Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-11-04

ment that the cheap negro labor of the Sout
will ere long be brought into competition wit
| their own?
CHEAP NEGRO LABOR.
Already, agents of Northern capitalists, ar
traversing portions of our State, seeking to hir
negro laborers to be substituted for white men
in the mines, colleries, furnaces and foundries
the North. Negro labor is also rapidly dispac
ing white labor in many of the Northern hotel
and in the humble vocations of life. And you
city papers contain advertisements every day in
viting negroes northward.
While slavery existed, the interests of th'
slave-owners were firmly allied to the cause o
LABOR, because they were the owners of the labor
ing classes of the South, and the profits of the la
Dor of the slave went into the pockets of the mas
ter. But emancipation has effected complete
divorce between these two interests. Now, form
er shareholders are the employers of labor, in
stead of being its owners and it is to their inter
est that the cost of labor shall be reduced to tht
lowest rate that may be practicable. In all fu
ture struggles which may occur between labor
and capital, the interests of the Southern planters
will prompt them to array themselves on th,
side Of capital and loao aoages.
THE ''IRREPREssIBLE CONFLICT"
This simple statement of facts furnishes a con.
elusive refutation of Mr.. Stewards shallow dog
slave and free labor. Slavery welded together
the two systems of labor by the strong bonds of 8
common interest. Emancipation has put them
asunder. Slavery prevented conflict between
white and black laborers. Emancipation by
bringing them into competition, has rendered the
conflict inevitable.
But emancipation is now an accomplished fact.
The 'irrepressible conflict has been Inaugural
ted, and it behooves the white laborers Of the
North as well as of the South, carefully to con-
slider how they can best guard themselves against
the ruinous effects of the competition of cheap
negro labor.
Without dwelling longer on this aspect of my
subject, think l am warranted in assuming that
the interests of the working classes, in all parts
of our country, will be einjuriously affected by the
continued presence, on q footing of equality, of
80 large mass of cheap black laborers who can
afford to underbid them, and thereby diminish
the profits and degrade the dignity of labor
THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEGRO ON CAPITAL.
Let US now consider. for q moment the infu-
ence which the negro population will probably
which capital and labor bear to the government
are. in some respects. very different. Labor is
the interest of the masses Much the larger mum
Der of our population are laboring men. When
convulsions and disorder occur in society, labor,
therefore, has the physical power to protect itself
But capital is in the hands of a minority who are
powerless to resist violent aggression. Its safety
depends a stable government, on good order,
and the strict observance of law. Every thing,
therefore, which threatens the peace of society,
gers the security of capital.
In one aspect, the presence of the negro in our
country may seem to be beneficial to capital by
reducing the wages which it is obliged to pay to
labor. But this is a secondary consideration,
which is of small Importance in comparison with
other and opposing interests.
If the capitalists of our country suppose that,
in the future, all contests between labor and cap
ital are to cease they have deceived themselves.
They should learn lesson from the war which
hooh CT e1o
Abolition, in its inception, was to some extent,
an out-cropping of agrarianism. 1t was war
on property The opponents of slavery selected
the object assault, property in slaves, which,
from various causes. was the weakest and most
assailable of all kinds of property 1t was oppos-
ed to the modern sentiment fthe civilized world.
1t was not recognized by the common laws of
nations. but was held by the precario Is tenure
of municipal law. The shareholders were COM
paratively few in number and their relations to
the general interests of labor were imperfectly y
understood. This kind of property was, there
fore, from its intrinsic weakness. destined to
overthrow, even if the war had not occurred.
But it is a mistake to suppose that this is the
only species of property which may be placed in
peril in the conflicts between labor and capital
There are other kinds which are almost as vul-
nerable, and against which popular prejudice may
be easily excited. Among these are the bonds
of the United States, and of the several States
and of counties cities and towns, railroad and
other bonds and stocks, and similar investments
in manufacturing and mining companies. These
are the artificial creations of law, and they are
held by a comparatively small number Of our
people. The payment of the interest and diyi-
taxation on the body of the people. Experience
has proved that it is no difficult task by raising
the cry of 'boated bondholder' and Oppressive
monopolists,'' to infame the prejudices of the
populace against the holders of these kinds OF
property. If an issue ofthis kind should arise,
i M Uif Of tO on
which side the negroes, who neither own, or ex-
pect to own any such property will be found.
Who will venture to say that the day may not
come when the cry for 'repudiation" and down
mand for abolition" was in former days?
CONSERVATISM OF SLAVERY
Whatever differences of opinion may have ex-
listed in regard to slavery, in other respects, it
cannot be denied. that its tendencies were emf
nently conservative. In the first place, it had
the effect of excluding from the polsa large class
of ignorant non-property holding voters. But
there is another mode in which it contributed to
the same result. Property in slaves in some re.
spects, differed from all other property 1t was,
if may use the expression, compound pro-
perty and bore different relations from any other.
both to labor and capital. In one sense, a slave
was mere chattel in another, he was work
ing-man
So far as ownership of his person was concern
ed he represented so much capital while, so far
as his hire or earnings were concerned he repre-
sented so much labor The STAKEHOLDER, there
fore, in reference to that kind of property, had
double or divided interest His interest in the
person of his slave inclined him to the side OF
capital while his interest in the hire of his slave
caused him to lean to the side of labor These
counterbalancing interests necessarily made the
STAKEHOLDER conservative for he could not iden-
tify himself wholly either with capital or labor
without sacrificing one or the other of these i'm.
portant interests.
But the limits which I have prescribed for nv.
self forbid that should dwell longer on this and
kindred topics.
l pass now to the discussion of my subject in
another aspect which addresses itself to consid.
erations of far higher character than mere Pc
cuniary interests. II appeals to our sense of
NATIONAL JUSTICE AND MORAL OBLIGATION
1t is vain to attempt to disguise the fact that
the responsibility for slavery in our country at.
taches to each of the United States separately
true that emancipation was effected, not from
motives of justice or humanity, but from militia.
ry necessity.
The ancestors of our present negro population
were torn, by violence, from their native land
and brought here and sold into slavery. under
the sanction and authority of charters granted
and laws enacted by the British government
prior to the revolution, and afterWa ards of the
thirteen States, who founded the government oi
the United States. And when the constitution
VI tuo - ulLou OIdt6S WAS lFauoQ, express prOVl-
sion was made by that instrument, as 1 have al
ready shown, for the continuance of the Afri
can slave trade for twenty years; and slavery
itself was recognized, sanctioned and protected
by various constitutional guarantees, which it il
unnecessary to enumerate.
When the late war commenced, and for sever.
al years afterwards, the government of the Uni.
ted States, through its legislative and executive
departments, earnestly disclaimed all power'anc
all purpose to interfere with slavery as it exist.
ed and it was not until after the war had con