Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-02-12
THE ELEVATION or LABOR.

The Republican party has, from It's very
inception, endeavorrd assiduou,ly to make
labor honorable. The Det4ocratic party,
on the other hand, has been led generally
by southern shareholders. who have syste-
matioaly sought to degrade toll Al the
very time when the baser demagoeues Of
that party at the north were deluding many
Of the operatives Of this section hy appeals
to class aud race prtiudces, the southern
leaders OF the same facrion were terming
our laborers the mudsiIls Of society. :"
Here, in Independence Square, Howell
Cobb, addressing an immense Democratic
ratification meeting. before the war, said to
his hearers that the difference between the
north and the south was simply this;
You hire your labor; we own it.
That era has passed away This landed
oligarcby no longer owns It's labor The
slave is emaucipated He is not driven to
the cotton field in chain gangs. His wife
aud children are not sold at the auction
block lie is not beaten into desperation
and then hunted to death with blood
hounds He has shoes 10 his feet, bat on
his head Has wife and children are gath
cred around his own hearth He is paid
for his work. He is actually not forbidden
to learn to read Men and women are not
imprisoned for teaching him. His evidence
is recs we'd in courts Of justice. He stands
before che law possessed of equal rights with
his oppressor. His children go to school
The chatteI has become citizen The
wings Of the natioual eagle cover and pro
tect him His freedom, his citizenship and
his civil rights are alike guaranteed by the
Constitution, aud now he has = vote TO ena-
bic him to protect himself
So much the Republican party has done
f,r the most oppressed aud degraded of our
American laborers. So much it was bound
10 DO by its principles. But has not the
free white operative Of the north been cared
for? The Republican party found him
poorly paid and often idle, because the pro
duction Of bis industry We're subject to a ru
iuUus competition from the immense masses
Of foreign goods poured into the country by
the pauper labor Of Europe. To keep up
with such an opposition we must either Wig
orCusly protect our own manufactures or we
must reduce the wages OF industry to a mere
Song. The Democratic party, true to irs
southern instincts, supported the British
free trade system, because the slayeholding
leaders were accustomed to pay nothing for
their labor, and therefore regarded The re
duction Of the wages Of hortLesu operatives
as a matter Of no consequence IN its effects
upon the laborers Themselves
The Republicans, firmly adhering to their
principle of making work honorable, prefer
red protection, because under that system,
while the American manufacturers could
successfully keep the field, their workmen
would be well paid, constantly employed,
and able to live Ike civilized human beings
The whole record Of the two parties Is OF a
piece with this The Democrats gave the
people the most vilainous paper currency
ever inflicted upon a nation, ard this was an
incesssnt means of loss to the laboring class
es who were obliged to use it. The Rcpub
iicaus have given item sound, well secur-
ed national currency with which there is no
possibility of loss to the PEOPLE The Dem
acru1ic land policy fosterei land monopoly
and the building up Of great landed estates.
The Republican policy has offered home
stead on the public lands to all sctual set
tiers, and so elevated the condition Of the
American poorer classes. Let the PEOPLE
Judge OF the two parties by these things