New Orleans Republican., 1873-08-12
EVERY MANS QUESTION.

nalf THIS pOpuIatou " 1'eeA' A. "as
practically confscation Of these values,
in the hands of the master halt, to the
ownership and use Of the slave halt,
emancipated We explained the other
day that this value was not annihilated,
but only converted to the use Of another.
The slave was by one act made free and
presented with his own value. To an
individual STAKEHOLDER, the effect Of
emancipation was as if his slaves had been
recovered by superior title. The indi-
vidual would certainly have lost the value
involved. The same value, however, pass
ing into the hands Of the purchaser, the
value to the State was the same. Whether
A or B held slave was the same to the
Legislature who imposed tax or to the
collector who collected it. II, then, half
the population of Louisiana, whose labor
once went to tie benefit of the other half,
now apply the proceeds Of that labor to
their own benefit, then the State, as
political entity. stands in precisely
the same relation to the producer that it
formerly did. Especially is this the fact
when the values produced are greater
than formerly. But this is a vas: revolu-
ton. Three hundred and fifty millions
Of capital taken from one class and be-
slowed on another. 1t was like the statute
of Mortmain, OF the suppression and con-
fscation of monastaries; like the forfeit
ures of titles and estates by the nobility
Of France; like the seizure and sale Of
church property in Mexico. Each Of The
orders. so stripped Of its title, went into
more OF less decline. The property. how
ever, remained. It was probably convert
ed to other uses, occasionally more or less
profitable TO the State, but it was not
annihilated. Such is precisely the
economical question in Louisiana TO-
day. AS under the former system one
half Of the population Of Louisiana
labored, with the aid Of the capital and
superintendent, also invested, to main
tain the other half, and as the labor Of the
emancipated half is now exclusively ap-
piled to its own use, it must follow that
the half which has thus lost its laborers
must labor itself. That is all. The i'm
mense revolution which has certainly con-
verted $3.50, 600, 600 from the use Of one set
Of proprietors to that Of another, demands
some large counteractive system to pro-
tect the dispossessed. 1t is also demanded
by the interest of the class now laboring
for themselves. It is not to their advantage
that their labor should still furnish, even
in another form, the whole and sole SUBJ
sistence Of society. Now. in this vast
cataclysm-as Forshey and other philoso-
pliers would call it-of capital and labor
all men are alike interested. This social
earthquake is as absolute and irremediable
as any that ever crushed OK crunbled
Lima or Salvador. What is to be done
about it? 1t is every mans question. One
school of advisers denounce the earth
quake. They propose TO restore every
thing precisely as it was before the earth
quake, and insist that in future all earth
quakes shall be conducted according to
programme. This programme the advis-
ers will themselves promulgate. We drop
all figures of speech. The Democratic
party, open or in disguise, recommend
a political warfare to be continued until
all duties on imports shall be repealed,
and until New Jersey shall be politically
equal to New York. The REPUBLICAN
has shown the insincerity and the insani-
ty of this school. We suppose those ad-
mirers will admit it will require some
years, in the present aspect of affairs, to
effect this restoration Of individual pros
perity in Louisiana by means SO distant
and so indirect. What shall be done
now is every mans question. Carlyle
wrote, some years ago, as follows:
The deranged condition of our affairs is
universal topic among men at present.
and the heavy miseries pressing in their
rudest shape on the dumb, insrticulate
class, and from this, by a sure law, spread
ing upward in less palpable but not less
certain and, perhaps, still more fatal shape,
on all classes, to the very highest, are ad-
mitted everywhere to be great, increasing,
and now almost uncomfortable. How to
diminish them-this is every mans 4ues.
ton.
There is wide and material difference
between the social condition Of Great
Britain as thus stated and of Louisiana
as stated in this article. In England the !
'inarticulate class or laboring millions |
are poor and wretched. The very highest |
classes at their ease. Of this last class
Carlyle says: '.It accepts them, admits
them to be extremely miserable; pro-
nounces them entirely inevitable, incur
able. indeed. except by Heaven. and eats
is pudding .eisa as little thought Of Mens cs
possible"
Here the relations are 50 entirely diff
'erent that the 'inarticulate class" OF Ia
oorers. live in comparative comfort and
content, while those dispossessed of their
wealth by the cataclysm of capital and
abor have to be cared for-cared for by
he laborer and by those who represent
,im-cared for, not merely from sympa-
by, but from sense Of universal social
interest.
The simplest solution Of this social t!i::
iculty and the industrial revolution is to
ind employment for all. We do not mean
hat those who were born to affiuence, and
is concomitant ease, should be rudely
hrust into the field Of farm labor. Not
I all. They may be made valuable to
oo;olr IN p,opv Dodoc Tor ,noro ,rol,,X |