MASSACHUSETTS. 



489 



is marked by failure and distress; which has crip- 

 pled every industry, trade, and profession, except 

 that of the money-lender on real estate, at one-third 

 of its valuej who is rapidly acquiring the property for 

 default of interest and taxes. We believe that the 

 consolidation of property now going on under this 

 policy is dangerous ; that if persevered in it will end 

 in revolution. 



3. We believe that any and all money issued by the 

 Government, whether of gold, silverj or paper, should 

 be a full legal tender, and at all tunes convertible 

 into Government bonds, bearing a low rate of inter- 

 est, not over Sffi, per cent. ; said bonds to be recon- 

 vertible into such lawful money. And we hold that 

 it is the duty of the Government to provide such a 

 circulating medium, and we insist, in the language 

 of Thomas Jefferson, " that bank paper must be sup- 

 pressed, and the circulation restored to the nation, to 

 whom it belongs." 



4. It is the paramount duty of the Government, in 

 all its legislation, to keep in view the full develop- 

 ment of all legitimate business, agricultural, mining, 

 manufacturing, and commercial. 



5. We most earnestly protest against) any further 

 issue of gold bonds, for sale in foreign markets, by 

 means of which we would be made, for a longer pe- 

 riod, hewers of wood and drawers of water for for- 

 eign nations. ;;.-., , 



6. We demand that the silver dollar, which has 

 been a full legal tender for all debts, both public and 

 private, from 1792 until February 12, 1873, which was 

 demonetized at the suggestion and in the interest of 

 the foreign creditors of the nation, be restored to its 

 original position as a full legal tender, and that its 

 free coinage and circulation be encouraged. 



7. Resolved, That the present system of taxation on 

 mortgaged property is unjust, as against the person 

 holding the fee in the property, and should be abol- 

 ished. 



8. Resolved, That we demand a reduction of public 

 expenditures, the rapid payment and extinction of all 

 outstanding State and municipal debts, to the end 

 that the burdens of taxation borne by the present and 

 future generations may be reduced to the lowest pos- 

 sible limit. 



9. Resolved, That we demand the abolition of all 

 class legislation ; of the iniquitous system of land 

 grants and subsidies to corporations and private in- 

 dividuals, which has spread the sinister influence of 

 the lobby, and sown the seed of official corruption 

 throughout our whole political fabric, which has sub- 

 jected the public welfare and the general good to a 

 hostile and dangerous oligarchy of private interests. 



The nominations of the " Greenback" party 

 were afterward accepted by the Labor Reform 

 and Workingmen's parties. 



The Prohibitionists held a convention, at 

 Worcester, on the 12th of September. Judge 

 Robert 0. Pitman, of New Bedford, was nom- 

 inated for Governor ; Elijah A. Morse, of Can- 

 ton, Lieutenant-Governor ; D. B. Gurney, of 

 South Abington, Secretary of State ; Orin T. 

 Gray, of Hyde Park, Attorney General ; D. N. 

 Skillings, of Winchester, Treasurer. The fol- 

 lowing resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That we congratulate the Prohibitionists 

 of Massachusetts upon the increasing signs that our 

 party is making good the declaration of last year, 

 that we organized not merely for the campaign but 

 for the war. 



Resolved. That we meet for political action asainst 

 a traffic which obstructs every object of good gov- 

 ernment a traffic which makes paupers, increases 

 taxes, promotes crime, disturbs the public peace, en- 

 slaves labor, destroys the home ; impairs the purity 

 of the ballot, and imperils every interest of the Com- 

 monwealth. 



Resolved, That the policy of the State toward a 

 traffic so deadly to its interests, and at the same time 

 so powerful, can never be settled without an open 

 avowed party issue and a distinct, unquestioned de- 

 cision at the polls. 



Resolved, That no such issue can be made inside 

 of a party that is divided between license and prohi- 

 bition ; that a party so divided can accept neither 

 one side nor the other without losing the votes of the 

 minority ; that it will therefore make no such issue; 

 that when compelled to act it can never act higher 

 than its average sentiment, and must at the best 

 adopt a weak, wavering, undecided, and inefficient 

 policy, and that for this reason a political party mak- 

 ing the suppression of the liquor traffic an open, 

 avowed issue is an indispensable necessity. 



Resolved, That no State issue is presented to the 

 people of the Commonwealth except that which wo 

 present, and that no incidental effect of the State 

 election upon national politics, even if there were 

 any well defined issue between the old parties, could 

 in any way justify the indorsement or even the tol- 

 erance by a Christian people of the dram-shop sys- 

 tem now upheld by the Commonwealth of Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Resolved, That in the deliberate judgment of this 

 Convention, assembled at a time when the rights 

 and interests of labor and capital are the special sub- 

 ject of national consideration, it is incumbent on us 

 to say distinctly and with emphasis, in the language 

 of the illustrious French Republican, Gambetta. that 

 " capital and labor are the inspirers of each otner," 

 and with the heartiest sympathy for the great in- 

 dustrial community we emphatically declare that the 

 real remedy for the distress of the times and for the 

 relief of labor and industry, as well as of capital, is 

 to save by legal prohibition the annual wastu of 

 $700,000,000 now spent by the country at large in 

 the demoralizing liquor traffic. 



Resolved, That the career of Governor Rice has 

 confirmed all that was said by us at the outset, and 

 that his proposed renomination should be regarded 

 as an open challenge to every Prohibitionist still 

 remaining in the Republican party, and should be 

 responded to as such with alacrity. 



Resolved, That we bid God-speed to the Women's 

 Temperance Union and to the reform clubs of the 

 State. There can be no higher or holier work than 

 theirs. But under a licensed liquor traffic reformed 

 men can never be safe; that reform will be tempo- 

 rary and spasmodic; that the traffic will shortly re- 

 gain its supremacy, keep up its quota of victims, 

 until it shall be abolished by the omnipotent moral 

 suasion of votes and the educational discipline of 

 law. 



Resolved, That we are pledged to the ballot for 

 women not only by past affirmations but by present 

 convictions ana the clearest self-interest. 



Resolved, That while it is a satisfaction to us to 

 present the name of our tried friend, Robert C. Pit- 

 man, and with him to place before you as his asso- 

 ciate* men of character and ability, we ask you to 

 lift this contest far above all personal considerations, 

 and give them one and all a vote worthy of the cause 

 for which they stand. 



A resolution approving of the administration 

 and policy of President Hayes was defeated. 

 The candidates of the Prohibitionists were ac- 

 cepted by the Women-Suffrage party, at a 

 convention held in Boston on the 9th of Oc- 

 tober. On the same occasion the following 

 resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, That this Convention reaffirms the prin- 

 ciples of universal justice and impartial liberty as 

 the basis on which we claim equal rights for women 

 as for men. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party, by the silence 

 of its Convention, the vote of its members In the last 



