The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-24
BUSINESS PROSPECTS AND PNNICS.


generally. Permit me to commend, especially
the trenchant article on the labor question
contained in your issue of the 10th inst, in
which you argue that a reduction of the hours
of labor from ten to eight, if fairly and honestly
extended to all kinds of labor, would not help
but injure the very persons intended to be
benefited by it. Your argument that the
arbitrary diminutiOn of laborng-tim two
tenths would appreciate all values twenty-five
per cent, and defeat the very aim of the labor
''reformers, - is a demonstration. You say
1.-THE suit of clothes which can now be manu-
factured for twenty dollars would then cost
twenty-five. The house which it now costs four
thousand dollars to build would then cost five
the result would be that, while the laborer
might gt just as much money for a days work
OF eight hours as he had previously obtained
for ten hours, that money would not buy him
so much in the market as before He must pay
more rent, for it costs twenty-five per cent
more to build houses; he must pay more for
meat and flour, and hats and boots and clothes
because IL costs more TO make al these things
An hours labor would purchase no more in the
market than IL would before so that the laborer
would really be poorer by every hours labor he
had lost"
Thus, the practical point in your PROPOSE
tion is that the laboring man would be poorer,
that Is, have just tWo-tenths less comfort than
before for, if it is an honest REFORM he must
expect to receive as much less wages as he
works less time, and all others must have the
same advantages as himself.
If, however, it can be shown that ten hours
labor eXhausts workman unduly, and in the
long run he can produce as much, or more,
by the short as the long time of labor, then
the objection falls, of course; for this is the
only true point in the whole question. l
assume that there is never too much produc-
ton in a country. There may be too much in
particular branches of labor but it does not
affect the principle.
The result of increased labor is to cheaper
products, and that benefits everybody in
Guiding the laborer himself. 1t is doubtless
the intention of the shortsighted labor ''re-
formers to get at non-producers by the pro-
ject. But it will fail; for on that plan, capital
is always stronger than labor. The work
ingman's true remedy is to discriminate in
matters Of taxation against accumulated capi-
tai, and in favor of labor or the laborer; in
short, to compel capital to endOw the people,
as in the case of the Public School law. Here
the workingman, holding the ballot in
his hand, has capital completely in his power;
and when the endowment is gained,
1t blesses all classes of society alike. But |
did not intend to discuss the Eight-Hour
movement, so much as to notice cognate
topic brought forward in your paper last We'd
nesday, as a sort of caution" to capitalists
and business men, under the caption, "Busi-
ness Prospects of the Country"
Here, Mr.. Editor, permit one of your con-
slant readers to caution you against an I'M
whiting error the press is too prone to fall into.
! allude to the habit of getting up commercial
''panics" from time to time.
In the editorial referred to, after quoting
articles from the Chicago Times and Tribune,
deprecating the state of trade and the neces-
sity of caution, you add
"In view of this state of the case in the great
workshops of our capitalists, it is we'll for them
to look well ahead into the future, and en-
bark only in such investments will render
their capital available call. We have
breakers ahead; and, like wise seamen, we ad-
wise every man to reef his sails and be prepared
for any possible emergency. We do not think
sibIe; and the surest way to not only avoid its
occurrence, but also to be safe should IL occur,
is to act the part dictated by prudence and be
prepared for its coming"
Now, if this is intended as an admonition to
spectators in coil, "gold and silver" and
other mining stock enterprises, or mere gam
bling in securities, it is wisely put forth; but
if as its language imports, it is caution to
legitimate production, such as farming, iron
or cloth manufacturing, and the like, l have
no hesitation in characterizing it as unwise,
because it is calculated to produce the very
thing deprecated. You say:-"We have
breakers ahead and, like wise seamen, we
advise every man (the italics are mine) to reef
his sails, and be prepared for any possible
emergency" Now the 'breakers'' you speak
of can only come by the shattering of credits,
as in 1857, the same being the result of the
popular Judgment as to the solvency of corpo
rations and business men. Production anC
consumption, on the contrary, is a rock thai
no panics can long disarrange or destroy. KeeI
labor in notion secure to all what they earn
let there be no idle drones in the hive; anC
we can snap our fingers at panics, stool
boards, and alarmist editors to boot TIL,
breakers you refer to are doubtless the result
of increased production North, beyond wha
is needed for immediate consumption at hOm
at the present high prices, and ought in
large measure to be removed by reduced
prices by home competition, and by heav,
shipments to the South, where the people ar
starving in the midst Of a geographical para
disc The North is plethoric oflabor, and tn
South is emaciated for the want of it.. Let NJ
man, then, but the fancy spectators rec
sail. There is a market at the South for al
our labor for year to come. If labor grow
redundant, as the Chicago Times says it is i
that locality, let wealthy landowners on
there plant their virgin prairies, that neve
felt a plough before. Wheat is 50 per bushe
Let them plant trees, or dig down hills, fc
the good of the next generation. Let the Ch
cago capitalists quit investing in stocks, an
90 to building houses, that their children wi
want if they do not, and there will soon ceas
TO be a cry that labor is redundant" So fS
as your caution applies to men who are doin
large business on small capital, and especial
those engaged in enterprises of dOubtf
return. your advice is timely and judiciou
but as far as it relates to heavy capitalists, an
esnecialIy wealthy manufacturers, ii is graz