The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1877-08-11
The Unemployed.
n. @. Picayune,

-fhe hong promised revival of bu-
slnrss which the whole conntry has
/ zen looking for so anxious|y IS slow
i getting under way. The hard
,;:rcs have been with us so long that
,vrry one, we might say, is growing
accustomed to them, except that large
nmbcr whose means of earning daily
bread a,e threatened by the continn-
NJ depression. How to start again
! the activities of commerce. and
renew all the industrial energies of
Ills great nation; how to establish
confidence in the future and find
profit in general production, so that
work may be had for the thousands
who are out of employment, and with
no prospect of permanent labor,
:rc problems which command the
fi,onghtful consideration of leading
l. ;nds throughout the country.
The rapid progress and increase of
/ ,~r.saving machines, the mans
.!asses in the methods of business
vi:ich steam and the telegraph and
Mechanical ingenuity have brought
a',oat, have disturbed the relations
ri producer and consumer. This
'"nt of proportion is stated by Mr..
Inward Atkinson, of Boston, as fol-
lows: "At present ninety per cent.
i orr population, using improved
fcoIs and machines, can produce all
It one hundred per cent. can con-
NO of the staple articles OF food,
f'HI, clothing, tools, ware and the
. Sc, which constitute the bnlk of
consumption, and can, in addition,
:, ,ducc all that we have yet been able
J.. lind a market for abroad" Ac'
e riding to this estimate, which con-
temporary writers upon the same
>'i:iect consider moderate, there re-
mans ten per cent. withent the op'
I",tunity for employment.
Mr.. David A. Wells, writing to the
;;;rrth American Review, concludes
STAT the labor of 225 persons is as ef-
i r,ive in 1876 in meeting the de.
r,ands of the country for cloth and
!. IA products as wds the labor of gu
lusons in etfecting similar results in
I'2e. On account of this change in
Inducing power the labor of 466 per,
'.Is is dispensed with in doing the
>. VIC work. The same writer instanc
g., similar results in other dcpart-
,nts of industry.
These figures arc of course approx
i.'atious, Int they present the gravt
n::nre Of the problem which will
lltss for a solution upon the political
economists of the present day. The
!. Tor which has been displaced by
lie changes in methods of business
a't the improvements in machinery,
''ltd to the recent depression in
.mmerce and industry, will not be
'"SiIy provided for. Many of the IN
Hployel, trained to special kinds of
~wk, will find it difficult to assume
Jew relations and different pursuits.
I.auy of them, too, may wait in vain
Er years for an opportunity to return
}" The occupation from which they
ia>c been crowded out.
'yhe only refuge for those who are
II IL to perform such labor seems to
Lr in agriculture, and the best field
T." seek for this kind of employment
Is in the South. There is now and
viii continue to be a demand in the
~ nth for steady, intelligent farm Ia
h",ers, and the demand will increase
as the fertility of our Southwestern
'.,r,|s become better known. Capital
I'D labor will both find more profit
:;,lc employment in the cultivation
If these lands than in the fields of
=" Northern and Western States,
l. cause the crops are far more valua-
t.. There are millions of acres of
,.A lands In the Southwest waiting
f,r farming capital, to develop them
profitable farms.
,G,is is all that is needed to change
It's section into the most flOurislling
1;,.t of the whole country; and the
agricultural development of the
ssh will give employment to a
ia'~e proportion of that surplus labor
il which there is no opening else