New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-13

because no available market can be found
for the waree produced, it is not difficult
to foresse the effects, not only upon thu
demand for labor. but upon the rewards
Of labor. As a result of the long con-
tinued depression, so universally com
planned of, the toiler's wage is now lower
than it has been Tor years, sld while this
is the case, there is no corresponding re.
duction in the various articles which make
up the measure Of his daily needs. Hence,
his situation is worse than it was. even
when he has employment, and infinitely
worse when employment is denied. 1t is
therefore we'll to look into this matter and
inquire whittier are We tending?
1t will be remembered that when ma
chinery, and especially steam machinery,
began to be employed for the furtherance
of manufacturing enterprises in the Brit
ish isles, an outburst Of Indignation, as
sincere as it was emphatic, came up from
the associated guilds. The toilers knew
that they had only their wages to depend
upon and looked upon the steam engine,
the spinning jenny and the power loom as
heartless rivals and unthinking inter-
lopers. They argued that if newly intro
duced machinery did the work of ten
thousand men, ten thousand operatives
would be deprived Of their customary en-
ployment, and want and misery would be
introduced into the homes they repre-.
sented.
The master manufacturers replied that
such reasoning was unsound; that the in
PRODUCTION of machinery would secure
new forms Of employment; that by en-
larging operations it would command
new markets, and give not only larger re-
turns to the employers for the capital in
vested, but enable them to pay higher
rates for the skilled labor they required.
Persons of more philosophic turn of
mind, while specializing on the situation,
admitted that the use of machinery in
stead Of manual labor might ultimately
overstock the markets relied upon, es-
pecially if the whole operative force pre-
viously employed were retained, to sup
plement the tireless action Of machinery
by intelligent and effective skill They,
however, consoled themselves by the re-
Election that in the contingency contem-
plated, leisure would, as it were, be
forced upon the industrial masses and
that, in the providence Of God, this
leisure would prove commanding factor
in the mental and moral elevation Of man
kind.
While England, through the extent Of
her manufacturing machinery and the su-
periority of her skill enjoyed advantages
over all other nations, aud in q large
measure commanded the markets of the !
world, she enjoyed q season of exceptional
prosperity. Not only we're her operatives
'ully employed, but their wages were in !
,reased and the period Of their daily toll
was gradually diminished.
Following England's example, other
countries introduced improved machin-
ny into their factories, and by thus in
'reasing their productive power, were en-
.bled to compete with England in their
,wn and other markets. Hence, in our
ate quiet years of peace and propaga-
ion, the world got overstocked with
FOODS. Nor is this at all matter Of sur
,rise, for it has been estimated that, with
he aid Of her existing machinery, Eng
and has now q manufacturing capacity
qucl to that possessed by all the skilled
of the entire world, were they
deprived of the use of artificial accesso-
les and the propulsive force of steam.
+, therefore, England is capable Of sup
dying all the world markets with manu-
actured articles, is it wonderful, when
he close competition Of other industrial
lations is considered, that the supply of
,oods is everywhere greater than the de-
nand? ....
The crisis foreseen by the more philo-
ophic of the political economists has,
therefore,, arrived-leisure is forced upon
he manufacturing millions; but it brings
low with it that freedom from the press
ng claims of want which may be regarded
s condition precedent to mental and
coral elevation. It is, indeed, the leisure
f lethargy, not of independence-an en-
creed idleness, as demoralizing as it is
nnoying. The question, therefore, arises:
low is this matter of over-production on
he one hand, and enforced idleness on
he other, to be satisfactorily adjusted? It
) clear that the supply must not greatly
xceed the demand, or prices will fall
elow the remunerative point, and idle
aills and idle workmen will continue to
oint the moral of delusive expectations.
Iere is something for the statists, the
olitical economists, the capitalists and
he guilds to dispassionately ponder.
No advanced thinker will contend for
1oment that mankind should abandon
II advances made in the arts of industry
ecause they enable the human family to
upply their real wants with a greatly de-
reased expenditure of physical exertion.
low then are productions to be kept
'ithin reasonable limits, and skill, enter
rise and ingenuity be forced into line as
minister's to mental, moral and material
dvancement? The problem involved more
irectly affects the well-being of the older
of Eurona than orrs for |