The Portland daily press., 1878-08-01
THE GREENBACKERS.
Convention in the First District.
sresSm AN.

The Greenback party of the First District
met at Congress Hall yesterday to nominate a
candidate for Congress. Sometime before thu
hour of meeting the hall was we'll filled and thu
sidewalk in front of the doorway was obstruct
ed by the men who believe that the country is
going to the dogs and that they contain in
theiaranks the only Moses who can lead it out
| OF the wilderness. Still these men, though in.
spired with lofty aims, are only human, and as
one passed up the staircase to the hall little
slip of paper was thrust into his hand. bearing
the name of Elliott King; a few steps further
on another bearing the name of E. H. Cove,
and on tie entrance to the hall gentleman
who bears the intimate relation to Mr.. Chas
Z. Clifford of client t. counsel, handed out an
other slip bearing the name of that young
statesman. Evidently the Greenbackers disa-
! greed as to whom the Moses was, and as one aJ
| vanced forth into the hall this disagreem emit
became still more marked Men were gathered
in knots discussing the situation. On whatever
points they were at difference they seemed sub
stantially in accord in one and that was that
Samuel ]. Anderson had forfeited all his title
to the position of Moses. II seems he had been
lutoItloWcu NY d CUmmlbL66 auQ udu refused TO
straddle sufficiently to meet the views of the
delegates. He was willing to endorse the Lew
iston platform, but having in mind the Demo-
cratic convention of today, refused to commit
himself to vote for Smith for Governor.
Hence the Greenbackers who desire to elect
their candidates (solely because the welfare Of
the country demands it, rejected Anderson,
even cursed Anderson as the betrayer of his
country. Cove and King and Clifford and
Todd and Emery were the only Moseses left,
and out of these it became necessary to choose.
The convention did not come to order until
nearly II o'clock. Mr.. A. G. Andrews of Cor
nish read the call and instructed the delegates
from the different towns to sit together. Mr.
Joseph 81. Holden of Otisfield, who has figured
before the Republican conventions in this
county for many years as self-,onstituted
candidate for county commissioner aud who
has always discreetly withdrawn before the
balloting was commenced, saw in this move
ment to seat the delegates by towns an element
of confusion, and suggested that when the vote
was taken the delegates from the several
towns pass around the room. Mr.. Holden was
evidently afraid that the convention would not
know he was there. Next Mr.. j. 81. Ham,
mond of North Berwick was made temporary
chairman. and though advancing to the chair
with much celebrity, stated that it was with
much reluctance that he accepted the office.
Rev. Mr.. Maddox was invited to pray by
delegate, but another delegate announced that
Rev. Mr. Eaton of Cape Elizabeth had already
been selected to perform that Office, and the
motion in favor of Mr. Maddox was with
drawn. Mr.. Eaton prayed that wisdom, which
the convention neeIed, might be vouchsafed
from on high and that the convention might
act for the good of the whole people and not
for the personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT of any one
man.
After the prayer Mr.. Holden announced
that in his opinion it would be necessary to
have couple Of secretaries. Mr.. Holden's
views were deemed eminently sound by the
and Mr.. Frank w. Roberts of Bid
deford and Samuel A. Berry of Deering were
selected 1t was moved that the district COM
mittee be made committee on credentials,
and as there was no objection this was done.
Mr.. Todd moved comm ittee on permanent
organization, which some one else supplement-
ed by moving that,the temporary organic alton
be made permanent, which was carried.
Mr.. Dow of Gray moved. to trot out the can
didates and let them define themselves and see
if they are Greenbackers. They trotted them
selves out in double-quick, and there seemed
to be struggle on their part to see who should
make the best time, evidently under the i'm.
preston, the truth of which was subsequently
proved, that he who appeared first was the
winning horse.
Mr.. Cove took exceptions to Mr.. Blaine's
that the people of Maine do not
propose to repudiats any obligation. 1t is only
charitable to suppose that either Mr.. Cove
tbs remarks Of Senator Blaine
Or that he was misunderstood, for to say that
the statement that the people of Maine do not
propose to repudiate the obligations resting up
on them is stigma, is SANDER upon that
people such as Mr.. Cove would hesitate no
doubt to enunciate. He seemed to think that
the Republican party were the regulators.
He thought the debt. estimated as to the ability
to pay it, was appreciating-in fact-had dou-
bled since 1866. the shrinkage of values since
that time having been enforced robbery. He
thou yht the dollar was the measure of value,
just as the yardstick was the measure of length,
which is doubtless true if applied to the gold
dollar. but the weakness of the Greenbackersis
that they establish the paper dollar as the
standard. Mr.. Cove was good deal troubled
about the Rothschlds and feared lest they
should gobble up the gold and thus produce a
stringency. He thought the national debt as
with the price of labor, had doubled
since 1865 The old parties, he said, had been
each other with remarkable sue.
cess, and meanwhile the people have been in
vestigating too, and see that something must
be done to rescne American labor. The Con-
vention, he thought, represented the ntell-
gence and integrity of the people of Maine who
are moving to abolish at the ballot box a sys-
tenn which threatens to subvert American lii
erty. (Tbis declaration was made 10 spite OF
the fact that the Republican Convention, some
three times in number, and composed of citi-
zens fully as respectable as those who made up
the Gfeepback Convention, endorsed q very
different kind of view with relation to the La
tional finances than the Greenbackers hold.)
Mr.. Elliott King was the next speaker. He
said he took it for granted that the audience
knew he was candidate for Representative to
Congress. He wanted it understood that be
had broken off his alliance with other parties.
He found that one political organization was
laboring to establish system of landlords and
tenants, and that another was trying to pau
perize American labor, aud therefore he had
Joined the Greenbacks. Mr.. King was very
fervid 10 his remarks and it could not help &C.
curing to his hearers that be was a candidate
for Congressional honors even if he had not
stated the fact
Mr. Chae E. Clifford next anneared He