West-Jersey pioneer., 1868-01-10
LABOR AND IT'S RIGHTS.

/ uPou thC uutodOChSa- VI thC lApUiiu
strata of the social organism towards a
better condition. This is a providental
fact, although the tendency towards uni
versal equality may not be the avowed
purpose Of tho projectors. or even known
to them. The great rebellion, inaugur-
ated in the name of the State sovereign
ty, and organized upon the corner stone
of slavery, was itself volcanic eruption
of Southern society which was only a
means to an end--the safe and complete
organization Of labor op its lowest plane.
Owning labor had become the usage, to
hold monopoly Of it, to deny its rights,
to disavow even the humanity of its
human agents, to despise it as degrading,
to treat men and women, who worked, as
chattles and beasts of the field. This
was proclaimed to be the perfection Of
the social organism Of Southern society,
and the authority of the Bible was in
voked to give it the sanction of divine
origin. A cotemporary pointedly re,
marks on this subject:
cit gratifed the pride as well as the av-
arice of the master class 1t gave them
politicrl power as well as money, and it
made them insolent and forgetful of the
lessons of the past. The rights of man,
upon which our Government was found.
ed, became theme of scorn with the ad
vocates of the Southern labor system. =
Th ~, r---r-:---1 ~ n--i---l:e.. ~ InAa.
pendence as worthy of the "delirious
rawlings of a Partisan mob" rather than
the deliberate utterances of free people.
They struck at the Union, not for the
mere pleasure of overthrowing the Gov
ernment, but for the purpose of perpetu.
ating their social organism by removing
it from the Democratic influence of the
great Republic"
Now, it is evident that, as the labor
system ofthe South was the cause of the
rebellion, so the adjustment of that
system throughout the country is involved
IN the question of reconstruction. Those
who pretend to make it a question of
races belittle a more extensive issue
Prejudice is a great disturDer of the
vision; but prejudice cannot so drive the
people Of this country into direct opposi
tlon to their own manifest interests as to
cause them to imperil the reconstruction
OF the South upon the only basis which
will secure personal freedom, and the
rights of labor. This question is really
one of labor, and not Of races. No intel
llgent individual seriously fears negro
Supremacy. especially when we remember
the fact that we have at the present
time about 25, 100000 of white majority,
and, judging from proper statistics, we
shall have about 9O.OOO,00O of white
population in the beginning of the nine
teenth century. To leave the laboring
classes without the elective franchise,
will leave them dependent class, and
while their individual relations with the
master class have been changed, they will
be still subject to an aggregate master.
hood, which will govern them by laws
made to regulate labor. An able writer
thus refers to the labor basis of recon
struction X
"Peter the Great, of Russia, establish
ed serfdom by single decree, allocating
the workmen to the places on which they
worked, so that land and laborers were
sold together. What the South most
needs is diversity Of labor. This cannot
be bad by any slave system 1t grows
under the fostering influences of protec
ton. Monopolies ofabor are destructive
OF human freedom, and reduce the work
men into an abject condition, such as is
now the condition Of British workmen =
Utterly impoverished and hopeless, they
sell their labor for prices insufficient to
clothe and feed them properly. The pro-
ducts OF their handiwork introduced into
competition with our own manufactures
would place the American laborer upon
the same level as his foreign competitor.
To prevent this the Republican party in
Congress passed protective tariff, not
for the advantage of the manufacturer
merely, but for the benefit of the work
lngmen. This has enabled the latter to
get high wages, and to realize reason
able compensation for their work. Moth
ing is more difficult to determine than
the exact share of the results of his labor
to which this workman is entitled. This
is as yet an unsettled problem toward the
solution of which comprehensive minds
are directing their best thoughts"
What we know, for this country has
realized its sad effects, is that monopoly
labor systems result in general distress
and ultimate revolution, and that the
system which best tends to diversity
labor and distribute its profits among
those who earn them, is most conducive
to peace and human advancement. We
urge our workingmen, therefore, to rally
for the standard of equal rights--to
strike whenever and wherever they can
telling blow for the interests of labor,
and to remember that the great question
oi reconstruction is based upon the rights
Of labor, not upon the predominance Of
race, for that is only temporary inai-
dent, The same power that would make
colored man a slave, if left to itself,
would make white men serfs.