The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-31
ECHOES OF THE CONVENTION
DR.. T. A Bland, of Washington, States
His Reasons for Opposing Butler.
George 0. Jones Issues an Address to the
Party in New YOrk-The Press
Association.

Many of the delegates to the late lamented Ma
tional Greenback Labor convention remained in
the city over yesterday, and "a number of them
left for Chicago to attend the Republican con
vention last night. The chief topic of discus
sion among them is the opposition that has de-
veloped among prominent men of the party to
the nomination of General Butler, and this
seems to be rather on the increase, despite the
urgent efforts made to effect a reconciliation of
differences. Charges and ounter-charge are
being freely made on both sides, and it is evi
dent that the end is not yet.
DIR. T. A. Bland, of Washington, D. c., a
we'll known Greenbaek writer, and author of the
life of General Butler, was asked by a journal
reporter, yesterday, what he thought of the
nomination of Butlerl He said: "Up to the
latest advices, General Butler is a Democrat, in
full fellowship with that old hunker, h%ard-money
party; hence l regard his nomination by
the national Greenback convention a surrender,
by the majority of that convention, of the prin-
ciples of the Greenback party, with the empty
hope of a victory which could only result in the
destruction of the party. l mean this. The only
hope of electing General Butler, which his sup
porters can possibly have, is based on the con-
tingency of his getting the nomination of the
Democratic party, which would make the
National Greenback party an ally of the Demo
cratic. The latter being the larger and the strong
er of the two would absorb and thus annihilate
the other. 1t is fusion in its worst form; and
fusion in various States has been the bane of
our party from its birth. l have fought fusion
with either of the old parties, as nv record will
show. and as every Greenbacker knows, from
the first, and shall fight it so long as there is a
fort from which / can hurl my shot and shells.
The action of this convention leaves me, for the
time being, without q Greenback fort
in which to stand. But I hope
and believe that the action of this
convention will be repudiated by a large minor1-
ty, if not a majority, of the Greenbackers Of the
country, and that after the Democratic conven-
ton is held, and the treachery of Butler fully
exposed, by his seeking the nomination Of the
Democratic party, a call will be issued for o mass
convention of Greenbackers who do not seek
Office, and can, therefore, afford to be true
to the principles of the party; and that a
sound platform and a straight ticket VIII
be put in the field and a new national committee
organized"
Reporter-On what grounds were you refused
your seat in the convention as a delegated
.'Nominally on the ground that l was a dele
gate by proxy, but really because my record in
the campaign in Massachusetts, last fall adver-
tised me as an anti-BUtler man. My expulsion
from the convention was a high-handed outrage,
of which only Bourbons could be guilty.
'"The first convention Of the party established
the precedent. and the second and last sustained
it, that any State or district could appoint any
member of the party In good standing a dele
gate to its conventions. Knowing this fact, the
chairman of the State committee of South Car
DINA wrote to me that he nor any of the dele
gates were able to come, and that he had been
duly authorized to appoint me a delegate, with
full power to represent the party in
that State in the convention, and also in
the national committee. 1 was allowed my seat
in the national committee on my credentials.
but refused my seat in the convention. An
insult to and an outrage upon South Carolina,
and it will be resented as such by the Greenback-
ers of the State, which elected that well-known
Greenback leader, i. Hendrix McLane,
Governor in 1852, by an overwhelming majority,
which victory was lost, however. through the
wholesale fraud of the Bourbon election officers. y
This infamous outrage was approved by Gen
eral Butler in a speech in Springfield. Mass, last
fall, when he asserted as he did that 'the cleo
tons in South Carolina were conducted more
honestly than they were in Massachusetts"