Capital And Labor

On the "let alone" principie, capital w il I bc always able to tako the advantage of labor: and fí)r this simple reason that capital can wait- labor cannot. At tlie great firc :) New York, forty or fifty dollars uere paid for the use of a dray. Capital could not vvaii then, and tliereforeit was at the mercy of labor. This wns tho cxception wHic.li proves the mie. The rule is, that labor cannot wnit, and is therefore at the mercy of capital. - When a man mu6t have work to day, or go without bread for himself and fumily, he is not in a pofition to mnke a fair baryain. Capital is i-ble to look about, and to take advantage of al! thecircumtslances which will enable it to reduce tho wages of labor. The large clothps-dealer9 in thecities have thcir ngcnls in the cotiniry, who get work done at the lowest prices. A gentleman told us the oth er day, that h 6a w the daughsers of a respectable farmer mak:ng shirts for eleven cents a piece, for one óf the dealers. He ntkedher wheihershe thouglit it a sufficreril price. "No," said she. èiif 1 were obliged lo support myself, I could not do it by thje work; but I merely cmploy time which othefwíse I should not use." It had not occurred to her that she was tlius loweringthe price paid to thosc who did depend upon" Iheir labor for snbsistnncr. Bt:t this is only nneout of a imiltituJe of exaniptcs, to show that the principie of competition does no' regúlate itsrlf as ir ouht- that the 'Iet alore' principie does not produce resul's wliicli n in accordance wilh trulh and justice. Theprincip'e of í.ee corr.petition is a good onc for Uie tlrong, the sagacious- for tliose who have talent, njcans, energy; but it g'ncs no chance (o the weak, the poer, thefriendless. - It devolves greot enerpy, and produces greal rcttilts; but t makes one pnit of eocieiy the lools and nslrumeuts by whi 'h ünolher paity