Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-03-15
Address to the WOrkingmen Of Hercu-
laneum


through n monograph, gave forth the
following stirring speech:
"Fellow- citizens and wOrkingmen OF
Herculaneum, it has been my desire for
some time To address the laboring class
es OF this district in order the more
fully to give them an idea where we
stand, and thus aid them in rapidly
making up their minds as to what action
they should take at the polls Should
there be a person present, therefore,
who does not regard himself as "A work
ing man, will he kindly refrain from
listening or quietly leave the hall and
give his place TO some one who has de-
yeloped industrial habitsP
The future of the workingman on
the south slopes OF Vesuvius is the very
thing of which he should be most proud,
No tOiler in Campania need be ashamed
to have his future investigated.
sis ii not pleasant to hear the blows
OF the hammer on every hand, provided
1t Is not on your own hand?
''Is it not cheering to see the farmer
going joyously a-field bearing crow
bar with which to pry up one corner OF
the mortgage on his farm so that he
can dig his potatoes out from under itp
OF course it is Men of Herculaneum,
and those who may be here this eve
ming representing the Pompeiian and
Neapolltan press, let me say to you
that what have just said in your hear
ing represents the heartfelt sentiments
of our bureau. We want to feel en-
rapport with every laboring man who
may be on the fence. We want him TO
feel that he can come to us and lean
upon us.
Furthermore, we need more repairs
on the Neapolitan Road and IA new Gull
vert about four miles south of Hercula-
neum. A cheap two-inch plank culvert
was put in there under the Greek
regime, but it was jerked loose and
vomited full of Vesuvius before the
path-master could make out his bill.
WOrkingmen Of Herculaneum and
away up the Gulch, we need better
public buildings. The earthquake OF
'63, which shook down the water-works
and court house at POmpeii, also crack
ed the ceilings in the register of deeds
Office here, and made the Jail one OF
the most disagreeable places to fire.
quent that | was ever in.
I'VE need good deal OF manual
work done here before we have another
volcanic eruption. Ny idea is to con-
struct wing-dams and sluices on the
west side which will turn the lava down
through Agrppina's old field, and so
on down the Coolic, past Trifoiatum
ODonnells place. This will give work
TO the unemployed, and if can secure
the contracts also for erecting new
courthouse. as | now hope to do, pro-
vided we can elect Aurelius Murkins.
of the Third ward, you'll see better
times here in Herculaneum than we
have known since the war.
"Fellow-citizens. | do not know that
| have any more to say, except that eff
forts will doubtlessly be made on the
eve of election to flood the country
with artful falsehoods and voters from
other districts. Bear in mind that if
you elect Impecunius Andronicus--a
newspaper man who never did "a days
work in his life, man who does moth
ing but sit up nights and write pieces
for the paper, man who says more
mean things through the columns Of the
Herculaneum Air Cushion than |
could remember il / tried you will see
retrenchment you will see money mat
tiers SO scarce that you workingmen will
have TO trim your alpaca summer-togas
with RABBIT skin and wear them all VIM
ter Wheat will be twenty cents a
bushel and bananas two cents bunch.
What do you care for reduced taxation
when you can't get anything to eat?
make improvements. Build bridges,
roads, court-houses, jails, peniten-
tiaries, wing-dams, sluices, canals, and
water-works. Then assess the wealthy
and pussy old property holders to pay
the taxes. Work will then be plenty,
and you toilers who are temporarily
out of upright pianos. carriages, thir-
teen-story buildings, and other taxable
property will escape.
had intended to speak briefly in re-
lation to the tariff, but see the hour
is already late. However, will take
a moment or two to say that in my opin-
ion we owe almost everything we en-
Joy TO a high protective tariff. Hercu-
laneum used to be pestered almost to
death by yeller- janders and milk-sick-
ness, and when the Greeks colonized
this country you could not go out OF doors
without getting infested with Indian
arrows. Then man had TO take his
life in one hand and catapult in the
other. Then the pioneers of Hercu-
laneum frequently came home from a
massacre with arrow holes through ev-
cry vital organ they had and the rear
breadtbs OF their systems locked like
feather-dusters.
How is ii now, under protective
tariff? There has not been case of
yeller-ja nders in Herculaneum for six
months, and the noble savage has
moved away.
lin closing. let me say that the la
boring man has the warmest and best
place in my heart. | think a great
deal of my wife and family, but | will
not allow them 20 come between me
and the workingman. ! would be a
workingman myself, God knows, il
did not have so much else 10 do.
The laboring classes are entitled to
the best there is in life, gentlemen of
Herculaneum. Aud in the life TO come,
when we are all gathered about the
throne and I am cal led upou tn mako a.