Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-05

law, or six hour rlaw,t or a',tep, or q
twelve hour law, orany law on the sub
.lectdi Hi saaai .das ais17s. - si-s SOD
& "THg State has no more business t.
say that a man shall work eight hours. q
day, if his necessities require him tC
work longer, .thanfit has to compel him
to work precisely eight, whatever his
9avocation may be. Why not require
by law that all5men shall sleep eight
hours of the twenty.four, orshall eat
three hours, which would be sensible
provision, in view Of our railway style
of eating. .sf1r araa
"a law to reduce the hours of labor, il
it has any, effect, will simply reduce the
wages paid for labor. All reasoning
based upon the assumption that there is
any necessary antagonism between the
interests of, the employer and the en-
ployed, is fallacious, for the reason, that
the interests of capital and labor are
identical. Wages can only be paid out
, of the profits derived from combination
of.capital with labor The more profit
able aaday's labor is to capitalist, the
more he will be able to extend his opera
tions, the larger the number Of laborers
he will be able to employ, and the great
err will be his ability, as: well as the
: greater his interest, to compensate more
highly those whose labor comes more
fruitful as the capitalists sphere of busi-
ness is enlarged: But we did not pro-
pose to enter upon the discussion of this
subject, and have only. indicated the
principle which underlies all sound rea-
soning on the relations of capital and
labor n-s-i t,1'i =.e - r .'s.1
at is generally supposed" says the
Journal, '.that the kind of labor that men
choose to engage in, the compensation
for which they are willing to labor, are
matters regulated by the law of supply
and demand, or in other words, are mat
ters which regulate themselves"
Had the Journal cited some of those
authorities "who had given the subject
some thought" we should have been bet
ter able to- decide upon the degree of
weight they were entitled to. Butas the
Journal has failed in this particular, we
shall presently do it for the benefit OF
some of the Journals S readers. But look
ing at the depressed industrial condition
of the country since the close of the re-
bellion, would not the Journal have
thrown some light on the subject by
showing that this condition, is, due to
some other cause than that of letting
such matters regulate themselves? II
it had been better to let matters alone to
regulate themselves, why is it that mil
lion hands "with nothing to do ;" the
pastiwinter, and whose previous labor
had helped to glut the markets of the
world, and swell the bulk of its enor-
nous wealth, had to be kept from star
yation by the hand of charity VIII
the Journal tell us? " But" says the
Journal, as this is supposed to be a
free country, the less interference with
the freedom of contracts for the use of
capital, or for the use of labor, the bet
ter it is for both capitalists and laborers.' -
Is this another of those views held by
those "who have given the subject some
thought :" Or does the Journal mean
that laws to restrain men from iniuring
one another, to protect society against
fraud, injustice, and extortion, to exc
cute or administer justice, are out of
place in a free country. IF so, what
means this continual tinkering, in one
State or another, with the law to regu-
late interest on money, if it was not to
throw up wall, as it were, between
some unfortunate man Of business and
the broker or banker, who sits behind
his counter, like some big-bellied spider,
watching for the poor flies to come dash
ing against his net. If the welfare and
interest of society are best promoted by
non-interference in contracts between
its members, why do we have bankrupt
and other commercial laws, and revenue
laws to lay and collect duties on goods
imported, even though attempts, to
evade them by the importer will some
times be discovered and punished.
If " the less interference in contracts
between capital and labor, the better, y
why has it been found necessary to pass
laws requiring employers of labor to pay
for that labor in cash and not in store
goods at exorbitant prices, and making
it punishable to violate the law? Why
do we have lien laws, and many others to
regulate business transactions between
man and man. And in disposing of this
part of the subject here, will the Journal
give the origin of the ''Act regulating the
hours of manual labor" in its own State,
passed March 10, 1852, sixteen gears
ago. f5
But the .JoumdPs ideas of "free
country" seem to be in singular coinci-
dence with those of the Irishman, who,
unable to defend himself against the at,
tacks of the dog, on account of the frozen
condition of the ground, exclaimed, F" A
pretty free country this, where the stones
are tied fast and the dogs are loose" a
4" Men, says the Journal, " should be
left to regulate their business affairs
and social and domestic affairs to suit
themselves. This has been the rule
in this country, and he is blind indeed
who cannot see that the rule has worked
WELL"
That's just how the rebels in the
South thought. that they should be al
lowed to regulate matters to suit them.
selves, and how the capitalists of the
country-brokers, bankers and manu-.
facturers think now, that they should be
"let alone" to manage things their own
way But there is such wide differ
ence of opinion among men about these
OIL, 1onE =,