The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-07-18


obligations of the United States the op-
ton reserved by law to the Government
OF redeeming such obligations in either
silver coin or gold coin.
We are opposed to the. issuing of inter-
est-bearing bonds Of the United States
in time OF peace, and condemn the traf-
ticking with banking syndicates which,
in exchange for bonds and at All enor-
nous profit to themselves, supply the
Federal Treasury with gold to maintain
the policy of gold recommendation.
Congress alone has the power to coin
and issue money, and President jackson
declared that this power could not be
delegated to corporations or individuals.
We therefore demand that the power to
issue notes to circulate as money be taken
from the national banks aud that all pa
per money shall be issued directly by the
Treasury Department., be redeemable in
coin and receivable for all debts, public
and private.
We hold that tariff duties should be
levied for purposes of revenues, such du-
ties to be SO adjusted as to operate equal
ly throughout the country and not dis
criminate between class or section, and
that taxation should be limited by the
needs OF the Government honestly and
economically administered.
We denounce as disturbing to business
the Republican threat to restore the Nc
kinley law, which has been twice con-
demned by the people in national cleo
tons, and which, enacted under the false
plea OF protection to home idustry, prov
ed prolific breeder of trusts and monop-
olies, enriched the few at the expense of
the many, restricted trade and deprived
the producer of the great American sta
pies OF access to their natural markets.
Until the money question is settled we
are opposed to any agitation for further
changes in our tariff laws, except such as
are necessary to make up the deficit in
revenue caused by the adverse decision
OF the supreme Court on the income tax.
But for this decision by the Supreme
Court there would be no deficit in the
| revenue under the law passed by a Dem
ocratic Congress, in strict pursuance of
the uniform decisions of that court for
nearly one hundred years, that court
having sustained constitutional objec-
tions to it's enactment, which have been
overruled by the ablest judges who have
ever sat on that bench.
We declare that it is the duty of Con-
gress to use all the constitutional power
which remains after that decision, or
which may come from its reversal by the
court as it may hereafter be constituted,
so that the burdens of taxation may be
equally and impartially laid to the end
that wealth may bear its due proportion
of the expenses of the Government.
We hold that the most efficient way to
protect American labor is to prevent i'm
portation of foreign pauper labor to COM
pete with it in the home market, and
that the value of the home market to our
American farmers and artisans is greatly
reduced by vicious monetary system
which depresses the prices of their pro-
ducts below the cost Of production, and
thus deprives them of the means of pur
chasing the products our home manu-
factories.
The absorption of wealth by the few,
the consolidation of our leading railroad
systems and the formation of trusts and |
pools require stricter control by the |
Federal Government OF those arteries of |
commerce. We demand the enlarge |
ment OF the powers of the Interstate |
Commerce Commission, and such re-
strictions aud guarantees in the control |
of railroads as will protect the people |
from robbery and oppression.
We denounce the prohigate waste of |
the money wrung from the people by OBJ
pre6sive taxation and the lavish appro-
priations of recent Republican Congress
es, which have kept taxes high while the |
lsbor that pays them is unemployed, and |
the products of the peoples toll are de- |
pressed in price till they no longer repay
cost OF production. We demand q re-
turn to that simplicity and economy |
which befit a Democratic government |
and reduction in the number of useless |
Offices, the salaries of which drain the /
substance of the people.
We denounce arbitrary interference by |
Federal authorities in local affairs as q
violation of the Constitution of the Unit
ed States and crime against free insti-
buttons, and We especially object to gov
eminent by injunction as new and
highly dangerous form of oppression, by
which Federal Judges, in contempt OF I
the laws OF the States and rights of citi-
zens, become at once legislators, judges
and executioners; and we approve the |
bill passed at the last session of the Unit
ed States Senate and now pending in the
House relative to contempts in Federal
courts and providing for trials by Jury in |
certain cases Of contempt.
No discrimination should be INDUCED
by the Government of the United States
in favor of any of its debtors. We ap-
prove OF the refusal of the Fifty third
Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad
Funding bill, and denounce the effort of
the present Republican Congress to enact
a similar measure.
Recognizing the just claims OF deserv-
ing Union soldiers. We heartily indorse
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