New-York tribune., 1871-01-14
supply of human wants as it was even half
century aeo-shouM there be Hard Timesf

supply OF nufndn Whh'o 40 ~ "'N'
century ago-shOuh there be Hard Ilmes1
Primarily, we answer, because too large
share of our people are trying TO iico oy some
Hjpo else than Productive Industry. Other
influences contribute; but this is Tar more
potent than the whole of them.
That our cities and villages are inOrdinately
swcled. is not necessarily theme for regret.
If those cities and villages were all duplicates
of the Old Worlds Lyons Manchester, Brming-
ham. Mulhouse, Sheffield, Kidderminster, ETC.,
ETC., and thus satisfying at least our homo
wants with their Wares and Fabrics, we might
regard their gourd-lke growth with COM
placency. But, considering that they are In
fact mere reservoirs and c0nduits for the
reception and distribution of goods largely OF
European manufacture their growth is seen to
be unhealthy and precarious. They do not
grow because they have more business, but
because more and more seek to live by doing 1t.
Take as a sample this great hive, with Its
population over Nine Hundred Thousand and
as many more in its suburbs; what share OF
that population really contribute to its growth
and well-beingf Suppose one-thlrd OF the
number now live Gf it can be called hving)
by keeping grogshops, haunts OF polution'
gambling-deDs, stands OF stalls 1Or petty
traffic, or by dropping sham pocket-Dooks'
stealing about the docks, burglary, picking
pockets &c, &C., in what respect would their
departure impair the strength or impede the
real growth of our Cityf If the tens OF thou
sands who pretend to be seeking work where
work is not and cannot be, were drafted away
to improve and till the soil, OF into some de-
partment of Productive Labor, who would be
tho worse for their change of basef Who
could show cause why it should not be effected
This topic will yet force itself upon public
attention. We are fast becoming nation of
schemers to live without genuine work. Our
boys are not learning trades; our farmers sons
are crowding into cities, looking for clerkships
and petty Offices; hardly one American girl in
each hundred will do housework for wages,
however urgent her need so we are sending
to Europe for wOrkmen and buying of her
artisans Millions worth of products that we
ought to make for ourselves. Though our crop
of rascals is heavy, we do not grow our own
Hemp; though we are overrun with lads who
deserve fagellation, we import our willows.
Our women (unless deceived) shine In European
fabrics; our men dress in foreign cloths; the
TOYS which amuse our younger children have
generally reached us over sea. Hence it is
that, in spite of our high Tariff, we plunge
deeper and deeper into debt to the Old World
not nearly so fast as we would under Free
Trade policy, but still entirely too fast. We
are like the farmer who hires his neighbors'
sons to cut his wood, feed his stock, and run
his errands, while his own boys lounge at the
grogshop, playing billiards, and then wonders
why, in spite of his best efforts, he sinks an
nually deeper and deeper into debt, till the
sheriff cleans him out, and he starts West to
begin again.
We must turn over new leaf. Our boys
and girls must be taught to love labor by
qualifying themselves to do it efficiently. We
must turn out fewer professionals and more
and more skilled artisans as well as food
growers. We must grow and fabricate Two
Hundred Millions worth per annum that we
now import, and so reduce the foreign debt
that we have so long and so successfully aug
mented year by year. We must qualify our
clever BOYS to erect and run factories, fur
naces, rolling-mills, tanneries, machine-shops,
&c-to open and work mines, improve and
fashion implements, and double the present
product of their fathers farms. So shall we
stem the tide of Debt that sets steadily against
our shores, and cease to be visited and an
noyed by Hard Times.