Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-08-15
Speech by Senator Csnk,inr.
AMERICAN PROGRESS. AMERICAN WORK
INGMEN. THE AMERICAN FLAG, ETC.

AMERICAN BRnGRFSS. AMERICAN WORK
INGMEN. THE AMERICAN FLAG, ETC.
Senator Conklirg was greeted with a pub
lie reception at Utica last night. He was
introduced IN frienCly and Gathering terms
b. :, raiur Keenan,. He spOnded in similar
spirit, Teierlii gtoh his friends aud adversaries
in both parties during his political career in
KINDLY terms Then touching on his recent
tour abroad ne said.
No American can realize the progress
America has made till he goes and compares
with ether lands. Without seeing other
countries il is hard to realize how bounteOuS
nature and Pr violence have been to Us. We
suffer just now fIom hard times and de
pressed Industries. You see all this and
more abroad. We think England rich in In
ocean carryiI trade. so she is. but mauy
of her best strips are idle. steamship lines
IL sUue II stances, alternate win each other
IulBlI Only half the time Manufactures
are depressed everywhere. WOrkingmen
here are dissatisfied with wages. and uuwise
ana l@meulable COunStlS here recently led 10
hWlGsS acts frCm VIII en-. IN the end. 40 one
Will suffer so lunch as their authors and
ahetiGrs a'd those they assume TO repreScnt
! wish they would all go to France and Eng
Ian d and soc what the workmen and women
do there, ari hear of the wages they receive.
- gland, excluding the twelve counties OF
Wales, Il MT larger tUan the state OF New
York. IL contains - H00.Ua OF people. one
OF two hundred men own half of England.
Their estates are PriI cely reservations for
game and pleasure aud CpuIeucc. One man
may ude thirteen miles IN one rect ION and
nearly as far in the other on his own estate,
ard when he dies his eldest sen takes Il al.
The state OF NV York has less than Oio,0J0
Suppose there were five times as many,
and hen that hat! OF Il StaJe was given up
{" ihC monopoly aud pleasure OF one hun
drod and iiuy Toblemen- suppose, in add
ton, that men and women ldbOred in fields
al mines. and that the wages were only
those IaId IN Fl -laud. Suppose only one
man il thr'e haO a VO,e or voice Ia publlc
affairs or in making laws, and that The great
body OF w"rkiigmen we're wholly excluded
from all part ia choosing members of the
Only house OF Parliament in wricu seats are
lot hereditary. Tnen suppose taxation TO
maintain a standing army in which COM
missions are sold for money or giveu 10 sons
and relatives, aud tithes taken to maintain
ala established church in which livingS are
sold 10 the highest bidder or heStOwe l as pat
IOnage. What would the wOrkinsmen of
PENS ylvauia or ONO think of such condI-
Tom?
we are all wOrkingmen in America. No
class has a monopoly of tie right To call it
self working class here. ! nave always
worked and always been compelled TO work,
and my sympatnies are all with honest
labor. l believe in its dignity aid all its
rights. But when tidings OF the strike reached
me in Paris under my eyes was Il spectacle
which SEE med TO heignten the ma ineSS of
what men nm America were doing. The gov
ernn ent OF + rance was borrowing money,
"a on the curb tone in the street sat men
all night TO get each ms turn in tue morning
To invest IN the loan. They were wOrkmen
who, living as WOTBmen DO not and need not
live here, "a q working for wages which
Amer can WOr6men would scorn, had by
hook or by crook saved fifty francs each.
F.ry fTaBcs made ten American dollars, and
these all night watchers were there 10 buy
t-n-dOllar bond on which there were 10 get
per cent. interest. There sat the working
man of France amid the luxury of the more
fortunate contented with fate had sent him
Can il be that liberty and pros perity have
spoiled any portion of the American people
till they cannot endure their share in sea-
son of common adversely.
Another advantage OF every class In
America impressed h1e-the fact that we
have no near aud dangerous neighbOrS. Ga
tie banks OF the Danube Russ auS and Turks
are KILN z each other. This does not endan-
ger or effect US, except that II creates more
market fOr The things we have to sell. How
Is II with the Old wOrl where nation al ola
each other? Every people is il dau ger.
Every taxpayer aud every workingnau and
working woman il involved. Great Britain
mus have q 10 ID 20 India where she governs
$3.50 100 hi nau beings with the blyOa Il.
Russ III, Turkey, Austria, Germany. Fralca
ara GthsIs are Interested also IN these same
tLirgs, or in what they cali the balance o:
power, And on The Judgment or caprice q.
XII - and rulers depends the question
whether men must fight and die aud women
must toll az reap Ia half the Kingdoms OF
The tallR. tEr country stands apart by her
Sell ia The am Iltude OF her own dominion.
lit IL said that The Amer can flag is not to
be seen "a UiIen as other flag floating from
na~ihTads in foreign ports. This is true. IL
ought 10 be otherwise. But without meeting
IL oIteh un ihr sea you know and feel that
the starry flag IL at home, ard that from
home il makes its IL flueuce and power felt
around the world. You see and feel that it
shelf, rs and protects more liberty, more In
viduaI prosperity, more Of human right,
and more bright promises for the future than
any that can Ice found IN any other land.
kIneship, monarchy, nobility. aristOcracy,
nay be good th!ngS-gOod for the few within
the charmed circlr-but give me a land OF
equaLIights, q land where there Is no law
makiLg lew and where no man is ever called
on 10 obey any law which he has not his full
share in enacting and changing. Give me
land in which IL rs the right and the duty of
every man TO Ia Ike part IN all the elections
and "A proceedings by which the govern
ment IL constituted and directed.
This was the grand idea of our fathers.
On this corner stone they founded our great
republic. One glimpse at the system they
rel udiated a"d discarded has given me fresh
veneTaiioD for their wisdom ana their cOur-
sge. II has also increased the sense Of obi
gallon We owe 10 cherish and protect and
transmit unin paired to our children the great
heritage left To US"