Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-12-08
4 sATRDAY sERmoN.

We clip the following sensible article on
eight hour system, which is now being dis
cused by the press, from Hmpers Feehg
If there could be law restricting manuel
labor to SIX hours a day and securing con-
slant and ample employment upon those
terms, with increased wages to the workman
and higher profits to the capitalist, who
would not favor it with all his heart2 So
if there could be law by which disease
could be abolished and the heat Of the dog
days and the cold of midwinter Modified
who would be so inhuman as to oppose it2
Yet one Of these laws is as practicable as the
other. All the laws Of society are effective
only so far as they re-enact the higher law
of nature. When they are opposed to them
society pays the penalty in suffering 1t is
useless to legislate against the attraction Of
gravity or of ofcohesion, or to attempt to re-
distribute the oxygen and nitrogen of the
atmosphere
The laws Of political economy are not less
absolute than other laws They arc not de-
termined by our wishes and hopes, but by
the actual condition of society The rate Of
wages viii always depend upon the demand
for labor. Capital will always invest itself
where it can count upon the highest return
These are axioms or indisputable truths.
That capitalists are often unjust, and labor
ors often oppressed, is true; but that fact
does not effect the great law of the relation
OF wages to the supply oflabor and Of capi-
tai to profits.
Therefore, in the legal regulation of the
lapor question, we must always bear in mind
the infexible laws which we do not make
and which control those that we do. But
fortunately Political Economy like all other
sciences Is capable of development There
are truths already discovered, but there are
others which may yet be ascertained. For
instance, the exact amount of manual labor
measured by time which may be most eff
fectlyely performed by the average laborer
under certain conditions of climate and 9th
er calculaber circumstances, is falr subject
OF investigation and experiment. But when
determined, the result can not be disturbed.
1t must be accepted and treated as q truth,
NOW labor Is commodity like cotton or
corn. Its price must depend upon its sup
ply, Where the supply is greatly IN excess
OF the demand the price viii inevitably be
loW-where 1t Is Inadequate the price will
be high. Every man can understand that
proposition. Its truth is not disturbed by
the natural desire ofevery man not to be
oyerworked, and to have time for education
and recreation. Suppose that the city Of
New York should make law restricting
the working-day to four hours, upon the
principal that, if every man in the world did
his fair share of the work Of the world, four
hours would be enough, what would be the
consequence? The demand for labor in the
city would cease, and, with its ceasing, wages
would decline. And how could this result
be avoided? Would you pass law COM
pelling employers to pay the same wages
for four hours work that is elsewhere paid
for temp That you might do, but the re-
suit then would simply be that capital would
emigrate. Would you undertake to prevent
its removal by penalties? Certainly you
would not; and even if you did, and enforc-
ed your laws, the inevitable consequence