, 1879-06-22

production to be met, except By adding it
to the price of the thing produced? When
the 125 men proceed to purchase for their
own use the things they have produced'
they will find that the $3.50 will purchase no
mora than the $500 would have done in the
hands Of the 100 men; while the original
100 men will find that their 5000 will pur-
chase, under the new arrangement. only JUST
as much as $3.50 would have purchased be-
fore the change The increased cost OF
production will reduce the purchasing power
Of wages to 80 cents on tho dollar. And an
other point. The farmers are the great con-
sumers of the manufactures Of the towns'
Theineyitable effect of the eight-hour scheme
with ten-hour pay attached must be to en-
hance the price Of the wares the farmers
buy, mud in the proportion of this advances
in price they will be able to purchase fewer.
goods. This will necessarily throw out OF
employment tens Of thousands OF mechanics
aud laborers. And how that will benefit them
or promote their interests it is difficult to
see. =
: If the advocacy Of system of labor which
must inevitably produce such results as thus
even upon those engaged in it, as made by
Mr. Steward, is the most mastery state
ment that.has ever been made by any living
man on that subject" then indeed his hearers
and admirers must have extraordinary powers
Of perception on the one hand, or equally
extraordinary obtuseness on the other.
The other propositions all rest on the first
one, which proposes to abolish abundance
and establish scarcity; which would limit
each mans labor to tho production of what
is necessary to sustain life; which limits the
labor Of the United States to what is needed
only for home consumption, and forbids the
production for export. The export Of Amer
ican products to Europe is denounced,
because the sale OF such things there+
tends to reduce foreign labor to pauperism.
Let the facts give the a1l-suf6cient
reply: The United States are supplying
Europe with vast quantities Of food, and
furnishing it at prices which enable the
laborers of that country to have better and
more than has ever been possible for them
to enjoy heretofore.
Instead Of reducing tbs wages Of foreign
workmen by the export Of our surplus pro-
ductions, all Europe is made to participate in
the vast abundance which has taken the
p1ace of their previous scarcity; and meat,
which for years has been an unattainable
luxury to Thousands, is nov, thanks to the
untiring industry Of the American producer,
placed within the reach Of all. The world
shares in the great mercy which withholds
tho famine and crowns labor with abundance.
II Is sublime ignorance which stays the hand
of labor,-which advises idleness aud non
production instead Of labor and u surplus.
It is bIasphomous defiance of GoD's
mercy which arrests industry or suppresses
production, which fires the crop, which |
burns the factory, which destroys
machinery, which burns bridges, destroys
and which breaches idleness, in
order to bring about scarcity, and prevent
Let men who preach that labor.
should never produce q surplus, should never
have anything to sell, should be content with !
The daily loaf, and seek no more, remember |
that labor, like the steam-engine, the rail-
road, the improved plow, and the loom, is
means not an end Labor is the means of OBJ
mining everything man can desire, and the
greater the production from these means,
he greater the abundance from which man-
Kind can supply its wants- In the proper
ion that the human family can find from the
7ast production which supplies it all that it
aeeds to fill the measure Of it's wants the
,nd sought by labor is accomplished. In
he proportion that men do not enjoy this
abundance, to that extent is the end
'ought by labor defeated Anything which
inns at reduction Of production aims at
he defeat Of all the hopes. indueements,
nd expectations Of labor.