The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-08-01

obligations of the United States the CD
OF redeeming such obligations in either
silver coin or gold coin.
We are opposed to the issuing of inter.
in time of peace, and condemn the traf.
ticking with banking syndicates which
in exchange for bonds and at an 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 and 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
tions, and which, enacted under the false
plea of protection to home idustry, prov.
ed a 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
Piles 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 Dem
Ocratic Congress, ia strict pursuance of
the uniform decisions of that court for
nearly one hundred years, that court
having sustained constitutional obiec,
tions to its 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 depresees the prizes 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 a 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 and 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 ODD |
presslve taxation and the lavish appro. |
priations of recent Republican Congress.
es, which have kept taxes high while the |
labor 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 a re-
turn to that simplicity and economy
which befit a Democratic government |
and a 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 a |
of the Constitution of the Unit |
ed States and crime against free insti.
buttons, and we especially object to gov
eminent by injunction as q new and |
highly dangerous form OF oppression, by |
which Federal Judges, In contempt Of
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
AiouSo toidtiNc w cOutompC6 Ia reuerdl
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
the rule of Commissioner Murphy that |
no names shall be arbitrarily dropped
from the pension roll, and the fact Of en-
listment and service should be deemed |
conclusive evidence against disease or
before enlistment.
We favor the admission OF the Terri |
tories of New Mexico and Arizona into |