Year: 1864

in various departments of industry i


this city for further advance in the
wages. The plea for this demand
! the exorbitant prices of all necessar
articles, whether of food, apparel G


fuel, and the very considerable advanc


in the rents of houses and apartments


Obviously, this plea is not fictitious
and we understand that employers ar


meeting the demand in a reasonable


spirit. 1t is creditable to the moder


alton of one side and to the Justice


and moderation of the other, that thi.


movement has not caused the slightest


breach in the kindly relations of the


parties. We trust thi, will continue


to be the case to the end of the chap
ter.


| The industrial classes in this coun-


try are intelligent; they are fully ca.
pable of understanding the great
problem of labor and its compensa,


ton. A clear perception of the way


their interests are affected by the ac-


tion Of the government is the best


preparation for a manful endurance of


such ills as are incurable and for an


effectual remedy Of others. The pre-


sent depressed condition of the labor,


ing classes is the direct consequence


of governmental action, and the Ia


borers cannot cease to be politicians if


they would. The government of their
country comes to their dwellings, not,
as formerly, merely to bestow protec-
ton and diffuse blessings, but to in
crease their anxieties and abridge
their comforts. They feel its presence
in narrower and colder apartments, in
the scantier wardrobe of their wives
and daughters, in the coarser and more
meager fare on their tables: When
they pay as much for one yard of
sleezy shirting or calico, made of east
ern cotton, as they used to pay for
three or four yards woven from the
best American cotton; when the prices
of butter, of coal, Of butchers meat,
of sugar, coffee, tea, and all other
goods, are double what they were three
years ago, and the laborer knows that
this change for the worse is entirely
owing to the government, he cannot
but feel that he has a deep stake in
politics as subject which comes home
to his fireside, and challenges his most
earnest thoughts. The more carefully
be studies the condition of the coun-
try the more clearly will he see that
patient suffering and manly endurance
are no less his duty in some respects,
than are indignant protest and spirited
effort in others.


The practical question for the in~
iustrial classes is, what part of the
evils they suffer ought to be patientl y
endured, and what part ought to be
These are so blended that it
some effort of thought to sep
arate them, and render unto Caesar the
things that are Caesars, and unto the
the things that are the coun>
try's. But unless this discrimination
be made, the laborer is in danger of
abject and servile submission to the
government, on the one hand, or of un-
reasonable censure on the other. War
necessitstes taxation, and the articles
which have paid tax to the governs
nent cannot be purchased by the la
borer at the same prices as if no taxes
had been levied on them. So far as
high prices result from taxation, they
afford no just ground of complaint -
Every man must pay in proportion to
his consumption of the taxed articles.


But the principal cause Of high pri-
ces is not taxes, but the debssement of
The currency. If the whole enhance>
nent of prices resulted from taxation
The country would be very nearly pay
ng the expenses of the war out of the
annual revenue. If this were the case,
t might seem hard, but it would cer-
;ainly be honest, and the patriot mass
IS would bear it without finching.-
But, in truth, very little of the exor<
'itant prices they pay finds its way
nto the treasury. Let us take sins
lie article as an illustration. Coffee,
which is taxed article, pays to the
government five cents q pound duty.
But the price of coffee has been con-
iderably more than doubled. Pre-
isely the same article which three
'ears ago sold for eighteen cents, now
ellis for forty. The five cents which
% into the treasury would be paid
1ithout grumbling and the burden be


title felt. But the laboring classes
re false to themselves if, by their