MASSACHUSETTS. 



533 



ination for office no man who docs not recognize 

 this necessity. 



4. Resolved, That the destruction of the liquor 

 traffic in our country would give speedy relief to all 

 classes, and especially to the families of the intem- 

 perate poor, and impoverish, if any, only those who 

 have hitherto lived upon the sufferings and degrada- 

 tion of the inebriate and his afflicted family. 



Resolved. That we have nothing to hope from the 

 election of a Governor whose prohibitory principles 

 must either yield to or be overruled by the political 

 necessities of his party, nor from a temperance plank 

 that gives us no pledge of specific action, nor from 

 a liquor law that provides no machinery for its exe- 

 cution ; but, on the contrary, we must have State 

 officers whose party is pledged to such a policy and 

 such enforcement of the laws as shall make them as 

 effective against the liquor traffic as they are aguinst 

 robbery on the land or piracy on the seas. 



5. Resolved, That while the Prohibitory party of 

 Massachusetts declares the suppression of the liquor 

 traffic to be the leading and distinctive object of its 

 organization, it does not hesitate to assert its posi- 

 tion in regard to other political questions. 



6. Risolved, That as intemperance is the enemy of 

 the home, it deals its heaviest blows at the heart of 

 woman ; that we, therefore, invite her earnest pray- 

 ers and efficient work in behalf of our cause, and we 

 look forward with eager hope for the day when sex 

 shall no longer deprive of suffrage, and woman may 

 be permitted to use the ballot, as she surely will, 

 for her own protection and for the protection of 

 society against the cruel wrongs of the liquor traffic. 



7. Resolved., That the true foundation of all just 

 government is to provide equal protection for all its 

 citizens, since education and intelligence are the 

 surest safeguards against the encroachments of sel- 

 fishness. 



8. Resolved, That the time has come when legis- 

 lation in this Commonwealth ought to provide for 

 the relief of property from the unjust burden of 

 double taxation. 



Resolved, That the interests of labor as well as of 

 capital demand that, whatever elements shall consti- 

 tute our currency, the Government should recognize 

 but one ultimate standard of commercial value. 



The nominations were : for Governor, Bev. 

 Dr. A. A. Miner; for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 George 0. Ewing; for Secretary of State, D. 

 B. Gurney; for Auditor, J. H. Orne; for 

 Treasurer, David N". Skillings; for Attorney- 

 General, O. T. Gray. Dr. Miner declined the 

 nomination, but after the adjournment of the 

 Convention accepted it. 



The Independent Greenback Convention was 

 held in. Boston on September llth, and or- 

 ganized by the appointment of Israel "W. An- 

 drews as President. In taking the chair Mr. 

 Andrews recalled the circumstance which oc- 

 curred at a previous convention, when a clergy- 

 man, who was asked to offer prayer, declined 

 to do so if the Convention proposed to repudiate 

 the bonds. With the remembrance of that 

 occurrence in his mind, he was in doubt as to 

 whether or not the Convention would care to 

 have prayer. A motion was made that the 

 Rev. J. if. L. Babcock offer prayer, and the 

 motion having been received with laughter, in 

 which the gentleman himself joined, the Chair- 

 man stated that unless somebody insisted he 

 would not put the motion. The following 

 platform was adopted : 



Whereas, By the vicious and reckless administra- 



tion of public affairs we have seen our prosperity 

 blighted, our industries crippled, and our people 

 reduced to want and misery ; and whereas, the old 

 political parties offer no relief, but are, on the con- 

 trary, responsible for this sad state of things, having 

 legislated invariably in the interest of the few at the 

 expense of the many, and against the interest of land 

 and labor, which are the sources of all wealth : we 

 call upon the people to declare their independence 

 from these false guides, and aid us in regaining the 

 priceless rights bequeathed to us by our patriotic 

 sires. To this end we invite the cooperation of every 

 good citizen, and offer the following resolutions enun- 

 ciatory of the principles of the National Greenback 

 Labor party of Massachusetts : 



Resolved, That much of the present legislation and 

 cost of government is a huge swindle upon the in- 

 dustries of the country, procured and instituted by 

 plunderers to fill their purses, and to provide pay for 

 those who manipulate the people, pack the caucus, 

 and stuff the ballot-boxes ; and that just and equal 

 laws and honest and economical government must, 

 can, and shall be established. 



Resolved, That as the important function of fur- 

 nishing a money to the people belongs solely to the 

 nation, and should not be delegated to any power, 

 private, or corporate ; therefore we demand that in 

 the future the Government alone shall issue the 

 money of the country, and that said money shall be 

 a full legal tender for the payment of all debts public 

 and private, protected and received by the Govern- 

 ment as absolute money, and the volume thereof 

 maintained at a fixed rate per capita by constitutional 

 amendment, so that permanent justice may be done 

 to all men by having general values remain the 

 same. 



Resolved, That we demand the immediate repeal of 

 the resumption act, so that the periodical carnivals 

 of bankruptcy may for ever come to an end, and that 

 our national wealth be made the fixed and reliable 

 foundation of our monetary system, for ever banish- 

 ing from American finance idiotic propositions of 

 making commodities of shifting value and articles of 

 merchandise like gold and silver a basis for money 

 a basis that ever has, as in 1815, 1837, and 1857, 

 and ever must, periodically, slip out from under such 

 a monetary system, thereby destroying it, and plung- 

 ing the country into ruin and bankruptcy ; a basis 

 that even England has never been able to maintain 

 for any great length of time, although she is the 

 creditor nation of t tie world. 



Resolved, That the United States shall never issue 

 any more interest- bearing bonds, unless the samo 

 are authorized by a direct vote of the people, and 

 those issued during the war of the rebellion shall be 

 paid as fast as they mature, according to the terms 

 of the contract which authorized and created that in- 

 debtedness of the people, and what that contract is 

 shall be submitted to the decision of the Supreme 

 Court of the United States ; and that all subsequent 

 acts which impair and change the original contract 

 are hereby denounced as creatures of corruption and 

 repudiation that must be repealed. 



Resolved, That the Labor Bureau should be sus- 

 tained, its field of operation enlarged, and its officers 

 selected from those engaged in industrial pursuits 

 and having the confidence of the industrial classes 

 of the Commonwealth, for the purpose of obtaining 

 reliable statistics to form a basis for intelligent legis- 

 lation on labor questions, especially with regard to 

 the hours of labor, which should be reduced in pro- 

 portion as the use of machinery increases, and in 

 conformity with other causes which throw wage- 

 workers out of employment. 



Resolved, That farming land of equal productive 

 capacity shall be subject to equal taxation, whether 

 cultivated or not, to the end that the land monopo- 

 list in the future may be held in check, and that the 

 public domain may be preserved to the actual tiller 

 of the soil. 



