Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1848-11-24
From the Ann Arbor True Democrat
The LaboFing Men.

Probably nine tenths, a. least, of the vo-
tiers of this State ATE Fabhrns men, in the
common occupation of the term-that is,
they earn their support for themselves and
families by the labor Of their hands. Have
these men ever considered the influence of
slavery upon labor-the aristocraic spirit
1t begets. and the consequent feeling of con-
tempt with which the laboring man is re-
garded! linOt, we ASK their attention to
the extracts which we annex, from tn
speeches and lectures of sla leholding di-
vines, jurists, and politicians. Do laboring
men wish to spread an institution over New
Mexico and California that fosters spirit
so anti-republican, and through the political
power which it will confer, will keep the
government of the country in the hands of
those ~ho would degrade honest labor?
Chancellor Harper, fSouth Carolina, in
an address delivered before literary socie-
ty in South Carolina. asserts:
1t is the order of nature and of G. cd that
the being of superior faculties and knowl-
edge, and therefore of superior power
should control and dispose Of tllUse who are
inferior. Ii is as much in the order of ma
ture that men should enslave each other as
that animals should prey upon each other
Professor Dew, of the same State, in IA
public discourse, holds the following lam
guage:
domestic slavery, stich rs offs, is the
only institution which know of that can
secure the spirit of equality among free
men, i. e. among the aristocracy, so ne
cessarv 10 the true and genuine feeling Of
reoubicanlsm, without propelling the body
polite at the same time into the dangerous
vices of agrarianism. The hirelings who
perform all the mental Offices of Lille, will
not and cannot be considered as equals by
the employers"
Mr.. Pickens, in a speech delivered in
Congress, 1896, gave u,terance 10 the fol-
lowing atrocious sentiments. Mr.. Pickens
has swung back and forward between the
Wing and Democratic parties like the PEN
dulum of clock
"All society settles down into 4 classi-
cation of capitalists and laborers. The Cor
mcr will 0Un the latter either collectively
through the government, or individually in
state of domestic servitude, as exists in the
Southern States of this confederacv. If
IdbOrers ever obtain the political power of
country, it is i'll fact in a state OF rerolu.
lion. The capitalists north of Mason and
Dixon's line, have precisely the same int
rest in the labor of the country that the ca
pitalsts of England have in their labor
Hence it is, that they must have a strong
Federal Government O. to control the la
Dor of the nation. But it is precisely the
reverse with us. We have already not on
y right to the proct eds Of our laborers,
but we own class Of iaJOrers themselves.
But let me say 10 gentlemen who represent
the great class of capitalists in the north,
beware that you do not drive us into a Sc
perate system, for if you do, as certain as
the decree of heaven, you will be compel
led to appeal TO the s,cord 10 maintain
yourselves al home. 1t may not come in
your day; but your chiIdren's children viii
be covered with the blood of domestic func-
tons, and q pl,ndering mob contending
for po,Oer and conquest"
Governor McDutlie in his annual mes
sage TO the Legislature of South Carolina,
said
at will be fortunate for the non slave
holding States if they are not, in less than
quarter of a century driven to the adop-
ton of similar institution, slavery or 10
take refuge from robbery and anarchy un-
der military despotlsm. In a
word, the institution of domestic slavery
supercedes the necessity of on order of no.
bility."
Mr.. McDu(lie is one of the lights of the
democratic party-a party that is con,inu
ally prating about its love for the laboring
man.
We next give the opinions Of BENJAMIN
w. Leigh, a leading Wing of Virginia:
"There must be some pcasantry; and
as the country fills up there must be more
that is, men who tend the herds and dig the
soil, who have neither real nor personal ca
pital of their own, who earn !heir daily
bread by the sweat of their brow. | ask
gentlemen to say whether they believe that
those who depend on their daily labor for
subsistence, can or do ever enter into our
political affairs' They never do, never
will, never can"
We make but one extract more. Rob
ert Wicklifc Jr. of Kentucky. n whig, and
son of, probably the wealthiest citizen and
most extensive STAKEHOLDER of Kentucky, in
speech published in the Louisville Adver-
User, thus discourseth:
"Gentlemen want to drive out the black
population that they may obtain Whife ne
groes in their place. White negroes have
this advantage over black negroes, they can
he converted into voters and the men who
live upon the sweat of their brow, and pay
them but dependent and scanty subsist>
ence. can. if able TO keep ten thousand of
them in employment, come up 10 the polls
and change the destiny of the country
How improved will be our condition when
we have such white negroes as perform the
servile labors of Europe. of Old England,
and he would add now of .NeW EnglaJad."
From the extracts which we have given,
it will be observed that it is condition, not
color, that is the mark Of degradation in the
eyes Of shareholders; that however honest
however intelligent he may be, yet the man
who earns his bread by his daily labor,
should not be permitted to take part in the
affairs of government! We again ask la
boring men, if they are willing to yield the