The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-29

uon w mat sentiment IS this to hear ut.
tered in the councils of this Democratic Re-
public The Senator's political associates, who
listen to these words which brand hundreds of
thousands of the men they represent in the free
States, and hundreds of their neiphbors and
personal friends, as +" slaves" have found no
words to repel or rebuke this language. This
language of scorn and contempt ia addressed
to Senators who were not nursed by slave ::
whose lot it was to toll with their own hands
to eat bread earned, not by the sweat of anoth.
er's brow, but by their own. Sir, am the son of
q hireling manual laborer," who. with the
fros's OF seventy winters on his brow, Olives by
daily labor /, too, have lived by daily labor.
1, too, have been "hireling manual laborer. y
Poverty cast It's dark and chilling shadow over
the nome OF my childhood, and want was there
somenmes--an unbidden guest. At the age of
keeping the gaunt spectre from the hearth of
the mother who bore mel left the home of
my boyhood, and went to earn NV bread by
daily labor" Many weary mile have
travelled, :.
~ TO beg brother of the earth
TO give me leave to TOLL"
Sir, L have toiled as "hireling manual Ia
borer in the field and in the workshop and
tell the Senator from South Carolina that
never felt CALLED by my degradation" No,
sr-never Perhaps the Senator who repre-
SCENTS that "other class, which leads progress,
civilization, and refinement" will ascribe this
to obtuseness of intellect and blunted sensibili.
ties of the heart Sir, was conscious of nv
manhood l was the peer of my employer
knew that the laws and institutions of nv ma.
tive and adopted States threw over him and me
alike the panoply of equality knew, too, that
the world was before me, that its wealth, its
garnered treasures of knowledge, its honors,
the coveted prizes of life, were within the grasp
of a brave heart and a tireless hand, and / &C.
cepted the responsibilities Of my position, all
unconscious that was a slaven have EN-.
ployed others, hundreds of "hireling manual
laborers." Some of them then possessed, and
now possess, more property than ever owned !;
some of them were better educated than nv.
self-yes, sir, better educated, and better read
too, than some Senators on this floor and
many OF them, in moral excellence and purity
OF character, could not but feel, were my su-
periors.
l have occupied, Mr.. President, for more
than thirty years, the relation of employer or
employed and while never felt CALLED by
my degradation in the one case, in the other
was never conscious that my "hireling labor
ers were my interiors. That man is snob"
who boasts of being "hireling laborer," or
who is ashamed of being "hireiing laborer: :"
that man is a snob" who feels any inferiority
to any man, because he is "hireling laborer,"
or who assumes any superiority over others be-
cause be is an employer. Honest labor is hon.
orable and the man who is ashamed that he
is or was "hireling lsborer" has not manhood
enough to " feel CALLED by his degradation"
Having occupied, Mr.. President, the relation
of either employed or employer for the third of
a century; having lived in Commonwealth
rHaRa fha IL
are "the depositaries of political power :" hav.
ing associated with this class in all the relations
OF life, tell the Senator from South Carolina,
and the class he represents, that he libels,
grossly hbels them, when he declares that they
are essentially slaves !" There can be found
nowhere In America O class of men more
proudly conscious or tenacious of their rights.
Friends and foes have ever found them
stubborn race fearing and aaitering none"
But the Senator from South Carolina tells us,
that 1T the hireling laborers knew the "tremen-
dous secret" of the ballot box, our 4" society
would be reconstructed, our Government over.
thrown, and our property divided" Does not
the Senator know that an immense majority
OF the hirehng class of manual laborers" of
New EAgland possess property? Does he not
know that the man who has accumulated few
hundred dollars by his own toll, by the savings
of years, who has a family growing up around
him, upon which his hopes are centered, is a
conservative Does not the Senator know
that he watches the appropriation bills in the
meetings of those little democracies the towns,
as narrowly as the Representative from Ten.
nessee, in the other House, GEORGE w. JOKES
watches the money bills on the private calen.
darr l live, Mr.. President, in a small town of
i've thousand inhabitants. Nearly half of the
population are employed as operatives and
mechanics, for the manufacture of shoes for the
Western and Southern markets In 1910. we
had thirteen hundred inhabitants, and the prop
erty valuation was about three hundred thou.
sand dollars. Last May we had fourteen hun
dred names on our pol-list, two-thirds of them
hireling mechanics" and a property valua-
ton of over two millions Of dollars Those
hireling laborers," on town-meeting DAYS,
make the appropriations for schools, for roads,
and for all other purposes. Do they not know
the tremendous secret Of the ballot box 2"
Have they proposed to divide the property they
themselves created2 No sir, mol But will
tell the Senator what they have done. Since
1850, they have built seven new school houses,
with all the modern improvements, and at an
expense of about forty thousand dollars. one
house costing more than fourteen thousand.
They have established high school, where
the most advanced scholars of the common
schools are fitted for admission to the colleges.
or for the professions, the business, and the
duties OF life; they have established a town
library, freely accessible to all the inhabitants.
containing the choicest works Of authors of the
Old World and the New, of ancient and mod.
ern times. The poorest "hireling manual la.
borer," without coat, can take from that library
to his home the works of the master minds,
and hold communion with
The dsod b,t ii -. -.
Our spirits fIom their urns'
The Senator tells US, Mr.. President. that their
slaves are we'll Compensated" South Caro-
lima slaves we'll Compensated" Why, sir.
the Senator himself in q speech made at home.
for home consumption, entered into an estimate
to show that field hand could be supported
for from eighteen to nineteen dollars per an.
mum" on the rice and cotton plantations. He
states the quantity of corn and bacon and salt
necessary to support the "well.compensated"
slave. And this man, supported by eighteen
dollars per annnm, with the privilege of being
logged at discretion, and having his wife or
children sold from him at the necessity or will
of his master, the Senator from South Carolina
informs the Senate Of the United States is "well
Compensated" Sir, there ia not a poor. house
in the free States, where there would not be a
rebellion in. three days, if the inmates were
compelled to subsist on the quantity and quail
ity of food the Senator estimates as ample
" compensation" for the labor of a slave in
South Carolina.
Turning from his I" well compensate" slaves.
the Senator tells US that our "hireling labor. |
ers," our mud sills," are scantiy " compen |
sated." Mr.. Clingman, of North Carolina, in
urging the establishment of cotton manufac
torres IN the South, says the wages of labor at