Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-06-18
The Dignity of Labor.

enable American planters to underbid
| once more the markets of the world.
The Dignity of Labor.
Our people hardly as yet fully realize the
great moral and social revolution which is
going on in this section in regard to labor.
In the opulence and indulgence of former
times We were too prone to forget the
truth and force of the primeval injunction,
Gin the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread" But in the necessities of the pre-
sent we begin to be amazed that the Divine
command should ever have been to such
an extent disregarded or condemned. And
as these old ideas are passing away upon
the subject of labor, the revulsion has been
and is so rapid that there has hardly been
state of transition and those who
blindly wrap themselves in the vestments
of ancient and effete prejudices, and shut
their eyes to the mighty changes which
are going on around and about them, will
open them but to find themselves IS we'll
laggards in the race of Improvement as
just objects of contempt and ridicule for
their faulty. We must keep pace with
the great strides of progress, and to do
this, we must cast aside every trammel and
incumbrance that erewhile left US loiter-
ing in the wake. We of the South must
invite as we'll as organize associations of
capital and enterprise we must RECOGNIZES
the fact that industry-it matters not of
what description, let it be ever SO humble
or mental, A0nest-is tue crOwning honor
of life; is at once, in a certain sense, re-
ligion, responsibility, position, and the
avenue to distinction and confidence.
In the South, and especially il North
Carolina, we have hitherto known but little
of the power and influence of associated
capital and numbers in the advancement
of the industrial and utilitarian arts. This
fact accounts, to very great extent, for
the absence of all those evidences of thrift,
enterprise and prosperity in our midst.
which crowd and adorn the naturally sterile
plains of other portions CT the country.
The combination of individual powers and
resources for the common good has always
accomplished what detached and individual
efforts were powerless to effect It is asso-
ciated wealth, enterprise and labor, fostered
by government, that have elevated Old
England to her lofty position in the scale
of nations, and enabled her to whiten
every sea with the sails of her commerce.
And it is the same power that has covered
New England with workshops and facto-
ries, and extracted from her granite soil
the means of luxurious life. And possibly
the happiest result produced by such asso-
ciated effort lies in the position to which
labor is thereby ele7sted-its investiture
in the public mind with that dignity to
which it is entitled.
Even now, either from inability or the
want of desire, there is not the proper
effort being made among our people to
associate capital and energy. In former
times, when the surplus capital sought in
vestment in lands and slaves, other enter
prises were neglected, either from choice
or want of confidence AID experience.
Education and habit led the thoughts of
the wealthiest and most enterprising of
citizens to follow that occupation at once
the most independent and believed to be
the most lucrative, and which was endeared
20 them by hereditary pride. and by taste
and culture. But this condition of things
no longer exists. Surplus money must find
other avenues for investment. Lands are
for sale, and but few of our people are
purchasers. The wealth of our soil and
the mildness of our climate must give to
the industrious agriculturalist prosperity
and plenty. Money must seek investment
in other branches of business. To meet
this expected result, charters for manufac
tories, for insurance companies, for indus
trial associations of all kinds, have been
literally granted by the Legislature of the
State. Yet there seems to be an indispo
sition to encourage their formation. This
should not be the case. The stock should
be taken and the various companies organ
lied under the most efficient officers.
Wilmington alone pays enough money for
insurance, for goods and implements
which could be advantageously manufac.
tured in this immediate section, to support
several such institutions. By this means
the money would be expended at home
employment would be given to thousands
of our needy people labor would be dig
nifed and honored, and affiuence and
prosperity would adorn our country with |
increased improvements, education and
comforts.