Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1870-07-27
Miscellany.
The Labor Problem.

The late importation of Chinese shoe
makers into this State, to checkmate the
arbitrary assumption Of the ST. Crispin or
ganization, has already produced wide
spread excitement both in industrial and
political circles. 1t has brought up for
discussion the whole range of topics relat-
ing to the great questions of labor and
immigration; and this discussion wakes
warmer, and opens up larger field of in
quiry, as it progresses.
Thus far the subject has been consider
cred and treated by the press chiefly in
respect to its economic bearings. But it
is evident, from developm 'nts already
made, that it will not be allowed to rest
there, but that an appeal is to be taken
from any settlement of the question ef-
fected in accordance with the natural laws
Of trade and carried up to those legisa-
tive bodies which are supposed to reflect
the political sentiment of the country
That it will prove disturbing element
both in State and rational politics, there
can be no doubt; and, perhaps, it is des-
tined to constitute one of the great is
sues or bases upon which the political
parties of the future are to be reconstruc-
ted.
The bill lately introduced into the Un-
tied States Senate, intended to carry out
the views of those who are hostile to Chi
nese immigration, has forced some Of our
leading politicians to show their hands up
on the question. In so doing, it has re-
vcalcd some singular inconsistencies on
the part of those who have hitherto been
conspicuous as champions Of the doctrine
of the social and political equality Of all
races of men, and of opening wide the
doors of our republican asylum to the op-
pressed Of all nations.
These former opponents Of all distinc-
tion based upon nativity, race or color,
have professed to believe, as we do, that
labor is an element of national wealth
and hence, that the more we get Of it,
from any source, to assist in developing
our almost boundless latent resources, the
better off we shall be. With us they
have upheld the theory that production il
the true test of national progress; hence
production should be encouraged and in
creased by every available means, instead
of restricted; and that when the Pennsyl
vania coal miners, or the Massachusetts
shoe makers, combine to limit the pro
ductive force in their respective branches
of industry, they necessarily array them
selves against the general welfare. They
have professed to believe with us, also
that the right to labor to free competition
in any field of art or industry which j
may choose to enter, should be vindicateC
and upheld.
But in the face of powerful labor com
binations (such as the Knights of St. Girls
pin) having votes at their disposal, ant
aspiring to hold the balance of politica
power in some of the States, the liberia
and tolerant principles Of some of thes
philanthropists have suddenly undergon
striking change.
They now, for the first time-and afte
) saying all sorts of bitter things agains
J the old Native American organization
profess to have discovered that free immi
grafton and labor competition is an evi
calculated to degrade the industry of tn
country, and an element Of poverty rath
er than of national wealth and prosperity
The suddenncss Of their conversion t
, exclusive policy, and their ridiculous al
t tempts at hair-splitting, as between tn
r African, the Mongolian and the Celt, lea
to the suspicion that they are either play
ing the demagogue for the furtherance c
personal ends, or that they were neve
D sincere in their professions of a broad hi
t manltarianism irrespective Of birth or {
+ race.
r But those politicians and economist
: who. at this eleventh heur, seek to reviv
the prejudices and prescriptions which tn
h civilization of our age has SO successful
] combatted, are doomed to ignominious iai
e ure. They are feeby endeavoring to swi
G against a popular currert which is irresis
d ible, and will sweep them, with other p'
It litical drittwood, into an unknown SCI
a The civilized nations of the earth hay
! been brought too near together, by II
S power Of steam and electricity, for al
II one of them to dream of commercial
e Industrial isolation, or to undertake
d check the mighty tide of emigration, whic
s. impolled by the Law of equilibrium of fc
% ccs, is surging around the globe.
'e Hcnceforth labor must be cosmopolitI
% and not confined by geographical lines.