Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/41

 BEECHER

��that statement out, and you can not put it back. [Laughter and applause.]

Now, let us consider the prospect. If the South become a slave empire, what relation will it have to you as a customer? [A voice, "Or any other man." Laughter.] It would be an empire of twelve millions of people. Of these, eight mil- lions are white and four millions black. [A voice, "How many have you got?"] Consider that one-third of the whole are the miserably poor, unbuying blacks. You do not manufacture much for them. You have not got machinery coarse enough. [Laughter and "No."] Your labor is too skilled by far to manufacture bag- ging and linsey-woolsey. [A Southerner, "We are going to free them every one."] Then you and I agree exactly. One other third consists of a poor, unskilled, degraded white population ; and the remainder one-third, which is a large allowance, we will say, intelligent and rich. Now here are twelve millions of people, and only one- third of them are customers that can afford to buy the kind of goods that you bring to market. [Interruption and uproar.]

My friends, I saw a man once, who was a little late at a railway station, chase an express train. He did not catch it. If you are going to stop this meeting, you have got to stop it before I speak; for after I have got the things out, you may chase as long as you please — you will not catch them. But there is luck in leisure; I'm going to take it easy. Two-thirds of the popula- 19

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