Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1878 — THE LABOR INVESTIGATION. [ARTICLE]

THE LABOR INVESTIGATION.

J. J. Hinchman, of Brooklyn, gave his views to the Committee, on the 24th. He did not think the depression of business was so great as reported, and believed that the Government should not interfere by legislation. F. B. Thurber, a merchant, testified that he believed the primary causes of the ills which both the laboring and other classes are complaining of are the development of steam and electricity, which, in connection with labor-saving machinery, have, within comparatively a few years, revolutionized production and commerce, altered onr manners and customs of life, and now absorb the attention of the statesmen of the day in the adjustment of an organic law to meet the changed condition of the age in which we live. An overstocked market means a commercial crisis, with all its attendant phenomena of declining prices, idle manufactories and distress among operatives. The only remedy for this is to wait until consumption catches up with production again. Borne further testimony of a similar quality was given. Mr. Hewitt, on the 2Glh, read a postal card he had received from John Peters, telling him he (Hewitt) had " made it a point to gather up all the crazy men of New York, and show them up as examples of AmeriMh mechanics. Yon are a fraud, a bad counter. feit, and every intelligent man can see your game.” Charles N. Marshall, shipowner, told the story of the decline in the American shipping trade, attributing it. to England’s getting ahead in the use of iron in the construction of vewln, and to Navigation laws which crushed out the remaining vitality in the shipping interests. There was absolutely no return to the capitalist in the ship-owning trade at present Our profit is a negative one, aa we only eave ourselves by running onr ships at a loss from the greater loss we would sustain by letting them remain idle. He believed that sound currency and the abolition of the Navigation laws would ultimately bring good around. Thorough economy in National, Btate and Municipal Governments was a vital necessity. Vice-President Walker, of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, held that the commercial crisis was caused by over-absorption of ready capital into fixed or permanent investments, thus drawing off from the daily commercial business the capital necessary for its proper continuance. A settled currency on sound coin basis. Government supervision of all corporations, tentative financial and fiscal legislation, and a slight protective tariff, he believed, would bring about another era of prosperity and activity. On the 27th, the Committee listened to the recital of the labor statistics of Massachusetts, by Carroll D. Wright, Superintendent of (he Bureau, who also took a most hopeful view of the outlook. C. W. Elliott, formerly an importer of Boston, now a cattle-raiser of Nebraska, was before the Committee, on the 28th. He thought machinery and steam combined to produce more than men could consume. This reduced wages and left many unemployed. He, however, could suggest no remedy. John Roach, ship-builder, then took the stand. He regarded the chief cause of the present trouble to be extravagant habits, formed in flush times. He was satisfied we hail every natural facility for building iron ships cheaper than any other country in the world. He then dwelt at length upon the advantages of using United States vessels for carrying mails, eta., thus giving employment to American seamen. Cyrus Bussey, President of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, was next called. He spoke for some time on the value of the Mississippi River as one of the outlets for the products or the country, was strongly in favor of the immediate increase of American steamship lines with extra postal services, and thought for that purpose the Government should give them a lonut. He believed that 83,000,000 spent in subsidies would be about the best investment the Government could make, „ , Geo. A. Potter, merchant, of New York City, next took the stand and asserted that one of the principal causes of the present depression was the ignorance of political economy and the prostitution of legislative power. Another cause was depreciated currency and unequal taxation. He thought the country could not carry more than 4200,000,000 of paper currency with safety, and thought the Government ought to purchase the surplus papur money at the rate of 8100 in gold for 8150 in currency. . The Committee adjourned to meet next' in Pittsburgh, and then in Chicago.