12 



It is the misfortune of unskilled labor in all countries and at all 

 times to be compelled to work for a bare subsistence. 



Since 1840 the change has been even more startling. One opera- 

 tive, working sixt} r hours per week in 1880, turns off twice the num- 

 ber of yards of standard sheeting that one operative could produce 

 in 1840, working seventy-two hours per week. 



The one operative of to-day receives ver} r nearly as much wages as 

 the two did in 1840, and actualty more than the two did then, count- 

 ing hour for hour, while each gold dollar of the wages of 1 880 will 

 buy more comfort and luxury than each gold dollar of 1840. 



One-half of this progress was made between 1840 and 1860, and 

 the other half has been made between 1860 and 1880, in spite of the 

 distress of civil war and the corruption of inconvertible paper money. 



Now, gentlemen of the South, I am going to use free speech for a 

 purpose, and to speak some plain words of truth and soberness to 

 you. I shall not permit myself to insult you by admitting even into 

 m}* own mind that I cannot speak my convictions, and ask searching 

 home questions here with as much independence as I can in my own 

 little native town in Massachusetts, If any one here objects to free 

 speech, let him do it now. Thank God, that time has gone by ! I 

 speak then to you here and now as a Republican of Republicans, as 

 an Abolitionist of early time, a Free-Soiler of later date, and a Repub- 

 lican of to-day ; but I also speak, and yet more truly, as a Democrat 

 of Democrats, because no man can be a true Democrat who does not 

 maintain the equal rights of every man, without distinction of race, 

 color, or condition, to speak, act, and vote as he freely chooses, pro- 

 vided that by such acts he does not oppress his fellow-man, or commit 

 an} r injustice upon him. [Applause.] 



Upon this righteous foundation this nation has been established. 

 When it shall have been fully comprehended, the terms of North and 

 South, of East and West, will be but geographical descriptions ; the 

 terms will make no separate interests or ideas, and no divided alle- 

 giance. 



One in laws, and one in customs ; one in faith, and one in hope ; 

 one in charity for the mistakes and errors of each and of all ; one in 

 effort to overcome the prejudices of the past ; one in the determina- 

 tion to make our whole country a solid nation, " the promised land " 

 for the oppressed of all climes and of all races of men, we shall then 

 march ever onward toward the prize of our high calling among the 

 nations of the world. [Continued applause.] 



But let us not be diverted from our practical purpose. What we 

 want now are hard facts ; and, if m}* questions seem like hard knocks, 

 let the sparks that fly light us on our way to just conclusions. 



You will observe that half our progress in the North in the art of 

 cotton spinning and weaving from 1840 to 1880 was made in the first 

 half of that period ; and, as it has been in cotton manufacturing, so 

 has it been in every other branch of the manufacturing and the 

 mechanic arts in the North. 



Now, gentlemen, how much progress did you make in your depart- 



