Year: 1876

that when your miners dig tie gold you


cannot get it: it is taken from them by


robbery, because no government can


protect you; your mine ceases to have


any value; and suppose you have blocks


OF houses here in the city OF New York.


or in the city Of Brooklyn, and your gov,


ernment. through fraudulent taxation


for the purpose Of robbery, SO taxes


your blocks OF houses that when you


have paid your taxes, your insurance,


your repairs and your assessment, you


have not dollar left, where Is the value


then OF your blocks Of houses? And


why has their value departed Because


your government Is corrupt, and Is not


an honest and faithful protector Of your


property. [Applause.


Now, l hope the day is rapidly ap-


preaching when our people will not


have any more of this slang and cant,


in which they say it makes very little


difference to the American people who


governs them or how they are governed


that you cannot keep down the Ameri-


can people that you cannot keep down


the city of New York. Where are the


American people, with all their material


for wealth, to-day? Where is your city Of
| New York with all the native advantages


of commerce to-day Every man Of you
tells me, and one OF your oldest mem


bers told me in the other room, that in


his experience Of fifty years never was
| New York SO depressed. Why is it SO
depressed Because by fraudulent gov


crnment your taxes have been SO in


creased that trade cannot prosper here
that everything is made SO expensive
| that other cities come in and undermine


you and take away your trade. | have
| had occasion in my official place lately,
/ from questions sent to mo from the
Treasury Department relating to the
transmission of goods that come here
in bond. to enter into this question
about the prosperity OF my own great
city, and tell you here tonight that
under the system that now exists, from
the bad government from which the city
has suffered. and from which my friend
here Governor Tildem and myself tried
years ago TO release it alf we could =
Applause and yet we could not re-
lievc 1t, 50 great are the expenses here,
that ] can put down n bale OF goods in
Chicago cheaper than ] can do it in
Union Square to-day. And when
that is SO do you think men will
come here to trade Are you amazed
that trade is leaving here, that
it goes to Baltimore and goes to other
places, when you have spent your time
and your thought and your money upon
making extensive parks, unnecessary
bouleyards. costly ornaments, to which
the city will not grow up in fifty years.
instead Of attending to those things
which favor commerce and which ad-
vance you in doing that for which God
and nature placed a city here in this
peculiar place, and whose prosperity
has been destroyed and whose values
are ruined by bad Government? lap
plause. Now. my friends, that leads
mo to pass from something which you
all perfectly understand. because you
have all felt it. on to the Federal Gov
ernment and If the Federal Government
be rs defective in its administration as
the government of the city has been,
you will find good reason for the lack
of prosperity in the country generally
What is the trouble? ] have tried to
show you why. with all the means Of
prosperity we have, we are not prosper
GUS The reason is very simple. 1t lies
plainly here. There is now no proper re-
lation established between caIital and
credit, capital and labor. Why is there
no proper relation between capital
and labor? 1t is simply because con
tidence has departed because the man
who has capital doesn't know what will





what will happen next year. he doesn't
know that the money he loans in an
enterprise will not be paid to him at some
future day in worthless paper. Why is
it that you in Wall street have money
there lying idle, which you say you will
loan me ut 2i per cent per annum upon
Government securities, and yet you are
not able to borrow money on any enter
prise i'll this country which Is to last for
any considerable time? The simple
reason is that men are not certain
about the future; that we have no
financial system to establish; that no.
body can be certain Of what it will be
year from this time. IF 1t were firm,
knew what was to happen, do you sup
pose that men would not do as they
formerly did-loan their money in safe
enterprises at high rate Of interest,
where now they. find it difficult to loan
it at all? 1t is simply because
confidence is lacking, and that con
fidence will never come until there
is such system established as will
satisfy the people that there is to be
permanent and uniform system Of
finance. When that system is estab-
lished, confidence will return and men
will be eager to loan their money at
ii~ htI lh'tc anu tIttl III iStS
will revive, and labor, which now has
no hire to any great extent, will be paid,
and the millions Of willing hands which
are now without anything to do will 90
to work, and the country will start on
again to the prosperity to which it is
entitled. l.Appiausel Now, ! have but
one other word to say You are to have
a great and powerful influence upon
this great contest which is to come. IN
a very short time you are to determine
who shall be nominated for the next
President Of the United States, and then
who shall be elected You will have
much to do with it, with your money
and with your influence, and with those
powers which intelligent men always
exert. And now, if you turn your atten
tion TO the selection of some man of
tried ability, Of unquestioned integrity,
of experience in public affairs and that
knowledge which fits him to administer
this Government, and then you elect