Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-08
PRODUCTIVE LABOR.


OF I'll unsettled questions before the
American mind for discussion, thought
and decision, no ons is so nebulous
and far reaching in its nature and con-
sequences as that of wages and pro-
ductive labor. One set of opinions is
pretty clearly stated in the following
remarks of correspondent of the Gin
c;nnati Gazette:
For ourselves, we are decidedly and
urgently in favor of making the coDdi-
ton of the laborer higher and better,
but we are not in favor of that at the
expense of truth and justice. Fiat
| juStitiG ruGt coeiEnl-let Justice pre-
vail if the heavens fall. For this rea-
son l am in favor of protective tariff,
because 1t is not the capitalist that 1t
protects, but the laborer. Give us
hard money and free trade, and the
condition of the labOrer viii be reduced
to that of the laborer in Europe-meat
once a week, wife and children labor
ing at hard and mental work, intelh-
gence shut out, and the pauper's grave
before them. No free institution, no
cry about republics, no international
societies, no childish threats against
men of wealth or power to change the
natural laws which regulate labor,
society or property. Take for exam
pie. the farmers of the country. They
make the majority, and they cannot
afford to pay more for labor than they
! do"
The writer of the above has the old
ideas in favor of ga protective tariff
and low wages for agricultural and me-
chanical labor fairly burnt into his
brain. His dogmas admit of no pro-
gress in fifty or five hundred years, be-
cause they assume to rest on eternal
truth and justice" which are un-
changeable. Now, the truth of his pro
tective tariff and low wages data is
neither proved nor self evident. A
tariff can protect manufacturer or his
operatives only by diminishing competi-
ton. To shut out competition, Is to fos-
ter and build up monopolies and extor-
TONS by high and unjust prices. This
is simply using tariff law to taz a ma
tons industry into prosperity; like a
tax ON the poor mans salt to enrich a
few alt-boilers, who hire laborers as
cheap as anybody not protected.
Our motto is, give every thinker fair
hearing; and on this principle We copy
the words of the Ohio writer for the
| Gazette:
But, suppose the widest dreams of
free traders, specie mongers and Inter-
nationalists we're realized, what would
be the practical result? Simply and
only that the American laborer would
| be exactly IN the condition Of the labor
err Of Europe; and what is that? Sim
ply. as | have said, TO eat meat once a
week and work your wife and children
as no negroes were ever worked. The
condition Of the American slave, con-
s1dered simply as a workingman, was
preferable to that of large part of
the European labOrers. 1t is for this
reason, and no other, that our country
is the resort of all the laborers who
can get here from all parts of the
world. Europe, Asia and Africa pour
ont their hordes upon US, and they
come as the baFbarians overwhelmed
| Rome, 10 better their condition.
If high protective tariff is operating
to overwhelm Us with "hordes" from
Europe, Asia and Africa, to purchase
cheap bread and meat with high wages
forwork done, how Will this "overwhelm-
ing" competition in our labor markets
help the condition. of themillions oflabor-
ers already in the United States? This
system of protection has been in power
some fifteen years, if not longer, and
yet, strange TO say, protected manufac-
turers break by the hundred and thou
sand, and laborers by tens of thousands
pray to be protected by Congress from
all such protection. To attempt to leg
islate money out of one mans pocket
into that of his neighbor, is AWAY 5
wrong. All such legislation is founded
neither in justice nor truth, and there
fore it should be repealed, and the pol
icy abandoned as one among thou
sand errors of the past. To-day,
according to this statistician, labor
ing men and women in Ohio pay
81 per cent. more hours labor for
barrel of -four than they did fifteen
years ago. He does not name nor see
the cause of this. The soil of that
State is impoverished, and it costs more
labor to raise a bushel of wheat. When
the American people consume all the
things, IN their cultivated fields that
make wheat and corn, what will be the
price Of barrel of -four or meal in our
cities: Foreigners come to America to
share in our feast, while robbing the
soil of a continent of its natural ele-
nients Of fertility. Neither our labor
nor our capital can be safe until this
great wrong done to our mother earth
is discontinued. In the long run, God
does not prosper stealing of any kind.
We must learn to pay as We go
for all our daily food and cloth
ing. This is honest; and honest
people in dealing with the land that
gives them bread, meat, fruits and We
getables, are very scarce. Dishonesty
is the only trouble in the labor ques-
ton. God does not favor rascality;
therefore it leads to rebellion In labor
ers. Labor combinations are growing
rapidly in Europe and America, nor
can they be prevented. Both in Europe
and America laws are Systematically
enacted to make the few rich richer,
and the poor poorer. This is the i'm
perial and aristOcratie way of protecting
home industry. Such false legislation
can not last always; and instead of
running away from any corrupt gov
eminent, whether in Washington or
| .lz.Io,, +l,,I-,,o, Mos, Ill 49,,