New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-03-15

Aoa,n hv what law OF equity and justice must man
who goes to work for any corporation III Ne"-hnSianu
wait six weeks before he can receive any pay anu "tn
out receiving any interest on his money! Can you
answer me that Mr. Greeley II Is this system that mas
fosted such runous system Of credit upon the country
and by men who do pay their debts have to pay their
neigbors' aso who do not pay Advise capitalists 10
pay once week and thus save their pauper TAX In
conclusion, allow me TO say that Connecuc"t VIII ~
Democratic this year and In 1876 tho coming man WI" oo
who shall In the time join heart and SOU WIN
the Labor Reformers. have always voted the RepuD
lcan ticket but this Spring must In ior
the Labor candidates. and can count many VINO VIII
sail IN the same boat For believe In the rights OF
men, White and Black, and are determined that the
Emancipation Proclamation Of Lincoln snail not DO
deadletter in New England cottOn-mis. j. W. BRAY
middleton, Conn.,, Feb. IA, 1874
Response by the Editor.
Mr.. BRAY: You seem to insist on differing
with me- | do not clearly sec why. You an
nounce that, having hitherto voted the Repub-
lican ticket, you purpose this year to vote
what is called the Labor ticket. Very well /:
it Is your unquestioned right to do so, and
sincerely hope that, if you do, good will result
from it-no matter if | should not see how OF
why.
You seem to hold me an enemy to the cause
of Labor cannot imagine why. | was the
son of q poor farmer, who was also day
laborer; l began to work on farm when
scarcely seven years old; l have worked 1or
wages on various farms and then IN dit
ferent mechanic shops, after serving an
apprenticeship in printery; l never
had dollar that did not personally earn by
some form of productive labor; and have
given good part of my life to the advocacy
and promotion of what was once termed
FOurierism," and now, somewhat modlned, Is
known as Cooperation" In all these efforts, l
may have been mistaken, and l certainly can
not boast of any success yet achieved by them;
but the object steadily kept in view throughout
was radical reform in the conditions OF
Labor, whereby those who were willing should
assuredly have work, and those who worked
should receive the full recompense OF their labor
To these efforts-misjudged, if you will have it
SOL devoted money as well as time, being well
aware that, by making them, sacrificed all
hope of present popularity. Say, if you will,
that am an unwise and injudicious cham.
pion of Labor; but why account me its
enemy9
1t may be the fault of my stupidity, but
do not clearly make out what you would have
That the condition Of the labOrer is not what
you think it ought to be, L understand; but
am with you in that. l believe you agree
with me in the proposition that, If the laborer
wiU be an idler, q prohigate, q sot, there is
no help for him; so we need not waste words
on that point. What is the matter whereon
you insist that we differ2
Some people are born to wealth, as you q
presume) and l were to poverty assume
that we cannot help that. Nay, feel sure
you will agree with me that we ought not to
change it if We could--that the stimulus to
industry and frugality afforded by the pros
pect of leaving property to ones children
could not safely be dispensed with. Of course
the property about us--the machinery and
tools with which we wOrk-belong to the rela-
lively rich, and we, who were born poor, have
to hire or buy them with earning, before
we can lawfully use enjoy them. And you
rightly urge that the machinery of manufac-
turing production has become so elaborate and
costly that the great majority are unable to
buy and own, but, if they use it, must either
hire it or work for the wages offered by those
who own and control it.
Hence l say go West" meaning only that
those who cannot find work in the East on
gion where Labor can employ itself without
asking leave of Capital Any Eastern farmer
or mechanic may be transferred within week,
and at cost of $40 to $50, to region where
he can "squat" on quarter section Q6O acres)
of Public Land, which, by simply living on it
five years and paying $50 fees for surveying
and making title, will be his own evermore.
And, if he be almost any kind of q mechanic,
he can find work at building houses or max
ing furniture for his new neighbOrs at nearly
or quito Eastern wages, while his food and
shelter will cost him far less than at the East.
Now, 1 do not advise every poor man to
"Go West" If he is prosperous and contented
where he is, there let him stay. But if no
ono will hire him, or will pay what he
thinks the fair value of his labor, l would
have him go where he can henCeforth be his
own employer, and receive exactly all he earns,
DO the same less or more. And, if one-half
those who are discontinued at the East would
thus migrate, they would thereby insure bet
ter times to those they left behind.
/ know that many say, GLOW can plunge
Unto the wilderness and hew out home there :
"a man should have at least s., 900 who under
"takes that" No doubt, the $1,000 would be
convenient-Or $4,000, for that matter-but they
who hewed homes out of the primitive forests
of New-England, New-York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, &c, had no $1,000 to begin with; they
hardly averaged 800 and many of them had
not $50 worth of everything when they tackled
the wilderness. They paid more for land than
you need they sold their produce at much
lower rates; and it was a far harder task to
reach the lands they settled than it now is to