The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-09-08
, The Voice Of Labor !
Speech Of ofTraveIick, the Mich
igan Mechanic.
"PRINCIPLEs, NOT MEN"
synopsis of a speech delivered before 400
Working men at Jeffersonville, La, by
~ Richard Travelick of Michigan

4
/, synopsis Of a speech delivered before 400
Working men at Jeffersonville, La, by
~ Richard Travelick Of Michigan.l
!; He commenced by declaring the pres
ent condition of affairs the result OF nat
ural law, and proposed to investigat,
from a workingman's standpoint. The
workiugmen were the producers of nat
ural wealth; they were the nations de
Tenders, and they would rule the nation
They had little to do with Grant anC
Colfax or Seymour and Blair; principles
not men, were with them the first con
sideration. They demanded that every
lrod of American soil should be held by
the actual settler, and that no corpora
ton should take it from the poor; that
every species Of property known to the
Government should bear the exact pro.
lportion of the burdens of the Govern
ment; that whatever species Of money
should be paid the toiler for his or her
labor should be paid the bondholder and
the banker. When the Government
held the right to draft the farmer, the
mechanic and the laborer, it should also
take the property of the nation for its de-
fence. Money was the secondary con-
sideration. The government that taxed
life and not property was not Demo
cratic government.
Up. to the time of the invasion of
William the Conqueror, the lands of
England had been held in common by
the people. That monarch dispessessed
the actual owners, drove them away,
and divided their lands among his Bar
ons and retainers; and since that time
the sword had never been sheathed, and
never could be so long as the lands be-
longing to the people were held by a
few. 1t was for the execution of the
great law of Jehovah, the breaking of
which must always be followed by ehas-
tisement.
Why did those who had received their
breath beyond the Atlantic's swelling
billows come to this countryi Was it
because they did not love their native
landi Was it not because they had
been robbed of their Inheritance and
driven from homei Nothing could re-
store that inheritance but the sword.
The revolution must come unless 1t
could be averted in accordance with
Gods laws.
Why was it that the same state of
things did not exist in American By
wise legislation whined some. No; this
was not it, for our Congress could steal
more of the peoples inheritance than all
England.
There was something wrong here. In
his own State 100000 acres of land had
been given to companies and exempted
from taxes five years by the Legislature,
and that body was called intelligent.
There was proposition to cut the Sault
canal, and that Legislature had given
two millions of the peoples inheritance
to one company. There was Demo
ocratic party and a Republican party;
but there was another party-a party to
buy men-the lobbyists.
The war was gone now, and we said
to the offender, Come, let us reason to-
gether." You men from the Southern
States, you men from the Northwest,
you men from the North and the East,
we will say to you as brothers, we no
longer wish to trample you in the dust
Let us join hands and go and live under
one broad banner. Como, let us go to-
gether.
In all tho great hatDUr or New TuIh
last month, only one ship was building
Forty thousand men In Maine had been
idle two years. For seven months q
hundred thousand were idle there, and
yet we are told to hurrah for the good
government. 1t might be fun for the
banker and broker, but it was death to
those who were compelled to work for
bread. How was it with our merchant
mariner In 1850 it was six per cent.
larger than that of Great Britain; to-
day it was not rs large by 40 per cent.
Where was our magnificent shipping :
Rotting at the wharvcs, and our me-
chanics asking food at the soup tables.
Moro had been fed last winter Ut the soup
tables than had been fed in that way in
the last seventeen years throughout the
continent of Europe. And yet this was
"a great and good government.
In 1860 the cost of building ship did
not exceed $50 per ton; to-day q ship
could not be built at less than Sl35 per
ton. Was it the ship. carpenters, the
caulkers and the builders who made
this difference In every ship there
was iron. Now the revenue man went
to the poor fellow who raised the ore,
and said there must be a stamp on that;
the next made the iron ore into pig
there must be a stamp on that; the pig
was made into bolt-that must have
stamp; the bolt is sold by the whole
sale merchant, whe pays tax; it is
driven into q steamboat-therew WAS an
other stamp; then there was the income
tax. These items made the difference:
There were now sixteen lines OF
ocean steamers; did we see single
American flag floating from tbem' We
all paid John Bull for carrying our
letters, aud our men were begging for
days work, asking their fellow-worms
for q chance to earn their bread. And
this was our glorious Government.
There were thirty-six thousand in
ternal revenue collectors necessary to
keep up the voting strength of politi-
cal party; and every year eighteen mil
lions seven hundred and sixty-tiye
thousand dollars was taken from the
pockets of the workingmen, and all
this in o "good" government.
We could pay the debt and. never tax
the people one cent. The workingmen
I proposed to pay this debt. They would
give the holder of Government securi-
ties the right to take 81 per cent. on the
bonds; and where could he do better !
Would England give him more than
I2si Would France give him more than
l2li Would he not come back, like a
La good boy, and take 3ii The debt
could be paid without robbing the peo-
pie, and one hundred cents on q dollar
could be paid to every man in the
Union. Mr.. Travelick concluded his
speech with the following Significant
words, and retired amid the widest
enthusiasm:
Fellow Democrats and fellow Repub'
tlicaus, let us unite and relieve thi'
people. When We met in Chicago w
asked the Republican Convention if il
would demand equal taxation of every
tspecies of property. 1t said no. Whel
we asked tor one currency for the whol'