New-York tribune., 1867-04-23
1ABoR-ITs RIGHTS AND WRONGS.

Mr.. w. Ii. Boucher proposes to publish Ill Chl-
cago "The Labor Organ and Social Science ne
view, devoted to the interests of the Producing
Classes" guided by these axioms:
Mankind is an Universal Brotherhood
There are no rights & but ne rights OF Labor uS,
Union is strength; Isolation Is weakness!
The organization Of Industry. the first requisite!
Knowledge aud Wealth are the foundations OF Happ
Ignorance and Poverty are the foundations Of Misery
and Crime !"
While these propositions are generally
sound, we deem the second utterly mistaken.
One man earns dollar per day, and spends 1t
by next morning; while another who earns
like sum saves half Of it, and this is called
Capital. To say that Capital has no rights; is
to say that q man has no right to save, since
saving is mainly induced by the hope of future
use and enjoyment. To deny man the right
to save and enjoy tomorrow or next day what
he has earned to-day is alike absurd, tyrannical,
and pernicious hence Fourier insisted that
Communism was and must be Despotism. In
other words: if you deny man the right to
live at ease tomorrow on the unspent earnings
of to-day, you necessitate an imperative re-
quirement that every one shall earn to-day.
To all that Mr. Boucher asserts in advocacy
hood, &C., we heartily assent; but when he
proceeds to assert that the producer of wealth
receives but one-third to one-half OF his
righteous due, we dissent. Take the case of
the Journeymen Mechanics of this City, who
are now paid $l9 to S24 per week for GO hours
labor. They sell their labor in the open
market for the most it will command, which is
their right Why do they work as journeymen
for wagesY Is it not precisely because they
can earn more thus than in any other way 7
Would n man of them work as journey
man an hour longer, if he knew how and where
to do bctterP Suppose these jouIneymen were
tomorrow isolated from all other men, would
they earn more and enjoy greater comfort than
they now do7 All must know that they would
not. Then what does this man talk nonsense
for9
Let one who distrusts our position hire half
n dozen fair average farm laborers, set them
mt work on a generous farm, supply them with
all they need in the way of food, seed, imple-
ments, and teams. and give them all they shall
make, less the amount of outlay, and we are
confident that their net earnings would be less
than their present wages We speak from con-
siderable experience in this direction.
If any man makes money by hiring labor he
must do it by adding to it capital, or skill, or
general capacity. Now, these have to be paid
for-hayc the same right TO their fair share OF
the product as labor itself Thus, railroad is
said 10 he product of Labor but the en-
gineer whose science and genius save million
days work in constructing n great railway
has Just t.-a..iuch earned s2,OOO,OOO as he would
have earned 50 per day by taking a spade and
digging on the track. So the money advanced
10 pay for labor, or iron, or timber, Is just as
fairly entitled TO recOmpense-we do not mean
simply TO reimbursement but to be cOmpen-
sated for use. risk, &c.--as is the digger or
track-laycr.
We state these Obvious truths in order that
the benefcent ideas which underlie cooperative
effort shall not be prejudced in the view of
enlightened, practical men by the crudltles and
absurdiies of a Jack Cade anti-Property Com
munsm. We insist, as strongly rs Mr. Boncher
can, on cooperation in Industry and Trade as
essential to any improvement in the laborers
condition; we believe the system every way
superior to that of Hiring for Wages, because
it will constrain many 10 eyince n thrlit hu-
galty, calculation, forethought, which they now
lack, and which the Wages system is not cal
culated To evolve. Here, for instance are at
least ten thousand single men in this City
alone who are receiving $50 to $50 per week
as wages, and spending half of it in billiard
rooms, gaming houses, grog-shops, and even
worse haunts Is il not sheer nonsense to tell
these men that Capital oppresses and robs
them, when they cannot but know that they
receive all they earn, and are kept poor by their
nv III Al, tl,ott thntc al 1alG
vet receive as much as or even more than now,
as some advocates of the Eight-liour system
do, is not this to misead and injure them
We wish them to embark in Cooperative enter
prises, because they will thus be compelled to
acquire and exhibit the habits of economy and
forecast, of thrift and providence that they
now deplorably lack. And we do most heartily
wish that the iourneymen i'll any trade who
strike for higher wages would Mt once form a
cooperative guild or company, choose officers,
open an office, and advertise that they are
ready to take any job in their line and execute
it promptly and faithfully. We advise none to
strike or not to strike-each must judge for
himself in the premises-but, il any do strike,
we urge them not to stand idle day. but get
to work forthwith. Even though they should
earn less as associates than as joumeymen, they
weuld surely earn something, while they would
be gaining valuable experience and knowledge.
If Labor must have the aid of Capital or
superior Skill, it will have to pay the market
price for it, unless law of the universe can be
overruled, rs we do not think it can be. And
the only practical way to rescue Labor from
what Mr. Boucher would call the apacity of
Capital is to persuade it to create and employ
a capital of its own.