Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1862-05-13
SPEECH OF JOHN WENTWORTH,
IL FAVOR OF
The New State Consultation.

| "ohoayb March "a, 1867.
The convention met at O'Clock. A. NJ.
Prayer by Rev. Mr.. Clover.
MIR. Pleasants presented minority re-
port from the fioancs committee, which wa.
| Incorporated into the journal without beint
read.
After which, Mr.. Thornton raid Tn,
| convention having concluded its labors
and adopted new constitution, which ba,
bean by our votes submitted to the peop,,
for adoption or rejection, and one which
not only trust, but confidently believe, will
receive the sanction Of the people. and on,
which MINK secures The rights and give.
exact justice to all. and preserves the right.
OF the State government and every citizen
OF that State, l therefore mOse now tina,
this convention adjourn sine die.
Ma. WFNTwoRTH-Before the motion is
put wish to say that am one of the few
who came to this cnnve ation upon the 30.
called union ticket, pledged to ignotn all
party issues. and to do all could to make
a constitution, under which the people.
without distinction of party. could live to
the best advantage. The great object of
oil constitutions is TO secure the rights Of
minorities. The majority can always take
care Of ITSELF MinoTities must have their
protection in a constitution or nowhere
During my time in this convention, l have
endeavored to look upon each party in this
country as a minority-to have the consti.
tuition so arranged that it would be out Of
my power to Cypress an opponent were ]
in majority, and so that ny opponents
could not Cypress me were | in a minority.
The most important thing at this time,
when our country has been driven almost
TO bankruptcy by paying the expenses of
this unholy and wicked war upon the union
Of these United States, is the subject Ct
taxation. Whatever we may say about the
expense, right or wrong, it has got to be
paid. i am in no sense Of the word a re-
pudiator. 1 consider that nv property.
my blood, and my life, and that Of nv chill.
dren, all are pledged to pay the honest
debts contracted by even the school dis
trict, by the town, by the city, by the coun
~, by the State and by the nation in which
l live. Thus looking upon the matter. l
have ever deemed it nv duty to make war,
from the start, against contracting debts.
knowing that after they were made there
was no remedy. Hence, | have been ore
o! those who have BEEN, perhaps, more ul-
ira than any others in putting up the bars
against all sorts Of corrupt legislation.
have not been one Of those who have been
willing to trust the legislature upon all &C.
casions, and there is one reason that has
never been submitted to the convention, in
reference to wrong legislative action. 1t
has escaped my memory on several occa-
siOns, when i meant ID have presented il.
Members are elected to the legislature upon
a single issue. There is one question that
eats up all others. and every time an clec>
tiOa fer United States Senator comes round
every one known that question swallows up
everything else. If man is sound upon
that great question-however wrong, how
ever rotten be may have been upon other
issues-if he is the strongest man upon
that great issue. he il very apt to be the
man that is chosen. Men invariably come
here upon a single issue. We have been
making a constitution for all such men,
when they come here upon this issue, and
it has been my object to III, the bars NJ,
50 that the people and their treasury sho'd
always be safe. Two years ago, had the
| issue been presented, with reference to the
damnabie legislation Of the last regular
session, not enc out Of ten Of those men
would have been elected to seats bere.-
They were elected upon other issues but
we have put mp the bare so effectualy that
bereHfter even Those very men are harmless
should they ever come here again. We
have on this occasion remembered that we
have got an immense national debt 10 paw.
The two mill tax alIne will sustain this
convention. / know men now who are &C.
tive In opposing the constitution who have
been buying up our Illinois State bonds,
and they intend to come here te1t January
and present their bends for payment, aud
sue out q mdHddmus from our supreme
court ADD make our State raise tina: two
mill tax to pay them. This is one IF the
most alarming things to be presented to
the people, and they can only keep it of by
adopting this constitution. Aside from
the two mill tax we have so economical
our expenditures that we save more than
one mill, and when a man votes for this
constitution, lie votes to take three mills of
his tax
There is another clause in this constitu-
ton which will and should justly make
every laborer in our State support it,
Her etUfoTe, contractors upon public works
have been enable to secure themselves, aud
to cheat the poor labUrers out Of their hard
earnings but by the present constitution
every laborer in the State of Illinois has a
lien for bis wages, and cannot be cheated
out of them by the contractor. We have
also secured to every man a piece of q
home, and hereafter we need not raise the
issue Of land for the landIess. Every man,
rich or poor, will be an independent citi-
zen, and can defy the great mass Of cp
pressprs, whose character is written 10 the
great mass Of the legislation Of the last
regular session Of our legislature.
We have secured to the ladies Of the com
munity the light TO their own earnings,
aud in this we have done an act of beneyo-
lebce aud charity that ou.does any c0nsti-
tuition in the United States. Then, again.
when q man has little property, and none
but daughters TO inherit it, he need not 20
to the trouble to make his deed or will Of
trust. This constitution has made il for
him. 1t goes to his daughter beyond the
reach Of drunken and gambling husband
1t Is hers for ihe good of her Children, for
the good Of her husband, and for the good
Of the community.
We have also protected ourselves from
that gang of lazaroni, who hang around
your capitol every winter, in the shape Of
lobby agents. Your constitution says
there shall be no more special Legislation,
and would advise delegates to take the
book containing the laws of lS57-that big
volume OF statutes-and hold it up to the
people. That will speak in thunder tines.
There is not money enough in the State to
buy q volume oe the lass Of 1857 which
have in my possession; fear the wild cat
bankers will destroy them all.
And then again this constitution says
that every bill introduced into the legisla-
ture must be read three times on three DIFF
ferent days before it can be passed, and
before its final passage, and after the last
amendment is made. shall be printed
That of itself is enough to save the consti
tuition. | have looked upon taxation az
only aEother name for con6scaiion. / be-
lieve no man has right to take another
mans property except necessity requires
it, that necessity is only required by the
inevitable wants Of an honest governmeB,
] have ever believed that the peoples
=, L.