220 



CONNECTICUT. 



gurements. but the Commissioners are enabled to give 

 approximately, and they believe nearly accurately, 

 the followin"- quantities of the principal matehitl in 

 the building: 7,800,000 hard brick ; 2,100,000 pounds 

 iron; 300,000 square feet plaster; 152,000 cubic feet 

 stone masonry ; 114,000 cubic feet marble in build- 

 ino- ; 47,000 cubic feet marble in dome ; 33,000 cubic 

 feet granite; 39,303 feet steam pipe; 22,674 feet gas 

 pipe ; 12,073 feet water pipe. Of the brick, 1,200,- 

 000 will be in the dome, 800,000 of which are now in 

 place ; and of the 47,000 cubic feet of marble re- 

 quired for the dome, 20,000 cubic feet are in place. 



The National Greenback Labor party con- 

 vened at Hartford on the 17th of August, be- 

 ing represented by eighty delegates from all of 

 the counties, and nominated a full State tick- 

 et, as follows : For Governor, Charles Atwa- 

 ter, of New Haven; for Lieutenant-Go ver- 

 nor, Henry Manchester, of Danbury ; for Sec- 

 retary of State, Lucian W. Pinney, of Winsted ; 

 for Treasurer, Loren F. Judd, of New Britain; 

 for Comptroller, Charles J. Winters, of Nor- 

 wich. The following platform was adopted 

 by the Convention : 



Whereas, Both the old political parties have sanc- 

 tioned legislation that has created excessive ex- 

 penses, deot, and taxation ; fostered monopolies, di- 

 minished the value of all kinds of property, except 

 evidences of debt, and brought upon the people all 

 the evils of a contracted and fluctuating currency ; 

 and 



Whereas, This policy has formed privileged class- 

 es, changed the obligations of contracts, lowered 

 wages, thrown laborers out of employment, and pro- 

 duced an enormous amount of needless suffering; 

 and 



Whereas, Governments should discourage great 

 accumulations of -wealth in few hands, and should 

 promote industry, frugality, and equal prosperity for 

 all: therefore the National Greenback Labor party 

 of Connecticut resolves : 



ARTICLE I. We denounce as crimes against tlie 



Ele the law making the greenback only a partial 

 tender, the act creating the national banking 

 ne, the act changing currency bonds into coin 

 bonds, the act exempting bonds from taxation, the 

 act repealing the income tax, the act demonetizing 

 silver, the act for issuing interest-bearing bonds for 

 the purchase of silver bullion to be converted into 

 subsidiary coin, the act for the forced resumption of 

 specie payments, the act for the indefinite increase 

 of the national-bank circulation and the enormous 

 contraction of the volume of the circulating medium. 

 We recognize the financial legislation of the Govern- 

 ment from the beginning of the war as the arbitrary 

 dictation of a syndicate of bankers and usurers, with 

 the single purpose of robbing the many to enrich 

 the few. 



ART. II. To remedy and counteract the evils com- 

 plained of we demand the Government shall issue a 

 full legal-tender paper money adequate in volume 

 for the employment of labor, the distribution of its 

 products, the requirements of business, and for the 

 payment of all bonds in absolute money as soon as 

 possible, and no further issue by the Government of 

 any bonds. 



ART. III. We call for the immediate repeal of the 

 so-called resumption act and the national-bank act, 

 demanding the retirement at once of the national- 

 bank circulation, and the substitution therefor of 

 full legal-tender paper money. 



ART. IV. The public lands, belonging to all the 

 people, should be sacredly held in trust for the 

 homes of American citizens ; that the Government 

 should furnish aid to families desirous of settling 

 thereupon, in amounts sufficient to enable them to 



cultivate and improve the same, instead of squan- 

 dering the public domain upon corporations or pri- 

 vate speculators. We demand a graduated tax on all 

 lands. 



ART. V. We demand that the Government at once 

 establish postal savings banks, for the purpose of 

 receiving deposits by the people for safe keeping, 

 and loaning money to the people, on ample security, 

 at a rate ol interest not exceeding the actual expense 

 of creating and loaning the same. 



ART. VI. In the language of Peter Cooper, " No- 

 thing can be bought cheap from foreign countries 

 which must be bought at the expense of leaving our 

 own raw material unused, and our own labor unem- 

 ployed " ; therefore we demand a protective tariff 

 on all articles of which the raw material is produced 

 and the labor to manufacture the same is found in 

 the country ; all articles which we do not or can not 

 produce or manufacture to be admitted free. 



ART. VII. An income tax based upon a constitu- 

 tional limitation and graduating upward, but leaving 

 untouched all incomes under $1,000. 



ART. VIII. That labor, being the basis of man's 

 existencej and the source of aU'wealth, deserves our 

 first consideration. We therefore demand that labor 

 bureaus, State at well as national, be established for 

 the collection of statistics relative to the condition 

 of the producing classes, and the management to be 

 given to competent men, known to be in sympathy 

 with the design for which said bureau is created; 

 that wise, judicious, and equitable laws may be enact- 

 ed in regard to the hours of labor, and the employ- 

 ment of minors in the manufacturing establishments. 



ART. IX. We demand a thorough reform in the 

 system of public-school education, so as to establish 

 agricultural, mechanical, and commercial schools in 

 addition to our common schools; that all books 

 should be procured at the expense of the State gov- 

 ernment, and that not less than one lecture per week 

 be delivered upon the dignity of labor and its para- 

 mount importance in the affairs of men in every-day 



ART. X. Equal taxation of all property owned by 

 individuals or corporations. 



ART. XL We demand a thorough reform in the 

 administration of the affairs of the' State. It is the 

 duty of the Legislature, elected by the people, to ap- 

 propriate definite sums for the various State depart- 

 ments, the officials in charge of said departments 

 being limited to the amounts so appropriated. 



ART. XII. We demand a general supervision by 

 the State of all railroad, gas, and other monopolies. 

 There should be a uniform tariff rate for passenger 

 and freight traffic on railroads, and definite laws curb- 

 ing their encroachments. 



ART. XIII. We demand the abolition of the system 

 of Jetting out by contract the labor of convicts in our 

 prisons and reformatory institutions. 



ART. XIV. We are opposed to the importation of 

 servile Chinese labor to come into competition with 

 the free labor of this country. 



ART. XV. We deprecate and denounce all sedi- 

 tious and violent measures, and appeal only to the 

 good sense and love of justice and patriotism of the 

 people, and invoke them to redress their cruel and 

 outrageous wrongs only through the medium of the 

 ballot-box. 



When the reading of this platform bad been 

 concluded, a discussion ensued, some among 

 the delegates having severally proposed cer- 

 tain additions to it, as a resolution advocating 

 woman's right to suffrage, and one prohibiting 

 the exportation of wheat and flesh-meat be- 

 cause they are needed at home. Their motions 

 did not prevail. 



The Democratic party convened at New 

 Haven on September 17, 1878, when the en- 



