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memory. I recollect distinctly of mentioning all of these points, but I could not recall them seriatim unless I put them on paper, and that is the reason I have done so.
"When I was introduced I looked at the crowd and observed that it was quite a large crowd. I am familiar with public speaking and with crowds, and I should estimate there were 3,000 men present, and I consider myself a judge of such matters. The street was packed from sidewalk to sidewalk north and south of wagon, but especially south of the wagon, for a consider distance. I faced the south. I first called the attention of those present to the evidences of discontent among the working classes, not alone of Chicago, not alone of the United States, but of the civilized world, and I asked the question, if these evidences of discontent, as could be seen in strikes and lock-outs and boycotts, were not indications that there was something radically wrong in the existing order of things in our social affairs. I then alluded to the eight hour movement, and spoke of it as a movement designed to give employment to the unemployed, work to the idle, and thereby bring comfort and cheer to the homes of the destitute and relieving the unrelieved and wearisome toil of those who worked not alone ten hours, but twelve, fourteen, and sixteen hours a day. I said that the eight-hour movement was in the interests of civilization, of prosperity, of the public welfare, and that it was demanded by every interest in the community, and that I was glad to see them assembled on that occasion to give their voice in favor of the adoption of the eight-hour work-day. I then referred again to the general condition of labor throughout the country. I spoke of some of my travels through the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, where I had met and addressed thousands and thousands of workingmen. I told of the Tuscarora Valley, and of the Hocking valley, and of the Monongahela valley—among the miners of this country, where wages averaged 24 ½ cents a day. I showed, of course, these were not wages they received at work, but that the difficulty was they did not get the days' work and consequently they had to sum up the total and divide it. Throughout the year it amounted to 24 ½ cents a day. I asked if this was not a condition of affairs calculated to arouse the discontent of the people, and to make them
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