New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-29
HdRD TIMES.


If the panic. we may now all as well face the
fact that il will make the coming Winter an
exceptionally hard one. 1t is estimated that
thirty thousand operatives are already thrown
ont of employment in this city, and every day
adds to the number of closed mills. Philadel-
phia, prominently manufacturing city, is
suffering still more severely. Even could pup
lie confidence be fully restored to-day, the evil
already done by the blow struck mt Fall trade,
in every department of business, would make
hard times until Spring.
The class to whom we wish so say word
to-day are those accustomed TO deal with ana
receive largo SUMS of money; to whom the
private items of housekeeping, clothing, etc.,
are such unc0nsidered triiies in the enormous
aggregate Of income and outgO that they are
not altered by even really great change OF
| fortune. When Crtrsus gains or loses NIL
lion or two it makes no difference In the
quality of his wines or texture oil bis carpets.
! He looks forward TO hard times and closed
mills this Winter % entailing upon him per-
| hans smaller operations in the stock board or
more care in his investments, but bis dinner
! and coat VIII certainly be untouched. we
want to remind him that hard times to the
! skilled mechanic, man OF as sound intelll-
Cence rs himself, means d sudden stoppase W
an hours warning to-day of the chance to
earn to-morrow's bread. His small savings,
/ if he have any, are thus drawn upon SO
directly by his immediate necessities that the
| lack of employment brings at once stlntlDg
poverty and then actual want. Hard times
and closed mills to the thousands of laborer5
! below the skilled mechanic, who have no
savings who are paid on Friday night the
money to buy Saturdays breakfast, mean
| freless hearth and hunger, not next weck nor
tomorrow, but to-day.
Another point not readily discerniblc by the
| rich man Is the cl0sencss with which the
! fortunes Of the poor are interviewer. Even 50
! large u financial operator as Jay Cooke may
90 down aud drag but two OF three others III
| his fall but when the dozen or two hands in
a petty factory fail to buy their daily loaf, or
pound OF beef, their baker and butcher and
small green grocer are driven into speedy rum.
We note these facts only to show how i'm
mediate and widespread is likely to be Tic
| actual want among the poorer classes ten
minutes of investigation spent in the manu-
featuring quarters will provo their truth.
Now, these people must DO fed this Win
|
! be fed. Large as il the amount of suffering
in the seaboard cities every Winter, the amount
bestowed in charity, systematic and individual
is, we believe, large enough to cover it ii it
were judiciously applied.
The money is not gone out OF the country ;
| it is here; very large proportion of it
boarded useless away by people of moderate
means. Before the Winter is over the boards
will be exhausted and n sum given in aims
! the third of which, if spent in giving employ
ment now to working people, would suffice to
avert the coming appalling restitution. The
| sermon of the hour, preached on every side,
is Retrench. Economy is the fashion, especi-
| ally among that very class whose private lie
! is not apt to be seriously affected by the panic
| Now retrenchment TO the rich man is good
and useful thing beyond a certain bound, but
within that bound it is both foolish and sui
cidal As long as his mills or fOunderies can
he kent running without actual loss, it is
cheaper in the end for him to give work TO
his hands than to foot UP the bill of relief
for the great sum total of want and disease
next April. Let him leave his pictures aud
bric-a-brac bought at Vienna III bond as
long as he pleases, and let his wife
4
but why should he turn off half his
CORPS of servants to throw them Oh the charity
of the town, or why should his wife begin to
stitch vehemently and fancy she is a model of
domestic prudence, when in fact she is only
starving the seamstress in the back street
In short, it is the duty of every man with
money to give employment rs far as possible
to needier men, and after that aims. One
word, too, as to aims giving. The habit of
most wealthy people is to throw large sums
of charity into certain systematized religious
! or municipal aid societies. which are useful
! enough ordinarily, but will not touch the root
| of the evil this Winter. Tho class who will
need help now are those who have been indie
pendent workers, not paupers, who will be
| the very last to make their wants known to
any society. The American mechanic must
| come very near starvation before he says,
Il am hungry
In Philadelphia, in 1857, when a like desti-
tuition came upon the working classes, a scheme
was devised both effective and humane. The
city was divided into districts, two OF three
of the leading men and women in each APP
pointed committee TO solicit "A fund of relief
! and To visit without exceptOn) every house,
and ascertain where such relief was needed.
When or where il was applied was known only
| 20 the members of the committee. We urge
| the application of some such plan in New
| York. IL ia certainly wiser than the usual
careless abandonment of our alms to shame
! less pauperism.