Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-10-11
Watrhman 6 journal.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER IL, 1871.
Tgass f2.1O per year, strictly In advance, or $3.50
ifnot paid within three months.
The Rights of Labor.

for the same port. Sundry reformers among
women are seeking the emancipation Of ill., D..
sex from the bondage Of old traditions, aud
their introduction to all the privileges and
immuuities of the inferior sex They ask for
all tn rights that men have and decry the
distinctions viii law and society have here.
tofore recognised in the sexes. They are
fond Of comparing their present condition
with slavery, and pointing out the rescm.
bance- between the yoke they wear and the
bondage Of negro seryitude They want to
be free. That is, they want the rights of
men-and they are organized with reference
to eifeciing their object.
Besides the women who are contendug in
order to attain for themselves the rights
which now peculiarly belong to men, the la.
Dor classes are organized TO secure their
rights. In some States, rs in Massachusetts,
they have reached the dignity Of party and
begin 10 nominate candidates for Off ,es, and
set in motion the machinery Of politics. We
have somewhat carefully noted their proceed
ings in order to discover their ideas and prin-
ciples, their methods and objects We are
free to say that after a careful perusal Of the
platform Of the Labor-party in Massachu-
sets, we are in as much Ignorance as before
and what We do understand Of their resolu-
tions docs as little credit to their intelligence
as to their honesty The essential idea Of
this movement in this country, as in Europe,
seems to be that "labor has right to all
that it produces or creates Underneath
the high sounding platitudes which state the
grievances Of labor, this "glittering general
ity' is always coiled and ready to dart out
its poisonous fangs. The Massachusetts la
Dor rctormers have adopted the apothegm of
Proudhon and clothed it 10 other words.
But the idea is the same. Property is rob.
berry" Capital is the spoiation Of labor
Labor has a right to the capital Of the country
3 Labor has a right to what it produces or
creates" OF course if the laborer has right
to his products, capital has no right to them,
aud capital is fraud and robbery.
That labor has some real grievances and
troubles We all know quite well. Labor itself
is distastcful thing, and man naturally
hates it, The sweat of the brow and this
eternal moiling and toiling for Just enough to
keep the wolves Of hunger and poverty from
the door, are not pleasant things. There is a
curse in labor as well as a blessing Yet, 10
spite of all its real and fancied grievances and
evils, one can hardly feel like seriously con-
tending with sucn a miserable sophism and
charlatanry as this statement of the Labor
Convention Of Massachusetts,. Some of the
men who voted for that sentiment, and incor.
poroted it among their political principles,
may possibly have been experienced and skill
full laborers, and have laid by a few thousand
dollars as the results of their toll and thrift
Are they disposed to surrender it to the gno
rant or vicious or lazy? How would they
relish the practical application of their owl
theory? Capital subscribes million of dol
lars to erect an immense mandatory
furnishes employment to thousand men an,
women in converting cotton or wool into cloth
Are the laborers who convert the raw mat,
rial into the equivalent of money entitled /
III II so, who would build mills and factC
ries, or who would have the means to do it
Are the genius that inyents, the comm ercii
sagacity that rears these temples of industr,
the wealth that is distributed to thousand
through them all to lie PROSTATE at the fe,
of him whose hands do the work. If 80, no
soon before the men who work with the
brains and send the vital blood through all Il
arteries of the social world, will stop the
work, and every wheel in the machinery
labor stop also2 The Irshman who shove
dirt at tNo dollars per day 10 the constructio
OF a railroad is entitled to his daily wages
, but is he fairly entitled to the stock and bono
l of the road too? Has he right to whs
his labor creates? II he has he gets moi
than his wages, when in fact he is alread
paid for his work. He gets his pay twic
over, and the capitalist loses his money twiC
over. That is, the wages Of the men WI
make the road-bed and forge the iron an
: build the running stock of railroad, repr
/ sent and equal the capital. So the laborc
when they have got their wages, have got a
r the capital of the road In this sense Il
laborer has right to what he produces
creates and this glittering generality meal
only that the workman is worthy of his hir
Q or the laborer has right to his pay a prop
sition that nobody will dispute, and that d
not need Labor Reform Convention to a
firm But it did not mean only this.
meant more II means that the laborer ha
: right to his wages, and then a right to h
interest or dividend that should accrue q
what bis labor had created. 1t means thu
labor shall have its wages, and then have ii
t profits on the capital which its wages repr,
sent. 1t shall be paid for its work, and the
have perpetual six per cent lien upon Ii
capital that is created by its work Thus
mans work is first changed into wages an
, then into capital. He lays up as much as b
receives. lie appropriates the capital twiC
over FIRST in the form of wages, and secon
in the form of investment, while the unfortr
nate capitalist has first paid out his money Q
wages aud then lost it as investment.
/ If we have understood the platform of tn
Labor party, this is its simple and unadu
terated meaning. 1t is the doctrine of tn
sans culottes Of the French Revolution an
of the Paris Commune. 1t means that
man has no right to any property that he doe
not earn with his hands. The artist is nc
to be remuneratcd for his genius, the preach
er for his eloquencc, the statesman for hi
stateerait the merchant for his sagacity, tn
lawyer for his learning, the skilful crafts
man for his work. 1t means, that ther