Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-06-29
fCoNliUNICATED.l
Is it for the Best Interests of our Country
to Depress the Price of Labor?
COMMUNICATED.

From the days of Adam Smith, it has been
the fashion for writers on political ecomy to cs-
tablish their theories of trade and commerce, of
tariffs and taxes and of all public matters of
finance, exclusively in the interest of some fa-
vorite class. When European writers speak in
this connection of their country" or their
people" they mean only the ruling classes
In keeping with such doctrine, taught by such
instructors, Louis PHILIPPE, on one OCCASION
when mention was made to him of the State
exclaimed, II am the Statel'
When our republic was established, it was
founded on the principle that "all men are
created equal" which simply. means that all
men, by nature, have the right to an equal
start in life The divine right of kings as well
as of aristocracy is repudiated To make prac-
tica this fundamental principle of our govern
ment, all our Legislation should have regard ex-
cusivcly TO the welfare of the people without
any flvoritsm or discrimination.
We have seen the time, however, when this
country was ruled by party, the main plank of
whose platform was the divine right of slave
Ey.r Then all our legislation seemed To involve,
either directly or indirectly, the welfare and
This slaveholding Democracy, when it made
mention of 'the people of course did not mean
the slaves of the South neither did it have any
afiectionate regard for the mechanics and labor
ing men of the South The latter were spoken
of as "the mud sills of society and looked
upon as no better than slaves. Neither did ''the
people" in their view, include the manufac-
turers of the North. Most of this class were
regarded as of plebian origin. and the fact that
they were conducting business by paying fair
prices for labor and asking protection against
competition of the pauper labor of Europe was
enough to exclude all this class both employers
| and employed, from within the pale which
marked the lines of the favorite class which
| they always designed to call the people"
The change wrought by the late war and the
abolition of slavery should change all these
| tional prosperity lies only in the elevation of
the masses, and that without regard to race,
color or previous condition. 1t might be sup
posed that there would not be enough of the
| old element of arstocracy left to keep up, with
any degree of success the war against labor.
| The fact that the late Shareholders themselves
have mostly become laborers, would seem sutf-
cient to convince them and their party that il j.
| for the true Interests OF this government and
country to so regulate its policy as to make the
rewards of labor the fullest and largest possible
| Nothing is in such abundant supply and So
universally offered for sale as labor In fact
| there.is but small portion of the forty millions
| of the people of this country who do not offer
| for sale in some shape their own labor The
| lawyer, doctor, and other professional men are
! all found trying to make money in an honorable
way through services which they have prepared
themselves to render the public, and which is
| onlyla-sale of their labor
! Tho best evidence of our advanced civiliZa-
tiOn is in the larger returns gained by such Ia
Dor. If in our country given amount secures
/ to all CLASSES good homes. good fare good
clothing and, besides, abundant means to spend
in amusement and trade while in other coun-
tales the same labor affords but Il bare subsist-