84 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



This measure, it was asserted, "although well 

 calculated to enrich owners of silver mines . . . 

 will still further oppress, in taxation, an already 

 overburdened people.'' 



There was a strong movement in the convention 

 for the nomination of David Davis for the presi- 

 dency, but this seems to have met with opposition 

 from Eastern delegates who remembered his deser- 

 tion of the National Labor Reform party in 1872. 

 Peter Cooper of New York was finally selected 

 as the candidate. He was a philanthropist rather 

 than a politician and was now eighty-five years old. 

 Having made a large fortune as a pioneer in the 

 manufacture of iron, he left his business cares to 

 other members of his family and devoted himself 

 to the education and elevation of the working 

 classes. His principal contribution to this cause 

 was the endowment of the famous Cooper Union 

 in New York, where several thousand persons, 

 mostly mechanics, attended classes in a variety 

 of technical and educational subjects and enjoyed 

 the privileges of a free library and reading room. 

 When notified of his nomination, Cooper at first 

 expressed the hope that one or both of the old 

 parties might adopt such currency planks as would 

 make the new movement unnecessary. Later he 



