The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-01-31


II not paid in advance. nce.....................S > -
Six months. in advance. nce......................i %
years in making up, but it is now
Joined. lam much deceived in the
people II they have not turned at last
in defiance and bold warning upon
their oppressors.. They are not in fa..
yor of repudisting single dollar OF
their public or private debts.
WHAT THE PEuPLE DEMAND. "a
They intend to pay every thing they
owe, but they intend to submit to NO
more changes of contfacte, violations,
of Obligations and breaches of public
faith in order to increase their indebt-
edness or take away their means to
pay it. They demand, too, that cer-
tain specific wrongs shall be reduced
First-Those for whom speak de-
mand the restoration Of the silver dol
lar exactly as it stood before Is was
touched by the act of February, 1874
They desire that it sha have ualimited.
coinage, not fearing that IL will be7.
come too plentiful for their wapAe,an1
Jhzt Il t6Sa1uuexsF4n1ek6l tendev. -
iieving that it is - good now With
which to pay all debts, public and pri-
vate, as it was during eighty lone years
of American history. g
Second-They demand the repeal,
Internationally, of the act of January
Ia, 1876, compelling q resumption of
specie payments in January, 1879,
holding that the question Of q return
10 specie basis for cur currency
should be controlled entirely by the
business interests of the couotry. They
do not believe that the country should
oe dragged through the depths of ruin
wretchedness and degradation in Or
Ter TO reach a gold standard for the
benefit alone of the income classes-
Inird-They demand that the ma
.ional banking system be removed,
aud circulating medium provided by
the government for the people, with.
,ut taxing them for the privilege OF
obtaining it. And they ask that she
,mouat thus placed in circulation shall
,ear q reasonable and judicious pro-
portion to the business trsnsactions
aud the population of the United States
Fourth-They demand that the cur
rency authorized and circulated on tho
authority of the government shall be
made legal tender in payment OF all
iebts, public ahd private, including
Ill dues To the government, well
knowing that it will then be ut par
with gold. or more likely at premi-
um over it.
Fifth-rhey demand that hereafter
the financial policy of the government
be framed permanently in their inter-
est that they shall not be discrimi-
,ated against in tuture legislation as
n the past, aud that their prosper ity
and not the mere growth of income to
retired capitalists shall be the primary
iuty OF the government.
In my judgment, sir, these demands
are just and moderate. l implore
Senators not to suppose that they can
be disres a-ded with safety. Ii they
are rejected now they will be renewed
hereafter with still greater determine
tiou and perhaps with others added. I
plead for the financial credit of the
10
will alone. and that wilfcau no longer
oe defied or menaced with impunity.
The people are sovereign and they can
bind and they can loose. II the money
power is advised with wisdom it will
stop and retrace its steps. Itconfronts
apower now mightier than itself-s
free people at the ballot box, influ-
enced and united by q sense of injus-
tice and oppression. Ii, however, it
,s joined to its golden idol if its heart
is hardened and its neck stiffened by
its vast possessions; it the burning
lusts of avasice have made it deaf to
the voice of reason and blind to all
human experience it will push ON in
its career until it wor.s 9 t. own de-
s:ruction for sooner or later the pe6-
pie, irrespective of party nance, will
unite in their own defence aud estab-
fish justice.
In conclusion Mr.. VOORHEES, quoted
from articles he had noticed in certain
Eastern newspapers in regard to the
rights of the bondholders, duty of the
laboring classes and the policy that
should be pursued by capitalists to
counteract the effects Of anticipated
legislation on the silver question, and
said =" Sir, have no word of men
ace to utter on this floor, but in behalf
Of every laborcr aud every owner of
the soil whom 1 represent, warn all
such as value their investments that
when these doctrines of despotism are
sought to be. enforced this fair. land
will again be convulsed in .agony and
the fires of liberty will blaze forth
again as they did one hundred years
ago in defence OF the national rights OF
man. (Applause in the galleries.
May the wisdom of OF fathers and the
benignity of our God avert such An
issue but ii it shall come, il infatua-
ton has seized our Aounciis, the result
will only add one more instance to the
long catalogue of human crime aud
! folly, where ayar.ce like aInb ti0n,
overleaps itself and in it's unholy At.
tempt 10 rob others of their poesee. ions
loses its ow,." {Great applause in
the galieries.)
CURIOUS WILL.