The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-08-18
TERMS (s3RER AHsUG - NO Al

labor should be unfettered. where a class
should be specially favored, and where every
man should be required to earn his bread
by the sweat Of his own face.
When you exempt any species Of capital
from taxation, and impose all its legitimate
burdens on the residue Of the people, you
are not only guilty Of robbery 10 that ex-
tent, but you violate the very spirit and pur-
poses Of our government. And when Jon
20 stlll farther, as in this bill, and use the
machinery Of government to take money BY
millions from one portion, not for the use Of
the national treasury, but to put it by a
kind Of skillful hocus pocus into the Golfers
Of al already bloated and domiDeering Aris-
tocracy, you are guilty Of crime that Ian
guage fails sufficiently to characterize La
Dor, sir, should be protected in the right to
eat the bread earned with its own hands,
and the burdens of government should be
imposed rather upon the accumulated capt
ttal Of the country than upon the humble
pittance OF the toiling millions. ! say nov
deliberately, that 10 government deserves
to live that habitually and persistently dis
,, eliminates by legislation in favor Of the
wealthy and against the laboring classes,
and any government that deliberately, by
any system Of taxation, robs the toiling
masses to add to the already swollen boards
OF the rich deserves the execration Of man
kind, Ii is TO the industrial classes that we
owe sverything that makes US most proud Of
our country. II Is upon them you must rely
for your armies 1t is there alone that the
great fouL ain Of virtue and patriotism Il
found uncontaminated and uDcorrupted. Ii
is the strong arm Of the laborer that has es-
tablished the greatness, the glory, and the
prowess of our country. They, sir, have
built your magnificent navies, YOUR imperial
cities, your towns, your churches, your rail-
roads, your telegraphs everything, sir, that
gives to us grandeur and prosperity. They
have hewn down the primeval forests anu
made shis land an Eden for the habitatio- Of
man.
If by some sad fatality every banker,
every great bondholder, every capitalist in
the land should in one moment be stricken
with death, We would still remain a great
and powerful nation. But, sir, II the arm
Of the laborsr should be paralyzed, if for
one gle year thes mechanic should cease
from his lsbors, The farmer should abandon
his fields, aud the laborer refn e his a~cus-
toned toll If The sound of the hammer, the
harsh music Of the saw, and the voice OF the
plowman should be heard no more, where,
then, would be the grandeur, glory and
prowess Of our countryf Your ships would
rot at your lifeless wharves; your cities
would be inhabited BY bats and owls, and
desolation and death would reign supreme
where now we still have lfe and hope and
prosperity.
If by the juggleIy of legislation, by OPP
pressive taxation, you rob the laborer Of the
fruit of his toll, reduce him to the barest
necessaries Of life, clothe his family in rags
and wretchedness, rob him Of al time for
mental culture and social enjoyment, you
thereby break his spirit and eventually ruin
the whole country. And the fact that yoG
have scattered over the laad few men Of
immense and princely wealth will bring no
relief when that hour Of calamity arrives.
Sir, il we wish our country 10 remain ''greai,
glorious and Free" If We desire to transmit
free Institutions to those who shall come
after rs, the Industrial classes must be pro-
tected from Unnecessary and oppressive
burdens.
'-Pdnces and lords may aour.sh. or may fAls,
A breath can make them = breath has made.
Bus a bold Seaaanfry, their e0unsry's pride,
When once destroyed, can never 10 snppliedD
Inis may oe called al cIptdHdAm, Out,
sir, insist that il is founded on the truest
philosophy Of government and Of man. The
industrial classes are not only the most me-
eessary aGd indispensable to society, but
they are in the main the most patriotic and
deserving. And, sir, l say solemnly, q
curse, Q thousand curses ON all legislation
that would plsce upon them any burden not
absolutely necessary TO the proper admins
tration Of the government
"fhs noblest mcn know on earth,
Are mcn whose hands are brown with toll,
Who. backed hJ ancestral Eravra
Hew down the woods and TIL the soil.
And win thereby prouder fAms
Than follows kings warriors name
"God bless the noble workingmen
Who the cities Of the blaln
Who dig the minss and build the ships,
And drive the commerce OF the main;
God bless them, for their swarthy hands
Have wrought the glory OF all lands =