New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-22
GENERAL BUTLER IN THE FIELD
STIRRING UP MAEUrACTURERS
HIS SPEECH TO woRK1NGMEN

HIS SPEECH TO WoRK1NGMEN
at Lawrence, Massachusetts,. densel,
packed, to listen to one Of General Butler't
speeches. The Herald says:
Not solitary additional individual could
| have been squeezed in at the hour to which
the meeting had been called, any more than
could nine sardines be got into an eigh,
calibre box, and the Lawrence brass band
which busted itself in the interval of wait
ing with the performance of certain select
and popular airs, pot pou,ytes, ETC.. served
to attract outside the building at least a
thousand persons, beside the twenty.two
hundred that were in. The General an.
peared prompt on time. He was accom-
panied by Mayor William Fl. P. Wright,
and as he stepped upon the platform he was
greeted with an ovation OF cheers and an.
plause, and Z" Hail to the Chief" from the
band.
Mr.. William Wright. the president, when
quiet had ensued, introduced the orator a.
follows: Ladies' and sentiemen-I have the
pleasure of presenting to you one who needs
no formal Introduction to New England
audience-General Benjamin F. Butler, of
Lowell" The chairman then turned to the
General, who bowed and stepped forward to
the speakers stand, when the hall re-
sounded with cries. cheers and hurrahs.
Down front y yelled somebody in the rear,
although nobody to mention was standing 2
up. Hats off, The hall was close and the
atmosphere. therefore. not a little uncomfort-
able. and before beginning his grafton, the
General, as usual, found it necessary to have
recourse to that cambria wipe but he got
ready at length and proceeded with his
remarks:
Fellow-citizens-If there is any pressure
on the rear let the people come forward and
make everything as nice as they can. Just
step forward, please. Fellow-citizens, NAV
l ask you to bear with me few moments
and be as quiet as the state Of the hall will
allow, because. as You see. my voice is a
little affected by a cold that l caught
within few days among the hills of Berk-
shire and here the general repeated his
| stereOtyped observations with relation to
those mOmentous questions which are now
agitating the mind of the commonwealth
Now" said he. IL propose to present the
views which have fairly and fully laid be-
fore you. carefully and candidly addressing
| your judgment. rather than your passions,
for there is nothing to be gained with the
intelligent people of Massachusetts either
by misrepresentation. by lAisstatement or
by any address to the feelings, when they
|
you in somewhat peculiar circumstances. l
am candidate for office, heralded to YOU
| bv thousand ISLANDERS and million calu1A-
| MES. l have no fear Of them. | have lived
man and boy, in your neighborhood forty
years; and here | wish to spend very
! few moments in discussing these things.
| Elevated by a portion Of the people in
your county in my representative district
| to serve them in Congress three times over.
! l returned from my public duties to my
home and there have leisure to examine in
my vocation the statistics Of the census of the
United States. l found. to my astouish-
ment. in running over the census. that the
agricultural portion of the State had de-
creased in numbers. while the State had in
creased in numbers" and the General went
on TO tell what he knew about farming and
to show the causes of the decline. Now"
said he. Il have been called self-consti-
tuted candidate. l don't know why l was
not aware that l was a selt-constituted can
didate. Seltconstituted. I believe that is
the phrase. the Lawrence phrase for it,
[Cheers and applause.l l simply said if
anybody wants me tor governor am will
ing. and said no more. went about the
ordinary common business of nv life, inter-
fering with nobody. doing nothing to any
body, when l found a most delightful
sire am of coloring poured out upon me by
the newspapers. Well. said nothing about
that. am patient. quiet man for a while
and will bear thing or two il it don't last
too long. After little time was asked by
the laboring men of Springfield, Massachu-
sets, to come up there and give them my
views upon the question of labor reform.
That seemed to be the last ounce that
broke the camels back OF the patience of
the newspapers. for they came out on me in
a way that would 'astonish ne if l was not
too old to be astOnished at ar vthing. Bois-
ferrous laushter.] Well. they proceeded at
once to such abuse as l had seen over and
over again in the libel newspapers There
is not anything original about it. The
malice was the same; only it comes through
different channels. Well, went to Spring
field, and struck back immediately-I did
that. Why! They said What quarrel
some man General Butler is Laughter
Now, the whole reason tor this abuse was
that had said l thought there should be
some legislation between capital and labor.
l am ready to prove what l said. and in or
der that the truth shall have the full effect
upon you, l desire to impress upon your
the exact truth. [Cries Of Good. good
and applause.l And here the general pro-
ceeded to take the Boston Journal up again
by reading that paragraph which was des
tined to kick up such a muss after the pub
Geation of it, entitled "A Lie Well
Stuck to- You see," said the
general, turning over the leaves
of his scrap-book. ''th;s is my ledger, in
which enter debit and credit. 1 mean to
deal with all these people before die. Now,
II what say Is true, you never ought to
allow such lying, miserable, misrepre-
senting paper to come into your families"
lCries OF Good and applause.] Here the
general handed copy of the editors re-
port to the chairman. and requested him to
glance over it. Then he took look about
the hall. There" be said, Il see a soldier
friend OF mine in the neighborhood, and, if
can find the place, will ask him to follow
the figures which l give" and he handed
another copy OF the auditors report to a
gentleman at the reporters table. "Who
is it, asked somebody stephen A.
Douglas" was the reply of son of Erin,
who sat in front of the speaker. Now"
said the general, I'VE have got a Legislature
in this State IA slight laughl. and they sit
six months IN the year. and only adjourn
over six months, until the new Legislature
comes together"
The orator next approached the subject Of
state expenditures, and said: It cost in
1901 <l2o,ooo to run the State House: IA
voice, "Good:'] Now it costs you 4335 900
~! y! W exclaimed man in intense
excitement. Laughter and whistling1 Now
Jet US take up that Boston Journal again.
IA voice, General. they are no friends of
mine.'] Pardon me. interrupted the orator,
l know you are friend, and YOU are all
right. [Laughter.] Now, ask you what
reliance can you place on men who choose
to falslfy as the Boston journal does Let |
me tell you it is time for q reform. The sub
Ject OF taxation was next taken up. and the |
general read his self-same list of boards of |