Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-09-10
VOL. 3.---N0. 4.

met. IApplause.[ When that does come,
every man. every Member of Congress, and
every political party in this Union must meet
that issue, and must take ground IN favor OF
the admission of Kansas as Free State un-
der the Topeka Constitution, or its admission
under Siave-State Constitution. When TINS
Issue comes in December, 1857, you will lind
some men going for Slave-State Constitu-
ton, and YOU will find a set of men halfway,
men who will be seeking places OF refuge oo-
tween the two sides of the question. who VIII
want TO set those Constitutions aside and a.
don't some measure which viii require tho
people of the Territory 20 vote upon that ques-
tion again. / was in hopes that experiment.
would be tried now-that that question would
be out of the way, and by December, 1891,
that bill would come back in the way which
we predicted, and bring this issue square out
before the American people, before every
man in office. have nothing further to say
on that question.
Now TO return to the subject of this country
in the selection of their representatives IN the
lower House of Congress. They must be Sc
lected with view TO the question which they
will inevitably have to vote upon- have
shown You that this work is almost consum-
mated, and so far as | have followed it in its
political aspects, passing over, for the time,
the condition of the people in the territory, 1t
is for you to look on and see the two remain
ing acts in this drama. l undertake to pre-
diet here, and do fearlessly, that you will
see the election carried in October by an inya-
sion from Missouri, you viii see the delegates
adopt a pro-Slavery Constitution, and 1t VIII
go to the halls of Congress; watch the result,
and you will find these predictions veritied,and
it is for you TO shape your course with refer
ence to them. viii this state of things affect
Kansas alone Let any man take the map OF
his country, and he will perceive that the ter
ritory of Kansas is only 200 miles wide north
and south, and extending nearly 900 miles to
Z fI,.aS ap,if nf he Mountains
yond that to the shores of the Pacific he VIII
find that there is territory enough TO make siN
States as large as Pennsylvania With NIL
norty of free men upon the plains of Kansas,
and it Slave State, will thank any man to
tell me how he is going to save the second the
third or fouth, each one further and further
out of your reach-cach with one more Slave
State intervening. Is the thing possible Is
| it not palpable that if we lose the State OF
| Kansas we lose that entire body of States at
| the Pacific Ocean, and when we have lost
them and have thus isolated the territory OF
New Mexico, which lies below, will any re-
| fecting man tell me how much of New MeXi-
| CO we will get Will he tell me how this is TO
| be had !! VIII he tell me that sufficient num-
| bcrs can be got there through the Slave States
| to prevail against the violence and force which
the latter will bring to sHbdue 1t MOI they
will all be lost, and this entire Territory VIII
| be handed over TO Slavery. Hear! heart j
| This half of a continent is all lost to the north
| and to Freedom. This is a momentous ques-
tion in many respects. Let me direct your at
| tention to a few of them. These Northern
| States NAV be likened TO a tub under a foun-
| tain, all the time boiling over with surplus
population, and streaming over the vast W est
| and hunting homes in that fair territory-a
| constant stream of surplus population running
| westward like a vast river, which, were 1t con-
| ccntrated, would build up new State every
| FIVE or six years. viii any man deny that
| slave labor and free white labor cannot exist
| together 1t is proposition admitted by ev-
! crybody, that where one is the other cannot
| be. Well, then, suppose you dedicate one
| half of this continent to negro and to slave Ia
| Dor. Won shut off the entire stream of Nor
thern emigration-you shut the gates OF the
| whole vast West, Kansas, Dcseret, and New
| Mexico to the North, and turn back this hu-
man tide TO throw itself upon the States OF the
| North and the Northwest. II you deny this
| great territory to the free laborlnS man, You
| say that to him the gates shall be closed for
| ever, and all of ii dedicated TO the negro, and
| not to the white man. Have the laboTlnS men
of the North considered the import of this
| question to them-the drdvman, the holman,
! the mechanic, the day-laborer7 Every man
who earns his bread by the sweat OF his brow,
| or who by the changes of fortune may be COM
| pelled to do So-every man who expects to
| leave posterity to find homes in this coun-
| try, has deep interest in 1t. Let us Illus
! trate this by the Northwest Territory Sup
|
ago, instead of now. Suppose the gates Of
! that territory had been shut against free white
! emigration, and all that great Territory had
been dedicated to negroes; suppose the white
laborers had been shut away. and tce millions
| Of people who now swarm over the w est We're
| all turned back upon these, what would be the
fate of the laborcr2 This is not matter to
dispute about it has been demonstrated in
! Ireland and in China and the result will be
the same here and everywhere When you
refuse TO let the free white laborers Of the
| country go West to make themselves a home,
and lay the foundation of homes for their chill
dren, You refuse to let him better his own con-
dition, or the condition Of those he leaves be-
| hind Our laborers go West, and thus the
walks of labor at home are prevented from the
surplus which reduces to starvation. But sup
pose you throw back this vast tide of cmgra-
tion. and refuse to let the free laboTcrs occu-
py this soil, what then can they hope All
the walks of labor at home are filled and filed
again, until they are choked up-thc wages OF
the laborer decrease in proportion, until at
last the immense mass of honest labor becomes
one vast body of degradation, poverty, igno-
rance and crime. That's true.I Ihis IS not
problematical. 1t has been clearly demonstra-
ted in the history of the world again and agoln.
Look at Ireland where a few years ago Inc
walks of labor were chokcd up, and the supply
was greater than the demand, till an able-bod-
led, intelligent man could earn barely enough
: to keep body and soul together, and five OF
i six pounds was the price for years labor
! what was the cause Just precisely what il
| would be in the case / have supposed. The
supply choked the demand till the price OF la
Dor was reduced to almost nothing. AYoice-
Ten-cont Jimmy Laughter did not hear
the remarks of my friend. [s'Ten cents a
day." Renewed laughter and applause. ] Five
or six pounds for the labor of an intelligent,
| able bodied man for a year-and YOU see the