Page 286 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

232 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
variety of wood, iron and brass working are the fruit of their l&
bor. Nor are we without large establishments. Our iron
foundries employ, in the aggregate, a large number of men, and
among them are found as skillful artizans as the country pro-
duces. The same may be said of our cabinet, clothing, car-
riage and tanning establishments. As to the enterprise of our
people, I but point you to their works.
Occupants the Owners.
It may be recited as one of the sources of our strength and
stability, that to a large degree our population own either the
place of their residence or business, and in a multitude of cases,
both. I think it is proper to remark that, as a whole, they
have kept free from debt, and, to a very great extent, kept their
property unincumbered. And what shall I say here of the prob-
ity, the uprightness, the fair-dealing, the unbending integrity,
of the large class of merchants who have borne a part in the
upbuilding of our town, whose representatives you are, here,
to-night ? What would be the testimony of the merchants of
the great mctropolis, if asked to answer upon this vital point?
Would they be obliged tr, say, that the merchants of Milwau-
kee have been guilty of dishonest assignments to defraud their
creditors, and otherwise nutorioualy untrust-worthy? I know s
town of very considcrnble pretentions, which has stood paral-
ized for years, from the fact that scme of its leading merchants
fell into difficulty, and instead of honorably, manfully and hon-
estly surrendering their property, and casting themselves upon
the magnanimity of their creditors, conspired to dcfraud and
cheat them. Some merchants of respectable standing, so eall-
ed, joined in, thinking to speculate frorn the matter, and then
the whole mercantile intorest becamt: tainted with fraud, and a
sort of mercantile judgment and retribution has rested upon the
place ever since.
Mercantile Character.
But can anything of this kind be brought to the charge of
Milwaukee merchants as a class ? I think not. Here and