The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-11
Is Fashion FOlly9

comforts and elegancies oil life, small In
comes would 60 much farther. But then
the troublesome question arises, what in
such case would the owners Of property
yielding large incomes do with the sur.
plus which would remain to them after
the very small outlay which absolute
necessity would require. There Is no
donbt that the human being could be fed
and clothed and housed III sufficient
manner at one.tenth the cost which Gus.
tom imposes. Let this nine.tenths DO
saved-and what nextE How are tho
poorer folk and all the people who labor
for q living 10 get their share Of this
worlds goods and comforts 7 Their pres.
ent resources Is In wages. Wages are the
price oflabor. For labor there must be
q call and an object. But what call for
labor, and what products Of industry
would be loft, II nobody In the communi.
~ needed any thing beyond food oil the
simplest, clothing Of the planest and shel.
ter Of the rudestF Society would be re.
solved back to barbarlsm, or, at best,
to teudalism. Feudalism was o sys.
TEN which recognized the then existing
fact that there were but two classes In tho
world-those who had something and
those who had not-and those who had
something must In some way feed those
who had nothing. These facts admitted,
the two classes were named noble and
serf, and mobility obliged" tho one class
10 feed the other. The obligation to feed
was found In mobility" and the return
Tor support was in "loyalty." Anything
like fair exchange Of wages ior labor
and labor for wages did not enter into
peoples Thoughts under pure teudalism.
That q poor man was alive was his for.
tune or misfortune, and that he had the
means Of sustaining his existence was the
bounty Of his master. There was very
little earthly use for the peasant. His
money value was nothing, because there
was no demand for the products OF his
labor, except In narrow field, and to a
very limited amount. The seli.sustaining
proprietors OF the soil INDUCED in luxury;
but it was the luxury Of heavy feeding,
not Of skilled cooking; ofbarbaric splen.
dor, not Of tase; Of athletic sports, hard
riding and raiding, and not Of artistic and
refined amusements and intellectual ex.
ercises.
But the growth Of cities and Of com.
munities oil citizens not SsJS, gradually I'm.
dermiudcd this pastoral and "feldal"
state, condition Of things pretty in 20.
etry but most unrefned in fact. The
value Of money as a medium Of exchange
was discovered when articles suitable for
exchange began to be manufactured
simply Tor the mobile Glass;" but for any.
body who had money to exchange for
articles of comfort or luxury. The value
OF skilled labor asserted itself !, and socl.
ETY. took a long stride when the fact
gradually worked It's way into practice,
before 1t did into theory, that money
cages and not feudal duty, was the In.
ducement TO labor. The more refine.
ment among purchasers, the more eleva.
ton among producers. The more gen.
eral industry, the more tacit fraternity
and cooperation. The man who turns
out handsome saddles will desire hand
some boots, and 80 on through the whole
circle Of industries, high and low. Arti.
sans work for each other. Producers
produce for each other. Glasses are
wholcsomely intermingled. Buyers sell
and producers buy. Employers labor and
laborers employ. In that great mart Of
exchange, the world, men are in a sense
exchanged. What one man can do Is set
of against what another man can do. In.
telleCt Is at the service OF the manual Ia.
boreI for consideration. The brawny
arm Of labor is indispensable TO all the
rest of the world. Industry and occupa.
ton are the grand Notwithstanding up,
not doom. -
Now for the application" A great
deal is said and written about the vagar.
les Of fashion, and the ladies are especial.
ly blamed, because they do not go on in
one everlasting suit Of "hodden gray" or
"sodden black" untrimmed and unorna.
mented. But where would be the thou.
sands who now find employment In the
multiform modes Of skill and industry II
society" went back to primitives and
absolute necessitiesS 80, in all the outlets
Tor expenditure, and for the qualification
of taste. The very best philanthropy Is
in the judicious expenditure. OF money,
and the more that all classes expend, 81
course, within the bounds of proper econ.
omy, the better is everybody enabled 10
live. A spirit Of sordid boarding Is the
most depressing influence which can
affect an individual. If nation or a city
of misers could be imagined, we should
have community worse than savages.
The barbarian Is poor by necessity. Com.
mon sense in the matter of dress and
living is the only guide, and common
sense is not SO rare as many people would
have US believe. The women have their
due share of it. II we are occasionally
stunned" on the street by some very
pronounced" lady in her "getting up" It
Is because she Is exceptional. But to take
the things which go to the ladies "make
up" out OF the market Of capital and
labor, would bring on "crisis" to which
the famous "BlaCk Friday" were nothing.