Year: 1870

DELIVERED IN CONGRESS, JAN. esfh.


Mr.. Chairman, now that the conflict
between the sons of Massachusetts,
is suspended, and each party is
resting to recruit his forces; now
that the administration hasbeen proven
delinquent in its use of the public
money by the chairman of appropria-
tions, CMr. Dawes and has been de-
Tended with magnanimity and obliv-
ion of past injuries which has no par
allel in the history of human charity
and forgiveness, by his military and
warlike colleague (AIr. Butler); now
that there is a lull in the storm, and
peace for brief season on the oppo-
site side of the chamber, arise to ask
the indulgence of the House while ]
demonstrate that the wrongs and op-
pressions of the people have a longer
growth and more giant proportions
by far than even these which this stri-
king and remarkable debate has dis
closed.


The interest now felt in the public
mind upon the subject of our financial
policy is deeperNand universal. All
classes are bending their thoughts
toward this great scheme. It awakens
solicitude as widespread as the
winds, and as all pervading as the


light that breaks with the opening OF
the day. The people of every grade
and condition are impelled by the
strongest of all human inducements
to give eager heed to the actions OF
this government on the subject of its
revenues.


But while this question thus pre-
sents q common CENTER. which, with
the irresistible force of some vast con-
trolling magnet, attracts every mind
to its earnest contemplation, yet the
points of observation from which it
is approached and considered, are
widely separated, and stand apart like
places of fortified hostility frowning
upon each other. The great body OF
the people who work with their own
hands through all the weary days OF
the year, and whose earnings consti-
tute the wealth of the nation, occupy
one position, and with painful anxiety
pray for relief against the fur
ther operations of a system OF
appalling injustice and crushing
monopoly. The owners of idle
capital, the fayorites of fortune
and of special legislation, who like
lilies tod not and yet surpass kings in
the splendor of their habits and luxu-
ries, occupy the position and invoke
the powers of the government to make
no change; to continue forever the
enchantment of their feast for which
theothers pay. The farmer, whe forces
the bosom of the earth to yield its an
nual products for the support of men
| and nations; the mechanic, who in
creases the values of things by his
skillfll industry; the toilers of the
land and of the sea, in whatever avo-
cation the gifts and bounties of nature
are extracted by human labor, discover
in the present policy of the govern
ment toward themselves, their classes,
and their posterity after them, nothing
save exactions, usury aud penalties
The man whose greatness of brain
| and heart consists in his superior abil-
ity to wiring money from the hands OF
1 others, and to amass sufficient wealth
Ito obscure his vision of Justice on
earth, and to darken his hopes OF
Heaven hereafter, beholds nothing in
irevenue laws in regard to his interests
texeept ennoluments, richness, and
careful exemptions. .8JIz
/ Sir, of these two opposing classes ]
range myself with the most friendless
in this body, in whose behalf voice
speaking plainly the truth is but sell
dom heard. Monopoly and riches have
clamored in high, imperious tones in
these halls for years. They have se-
cured lodgment beyond the reach of
the humble and the poor. Their ad-
vocates on this floor are numerous and
able. They listen with impatience to
contradiction, and attempt to drown
the authority of reason by worn-out
epithets. The capitalist, for whom
American legislation is now enacted,
| is always here. He has the means to
look after his mighty interests at the
seat of government. He is vigilant,
and his face may be seen in all the cor
ridors of the capitol. He comes arm
ed with the powers of bonds, bank
and manufactures, and wherever he
treads monopoly lifts up its ugly crest
and mocks the people with the special
fayors it has received at the hands of
Congress.


Why comes not the farmer here-?-
Why is his honest, sunburnt face un-
known in the precincts of national
legislation, at the ear of the executive,
and in the long and busy aisles of the
departments? !? Why are his plain
clothes never seen amid the throng
which surrounds and invades this cap
itol? He is the powerA Above all others
which upholds the entire political and
social structure. From his hard hands
flow those constant rivulets which feed
and swell the illimilitable ocean of
our revenues Delegations crowd the


official chambers of the government
in behalf of every human enterprise


except that which is greatest of all,
the cause of labor. The farmer and
the mechanic toll at home to meet the


exactions of the tax-gatherer, while


those whose hands are untainted with


labor and whose lives are given to


sumptuous ease shape the legislation


of the country for the purpose of pri.


vate gain and individual monopolies


In the absence of the laborer, 1 pro-
pose to-day to speak for his welfare


and to the best of my ability uphold


his cause.


Sir, in examining the financial pol


icy which IS now proclaimed by the


administration in power, the history


of the creation -four national debt
| the manner in which it was formed


becomes primary and important sub.
ject of investigation. Ithad its origin


in the midst of the commissions of war


The contract for its payment was made


when the sword impended with


bloody menace over the existence o.


the government. 1t was negotiated
| when the sounds of battle along 6
4 thousand miles of ensanguined Dor.
/ ders were i'll our ears, The smoke o.


carnage lay heavily on the air, and un
i der the shadow of the threatening


canopy,,the borrower for the mainte
nance Of the armies and the lender fol


the usury and gain, crept about ani


arranged the terms of that stup endu
Gus debt which now confronts us will


its Unsuitable demands. The hard, bit


ter duress of deadly peril was upoI


all the functions of the nation. Bu
4 little was done in those dark days from