The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1878-09-19
GREENBACKS.
They Formed the Subject Matter of
Hon. D. p. MitchelTs Speech
on Monday Night.
Delivered at The Opera House B. fore
aLargs and Intelligent
Audience.
A Full and Complete Synopsis OF
Which is Given Below.

e The meeting was called to order by D.
D S. A. MarshslI. Mr.. L. Chaplin was Ghost
President who introduced the speaker. NJ
Mitchell said, II Lord Erskine was embolC
l. ened TO make his first speech before the Eng
lish court because he heard four hungr
children crying for bread, how much NOR
: should he be stimulated, while pleading f.
E more than four millions, clad in rag an
suffering from hunger. He said he W.
not politician nor never before had been
, candidate for office, that he had plead witt
the convention 10 nominate another mar
;; but they unanimously insisted on his &C
ceptance, and ne could not conscientiou-i
decline He said the fact that someihin
was wrong was manifest To every ob5eryiDl
man: tn At ten years ago Grant was nomina
ted by acclamation, and elected by anover
whelming majority. At the end of his iirs
term no Democrat had the cour
age TO face him in his conie-
for re election; that he beat boti
the disahected Republicans and the Dem
ocra:y by large majority, but in fou
Yeas more, his financial system of contr.c
tion had so crushed and Impoverished m
people that Mr.. Hayes, his successor
though one Of the purest men in the coun
try, and though personally one OF the mo-
acceptable and popular men in the nation
went In Eight TO Seven" and that "Naine
which went hell bent for Gov. Kent" ha,
Just been heard from; (cheers) and that il
The people of Massachusetts were fed and
financed az they ought to be, half duzef
Napoleons could not make the cy'm
motion in that State which Butler is max
ing alone.
| That Te nnessee, Kentucky and Califor
norma all Were affected by The same cause
indeed the National Greenback Party il bul
applying the torch to the convention OF po-
liiical revolution which the Republican
administration, by its oppression, had al
ready loaded. We are simply the agents
raised up by Providence to defend the rights
Of the laborIng classes who have been lrgis-
lated both out of their savings and emp ~
ment, who are left TO beg or starve. lie
said while pleading in behalf of the debt
ors and suffering poor, he could afford To be
| called 4 Communist" and a "Repudia-
| ZIONIST" he had once been called al black alb
oiiliputSi anu
Pleading for the liberty Of the bondmr n
but he had survived it all and would sur
viye this. Laughter. Had it not been
for brave men who plead Tor the rights Of
| the oppressed, there never would have ben
| a Republican party. lie said each OF the
| old parties had done something WORTHY oi
history. The Democrats had added all the
| landed possession of the country, after the
1 rbir,a.p colonies hut Ia &, "a
party with slavery and the rebellion was
not so commendable. Laughterl That
the Republican party also did something
worthy of handing down to prosperity. il
had freed four millions bondmen, and
crushed the most obstinate rebellion OF his
tory, but its financial policy had made
more beggars than the war. That Grants
administration had made more tramps than
he had soldiers in his army. That his war
! record was honorable. but being an Oriqiaci
Democrat, his hard money id-as threw
pail over his administration. lie said the
Democrats were barn hard money, and the
Republicans Were made SO by purchase aud
| that As DO old party ever had incorporated
a new and leading idea into its administra-
| ton, We could not hope that either of tie
existing old parties would differ from their
Kew party ii you would have new iinan-
cial system. lie said, it was not debat-
able question, touching the past, that the
national platforms of both the old parties
was hard-money. That the cry of both
parties in kansss for greenbacks was hyp-
ocritical and dishonest; they simply meant
to make a bank-note out of green paper
and base it on coin, which meant more
bonds and more taxation hence, it wa a
greenback with yellow belly. He said,
the platform adopted at Manhattan by the
Republican convention OF the First congress
sionsl district, first approved Of the admin
istration, and then condemned it. Ii pro-
posed to repeal the present national bank
ing system and establish a bank based on
bonds bpught with gold, on which no
interest is to he paid while 50 uS.d,
and then it proposes to tax the bonds.
Can any sane mind believe that these
men were sincere? The Garnet platform
is hard-money TO please the banker, ani
hypocritical Greenback to catch the ignor
ant. The Wichita Platform was about the
same on the financial question as the Olio
and Kansas Democratic platforms, they all
propose TO write on the Greenback promise
to pay, which means more bonds and more
taxation. ST. John and the State Repub-
lican platform was Grant and Greenbacks,
-Goodin and temperance! Cheers and
laughter lie then said money was essen
TALLY connected with civilization, and that
you could not have state Of civilization on
low plain OF finance, that specific pursuits
were essential 10 mechanical, scientific, and
professional development, and that it re-
quired more money for men to live who
manufactured single article, or engaged
in single pursuit, than it did savage
who lived without clothes, or the man who
imperfectly manufactures his clothes and
agricultural implements.
That the improved machinery OF the
present dsy enables both the farmer and
mechanic to produce double what they
could forty years ago. Therefore, one half
of the men could produce the necessari-s
Of life, and that while our finsucia! plan WAS
based on that If necessity, and our prOduc
ing power that Of comfort, we must either
DESTROY our machinery to give our lahorers
employment or carry them as heiples
debtors and tramps, or create financial
plain equal 10 our producing power, and
let the labor noW ueemIIoyed produce oomfHts
and iuIuies He said he was not afraid Of
the abundance Of the good things Of this
world that even the rude Indian never
mapped out future country where his pony
would starve for grass. the fish die for wa
ter, or there WAS no game. That no christ
ian ever longei for a Paradise Of filth,
rags, and starvation. Now If an enlight-
ened chrlslisu civilization enabled us 10
utilize ;a:c forces around us, and make a
Paradise here, who had a right TO legislate
az ainst il?
lie read letter from Bishop Simpson,
as follows:
The masses have cause OF complaint.
/ think the Government has not done Its
duty. While seeking TO conciliaie foreign
capitalists, who care nothing for our
country, the interest OF our people, VINO.
seek safe investment for their earnings
has been neglected. Their savings have
been lost in banks, which, had they been
placed in small bonds, world have BEEN
made a richer community and stro'g~r
friends for our Government. | belive our
financial leaders, in overlooking the ma-S-s
OF our people, have committed terrible
blunders, and have showed themselves it,
capable Of directing Alright the finances II
free people. Congress has spent in parry
contention the energies that ought To hsvr
been employed in establishing postal say
ings banks, or interconvertibie bonds. where
the Iaborer could have placed his scsnIv
means. Yet the remedy is not to be foun,i
| in violence, but IA more LgLi, and seeking
for mon for office, not 50 much
for party ogiiidtioss as fir Their
unquesionabie honesty, and toT their true ssnp,-
Thy ruth The masses cfthe people"
He said how differently that sounded.
from the foolish and wicked statement of