Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-06-08


he lives. Yet how few have any ade-
quate knowledge Of its real worth.
They have SO long been accustomed
to enjoy life Of freedom. that they
can form no idea of the superior ad-
Yantages they possess over those OF
the same class in other lands. A COM
parison between working men in Eu-
rope and in America, will develope
the following state of things, which
the present crisis of our country,
may serve to show the latter, how
infinitely greater their privileges are,
and how little cause of complaint
against the most benign Government
on earth, they really have.
In England and on the Continent,
wages of laboring men range from
seventeen to thirty seven cents per
day. For this pittance man must
not only board himself but work all
day. The ten hour system is un-
known. From daylight until dark,
is generally considered days work.
The family of the laborer must all
work to support it, women and chill
dren must from necessity labor in
the field, spade, dig, plant or weed
in short every thing that is required
must be done in order to obtain the
means of support. Even with all
this, their food is generally of the
most common and coarest kind, and
even of this there is much real want.
The head Of the family having 10
labor for his bread, his offspring are
generally doomed to the same fate.
The son plows or digs upon the same
estate as the father. He has no hope
of eytn obtaining title to the soil,
on which he wears away his youth,
manhood and old age, in one unin-
terupted routine of toll.
The means of education are limit
ed, and most political rights wholly
withdrawn from his control. He has
not the privilege of being armed even
in self defence. He is in many re-
spects the mere serf of a landed ar
istocracy. No means of improving
his physical or moral condition are
placed within his reach. No social
or intellectual advantages are afford
ed him, or his children.
Is it any wonder then that SO many
look to America as land of refuge,
when they can escape that incessant
drudging, which is indispensable to
life in Europe?
Is it surprising that so many of
them should endeavor to find homes
in the Now World where the natural
rights of man are inalievable and
every man has a right to enjoy the
fruits of his own labor?
Compare what we have stated with
things as they exist among the labor
ing classes of America. Wages from
one to four dollars per day, and then
frequently board included. Ten
hours day, is the limit of his toll,
when probably his employer labors
fifteen. His food if not luxurious is
and Invigorating. His
abor may be sufficient to support his
'amily comfortably, without doom
ng his wife or children to drudgery
md toll. The means of education
n most of the Northern States is !
lmphatically free, and his children
lave the right to enjoy it equally
With the rich. He has the right of
suffrage. His ballot is equally po- /
tent with that of the millionaire
The rich banker Belmont seated in ,
his costly equipage was, not long
since, obliged to wait for hours until
the hardy sons of toll and labor who
preceded him at the polls, had de-
posted their votes.
If industrious and prudent he can
soon become a treeholder owning his
house, and living in a style of afflu-
ence compared with those of his
class in Europe. 1t is his own fault,
if he is not respected by his neigh
bors. In point of intelligence, vir-
tue and morality, he may rise to the
dignity of "any peer of the realm"
The highest stations in public life
are within the reach of himself or his
The late, and acting Pres
ident, the Secretary of State, the
Chief Justice of the United States,
the Governors of Ohio and New
York, and the vast number of states
men and men eminent in the various
learned professions, all of whom have
net only sprung from the working
class, but have themselves been &C.
customed to daily toll, are living