The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-09-22
NO11

bodies to clothe and stomachs to feed
and minds to educate, and spirits to
I elevate, and old age to provide for
They have homes which they love, and
wives whom they cherish, and children
whom they hope to make worthy citi-
zens-the honest fathers and the vir-
tuous mothers of a succeeding genera.
ton. And can you remember these
duties and sec these aspirations can
you contemplate the patient hopeful
ness of cheerful and contented, because
fairly compensated, industry, and talk
of cAeap ,lobore Labor is too cheap
now, Labor does not receive its just
reward. This country needs skilled
laborers, and honest, intelligent, un-
tagging, jealous industry; it needs
that such labor shall not be cheap, but
that it shall be most bountifully re-
warded The relation of capital ard
labor is now badly adjusted. Idle
money-money which has no human
wants or affections, or sympathies-
earns more than labor, with all its
sweat, and toll, and suffering. Mon
ey combines with money, and seeks
increase and immunity under acts OF
incorporation. When laborers COM
binc for their protection, they are in
some of our States denounced by the
law, and everywhere looked upon with
suspicion. They should not antago-
nize. They should cooperate. They
should be in harmony. I do not know
that the full solution Of this great prob
lem has been discovered, but / believe
great progress has been made in late
years to establish juster and better
relation. That progress will continue
1t must command the efforts of an
advancing civilization, and the favor of
a Just God, until at last the human in
tellcct,T and hand and blood, as they
constitute the nobler, shall also be the
better paid member in the great part
ncrship of labor and capital. H..
CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY. ..
1 hold in my hand the Cincinnati
Commercial of the 7th of September,
1t contains a review of the markets for
the week. The story is very signifi
cant: "Trade dull-almost stagnant.
Sales of dry goods, of groceries, OF
manufactures, almost nothing. Col
lections 1mpossible-intercst on money
from to Is per cent, and in some
cases to lS per cent. Wheat from
81 IS to 81 %, and very dull. Hay,
corn, oats, ruling low, and few sales,
except for local demend.' And in the
same paper of that and a few proceed
ing days 1 saw the failures and as
signments of bankers, manufacturers,
trade;men and lumber merchants
and column after column filled with
the advertisements of men and women
and children seeking employment, and
of stores which are empty and for rent
The condition, the reason and the
remedy arc we'll summed up in one
single sentence in the money article of
that day: "a shrinkage of values
generally has not yet taken place, or
at least values have not been adjusted
in their relation to each other to that
plane on which business can move
briskly and prospcrously. There is,
consequently, some disposition to tink-
CT with the currency, and to seek to
adjust matters by variations in the
measure of values" Which, traaslat-
ed into common language, means that
debtors are pressed to the very verge
of ruin by declining prices and stag
nant business, and beg that money
may be allowed to circulate and per-
form its duty of effectlng chan ges; and
in the same paper 1 see the extrordi-
nary statement that the. Treasury De-
partment has official information "that
the merchants and other commercial
men Of the West, owing to the search
ty of currency, are compelled to take
any thing offered to them which rep
resents fractional values of greenbacks,
and consequently are forced to recetre
and pass counterfeit stamps" p. i''.-. ..
Now, my friends, is this q truthful
statement of the condition of affairs :?
[ have taken it, almost word for word,
from the Commercial, that no man
might say I had colored it too highly.
I ask you-cach one of you-does
this statement accord with your own
observation ? Why is it so? Large
crops have rewarded the industry of
the farmer. The beneficence of God
has not failed The promise of seed
time. and harvest has been fulfilled
We have had neither war nor pesti-
lence in our midst. Why should the
products of agriculture be SO low and
so slow of sale? They cost as much
plowing, and, sowing, and planting,
and reaping, as many hours of toll,
and as many acres to produce them as
last year or the year before. There
are as many months to fill; as many
craving appetites as then: Why is
employment so scarce, aud why are
the scanty wages of laborers reduced 2
There are strong arms all around 1y-i
ing iclIo-and every element of growth
in oHr country is every moment dc!
manding greater development. La
borers are plenty brcadstuifs are in
abundance; raw material is ut hand I;
stocks of goods arc full railroads and
rivers and canals are ready to do all
transportation. All the appliances OF
active business which our modern civ.
ilization has created or demands lie
ready for instant use. They need'but
to be Joined and put in motion-and
yet they lie inactive, dead and useless,
as the parts of an engine before the
machinist has put them together and
the engineer has let on his steam. -
Why is this? Enormous taxation I'M
equally, uniustly distributed, enor-
nous expenditure unnecessarily and
wastcfully matle-and both taxation
and expenditure are managed in such
wise as TO give every advantage 10