1862. 



NEW ENGLx\ND FAR^MER. 



67 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COMPLAINTS OP HIGH PRICES. 



Mr. Editor. : — A mistaken notion prevails very 

 extensively among the mechanics and laboring 

 classes rivspecting the effect of high and low pi-ices 

 of provisions upon t4iem, pecuniarily. It is a ste- 

 reotype complaint with them that it costs so much 

 to live, they can scarce maintain themselves and 

 families : or, that prices of provision are so liigh it 

 is impossible for them to get forehanded. Sec, 8zc. 

 All such assertions, or notions, are based upon the 

 erroneous idea that if provisions were cheap their 

 ■wages would still remain the same. Tlus can nev- 

 er he in the nature of the case. The cost of ])ro- 

 duction and tiie price of the product necessarily go 

 hand in hand. They as necessarily find their level 

 as water. I can well remember when the carpen- 

 ter in the country worked from sun to sun, and 

 even longer, for a day's work, and was content to 

 receive his dollar for the same. I know of many 

 who then could live as well as country communi- 

 ties usually did, and get forehanded in property. 

 When I was a boy, farm laborers were ])aid from 

 eight to eleven dollars a month, according to 

 qualifications. In haying time, daily wages were 

 from seventy-five cents to a dollar. This was the 

 case for several years, as many now living can tes- 

 tify. Provisions, of course, were low, as a general 

 thing : northern corn rarely a dollar a bushel, but- 

 ter and cheese quite low most of the time — yet 

 still, all farm products, as compared with price of 

 labor, were higher than at present. 



How, then, are Ave to account for the almost 

 universal complaint of our mechanics and laborers 

 of having a hard time to get on ? 



I think none will deny that most of them do 

 have a hard time — but is it necessarily so ? I think 

 it is not, and will try to make it appear. We will 

 look at the case of the mechanic. The evil com- 

 mences with him at the very outset of his appren- 

 ticesliip. As the hours for labor are now regulat- 

 ed, he has much time at his own disposal. How 

 it is disposed of few need to be informed. That a 

 majority of them fail to make a good use of it, few 

 will gainsay. Formerly, the master, or employer, 

 felt himself under obligation to see that his ap- 

 prentice contracted no bad habits, formed no bad 

 acquaintances, and conducted himself worthily on 

 all occasions. Lamentably is this now neglected, 

 to the ruin of many a promising youth. The boss 

 don't care to have this trouble, and the weak, in- 

 judicious parent fails to require it of him, so that 

 between them l^th the boy is left pretty much to 

 his own course, unguided by wise counsel, unre- 

 strained by judicious command. He associates 

 with whom he will, goes whei'e he will, and con- 

 tracts such habits as he "will, little dreaming of the 

 bitter fruit which in the end such unrestrained li- 

 cense is sure to produce. He is almost sure to 

 contract the use of tobacco in some form, and if 

 he escapes the use of intoxicating drinks, it is a 

 marvel. 



If by any means he has money to use, it is usu- 

 ally quickly gone for some needless recreation, 

 amusement or extravagance. He has no idea of 

 its value and wise use. It is more than probable 

 that by the time he arrives at maturity his cigars 

 and other needless expenditures will amount to 

 nearly or quite as much as many expend on their 

 board. This may be an extreme case, and no doubt 



is of rare occurrence, but that it does occur, many 

 can vouch. Let us suppose the outlay for cigars 

 and other needless expenses to amount to only 

 twenty dollars per annum, (wliich is doubtless less 

 than the real amount generally worse than thrown 

 away, by a majority of apprentices and journey- 

 men from sixteen to thirty, or for a period of four- 

 teen years,) with interest added annually, and see 

 if it does not give us a sum that most of our me- 

 chanics Avould be proud to possess. 



What I have said in reference to mechanics, ap- 

 plies in a greater or less degree to other occupa- 

 tions. All complain, but I think the fault is gen- 

 erally to be ascribed to the grumbler liimself. Sup- 

 pose these classes gave their spare time to useful 

 study and reading, thus acquuing information that 

 in future life may be drawn upon for profit and 

 pleasure, would they not, of course, husband their 

 earnings, and more economically manage their af- 

 fairs ? Would not such a use of leism-e hours op- 

 crate as the great balance wheel of all their ac- 

 tions, leading them on to thrift and respectability ? 



Allow me to say to all of you of this class who 

 chance to read these thoughts, that finding fault 

 with the prices of food anil the dullness of the 

 times, will do you no good ; prices, for all this, 

 will remain the same and the times unaltered. 

 Seek for the remedy within yourselves. Stop every 

 leak, cut off every useless and needless expendi- 

 ture, appro]iriate evej"y spare hour to some useful 

 employment, and you M'ill be sm'}:)rised at the re- 

 sult. You will find more money in your purse, a 

 hapjiier heart in your bosom. The clouds that 

 heretofore have enveloped you Avill quickly dis- 

 perse, and cheerful sunshine will illumine your fu- 

 ture ; contentment and hojie will be your constant 

 guests ; your households will rejoice with you, and 

 peace will surround your hearthstone. 



The prices of provisions and the compensation 

 for labor are entirely beyond our control, and it is 

 useless for us to attempt it. They are govenred 

 by circumstances and laws that camiot, in the na- 

 ture of things, be abrogated. o. K. 



Eochcster, Dec, 1861. 



For tJie New England Farmer. 

 HOME SYMPATHY. 



A young lady, a farmer's daughter, was asked a 

 few days ago, "how large a daily has your father 

 this wniter ?" Her answer was, "How should I 

 know ? I don't go to the barn once a month." 



Beecher says that "no one can learn patience 

 except by going out to battle in the hurly-burly 

 world." ^^erhaps so ; yet nowhere in the "hurly- 

 burly world" are there so numberless occasions for 

 practicing patience, as in the quietude of home. 

 And among these home trials, not one is more 

 keen than the want of sympathy in your life-work 

 from those around you. Buttonlcss shirts, and 

 ventilated stockings, and late dinners, are very 

 good patience teachers. But what can irritate a 

 man more than when he sits down to explain 

 to his wife and girls his pet plan for a perfect 

 garden or orchard, or the additions and improve- 

 ments which he intends to make to the barn, to 

 see them listen with a martyr-like air of meek en- 

 durance, or turn away to commend Mrs. Grundy's 

 taste in dressing her children ! 



Farm-houses would not have the barren aU-for- 



