The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-13


will have. VIII they take counsel of their
sense or their malignity'
sEDemOcratic Doctrine for WOrkingmen."
From The NJ Y World. 3d..
at appe rs t. be or OF t1e fu y en- al c.
triues OF the DemOc' attic plr,v. nat VO ng-
men shall vote az thttT I'm 10y ,rs GDmmani;
and that if any worki. gman yea ,ures to have
shall be starved Thus Wad- Hampton, wno
helped make the Drm1crauc platform. said
the other day in what toe World praises as a
spt ech which does homo &, the American
character" "let us not employ In the fu ure
any one, white or block, who gives his atd to
"This plank OF the Dem )crajlc platform word
considerably Simplify elections. Suppose
Democratic capitalist employs a hundred
two hundred mon; they have only, it
seems. according TO The present ID smo-
cratic doctrine, to humbly ask their master for
whom he wishes them 10 vote. aud he has only
to put his hands in his pockets, pull out the
ticket he happens TO favor and distribute it to
them "Vote that or slarve." is his gentle and
persuasive language to what friend of Wade
Hampton's' also grea. Demqcra.tc Light Mr.;
soclety."-NeaO York Evening Post.
We have nothing to say to the captious
spirit which snaps at an isolated expression
of one public man, and holds whole party
responsible for his haste or indiscretion. But
the advice attributed to Wade Hampton sug-
gests some reflections which we take this
opportunity to lay before the public.
The fact that such advice is given and will
perhaps be acted upon, Is one of the most con-
vincing proofs of the mischievous conse-
quences of the radical policy in the South.
1t proves that in one of the tairest and most
fruitful sections of the country enterprise is
paralyzed and the supply of labor is in
excess of the means for its profitable en-
ployment. In thriving and prosperous
community, where great public and innu-
merable private undertakings are in pro-
gress, and competing with one another tor
fn them Of cit
are more independent than the laboring
population. If one man will not employ
them, hundreds of others are glad of their
services. Employers who are growing rich by
the prosecution'of their business cannot afford
to have it brought to a stand. They will at
tach less Importance TO the political opinions
of laborers than to full and constant supply
of their labor. In a prosperous community,
an attempt to control the votes of The working
classes by threatening them with loss of en-
pleyment, would be despised and laughed at.
The advice given by General Hampton is
melancholy and distressing proof of the abject
condition of the Southern laborers, and of the
stagnation of Southern business, under the
hideous misruls of the Republican party. f.
The natural capacity OF the South to give
full employment to all its laborers is proved
(amopg other thiDgs) by the enormous in
crease in the price OF slaves previons to the
war; The raising of the Southern staples,
construction OF tne OOutneru railroads, ana
growth of the Southern towns, made the
competition SO brisk for the limited supply of
| labor, that, in the eagerne, of employers
| to secure as much as they ueeded, they were
| constantly over. bidding one another and
| running up its price. When slavery
| was abolished, the same causes ought to nave
| Produced Similar effects, Instead OF com
peting for the life service o. 'labOrers, em-
| plOyers should have competed with equal
activity for their auNual, or their monthly, or
their daily service. There WAS much of this
| kind OF competition even under the slave
| system. Nothing was more common than for
the owners OF slaves to hire them out for
| wages, and they never failed 10 hnd remune
| ratiye employment. II is all the same to
Southern mployer WI hether he pays high wages
to the labOrer himself or to sOm7 other man
who claims to own him. When slavery fell,
industry ought to have gone on all the same;
and the wages system was better suited than
the slave system to a community 50 impove-
risbed as the South was after an exhausting
war. If the demand for labor had been a.
great as before, the freedmen would have
rapidly grown to a condition of Independence
by the competition OF their services. But
after four years of freedom they ara in SO de-
graded q state that employment is rather
boon to them than a benefit 10 those who fur
nish it; while in every prosperous and we'll
governed community il is directly the reverse
No Northern employer would dare utter such
a threat as that made by Wade Hampton; for
he would punish nobody but himself by put
ting it into execution He would stop his
own profits; his hands wOuld Immediately find
other employers. -. ..-- b
Now, what is the reason that the labor sup
ply in the South l. in excess of the effective
demand for itP It's owing entirely TO the
absurd and oppressive policy of the Radicals.
They have kept the South in SO unsettled and
taI N aku A. TIT all ant
and to convert into disoontented sp0uting pO-
litcians men who would be otherwise engaged
In repairing their broken fortunes. Though
but little property has been oonfscated, the
menace which has been held over the princ-
pal property owners has been scarcely less
prolonged exception of men of pro