The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-08-28
The National Troubles.

That very obser4ant letter-Wrter IT, ' I.
ggpr1ELp, Esq, has been employed by- the
Philadelphia Times and the Cincinnati Com.
mercial to canvass the districts most M
volved in the late seditious strikes, and 70
gather information for their columns, ana
to digest the same so that they may DC
viewed with reference to causes ana rene.
dies. Mr.. REpriELD is calm . looKer-oh
and sagacious Spectator upon soc'al con-
ditions, but he will find some kno''y NAV
ters in the field before him. HIS nrs'' 'e''e'
!, the Times Is with reference to Scranton
Pa. where the war, as it is said, !" oct"eeh
c,n;t., and labor" was quite destructive
After viewing the ground ana toucnins w
Tho salient points he comes to the io'io"'as
conclusion:
..Tbe general remedy IL plain, ana VII,
,ror.r itself out in time, although IT VIII DC
n long time and through great SUFFERING
The surplus population from tne oei-
crowded centres must go hack 70 the coun,
try. There is no crowding IN tue fuIai
districts. Farmers are not out OF employ
ment, and the time never was "heh "Stt-
culture was so remuneratlFe-tha Is, when
gwen amount VI lai ih-PAooeS.S "0>
SO much manufactured goods-as now.
Manufacture has been overdone; asrlcu'-
tllre has not - '..
Very true so lar as agriculture is con-
cerncd. That never fails. 1t may fail at sea-
sons to be remuncrative; but it never fails
to feed man. II he cannot sell his produc-
lions he can eat them. But it IS not always
that the suffering In one branch OF industry
is caused by that industry being overdone
or oyercrowded. When 4 nation is suffer-
ing as ours has been from pecuniary ana
commercial reYulsion there is no branch OF
business that is not visited with distress
and loss. AT this very time stagnatIon IN
trade has impaired thrift and diminished
occupation in all pursuits save that OF farm
ing, and even that temporarily suffered from
the poverty OF consumers. 800 = :.
The disease was general and affected the
whole social fabric. 1t was great madness
to destroy property through vindlctlveness
towards its owners, under the dcluslon that
they were responsible for the evils OF want
OF labor and low wages. Labor thus be-
came voluntarily blind.
The cause OF national CONFUSION OF TINS
kind is never clear, even to the wiSest OF
men. They all differ. The remedy, too, IS
not more clearly manifest. A man will say
there are too many at this occupation ana at
that. and when the oyercrowded pursuits
are relieved and labor becomes better dis
tributed, why all things will be righted ana
the trouble over. ,s..
AS MIR. REDFIELD says, it will take long
time for this process to complete itself. but
it is BY no means clear that any such thlng
will be necessary to the restoration OF order
and prosperity. 1t is not certain that Things
have been oyerdone. 1t is probable that
the moment credit and confidence are re-
established there will be q demand for the
millers, and roadmen, and miners, at the
very points where they were employed up
to the time OF the rupture OF business ana
the dreadful fallins-off OF work that turned
them adrift, and turned loose the devil OF
sedition and destruction to asgravate the
sufferines of the unemployed by cripDlings
that very capital which upon the next turn
in affairs would give them employment and
facilitate the restoration Of the land to thrift
and contentment. .----- ~ -.
Financial troubles and labor disturbances:
have their causes, and these are not always
clear to the wisest casuists. Financial
storms are not unlike the wind, which
"bloweth where it listeth, and thou hear
"est the sound thereof. but canst not tell
evidence it cometh nor whittier it goetb."
We think we know now that things are
being righted, and we shall not be surprised
to see in the course of few months all the
miners at Scranton busily employed and
contented. .-,: