The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-05-19

pan WHICH ICuulISu tlit Il itSiNht
to serve for life; United States Sen
ators to serve for life; Congress Il
have power to legislate on all subjects
without any restraint but ITS own
pleasure and judgment; Governo
of States to be appointed by the fed
eral government, TO serve during good
behavior, with power of absolute veto
of all laws passed by State leglsla-
lures.
Mr.. Hamilton believed that the
great majority Of the people were
poor and ignorant, and incapable Of
exercising the elective franchise with
intelligence and freedom.
THE ARGUMENT
against popular government has al
ways been that the great mass OF
the people were poor and ignorant.
Lord Macauley. and the Amer
lean statesmen to whom | have re
ferred, were intelligent, well in
formed men We cannot say that
they were wholly mistaken. both as
regards the facts and the conclusions
therefrom. 1t is, perhaps, true, that IN
all countries the great aJonty ct the
people are poor, and extreme poverty
Is apt to be accompanied by ignorance.
What, then. Is the solution Of tins
matter ? Shall We recognize rs II fact
that the majority are poor aud lgno-
rant, and adapt governments to those
conditions, or snail We ascertain the
causes which render the mass Of PEG
pie in all countries poor and ignorant,
and ascertain how far this condition
| is caused by the administration OF
| those matters that are managed by
| governments, and the feasibility Of
SO modifying the government as to
reverse those conditions, and enable
the majority of the people to be well
| provided with those things that are
essential to their welfare, physical,
intellectual, and moral
My theme tonight is 1.-The Hand
| Workers of the Mississippi Valley
Their Power and their Responsibility
| claim that they have the power to
understand this great social problem,
and that it is their duty to lnaug-
urate movements which will ultl-
mately solve it in a practical way, not
only for ourselves, but for all peoples ;
and | may add that that movement
has been commenced, and has made
some progress already.
Let US keep the problem in view.
Admitting that poverty and ignoraL- e
Is the common fate Of great majority
of the people in all countries, and that
by reason Of their poverty and igno-
rance they are incapable of self gov
| eminent,
THE PROBLEM
is how to reverse these conditions so
that the great majority OF the people
shall no longer be poor and Ignorant.
and may become capable Of self gov
| eminent.
But why appeal to the Hand-W1rk-
ers Of the Mississippi Valley a. having
the power and responsibility for
the solution Of this great problem
My answer is, that for these pur-
poses those who invent. make, and
manage mechanical machinery, are
more capable than any other class of
society in understanding the relations
of part to the whole, and the neces-
sity Of perfect adjustment ami recip-
rocal action Of the parts with each
other, to secure results by the com
| blned and cooperative action Of all
the parts that the invention. making
and use Of mechanical machinery
affords a necessary preparation for
| the invention, making, and manage
ment of another class of machinery
machinery by which wealth Is most
readily or economically produced, and
lnterchanged between producers, and
by which the rights and duties of in
dIvldual members of society are
marked by laws, and protected BY gov
ernments. You occupy a vast plain,
extending from the Appalachian range
and the Alleghanles on the east, to the
Rocky Mountains of the west, from
the genial climate of the Gulf of
Mexico the land Of cotton, rice, and
sugar, spanning the great wheat belt,
and extending to the SHOWS of Dakota.
With its mighty streams, navigable
for many hundreds of miles, the Mis-
sissippi, Missouri, Red, Arkansas. Ten
nessee, Ohio, Cumberland, and the
Illinois rivers, with its thousands Of
miles of railroads, and washed by the
waters of the great lakes, and con
Meeting with the great water system
of the st. Lawrence, with its many
highways to the sea; you occupy the
great thorOughfare between Europe
and Asia.
THE HAND-WORKERS
have been the great power that
gave persistent and efficient force
to our revolution, and have been
the balance-wheel that has preserved
Democratic republican institutions
in this country, and prevented the
ABSORPTION of power by the general
government, and its withdrawal from
local governments and the people.
| claim for the Hand Workers of.
the Mississippi Valley that they are
less incapacitated for this work by
poverty and ignorance than any
other people in the world, and have
the power also by their numerical ma
Jorlty, to dictate who shall make and
administer the laws Of eighteen out of
the thirty eight States Of the Union,
and have power, moral and political.
to influence the making and admin
istratiOn of the laws Of the nation.
Mr.. Young, of the Bureau of Statis-
tics at Washington, divides the popu-
lation of the country engaged in the
different pursuits into about six mil
lions Of agriculturalists, three millions
Of wage workers, upwards Of million