Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1875 — More Greenbacks Wanted. [ARTICLE]

More Greenbacks Wanted.

At a convention held in Indiana, polis, on the Ist instant, the following resolutions were adopted: The convulsion of civil war is over, and the issues of the war have been embodied in constitutional enactments. The tierce passions that raged in the hour of strife have subsided. Peace reigns, but not plenty. A country blessed by nature with -every resource essential to the prosperity of our people, is now suffering from the throes of financial disaster and business ruin. The cause of these evils is the mal-administration of thegovernmeut in relation to our monetary system. The exigencies of the war blessed our people with an improved currency, our greenback money. But scarcely was the din of arms succeeded by the return of peace, than the governing powers began to fashion our legislation for the benefit of the ' nation’s creditors, at the expense of f hi- people. , The currency that paifHor the services ol our soldiers, had them in the liehi, and sustained the nation, though greatly enhanced in value by the return of peace, though approved and desired by the people, was, by congressional action, in which the members of both the republican and democratic parties participated, greatly contracted to the injury of the people, and only for the benefit of the holders of the public securities, many of whom were foreigners, and during the war enemies. In 1869, by the votes of both republican and democratic members of congress, a bill was passed, the intention and purpose of wfiich was to make our large.issue of six per cent, bonds, commonly called o-20s, payable in coin, which bonds by their terms were payable in “lawful money,” which meant greenbacks. This law was only beneficial to the holders of- the bonds, and against the interest of the people, who by taxation must pay these bonds. Neither justice nor reason exist for this outrageous legislation. In 1875 a law was passed by congress. by the votes of republican members, providing for the entire withdrawal and destruction of the people’s money—the greenbacks—and for a return to specie payments; when the amount of coin in the country, and the great amouutP of our foreign indebtedness, national, state, city, county and railroad—some thousands of millions of dollars—renders a return to specie, if not absolutely impossible, a result to be accomplished only by the ruin of our people and for the benefit of the foreign holders of our national indebtedness. The election of the last year, in the State of Indiana, resulted in favor of the democratic party, because that party, by its platform, pledged itself in favor of the greenback or peoples’ money. In violation of these solemn and reiterated pledges the democratic party proceeded at once on the assembling of the legislative body to elect a United States senator, pledged to the coin interest and utterly opposed to our greenback money. The history of both republican and democratic parties, in relation to our monetary system, proves them to be hostile to the interests of our own people, and the friends of the moneyed power, that hold our securities, most ot whom are the subjects and residents of distant foreign countries. In view of these facts, and as their only safety on the great question of our currency system, the friends of our greenback money have organized themselves into an Independent party, who, ignoring all differences on other and less important questions, invite the co-operation of all the people in establishing financial and commercial independence; and demand of our senators and representatives that assemble in the national congress upon the 6th instaqtj— First. The immediate and unconditional repeal of the resumption act of January 14, 1875, commonly known as the Sherman bill. Second. The permanent retirement of all the national bank notes and the substitution therefor of a full legaltender paper money to be issued directly from the government to the

people in payment of and' exchange for government obligations. Third. We demand that an American system of finance be adopted that will republicanize our monetary system and displace the present monarchical one; that this be done by refunding the present high interest debt into bonds of small denomination; that the interest upon said bonds shall be at a low rate, in no event to exceed 3.65 per cent., and that these bonds be made interchangeable with full legal-tender paper money at the pleasure of the holder at the government treasury, and a sufficient number of depositories to make it convenient for the use of the people, thus placing the power to control the money in the hands of the people, where the power should rest in this republic. Fourth. We demand that no increase whatever be made of the inter-est-bearing debt of the nation by funding the non-interest-bearing currency, or by sale of the bonds to buy the precious metals, or by loaning the credit of the nation in an interestbearing form.