Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-08-11
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.
The Platform of the LabOrers, Mechanics
and all the WOrkingmen of the
United States.
They Propose to Meet in Convention next
Year and Nominate Candidates for the
Presidency and Vice Presiden-
Cy of the United States.
Amnesty and Justice to the South Demand
ed-A Fair Shake All Round.

AoAAOA vi bA41NAplNo W4L4 NL4NA NAO
National Labor party propose to go
before the country next year is as fol-
lows: Referring to q call for a Ma
tiOnal Convention, to nominate can
didates for the Presidency and Vice
Presidency, they say: "In making
this call and presuming to enter into
competition with existing parties, it
is meet that we should give to the
world our reasons, as well as RENE
dies, we propose for the wrongs of
which we complain. Starting, then,
with the maxim that our Government
is founded on the sovereigDtyand con-
sent OF the governed, and its purpose
10 protect property and enforce natu.
cal TigHts, and thus give all
Al equitable chance in the
race of life. The land, water,
air and all the natural elements are
comLlCl gifts, and the governments
are Gniy f dstees tOguard against their
misapplication, and that, as trustees,
they have no right to alienate without
the consent OF the owners is freely
given, and that all classes of legisia
ton whereby these original and com
mon elements or the proceeds of the
same are enhanced by intelligent labor
are perverted from their original
design and made to inUrs to the bene-
fit OF the producers and injury of the
producers is wrong and subversive of
the purposes of a good government,
and that all able-bOdied, intelligent
persons should contribute to the COM
mon stock by useful industry, as to
sum or quantity, or quality, equal to
their own support and legislation
should tend as far as possible to the
equitable distribution Of surplus pro.
ducts. If these propositions are true,
u government is wholly perverted
from its true design, and the sacred
names Of Democracy and Republican
ism are synonymous of despOtism,
and the parties represented thereby,
as now organized, are engines of
oppression crushing out the lives of
the people. We need only to point
to the facts that in this %beneficent
country of unlimited resources, with
the land annually grOaning beneath
the products of human effort, the
mass of the people have no supply
beyond their daily wants, compelled,
from unjust conditions, in sickness
snd misfortune, to become paupers
and Migrants. Pauperism and crime
are the prevailing questions OF all
modern craftsmanship, and it is with
these we have to deal. How far these
evils are connected with the abuses
inflicted on labor a superficial states
manship seems not 20 perceive. Chat
tie slavery has Ee9n abolished, but the
rights and relations OF labor stand just
where they did before emancipation
in respect to the division its products.
The difference lies only in the
methods of a~bstracting the results
and concentrating them in the few
capitalists now the masters, and these
dictate terms; and thus all labor is
practically placed in the same con-
ditiOn as the slave before his
emancipation. In thus placing it, the
interest of all labor becomes common,
and they must fight the battle in
unity, if they would succeed. What,
then, are the irstrumentalities by
which these wrongs are inflicted?
First-B9uking and mOneyed mOnOp-
Olies, by which, through various rates
of interest, the products of human
labor are concentrated in the hands of
nnn-pTOduceT5. This is the great
Central source OF these wrongs, in and
through which al other monopOlie5
exist and operate.
Second-ConsOlidated railroad and
other transit monopolies, whereby all
industries are taxed to the last mill
they will bear, for the benefit of
stockholders and stockholders.
Notwithstanding mOnOpOlies,
whereby small operators are crushed
and the price of labor and its products
are determined with mathematical
certainty in the interest CT capitalists.
Fourth - Land mOnOpGhes, by
which public domains are absorbed
By q few speculatiOns and spectators. |
Eifth-COmmeTcial and grain mon
Opolies, specializing and enriching
their bloated corporations on human
necessities.
We propose to restore the Govern
ment 70 its original purpose, and as
far as possible to remedy these evils
and remove their results.
First-By the establishment of a
monetary system, based upon the
facts and resources of the nation, in
harmCny with the genius Of the gov
srnment and adapted to the ext
kencie5 Of legitimate commerce; to
thus end, the circulating notes OF the
National and State banks, as well as
all currency, that is not a full legal
tender, should be withdrawn from cir
culatiOn and a paper currency issued
Gy the government, which shall be a
legal tender in the payment of ali
debts, public and private, duties on
imports included, and declared the
money Of the United States;
this currency or money to be inter-
changeable at the pleasure OF the
holders for Government bonds bearing
three per cent. interest, and the Gov
lege of taking the money or bonds, at
their election, reserVing to Congress
the right to regulate the rate Of inter-
est on the bonds and the volume Of the
currency, 80 as to effect the equitable
distribution of the products of labor
between money, or the nOn-prOducing
and productive industry.
secondly paying the National
debt ia strict accordance with the
laws under which it was originally
contracted gold where specially prom
ised. but all other forms OF ipdebt-
aess mourning the principal OF the
$50 bonds, shall be discharged at the
option CT the Government, in
the legal tender currency, or lawful
money OF the United States, without
funding it in long bOnds,or in any way
increasing the gold paying or untaEed
of the Government.
Thirdly preserving inViolate the
domains to the actual settlers
and tillers of the soil.
TNoV4r4h d., korsA If raEvaTun /
believing as we do, that the
reduction OF interest to a just rate
will do more to increase the rewards
Of labor in all departments of useful
industry and to encourage the develop
ment of agricultural, mineral, manu-
featuring and mechanical resources,
than any system OF tariff laws that
can be devised.
Fffth-By restraining, or, If needs
be, abOlishing, corporal monOpolies,
interdicting class legislation and con-
national legislation to national
objects, ~subjecting the military to the
civil authorities, and reducing the
army to a strictly peace standard. and
combining its operation to national
purposes alone.
Sixth-By requiring that in all fu-
ture wars the means necessary for
their prosecution shall, as required,
be collected from the wealth of the
country, and not entailed on the fU.
ture earnings Of labor.
Seventh-By adopting an Indian
policy founded on natural justice, by
many valuable lives and many
millions of money will be annually
Eighth-By holding legislators to a
more rigid accountability, by requir-
ing the Submission of the annexation