is by converting the laborer into
capital; that is, by giving the employer a
right of property in the labor employed
in other words, by slavery. The master
must always find work for his slave, as well
as food and raiment The capital of the
country, under this system, must always
feed and clothe the country. There can
be no pauperism, and no temptations te
agrarianism.
That this representation is true to life, is
clearly illustrated bya comparison of all the
countries which have adopted free or slaut
labor, and this comparison the reader can
make.
4. This argument, from the structure and
developement of society, gains additional
power from the acknowledged incompetent
cy of certain classes IN the community tc
assume all the relations and discharge the
duties of free citizenship. The political
features of this subject We do not now dis
cuss, but simply touch its social aspects
This incompetency may consist in menta
or moral inequality, or may result from nat
ural causes, and accidental endowment and
peculiarities; but it may be and is OTTER
construed as affecting the social status O.
the individuals, to such a degree, as to pre-
clude the possibility of their being pu
upon a level with those who are otherwise
gifted. Without expanding this topic, We
may remark that the most casual observer
can see that this description emiuently ap
? plies to the African wherever found. Tt
: : regard him as competent in all respects fo1
complete citizenship is what no theorist ad
mits; to speak of lifting him to companion
ship with the white man is contrary to the
practice of even freedom shriekers. Hence
slavery comes in to relieve the incompeten
class, as the Africans are admitted to be
and puts them in that condition which, i
not abused, will most surely promote thei
welfare and besides contribute to the strength
of the social organization; they being nj
: longer the anomalous, unassimilable, ane
disintegratiug element, which as freemer
they ever continue to be, when associated
with the Japhetic and even Shemitic races
5. The practice of the world is also con
frmatory of the argument We are now ex
panding. Everywhere and in all ages Their
2 has been class who were compelled to d.
menial service. And in most countries
3 there has been some organized system o