War, Labor, and Debt [pp. 82-87]

WAR, LABOR, AND DEBT.
save the country, for you are strong
and mighty in numbers. It is for you
to decide whether you will stagger
under an increase of burden, which
the perpetuation of the present bloody
dynasty will inflict upon you, or whether you will arise in your majesty
and crush the despots out of political
exiqtence. Rapidly are the old Constitutional land-marks being wiped
out, rapidly are State rights and individual rights being abrogated, rapidly
is one absolute power at Washington
being created. The disciples of the
sword and the greenbacks are mighty,
they go hand in hand with a despicable aristocracy, which is striving to
force you to the level of thepaupers
of the old world. You are taxed now
beyond endurance, but you are to be
taxed still heavier if the war rolls on.
You are robbed by your rulers, who
have forced upon you a worthless currcncy, but the paper dollar, instead of
being worth only sixty cents, will, if'
the present Administration is continued, sink to six cents, as did the Continental money of 1780. You are to
compete with negro labor, for the African has been openly declared your
equal, and by some of the dastardly
crew who lead in the bloody work now
putting humanity to shame, your superiors. Your children will be made to
go hungry, that black paupers, too
lazy to work, shall be amply fed; taxation of the most galling character
shall be fastened upon you, that "fireedmen" may be supported and educated.
White men, earnest men, toiling men,
laboring as you have to make this
country one of the most glorious on
earth, you are to be kicked aside to
make room for the animalized negro.
Workingmen, will you submit to it?
Your States are loaded with a debt
you as yet little know the figures of.
Your towns and counties are rol4ing
up fearful aggregates of dollars, spent
to buy "patriots" who go forth to
"protect the Government." You are
robbed by "loyal" men in shoulderstraps, who attach themselves to the
army as Majors, Generals, and Paymasters. On every side, high and low,
far and near, in the military and civil
service, in Congress and out of Congress, from members of the Cabinet
down to the petty official who dogs
your steps for your income tax, you
are victimized. There is one grand
conjugation of the verb "steal," and
the result of this conjugation will
swell State and national debt into one
stupendous sum total, the contemplation of which will strike the thinking
man of honest toil dumb with horror,
as he realizes his relation to that debt.
Workingmen of the North, will you
not arise in your might and crush out
the authors of all these enormities?
Will you not, through the ballot-box,
strike for freedom, and a restoration
of Constitutional Government? Will
you not declare for a cessation of this
brutal war? You will, or the blood of
your sires of'76, has degenerated in
your veins.
1864.]