Delaware State journal and statesman., 1865-11-21

| increasing Jne price oil the drtlcle produced
that this increase in the laborer's wages
I will be at the expense of the vast wealth O
individual capitalists, and NOT at the expense
Of the laboring consumer-that the simple
increase of wages means, the first step on
that long road which ends at last in q more
equal distribution of the fruits of industry,
in which the producer and the capitalist will
be one. That, as the vast fortunes of indi
| viduas must melt back into the hands which
produced them, under higher standard oi
intelligence, so also must the abuses, mo.
nopolies and illegitimate burdens which the
} people unconsciously impose upon them.
| selves; that this means the downfall of a
moneyed aristocracy, and of its natural coun.
terpart, extreme poverty and pauperism-
forcing children, and wives, and maidens,
who would be wives if men were better paid,
| into the labor market, TO elbow down each
others wages to point which makes prosti-
| tuition necessity, and furnishing q theatre
for the demagogue in times of financial re-
vulsion - perpetuating the system which
makes such periods inevitable, and which
/ furnishes to traitors at home and enemies
| abroad the only basis upon which to found a
| hope for Northern votes in favor of repudiat-
| ing the debt Of the nation.
The assumption that the employers can be
made to pay as much for eight hours labor,
as they now pay for ten, "without increasing
the price of the article produced, " is not
justified by any known law of political econo-
my nor by any facts within our cognizance
We certainly tried-no longer ago than last
year-to sell our paper at its old price, after
the cost of the materials and labor employed
in its production had been very considerably
enhanced, and found ourselves compelled
either to charge more OF driH into bank
ruptcy Others in our trade had to do as we
did or fail. And now, if any one believes
that he can sell newspapers Cor anything
else) as cheap after the cost of producing
them has been largely increased as he did
before, lot him try it, and, if he succeeds,
give the world the benefit of his experience.
We wish to adopt every improvement and
shall gladly welcome one that shows us how
to burn q candle at both ends without short
ening it. But, until the demonstration is
made, we must continue TO believe that when
iourneymen carpenters masons, shoemakers,
hatters, tailors, &C., &C.. receive as much for
eight hours work as they now do for ten,
houses, shoes, hats, coats, &C., must be dearer
than now; so that each iourneyman will find
the cost of his living in substantial proper
ton to the increase of his wages, or (what
is the same thing) the reduction of his hours
of labor. This by no means proves that the
reduction should not be made; it is only
proved that it is urged upon mistaken premi-
ses.
Why does any person ever work for wages?
Is it not clearly because some one will give
him more for his labor than he can realize
by working for himself? The wages system
is not natural; it has great and obvious de-
fects; it does not secure to every man pre-
cisely what he earns; it gives some more,
others less; it is, in our view, but step, a
halting- place, on the way from bad system
to far better. Why do our workmen too
generally rest content with that stepP
True, artisans of slender means cannot
build steam-engines nor gunboats for sale or
on contract; too much capital is required;
but what reason can there be for paying toll
to employers for the privilege of making
each others coats or boots9 Why should
not hundred cordwainers, for example,
economize and work (more than eight hours
per day, if necessary until they have 800
each ahead, and then, putting those hundred
$100s together, hire suitable apartments and
commence making boots and shoes for custo-
mers and for saleG Why should not other
workingmen buy these boots and shoes, in
stead of those that have paid toll to ''bosses," +"
provided they are cheap and good9 And
i why should not the hundred shoemakers fix
their own hours of labor, without troubling
anybody else with the matterg Mind that
men worked for themselves long before they
worked for wages, and can work for them
selves to-day as well as ever they did Our
Public Lands are now free to those who will
settle and improve them; every blacksmith,
carpenter, or shoemaker, can be his own
''boss' if he chooses. Then why not either
leave the capitalist, the employer, severely
alone, or stop regarding him as an oppressor
and robberP
These desultory suggestions are intended
to awaken inquiry, not to foreclose it. We
stand ready to be enlightened. Let us try to
comprehend each other, and to master thor
oughly subject of such grave moment. We
are not opposed to the Eight-Hour rule; we
arc inclined to regard it with favor; but il
you mean to reduce the length of your yard
stick, and then decree that the short yard
shall command the same price as the long
one, we do not see how you can succeed. Il
you can, King Canute must have been o
poor creature.