The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-02-04
for the ensuing year
REFORM! REFORM
CONVENTION
or TEE
NATIONAL LABOR PARTY !

At the meeting of the Natl nal La
Dor Congress, held at Cincinnati, il
August, 1870, the following resolution
was adopted:
Resolved, That the President Of this Com
gTess he empowered and instructed 10 sppOb
a committee Of one from each State ard Terri
DRY and the District II OolumbiA whose out, i
shall be to call At the earliest practic BILE mo
m-nt NA.ional Convention, in order to com
pIete the Organization Of the National La boz
Party"
In pursuance whereof the committee
appointed for this purpose met in the
Guy of Washington. d, c.. January IL
81, and fixed the rule of representa-
ton Ia said Convention Is follows:
Each State to be entitled to one d.
| legale tor each member and senator i,
The Congress Of the United States, and
one delegate from each Territory an
the District of Columbia.
Delegates shall have The certificate
OF the chairman and secretary of thu
Convention appointing and also the
endorsement Of the members OF the ma
tIOnal committee of their respective
States and Territories that they were
duly elected, and that they endorse the
principles and purposes of this call.
DslsgaIes coming from districSt
no member Of The national cOmmitte,
resides, will be subject to the avtiun OF
he National Conv ention when organ
ixed.
The delegates thus qualified will
meet At the City of Columbus, Ohio a.
10 O'Clock A NJ, on the third We'd
neslsy OF October, 1871, for the pur-
pose Of nominating candidates for the
oAices OF President and Vice President
of the United States, and the transac-
ton Of such other BUSINESS ~ may
properly come before them. Provided.
that the chairman of the national corn
mittee, may on q written request of q
majority of the national committee
appoint a different day for the
assembling of the convention.
In making this call, and presenting
to enter into competition with existing
parties, it Is meant that we should give
10 the world eur reasons as we'll as the
remedies we propose for the wrongs of
which we complain.
Starting, then, with the maxims that
our Government is founded on the SOW
ereignty and consent Of the governed,
and It's purpose to protect property and
enforce natural rights, and thus give
to all an equitable chance in the race
of life that land, water, air, and all
natural elements are common gifts and
Governments are only trustees to guard
against their misapplication, and that,
as trustees, they have no right to allie
nate without the consent OF the owners
freely given that all Glars legislation,
whereby these original and common
elements or the proceeds Of the same
enhanced by intelligent labor, are per
yerted fror their original design and
made to enure to the benefit Of non
producers and the injury of producers,
Is wrong and subversive of the pur
poses of good government. That all
able bodied, intelligent persons should
contribute To the common stock by
useful industry sum or quantity tqual
to their own support, aud Legislation
should tend az far az possible to the
eQuii able distribution Of the surplus
products.
If these propositions are tree our
Government is wholly perverted from
It's true design. and the sacred names,
Democracy and RepublicSnism, are the
synony ms Of deHPctisn, and the parties
represented thereby, as now organic d,
are engines Of oppression crushing out
the lives Of the people. We need only
point to The facts, that in this beneficI.
ent country of unlimited resources,
With the land annually groaning be.
meath the products Of human effort,
the mass Of the people have no supply
hey Ond their daily wants comptlle d
from unjust conditIOus, in sickness and
misfortune, to become paupers and vag
rants. Psuperism and crime are the
perPlexing questions Of all modern
craftsmanship, and it is with these We
have to deal. How far these evils are
connected with the abuses inf cted Oh
labor superficial craftsmanship seem,
not to perceive. Chattel slavery has
been abolished, but the rights and re
latl"ns OF Labor stand Just where the,
did before the emancipation in respecr
10 The division Of its products. The
difference lies only in the methods OF
abstracting the results and concentrat
ing them IN the few capitalists. Capita
Is now the master aud dictates the
terms, and thus all labor is PRACTICAL,
placed IN the same condition OF III.
slave before his emancipation. In thu,
placing 1t the interest of all lahore,
become common, and they must igh
the battle IN unity if they would sue
coed.
What, then, are the instrumental
ties by which these wrongs are infilct-
ed?
l. Banking and monied monopolies
BY which, through ruinOus rates OF in