The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-06-27
The Labor Questionable Tai!ors' MO
nj Cork.

| that considerable centre Of trade had risen
| in such violent protest against an importa-
ton of German tailors AS TO require the argu-
naentum ad baculin9m-the logic Of the
cudgel--for their dispersion This incident illus
trates very curious, if not altogether novel,
phase Of the great labor question now agitating
| all civilized countries, and it demands most
delicate treatment. since it involves, on the
one haad, the eternal principle Of every mans
| right to the proper exercise Of all the talents
| aud endowments that God has bestowed upon
him. and on the other the priority Of settle
ment and usage in those who resist the advent
Of cheaper or more skful workmanship. It
| is impossible to withhold sympathy from the
poor toiler who finds himself suddenly
excelled and overborne in the struggle for
| bread-the sad voice of humanity pleads
irresistibly on the side Of all his just COM
plants; but it is equally impossible to
| recognize the authority Of any man or com
bination of men to iaterpose violence between
the cravings of the race for cheaper and
more abundant supply of all commodities and
| the progressive advance of skill and labor to
furnish that supply.
The grand difficulty in this whole question
is that the conflicting parties interested in its
| solution do not see it alike. The White Knight
and the Black Knight each beheld the shield
that was set up at the crossroads of the color
| that was turned toward himself, and it was
| only when, in their death struggle on this
~ had aad fbojr
positions and saw from opposite points, that
they perceived their folly and admitted that
each had been quite right in his degree, since
| the shield was either white or black. accord
| ing to the station of him who gazed at it.
! In the present case of the tailors riot at
Cork there would be food enough for humor-
GUS comment did the gravity Of the subject it
| involves permit us to tribe with such theme.
| But where the subsistence Of men and their
| wives and little ones is at stake we can only
grieve at the thoughtlessness which leads the
honest workingman into 80 false and unten-
| able an attitude.
| We shall not in this place attempt an elabo-
rate discussion Of the whole labor ques-
! ton. Neither many columns nor many
volumes would suffice for so imposing task.
| strikes and demonstrations that assume the
violent shape are direct assaults upon human
brotherhood, upon the principles of liberty,
and upon the welfare of the class or country
itself that countenances them; upon human
brotherhood, because they exclude our fellow
E,op tsouo IN,
pursuit of life and happiness; upon liberty,
because they outrageously attempt to limit
effort, circumscribe capacity and check the
progress of the age; upon the common welfare,
because they retard Improvement, set up bar
riers against the development Of industry and
! subject the world of consumers to the tax that
selfish combinations may choose TO impose.
How simple, trte, sef-evident plea it is that
the more coats, hats, shoes, &C., there are in
the world, and the cheaper their prices, the
more of them can reach the multitude; that
the less man has to pay for one
commodity the more he can buy of
another, and that if whole family by
each person working one or two hours only
per diem can live comfortably in an era of
cheapness it is better for them al than when
the burden rests on one poor drudging slave,
who has to toll all day and half the night
beneath the entire burden. 1t is astonishing
that men who are continually preaching on
human freedom and on the rights Of labor do
not comprehend that the larger the population
the greater the wants to be supplied; that the
more hands there are in one trade the greater
will be the demand on other trades, the lighter
the distributed burden of taxes, and the
swifter the growth in power and control of the
community The more farmers there are the
more mechanics will be needed to supply them
with manufactured commodities; the more
mechanics there are the ampler the require
ments of grain, beef, potatoes, cotton, wool
and leather. What is the grand result?
Labor is forced by natural process into the
channels where it is most needed; the coun-
trys resources are brought ont; its waste
| places are covered with rural homes and
blooming fields, or popnous and splendid
! cities, where the ills Of humanity are detected
! and cured, charity and religion perform their
| blessed mission, and man, even through his
| trials, at last becomes ennobled and exalted
| That this is not the case in all our cities is
| the fault of other causes to which We shall
refer again before we close; but, as it is, we
| question whether the dark side of town life is
| not more than compensated by the beauty Of
| its numberless charities. If in New York, for
instance, the cynic point us to the haunts of
vice and misery, still SO numerous, the gentle
hand of truth can lead him to scores of hos
| pitfalls and schools and churches, and trace for
! him along every street and avenue the daily
! pathway of a thousand sweet but silent min
footsteps, ''go about continually doing good. "
To strike blow, then, at the wondrous plan
| by which all these agencies work together is