Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-06-01
THE LABoRrre MANS INTERESTS.


of labor is wealth. All we have in this
world is, in some form or other the pro-
duct of labor. That community is most
prosperous and happy, where the interests
and rights of the laborer are respected and
fostered.
There may be wealth and splendor in the
mansions of few in every community,
but there is only general intelligence, gene
raj happiness and comfort and general
prosperity, where the laboring man is treat
ed with respect and the rights of his fami-
ly to an education and such social privi-
leges as his merit and character entitle him
to, are recognized. We view all these ques-
tons in one way and that is, that they all
at last rest upon the very basisof our form
of government, which is the general intelli-
gence of the people, diffused through the
agency of free schools. The whole remedy
sought by our friends, through the associ-
alton referred to, is in securing for the COM
mon benefit of all, an efficient system of
free education. There is no rope for our
mechanics or laborers, save through such u
remedy.
What announcement is there for a labor
ing man to toll day after day, from early
morning until late at night, if he can but
accumulate enough to feed and clothe his
family? Can he see through such life
| any hope that his children may in the flu
| ture fare better? And what is life worth,
if through all our years of patient severe
| toll, we dare not hope for something better
for our posterity?
This is all based on a postulate, we grant,
but one we hope recognized by every think
| ing man. Education makes the mechanic
as well rs the statesman. The product of
skilled labor is not the result of brute force.
| The mind, the judgment is of more value
than the mere power of the hand or arm.
The hope of our mechanic or laborer
then must rest upon his advantages for
obtaining an education. Intelligence not
only makes his labor more valuable, but il
makes the man.
| There is no such thing as social equality
in this world. In this free land of ours
where every business, trade or profession
is open alike to all, every man stands upon
his merit. There may be some localities
long isolated by mountains, where the
|
men who have met in the great struggle of
life the energy and intellectual force of the
genuine American know and feel that, like
oil and water, true manhood and deter
mined energy, in the end, finds its true
level.
There is open to every bright, energetic
poor mans son the same great triumphs in
life, in all its departments, that is within
the reach of the sons of our " first families"
In truth, if there are any advantages, they
are all in favor of the true-hearted, manly
boy who begins at the very foot of the lad
der, if he will but persevere.
The first interest of the workingman, then,
in our judgment, can be readily inferred.
His only hope is in securing good system
of free schools. He meets with opposition
in this from some of the very men whose
influence many seem to court. There are,
unfortunately in Tennessee, many weak
minded, rich men, whose pathway in life
has been made easy, because they lived in
the midst of population that did not en-
joy, in any great measure, the blessings of
education. Through their wealth, they
obtained an education, and this has kept
them uppermost through all their lives.
The poorer classes in East Tennessee have
not heretofore had the means for giving
their children an education. They have,
therefore, all these long years, been labor
ing under great disadvantage. They
have not only contended with wealth, but
with wealth coupled with education.
Many, far too many, heartless rich men
have, in the past, enjoyed these advan-
tages and monopolized the business, wealth
and education of the State. Occasionally, a
poor boy, by reason of extraordinary advan-
tages, has struggled upward so as to contend
with them on equal terms, but the odds have
always been against him. These same
heartless men of wealth desire to perpetu-
ate these great advantages for the benefit
of their children. They educate their own
sons at great expense, and keep down the
masses. What is the result? Their sons
take the places occupied by their fathers,
and thus the unequal, unfair contest goes
on from generation to generation. 1t is a
species of slavery from which our working
men must be emancipated. We must give
them free schools. We must strike down
the chains wound about them, and give