New-York tribune., 1869-03-27
LABOR IND POLITICS.

| very large meeting OF working Men was
| lately held in our City, by which it was unan-
imOusly determined, 1. That Labor produces
everything, yet secures and enjoys but share
and that not a fair share-of the product;
g. That it has determined that this shall not con-
tinue; and 8. That, to secure their full rights,
the Laboring Glass will cut loose from politics
and politicians, and 81 go it alone" henceforth,
not only in shaping public policy, but in
choosing legislators and other functiOnaries to
give effect to that policy. (The resolves are
not now before us; but this is their drift and
purport, according to our recollection.)
The Working Men are clearly right in af-
frming the prominent importance of questions
which are practically Social over those which
are distinctively Political. They want steady
work, confined to reasonable hours with fair
recompense for doing it, They want commo-
dous and convenient lodgings. at rates which
are not beyond their limited means. They
want sanitary regulations which will protect
them from noisOme effluvia and from the re-
sulting ravages of pestilence. They want good
Common Schools, with ample provision therein
for the education of their children. In so far
as the State or community shall provide or Sc
cure these, it is blessing to the
III
most of the questions on which our
people are divided into parties, they have but
vague, remote interest 1t seems, therefore,
not only natural but desirable that the Work
ing Men should meet as class, and propose
measures of interest to that class, insisting that
they shall receive early and thoughtful con-
sideration. We trust that this Working Mems
movement is not to end with the passage of
last Tuesdays resolves but that meeting after
meeting will be held, in which the rights and
wrongs of Labor will be more fully and pa
tiently considered than they were or could be
at the gathering in question. And, as our first
contribution to the sum of knowledge on the
general subject Of Labor Reform, we prOfler
the following frank yet not unfriendly criti-
cisms ON the late proceedings at Cooper Insti-
tute:
l. We do not object TO the designation of
those who labor for wages as distinctively
Working Men, provided it is fully kept in
mind that this is dictated by convenience and
that there are in fact many other Working
Men than they Thus, the brothers Harpers
were not only jouneymen printers fifty years
ago, but they were remarkably hard-working
iourneymeD, who never dreamed that eight nor
even Ten UOuIo WOTh oACubcu tutlu
from doing more while work remained to be
done and there was daylight whereby to do it.
They are rich and powerful to-day, because
they were specially energetic and frugal while
young and poor. So, we cannot doubt,
John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Alex
ander t. Stewart, and nearly all our pres
ent miliOnaires, made the very utmost
of their hours and their pence in their portion
less, friendless youth. Now, we are not CON-
mending these men as models for imitation
we do not insist that every poor should
strive to become q rich one--we readily admit
that there is force in the statement of those
who prefer to take things easy" and enjoy
life as they go along;" but we do insist that
the case shall be fairly set forth and clearly
understood. Great wealth is the product of
rare capacities or of rare diligence and frugal
| ity-genorally of a combination of all these. In
monarchies, it may to some extent be won by
royal favor; it is not so here. The founders
OF our great fortunes had to work for them-as
truly as though they had welded the trowel
or shouldered the hod. Let not this truth be
ignored or by groundless clamor obscured.
III. The laborers for wages fairly earn their
money; but so do Others. The skillful engi-
naeG TAQ, N BIZ original devices, saves a nil