New-York daily tribune., 1865-09-26
TEE RIGHTS OF LABOR.


We are not among the admirers of her dis
courses nor of her most characteristic views;
but we do profoundly honor the courage ana
sclf.poise which have enabled her to strike OUT
for herself path TO self-support and compe'
tence which detractS nothing from the opporcu-
mites of her sisters, born, like herself, to the
common heritage of poverty and labor Hence
we most intensely loathe and reprobate the
spirit which instigates such paragraphs as the
following troin The (Ohio) Lorain County Ne~S;
SILvEnY--Sc,nc ono has called Miss Anna Dickenson
n syery-tongued orator. The College Societies Ia
brarv Association have found out what that means one
Offers to cone to Obern this Winter and lecture one
evening for 500 Two hundred collars for one hour
talk Tha; is inst three dollars and thirtythiee ana
onc.rhird cents per minute. AS "syery aS ~ wen
could be in this age OF greenbacSI
Let US look little first at the facts in the
case:
Miss Dickinson lives in Philadelphia, between
four and five hundred miles from Oberlin. IL Is
n pretty fair weeks work for her 10 leave home,
travel by honest dayligh. to Oberlin, lecture
there. and return, at a cost, including wear OF
clothing, of hardly less than $50. And then,
she ought to devote not less than month TO
study, thought and preparation, To qualify her
for giving such a lecture as Obcrlin can afford
an evening to hear. so that, i'll fact, instead
of paving her three dollars and third
per minute" for her lecture. what she asks is
not a hundredth part of that.
But We do not rest the case on the fact that
her charge is reasonable. Weplsco it distinctly
on the ground that she, like every other worker,
has right to whatever remuneration her abili-
ties and services will command. There are law
yers who will gladly undertake for 500 an I'M
portant litigation for which other lawyers would
charge $1,000; and sad experience has often
proved the former much tho dca-cr. And Miss
Dickinson as a lecturer is better worth hiring
at $500 (simply as bushes, vcnture) than
many Others at $40 who would gladly lecture
for that sum.
If Signora Squalni were wanted to sing, or
Mile Taglona Tightft 10 dance, or Miss Lu-
ellie Weston to play, at Oberlin or elsewhere,
no one would expect her to do it for penny
less than the most her talents and popularity
Noulu fbHlHdlu hH! Sh' h'i'' -
Miss Dickcnson can employ her time elsewhere
to greater profit than TO lecture at Oberlin for
less than 5000 why should she lecture there
for less ? Can any one tell
"Isnt she phiianhropist ?" some one sneer.
| ingy asks. We really don't know. We never
heard her say that she is or il not In her
three lectures to which we have listened she
stood up stoutly for justice to all-no, for phi
lanthropy. And if philanthropy means working
for half price, We don't believe she lays any
claim to IT, If she does re don't.
The editor Of The LOrain County Ners, we
presume, lives by his own talents and cxertions,
such as they are. He ought, therefore, by in
tereSt and instinct to be on the side OF Labor
to affirm and defend its right to full and fair
compensation. He ought to insist, with Us, on
every ones receiving for any labor or service all
that it will bring in the worlds open market
Why should he take the wrong side of this
great question: He wrongs himself with every
one else who honestly works for living, by
seeking TO expose Miss Dickenson to odium for
asking for her services all that they will COM
mand
Even if the lady is unwiSe IN fixing the price
of her lectures, she has a perfect right to be un-
wise, and to lecture 10 times per annum for
$500 rather than 100 times for SJO.. by so do
ing, she affords better chance to other lee.
turers, possibly more needy than she is, and
does something toward upholding the dignity
and rights of Labor. When poorer and more
dependent than now she refused to teach and
went hungry, rather than accept half the price
paid TO men for services no better than hers.
We presume she is acting on the same principle
now.
| If Miss Dickinson should, by asking too much
for her services, remain unemployed, and so be-
come pauper and public charge, the public
would have moral right to interfere and insist
on her going to work at something for the means
of paying her way. If she were to head mob
about the doors of lec,ure-rooms where cheaper
lecturers were employed, and attempt by NEIL
ace and violence to silence her rivals or deprive
them of hearers, the police would be obliged to
take her in hand. But, SO long as she does
nothing OF the sort, such paragraphs as that
above quoted are grossly mpertinent and CEN
surable.
{" Isn't dollar too much for two hours work
saving load Of wood 2" queried an employer.
"Sah, replied the Ethiopian professor OF the
manly art Of wood-sawing 81 charge fifty
cents for the saving, and fifty more for the
know ho,c." That colored gentleman had an