Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-05-07
Legislative Eloquence-Speech of the
Gihtleman from ManitOwoc" on the
Harbor Biz.

Legislative Eloquence-Speech of IS the
Gintleman from ManitOw0c" on the
Harbor Biz.
There Was good deal of sport, just at
the close of the late session of tue Legs
lature, over bill providing for special
tax in Manitowcc county for the purpose
of improving the Harbor at the village of
Manitowoc Mr.. RAND of the Assembly.
who represented the district in which the
village of Manitowoc is situated, and Mr..
Villas the Senator from that county, favor
ed the bill. Messrs. SHANAHAN and Ca
HILL, who represented the two country
districts, were violently opposed to it.
The latter gentlemen were of the Hiber-
MAN persuasion, and evidently elected
more on account of the ardor of their at
tachment to the Democratic party, than
because of any special qualification for
legislative duties. Both had very strongly
marked Milesian features, and used the
richest quality of the I" rich Irish brogue."
Whenever the Manitowoc Harbor bill came
up they were in the widest excitement.
A few days before the close of the session,
when the bill was ready for third reading
each addressed the House with fervor
that atoned for all shortcomings OF Ian
guage or logic, and the bill, in an uproar
OF mirth, was indefinitely postponed.
On the day prior to the final adjourn
ment, all business having been concluded
except the reception of the reports of the
committee on enrolled bills and messages
from the Governor, and the two houses
having taken an informal recess, some of
the ways. mindful of the fact that it was
the LIST day of April, pretended to call up
the Manitowoc hsrbor bill. The two
Houses were declared to be in joint con-
vention. and certain members avowed
purpose of putting the bill through under
suspension of the rules, unless the two
''gintlemen" aforesaid, could show by
good and conclusive reasons that it ought
not to pass. Thus appealed to, the rural
members from Manitowoc, supposing the
proceedings were in dead and direful earn
est, proceeded in the most impassioned
and excited manner, one after the other,
to address the House, and to respond to
the questions and arguments of members
who affected to be opposed to them. The
whole atfair was one of the most amusing
ever witnessed in legislative halls, and
could only be adequately described by the
author of Handy Andy. Some one, how
ever, has succeeded III writing out the
speech of one Of the Manitowoc mem bers,
and has very happily preserved in it some
thing of the spirit of the occasion. If it
is not verbatim report, it gives with suf.
ficient accuracy, the general tenor Of his
remarks. Here it is:
GintSenaen 1t is not me habit to spake
in public, but shure 1 can not how'd me
tongue when see the interest of meseit
and me neighbors underminin'. l can not
how'd me tongue when l see such an out
rageous bill 80 Manitowoc harbor goin'
to pass. can not how'd me tongue when
l see money goin' to be stole trum the
poor farrumers of me District who hasn't q
clint in the world. No sir; I can't how'd
it, nor / won't how'd it. The dimycratic
voters of Manitowoc county sent me here
to represent them and their principles, and
if did not do it now, they would say
was afeared to open me mouth. A man
who knows the djmycratic principles is
not afeared to tell them. 1t is not a dimy-
cratic principle to bring a harbor into
Manitowoc. 1t is not dimycratic prin-
ciple to take the last busbel of whate from
a poor man who maybe wants it for coat
on his back. 1t is not dimycratic prin-
ciple for the farrumers of me District and
their little childer to 60 naked, which will
shurely happen if the harbor passes. Divil
a stitch they have on them now, and would
you strip them intirelys
Would you take the last bit of bread out
of their hungry bellies and put it in the
mouth of the harbor9 Would you take
the blue Jean rags from their sunburnt
backs and stuff them in the pockets of gov
eminent contractors! Obi me friends,
there's enough of that work goin' on in
Washington, where one nagur is thought
more of than all the white men and Irish
| men put together! Oh! that I didn't fall
| a prey to the Irish famine before [ came
to this country to be rowled in the gutther
| by a parcel of black divils! Oh! that
ever me father reared me to be brought
on level with the dirty nagurs! Oh
| that ever me mother bore me to mate with
such disgrace in Americai
But shure nayther me katherine mother
was republican, and it is not right to
blame thin with the acts of the Admins.
| tration. Divil blow ovid Lincoln and the
| first day he ever came across US. While
| he was splittin' rails, we were enioyin'
pace and prosperity and if we but sowld
| dozen of eggs or pound of butther i'll
| Manitowoc, we got store pay for it. While
he was mindin' his own business we did
| not know in which direction either North
or South was, and wouldn't yet if the
| dimycrats was in power. If the dimycrats
was in power, We wouldn't know the diff
| ference between harbor and stovepipe,
| for de ye see, such things are not in the
platform and how the divil djmycrat
like Mr.. Rand or Mr.. Villas, got how'll
OF it passes me comprehension intirely.
Me honorable colleague, Mr.. Cahill, tells
me that no man who is a dimycrst can be
in favor of putin such heavy load as a
Harbor on the poor farmers of Manitowoc
county. he also tells me that nathur Mr..
Rand nor Mr.. Villas love the dimycratic
principles SO we'll as they do the maxim of
money, and be me sowl believe it. You
see, one is a merchant and the other is a
shipbulGer, and it's the aisiest thing in
the world for them to get bit OF the