To insure these blessings, two things are absolutely necessary. We want more time and more money; fewer hours of toil, and more wages for what we do. These wants we will supply, and these evils we will remedy through the instrumentality of our organizations. We must have a thorough combination of all branches of labor. And then by co-operation we must erect our own workshops, and establish our own stores, and till our own farms, and live in our own houses -- in short, we must absolutely control within ourselves the two the elements of capital -- labor and money. Then we will not only secure a fair standard of wages, but all the profits of our labor. We must erect our own halls wherein we can establish our own libraries, reading- and lecture-rooms, under the control and management of our own men; and we must have time to use them. We must do our own thinking, and infuse into the minds of our people a high tone of morals. We must learn to respect ourselves, and be proud of our occupations and positions. We must hold up our heads, and not be ashamed nor afraid to walk upon the fashionable side of the street.

If working men and capitalists are equal co-partners. . . why do they not share equally in the profits? Why does capital take to itself the whole loaf, while labor is left to gather up the crumbs? Why does capital roll in luxury and wealth, while labor is left to eke out a miserable existence in poverty and want? . . . There is not only a never-ending conflict between the two classes, but capital is, in all cases, the aggressor. Labor is always found on the defensive . . . .

Address delivered at Buffalo, N.Y., Jan. 1864; from J.C. Sylvis, The Life, Speeches, Labor, and Essays of William H. Sylvis (1872)