Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1880-07-17

Of Accepting q Presidential
Nomination..

CHICAGO, July Z.-General j Is.
Weaver, Greenback candidate for
President. has written a long let
ter of acceptance, in which he ex-
presses his qualification at the hon.
or conferred upon him, and accepts
the nomination as a solemn duty.
He then says:
Our party hath this significance;
1t is great labor movement, COM
posed of people who earn their
bread by honest toll, whether of
hand, head or heart; and as the
world depends for the comforts of
life upon the various departments
of human toll, so will every part
of society feel the vivifying influ-
enee of the grand achievements OF
our organization that lie just in
the future; for, when labor is
prosperous, every other depart
ment of society feels the impulse
of vigorous life.
The three great political parties
have each selected their candidates
and made formal declarations of
their principles. 1t is now the
high duty of every citizen in the
United States to judge between
them and, after careful inquiry
into the aims aud purposes of each,
to determine the organization with
which duty calls him to act. The
admirable platform adopted by
this Convention meets my cordial
approval. 1t is comprehensive,
reasonable and progressive, con-
tanning those principles of econom-
ic reform essential to the preserva-
ton of liberty and the prosperity
of the whole people. ~
1t being the duty of man to earn
his bread in the, sweat of his face,
it becomes the first duty of civil
government to foster industry.
All laws, therefore, which place a
premium upon idleness, whether
of men or money. unjustly dis
criminate in favor of capital, or
withhold from honest men the full!
and Just reward of their labor, are
simply monstrous. Capital should
be the servant of labor, rather than
its master. This great truth csn
never be realized until there is an
adequate circulating medium. In
asmuch as this circulating medium
is for the benefit of all, its issue
and volume should be sacredly
kept under control of the General
Government, without the inter-
vention of banking corporations.
ALI money, whether gold, silver
or paper, should be issued by the
supreme authority of the nation,
and be made full legal tender in
payment of all debts, public and
private. rFHsd ~
The system which now prevails
gives into the hands of banking
corporations absolute control over
the volume of the currency; and
through this they have the power
to fix the price of labor and prop
erty Of fifty millions of people.
By provision of law the method is
clearly defined whereby they may,
without limit, initiate or con tract
the currency at will. Cognate to
this, and a part ofthesame scheme,
stands the system of funding the
public debt. Like National Bank
ing, this was borrowed from the
English monarchy. By this sys-
tenn an enormous non.taxable in
terest- bearing debt is to be pcrpet-
uated. The bonds support the
banks, and the banks foster the
public debt. If you pay off the
bonds the banks must cease to ex-
list. Hence. if the National Banks
are to continue, we must have q
perpetual bonded debt. Both pa
triotism and sound craftsmanship
loudly call for the abolition of
banks of issue and the substitution
of legal-tender Treasury notes for
their circulation. Pay the bonds
according to contract, and as rap
idly as possible. Seven hundred
millions of the public debt become
redeemable at the option of the
Government during this and the
ensuing Year. Two funding bills
are now pending before Congress
-one introduced by the Demo
cratic and the other by the Re-
publican leader of the House
whereby it is proposed to deprive
the people for twenty or thirty
years of the lawful right to pay
said bonds. This is a crime
against the laborer and taxpayer,
and should cause widespread
alarm among all classes. tf }9 2
The annual surplus revenues
and the idle coin now In the
treasury, and that which must
continue to accumulate il the sill
yer law. approved February %:
1878. shall be honestly enforced.
are ample to pay every dollar of
the $7O0,0O0,0O0, both principal
and interest, within the next six
years. There is not the slightest