New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-04-09
p Il Il | II [ O N .

special legislation Ill our behalf
remove whatever legislation there
condition Of hclplcssncss to that of indepen,
dcnce and wealth. The wOrkingman has
labor to sell; it is his capital and dependence
for support, and whoever proposes to destroy
! his employment, reduce his work, or cut
down his wages must be looked upon as IN
enemy 10 his vital interests.
/ The commodities imported during the past
| fiscal year consisted almost wholly of manu-
features which can be successfully produced
in the United States. The total amount OF
| imports, as may be seen by the report of the
Bureau Of Statistics, was SGSi ,G33, 73j. De-
Quoting from this amount the tea, coffee, and
some other articles not produced in this coun-
try, we find the value of the other products
imported to be :54s4,14G,S SCI. These manu-
features and productions compete directly
with our home labor, as we are producing
| like commodities in the United States, and
to produce that amount furnished employ
mcnt to at least POO, 900 hands, embracina.
/ the work OF over 300 distinct trades aud oc-
equations.
! 1t all these commodities consumed by our
market had been manufactured in the United
States, over l,20O,000 hands would have
| been employed here, to the manifest alyan-
tasc of cur workingmen, increasing the de-
mands OF labor, aud securing better, near
! by market to the farmer.
This large number of laborcrs consumed
more food than our total exports of bread
stuiiS and provisions to foreign countries dur
ing the same time. And if this large number
were engaged in factories and workshops in
this country, turning out the same mechanic
clI wor!; which we import, they would con-
snlno this food in our own country. About
| ~ per cent. OF the value of manufactured
| commodities may be estimated rs the food
| consumed by the labOrers while Mt work in
their production, and the members from the
West, and the South, and the Southwest will
be wise to consider the importance of seek
;ng this, the greatest of all outfits to their
surplus food. We need the factory and the
farm to be placed side by side, and thus we
shall secure strength and wealth for both
Herein may be found a solution in a phl0-
sopeical and practical mode for the difficult
transportation question"-thc bringing of
The producer and consumer near together,
and thus removing the necessity for the en-
pensive aud needless movement to and fro
OF bulky and heavy commodities.
Labor is the only source Of wealth. And
when the labor of our country is in full exer
else The Accommodations are very great. Blu
on the other hand every days work lost is
4 dead loss to the workingman. Every idle
day is Il loss which he can never recover, ant
a loss of iifty-three days work by the work
crs of America would be loss equal to the
national debt. The debt, too, must be worked
out; it cannot be settled by any device Oh
trick, nor by legerdemain it is matter OF
work, and 1t seems to DO matter of the
highest Importance to foster, encourage, and
stimulate the labor of the nation.
The great need of the country to-day in
the West and South is a diversity of employ
ments. They require more factories, more
mechanical works, and the farmers are be.
ginning to sec this. You will find in an,
county of any of the Western States that the
farmers are quite willing to contribute b,
subscription and by subsidies in establishing
factories in their midst. The watch factor,
ut Elgin, Illinois, is greater benefit to thai
state than all her trade with country like
France.
The farmer wants = market not only ful
wheat and corn, but for all the other pro
ducts OF the soil, the dairy, and the farm: and
to secure that condition he must secure q
nearby market, and to sustain such a market
mechanical manufactures are required. The
Importance Of this question cannot be over
estimated, and in its discussion we must bcal
IN mind that over nineteen-twentieths o
the people of this country depend on labor
for maintenance and happiness. The ma
tional Legislature, therefore, should so frame
the laws of the country that the dignity ant
the independence OF the workingmen may be-
maintained, and the greatest good to the
greatest number assured; for it is for tho
happiness and prosperity of a majority Of thu
people that this popular Government was
organized.
Let our farmers and gardeners remember
hnf kny ,nrf, "a, ion,
port food, as food is one of the largest items
in the cost of producing manufactures, an,
during the past year we have imported moro
food in that shape than we have ever ex
ported in single year, and thus the peopl,
of the United States, Notwithstanding all on
Boosting, are the largest importers of foo,
in the world.
Should they be compelled also to face tn,
blighting and destroying effects of free-trade
they would be forced to abandon the liel,
and throw up their hands in despair. With
out customers and without any demand fol
his products, the farmer would fill up hi:
corn crib only to see his crop rot; and hi
cabbages, turnips, and potatoes would vast,
ungathered for want of a market. He coult
shovel his grain into the fire, and bake hi
meat over the burning corn, as we have seeI
on the western prarieS in frce-trade times
His old customers, forced out of employment
f i'm the workshops, now cultivate the soil 100
J and both farmer and mechanic langush an,
J fall together.
The farmers and gardeners will punctur,
this bubble, for they must see through THU
swndling free-tradc scheme at glance
The mechanics for single manufacturing
city consume more Of our farm production.
than our foreign customers ever take. Double
the number of mechanics in this country to
morrow, and you would double the value O
the lands of our farmers and gardeners, ant
the prices of farm products would bring t.
them q better reward for their toll. On tn,
other hand, strike down home manufactures
} throw the operatives out of employment, lie
all the mechanical work they are now doin.
be done in England or elsewhere, and lie
population fall off, as it would, one half
what would the gardeners land be worth, ant
what prices would farm products fetch in
community stricken with paralysis and pau
perism?
The reason why the business of farming il
the State of New Jersey, or Pennsylvania
or Michigan, is more profitable than in tn,
} far-of States of the West is, that the farm
and the factory lie side by side, and one fur
nishes profitable and desirable custome
; for the other. Let the mechanical worI
: which we are now employing in England an
other countries to do be performed in til
: States of the West and of the South, and W
a shall not have the large surplus of food to b