The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-24
No. a.-rnS coaiAss ana .xossn % n.a,ybsr,y,,.

Il AZ tnA AouaGj5 MEM 1ou arc * the
prime OF life. You are the bone and sinev
OF the County You will coon have to take
the place Of yonr fathers. no you is looked
for the rapid developments ,of the azricul.
tural, mechanical and manufacturing re-
sources OF your section. The State of South
Carolina has been thrown open as free labo,
commonwealth, with no speciality exempt.
ing any man from labor, by having the
burden OF toll thrown upon some other
The need is imperative which eompels each
individual to see what lie is worth to TIM
community in which his lot is cast. Nc
Pretension or excuse will avail to stand
against the stern necessities Of the occasion
Communities, individuals are compelled &c
have bread, and with no one now to earn
1t, they must sacrifice fnlse pride, blood and
go to work or starve. AS this fact is real.
lied and conceded, so will the County: 40
will the State; so will the South rise from
her disabilities. 1t may take time to bring
In persistent idlers, but they will acknow.
ledge, In the end, that it is far better, and
decidedly more honorable to labor than to
starve or beg
The fact is, and there is no use TO deuv II
tnere are great number Of young men in
this County, vast number in the South,
living in idleness This was admissible. if
we can use the word, when they owned for
tunes; but now, since the negroes are swept
away and most of them rendered poor and
pennlless, is an evil of the greatest magni
practice law, medicine, dentistry, keep n
hotel, bnr-room, restaurant engage in mer-
camille pursuits, edit n paper, deliver u lee
ture, turn minister, teach n school. or do
anything besides go to work; but finding no
opening in these occupations, they are living
on their oars, doing nothing, waiting, like
Micawber, for something to turn up. All
over the country, from the seaboard to the
mountains every man that can raise fifty
dollars. or get the credit, is wild to get up
store. What are all these occupations
They are consuming and non producing.
The young men of the State, the young
men OF the County. no matter what their
blood, must come to labor. We shy, in the
best nnd kiidliest of feelings, they must
cease to be mere consumers but become
producers They will have to come to the
conclusion that honest work is better than
no work at all, and that unless they work,
they will have to beg or starve. We are
happy IN being able to say there are few
examples in this County, and we presume
the same extends over the State, of young
men that were raised in af1uence. who have
seized upon the plow and the hoe and gone
to work This is noble example in o noble
Inv Of mi
young friends, dignity in labor The his
tory of the great of all nations is the his
tory OF labor. The sons of the laborer and
mechanic are the rulers, the philosophers,
the statesmen of the world. Now, we ask
the question, is honest labor degrading, or
idle vagabondsm noble?
There is no excuse, no apology for any
hearty, hale young man, with two good legs
and hands, even if he has never worked, to
be loafing about in idleness, waiting for
something to turn up to better his fortune.
Duty to his country, to his family to him
self, to his God, urge upon him to Law hold
upon the implements of labor, and 90 to
work
Not without labor did sinless Adam live:
''but in the sweat of his face" did fallen
Adam earn his bread. AS he was no longer
what he had been, his highest welfare now
required more stringent law of labor than
would otherwise have been necessary. None
would say, with clear conscience be mere
consumers of other mems toll. There must
be no drones, if we really mean to prosper
this Southern land. a noble heart will dis
dain to subsist like drone upon the honey
gathered by others labor, or like shark to
prey on the lesser fry, but will one way or
the other earn his subsistence; for he that
doth not earn can hardly eat his own bread
Let any one take upon himself the trouble
to look around, and he will see that the men
who now possess property, and who are
prospering. are those who toiled with their
hands. If this was done amid the system
in which we lived, how much more certain
will the Industrious laborer acquire n fortune