Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-04-18

iOTe tDelu III urn u u DusIneSS
like and energetic aud earnes
mauner, day after day, week afte
week, month after mouth, WAS frit
tered away in idle and useless dis
cussion. Aud we stand to-day witt
the proposed instrument before n
and debt of several hundret
thousand dollars staring Us in the
face, which debt is TO be met by
the taxpayers of this State when
the next Legislature shal have as,
sumed aud made provision for IT.
There Is slugularly unfortunate
feature IN this Constitution VIII ich
bars particularly on u certain class
in the community in which L am
now speaking TO which L will al
lude. refer to the clause which
prohibits any portion of the laws OF
public documents of this State be.
ing printed in any other than the
English language. That clause
seems to me to bear with singular
harshness and impropriety upon
those citizens of this county and OF
the neighboring counties who were
born upon this soil. Those, 1 mean,
who are not familiar with the Eug-
ilsh language, who speak the Lam
gusge of the country as it was be.
fore the American occupation. 1t
seems to me that it was singnlarly
unfortunate that this Constitution
SHOULD say to them-this proposed
instrunent-that in the ful ure they
shall not know from their reading
what laws shall have been enacted
for their government; that their
muniments of title, which hereto
fore had been written in the Span
ish language, should be no longer
authorized to b. so written; but
that their mother tongue, so to
speak, should ne disreg4rded and
swept away from recognition as
something worthy of no cousidera
tion or respect from those who had
become, in the majority of in.
stances, the owners of the soil.
very much regret, gentleman,
one aspect OF the contest that has
arisen in respect to this proposed
| Constitution, and that Is this: 1t
has been represented that there
was conflict there between labor
and capital. Now, can see moth
Ing to warrant such Il view. can
/ see no purpose that Is laudable, or
praiseworthy, or honest, or respect
ab e, iii creating such sentiment
or opinion. l say to you, for my
part, that 81 the sympath e5 of m y
heart go out To he man who labors
tor livelihood. Some of those
men that | respect most-sOme OF
those whom [ regard as my very
best fritnd5-are among tho labor
ing classes. And thluk | am en-
titled to say, as do say earnestly.
that there ought not to be, that
there should not be, and that of ne
c-ssity there neei not be, any con-
Il ct At all between those VINO are
represented 10 be capitalists aud
those who follow avocatious of la
Dor, strictly speaking, for their
livelihood.
do not undertake to say-and
propose In speaking of this subject
To be IN all respects AS candid as ]
call do not undertake to say that
enttrr!y approve the circulars and
addresses that have been sent forth,
or the observations that are alleged
to have been male by certain per-
sons in San Francisco who ate ad-
mitted to be among the capitalists
of that city. l doubt II it was W
for them to say t0 their fellow cit.
zens, that If this Constitution was
adopted they proposed To leave the
State. L do not supp0e 9 that it is a
matter OF much moIneut to you or
toa large body of the people of this
State, whether they remain in Cal
ifornia or not. [Applause. We
have "stood' the earthquake, and
suppose we could endure their de
par urr.
But | say that there cannot, In
the nature of things, be any oppo.
sitiOn oi hostility between capital
and labor You are all too intelii
gent men to believe any such
thing 1t is not necessary for me to
explain to you that in the very mn.
ture of things that cannot be. Ynu
are AS capable of coming to that
conclusion as [ am; aud | do moi
propose to waste the little time yoU
may be disposed to give me THIS
evening IN discussing any sucf
propositions.
Gentlemen, the question as t.
whether this Cnnstitu ion shall be
come the law of this land or not
should be calmly considered. It Is
not II subject to he decided In haste
or in bitterness Of spirit or with
an malev0lent hatred. 1t should
not he adopted because any one Is
to he punished by it, or with any
suoh idea or hope or expectation. L,
: I'll ould not be adopted as an instI u
ment of oppression against any
class of people within this State, h.
they the highest in the lana or the
lowest among men. That is not the
ceiling With which you should be
led to adopt an instrument which,
if adopted, is to be he organic law
OF the wealth. That is not
. the feeling with which you shou d
he led to adopt u system upon
which all the laws In the future for
the government OF the citizen, fol
the protection of his life aud prop
eriy, must have their foundation
f There Is vast dl ference, let mt
t remind you, between the adoption
, of Constitution upon which law
are 10 be- based, aud the passage o
| simple statutory provisions by on'
: of your Legislatures Tue latter, Il
found to be impracticable or unjus
t or for any reason imperative, can
in a very short time, be amended
or repealed. But vnet you adop
n Constitution, aud organic Law
which is to be the basis of all legis
/, iation, an organic law which is Il
/ hB the measure of every man
, rights, of every mars privileges
OF every mans responsibilities
u you are proceeding upon mucl
f higher plane Of sovereignty. If /
r 20 happens that you do not lik
T such an organic law, after it sLal
have been o iopted, 1t will only b
), hy q very slow aud very costl,