Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-05-19
The Question CT Labor.

| loyal.
The Question CT Labor.
TIE terrible instruction which IS now
, bringing mis- cry and shame upon PANS and
Il France, Interests directly every civilized
nation bet aUsu of it; come ctiOn with the
most dif1fcuIt social problems of the day
labor and Iaaperism Even in this coun-
try. although it would seem as if centuries
must elapse before these problems pre SIS
, their solution upon US, yet they begin to
present themselves IN various shapes IN
! the great centres Ct population. The late
: Htrike in the coal districts of Pennsylvania
7 differs from similar movements in Europe
only in degree. It's solution seems to have
been the voluntary emigration of portion
of the luborers which will increase the de-
mand for labor at the mines, and enable it
TO command a better price. In Europe.
The Iaborers being unable to emigrate, the
solution would probably Lave been riot
and bloodsked.
Tho theories of socialism took their rise
when the development Of modern industry
create an apparent antagonism between
capital and labor We say apparent, for
this al tagonism is the effect Of Fictitious
c12sas, and ought not to exist. Superficial
observers think that because it is the 10 ter
est Of the employer to obtain labor at the
lowest rate, and of the laborer to obtain
the highest wages possible, therefore the
capitalist and the laborer are natural enc
mics It is this false idea which has caused
so much suffering in all manufacturing
countries for the last century. It is eGti-
mated by the New York papers that the
recent strike in the coal mines has already
cost tho miners 5000, 900 in wages lost.
Unfortunately, it Is bat too easy to per
suade the working man, especially the
! European Working man, who never accu-
mulatcs anything, that bis poverty is due
10 the oppression Of the manufacturer.
whoIa lie soon learns to consider as
bloud-sucHing vampire, growing rich upon
til sweat and toll Of the poor. Some
extr; ne cases have e. netimos arisen to
servo as an apparent Justification of this
hatred Of the poor towards the rich. The
terrible inauri ectiOn of Lyons in 1884,
VIII: ch was not eubdGed until Marshal SOult
was sent against it with an army OF
40, coo mon, was the result of the sufferings
of The silk weavers, BY consequence of
excessive competition and rise in the
price If the raw material, the ilk weavers
saw their wages reduced to eighteen cents
per day of eighteen hours labor. The
manufacturers could not give more with
out bringiug ruin upon themselves. The
viewers could not subsist on their wages
and they rose in arms, carrying banners,
on which was inscribed: IF we can t
live by our labor let us die fighting -
Many were killed, others imprisoned
or exied; and when their numbers had
been thinned out, the rest managed to !!
live. But the problem was not solved.
It is this fearful misery of the European
masses in the cities aud the manufacturing
centres which has given rise to socialism.
The last revolutions of France were social,
much more than political. The emeutes
of 1S4S and 1849 were essentially so, as
we'll as this last instruction of Paris. The
200, 900 workingmen of that city, without
employment at the end OF the war, in
debted to their landlords for three quar-
ters' rent and without any means of pay
ing, were bat too ready to believe those
who told them that the government must
support them, ana if it would not, then
overthrow it and establish another that
would.
The most statesman-Iike utterance that
has been heard in the French Chambers
for many years. was that of Mons. Theirs
before the Assembly sometimeago. eff,
said he, g the Republic is to be consoi
dated, it is only by undertaking emigra-
ton upon large scale" He is right. The
great evil under which nearly all Europe
suffers, is overdensity of population. If
it were not for the safety-valve of emigra-
ton, England and Germany would long
ago have been couvulsed by socialistic re-
volutions. While the Germans, the Irish,
the English emi2rato by hundreds of thou
sands. the French do not emigrate at all.
Hence the crowding of all professions and
trades until. for eve:y work that Is to be
done, from the highest department to the
lowest, there are two or thres times more
workers than are needed. Thus, the COM
petition of the laborers themselves, under
bid ling each other, reduces their wages
to the lowest living standard and if a
crisis comes, some of them must starve
unIe IS the government feed them.
1t is this state OF things which explains
the turbulence OF the city populations of
France. There the unfortunate workman
has no future, and hope is crushed out Of
him. His prospect is to die in the public
hospital and be buried in the paupers' '
cemetery, leaving his family destitute
behind him. In his ignorance of the laws
Of Political Economy he seeks in change
of government a relief which can arise
only from a less crowded state of society.
Too late he finds himself no better off I
under republic than under a monarchy,
and he is equally ready to revolt against
both. America, even after all the errors
of her rulers, is still the promised land of
the European working man. Here alone