•282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH 13, 1839' 



those around you to habits of useful industry, these drawn in and engulphed ,n this dreadful '"^/''^t'-""^ 

 are the best compensations of honest lahor ; these of ruin; and whole fannl.cs have sunk w,th them 

 are rewards which no golden standard can mcas- striking with horror and agony a whole commun ty, 

 arerewaras wnici. i g i ^^ robbin-r it of its best treasures. Here then 



"'"l have said that labor will secure its o«n com- the government are bound to interpose, -« matter 

 pensatillunderthejustlawsof divine providence of .elf protect.on and of <=— " '■""^:^ J^ 

 f yo^lo not divert its overflowing st.eun.s of just Lm for no party .n th.s "- / ?° '- '^ " ^ ^ 

 recompense from their proper channels, nor drain temperance, and lor that only. In a ca*e here 

 hem before they reach tlir true owner; nor de- humanity, bleeding, suftenng humanity calls so 

 mandunlustly for your own ease and luxury, the loudly upon us, whore .broken-hearted w.ves and , 

 unreasonable'appro riafon of his tin.e and talents distracted mothers, and abu.ed -- «'■ -' 7^: 

 and earnings because )ou have the power to en- fenng children come in crowds to ask for mercj 

 forceU no whenhe sks for the bread and the and pity at our hands, and where the ground steam- 

 S Vl i h his toil or his perils have earned, throw ing with the fresh-shed blood of rnurdered w.ves , 

 ou 1 im only a stone or a scorpion, .hough you and children, fallen by the h-ds of the dn„^.a d j 



may pretend the stone is a diamond, and dazzle his ones to us u, shrieks of agony, for God » sake or ; 

 visfon w th the ^ilded scales of the reptile. the sake of all that is humane and ju.st, do not let 



Let me speak in this case witliout a figure. In any miserable, selfish, party, passionate considera 

 a commTnit approaching any thing like a perfect tions on either side bl.nd o yes to the path of 

 condition, as there should be no idleness, so there right, or prevent our keeping in it. Th s is no case 

 would be no want. No man, woman, or child, ca- I for passion, but fo- solemn duty It the law regu- 

 Tble of rendering by hones labor some service to hating licenses passed at the last session of the 

 fhecolunity, should be excused from that labor ; I legislature, and which is now agitating the com- 

 e St of all sh'ould they be relieved from supplying I monwealth to its centre, be good le it be main- 

 as far a« possible, hi. or her own wants. That all tained ; if wrong, let us reject it. If the people 

 should be'seried, then all should serve. It is easy | approve it, let us lend our aid to -Btam _it ; it otlier- 



to say what should be ; but in the present condition 

 of human nature, we must be content with the most 

 humble approaches to such a standard. When we 

 consider what a large portion of most communities 

 are living without producing a single dollar by 

 honest industry, and living too in luxury, we can- 

 not but admit that unjust burdens are imposed upon 

 the honest and laborious. No'tne should be ex- 

 empted from taking his share of -the burdens of the 

 community, and rendering his ssn'tcpfor its benefit. 

 I would complain of no man who'liv's his time 

 and talents of body or mind for th'*'V:;nmon good 

 or happiness, in any innocent fi»rm, whether of 

 pleasure or of profit, of use or-of ornament, in 

 which the community chooses to be benefited. 

 But every man, woman and child, sliould labor in 

 some honest profession, trade, or business, or they 

 should be cut off from tlie privileges of the com- 

 munity. Labor should be honorable. Idleness 



wise, we should seek its repeal, for it is in vain to 

 attempt any reformation wholly in opposition to the 

 public sentiment. This too I say farther, and in 

 perfect sincerity, that if any man or any party will 

 propose any measure less objectionable or more | 



proper more eflectual to the suppression of this 



dreadful vice, this wholesale plunderer of the earn- 

 ings of labor, we should instantly send in our cor- 

 dial adhesion. 



There is another protection that honest labor 

 asks at the hands of the community ; and that is, 

 that it should not be robbed- of its earnings by any 

 fraudulent form in which these wages are paid. 

 'I he la^joring classes are more than any other class 

 in the community interested in the condition of the 

 I currency. It represents their earnings ; formerly 

 it represented only the actual accumulations of la- 

 bor ; now, by an invention of modern times in the 

 form of bills of credit, it anticipates contingent 



munitv. JL.at)or siiouin oe nonorauie. luicncoo ] luiwi ^i .-.-.- -■ . - . , , , 



should be such a disg.ace as to be sure to lose a i profits and represents what is expected to be earn- 

 man his caste in society. While no provision should j ed. The credit system has been to the coun ry 

 be spared to make those comfortable, who through i the source of great advantages ana >mprovements ; 

 misfortune, incapacity, or advanced age, are inca- : but all the abuses which it has suffered, -"d « It le 

 pable of providing for themselves, a man living ; losses, which those abuses have occasioned, have 

 without honest occupation, deserves little better ' fallen directly and entirely upon labor, 

 than the house of correction, or the penitentiary. Banks, in their legitimate design, were intended 

 where tlie slate should furnish him with honest oc- for the safe use of the accumulations of previous 

 cupation; and as to the idle and profligate and ! labor, in the form of capital, in order to stimulate 

 wasteful and dissipated, before industry should be ' and assist honest industry and enterprise ; and in 

 taxed with their support, they should die in the I a young country where the means of wealth are so 

 streets, whether with ruffle shirts on, or no shirts abundant, to create a capital for immediate use by 

 on So likewise would I annul all your cleemosy- a reasonable reliance on future returns. JNo ob- 

 nary provisions for the gratuitous support of those, ject could be more just and useful and no scheme 

 who are not unable but notwillmg to support them- better devised under fa safe and honest direction 

 selves, for these are all unjust taxes upon labor. No one could question the safety and propriety of 1 

 But it is idle to talk of these Utopian schemes of such an operation, where the loan ot this quick 

 rgfyro, capital was secured by an undisputed lien upon 



Some thincrs however, are practicable. The real property of equal and certain value. The 

 community may do much to secure to their lawful only difficulty lies in the creation of a purely he- 

 owner the honest wages of indu.stry by removing j titious capital and the extension of credit upon con- 

 the facilities and temptations to corrupt and waste- i tingeiicies. It is obvious that these operations 

 ful and immoral expenditure. As a virtuous, just, could only be safe when after a thorough consider- 

 and christian community, the government are par- ation of probabilities and chances, such loans cor- 

 ticularly bound by ever'y principle of duty, to abate respond with the power of the borrrower to meet 

 and remove the facilities of intoxicating liquors, his demand fully and certainly, when the time of 

 Hundreds of hundreds of valuable farms, teeming the loans should expire. This could only be de- 

 with the products of industry, have been gradually I termined by the occupation of the debtor, his habits, 



skill, enterprise, and character ; and it was the 

 clearest dictate of prudence and justice, as well 

 for the creditor as the debtor, to keep always far 

 witliin the limits of safety. Had this always been 

 done, all would hive been well. But when banks 

 are instituted without any substantial capital hon- 

 estly yM in, and in the true spirit of the law " to 

 remain there as part of the capital of the bank ;" 

 ; when credit is extended beyond all safe and reas- 

 ! onable limits ; when capital is loaned not for the 

 aid of honest industry and private and public im- 

 provements, but for the purpose of enhancing the 

 ' nominal value of property on which no labor is ex- 

 I pended, and no improvements are made or even 

 i designed to be made : when a flood of irresponsi- 

 1 ble i>aper is thrown upon the community for pur- 

 poses not of honest trade, but of rambling and 

 speculation, then comes the terrible and disastrous 

 explosions of the last year. Then labor is every 

 where tickled and lulled by soft and magnificent 

 promises, while her pockets are picked by the gross- 

 est villany and frauds. It is clearly the duty o1 

 tlie government to protect the laboring portion of 

 I the community against such wholesale treachery. 

 It is hoped that the country has learnt a li'sson ol 

 wisdom which it will not soon forget. The flood 

 of unsubstantial, fictitious capital, which was pour- 

 ed out upon the country three years since, could i 

 be followed out in all its ramified and various con 

 sequences, led beyond a question to frauds, ant 

 crimes, and licentiousness, and losses, and miseries 

 I which the most brilliant successes of honest trade 

 even for a quarter of a century, could hardly aton^ 

 for. Next to a bank that cannot pay because i 

 never iiad any thing to pay with, is a bank the 

 puts it out of its own power to meet its promises 

 and maintain its honor, by its owr. improvident an 

 extravagant issues and loans. It is a novel meas 

 ure of right when the law of obligations among ir 

 dividuals may be violated by corporations with in 

 punity ; and there is some little ground to doul 

 the soundness of the discretion, when justice n( 

 only acquits the delinquent on account of the ni 

 cessities of his condition, necessities it may be i 

 his own voluntary creation, and the powerful temi 

 tations to which he was exposed, in many cast 

 temptations of his own procuring, but disrobir 

 herself of her high dignity, commends him for tl 

 adroitness of his delinquency. 



(I o be concluded.) 



We thank an esteemed friend for the followir 



communications, and like poor Oliver Twist, " v 



humbly ask for more." Tliere is much more whe 



! this came from ; and it is that true chrrity whi< 



I does not impoverish but enriches the donor. I 



will have at least in such contributions the deligl 



1 ful consciousness of being useful. The fact i 



I ferred to in the last paragraph of engrafting I 



tomato upon the potato vine is a curious one ; ai 



the tomatoes on top, and the potatoes at the b( 



torn of the same vine is a sort of mermaid cultiv 



tion which if not useful is at least amusing. 



Ttanslaled from the " Bon Jardinier" of 1838. 

 The Pot.4TO, Solannm tuberosum. 

 Wg speak of this plant only to remind garden) 

 that ifis well to plant when it can be done, sol 

 of the earliest varieties in a good exposure, in^ i 

 der to obtain tlie root as early as possible. Wh 

 this is the object no manure must be used, and 1! 

 land chosen should be a dry, sandy soil. The pla ■ 

 ing is done in March, (in France,) and on the | 



