The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-05-04


who labor, and by their labor produce
this vast annual product.
Now, ifyou will visit any one of the
great leading manufacturing industries
of the country and inquire of their most
intelligent representatives,, they will
tell you that the power of production
with a given amount of labor, owing to
the exercise of increased skill and econo-
my, or the invention and use Of improved
machinery, has increased during the last
len years, on an average, at least ten per
cent; while, in some instances, as in the
manufacture of boots and shoes, the in
crease has been much greater, rising even
to twenty five or thirty per cent.
And manufacturers furthermore will
tell you that it has been mainly by such
a gain IN the conditions of protection
that they have been enabled to protect
themselves from immense losses or de.
structlon under the disadvantages grow
ing out of our fiscal legislation to which
we show the last few years they have
been subjected.
1t therefore follows that if the industry
OF the country has remained in its normal
natural condition the same amount Of
labor exerted in 1870 as was applied in
4 1860 would have produced value sufi
ctrnt t" not only meet all the ordinary
and extraordinary requirements of the
( government, but to allow SIX per cent.
more of abundance to be divided among
the masses. But instead of that, what
do we find? We find thai certain agen
cies have come in which so affected the
/. cost of production as to not neutralize
any gain which may have resulted from
the use of improved processes or the ex
ercise of incrt ased skill and economy,
but have added from ten to thirty per
cent. to the p ice of almost every manu-
featured article sold in the domestic mar
ket.
The agencies which have been instru-
mental IN etfecting this result, as before
stated, are mainly too excessive and de
fectlve tax ,tion, and Il vicious currency ;
and when the reform in these two agen-
cies is accomplished, you will not only re-
duce the cost of product to the extent
! indicated. but you will give in return for
a given amount of labor an increased
abundance of ali those things which min
ister to the comfort or happiness of the
laborer,
AHn iClGIlI, l. SGcLlS 10 TIC, ID 10 De
found the most affective remedy for the
grievances which now make labor in this
country dissatisfied, for it is not so much
an increase of money wages that the dis
satisfied laborer is striving for as it is for
increase of the purchasing power of his
wages, or a greater abundance of what he
needs in return for his labor. And
bod that the natural resources of this
country-the gift of Gods providence
if allowed to be used free and untram-
meled, are sufficient to give every man,
after the exercise of a few germs of in
i dustry and economy, q power to deter
mine for himself whether he will work
ten hours or eight hours, and thus become
a law unto himself, instead of depending
on the laws which men may make for
him. But you may depend upon it, that
when man has once been placed by the
conditions Of abundance in such posi-
ton that he can determine for himself
that he does not need to work ten, eight
or even FIVE hours for subsistence, in
nine cases out of ten you will find that
man, if he has the spirit of the true
American in him, will be inclined rather
to work more than less, simply with view
VI OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES VIC dUtd1uLlCuO vi IL
) greater measure of independence either
for himself or his children
have thus sketched at greater length
than | intended what seems to me to be
the present industrial and financial con-
ditlon ofth country, the influence OF
current events, and some of the measures
: OF reform by which we may attain to our
normal condition of property and devel-
; opemcnt.
, To effect the reforms needed requires
I not so much the enactment of positive
measures as the doing away with abuses
5 which, under real or fancied necessity
$ have come to. form a part of our fiscal
: system. In short, the legislation that is
: now needed must be the same in charac.
ter as that which, within the last thirty
: years, has everywhere been recognized as
the most beneficial namely, the repeal OF
e old laws creating distractions; and in
} this work it would seem that all might
cordially unite who accept the cardinal
C doctrine of a free and democratic govern
e ment. that legislation should always aim
at the greatest good for the greatest
number, without necessarily committing
! themselves toeither the principles of free
{ protection on the one hand or Of Democ.
. racy or Republicanism on the other. Let
. us take to ourselves the example of the
] soldiers of Cromwell, of whom history
tells us, that as they lay in waiting the
t onslaught of the royalists, they dispute d
f nightly and disagreed about many poinis
| of theology--original SIN, salvation through
: grace and perseverance, of the saints
: l-but when Prince Rupert came they all
went up to battle together, and in the
:. liberty they achieved, all former points
f |of difference and discussion were both
, IGNORED and forgotten.