The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1871-08-01

Labor, Mechanism and COnsII-
tutIOnal government.
Ex-President Johnson, delivered
an elaborate and eloquent address
at Knoxville, Tenn, a short time
since, to the mechanics, from which
We extract the following salient
points:
DIGNITY OF LABOR.
Mechanics sometimes complain
they cannot succeed in life for want
of capital. Be self.reliant. A man
who is sober, INDUSTRIOUS courteous
and honorable will succeed. While
making his way in life he forms
habits which will steadily aid him in
his onward course. Socrates, while
he fashioned the rocks, fashioned the
minds of the people and fitted them
to receive the coming Christ.
THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS TRAINERS
The Deity is a great mechanic.
That reYered instrument, our Con-
stitution, came from Divinity, and
the men who framed it were 10 His
hands. The Constitution was a
grand mechanism before it was
married by sacreligious hands. Of
the men who framed that noble in
strument, several of the most distin-
guished were mechanics. l look at
Washington, the Father of his Coun-
try. He was a farmer and and a
country surveyor. Benjamin Frank
lin, the philosopher, was printer.
Roger Sherman was a shoemaker.
Daniel Shelley, the gifted, who wore
the leather apron, was another Of the
great society of mechanics, who
when Randolph asked him, sneering-
ly, what he had done with his leather
apron in Congress, replied, 81 cut it
up to make Pocahontas night cap"
l make these illustrations to show
what mechanics can do.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
1 hope that 1 may not be cOnsid-
cred immodest when l tell you that
old men in my country, frequently
come to me and show me their we'd
ding coats which l made for them.
True it is "worth makes the man
and the want of it the fellow" 1
always believed that if I never de-
graded my trade it would never
degrade me. If 1 can aid in the
building you are erecting; if 1 oan
contribute to laying the corner stone
of this great edifce of Mechanics
Rights, and place one single me-
mento there, it will be to me the
proudest act of my life
THE GOLDEN MEDIUM.
Where capital is used in small
quantities, the mechanics do better,
as rule, than where used in larger
quantities. When we look at it,
that country is better off where CAPT
tai is divided up among the masses,
not the few rich and the many poor.
My creed is happy homes for the
people. The homestead policy,
which 1 ardently supported, is the
great and true principle of this
country. The middle state of life,
where every man is on par with
his neighbors, is the best, both for
the community and the government.
THE CONSTITUTION.
We will have prosperity when the
country is well governed. And to
this end we ought to keep the rude
hand of the despoiler off the Consti-
tuition, come from what source it
may. If the Constitution has &C
cumulated improper provisions, it
should be corrected as pointed out
by the principles of that sacred in~
strument. Submit to it until the
time comes when the Constitution
can be amended and the odious pro-
visions stricken out.
GRATITUDE DEFINED.
The working men of this country
should have the virtue of gratitude
and remember with their faVors the
legislators who courageously advocate
their principles. Though this thing
called gratitude is getting to be a
good deal like disinterested benevo-
lence-little of it. Gratitude is we'll
defined as lively sense of favors to
come. AS we come across the men
whom we have done the most for, we
find them quite forgetful. But this
does not at all change the principle.
STANDING BY THE CONSTITUTION.
Let us preserve the Constitution
of our country. Let the laboring
man erect an altar, lay the Constitu-
ton on it and joining together,
standing around the common altar of
our country, swear to God to stand
by the Constitution and the Union.
Give me the Constitution. 1t is the
only safety. Do not trust to the
discretion of Congress. Cling to the
Constitution as the ark of your SAFE
ty. Cling to it as the mariner clings
to his last hope.
PARTING WORDS.
My last words to you, admOnitiOn
or warming. as you please to term
them, are to preserve the Constitu-
ton of your country. In preference
to anything mortal give me a written
Constitution. If your servants vio-
late it, hurl them from power.
Summer Drinks.