PENNSYLVANIA. 



683 



Eerity and welfare of the nation, such power should 

 9 zealously guarded and controlled, and no power 

 to regulate either the volume or value of money 

 should be given to banks or other moneyed corpora- 

 tions, who, by means of such power, could subserve 

 private ends, and at will contract or expand the cur- 

 rency of the country, and thus hold all the producing 

 and laboring interests in absolute bondage. 



Resolved, That the present national banking sys- 

 tem is not only burdensome to the people by reason 

 of the substitution of an inferior currency for money 

 at a heavy expense to the country, in the useless 

 payment of interest on bonds, but by reason of the 

 power in them such banks are obtaining permanent 

 control of the Government, and are becoming the 

 absolute masters of all the business interests of the 

 country ; and that in the interests of the manufac- 

 turer, farmer, mechanic, and laborer, the national- 

 bank currency should be withdrawn from circula- 

 tion, and free legal-tender money substituted by the 

 Government in lieu thereof. 



Resolved, Thut as the wealth of the nation is 

 founded on labor, the laborer should be protected in 

 his just rights. It is desirable that the hours of 

 labor should be so limited as to afford the laborer an 

 opportunity to cultivate his mental faculties and en- 

 joy rational social intercourse with his friends ; to 

 earn such reasonable wages as may be an equitable 

 proportion of the profits of his industry, and this so 

 that he may ameliorate his condition and obtain the 

 comforts and luxuries of life, and thus, by increasing 

 consumption, open new avenues for industry and 

 new fields for labor; to educate his children, and 

 thus, through universal education, elevate labor and 

 the character of the laborer. For the purpose of 

 attaining these ends, 



Resolved, That the prison contract system should 

 be prohibited ; that the Federal and State govern- 

 ments and municipal corporations should limit the 

 hours of labor ; that the manufacturing, mining-, 

 farming, and laboring interests of the country be 

 protected 



1. By lowering the rate of interest on money, and 

 to effect this by the Government issuing free legal- 

 tender money sufficient for the wants of trade, and 

 regulating its value and its volume by wise and judi- 

 cious legislation. 



2. By the protection of American industries by 

 the enactment of a tariff, based on constitutional 

 limits, for revenue, but with discriminations for pro- 

 tection to the labor of the farmer, the miner, the 

 manufacturer, and the producing interest. 



3. By holding public lands for the use of the ao- 

 tual settler, and not to be granted as subsidies. To 

 hold such corporations to a strict accountability, and 

 when the terms of the grant have not been complied 

 with, to reclaim such lands as having been forfeited, 

 and as having reverted to the Government. 



4. By opening new fields for labor in the construc- 

 tion of work of national importance, either directly 

 by the Government itself, or by rendering assist- 

 ance ; in no case to be in the form of subsidies, but 

 all outlays of the Government to be adequately se- 

 cured. 



5. By encouraging our ship-building interests and 

 the carrying of American products in American ships, 

 and to render such aid, under proper guarantees 

 against fraud, as will enable American steamships 

 to compete with foreign ones. 



6. To afford a safe depository for money, and to 

 protect the people against the fraud and loss occa- 

 sioned by savings banks and trust companies. A 

 postal depository system should be established, from 

 which, upon money being deposited, certificates of 

 deposit bearing a low rate of interest should be 

 issued, which certificates should be payable on de- 

 mand in full legal-tender Government money. 



Resolved, That we demand the repeal by the State 

 government of all charters and special privileges in- 

 consistent with the present Constitution of the State, 



the damage, if any, when judicially ascertained, to 

 be paid by the State. 



Resolved, That we demand the passage and enforce- 

 ment of such laws as will prevent all combinations, 

 discriminations, or granting of rebates by transporta- 

 tion companies, and compelling the common carrier 

 to furnish the same facilities and perform the same 

 service for the same price to all men. 



Resolved, That wo demand the immediate repeal 

 of the resuinption act of 1875. 



Resolved, That we demand an equal and just taxa- 

 tion of all property whatsoever, except that used by 

 the Federal Government and used or held for Gov- 

 ernment purposes. 



Resolved, That we demand the payment of Gov- 

 ernment bonds according to the original contract, in 

 the lawful money of the nation. 



Resolved, That to significantly designate our State 

 organization, designed to secure financial and labor 

 reform, we adopt the name of National Greenback- 

 Labor party of Pennsylvania. 



The following resolution was also adopted, 

 and ordered to be inserted in the platform : 



Whereas, The struggles of seven centuries for civil 

 liberty have, in this country, culminated in securing 

 to all an equal right to the ballot ; and 



Whereas, We believe the intelligent and honest 

 exercise of this privilege, judiciously directed to the 

 finances of the country, will secure general prosper- 

 ity, through a more 'equitable distribution of the 

 products of labor : therefore 



Resolved, That this Convention condemns all law- 

 lessness, violence, or disorder to accomplish its ends, 

 believing that the happiness of the whole people 

 can only be permanently secured through the ballot. 



The nominations made were as follows: 

 For Governor, Samuel K. Mason ; for Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, Christopher Shearer ; for Judge 

 of the Supreme Court, Benjamin S. Bentley ; 

 for Secretary of Internal Affairs, James L. 

 Wright. 



The Convention of the Republican party as- 

 sembled at Harrisburg on May 15th. It was 

 organized by the appointment of William P. 

 Stokley as permanent chairman. The follow- 

 ing platform was then adopted : 



The Republican party of Pennsylvania, adhering 

 to its historical record and to its principles hereto- 

 fore often affirmed, declares: 



1. That it is uncompromisingly opposed to free 

 trade in whatever disguise presented, unchangingly 

 devoted to home industry, and hereby avows its spe- 

 cial and direct hostility to the tariff bill now pending 

 in Congress ? the same 'being in the interest of import- 

 ers and foreign manufacturers, and in opposition to 

 American labor. 



2. That labor being the great source of national 

 wealth, the prosperity of the nation must depend 

 upon the extent to which labor is protected and em- 

 ployed, and that our Government, being a govern- 

 ment of the people, should endeavor to promote by 

 all proper means the commercial and industrial in- 

 terests of the nation, that labor and capital may both 

 be profitably employed. 



3. That American commerce should be fostered 

 and home enterprise developed by the national Gov- 

 ernment, to the end that our manufacturing, mining, 

 agricultural, and industrial interests may flourish, 

 our people find employment, and the country be re- 

 stored to permanent prosperity. 



4. That the public lands belong to the people and 

 should be reserved exclusively for actual settlers, so 

 that the industrious poor may be encouraged and 

 aided to enter upon and occupy them. 



5. That we are now, as ever, opposed to the pay- 



