Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1867-09-04

l ZeQS OF the OulIeQ states. Is Is IGllOW
{ members Of the Union. Are they goo
associates in a Federal Government
That is the question. And are they no
good fathers, husbands, brothers, farm
, ers, mechanics, merchants, &c. Nor d
we wish to know, when We discuss Fed
eral politics, whether their local govern
ments are good or not.
History is full of facts, explaining m,
meaning. Aristides was a good Atheni
an, and a good Greek, too. Particles
however, was a good Athenian, but
bad Grecian. Bismark is excellent as
Prussian, but pernicious as a German
And in the same way, I contend tha
the Yankees are too sharp to take cart
of themselves, to be good fellOW-State.
in a Federal Union.
The great men this Union has produe
ed also illustrate my meaning. New
England gave US the Adamses, Webster
and Chase. The Middle States gave us
Wright, of New York, Morris, Of Penn
sylvania and Seward, of New York. The
South gave US, before 1860, Washing
ton, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Cal
houn, Grundy, Taylor, Clay, Mcdowell
and Benton, and in our unhappy days,
Lee, Davis and Stonewall Jackson. |
leave to each of you to judge, whence
have come the best and the greatest num-
Der of the real friends Of our Union
Where is the Constitution the safest to-
day? In Richmond or in Boston p
Whose geographical tendencies endang-
er most this instrument of peace?
I am free to admit that the Middle
and Southern States as compared to New
England did not develop in their home
life as well as New England. Their
railroads, turnpikes, schools, colleges
and universities are not in as high a con-
dition, nor do they as fully supply all
parts of their area. l Iconcede, too, that
the Southern States and county govern
meuts had a rickety look about them,
and that lack Of energy was but too
visible in them. ! respect the Yankees
for the multiplication of their laboring
forces by machinery, and 1 have ever
held, and hold now, that a slave ma
chine made of wood and iron is far bet
ter than any human slave. 1 wish them
every success in this direction.
But here I must stop. [ will not 1
can not as a man, as father, as a cit
izen of Ohio, agree, that the taxating
power of General Governement shall be
used to give an advantage to the human
labor of New England, and still more
do I object, to giving any such privi-
Iege to the machine labor Of these States.
Every law favoring Yankee industry, as
they call it, subsidies besides 100000
Of laboring men and women, also a mil
lion of machine slaves as represented in
steam boilers, water-poWer, &c.
I have no wish and no right to inter
fere with the relations between the free
laborers of Few England and the stock
holders in their manufacturing corpora
tions, but they need not suppose that 1
do not know and understand, what an
in equality there is between a simple
laborer working for himself and having
none to help him, and the factory own
er, who enjoys the profits Of three ma
chine forces to one human force.
Political economy teaches as already
stated, that man who has only his own
labor to live from, can never rise to eO-
Joy certain comforts comprised in a high
civilization. Hence l know that the
great wealth of certain men in New Eng
land is the result of profit from many
human beings employed and Of threefold
in amount in machinery. To subject
myself and my fellOw-men to this spoli-
alton of New England, besides the Yam
kee men and women, and their machines,
as stated, would be not merely folly,
it would be a crime.
The Iaborers Of New England live in
New England. Their property, their
comfort, even their elegance is en-
hanced, by the incidental results Of
living among wealthy men. Their |
schools and higher seats Of learn
ing are improved by these droPpings |
from wealth and capital; but to US In the |
West this works entirely different. We
depend on our own labor, aided by i'm
migration and pasture. The latter are
our equivalents to New England machin-
cry and former Southern slaves. Shall
we be made to support ourselves and
New England capital besides-nOt New
England capital employed among US, but
capital residing abroad from US?
Our accumuIations now wander, through
tariff laws, eastward; our roads and
our schools and colleges,
our houses and furniture, arc not as good
as they might be, if we enjoyed our own
In this right? Yam
lee capital now has privileges which
give it an undue advantage over US
is to us a stepmother; to New
it IS a fOster-mOther Is this
air?
Let us test this by actualities
Here is my watch. It cost fifty dol
ars in Geneva, in gold. As good an
American watch as this, would cost me
lere one hundred and twenty dollars
Add to the price of my watch twenty
i've dollars, for difference in currency !,
md freight and charges, then fifteen dol
ars for profits, and it makes ninety dol
ars. There still remain thirty dollars.
Who gets the thirty dollars from him,
Who buys an American watch? The
Government? No! The New England ,
Here is a pocket-knire. It costs in
Germany forty cents. In the United
States it would cost one dollar. Add ,
hirty-fye cents for currency, profit, &c,
o the forty cents, and it still leaves the
fifty cents unexplained. Who gets this a