Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-11-06
MASS MEETING 1T PiTTsBURG.
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR SEYMOUR.
PTrTsBURG, October %.

IITTSBURG, october 2S.
An immense meeting was held here to-
night. Hon. Edgar Cowan presiding
Governor Seymour was received with great
enthusiasm, and spoke as follows
wish I had the voice to speak to YOU
tonight, for there is much l wish to say.
l intended to address myself on this occa-
SION to the business men and the laboring
men OF the city. / think there are some
evils in the conduct Of our Government
| which concerns them. ! think the pros
perity of your great city is retarded by
| maladmi uis.ration of public affairs
Cheers. Let me say one word to those
labcring men within The sound OF my voice
ia voice, "They all want to see you. u
| What is tie meaning of this taxation which
| rests on you. If thero WAS no such thing
as taxation, direct or indirect, six hours Of
| toll would give to 4 man as good support
| as Le now obtains from ten hours toll.
| believe il would give him better support
Remember that you pay the Government
more IN the price which you give for every
article which you buy than you hand Gi-
| rectly to the tax-gatherer. Remember that
| before you give your family their food, and
| before you give them their clothing, you
are heavily taxed in tho price you pay for
these articles. Do not forget this in con
sidering the effects of heavy taxation upon
you. Now, suppose the mechanics oi
Pittsburg paid no taxation. Suppose they
bought all things at first cost, relieved from
any kind Of taxation On the part of your
| Government. When you had worked Six
| hours you could throw down your sledge-
| hammer and your saw, and say, now we
| can go home or, if we wish to prolopg our
| toll, we will lay up the accumulation Of
| what we earn for future day. But when
| you are ready to go, man comes up and
| lays his hand on your shoulder and says
"Stop; you are bound to support yOur
Government. That is true you ought to
go back then, and work, think, one hour
and no more than one hour, to pay your
share OF taxation. You then prepare to
leave the work, ''sharp" again. You are
called back and told that You ought to pay
your share of public debt. That is true !;
you ought to do SO, and so you go back
and work cheerfully for two hours beyond
the time it is necessary to work to support
yourselves, for these objects. You then
say, having toiled for eight hours : II will
go home to my family [ will improve my
mind ; l will pass my time as my interest
and as my pleasure dictates - but the Of
fetal again says, you must work two hours
day mere, because under this Government
there are sixty thousand officials to besup
ported. The records show you that this is
true. You must work two hours more be-
cause those who control affairs at Wash
iugton had seen fit to give the south, not
the ancient government, but government
of armies, which you must support. You
mechanics of Plttsburg mus5 continue your
hours of toll to carry out policy which is
unconstitutional and uni ust. Cheers j.
Remember, men who hear me, that the
injustice of this policy does not fall alone
upon the poor and impoverished south
It falls on you-study it out it may come
in subtle FORMS but / tell you it is the un-
wise, unjust and unreasonable taxation,
which is tho result Of the policy of our
rulers, that lengthens out your hours of
toll. You remember the time was when
you did not know what Government off
GERS were, unless, perhaps, it was post
master. Now they surround you wherever
you go they find you out in every corner
of the land. The structure of our govern
ment has been changed by the oppressive
system of taxation, growing out Of the
wanton waste Of the public money, and
springing from the disregard of constitu-
tional obligations. You want your en-
ployer to prosper you want the manufac-
ture Of iron and glass to bo carried on with
such success that there may be demand
employers, if there arc any here tonight,
although they may differ with mo in polit-
ical opinions, what is it that disturbs you
i'll your business pursuits You want GER
tainty Of legislation. Has there been cor-
tainty of legislation with regard to tariff ?
Has there been certainty OflegislatiOn with
regard to currency Have you the mar
kets which you once had Does not every
intelligent manufactures Of this thriving
city know that fox the last two or three
years he has been constantly perpleXcd IL
his business affairs, and in his calculations
as to what he should do in the future, by
the uncertainty Of the action Of tho party
in power l never met Il manufacturer,
whatever li5 political views might be, who
was satisfied with the conduct of the men
in power
What are You called upon to do in this
election Ii you vote tho Republican
ticket you say that their policy has been
right You encourage them to &c on
They will point to the result Of that cleo
tion as proof that the public will is with
them. How IS it with your laboring men?
How is il wish your employers and enter
prising manufacturers Of this city ? II
you see fit to elect the Republican ticket
you say that that policy has been right. |
appeal to you in your own interests wheth-
er you can afford to say that this country
has been wisely and we'll governed during
the past four years. Cries OF No, no. y
Now, the evil in this country is that It's
burdens arc not put on equality. Another
evil in this election is that the public
mind has been turned away from the great
questions which should concern it. When
we wish to talk with Our Republican
friends about our own business interests Of
the North, they refuse to listen to us, and
attempt to direct the attention Of the peo-
pie to what they allege to be disorder and
violence at the South. Read a Republican
paper. Its columns are filled with The
charge that life is unsafe at The South
Why is this ? When they put forth the
resolutions of their Convention. they con-
graduated you that reconstruction was
success. / will tell you. When you go to
the city of New York, on just such an eve
ming as this, with the moon shining
brightly in the heavens, and walk down
Broadway, its principal street, you will
sometimes find a man there with tele-
scope, who proposes to give you a view
through it of that distant orb. When you