New-York tribune., 1868-01-31
WHY BE HIRELINGS'

of population-fr0m London, from Paris, from
Florence, and from most of our own great CIT
ies-isSue cries of hunger and suffering. Shoe
makers stand unwillingly idle though millions
badly need shoes mutitudes shiyer in rags,
yet tailors lack bread because they can find
no work Such is the net result OF
Christian civilization in the later half OF
the XIXth Century such the fruiti0n of
a century which has at least doubled the
productive power Of human labor. A mans
faithful work produces far more Bread or
Meat, Clothing or Shelter, than it ever did be-
fore; yet the proportion of those who lack
Bread, Meat, Clothing and Shelter, is greater
to-day than century agO-greater than it was
in the darkest hours of our fathers RevOlu
tionary struggle OF Of oar late Wan for the
Union.
Why is this AMI how shall it be amended
Shallow thinkers and retail politicians have
ready answers for these questions. One will
tell you that the adoption of his panaCea. the
triumph of his party, viii make all right, in
defiance of the nc0ntestabe fact that seasons
of general stagnation and wide spread pcnury
have been experienced under diverse parties
and all manner of policies. We do not aim to
give an exhaustive answer to these questions,
when we point TO one perYading cause Of our
present ills-the general and increasing par
tiality for the hand -to-mOuth existence of the
City Hireling.
Go into any rural neighb0rhnnd and you viii
find at least half the boys too often. alas the
cleverer half anxious TO escape from what they
esteem their humdrUm existence to the excite
ments and broader horizon of city life. The
youth who is most welcome to take his fathers
farm, cultivate and inherit It.. taking due care
of the old folks, spuTns the suggeStiOn-hc
longs for the hour when he may find freedom
and opportunity in the city. The apprentice
(if apprenticeship has not utterly gone ont of
fashion, means to take bec-line for the city
so soon as he is out Of his time Almost every
young man heads toward the city. aud will make
home there if lie can. Hence, Flour and Beef are
very high, while all manners of Fabrics are
cheap; hence, tens Of thousands hunger and
shiver, though the earth yields generously, and
the faithful, intelligent labor Of one grower
will produce more food than many persons
ought to consume-more than two mems labor
would have done q century ago. Hence, the
crowds of beggars which infcst every Office
and crowd every street, wedging themselves
together by the million on a few square
niles OF pavement, anu tHuS DclyiHS lucu
own pretense of wanting Something to Do
Why should man choose to be a hireling
Any one may own land who will-wc mean
any one who viii eyinCe reasonable energy,
diligence, and frugality. 1t is libel on Il
bOunteOus Creator to say that there need be
any such aggregate Of suffering from want as
is now experienced. Half the amount spent
within the last three years for drink, and mar
cotics, and fddling and dancing, and on the
qualification Of lawless appetites. by the poor
of this City, would lift them all above want in
an instant We do not mean that there are
none among them who do not suffer without
fault; we do mean that nine-tenths of the
present sufferers might have been saved
from abject need by proper f0rethought and
thrift on their own part Individuals suffer for
others sins; yet the general truth remains that
there are work and sustenanee for all who
faithfully improve their opportunities. But all
cannot live on one petty island, nor can all he
hirelings And, instead OF Labor being OPP
pressed by Capital, as demagogues assert, it is
Capital alone that precludes general famine.
Were not Others more frugal and provident
than those now in want, starvation must soon
be the lot Of hundreds Of thousands.
A young man who begins the world with
nothing but his hands must at first accept
work wherever he can find it. If his board is
all he can get let him work joyfully and faith
fully for that till he can do better. If he can, at
the same time, learn trade, so much the better;
at all events, let him learn whatever he can.
Whenever lie can obtain wages, let him accept
and earn them, but always with a fixed resolve
to trork ont of dependcnce--not sit down con-
tentedly in it. Let him resolve to be his own
master-the director of hiS own labor--at the
earliest possible day let him strive and save
to hasten that blissful consummation. He who
sits down to live on wages to the end of his
days-tO have work only when some one else
happens to need his services-is a very slave
in soul If only to get out Of the way of
those who viii want his place few years
hence. he ought to resolve not long to remain
a hireliDg.
We would not have every man a farmer.
Other pursuits are useful and laudable, if not
so absolutely necessary as is that of the tiller
of the soil But we tOoald have every man the
owner of his home and implements by the
time he has attained the age of thirty years.
And nearly every one who religiously rejects
Liquor Tobacco, and all forms of dissipation.
surely may DO. If he mast work IN city, let