UNITED STATES. 



807 



of the postponement of the resumption of spe- 

 cie payments, and a large issue of green backs, 

 and many others, assembled in convention at 

 Toledo, Ohio, on February 22d, and organized 

 themselves into a new political party to bo 

 known as the National party. Delegates were 

 present from twenty-eight States. The Con- 

 vention was organized by the appointment 

 of Francis W. Hughes, of Pennsylvania, as 

 President. The following platform was then 

 adopted : 



Whereus, Throughout our entire country the value 

 of real estate is depreciated, industry paralyzed, trade 

 depressed, business incomes and wages reduced, un- 

 paralleled distress inflicted upon the poorer and 

 middle ranks of our people, the land filled with fraud, 

 embezzlement, bankruptcy, crime, suffering, pauper- 

 ism, and starvation ; and 



Whereas, This state of things has been brought 

 about by legislation in the interests of, and dictated 

 by money-lenders, bankers, and bondholders ; and 



Whereas, While we recognize the fact that the men 

 in Congress connected with the old political parties 

 have stood up manfully for the rights of the people, 

 and met the threats of the money power and the 

 ridicule of an ignorant and subsidized press, yet nei- 

 ther the Republican nor the Democratic parties in 

 their national policies propose remedies for the ex- 

 isting evils; and 



Whereas, The Independent Greenback party, and 

 other associations more or less effective, have been 

 unable hitherto to make a formidable opposition to 

 old party organizations ; and 



Whereas, The limiting of the legal-tender quality 

 of ^ greenbacks, the changing of currency bonds into 

 coin bonds, the demonetization of the silver 4 dollar, 

 the exempting of bonds from taxation, the contrac- 

 tion of the circulating medium, the proposed forced 

 resumption of specie payments, and the prodigal 

 waste of the public lands, were crimes against the 

 people, and, as far as possible, the results of these 

 criminal acts must be counteracted by judicious leo-- 

 islation :> 



Therefore we assemble in National Convention 

 and make a declaration of our principles, and invite 

 all patriotic citizens to unite in an effort to secure 

 financial reform and financial emancipation. The 

 organization shall be known as the " National party," 

 and under this name we will perfect without delay 

 national, State, and local associations to secure the 

 election to office of such men only as will pledge 

 themselves to do all in their power to establish these 

 principles : 



1. It is the exclusive function of the General Gov- 

 ernment to coin and create money and regulate its 

 value. All bank issues designed to circulate as 

 money should be suppressed. The circulating me- 

 dium, whether of metal or paper, shall be issued by 

 the Government and made a full legal tender for ail 

 dehts, duties, and taxes in the United States at its 

 stamped value. 



2. There shall be no privileged class of creditors. 

 Official salaries, pensions, bonds, and all other debts 

 and obligations, public and private, shall be dis- 

 charged m the legal-tender money of the United 

 States, strictly according to the stipulations of the 

 laws under which they were contracted. 



3. That the coinage of silver be placed on the same 

 footing as that of gold. 



4. Congress shall provide said money adequate to 

 the full employment of labor, the equitable distri- 

 bution of its products, and the requirements of busi- 

 ness, fixing a minimum amount per capita of the 

 population as near as may be, and otherwise ^regu- 

 lating its value by wise and equitable provisions 

 of law, so that the rate of interest will secure to labor 

 its just reward. 



5. It is inconsistent with tho genius r,f popular 

 government that any species of privnto property 

 should bo exempt from bi-uring its jtiht share of the 

 public burdens. Government bonds und money 

 should bo taxed precisely as other property, und u 

 graduated income tax should bo levied for the HUI>- 

 ]>"it of tho Government and tho payment of its 



debts. 



6. Public lands are the common property of the 

 whole people, and should not be sold to speculator* 

 nor granted to railroads or other corporations, but 

 should be donated to actual settlers in limited Quan- 

 tities. 



7. The Government should, by general enact- 

 ments, encourage the development of our agricul- 

 tural, mineral, mechanical, miuiufacturing, and com- 

 mercial resources, to the end that labor may be fully 

 and profitably employed, but no monopolies should 

 be legalized. 



^ 8. All useless offices should be abolished, the most 

 rigid economy favored in every branch of the pub- 

 lic service, and severe punishment inflicted upon 

 public officers who betray the trusts reposed in them. 



9. As educated labor has devised means for mul- 

 tiplying production by inventions and discoveries, 

 and as their use requires the exercise of mind as well 

 as body, such legislation should be had that the 

 number of hours of daily toil will be reduced, giv- 

 ing to the working classes more leisure for mental 

 improvement and their several enjoyments, and sav- 

 ing them from premature decay and death. 



10. The adoption of an American monetary sys- 

 tem, as proposed herein, will harmonize all differ- 

 ences in regard to tariff and Federal taxation, reduce 

 and equalize the cost of transportation by land and 

 water, distribute equitably the joint earnings of capi- 

 tal and labor, secure to the producers of wealth the 

 results of their labor and skill, and muster out of 

 service the vast army of idlers who, under the exist- 

 ing system, grow rich upon the earnings of others, 

 that every man and woman may, by their own ef- 

 forts, secure a competence so that overgrown for- 

 tunes and extreme poverty will be seldom found 

 within the limits of our republic. 



11. Both national and State Governments should 

 establish Bureaus of Labor and Industrial Statistics, 

 clothed with the power of gathering and publishing 

 the same. 



12. That the contract system of employing labor 

 in our prisons and reformatory institutions works 

 great injustice to our mechanics and citizens, and 

 should be prohibited. 



13. The importation of servile labor into the United 

 States from China is a problem of the most serious 

 importance, and we recommend legislation looking 

 to its suppression. 



The party thus organized dates its origin from 

 the nomination on May 17, 1876, at Indian- 

 apolis, of Peter Cooper as its candidate for 

 the Presidency. In November of that year it 

 polled at the election 82,640 votes. On May 

 10, 1878, the Executive Council met in New 

 York for the purpose of devising plans for the 

 thorough and systematic organization of the 

 party in all the States preparatory to the elec- 

 tions in September and November. Very san- 

 guine views of future success were expressed. 

 The union of the Labor element with the 

 Greenback portion brought to the latter griev- 

 ances which have been deep-seated and long- 

 continued, and which are beginning to attract 

 the attention of civilized society. The follow- 

 ing is the most accurate statement which has 

 been made of the number of votes cast by 

 the National party thus far : 



