The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-08
at saves them from being burnt in their

but saves them from being burnt in their
beds"
There was a period also in our own
history when opposition to further agita'
ton was the favorite cry of an active
class of politicians who met with disas'
trious otherthrow. The Tories Of the
American Revolution did not believe in
the agitation which followed the attempt
of Great Britain to tax the Colonies with
out representation. They resolved against
it in almost the exact language of the In
diana Republican platform, and predict.
ed that tragic events would follow If 1t
was persisted in. Bunker Hill followed
Yorktown followed, the Constitution, the
atary flag, and immortal glory followed
They were all born Of agitation, and are
the offspring of great race of agitators
George III, commanded Washington,
Jefferson, franklin, Adams, Patrick Hen
ry, and John Hancock to cease all tinan'
Cial agitation on the question of unjust
taxation, and he transported armies to
our shores and fought bloody battles in
order to enforce silence and submission.
He too thought, from his standpoint, as
the managers of the Republican State
Convention did from theirs, that "stabil.
ity in our financial system was essential
to business prosperity" 1t mattered not
to the British tyrant that his system of
finance was a lawless robbery. 1t suited
him all the better for that reason, and he
fought seven years to put down agitation
against it. Nor does it matter to the Re-
publican leaders in Indiana that our sys'
tenn of finance has strewn the whole land
with the wrecks of business more thick
ly than the sea.shore was ever strewn
with the fragments of ruin after the 6erc-
est hurricane had swept the face of the
great deep. 1t does not matter to them
that the bankrupt liabilities growing out
of this system have reached over two
thousand millions of dollars; that the val
ue of property in the United States has
shrunk in the last seven years more thal
one-fourth, thereby destroying over ten
thousand millions of the actual wealth Of
the country; than more than three mil.
lions of people are to day idle, thrown
out of employment by the paralysis of
all of those great industries which afford
laboring men and women an opportunity
to earn their bread. There is wall Of
distress and voice of warning which
they seem not to have heard. When a
whole family in one of our large cities
was recently found dead from starvation,
some one embodied this voice of warning
and of woe in the following lines:
ooh, you paid and trusted leaders
Listen, while you hold your breath;
In this land Of Bible readers
Men and women starve to DEATH"
These leaders, however, have Glled
their ears, not with cotton in this in.
stance, but with untaxed bonds, the div
idends of National Banks and the per-
centage of vast loans ON Western FARMS
and they wrap themselves in the strange
delusion that they will be obeyed when
they impiously command a sore.hearted
outraged people to cease their murmurs
and be still, will not say that an asy-
lum of any kind should be built for the
trainers of this platform, but it is hard to
find a parallel to their conduct in the an.
nails Unreasonable men. The nearest ap.
proach to their blindness and folly is to
be found in the conduct of the King in
ancient story, who was pursuaded by his
obsequious Courtiers to believe that the
swelling tides of the ocean would obey
his puny voice, and who in this belle is
sued his command that the waters should
cease their restless agitation. The wa
ters, however, did not coarse to ebb and
flow, nor will the aroused and enlighten.
ed public opinion of the country sink
down in calm contentment and repose
until the vast question of finance and
taxation shall be settled in the interest
of tax.paying laborers. The agitation
will continue until the financial princi-
Piles contained in the platform of the In
diana Democratic State Convention of
February 22d shall be enacted substan.
TALLY into laws. call the attention of
the voters of Indiana to the bold, ringing
utterances of that platform, and to the is
sues which spring up between 1t and the
platform fthe Republican party:
"The Democracy of the State of Indi-
ana assembled in Delegate Conyention
declare:
"That National Bank notes shall be re-
tired, and in lieu thereof there shall be
issued by the Government an equal
amount Of Treasury notes with full legal
tender quality.
"That we are in favor OF making the
United States notes, commonly called
greenbacks, a full legal tender in pay
ment of all debts, public and private, ex-
cept such obligations only as are by the
terms of the original contracts under
which they were issued, expressively
payable in coin.
THAT the right to issue paper mony as
we'll as coin is the exclusive prerogative
of the Government, and such money
should be issued in such amounts as the
sound business interests of the country
may from time to time require.
ave are in favor of such legislation by
Congress as will authorize the taxation
by States of the United States notes in
common with all other money.
"That we deem it unwise and inexpe-
dient to enact any further legislation for
the funding of the national debt abroad,
the means of home Syndicates or other
methods and we believe the true policy
OF INC OOVeTuhenG anu Gu0 DebJ luI6T6bIb
of the people would be subserved by leg
islating 80 as to distribute said debt
among our people at home, affording
them the most favorable and practical
opportunities for the investment of their
savings in the funded debt of the United
States.
"That we are in favor Of such legisla-
ton which shall fix the legal rate of in
terest at not exceeding ten per cent. per
annum.
"We demand the restoration of the sill
yer dollar of 4124 grains to the coin of
the country, and with full legal tender
quality in the payment of all debts, both
public and private; and that the coinage
thereof shall be unlimited, and upon the
same terms and conditions as may be
provided for the coinage of gold.
"That we ar in favor of the immedi-
ate and unconditional repeal of the Re-
sumption Act"
These principles are travelling fast and
far. They are journeying wherever the