THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS.* On Friday, March 7, in presenting a memorial from the building mechanics of the city and county of Philadelphia, Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows: : I RISE, Sir, to perform a pleasing duty. It is to lay before the Senate the proceedings of a meeting of the building mechanics of the city and county of Philadelphia, convened for the purpose of expressing their opinions on the present state of the country, on the 24th of February. This meeting consisted of three thousand persons, and was composed of carpenters, masons, brickmakers, bricklayers, painters and glaziers, lime-burners, plasterers, lumber-merchants, and others, whose occupations are connected with the building of houses. I am proud, Sir, that so respectable, so important, and so substantial a class of mechanics have intrusted me with the presentment of their opinions and feelings, respecting the present distress of the country, to the Senate. I am happy if they have seen, in the course pursued by me here, a policy favorable to the protection of their interest, and the prosperity of their families. These intelligent and sensible men, these highly useful citizens, have witnessed the effect of the late measures of government upon their own concerns; and the resolutions which I have now to present fully express their convictions on the subject. They propose not to reason, but to testify; they speak what they do know. Mr. President, the members of this meeting have not transmitted their proceedings by mail; nor have they rested satisfied * A Continuation of the Remarks commenced on page 506 of the third volume, on the Removal of the Deposits of the Public Money, and on the Subject of a National Bank, delivered in the Senate of the United States on several occasions in the course of the Session of 1833-34. with merely causing them, in any way, to reach the two houses of Congress, and to be read and disposed of in the ordinary manner. They have forwarded them by a committee of thirty persons of their own body, and those thirty persons are now within the walls of the Senate-chamber. I wish, Sir, that Senators would converse with these gentlemen; I wish they would embrace the opportunity of satisfying themselves of their intelligence, their fairness, their freedom from the influence of all oblique or improper motives, and the unquestionable truth of the existence of that distress which they come here to represent. Such a communication would convince honorable members that there is no pretence, no fiction, no exaggeration, in the whole matter; but that all their words are words of truth and soberness. Mr. President, Congress has now been a good while in session. When we left our respective homes, the pressure had not come on; and we left our friends and neighbors prosperous and happy. We have been here three months, without intercourse with our constituents and our neighbors. In the mean time, the whole condition of things is changed, fearfully changed; and I verily believe we do not fully know or feel the full extent of this change, and all the difficulty and distress which now pervade the people. If we were at home; if we were each in our own respective circles, amidst the men of business, and mingling with all classes; and if we were hearing, as in that case we should hear, every hour, of more and more trouble, of new individual disasters, and of still increasing fear and alarm; and if we could witness, as we then should witness, the despondency of those heads of families whose occupations and means of living have been thus suddenly cut off, we should be convinced that it is the imperative and solemn duty of Congress to relieve the country without a moment's delay. Sir, if half the time and the study which are now devoted to the finding out of plausible arguments to justify the Secretary of the Treasury were given to an honest and thorough inquiry into the real state of the country, I fully believe all would see the absolute necessity of immediate redress. Sir, while we sit here, in long debates, the country is plunging deeper and deeper in distress. We must not turn away from this. Sir, let us keep our eyes earnestly on the country; for, be assured, the eyes of the country are kept earnestly on us. And let us, Sir, take this occasion to look into facts, and examine particulars. Let us see whether there be any thing, and if so what it is, of which these our fellow-citizens complain. Do they only join in a general cry raised by others? Do they deal in unmeaning generalities, and set up an undefined and invisible cause of distress? Sir, listen to the statement; hear the facts. The committee state, that eight thousand persons are ordinarily employed in building houses in the city and county of Philadelphia, a number which, with their families, would make quite a considerable town. They further state, that the average number of houses which this body of mechanics has built, for the last five years, is twelve hundred a year. The average cost of these houses is computed at two thousand dollars each. Here is a business, then, Sir, of two million four hundred thousand dollars a year. Such has been the average of the last five years. And what is it now? Sir, the committee state that the business has fallen off seventy-five per cent. at least; that is to say, that, at most, only one quarter part of their usual employment now remains. This is the season of the year in which building contracts are made. It is now known what is to be the business of the year. Many of these persons, who have heretofore had, every year, contracts for several houses on hand, have this year no contract at all. They have been obliged to dismiss their hands, to turn them over to any scraps of employment they could find, or to leave them in idleness for want of any employment. But, Sir, let us look into the particulars of this case still a little further. It is well for us to dwell on them. As we have facts before us, useful for us to know, let us not hasten away from them. Sir, how has this building business usually been carried on? Has it been by employing these mechanics as mere day-laborers? No, Sir; that, probably, would be generally the case in other countries; but in this, hitherto, and especially of late years, something better has been done by the building mechanics. Many of our young beginners, say the committee, buy a lot, partly for cash, but perhaps mostly on credit. They go to work and build a house upon it, those who furnish bricks and lumber having a lien on the land for their security. They thus unite capital, or its substitute, credit, with their labor; and by prudent management, in prosperous times, they are able to sell |