Year: 1878

through books and papers, ana to-dsy
YOU have the result as just stated. There
are men, dozens of them, IN the CITY OF
Wheeling who can attain to this height
if they will only use the proper means
and this means is within their own
power.


l know i. is true many working men
have to work long hours, from early In
the morning until it may be late al
night, and they are apt to feel there Is
no need of their making the effort to I'M
prove their minds ut their age in life.
We would have them abandon such
thoughts and at once make the s!srt 10 be.
come familiar with the great questions OF
the day. When the people
are the sovereigns how important
il is We understand what we are talking
about and voting upon. AS l SAID De-
fore, we are not sll of one political party
we have among US all shades of opinions,
and when nan has become fitted
through education, if he be a man OF In
tegrity. to occupy the position for which
he NAV be nominated, 1t matters not
whether he be Republican or Democrat
or neither. Education will make our
voters more earnest and more faithful.
Corruption will not so frequently occur
as now, and rogues will have to take q
back seat. Suppose when man took
his seat in the legislative halls OF your
State, or as member Of the National
Congress, he knew he had left behind
him an educated constituency, think
YOU not he would make better represen-
tstiye? am willing to venture the as
sertion. But because mass OF Voters-l
do not say all, but l do say majority
will vote just as the party managers dc
tate, many representatives grow careless
and indifferent, and vicious legislation
follows. But there will be different
order of things when the workingmen
become alive to their own Interests. Aud
Just here an illustration IN point comes TO
nv mind. There is a county in Penn
sylvanis upon which there is a standing
Joke on the subject. 1t is said II you go
there while previous to the election
and ask the men how they are gong TO
vote, they will answer: Il don't know;
the man who tells US how has not been
around yet"


When men become educated there
will be different state of affairs from
that. Every one of you know, there are
plenty of men VINO are governed in vot:;,
ing by their prejudice, and no matter
VINO is nominated so it is by their party
they will vote for them. have even
heard of men who would vote tor the
decA if he WAS running for office. l All
not an old man, but l am sufficiently ad-
vanced in life to know that 1t has been a
good many years since | WAS boy.
During that per Iod of my life, l remem.
Der an incident bearing on this point.
There was a great deal OF discussion
about the tariff, and two men had their
coats of ready to fight about it. Some
one asked what they understood
BY the word. Each one said he did lot
know, but one was tariff man and the
other was not, and they proposed to tight
it out. | have another good one. An
old ,ntleman who lived IN the same
State, and hearing great deal OF talk
about the tariff, asked where he was. Some
one replied, down at Freeport, (this was
about twenty miles distant Well, he
said, will go down and see HIM.


Workingmen, if they will only use
their influence, are the power behind the
throne. The honesty OF the country is
bound up in the masses of the peo'
pie, and ii the people thoroughly
understood their power we would
nave fewer unjust laws passed, and when
they were passed and their execution
proved onerous, there would be no diff
Guilty in having them repealed. We
want our men TO occupy their minds
with these things, Why is 1t we have
to 20 to the professions TO get men Tor SO
many Of the public ottices2 Because we
have failed to qualify ourselves for these
positions. When we get the working.
men 10 thoroughly understand these
things and to act for their own Interests,
there will be revolution in society. l
know there are men who say we can
never bring this revolution about in our
time. We don't expect to completely
revolutionize society At once, but we can
do it in time, and by the blessing OF God
we will do all we can.


A couple of years ago In one State,
they tried to make an insurance agency
of our cause. l was one Of a committee
appointed to 60 TO Harrisburg to see
about the matter. When | got there l
was more than gratifed 10 find that more
than twenty members of the Legislature
belonged to our society. The
Lieutenant. Governor OF the State was q
member. We have among US men who
are engaged in All kinds of honorable
business. / do not believe that because
a man has enough money to keep him
from laboring with his hands he is better
than one who does so work. But l
do believe that the man who works
hard all day, is, if properly educated, the
peer of any man. knowledge ls power,
and through this we expect to WIN. For
the purpose OF spreading knowledge, we
expect to establish libraries filed with
the most useful books, and by this means
we know that we can accomplish woD-
ders. Supply your boys with good books
and thev will not then buy ten eel
novels. l see by one OF the periodicals
that instead of the order numbering
10000, as WAS predicted would some dsy
be the case, it already has $1,000 MEN,
bers. l know you think you have no
time for study, but if you will only
selec. g few sentences you will
find ample mental food for a
whole day, and so you can do
every day until you become giant il
useful knowledge. II man associates
with the members of this order he must
OF necessity grow better, tor as true IS
evil communications corrupt good man
ners Just SO true it Is that when man
associates with good people he becomes
better.


We deal with this question OF labor
and capital, but l will not refer TO it to-
night.


One OF our objects is to enable men to
leave something, when be passes from
this earth, to the desr ones he leaves be-
hind him. The most of US sre dependent
upon our eIer.ions Tor our daily
bread, and in these times 1t
is well nigh impossible to lay by un-