Year: 1867

labor. There appears to be gener
al and deep dissatisfaction amonl
the mechanics of this country
especially among those who liz,
and work in the large cities.


We think it cause for rejoicing
that this is SO. If industrious mo
chanics in a city like New Yorl
were contented, it would argu,
great and dangerous demoraliza
tion among them. Lodged as they
and their families arc, living as the
do, they ought to be discontented
We regret only that their dissatis
faction finds expression in a mer,
demand for higher wages, or To-
what amounts TO the same thing
shorter days work. The trade
societies in this country are now 81
thoroughly organized, that we thinl
it surprising, and not very credita
BILE to the intelligence Of our me
chanics, that their deliberationl
and discussions have brought fortl
no greater or more valuable sug
gestions for reform than the de
mand that eight hours shall con
stitute q days work.


The radical and fatal error il
this demand on the part of The
workmen is, that it takes for grant
ed that those making it have nc
hope or desire ever to be their owr
employers, or the employers of 9th
ers. Every mechanic who takes
part.in the eight hour movement
by that act confesses and declares
in effect that he has no expectation
of setting up for himself; and that
he is content to fight the fight o.
life, as a subordinate, on wages
but without profits.


The condition of American me.
chanics is not satisfactory; they
ought to be very generally dissat.
isfed; they ought industriously to
seek the truo remedy for the evils
from which they suffer; but it will
not serve them to treat what is q
great and very important matter,
after tho manner Of mere empires
Nor should they set so largo sal
ue on themselves as they do in all
the discussions in favor of the eight.
hour systom. They should try to
discover tho causes of their dis
content and of the evils from which
they suffer. Insufficient wages is
not a cause, it is q means. A car.
penter's wages are not sufficient,
let us say, to keep his family in
comfort and responsibility; what
then? He demands more pay; he
strikes, perhaps, and throws away
what he has. What then? If lie
had been wise carpenter he wo'd
have said to his brethren: "Let us
study this question, and see how
we can emancipate ourselves from
a condition in which another man
may offer us a less reward for our
labor and skill than we can afford
to take, and can put us to great in
convenience if we refuse it. Let us
see if there is not some way by
which we may be our own employ.
e:s, and so be the makers OF our
own fortunes, and not of u stran.
gers. Let us be the dividers OF the
actual profits of our own skill and
industry"


From such an inquiry great re.
suits must follow. The intelli-
gent mechanic would see that in
o.operation,' as it is called, in a
partnership of workingmen, lies
the true and the only remedy for
the evils which affect the men who
labor with their hands, not in this
country alone, but even more in
Europe. Take the case of the
house carpenters, now "on strike. u
Suppose they should join together,
as their president proposed, set up
shops, and undertake building on
their own account; they would need
but little capital; their reward
would be precisely proportioned to
the value of their work, which is
all that any man can ask; they
would have the satisfaction of di-
viding among themselves the prof
its Of their labor, of knowing pre-.
cisely what those profits are; and
all experience in this direction
proves that they could proftably to
themselves underbid any builder in
tho market; they could afford to do
better work at cheaper rate than
any man who merely hires labor.


And they would have the glori-
Gus sense of independence, the
knowledge that they were tho arch :
itccts and builders of their own for
tunes; that their skill and f4ithful-
ness and industry brought its just
reward directly TO them. From
this they would get contcntment in
hard times, and moderation in pros
perity; their daily lives woald teach
them that wise torethought which
would make them the best citizens
Of the state, the mainstay Of the
republic. They would be the mas
tiers of their own lives, the equals
of the greatest in the state-for out
Of such cooperative system must
necessarily grow the truest democ-
racy, IN which every man shall be
valued not Tor what be has, but for
what he is, and in which virtue, in
telligcnce and skill will count at
their true value.


But under such q system we sh d
hear nothing of eight hours as a
days. work. With cooperation,
the days work is in the end both
shortened and lengthened, and the
whole life OF the mechanic is lifted
up and ennobled. But that is be-
cause, in the first place, the co'ope-