500 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



now enjoys will be jeopardized by ill-considered and 

 sweeping changes in the tariff, and by the destruction 

 of the national banking system which the Democratic 

 leaders have proclaimed their determination to effect. 



2. Because there is no hope of economical and effi- 

 cient conduct of the public business from the party that 

 originated the pernicious doctrine that " to ttic victors 

 belong the spoils," which by its recent action in dis- 

 tributing the patronage of the two Houses of Congress, 

 by expelling Union soldiers to give place to those who 

 fought against the Union, has shown that it not only 

 has 110 intention of abandoning that doctrine, but that 

 it clings to it even to the point of defying the patriotic 

 sentiments of the loyal people. 



3. Because the advocates of inflation are chiefly 

 members of the Democratic party, and many States 

 under Democratic rule have scaled or repudiated their 

 debts, a 'Democratic success in a national election 

 would impair the public credit and depreciate the na- 

 tional securities. 



4. Because the introduction of numerous bills in the 

 present Congress by Democratic members gives reason 

 to fear that if the Democratic party control the execu- 

 tive as well as the legislative department of the Gov- 

 ernment, legislation vvill be enacted for the exclusive 

 benefit of States and individuals formerly in open re- 

 bellion. 



5. Because the Democratic party, by countenancing 

 the late attempt to usurp the government of Maine, 

 by ignoring or condoning the criminal violence ana 

 fraud that has been practiced upon the colored men and 

 other Eepublicans of the South, and by its half-exe- 

 cuted threat to starve the Government when unable to 

 control itj has demonstrated that in its desire to obtain 

 power it is restrained by no principles, and that it has 

 yet to learn the lessons of patriotism which were 

 taught by the civil war ; and can not, therefore, safely 

 be trusted to maintain those great principles of jus- 

 tice and of freedom, to vindicate which this nation 

 lias been lavish of its money and of its blood. 



The Greenback party held a Convention at 

 Worcester on the 22d of September, and nomi- 

 nated General Horace Binney Sargent, of Bos- 

 ton, for Governor. The rest of the State ticket 

 was as follows: For Lieutenant -Governor, 

 George Button, of Springfield; Secretary of 

 State, Jonathan Arnold, of North Abington ; 

 Treasurer, Wilbur F.Whitney, of Ashburnham ; 

 Auditor, Charles T. Warner, of Northamp- 

 ton ; Attorney-General, John M. Raymond, of 

 Salem. 



The following platform was adopted: 



Resolved, That we affirm the Chicago platform of 

 June 9, 1880, and pledge our undivided support to the 

 candidates there nominated. 



Resolved, That as business prosperity depends upon 

 stability in the value of money, and stability in the 

 value of money depends upon stability in the volume 

 thereof, the control of the volume of money is all- 

 powerful over the industries of a nation, and if trusted 

 to corporate greed can be used to the impoverishment 

 of the people and the enrichment of the issuer : there- 

 fore we demand the substitution of full legal-tender 

 greenback for national-bank notes, and that the na- 

 tional Government only issue the money of the peo- 

 ple and control its volume. 



Resolved, That the burden of interest is no more 

 desirable for a nation than for an individual, and that 

 common prudence dictates the speedy payment of 

 public as well as private debts ; and we deprecate the 

 action of the Secretary of the Treasury in buying 

 bonds at a premium when they might be paid at their 

 face, and demand that the bonds falling dxie this year 

 and next be not refunded, but be paid off as far as 

 possible witli the cash now on hand, and by the substi- 

 tution of gieenbacks for national-bank notes. 



Resolved, That giving to corporations the power to 



use the national debt as a basis for the issue of money 

 with the privilege of receiving back nine tenths of the 

 capital invested for use, thus enabling them to draw 

 interest on one hundred and ninety "thousand while 

 the owners of only one hundred thousand, thus giving 

 them an enormous gratuity, interesting them in the 

 payment of the debt, the payment of which would de- 

 prive them of this enormous but unjust profit, and 

 through the issuing of the money tlic power to im- 

 poverish the people and prevent its payment, tends to 

 the subjugation of the people and the destruction of 

 republican institutions, and needs but to be under- 

 stood by the people to be for ever abolished. 



Resolved, That the soldiers should receive as good a 

 dollar as the bondholder. The soldier received thirty- 

 eight cents where one dollar was promised, and the 

 bond-receivers one dollar for forty cents loaned. 

 Honest equity and national honor demand that justice 

 be done to brave men who defended their country 

 with their lives, and we condemn the legislation which 

 gives the bondholder more than was ^romisedj and 

 fails to recognize the just claims of the soldier. 



Resolved, That the hours of labor should be short- 

 ened, and the employment of young children in ex- 

 hausting factory-labor be prevented ; that labor-saving 

 machinery is a boon of God to the sons and daughters 

 of toil rather than an engine of torture to wring out 

 larger profits for capital by bringing the laborer into 

 heart-breaking competition with the muscles that never 

 tire. The vast powers of nature are not harnessed by 

 invention to secure even six per cent, dividends, but 

 to relieve human slaves ; not hours of toil, but the 

 product of this new partnership of man with natural 

 forces, should be the ruling compensation, and demand 

 a new system of dividing the profits of capital and 

 labor. We demand the rigid enforcement of the ten- 

 hour law, now on the statutes of this Commonwealth 

 relating to the employment of women and children, 

 and we insist that the grasping corporation which 

 filches an hour's labor from a thousand operatives 

 deserves the same proportionate punishment meted 

 out to lesser offenders. 



Resolved, That we favor a graduated income-tax, 

 that being the only method of forcing capital to share 

 with labor the burden of taxation. 



Resolved, That we are opposed to an increase of the 

 standing army in the time of peace, and to the insidi- 

 ous military power under the guise of the " general 

 militia law." 



Resolved, That the right of suffrage is the inalienable 

 right of all persons, without money or price. 



Resolved, That we oppose the granting of our pub- 

 lic lands to railroads or other corporations, or the 

 sale of the same to speculators, and demand that they 

 be retained for actual settlers. We also demand that 

 the laborers of our overcrowded cities be afforded gov- 

 ernmental aid to settle on said lands instead of grant- 

 ing subsidies to wealthy institutions. Land, light, 

 air, and water, are the free gifts of Nature to all man- 

 kind, and any law or custom of society that allows 

 any person to monopolize more of these gifts than he 

 has the right, to the detriment of the rights of others, 

 we earnestly condemn and seek to abolish. 



The total number of votes cast for Presi- 

 dential electors on the 2d of November was 

 282,512, of which 165,205 were for the Repub- 

 lican, and 111,960 for the Democratic ticket; 

 4,548 were cast for the Greenback candidates, 

 682 for those of the Prohibitory party, and 117 

 were returned as " scattering." The Republi- 

 can plurality over the Democratic vote was 

 53,245 ; majority over all others, 47,898. The 

 total vote for Governor was 282,216, of which 

 164,825 were for Long, 111,410 for Thompson, 

 4,864 for Sargent, 1,059 for Almy, and 58 

 "scattering." Long's plurality over Thomp- 

 son was 53,415 ; his majority over all, 47,434. 



