Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1878 — ILLINOIS GREENBACKERS. [ARTICLE]

ILLINOIS GREENBACKERS.

Platform Adopted by the Springfield Convention. Whebeas, Throughout our entire country the value of real estate ia depreciated, industry paralyzed, trade depressed, business incomes and wages reduced, unparalleled distress inflicted upon the poorer and middle ranks of our people, the land filled with fraud, embezzlement, bankruptcy, crime, suffering, pauperism and starvation; and, Whebeas, This state of things has been brought about by legislation in the interest of and dictated by money-lenders, bankers and bondholders; and, Whebeas, While we recognize the fact that men in Congress connected with both the old political parties have stood up manfully for the rights of the people, and met the threats of the money power ana the ridicule of an ignorant and subsidized press, yet neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties in their national policies propose remedies for the existing evils; and,

Whereas, The Independent-Greenback party and other associations more or less effective have been unable heretofore to make a formidable opposition to the old party organizations; and. Whebeas, The limiting of the legal-tender quality of greenbacks, the changing of currency bonds into coin bonds, the demonetizing of the silver dollar, the excepting of bonds from taxation, the contraction 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 legislation, therefore we assemble ia State Convention and make a declaration of our principles, and invite all patriotic citizens to unite in an effort to secure financial reform and industrial emancipation. The organization shall be known as the “National party,” and under this name we will perfect, without delay, State, and local associations to secure the election to office to 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 Government to coin and create money and regulate its value. All bank issues designed to circulate as money should be suppressed, their circulating medium, whether of metal or paper, should be issued by the Government and made a full legal tender for all debts, 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 or private, shall be discharged in the legal-tender money of the United States, strictly according to the stipulations of the laws under which they were contracted. 3. That tne 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 distribution of its products, and the requirements of business, fixing a minimum amount per capita to the population as near as may Le, and otherwise regulating its volume 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 the genius and spirit of popular government that any species of private property should be exempt from bearing its just share of the public burdens. Government libnds and money should be taxed precisely as other property, and a graduated income taxehoula be levied for the support of the Government and the payment of its debts. 6. The public lands aie the common property of the whole people, and should not be sold to speculators nor gambled to railroads or other corporations, but should be donated to actual settlers in limited quantities. 7. The Government should, by general enactments, encourage the development of our agricultural, mineral, mechanical, manufacturing and commercial resources, to the end, that , labor may bo fully and profitably employed, but no monopolies should be legalized. 8. All useless offices should be abolished, the most rigid economy enforced in every branch of the public service,.and severe punishments inflicted upon public officers who betray the trusts reposed in them. 9. As educated labor has devised means for multiplying production by invention 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, giving to the working classes more leisure for mental improvement and social enjoyment, and saving them from permanent decay and death. 10. The adoption of an American monetary system, as proposed herein, will harmonize all differences in regard to tariff and Federal taxation, reduce and equalize the cost of transportation by land and water, distribute equitably the joint earnings of capital and labor, secure to the producers of wealth the results of their labor and skill, muster out the vast army of idlers who, under the existing system, grow rich upon the earnings of others, that every man and woman may, by their own efforts, secure a competence, so that overgrown fortunes 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 m our prisons and reformatory institutions works great injustice to our mechanics and artisans, and should be prohibited. 13. That 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. 14. That we demand an immediate is->ue of a full legal-tender currency by the Government to the full limit at least of the $400,000,000 of legal-teuder United States treasury notes. 15. That the credit of the Government can best be strengthened and preserved by its first paying off its interest-bearing debt before calling in any part of its non-interest-bearing obligations for redemption. 16. That we recommend and urge upon all State, county and township committees, and all other persons engaged in the work of organizing National Greenback and local clubs, that they support the principles set forth in the Toledo platform. 17. That the payment of all wages in lawful monvy is the only valid payment for labor, and that we are opposed to the employment of minors in shops and factories under 14 years of age.