New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-03-24
TIE LABOBER H WORTHY OF
HIN HIRE.

Who says he 10 not The Rebels. The
Copperhcads. That is what tho war is about.
That was tho question at the polls before the
war. The Rebels would not have rebelled, il
tho people had said Of tho polls, as the Cop
perheads did and do, that the laborer 10 not
worthy Of his hire. They dol Mt hate the
Government in the abstract A free
Government which would allow them any.
where and everywhere to make FREQ with the
laborer's LAHORE and not pay wages, is what
they particularly relish. But they dc MT like
to trust power in the hands of people who be-
lisve that tho laborer is worthy Of his hire,
even swear these people never 50 solemnly not
to NEEDLE or make with tho question in q
practical way.
Now, every man who labors himself believes
that the labOrer is worthy Of his hire. Some
men do nc labor and do Mt believe 80. The
Southern lords of the lash profess to believe
that the laborer is nowhere worthy Of his hire
TINT he 10 worthy of almost anything but
tbat-contempt. coarse clothes, hard grub,
curses and punishment for knowing too much
and their parasites, the would.b be nnbobs among
us, who are too lazy to love to work, are Of
precisely the same opinion.
Set down the Industrious, then, both North
aud South, as all on one side in this war. Set
down tho men who do Mt mean to labor for
themselves. but to live OH the labor of other
people for nothing, whether South or North
as pretty much all Oh the other side. Beside
these there are men among US who are not under
the necessity Of laboring, and perhaps do not,
having in their possession tho wages Of past
labor, their own or their ancestors, enough to
support them. There can BIO doubt on
which side Of this war these people ought to
DO. For if tho laborcr is not worthy Of his
hire, to have and to hold, to himself. his heirs
and assigns, then they have no right to their
property. The hook that logically and morally
holds it pulls out. Therefore all intelligent and
honest owners Of property provided that their
property does not include tho bodies and souls
Of laborers) must side with tho actual laborcrs
in this war. They are under bonds to the eI
tent and value Of their property to accept no
peace which is not made ON tho basis that the
labOrer is worthy of his hire, ind shall have it
when he has earned it.
But the Copperheads and those whom they
humbug say: The Southern laborers will not
work for wages, md, therefore, they must be
whipped. The lash is divine institution to
cure laziness. IL that sol Why, then, Is it
not in use at the North We have laziness
here to cure; but the dread of starvation, or
rather the appetite for food, clothes, clap
boards and shingles, cures it about as fast rs
any doctor ever cured any disease, and per-
hsps as thoroughly. Wages have always drawn
more work from Southern laborers than the
lash could, so fur as wages have been tried on
them; but they have not been tried much, for
this very particular reason, that no man could
try them there any time these thirty years
past, except at the peril Of his life. This unde-
niabe, Outsticking, bloodily illustrated fact,
naturally tells Of itscf on all but natural block
heads. Therefore, II the laborer is worthy of
wages, try them on, and If they fail, starvation
at least will not.
This is a depression. Here is the conclusion
Of the whole matter. This IL war at pres
ont. and always has been, in spite Of any silly
diplomatic prctcnSes to tho contrary, between
Abraham Lincoln, as representing oil those in
our country who cordially believe that the
IabOrer is worthy of his hire, and jeff. Davis,