The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1855-01-19
ST. CLAIRSlILLR. CHTO, FRIDAY, JiyTiRY -, 1885,
degree impaired.


ded ~ the class Of people who compose tina
organization, aud | have no doubt he has
stated the facts correctly, for he has evident.
ly given the subject some consideration -
Who are the people who compose this orga
nization! He says that in one section mer
belong to it who have been connected will
the Wing patty, and in another men belong
to it who have been connected with the Dem
ocratic party. All this is, no doubt, very
true and reasonable. These men have lef
their old partisan organizations for re ason:
satisfactory to themselves, and which neither
you nor have the right to question. have
no doubt that every member Of this assoca
ton in Mississippi has his reasons for be-
coming such, and have no doubt that the
same is true nMu ssuchutetts. can very
well conceive that there may be different
views of the necessities under which men
act. can conceive that there may be rea.
sons why body of mer, large body o.
meL-if you please, majority Of the citi-
zens OF any or every State in the Union
SHOULD leave the political organizations with
which they have heretofore been connected
aud form new organizations for themselves
There may be necessities which drive men
to such political action and which Justify
them in it.
And now, n word as TO such necessities -
| spe * OF them by way of Illustration, ans
not t. cast any asperson, or to make any
complaint. But, there are inlucr ces which
have been exercised upon the citizens of this
country, not IN consOnance ~ith the spirit o.
our institutions. and which, not only call COR
but W hch Justly the resistance OF politca
organizations. The United States Bank
controversy was of this character, and there
are others, of immediate as well as pressing
4 concern, and to them | propose fJr mo-
ment, to address myself.
! Sir, political power, what is it! 1t should
be the independent and intelligent action ot
the citizens of State. But men viii be in-
( huenced by other men, and properly enough
| Moral and intellectual superiority, the wis
dom that varied attuinmpnts and eXperiel &C
convey, will always have their influence up
on men. This is in accordance with our ma
ture. Il may also happen th"t political pow
er AMI influence may be the produc: of wealth
! Indeed, veal h may sometimes take such a
form us to control the entire political action
of State, and secure an influence that lear
! ming or experience rarely Corlers on men,
! In my own State we have our share, it may
be, perhaps, more than an equal share OF
the wealth of the country. We have agri-
cultural wealth and commercial wealth. We
! have manufacturing wealth and mechanical
wealth--all the product of the industry and
enterprise Of our citizens. This is, indeed
pubic blessing.
But, sir, wealth is far more efficient in pro.
noting general prosperity, when generally
distribute , than when it aggregates in few
hands. 1t IS letter when in. the hands OF
tuvul han artificial persons; aud it contri-
| butos in Il greater 1egrce to the general hap
| piness OF people, when it assumes the per-
manent form of real property, rather than the
unstable, irconstant form of personal estate
Sir, disclaim hostility to tie institutions OF
wealth in any form. Twill 90 as far to fos-
ter and enlarge its legitimate interests as any
man. But, mean especially to deny it
right to govern, OF any claim made in heha
of lis right to construct or direct the mach
! merry of Government.
Let me illustrate the views have present
I ed by refe' ence to some ofthe causes which
have lea to the great political changes that
have occurred in the State have the honor
in part, to represent. Look at the city OF
~New York, for instance, with its immense
population, having increased from less than
one thousand, in 1854, to nearly three lourlhs
| Of q million in l854--a period Of two hund-
red years--and with wealth curres spondng
! 81, "a Al b., -,
all its veins. The city Of New York, with
half million people in 1850, had less per-
sonal estate than Boston, with population
of one hundred and ihir,y-six thousand. The
! State of New York. with population gilmore
/ than three millions, had $50,000,00O less
personal property than Massachusetts, with
ess than one million people.
! THIS remarkable difierrn"e may be in part
accounted for by the fact that Mas 'achusrtts
has given existence to something like twen-
ty-tive hundred business or trading corpora
tions, whose aggregated capital would eX-
1 ceed S43O 900, 900; while the entire valul-
( ton of the real Ini personal property OF the
! State did not exceed, ia 1850, $500, 900, 600.
! In addition to the subtle influences Of this pc
culiar species Of property, which is affected
! by the minutest and constant changes Of life,
whose delicate organization is cated or de-
pressed by every form of legislation every
movement OF public or private bodies, and, in
deed, By vague rumors Of the street, it has
the nnceasing attention Of those Immediate.
" interested therein, and the watchful care
of ten or twelve Thousand officers or agents,
acting in various capacities, paid by salaries
running from the cost Of bare subsistence to
six and ten THOUSAND dollars a year, who are
naturally intent upon advancing the interests
upon which their own prosperity depends
Such influences are sleep.eSs, as we'll as pow
erful; and from the nature Of the case, in a
greater.or less degree, they assume polti-
cal character. 1t has, also, vigorous, and
almost irresistible influence upon the public
press--an agent ofpower as subtle and viva
cious, as irrepressibls and energetic as the
stock exchange itself, mean the power oI
public opiqion, Where such elements cor
stitute principal basis upon which success
fu political organizations are erected, the,