Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-05-22
aalisEellangena.
THE WORTH OF MEN AND OF
THINGS.

a policy Of productive industry that is
ruled by prices-that would limit whole
people to the products which they can make
cheaper than another or any other with
whom they can exchange, may seem theo-
retically true; but it unfortunately attaches
itself so closely to the consideration OF things,
that it wholly overlooks the men for whom
these things are made. The question oi
human welfare is not quite covered by the
price Of the things that men eat and wear.
Men are not made for products, but pro,
ducts for men. Or, if price must run all
through the argument, we ask leave to sug-
gest that men shall be treated as having
value, and that in proportion to quality
| Just like other things. They have bones
and muscles that are hired or rented whose
use is bought and sold in every field and
Workshop The men differing from things
in respect that it is a legitimate object to
produce the cheapest things for that makes
the mastery Of men over things, while on
the other hand il is the main object in the
production and growth of men TO make con-
slant increase Of their value. Low-pUced
things, but high-priced men.
Now, If any difference IN the value OF
men can be made by different modes OF
training and treating them, the choice
should be to make them dearest, in all sem
ses Of the word. A cheap slave used to
bring about thousand dollars in our mar
kct; some, however, went above two thou
sand. Why this difference? The one had
more and better productive power than the
other The one was stupid field hand,
needing a driver; the other was mechanic
- skill and strength against unsklled
strength. We have even known other quail
tiles to have value III the market-tor IN
stance, a slave blacksmith in Greenb1er
County, Virginia, who was a trst-rate work
man, was advertised as scrupulously honest
and unaffectedly pious, and his master m
voiced these virtues as worth surplus
price. He got three thousand dollars Tor
him. Yes, one man may be worth more
money to anybody, to the world, and to
himself than another; and that man VIII be
found a producer Of greater values than the
other He will be a cheapener OF highest
priced things, but never Of things OF the
lowest value Inventors in the arts, discoy-
erers IN the sciences, educators. and Improy-
crs of men generally, are Of this high-priced
class Of laborers. They could drive oxen
and dig potatoes as well as Others but they
can do better.
The total of the occupations Of a people
are all capable Of higher things, and better
for themselves and for all men, than conhn-
ing themselves to the cheapest commodities
which they can produce and suTrenderlng
all other forms of labor to another people,
simply because that other people work Is
relatively cheap in money price. In some
departments Of labor, more mind Is worked
into muscle than in others. Some work
shops are the best schools in the world, and
turn out the best scholars; that Is, the high
est-priced men,
Then, again, there are many people OF a
high possible value, who cannot work at
cheap things at al. There are a great ma
ny of these. Women, for instance, are very
unfit for hod-caTying or OK driving; and all
such persons, embracing half-grown persons
Of both sexes, all women and a good half OF
the men of every country, physically dlsqual-
flied for drudging-the special work OF new
countries-are thrown into the supported
classes by this policy of cheap commodities
or, are dreadfully cheapened themselves, by
being limited and compelled into submission
10 the cheap trade policy.
Brains and hearts, hopes and aspirations,
ought to be taken into account III projecting
a system Of industry for a nation. Provi-
( sion for the highest development should be
/ made, and this requires that every worker
! should be invited by higher reward to move
constantly toward higher and better forms
/ Of labor For these higher forms Of work
are worth infinitely more than any difference
of market price Of commodities can measure,
/ to the individual and to the country. Ev-
I cry higher stage is better than the next be-
/ low it. for giving value to men. which is the
thing to be accomplished.-NatiaHal Amer-