Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-01
MEMPHIS APPEAL
SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 1, 1879.
THE KING

THE WORKINGMEN.
In common with their brethren in
other parts of the Union, the mechanics
of Memphis are beginning to assert
themselves, not noisily and with threats,
but with earnest demonstrations that
they mean to be heard as first and fore
most among those who are working to
make a large and growing city on the
Chickasaw Bluffs. While most Of US
have been lauding cotton as king, and
worshipping, sometimes most ahjectlv,
at the shrine of the tickle monarch.
these men have been laboring silently
but steadily, adding here a little and
there a little, until at last they
have confronted us with tangible evil
deDces Of their skill, handiwork and in
dustry. Commencing, some of them,
at the bench, with few if any encourage
ments, men like the Bruces, Lunn, Cub
bins, Gum, James, Rosa, Randall,
MallOn, Farris, Heath, Williams, Bat
telle and Others, have steadily pursued
success, and now are able to boast of
results for themselves and for US that
rebound more to our credit than all else
beside. Next to the men who produce
the raw material, who cultivate cotton,
flax and the silk-worm, rank those who
manufacture these products and give to
the world the multiplied and beauti-
ful fabrics that are among the grandest
results Of the very advanced civili-
cation. The miner digs from the bowels
Of the oarth the iron, the lead, the tin
and The gold, but the mechanics inge-
nuity ana labor fashion these into arti-
eles o. utility and beauty, and make
that valuable which without his labor
is as dross. Cotton we have, and cotton
we sell, but only as commission mer-
chants for the farmers who produce it;
but when our mechanics and working
men get hold Of timber, Of iron or lead,
they fashion them into useful articles,
and, increasing their value by one hun
dred per cent, increase the total of the
capital Of the city by just so much. Gin
cinnati had her hog trade, she now very
justly boasts of her manufactures
and mechanical business by which she
has increased her population by large
additions Of sober, Woodworking me
chanics, and her capital by their labor.
Scarcely one Of the men, from Miles
Greenwood all through the long list of
those who stand foremost as the chiefs
of Cincinnati's industries, but COM
menced single-handed and with little
capital, and are now wealthy and indie
pendent. As the city and the country
grow, and the demand for their goods
grew, they extended, resting every ex-
tension upOnt the solid foundation of pub
lie necessity and demand. So with {
the listof manufacturing and mechanical
worthless Of Pittsburg and st. Louis. I
Gradually and yet with the wonderful I
rapidity that characterizes Western ]
growth, these cities have advanced to !
the rank so long monOpolized by the J
Shefields and Birminghams Of the older
world. If ever Memphis IS to be the 1
city we all desire she shall be-if ever /
she Is 10 take rank with the great cities
of the upper countTy-it is to be through
the exertions of her working men,
through the sweat and toll of those who
make and not through those who trade. =
These last are good men in their Z
way. Without them the worlds :
workers could not have advanced so
a they have. They are the y
enterprising, pushing aUd7t coUriers of d
civilization, the men who lead the mis- Il
siOnaries Of religion. They do their part y
in the labor Of life, and generally do it u
well. Those of them of whom Mem I
phis is justly proud have done a good y
work, and are still at it; but they can y
not do all. While exacting from them l
what they can do, we must look to the 81
w~orkingmen as those through whom we "
hope for q future surprising u past =
gains, as to those who are a sure, a u
steady reliance; the producers who toll 2
and spin, whose bread is eaten by the I
sweat of the brow, who build up and do D
not destroy, who plan and execute and 81
are everywhere admitted to be the surest, 4
the most solid and most reliable of all u
he classes Of society. They are $
he taxpayers; they are the honest "
and they are the modern e
7eomanry in whose good sense we rely N
or stability and perpetuity of govern II
nent, and theirs is the situation and Do q
5ition that now begins 10 attract a large d
hare O publie attention and legislation, o
md theirs are the wrongs the future Il
: TO right. We are proud of the work !"
ngmen Of Memphis-proud Of them for
What they have done, what they are Il
ioing, and what they propose to do.
Earnest IN their own behalf, they do not
make a dollar which the city at
arge does not share. Advocates Il
IF Memphis, they advertise them G
by their handiwork - by 81
heir wagons, their carriages, their 70
.iteam-engines and all the countless OF
of labor that were blessed Of God IA,
rom the beginning. Whatever they OF
attempt they carry forward, and the OF
enterprise Of a night is all but realized %
day. Their proposed industrial g,
is to be such a success. 1t is al
o eclipse everything of the kind ever W
zen in this section, and, we hope, will In
naugurate an era Of mechanism and W
manufactures that will insure the per fir
nanent welfare and success of Memphis. W
IeN
COUNTY CONVENTION. "
As the time approacbes for boIding h'