The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-06-06
From the Geneva IN. W Courier.
AN INCIDENT.
THE LABoR1Ne MANS SPEECH.

tneSe artstocrats who walk upon their Turkey
carpets and ride in their splendid coaches, and
whose purses are bursting with untold gold,
wrung from the hard Toll OF honest. uncomplain-
ing industry. Who, | say, are these rich nabobs,
that they should call upon us, the poor men OF
the country. to be taxed to swell the profits OF
their lordly manufacturers 7"
The occasion was political meeting; the
orator, quandam Federast, of Columbia county,
N. T., prominent in the ranks of LocOfocoism
the audience chiefly hard-working men from an
adjoining mandatory. The sentiment was re-
ceIved with burst Of applause, amid which the
orator sat down.
Mr. President" exclaimed voice in note
SO distinct and peculiar, as at once to draw the
eyes Of all to the speaker-(a slender man with
thin and intellectual aspect, plainly but neatly
clad)-" Mr.. President, | am one of those OPP
pressed poor men, to whom the orator has referred
desire to speak: may be heard"
Leave being granted, he proceeded as follows
"Some writer has remarked, that there is no
man humble, but that his life, faithfully report
ed, will afford some useful moral and as an ounce
of experience is worth pound Of theory, even
my life may not be without it's use. am by
trade weaver. six years since, was employed
in mandatory in Rhode Island My employ
ers were honest and intelligent, though wealthy
men. They paid me fair but not high wages.
These wages, however, were punctually paid !;
and my experience has taught me that dollar in
hand is worth twelve shings in promises.
was Industrious and frugal, and therefore content
ed and happy. MY wages sufficed not only for
my support, but also to accumulate small sur
plus. Twas pleased with my condition, and look
ed forward with the well-grounded hope to a
happy future. About this time. speaker came
among us who used arguments precisely similar
to those employed this evening. His views were
Il
ted with his theory. Before we thought our
selves well paid: we now imagined ourselves OPP
| pressed. Before, we thought ourselves happy
we now began to think ourselves miserable The
exchange, for me, was bad one (or who would
prefer misery and discomfort to happiness and
peace!) but Twas too eager in the pursuit of the
theory to regard its consequences. I,
"He told us that the distinctions of wealth and
poverty were merely artificial having their foun-
daton in the superior wickedness OF weakness of
mankind, and wholly unsupported by reason or
justice that we were all alike Gods children,
and therefore alike entitled to share in his bounty !;
that the entire structure Of society was wrong
and needed reform; that wealth, as at present
employed, was merely an engine of oppression /;
and that the main object of its possessor was to
grind the face of the poor. We were fascinated
with these views, and began to conduct accor-
dinghy. Our work began to be sighted and our
employers began to complain. Matters ran from
bad to worse, until finally a general combination
of the operatives q being at the head) suspended
the works. We were all of us discharged, others
were employed, and in about four days the mills
we're again in active operation. | now for the
first time discovered that theory reduced to
practice has its practical results; that though it
may afford amusement for the fancy, it neither
clothes mans back nor fills his stomach and
that as the best way of judging of tree is by its
fruit, SO the best way of judging of theory is by
its practical effects. | formerly knew myself
happy, now found myself miserable. l formerly
was laying up money;I now was as rapidly
spending it. So far, had certainly not changed
for the better.
:" In short time, my surplus became exhausted !;
and as my name had become somewhat promi-
nent as reformer, Ifound it difficult to get work
from any employer, as all alike feared my infu-
ence and examples Poverty now stared me in
the face and though Necessity be hard school,
fooe, as it is said, will learn in no other. de-
termined to profit Gf POSSIBILITY by my experience,
and set myself to consider my present condition
and its causes. now remembered that the
speaker whose argument had captivated my
fancy, practlced upon very different theory from
that he preached; that though he denounced
wealth, no one was more obsequious to the rich
and though he sympathized with the poor, he
never would touch the cause of poor man un-
less his fee Che was a lawyer was paid in adj
vance. | hence concluded that mans acts are
the best test of his principles, and that when we
find man preaching one thing and practising
another, we may reasonably dlstrust both his
doctrine and his sincerity. In my own particu-
lar, my theory had operated dlsastrously It had
reduced me from comfort to want, and had filled
me with discomfort, envy, and jealousy towards
my more favored neighbors.
what had happened to me might reasonably
happen TO all and theory followed by such eff
fects might fairly be pronounced unsound. But
whether unsound or not, | reflected that it was
folly for me to sacrifice my money, independence,
and comfort, substantial advantages, for mere
idea, the vague conception of another's brain
We have heard, my friends, the rich denounced
but why denounce the rich ? Suppose you or !,
by prudence or industry, las well we may,) attain
to independence are we, therefore, to be stg-
matised as aristocrats! Or, suppose we leave
our property to our children; are they to be pro-
scribed! And should we, who WaM employment,
proclaim war against the rich, who alone can give
1t to US Suppose MI we're as needy as ourselves