Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1858-06-18
Senator Cameron's Speech.

ton in the Senate, two or three days since,
is one Of the most remarkable and forcible
we have ever seen in the proceedings oi
that body. 1t is,in few words, most ad.
mirably condensed and scutentious en-
bodiment of the food of thoughts which
the great question it refers to presses up.
on US now. 1t is q speech which tens Of
thousands can and will read, aud the emi.
nent speaker we'll said, at its close, that
he was speaking to the petitioners and
their associates, and speaking for them in
so doing. This pithy and conclusive en-.
forcement of the duty of the unfortunate
workers in coal and iron to consider the
question of political direction at the polls
and not in vain petitions, will have more
weight with those to whom it is es-
pecially addressed than any former argu-
ment emanating from the House or Sen
ate.-Ihiiad. North Imerican.
Mr.. CAMERON said
am requested to present a petition,
signed by large number Of laboring
men, engaged in the manufacture Of iron,
in Pennsylvania. | receive great many
letters, daily, from persons Of this class,
and will say here, what will save me
the trouble Of writing great many let.
ters. They think the Congress Of the
United States can relieve them from all
their troubles. There never has been o
time in the history Of the iron business Of
Pennsylvania, when there was SO much
real distress among the laboring men of
my State-the men who do the work, the
men who 60 to the forge before daylight,
and remain there long after the moon has
risen-than there is at present. 1t is not
a complaint now on the part of the capita
list. Men of e.pi'al, men Of fortune, can
take care of themselves. Capital can al
ways take care of itself labor, poverty,
indigence and want, always need sympa-
thy and protection.
These persons reside in the town of
Norristown, on the Schuylkiil river, some
twenty miles above Philadelphia. The
river Schuylkill is traversed, on both
sides, by railroad, one extending some
twenty or thirty miles, another one hun
dred miles. On the one side of the river
is q canal. all these works have been
made for the purpose Of conveying coal
and iron to the place of manufacture and
sale. The county of Schuylkill, the great
coal deposit of Pennsylvania, has popu-
lation of some $4,000 or 10000 people,
which has grown up within the last twen-
ty five years.
At this time the whole laboring popu.
lation engaged in the iron and coal busi-
ness, of the whole country extending from
Philadelphia to the mountains of Schuyl-
kill county, are idle; boats are tied up ;
locomotives are, in great measure, stand
ing still, and laborers are running about
hunting employment and hunting food.
These are the persons who complain;
they think that Congress can relieve them.
l have told them, and 1 have written to
thom, that they have the power in their
own hands.
The laboring men of this country arc
powerful for good always. They do con.
troll when they think proper, and think
the time is coming VIXEN they will control
the politics Of this country. tell them
that before they can get common protect
ing they must change the n,yority in the
!Senate-they must change The majority Of
the other House of Congress; and, aJore
all, they must change the occupant of the
White House, who is the dispenser Of the
power which controls the legislation Of
this country. In place of gentlemen who
sueer when We talk about protection, they
must send men here who know something
of the wants, something of the interests,
of the usefulness of the labor
ing man.
Hitherto, they have not acted as if
they cared for their own interests. While
they talked about tariff which would
guard their labor from competition with
the pauper labor of Europe, they would
60 to the elections under some ward lead
er and vote for men to represent them,
here and elsewhere, who cared only for
party drill, and who had no interest above
party success. This system they must
change, If they hope for success. l think
the laboripg men Of Pennsylvania, at
least, are now beginning to put their own
shoulders to the wheel, and believe they
will make such noise in next October as
will alarm the gentleman all over the
country who laugh at them.
The canals, railroads, and mining oper.
atoms Of this region Of country, have cost
more than hundred millions of dollars
the furnaces and other works connected
with the manufacture of iron, an enor-
nous sum. The people interested in the
iron and coal business, directly or indi-
rectly, along the valley Of the Schuylkill,
amount to more than three hundred thou.
sand souls. Since 1855, there has been
blight upon the business, growing out of