The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-01-19

like hunger and the other animal appe-
tites, a 0odd to activity. When a true
system Of attractive industry shall be
properly organized and fully inAugurated,
labor will arouse such enthusiasm,
or rather such infatuation, as to make
those who participate IN it forget all ma
terial motives and personal considerations.
But during the early stages OF industrial
organization, which will be a period OF
transition, and therefore of extreme I'M
perfection, means should be devised to
recompense the laborer by giving him the
full product of his labor IN such a way
that he will understand it, and recognize
the. equity of his reward because this is
the best substitute for those higher incen-
tives which a more perfect organization
will afterwards bring into play. 1t may
be properly remarked that the right of Ia
Dor to be thus reeompensed is the basis
of the aphorism Justice to labor which
Is so Yehemently agitating the working
classes of Europe, and threatening every
where to unsettle the foundations of the
political and social fabrics of our present
civilization al. %. -L -F.r q
But paying labor by wages at fixed
rate, according to time, can never fulhu
the requirement of recompense, according
to efficiency, that is, to the value of its
product. The contract being made and
the wages stipulated, the laborer has no
direct interest in what he produces, and
scarcely any motive to effort except to ap-
pear sufficiently busy to get his time reck-
Oned and his wages paid. The successful
stimulation of work answers this purpose
as effeetually as honest, faithful service
1t Is worth something, it is true, to have
the reputation of an efficient workman,
but the stimulus TO effort resulting from
this consideration Is enfeebled by being
not only indirect, but, in no small meas
ure, vague and uncertain. 1t cannot be
constantly operative, and when operative
cannot mitigate the hatefulness of monot-
onOus and prolonged toll, as does the con-
seiousness that every step the laborer
takes, and every blow he strikes, is more
beneficial to himself in proportion as it
more effectually accomplishes It's purpose.
! A consideration, perhaps, more important
still, is that the hired laborer can seldom
feel perfectly assured that his fixed wages
are so much as he earns, or, If they are,
that they are so much as he might earn,
\ if he had reasonable facilities, and fair
opportunity to labor for himself But
not only is labor for fixed wages more re-
| pulsive, it is also less efficient and produc-
| tive than that which the laborer performs
under the conviction that he is Immediate
/ " interested in having every effort he
makes tell, with the utmost efficacy, upon
the object at which he aims
In modern society class of laborers
has sprung up and become somewhat nu-
merous, who are not driven to labor ell
ther by task master or boss, and whose
labor is rewarded substantially according
to its efficiency in production. This clas:
is composed, very largely, Of farmers cul'
tivating their own farms, and Of meehan-
les working in their own shops, with then
own tools and machines, and upon then
own materials. Persons thus working fol
themselves, will, as we see, persist in la
Dor, though not compelled to it by the
pressure of present or impending want
and viii often continue very industrious
after they have acquired a competency
which secures them comfortable future
beyond any probable contingency. They
persevere in industry, not from necessity
but for the sake of accumulating its fruits
this incentive alone, when the laborer, b!
working for himself, feels certain tina
what he produces is all his own, being sui
fcient to overcome the repugnance natu
rally felt for daily and monotonous toll
Labor prosecuted under such crcGmstan
ces loses most of its bitterness, and for thi
reason amongRothers, that it is really an,
strictly FREE, the laborer being at hbert.
to relax or to intermit his work, if he de
sires to do SO, without permission of EN-
ployer or oveTseer
This class of laborers was scarcely know
in antique civilization, IN which ruler
and magistrates, soldiers, proelitaries an
, slaves made up nearly the entire popula
= ton, slaves constituting the immense ma
, iority of the people of Athens aud Rom
: in the days Of their greatest splendor.
In the lowest condition of humanity {
I which we have any knowledge, the fu
| grown savage man uses his superc
! strength to compel his weaker wife an
: children to perform the drudgery whic
he despises, and which the habits an
3 wants of savage life require, reservlng
: himself the adventure and excitement
3 hunting and fishing, and other similar pul
a suits in which he, like the civilized MAJ
e finds delight AS society advances to
d higher stage, this practice of domestic ty
S amy is expanded into a general system
oppression. The stronger and more fortl
nate organize themselves into a dominal
= class, and by the infliction of corpore
: sufferings, by the soourge and other form
1 of torture, they extort from the helple
: victims who fall within their power thi
= = labor, the products of which are indispel
!. bic to the enjoyment Of life. This Is d
: rect slavery, IN the maturity ofits develo
ment. In process of time society adval
ces another step, and organized capitt
> (instinctively organized by the inhuen
y Of self interest," monopolizes the produc
of past industry, and by this means co
demns the less fortunate to sweat al
drudge IN its service in order to procure
bare subsistence, and appropriates to
q self the surplus fruits Of that labor viii
dire necessity compels the needy to Pc
form.
at Thus a glance at the past shows tn
y productive labor, voluntarily perform
OF and persisted IN from choice, has been e
Id ceptional in the history of mankind. T
d fact that we have numerous examples
n, it in cases of men working strictly
as themselves, and not for wages paid by
" employer, Is suggestive, and points to I
first essential condition of true systC
d. of industry. 1t IS that the laborer hi
I'D sell, and not a usurper, shall enjoy
n products which his hands shall create.
Nature having accomplished those purI
u ses, in respect to the development of
er dustry, for which slavery and the syst'
at of wages were indispensable, now appe;
II 70 human InGeIASenCe 70 dtteIilPt Tic !
ganization of labor on thisne basis-a
IS sis which the laborer himself, who is
lal party most intensely interested, viii r
It's ognize as in conformity with the Princip
r. Of eternal Justice.
p- fsANE sUBJEcT TO BE CONTINUED.
is
re- CURIOSITY leads to inquiry-inqu
Ia leads TO knowledge knowledge to pr
all tice-practice to improvement, and
,Pt provement toward earthly perfection.
or
Ter