The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-06-20
GENERAL BUTLER.
b Letter Aecep in the GreenAac Nom-
nation for the Presidency-His Views
on the Currency Question.


ination for the Presidency-His Views
on the Currency Question.
NEW York, June 1S.-1n response to the
formal announcement of his nomination by
the Greenback National Convention, Cen
eral Butler says:
THE COMMITTEE: received at your hands the
official announcement of the action of the
convention at Indianapolis with deep sensi-
Dlllty. In the ordinary course of political
events the choice OF a convention of repre-
sentative men OF any considerable portion
OF my fellOwctizens, in according to
me this the highest honor they
fa 0n5sf Moed e ea tor bouag crate
might be a selection TO represent the
thought of such convention upon questions
which commonly divide political parties.
Views upon such questions may have been
1nherlted,o or an outgrowth of measures merely
of administration. The great questions you
present are higher and grander tfK.n any
mere political measure. Nearly a quarter
OF century ago, when the very ex-
istence OF the Republic and the
establishment of a democratic representa-
tive Government hung trembling upon
the issue OF the greatest civil war the world
had ever known or may ever know by the
wisdom born OF an imperiOus necessity fiuanz
ciaI system sprung from patriotic impulse
10 save the Nation life and rescue the hope
down forever in darkness and death. It was
devised by the great aid good men of thas
DAY to whose care the Republican Govern
ment, TO be administered for the people and by
The people, had been cOnfided. That system of
finance for free people in its infancy saved
the life of the Nation, perishlng without it and
broke the chains which enslaved four million
men. 1t gave this country, with war raging a
prosperity II had never known: It enabled
the people to assess upon themselves and pay
taxes OF an extent before unknown in any
country. 1t made it possible for the Govern
ment to repay three-fold all loans it received
from any creditor, or gave to him Sc
curity more profitable and stable than
ever issued by any power in the world,
and made the financial system Of our
Government at once the envy and ad mira.
ton of all men. This was done by the legalten-
der currency. While questions as TO its sta
bility were raised by the very form OF legisa-
tlon py Whlch 1t was enacted, and while still
grayer doubts prevailed in the minds of many
wise, patriotic men whether a lega,-tender
currency. inexpensive i'll fact, resting not
on the intrinsic value of the material on
winch 1t was coined. was within the con-
stltutional competency and power OF
the Legislative branches of the
S government 1hnaa that, that question, having
Supreme Court of the United States the very
highest tribunal of the country, was at Lass
pecidsd in the affirmative With such unanim.
1ty that there might be no reasonable doubt
against It: One purpose of your organization
I sbi1NA VI CnOoC VINO OuOugUC ana &C ed with
althoughnnQt of it, was to support and sustain
this moHDy as currency OF the people. This
peoples currency, you will remember,
was DESIGNATED by its friends by the pet
name or the "Greenback." Two years ago
did myself the honor to say that the currency
SO commended by the merit OF its great deeds
wrought for the peoples safety and pros
peFItys enacted by the highest legislative
power, addudicated by such a court, and the
decision aboutto be reathrmed was an accom-
pllsned Iact never again to be disturbed or
doubted, so that its friends might well say;
see, the end of our labors in this regard has
come, so let US rejoice; let tho Sc who aided in
this great work press on and deal with EQUALLY
Important unsettled and necessary measures
Tor the Welfafe OF the Whole people, The
legal tender, having become the very fbunda-
tlon OF as We'll as a measure OF value inter-
tWlned With all business of the OK Ople the on
CINE OF the prosperity Of the Nation,it seems To
me almost IA act OF cfuelty again to disturb
causelessly financial question which has
been so set at rest with the assent of
all good men-aS much so as was the ol1es-
uon OF the right OF man to hold his brother
man IN slavery. Therefore / said / was
glad that that question was no longera part in
political consideration, and statemanship NAV
now turn from 1t as the country has turned
from the questions of slavery and war; but
alas! the power of the darkness Of error
The resurrectiOnists of false ideas &c the dead
past have dug up the moldering remains of
contention from peaceful graves where
they slept, and threaten by rehasi,
q platform by q ia. fy convention u IL
revivify and agiIate controversies which
Will unsettie commercial values, hinder
and delay the business energies of cur peo-
pie, with apparently but Single ob1elt-to
extend a system of purely paper currency is
sued by corporations esfabishel nv 1ha dow.
eminent. Indeed, but for private cmolument
and gain to the corporators, which currency
itself is to be yauablc only because it is made
redeemable in the very greenback which this
ghoul-lke agitation seeks to repud iate over
throw and destroy. Such currency. Andrew
Jackson, with the prescience AID wisdom Of
a statesman, by the IRON hand of soldier.
sustained by the Democracy OF more than
generation ago, had wholly crushed out, and
in the hope of the wise and good had buried
forever, as one OF the gf'ievotis errors of i'm
into the Government for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
of few to the destruction Of beoplg. AS a
Democrat taught in the jackson school in NV
early youth, with my Judgment matared by
many years converse in nnblc AFFAIRS aided
by earnest and deep study with an intensitv Of