Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-10-21
Mr.. Blaine a. PittSbur..

Mr.. Blaine as PittSbur@.
The tariff demonstration Yesterday. at
Pittsburg in honor Of James e. Blaine was
not as large as was anticipated, but the city
was filled with strangers who were attracted
by the announcement that both Blaine and
Gen. Beaver would speak. An open air
meeting was held at Exposition Park il
the afternoon. Upwards Of lHrce thou.ant!
nersuna participated in The parade. Mr..
Blaine addressed Il crow Of 10000 persons.
His speech was mainly Oh the question Of
free trade or protection. On The subject Of
the bloody shirt, Mr.. Blaine said
"CoIoIed men are now. and have been for
ten years, entering into many Of the me-
chanic&l industries In BirmiHghau Ala;
III Chattanooga, Tenn, and in various parts
OF Virginia, they are making pig IRON, and
this they are making 1T wages oi from 90 to
20 cents per day. The product u their Ia
DO: has thus far been 50 small that :uu IN
portant fact | am now statiag has attracted
comparatively no attention. But if the
quantity which they manufacture attains
large proportion, ii will necessarily compete
III the markets of this country with
the pig iron made IN Peunsy ivania
and Ohio, and they themselves will
compete with men here who are paid
$50 per day. What response is
to be made 10 that by our workingmcn who
receive the better wages The answer will
he just this: that either the great body Of
workmen il the south must have Justice
done them aud be fairly compensated Tor
what they earn in the sweat Of their faces or
.l- or II,
man must be injurousy affected. This state.
menl, when first made by me, was me. with
ridicule and derisioG, but when that great
organization of Knights Of Labor met in n&.
tonal convention in Richmond, Va, Tie
other day, under their chief. Mr.. powlerly
whom take 10 be man of extraordinary
ability and perception prolonged cheers :
the llrst thing they ran against WAS the ab
solute nnwillingneSs on The par; OF The
dominant white race OF The south 10 allow
the coored laborers Of that region to haze
any benefit from the Knights Of Labor or
CARNATIONS, or any other organizations, that
could protect them in tGeir right 20 % paid
the wages which they earned. BY strange
coincidence ! received this very morning 4
letter from the south On that subject. My
correspondent gives me an appalling picture
OF the south, and III one portion OF has letter
says: But after all, sc are ahead ci you in
the north IL respect to labor for in "a great
many parts Of the south we have established
the eght.hour law for the colored man
eight hours in the forenoon, eight hours
in The afternoon Now, gentlemen. I do
not hold out TO you the slightest belief on
my part that the republicans have any
prospect OF carrying Il Southern State. The
while men have the political power Of That
country in their grip. That would speedily
settle the question. They have eighty five
representatives in Congress from the eleven
States that were in rebellion. With the ex-
cep,ion of, L believe, one in Virginia, from
whit" constituency, and one in Tennessee,
they take in the whole oftbem, although in
several of these States, three at least, the
colored race are in maiortyn
Mr.. Blaine then went into long history
OF reconstruction days, in substance what
he said in Philadelphia the other night, and
In conclusion said: Il do not stand here
TO justify the form Of reconstruction merely
by the fourteenth amendment leaving to
the South the right to determine when the
negro should come TO suffrage | thiuk
that in the providence of God through the
stiff necked and rebelious conduct cf the
southern men, who would not accept recon
structlon on those conditions, we were
brought to better judgment, aud that
partly through their obstinate and unrea.
sonable spirit, and through the inspiration
of Gods justice, By which the republican
party were influenced, we were driven to en-
franchise the colored man and TO do
justice for him. But want you clearly to
keep your minds on the fact that we did not
force negro suffrage on the South until they
themselves had made it an indispensable
measure of reconstruction. We have lived
to see negro suffrage in the South absolute
ly destroyed. Where he is in majority of
five TO one the negro can elect representa-
tive. The South takes the thirty FIVE to
thirty eight representatives in Congress and
the same number of Presidential electors Of
the United States, takes them by force, BY
fraud, by violence, and counts them in the
democratic column. The southern elections
are worse in point of political morals than
is the gambler who invites a youth into y
den and plays against him with loaded dice
1t is not rep::blicanism, it is not democracy,
it is not heavens justice. it is not mans fair
play. What we demand in this country is
that We shall not play q stake for the Pres
ldency against meE who are shaking loaded
dice at us. You say we cannot do anything.
We ought TO be able to do something. We
ought TO be able to make as solid North as
they have made a solid South"
SFVERF Su0rES -,