Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-29

unusual train of thought this honoring by en-
during bronze representative OF industrial life?
Is it not an evidence of the advancing strides
of the mechanic and the laborer toward that
more elevated plane of social and intellectual
life, which denied him by lack of wealth, can
be attained by patient industry? is it possible
to unjustly magnify the Importance and possi-
BILE inhus nee of this ceremony and this statue
upon us as people, and upon those who will
in time succeed us?
Standing In the presence of our dead, we in
retrospect saw him toiling onward and upward
from apprentice to journeyman. to foreman, en-
gineer, Superintendent of Locomotive Construc-
ton, Master Mechanic, and Superintendent
of small railroad. then Division Master
Mechanic on the Central Pacific Railroad;
and finally, only twenty years from the
time he entered railroad shop as an
apprentice, he received an appointment as
General Master Mechanic of one of the most
Important railroad systems in America. Ever
planning, ever thinking, ever building, ever
pushing he kept those under him Befved to
their utmost. The happy results are known to
you all.
Which is the greater conservator of good, he
who spurred by ambition, seeks through public
plaudits to reach fameis uncrowded summit;
whose every act from eloquent addresses to the
capture of a twO-pOund trout, is flashed over the
wires for our delectation; or he who, having
thO-en a career of honest industry, is forced by
the requirements OF his calling into compara-
tive obscurity; yet from that oDscurlty invent
ing new appliances for the economical distribu-
tion of power and the saving of unnecessary
labor, placing before the people the possibilities
of steady employment and modest share in
life's luxuries. aud directing large forces of
labor with intelligent foresight? Which of
these two, repeat, is the greater conservator of
good?
Glancing down the line of past history we see
that nations have risen to the pinnacle of glory
and then sunk into the depths of ohscurity and
despair; yet, through all the glory and through
all the woe we see the condition of the masses
slowly but steadily improve, until labor has
master removed, labor has become intelligent,
self.respecting and ambitious. Now 1t is pos
sible for the child of toll to become the head of
great nation. Have we not seen the newsboy.
the tailor's apprentice, the canalboy and the
rail-splitter, all make their way to the exalted
position of President Of the greatest country on
earthf Have we not seen the masses rise from
condition OF slayish toll to one full of posi-
bilities. Yes. all this we have seen written on
history's illuminated page, and we to day live
in an atmosphere full of life, energy, mental
activity and ambition.
Society is divided into two great general
Those who live by brain and Drawn
and those who live by their wits or on
the Iegscies OF their forefathers. To
which of these classes must we look
for the cause of our rapid material progress.
Can we make a mistake? See rising before US
on the Instant Gutenberg the humble German
mechanic, with his movable type and print
ing press; Watt, Scotch instrument-maker,
with his steam engine, his crank and balance
wheel, his separate condenser; then an English
mechanic, George Stephenson, with his locomo-
tive, steam blast and link motion; then two of
America humble artists, Fulton and Morse
one with lis steamboat the other with the tele-
graph; then those natural born mechsnics-Eli
Whitney. with his cotton gin; Corliss, with his
improved steam engine, and Edison, with his
telephone, electric light and phonograph.
To these men, and the class they represent,
are we indebted for our present general pros
perity, our shortened hours of labor and the
ability to acquire and enjoy what, but for this
Glars of men, would be forbidden luxury. Let
us. my friends, from our general view descend
TO = local consideration of the subject. VINO is
il that opposes the many necessary improve
ments in and about our city, Is it the humble
mechanic, who, by industry and frugality, has
secured a little home for his loved ones
Look, rather, to your misery, non productive
rent gathering rich man for your obstruction
ist. Who is it that opposes all movements
looking to q better moral environment for our
people? Is il the workingman7 Look you,
rather, to another non-productiye class, who
enrich themselves at the workingman's ex-
pense- Who are the last to pay their taxes, and
who they that repeatedly evsde payment en-
tireiy2 again are we compelled TO look to the
non productive class for our answer. Who was
it that made the employment of ten extra pO
licemen seeming necessity Was il the toIlel
or the non-produc;iye san francisco Legislator
and his following? Who were they that in on