The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-02-07
PRESERVATION OF aREEHpAcKs.
MENDOZA, ILL, Nov. list, 1871


basis act, to be carried out by retiring and
cancelng" treasury notes, greenbacks, at the
rate of four millions of dollars per month
May 1867, ffty.two millions beinr Cancelled
the subscriber, believing the policy to he un
Just and very vulnerable, proposed to Acssrs
Wicks and Iaight, Of Fourmile, to arrest it
upon condition that the former should put
5000 and the latter $500 into phonetic pub
lIshing company, (of which he was the author
towards making up deficit Of $4,000, They
thought the amount too large, but were will
ing 10 do what was right IN the matter. Each
of them advanced five dollars and the work
was undertaken. A meeting was first held at
Haight's school house June LIST, 1867, at which
after discussion, it was
"Resolred, LIST, That the same initiation OF
currency under which the National Debt was
contracted should be maintained, 20 ratd that
the price of horses, cattle, labor grain and al
other articles should be kept AT or near the
same prices that they then were, until the debt
shall have been paid; and that the currency
should consist exclusively of legal tenders,
greenbacks.
"ResoLred, 3D. To carry out the above scntl.
ments, we the undersigned subscribers, hereby
declare in favor OF the organization of nec
nationM poIiticd pary"
(Of these resolutions the subscriber Is the
sole author Such was the origin Of the Fl
nancial, the Greenback Party)
"Resoloed, 3D. That this meeting adjourn for
the purpose of consulting with and procuring
the cooperation of those of similar views, and
to meet again at such time and place 80 shall
be designated by James Adalr, and he is here
by authorized to cali such meeting.
"OBED w. BRYANT, President.
"MARTIN ALLEN, Secretary"
For the purpose of carrying out the last res
oution above, the subscriber visited nearly
every township in the county. The design
was to consult a few prominent persons IN
each OF the two political parties. In due time
the above resolutions, in connection with the
following notice, were published In the Ottawa
papers, the ReDublican and the Free Trader
as follows:
an accordance with the last resolution
above, the Court House in Ottawa is the ap.
pointed place. and Monday, Sept 9th, 1867, at
10 o'clock A. NJ, as the time for said meeting
to again convene.
Nearly four hundred citizens of La Sale
county have been consulted, and concur In the
above policy, and in the plan of a new poljtl-
cal organization.
"And all who concur are earnestly invited to
attend. JAMES ADAIR"
The names OF the persons consulted and
Lao
printed with the above notice.
The Dixon Telegraph, Lee county, said:
"A political party IS beng organized in La
Sale county designed to be national in its
bearings. 1t has but II single plank in its
platform, which is str0Bg one, because of its
bearing directly upon the interests of the
people"
The platform is here given and remarks
continued:
"The movers are preparing to establish an
organ To- he located in Chicago, and to nOmi
nate IN La Sale county distinct county tick
ct for the November election. The movement
Is not without significance to the dominant
party which IS now permitting Secretary Nc
Culoch to retire and destroy $4,000000 per
month of the 5000, 100000 of the present cir.
culating medium, in order as rapidly as posi-
bic to reduce the business of the country to n
specie basis There is no doubt about the ul-
innate necessity of this course, but while the
people have 500,000,000 of national debt,
and state and local war debts hanging over
them, the policy of reducing the volume of
currency, and thereby reducing the market
produce and the means Of liquidating public
debts, aoOuld be rutn0uS TO any party resp0nSi.
Die for 1t. And IN this light the increment is a
earning TO our Congressman ard the leaders Of
the Republican party mh,M they aoM do wel!
rot to disregard"
Qn this and other quotations the ideas that
are to be noticed particularly have been put
in italics)
The New York Tribune, after giving the
platform, the call for the convention at Ottawa,
the list of names and their townships, says:
"Ther scheme cooly Ignores the vital fact
that most of our public debt is payable, prin-
cipa and interest, IN coin, and that all the rest
is rapidly becoming so. Its aim is clear
enough, but its policy will not reach it. Let
1t come boldly, squarely out against paying
the debt at all, and 1t will have chosen posi-
ton OF frank, uDequivocal rascality, wherein
it can doubtless rally more adherents than
llnlEIt ; SCHOOL nOuSC Gun HOlu. 10 dttCUpl
anything short of that is to try to be knaves
and only succeed IN being fools"
Quotations from other papers might be
greatly extended. Honorable Thaddeus Ste
vens and BENJAMIN f. Butler came out and
proved concluslvely that the iive-twenty bonds
were payable IN greenbacks. They were then
worth about seventy five cents on the dollar.
The position Of the Republican party at this
tine was this They had passed an act April
10th, 1866, to return to specie basis, by which
the flve-twenty bondholders would receive
about thirty three per cent. more than the law
or equity required Another evil, consequent
upon the specie basis policy, was, that hundred,
of thousands Of persons were out of work, ant
the number increasing rapidly. In December
1867, under the headings, Jewellers, Jewelry
Box Makers, Diamond Settlers, Carpenters