The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-04-06
SENATOR WILSON'S SPEECH.
What the Republican Party Has Done for tn,
Norkingman.

Norkingman.
see before me men whom | recognize
as toiling men; men whom have to sup.
port the wives of their bosoms and the
children of their love by manual labor.
call the earnest attention of these men to
this terrible struggle through which we
have passed, and to what has been achiev-
ed for the poor toiling men of this country
have the right to speak for toiling men and
to toiling men. l was born here in your
county of Stafford. | was born in pow
erty; want sat by my cradle. know
what it is to ask mother for bread when
she has none to give. | left my home at
ten years of age and served an apprentice
ship OF eleven years, receiving a months
schooling each year, and at the end of
eleven years of hard work, yoke of oxen
and six sheep, which brought me eighty
four dollars. Eighty-four dollars for eleven
years of hard toll l never spent the
amount Of one dollar in money, counting
every penny, from the time | was born
until [ was twenty-one years of age. /
know what it is to travel weary miles and
ask my fellow-men to give me leave to toll.
| remember that in October, 1888, |
walked into your village from my native
town, went through your mills, seeking
employment. If anybody had offered me
nine dollars month should have ac-
copied it gladly. | went to Salmon Falls,
| went to Dover, | went to New Market,
and tried to get work, without success, and
| returned home footsore and weary, but
not discouraged. | put my pack on my
back and walked to where | now live, in
Massachusetts,, and learned a mechanics
trade. [ know the hard lot that toiling
men have to endure in this world, and
every pulsation of my heart, every convic-
ton Of my judgment, every aspiration of
my soul, puts me on the side of the toilng
men of the country-aye, of all countries.
| became an anti-slavery man thirty-six
years ago, because the poor bondman was
the lowest, most degraded, and helpless
type of manhood.
Let us see what the Republican party
has done for the laboring men of this coun-
try during the last twelve years. 1t struck
the letters from four and half million
laboring men and women converted them
from things into men and women.
In making them free, it struck down
that proud, naughty, and domi-
neering aristocracy of the South that held
the doctrine--and proclaimed it, too--that
''capital should own labor" that the men
who toled for wages were ''the mud stills
Of societY"; that the slavery of working
men produced "a class of gentlemen, who
we're The substitutes for and order of no.
bility.u Those were the doctrines pro-
claimed in our ears for forty years by the
Calhouns. the McDufties. the Hammonds.
thn Rhetts the Ruffips thc Fitzhuohs the
Uerschell Y. .Jobnsons and men Of that
class who laid down the doctrine boldly
everywhere tbat s.slayerv was the normal
condition of laborinr men black and
white . In emancinafing these fonr and .
half million bIack men and women we
strucl down the mower Of the owners of
Torkinomen and workinovomen in This
countrv fnrnvar Thnv made labor diehon-
orable in eipht hundred thnnsand snuare
niles Of tha Tinted States in tbe snnnv
south as they were wont 70 call it,
Taboring men from abroad would
not 90 there to toll: Northern labor
inc men would NOT % there "a live ].
tboy would not Stand hv tha eide Of he
Iettered hondmen where labor was dis
bonored Rut Inv the steady nersistent
adherence nrinc;nIe of the men trained in
tha faith If onnoSiton to slavery who now
stonJ in tho rarls 81 Je RennbIicor nortv
all this has been CHANGED So that TO-DAY
the lahor;no men of New ENGLAND can stand
nm in Sont5 CaroI;no nv the Graves IF Cal
bpun Of NicDnfiia Of P;clene Of tbe Load
orc Of tbe slave hover who nroclaimed
froo soo;aty e.; tbot G,ae man onJ
woman ,y3on tbav an,arood from, hondage
into t Sreedom Ion were c,assed in fanr snhdi.
visions sstba hirel;ne tba hegoar tba tb;ef
.nd th,,, , .lls anJ stiool M and ba
nrord Il tha midst Of then ,o;i y We
bava Nd iahnr bonnrohio even in the
100 s,,,a,s,,,s, aS Jho Carnl;,as and Caoroa
WE have talen the brand Of dishonor From
tbe brow Of Iabor thronchout tba country
and IN do;na Frat grand yorls W.. have done
,nora FAY lsbor fSr the boror aud 5;on;tv
az iohan; 49, 800 ~ No., ,nos 800 oob5avad
bv all The oart;o, , that aroSe in The country
f:on, w.. iIe e" az AZ p;inn, ,,,t the;r fast
nnnr p pls rl,f Ronl IN 10 no year 1seo
/ nrIan y ~ ANo'N w " 'No
pJ tba4 c,,,d and ;,n,orto, oeb;ave.
,ront l. not oil W. have onsned that |
ooh. h,,rIra s tho,s.,d sn',ore Niles to free
aRor;na mon tbnr nan @p tbera now thew
ara ao;oa there ." now T fbe &C GERMAN he
Fnoi Shs tha ir;,,n,or Tho New Emo
lan5 YanIan' t tbo man Of tbo Nj M;ddle States
of tha Mnrtb,rast con ,,o thnre NOW an.
oaaa - az . rnaehon;n ests nn,t;yate The
so;57 and !, III tho rnrs,,;ts Of life no
~, -. a. ~ r.. - atal 49, 49,,