82 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



the Indiana party issued the call for the confer- 

 ence at Indianapolis in November, 1874, which led 

 to the organization of the National Greenback 

 party. 



This conference was attended by representatives 

 from seven States and included several who had 

 been prominent in the Labor Reform movement. 

 "The political Moses of the 'New Party, ' " accord- 

 ing to the Chicago Tribune, was James Buchanan 

 of Indianapolis, a lawyer "with an ability and 

 shrewdness that compel respect, however much his 

 theories may be ridiculed and abused." He was 

 also the editor of the Sun, a weekly paper which 

 supported the farmers' movement. The platform 

 committee of the conference reported in favor of 

 "a new political organization of the people, by the 

 people, and for the people, to restrain the aggres- 

 sions of combined capital upon the rights and in- 

 terests of the masses, to reduce taxation, correct 

 abuses, and to purify all departments of the Gov- 

 ernment." The most important issue before the 

 people was declared to be "the proper solution of 

 the money question," meaning thereby the issue 

 of greenbacks interconvertible with bonds. A na- 

 tional convention of the party was called to meet at 

 Cleveland on March 11, 1875. 



