New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-11-04

organized labor In opposition to machin-
cry. No matter what the balance Of man.
kind may desire or strive after, the Inter-
nationals resist it il 1t interseres With their
interests; and no matter what the demand
for barrels may be, the coopers intend to
stand in the way if they are not allowed
to supply the demand by their personal
efforts. We connect these two organiza-
tons together because their designs seem
to be identical If either organization OBJ
jects to the juxtaposition, all it has to do to
free itself is to explain the difference, and
then defenditself From the lights before us
we object to both Of these organizations;
but, without being positive as to the inten-
tions of the Internationsls, which We con-
TESS that We are not, our present most posi-
tive objection can only be urged against the
barrel makers selfish and impoitic de-
claration.
Certain parties made their appearance
in New Orleans just about the time these
artisans held their meeting and passed
these resolutions, for the purpose of
establishing large barrel mandatory in
this city. They had the capital and the
machinery, and were practical men, in
tending to follow purpose which they
understood. Their business in one of the
Western cities had been to make barrels
and ship them to the South, but believing
their fortunes would be benefited by
transferring their domicile to the spot
where their goods were sold, they made
preparations to remove to Louisiana.
With the machinery and capital in this
State, where the cypress timber furnished
them the material upon which to work;
with their market already created, they
making and the farmers needing the
barrels, the suggestion was plainly live
one that it was to the interest of all parties
that the mandatory should be here in
our midst. Since the barrel makers pub
lished their notice, we have not heard of
these men. Perhaps they fed before the
ku-kluxism which declared war upon
machinery by refusing to tolerate the men
who assisted their labors with the ap-
pliances of modern invention. Perhaps,
like courageous Americans, they are pro-
ceeding with their enterprise, and that in
time We shall see their mandatory in full
blast, turning out sixty and hundred
molasses barrels per day, to the great en-
richment of themselves and the commu-
nifty. and to the permanent benefit of the
people who deal in the article they pro-
pose to make.
If the barrel makers had reflected mo.
ment, it might have occurred to them
that their clothing was not made on the
principle which they contend shall govern
their own productions. Suppose the
manufactures of cotton and wooden goods
were closed up in Difference to the old
fashioned looms and weavers, what
would the people have to pay for their
shirts, pantaloons and coats? Suppose
that all machinery was driven out as they
propose to expel the improved devices
that fashion slaves for barrels, what would
the state of the world be? Thousands of
trades would be left without hands to
work them, because it would require a
vast army of men that are now engaged
in other occupations to supply US with
raiment. Then, again, taking q more
narrow and selfish view, suppose the men
who propose to start barrel factory in
New Orleans are driven away to Illinois,
and that from that distant market they en-.
gage to supply our market with their
goods, what benefit will the barrel makers
of New Orleans secure to themselves
Will it be any consolation to them
to know that the money which might
have been expended in New Orleans has
been forced away to the West, to be spent
there in purchases which ought to have
been made in Louisiana?
To return, then, to the general issue,
the International Society seems to us to
be organized upon the selfsame narrow
gauge that the coopers have adopted. 1t
considers that the laboring population is
a unit in the community, with separate
and distinct interests from the balance of
This is serious error. Human
society, in this country, is great dissolv-
ing panorama, generations crowding along
the canvas of life in a perpetual condition
of change. It is statistical fact that we
have no such classes. The poor men of
to-day are the wealthy ones of tomorrow.
Some men are falling down while others
are going up. The laborer is always on
the rising ground, if he is capable and
true to himself. The rate of wages and
the cost of living are such that man who
saves what he earns is sure of prosperity.
Old age need never find man in these
United States without something to cheer
himself with. The International Society
seeks to alter this condition of affairs by
depriving the laborer of his surplus, for
its idea is that he can be idle with profit,
which is grand and alarming mistake.
For this and other reasons, we deprecate
the spread of this community in New Or.
leans.
ANOTHER MOUSE,
The Times continued its labors yester.
daY morning. and a diminntixo .oo.se