The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-02-14
The Great Leader.
Full Text of Senator Voorhees,
Great spsech.
The Cause of the People at Last
Finds a Worthy Champion
The KeI Note 10 the Campaign of 1880
and the Formal Inauguration Of
New Era Of Peace, Prosperity
and Human Progress

Cong ess onal Record, Jan II.
Mr.. Voorhees,: MIR. President, on tn
l3.h of Dscembrr L had the honor L
introduce in TINS body the following
resolution:
Resolved, That Il il of the highest i'm
portancs that the huancia credit of tht
country be maintsIned, and, IN ~ der To
the x ,yetnmeut It-elf, IN ell - depa' {
meat, should "a good faith ., al IT'S C IN
tracts and o. ! cations entered INTO with its
own citizens.
And in pursuance of a notice then
given oW cali II up for the purpose
of discuss n the subject t. which II re-
lates.
The agitation of the question OF
finance has continued vii" out q mo-
ments int omission from the commenc-
ment OF cur present system until this
hour. Nor Is it likely to csAse for
many years to come. La fact it will
never cease until the people are satisfied
that our vast debt is In progress of OK
tinction upon principles Of justice to
tax-psying labor, or until, on the Otht T
hand, they are sutjugatod into silent
submission and the government itself
becomes changed in spirit and form
into u mOneyed aristocrAcy. 1t may be
that this latter alternative is to over
take US. There are dark and plentiful
omens in our recent history indicating
such u conclusion, and there is u numeT-
GUS and powerful class IN our midst
who believe, as Alexander Hamilton
declared, that the British government,
on this as well as on other points, is the
best ever devised by the wisdom of man.
Those entertaining this opinion have
thus tar trIumphed in the financial leg
i-lation of the United St,tes, and the
time has now arrived when their victo-
RES must be rev, rsed or soon tuis gov
eminent will cease 10 be republican and
the people no longer free.
the policy of this victorious interest
in this country, as in all others. has
blen vigilant for opportunities of greed
and gam, and aggre sive in apprOpriRt
ing them to its own advantage. In It's
tenacious pursuit OF this policy it has
during the last sixteen years pressed its
cruel and unjust demands upon the
Am ri an people N u variety OF shapes.
just now II assumes n manner swollen
with arrogance naughty, d liant, and
filed WITH ibsOlePce toward hll OppO-
nents. Those who are ranged on the
side of grasping wealth aft ct high
disdain as those who choose 10 remsm
Der that labor has rights which this |
z ,vernment is called upon TO protect. |
There seems to be an immense sneer on |
the face of sord:d, inactive capital, rs if |
its pretentIons wer, beyond the criti- |
cism of ordinary mortAls. It's advo-
Gates outside OF Congress do not cOnde- |
scend, as general thing, to argument |
At nil. D5uunciation Is now their prin-
cipal weapon. There is no epithet, |
however base, no Insinuation however
infamous that IL not OF daily use against |
all who dare TO differ in opinion with |
them. A curious spectacle 10 presented |
on this subject by II large portion OF
the Eastern press, here and there aided /
by a newspaper in the West. Their
columns TeeE from day to day with
abuse of all who venture to
believe NE | do that, To n great extent,
our whole financial sys EN- is an organ
lied crime against the l4boring, tax
paying men aud women OF the United
States. Those who think as l do that
great work OF financial reform is de-
manded in order t. secure the people
from slavery in fact, II not in name, are
denounced IN the came spirit, and in the
exact language with which every crimi-
nal abuse ~ government, throughout all
history, has sought TO pArAlyze the
work of reformation and beat lack the
tide of human progress. Wherever Ia
the annals of the human race unholy
avarice has built it's strongholds. and
classes have entrenched them
selves; wherever superstition has held
The human mind IN bondage for the
ben fit OF spiritual tyrants; wherever
man in any way has had unlawful mas
. - 81 harnA 1
IN what be-, ngei TO another, there the
same cry which we now hear has always
been raised against any intrusion or dis
Lurbance of established and venerable
Iniquity. Nor does the parallel stop
here. The great plea of the present
hour for the continuation OF wrong and
injustice is that good faith requires it.
Those who, finding 9 monEtrous evil
in the Laws of their country,
which to eradicate it by personal legisla-
ton are at once and with the utmost
fury assaulted AS violators of the public
latin, enemies of the national honor,
and wore II possible than common
swinIIers IL matters not how de p
and burning tho outrage may be or how
1t may have crept into our
statutes, good faith, in the estimation of
those who profit by tho outrage, requires
It to remain there forever, though il
should aid day by day the ghAstly
work Of ruin that now pervsdeS the
land. When the peassntry Of France,
IN 1889. worn out with the extortions OF
live centuries, arose against king,
priests and mobiles, they we're It'd that
.hey were breaking the faith of the
nation which had been pledged thou~
sand times for their silent submission to
any wrong, TO psrson or property, how
aver horrible or indescribable. When
ever the starving people of ireland, in
he dreary centuries of the past, have I
,rown uneasy in their bondage and
struggle against their letters, they have
been fierc,ly reminded that the good
18th ct England is solemnly pledged TO
existing laws and perpetual
abuses.
Sir, this plea, 60 loud now in our ears,
has been Invoked in behalf of every
Nickeduss, that ever curssd the world.
The usurper InvOkes it TO protect the
throne ho has stolen, as coon as he Is
ieated. Tus tyrant invokes il to she.-
t.r his prerogstive, and his nobility
in turn invoke il IN ordor to live in
ease and splendor OF the labor OF eth
ers. II is my purpose on this occasion,
no viewer, to show what the obligations
of good faith require of US on the great
1uestion OF our finances, and 10 srraign
nose who have systematically broken IT
" hsnever their interest prompted them
10 do SO. 1t is my purpose also to show
that while il is of the highest impot-
tncetp maintain our financial credit, IT
ran only be done by the government
keeping sill its contracts and obligations
with its own citizsns. This issue has
been pre- entcd of la'e in q manner SO
persiste It and offensive, especially 10
western men aud western interests, that
il shall now be met, as far rs may hum
l,le rsnncity enables me to meet it.