The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-06-03

VIM. Moore, Abbcville c. H.
julius Poppe, Anderson c. III.
The Mechanical and Laboring Intc-
rests.
We count the pulsations Of COM
merce by the arrival and departure of
ships, by the transactions Of the
custom house, and by the records of
the exchange. We may easily esti-
mate the rise and fall Of manufactur-
ing industry, of cotton and WOODEN
fabrics, Of iron and the like; and the
reports of bank and stock transac-
tions supply to the most superficial
observers some general knowledge of
the state of finances. The supply of
the necessities of S,OOO,0O of people
who had, during four years Of war,
consumed all their accumulated
stores, stimulated the movements of
commerce during the last i.ll and
early part of spring to very high
degree, and leading manufactures
found labor, materials and q market,
while the deceptive appearance Of
high prices, the offspring of redun-
dant currency, completed the deln-
sion that the transition from war to
peace was to be attended with no
shock to the general prosperity.
The diversion of large numbers of
those engaged in the mechanic arts
and the extraordinary stimulus to
certain branches Of mechanical skill,
together with the high prices paid
for all sorts of labor, skilled and un-
skilled, seemed to leave no part of
society without remunerative employ
ment. Provisions, during all the
while, have been abundant, and al
though the price Of food has been
high, yet, compared with everything
else, the staple articles of consump-
ton have been comparatively cheap.
While the price Of all other commo-
dities was governed by the value of
gold, as compared with paper, the
price OF breadstuffs and other provi-
sions of domestic growth was, for the
most part, measured only by the
paper standard, on account of the
want of foreign competition and
foreign market. Gold was not need
ed in the purchase or sale of flour,
and hence flour remained far cheaper,
in proportion, than almost anything
else. For these reasons the mechani-
cal and laboring classes have not, up
to the present time, felt the shock
which the revulsions of trade and fl
nance must produce.
The temporary stimulus of COM
merce to which we have adverted is
already subsiding; the evidences are
plain. The recoil in finance has com
menced. The high prices which have
ruled everything have begun to re-
cede. The consequence is that new
enterprises are not undertaken, nor
will they be until the relations of
value can be adjusted While the
tendency of everything is upward,
there is no shock felt in the mechani-
cal and laboring portion of society.
Nor when the laws of value have
been restored to their proper stand
ard, and demand and supply measure
each others wants accurately, do tho
mechanic and laborer suffer. But
the time of their suffering is that
which follows the recoil of finance.
Immediately succeeding the time of
highest prices comes the period OF
suspended enterprise. Capital must
and will take care of itself, and mac
tlvlty is its greatest security.
or course, the longer this transi-
ton period of finance is prac!iced,
the longer the period OF suspended
enterprise, and tie longer the stagna-
ton Of labor and mechanical indus
try. These industrial interests which
are married to capital in the nam
moth manufacturing establishments
of the country are concerned to have
the shock made easy, by protracting
the transition period as much as pos
sible; in other words, in having the
process of contraction so on as slow
ly as possible; and so are those com
mercial interests which nre already
embarked in large enterprises begun
during the food-tide. But the gene
raj interests Of society are antagonis-
tic to these. All those thousand
branches Of business which have
their sources in individual effort and
IN private capital stand alarmed dur.
ing this season of uncertainty. Every
bank which breaks, every commercial