The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1867-09-28

meet at Al. As long 90 Apeficas AltAoufh
* ! sis sls ,s1ein s Il sssjIii{s tss.sas'
has this story to tells it can hardly BE said
that it does not l.eed to produce more rap
idly, or in greater abundance. IL canil0t
produce too rapidly, Or in too greater abuud-
an u, provided the result Be wSf distributed !
and we ought never 10 bS content with our
rate Of production an long ~ the condition
et-the great body Of the people 10 sach that
not only the comforts, but y fair share oil
he lux,Iries Of life, Of books leisure add
n ss,,s Of culture, are beyond their reach.
But III estate OF things neither this NOR
III the whole energies sf the working pcpn-
laiiep- are enlisted in their work,-until. in
short it ia made their owa work, by their
sharing in the profits oft.
The average man working for wagethas
Only half bic faculties brought iute play.
H. has nothing to gain BY extraordinary
diligence, little TO gaia BY extraoidin-,
arv skla. dishonesty eten, OF iaithfuiness
brings him no material rewaTa, For fore-
sight or calculation he has no need whatever,
except for such sm&lkusfs rs provision fos
siekness and old age. 1xsr ths whole field
OF industry inswhich he IS . laborers he never
raises his eyes. lie works like mole, in
The darkness and underground, whiis his
employer is playing above his head the game
of speculation on which his .children's bread
depends A rrckless, extravagaat, or I'M
Competent employer Of labor absolutely holds
the comfort and subsFstencc ~ nundssis or
thousands in his hands, and nnder the
present system, they can neither understand
nor critIcise his course. When be fails, or
.over-trades, they find themselves bfxsred
or stinted, and that 10 allzshey khosra Ar
tllery horses do not stand more heiplessly
IN the rear Of their guns to be peitcd by the
pilIless FIRE Of the enemy, than the working
classes in the battle Of Industry behind the
great manufacturing chiefs. II all goes well,
they drag the cannon forward to fresh po-
sitions aud fresh tiumphs 10 q glorious
eallop If things go wrong. they leave their
bones on the ground, hut why and wherefore
they cannot tell. A striking illustration Of
their ignorance Of the things Of all others
which i most concerns them them TO under
stand the causes Of production and the reia-
tons OF production 10 wages--hss just been
afcI 1ed in the eight-hour agitation. A vast
pumbtr even Of the most Intelligent joined
In II, and carry II on to this hour, in the be-
lief that N act of the legislature can secure
a workingn.su the same amount Of the re-
suits Of labor in return Tor less labor.
This Is a state OF things which no think.
ing man can CONTEMPLATE without concern.
IL the protcctonist policy is persisted in,
the process OF assimiating Anne, sean society
to that Of Europe must 60 on.A ahe accusnG-
iation Of capital in the hands Of coinpara-
lively few individuals and corp Grati0ns must
continue and increase. Larger and larger
masses of the population uast every year
be reduced to the condition Of day-laborers,
living from hand TO moi u on Fixed wages.
catching through d,peadence for their
bread on The good wi Of employers, and
through long suplection to factory discipline
snd long exemption FROM the higher and
more ennoD.ing anxieties Of life--the ssrvile
tone and seryile way Of tbinking, asd, what
IS worse than all learning 70 consider them
selves class apart, With rights and inter-
ests opposed to or different from those OF
tiAe rest OF the commnnity. This last named
tendency las already begun to influence po-
iitieal contests, and, il we are not greatly
mistaken, its worst results are yet to be
seen. To ennmerste at length the dangers
70 republican government which may spring
from this state Of tbIags would neea al ar
ucle 30 Itself; but we believe that very few
readers Of the Reuiew who cannot readily
picture them without aid from US.
There is, Of course, no use in -lameHsstion
over the mistakes OF the past unless it helps
as in regulating cur policy IN tie future.
We cannot 60 back and undo the work Of
~. L.
American society as II was at the 4eginnf1e
Enf the eehtury, and esnnot be ssist that 1!
would be desirable to do SO even il we could.
But we.ean avoid perseverance, in ,rrsr We
can recognize in legislation the carGhal idea
Of the American system, that tbs great end
Of political institutions, the great end Of all
laws aud ordinances, Is not tbs accumulation
% wealth simply, or the manufacture Of cot
ton or Of non, but the Development Of the
individual man; and that individual man Is
best developed by being supplied With the
means Of education, aud secured IN the en-
lOymtnt 81 the fruits " his industry, and
then let alone. Granting all that can be said
IN favor Of diversity Of industry. Or indie
ptndence OF foreigners, We stil mainssin that
there can be no useful diversity Of industry
which is not produced simply by diversity
Of Individual taste, capacity and ambition,
left to work freely; and no real independ
ence Of foreigners whlca is not the result
simply and solely Of native superiority either
in eAergy or Industry or inventiveuess or in
natural advantages. nf s
This, however, Is not enough, although it
is all mat can be doas by legislation We
need besides this, to deliver us from the
dangers to which the traditions Of feudalism
and the forcing system have exposed US, the
elevation Of the working classes from the
hired laborers, toiling without other aim
.h.n TO do 50 a. little as possible, and with
out other reward than fixed weekly wages,
into that OF partners dependent fol The
amount Of their compensation on the amaunt
Of their immediate production, and stimuia-
ted BY selt-interest Into The utmost diligence
and csrefulness, AID $40 the study and
comprehension Of the whole industrial pro-
cess, of the laws which rcguiate the rela-
tons Of labor and capital, production and
distribution, or, ia c.hsr words, into playing
10 society the part Of men, and not Of ma
chimes. This cannot be done by legislation.
IL must be left to the workingmen and their
employers II capitalists are wise, they will
do all they can to hasten It and if the
workingmen are wise, they viii give up fol-
lowing after politicians, and meet the capital
lists in q spirit Of frankness and considerste-
ness and Independence. But We stfust that
in their own interest. rs in that -of-the
country, they viii never cease agtaiing and
combining until the regime Of wages, or as
we might perhaps better call il, the seryIle
regime, has passed way as complet, J as
slavery or ssersdom and until in no free
country shall any men be found in the con-
ton of mere hirelings, except those whom
vice or misconduct or iguorance or want Of
renders unfit for association
with the honest and intelligent and self
denying -
-sHt
An Incldent Of Army Life.
A correspondent Of the Army and NayF
a,cnso~ h,...oif sfn1I d.lI:--M