732 



UNITED STATES. 



in the interests of bondholders and bankers as a 

 means to subvert the government of our fathers ? and 

 establish on its ruins an empire in which all political 

 power shall be centralized to restrain and oppress the 

 rights of labor, and subordinate its votaries to the 

 merciless demands of aggregated capital. 



Resolved, That the rate of interest on money is the 

 governing power in the distribution of the products 

 of industry and enterprise between capital and labor, 

 and that the present rates are in excess and dispro- 

 portionate to the increase of the national wealth, and 

 oppressive to the producing classes. 



Resolved, That the national banking system being 

 inimical to the spirit of liberty and subversive of the 

 principles of justice, without warrant in the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, and wrongfully increas- 

 ing the burdens of the wealth-producing classes mill- 

 ions of dollars annually, justice demands its repeal. 



Resolved, That to provide a true national currency 

 adapted to the genius of our institutions and the 

 wants of the business of the country, the circulating 

 notes of the national banks and the present green- 

 backs, which are not a full legal tender, should be 

 withdrawn from circulation and their places supplied 

 with a paper currency, based on the wealth of the 

 nation ; made a legal tender in the payment of all 

 debts, public or private ; declared the lawful money 

 of the United States ; and convertible at the pleasure 

 of the holder into Government bonds bearing three 

 per cent, interest per annum, subject to future legis- 

 lation by Congress ; the bonds likewise convertible 

 into lawful money, at the option of the holder. 



Resolved, That the claim of the bondholders for 

 payment in gold of that class of indebtedness known 

 as 5-20 bonds, the principal of which is legally and 

 equitably payable in lawful money, is dishonest and 

 extortionate, and hence we enter our solemn protest 

 against any departure from the original contract, by 

 funding the debt in long bonds, or in any way in- 

 creasing the gold-bearing and untaxed obligations of 

 the Government. 



Resolved, That justice demands that the burdens of 

 the Government should be so adjusted as to bear 

 equally on all classes and interests ; and that the ex- 

 emption from taxation of Government bonds, bear- 

 ing extortionate rates of interest, is a violation of all 

 just principles of revenue laws. 



Resolved, That Congress should modify the tariff 

 so as to admit free the necessaries of life, and such 

 articles of common use as we can neither produce 

 nor grow ; also, to lay duties for revenue, mainly 

 upon articles of luxury, and upon such articles of 

 manufacture as, we having the raw material in abun- 

 dance, will develop the resources of the country ; in- 

 crease the number of factories ; give employment to 

 more laborers, maintain good compensation, cause 

 the immigration of skilled labor, the lessening of 

 prices to consumers, the creating of a permanent 

 home market for agricultural products, destroy the 

 necessity for the odious and expensive system of in- 

 ternal taxation, and will soon enable us to success- 

 fully compete with the manufacturers of Europe in 

 the markets of the world. 



Resolved, That the National Labor Congress ear- 

 nestly recommend the adoption of such measures 

 among all classes of workmen, in all sections of the 

 country, as will secure the adoption of the eight-hour 

 system, and call upon the respective State Legisla- 

 tures to follow the example of the national Congress 

 in recognizing eight hours as a legal day's work. 



Resolved, That the presence in our country of 

 Chinese laborers in large numbers is an evil entailing 

 want and its consequent train of misery and crime 

 on all other classes of the American people, and 

 should be prevented by legislation. 



Resolved, As labor is the foundation and cause of 

 national prosperity, it is both the duty and interest 

 of the Government to foster and protect it. Its im- 

 portance, therefore, demands the creation of an Ex- 

 ecutive Department of the Government at Washing- 



ton ; to be denominated the Department of Labor, 

 which shall aid in protecting it above all other in- 

 terests. 



Resolved, That the protection of life, liberty, and 

 property are the three cardinal principles of Govern- 

 ment, and the first two more sacred than the latter, 

 therefore, money for prosecuting wars should, as it 

 is required, be assessed and collected from the wealth 

 of the country, and not be entailed as a burden on 

 posterity. 



Resolved, That the public lands of the United 

 States' belong to the people, and should not be sold 

 to individuals, nor granted to corporations, but 

 should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the 

 people, and should be granted, free of cost, to land- 

 less settlers only, in amounts not exceeding 160 

 acres of land. 



Resolved, That the treaty-making power of the 

 Government has.no authority in the Constitution to 

 " dispose of" the public lands without the joint 

 sanction of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives. 



A resolution was also adopted by a close 

 vote, recommending the immediate formation 

 of an independent political organization, to be 

 known as the " National Labor Eeform Party." 



On October 25th a convention of delegates, 

 chiefly from the Northwestern States, assem- 

 bled in Cincinnati to discuss the question of a 

 removal of the national capital from 'Wash- 

 ington to some point in the West. The fol- 

 lowing resolutions were presented and adopted : 



Whereas, The members of this convention are as- 

 sembled for the purpose of considering the subject 

 of removing the national capital to a place more cen- 

 tral and convenient for the whole people : therefore, 



Resolved, That the time has come when common 

 justice and fair dealing to all parts and interests and 

 rights of the States and people of ^the American 

 Union demand the removal of the national capital to 

 some location within the great valley of the Missis- 

 sippi. 



Ri -solved, That some eligible site should bp^selected 

 as near as practicable to the centre of _ territory, _of 

 population, production, and transportation, and with 

 reference to the future as well as the present de- 

 mands of the nation. 



Resolved. That we emphatically insist that no more 

 appropriations of public funds shall be made for the 

 erection of new buildings, enlargement of the Capitol 

 grounds or other permanent improvements in the 

 District of Columbia. 



Resolved, That we reaffirm the resolutions adopted 

 at the National Capital Convention held in St. Louis 

 in October, 1869. 



Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed 

 by the president of this convention, charged with^the 

 duty of memorializing the Congress of the United 

 States at its next session in favor of the passage of a 

 joint resolution authorizing the President of the 

 United States to appoint commissioners to examine 

 into the question of the removal and relocation of 

 the national capital, and to make report upon the 

 same at an early day. 



An Irish National Congress assembled _ at 

 Cincinnati on August 23d, the object of which 

 was to unite the various Irish organizations of 

 the country in one body. It was not a part of 

 the Fenian movement, although in sympathy 

 with it. 



The numerous reports of outrages, alleged to 

 have been committed by secret organizations, 

 in various Southern States, led to the appoint- 

 ment of a committee in the Senate of the 

 United States, to investigate these disorders and 



