Year: 1875

The condition Of our country excltes
the deepest interest in the minds of
every thoughtful citizen. The depres-
sion of business, which many thought
was caused by a temporary panic, does
not pass away. AS time goes on we find
that the causes of our trouble are deeper
and more widespread than we imagined
at the outset. Confidence is not re-
stored. There are dullness and distress
in our workshops. There is no sadder
sight than the daily spectacle of men
seeking in vain for work, that they may
feed and clothe their wives and children.
That, too, in land where God has spread
out on scale 80 grand, a country abound
ing in every element of abundance,
wealth and prosperity. When labor
suffers here there must be some great
wrong that can sothwart the benefcence
of Providence. We have felt financial
distress at different times in the history
of our country, growing out of speculative
excitement, but never before with the
character of the burdens which now OPP
press us. Heretofore those engaged IN
wild schemes 10 gain wealth have been
our own citizens, and when bankruptcy
put an end to their projects, at the same
time it brought about adjustments in
some form and in little time regular
industry was relieved from the unhealthy
influences upon financial affairs. But
now we can get no relief from the load
of debt, even through the notifications
and losses of bankruptcy. Our debts are
in the shape of national, State or local
obligations. They are mortgages upon
all forms of property; nay, more, they
are liens upon every man, his industry
and earnings. They enforce their de-
mands in the very food and clothing of
himself and family, and through all the
transactions of life. They are collected
either in the cost of the necessaries OF
life or by the despotism of the tax
gatherer We now encounter debt in
new form. Heretofore we have been the
most lightly, but now we are the most
heavily taxed among the civilized ma
tions. This state of affairs has changed
the character of our government and its
dealings with our people. This fact is
involving us in the most serious compli-
cations in our public affairs. We cannot
shut our eyes TO the truth that our coun-
try is divided into debtor and creditor
States; that the burdens of taxation fall
unequally, and that they are more hurt
full IN some sections than in others.
This is engendering spirit of hostility
on the part of the great and growing
West which threatens to destroy the
calmness and impartiality of national
legislation. intend to speak to you
with regard to the causes of business
troubles; the unsound schemes for the
debasement Of our currency, which have
been put forth as remedies, and the
perils which threaten us in the form of
sectional passions.


There is no place so fit for the discus
sion of these great questions as the COM
mercial metropolis of our country. At
this point busin ess distress is most keen
ly felt. Its commerce, reaching into all
parts of our Union, is harmed by every
local calamity or injustice. There is no
State upon which the duty of resisting
every wrong in legislation 80 clearly de-
wolves, as upon the most commercial,
populous and powerful member of our
National Confederacy. Nature has, by
its rivers and valleys and mountains,
made it the gateway for immigration
and the channel of commerce between
the nations of Europe and the broad
plains which stretch from the Allegheny
to the Rocky Mountains. An enlight-
ened regard for the great interests and
welfare of New York, and patriotic
love of our whole country, alike impel
us to see if wrong is done by the policy
or action of our Government to any sec
ton of the Union. Are our laws unequal
in their operationsP Does our vast debt
press unfairly upon the different States
Is labor oppressed by q vampire system
of taxation? Do unwise schemes for re-
lief have their origin in just causes of
complaint? Such questions should be
discussed in spirit of fairness, and with
patriotic purpose to promote the pros
perity of our country. Yet, we have
been unjustly assailed as those who take
our ground now with reference to our
political interests, and that our records
in the past are condemned by our posi-
tions now. We are compelled, then, in
order to vindicate our motives, to speak
of the events of the past, and if the re-
cital is hurtful 10 our political opponents
they must charge the injury to the indis-
cretion of their advocates. Their assaults
upon the motives and conduct of those
who are trying to reform evils are more
constant and bitter than upon those who
are guilty or wrong-doing. They are
teaching our citizens that it is safer to be
guilty of official misconduct than it is to
try to reform abuses. Every fair-minded
man knows that these attacks give aid
and comfort to those who are charged
with crimes against the public. If they
wish for reforms, why spend their time
and efforts to hinder those who are work.
ing them out? If they can do better


why not take the field and win fair
triumph They have an exalted thea
tire upon which they can act. They con-
troll the General Government They can
lift off many millions of taxation which
now weigh down American industry, if
they will scan as closely and criticise as
sharply their own officials, for whom
they are responsible, as they do the ac-
tions of those who are trying to correct
abuses in the smaller sphere of our State
Government. The great discussion of
the day has been with regard to our cur
rency. 1t has called out the leading men
of both parties. 1t has been of great SER
vice to our country, not only by spread
ing just ideas about political economy,
but it has also aroused the public mind
to errors of Government. The value of
free public discussion, upon the platform
or through the press, has never been
more fully displayed. But this discus
sion must not stop when the evils of an
inflated currency are proved. We must
probe deeper and find out the underlying
causes which have given birth to wild
schemes for relieving private or public
financial troubles. The desire for inha-
ton is engendered by debt and taxation.
The guilty men are not only its advo-
Gates but its authors, when by waste, ex-
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