The mechanics' meeting.
--Pursuant to a call which appeared in the daily papers of that morning, a large and enthusiastic meeting of mechanics took place at the City Hall on Saturday night. The object of this gathering, as explained in the advertisement, was "to take into consideration the present spirit of speculation and extortion prevailing in our community, and to take some action in regard thereto." At 7½ o'clock precisely Mr. Benjamin Bragg was chosen as Chairman, and Mr. Adolphus Gary appointed Secretary. The Chairman opened the meeting with a few appropriate remarks, during which he referred to the heartless efforts of the moneyed men to oppress and grind down the poor, who were working for wages. Whenever wages were raised, he said that moment the merchant would elevate his prices, thereby signifying an intention to filch from him all of his earnings. It was impossible, in the opinion of the speaker, for such a state of affairs to last much longer, and unless Congress or the Legislature adopted some measures of relief suffering and starvation would ensue. Those worse than traitors who remained at home for the purpose of making all they could out of the consumer, charging on an average of from fifteen to sixty or seventy times the price before the war for every article of provisions and clothing, when that for labor had not more than tripled, had done more to weaken the cause of the South than everything else combined. He hoped the meeting would act calmly and dispassionately, and whatever was done should he stood up to. The chair then announced his readiness to receive any proposition which might be submitted for consideration.A motion was made that the Chair appoint a committee of five to draw up resolutions for the meeting. The following gentlemen were thereupon appointed, J. Ludman, John McDonald, William Taylor, Thomas J. LaPrade, and E. B. Robinson.
In the absence of the committee calls were made for various gentlemen, Mr. Adolphus Gary only responding. This gentleman did not design to make a speech at that time, but would wait till the report from the committee was brought in, and then he would say what could be done. The object of the meeting was one of great importance to the mechanics of Richmond, and in his opinion it was not proper at that time to go into any discussion. Let us wait for the resolutions.
After the lapse of half an hour the committee appointed to draft business for the meeting returned and made the following report:
‘ "Whereas we look upon the present as one of the most important periods in the history of the present revolution, contending as we are for the independence of these Confederate States, when every man who loves his country or cherishes an interest in the success of the cause in which it is engaged, we, the mechanics and other working mill of the city of Richmond, a large number of whom are employed by the Confederate and State Governments, in consequence of the exorbitant and unprecedented prices of the necessaries of life, believing that the same has been brought about partly by the mismanagement of legislation, Confederate and State, and the great and unprecedented range which speculation has taken by a combination of capital against labor, and inflicting at the same time want among the families of our brave soldiers in the field: Therefore, be it.
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- "1st. Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to lay before the Legislature of this State our grievances, and to request them to afford us some relief by passing a stringent and effective law suppressing speculation in the prime necessaries of life, and also a law to suppress trading in gold, silver, and bank notes, and that they instruct our Senators and Representatives in the Confederate Congress to vote for a bill making Confederate currency equal to a specie standard. ["Good," "good," and applause.] Mr. Alexander B. Wells appropriately suggested the addition to the above resolution of "Yankee greenbacks."
- "2d Resolved, That as good and loyal citizens we pledge ourselves to defend to the last extremity the Government of our choice, engaged as it is in a glorious struggle for our independence; but we earnestly ask the passage of such necessary laws as will meet the evil of which we complain, and place us in such a position that we may be enabled to support our families and relieve us from the iron grasp of the extortioner and the money changer. ["Hurrah," and applause.]
- "3d Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are hereby heartily tendered to our brave troops in the field, and though we, in the performance of the duties assigned us do not meet with the same privations as they do, yet our feelings and sympathies are with them, and that the great object of this meeting is to benefit them and their families by striking down, so far as it is in our power, the heartless speculator and unprincipled extortioner." [Applause.]
‘ Fellow-Citizens: I look upon this meeting as one of the most important that has taken place since the beginning of this war, the object of which being that of making a decisive and effective blow at a class of men who have no claims upon the gratitude of the country, their main object being to paralyze its energies in the great struggle in which it is engaged to secure its independence and permanently establish a constitutional Government based upon the affections of a brave and gallant people, and it behooves you to act firmly in the course which you are about to pursue, and to let the Legislature know your feelings and your wishes upon so grave a subject, which not only affects your national pride, but which is calculated to distress your wives and children for the want of the common necessaries of life, hoarded up and held from you by the grasping hand of the unprincipled extortioner, while you are laboring assiduously to aid the Government in establishing a glorious future for generations yet unborn, and which will be the proudest legacy you can possibly bequeath them, cemented as it will be by the best blood that ever flowed through human veins. Yes, gentlemen, this is a period which tries men's souls and develops the true character of men, and, painful as it is, we see a class of them whose souls are dead to every patriotic emotion of the human heart, and whose sordid propensities propel them onward in their career of infamy regardless of all that we hold dear or which is worthy of preservation--Liberty and Life. We must be firm and united, determined to stand by our country, sustaining those into whose hands we have confided our destiny, and treat every man as an enemy who will not give a helping hand. The time has arrived for the extortioner to be dislodged from his embattlement, and taught to respect the feelings of a bleeding country, contending as it is, with only a population of 8,000,000 against a population of 25,000,000, and the odds and ends of every other nation on God's earth — the Irish, the Hungarian, the German, and the negro — thus forming a mighty conglomeration of humanity, whose object it is to destroy our national existence, and make as the slaves of the meanest race of men who inhabit the earth, controlled and governed by a Western clown, who is destitute of the lofty sentiments which should ever inspire a nation, that it may live in history for the benefit of mankind.
This is my native State, which I left in 1817, and I have ever cherished for her proud character those lofty sentiments which were inculcated in my bosom by an honorable lineage, whose history is interwoven with the rise and progress of this glorious old Commonwealth, and whose fame stands forth in hold relief as the exemplar of all that is good and great, but, gentlemen, I am sorry to say that I have witnessed since my return to my native State at the call of the Governor for her sons to rally around the old Commonwealth, and sustain her in her troubles, that an entirely different race of men have sprung into life, who have been nurtured and protected by this glorious old State, and who are now doing all in their power to tarnish her reputation. This class of men are auctioneers, brokers, and commission merchants. The first two are an incubus upon any country, even in peace and prosperity, because the one takes every advantage of the derangement of the currency, and the other establishes artificial prices by by bidding and cheating. The last is a useful class if they confine themselves to legitimate business; but they are not following in the footsteps of such men as Ralston & Pleasants, Moncure, Robinson & Pleasants, James Brown, Jr., and William Finney, and men of this class. They are no longer commission merchants; they are nothing but hucksters and forestallers, who violate the laws of your city government in the sale of chickens, eggs, vegetables, &c, thus enhancing the price of those articles, which should be sold in the market-house, the places provided by law for the sale of such articles? Do you think for one moment that the class of merchants to which I have alluded would have had their store doors lumbered up with with chicken boxes and vegetables? No. They would have scorned such a vocation as unworthy the character and standing of merchants, who should be looked upon as representative men of the high and lofty character which belong to them in their intercourse with mankind at home and abroad.
Gentlemen, in conclusion, I would ask you to bear in mind the necessity of being united. Without it you cannot succeed; with it you will triumph, and the men who are guiding our destinies will aid you, because I know that they sympathize with you.
At the conclusion of Capt. Robinson's remarks Mr. Samuel Huffman, in response to repeated calls from the audience, approached the stand and made a short speech. He had very little confidence in anything the Legislature might do for the amelioration of the distresses of the poor man. The working men should regulate affairs for themselves, and he advised them to hang together in their efforts to put down the prices if they starved in the prosecution of the holy cause. It would not surprise him much if the heartless merchants of Richmond were to taunt all who participated in that meeting, when next they went to buy anything, with the remark of "Oh, yes; you were in that mechanics' meeting at the City Hall the other night. I shall charge you more than any one else on that account." His proposition was that the workingmen of Richmond should fall in committee of the whole and send men throughout the country to purchase provisions on a large scale and bring them to this city to be sold to the poor at cost price. By this means we would circumvent the moneyed men and be independent of them. He had no faith generally in legislators; thought they would curry favor about election time with the mechanics for their votes, but afterwards would not care what became of them. Mr. Huffman interspersed his remarks with some amusing anecdotes and illustrations applicable to the speculators and extortions, after which he left the stand amid the applause of the crowd assembled.
A committee of seven was then appointed to wait on the Legislature and obtain from them some action for the relief of the families of soldiers in the field and the mechanics and workingmen at home. The committee was composed of the following gentlemen; E. R. Robinson, Adolphus Gary, Williams Taylor, J. P. Tyler, Samuel Huffman, J. Ludman, and Ben. Bragg.
After several unsuccessful calls for various gentlemen the meeting at half-past 9 o'clock adjourned, to meet again in two weeks from that night.
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