Year: 1868

Republic was to institute a government


upon the principle of absolute inherens


sovereignty Of the people; and that would


give to each citizen the largest political


and religious liberty compatible with the


good order of society, and to secure to


each the right to enjoy the fruits of his


labor and talents; then when laws arc
enacted destructive of these ends, they are
without moral binding force, and il is the
right and duty Of the people to alter,
amend or abolish them, and institute such
others, founding them upon the principles
of equity, as to them may seem most


likely to effect their prosperity and happi-


ness.


Prudence will indeed dictate that i'm
portant laws long established should not
be changed for light and transient causes,
and experience has shown that the Ameri-
can people are more disposed to suffer
while evils are suferable, than to change
the forms and laws to which they have
been accustomed. But when long train
OF legislative abuses, pursuing invariably
the same object, evi.ces a design to sub
vert the spirit of freedom and equality
upon which our institutions are founded,
and reduces them to a state of servitude,
1t is their right-it is their duty to abolish
such laws and provide new guards for
their future security. Such has been the
| patient suffering of the wealsh- producing
classes of the United States, and such is
now the necessity which constrains them
to put forth an organized and united effort
Tor maintaining their natural rights,
which are imperilled by the insidious
schemes and unwarranted aggression of
INSCRIPTIONS bankers and usurers by
means of unwise and corrupt legislation.
We futher hold-That all property OF
wealth is the product of physical or intel
lectual labor, employed in productive in
dustry and in the distribution of the pro-
ductions of labor; that laborers ought of
right, and would, under just monetary
system receive or retain the larger proper
ton OF their productions; that the wrongs,
expressions and destitution which laborers
are suffering in most departments Of legit-
innate enterprise and useful occupation, do
not result from insuffcency of production
but from the unfair distribution of the
products Of labor between non producing
capital and labor.


That money is the medium Of distribu-.
ton to ncn'producing capital and produo-
ing labor, the rate OF interest determining
what proportion Of the products of labor
shall be awarded to capital for its use, and
what to labor for its productions that the
power to make money and regulate its
value is an essential attribute of sovcrs
eighty, the exercise of which is by the
Constitution Of the United States wisely
and properly granted to Congress, and it
is the imperative duty Of Congress to in
stitute it upon such wise and just basis
that it shall be directly under the control
ct the sovereign people who produce the
value it is designed to represent, measure
and exchange, that it may be correct and
uniform standard Of value, and distribute
the products of labor equitably between
capital and labor according to the service
or Nlear performed in their production.


That the law enacting the so called Ma
tional Banking system is delegation by
Congress of the sovereign power to make
money and regulate its value to class of
irresponsible banking associations; thereby
giving to them the power to control the
value OF all the property in the nation,
and to fix the rewards of labor in every
department of industry, and is inimcal to
the spirit OF liberty and subversive OF the
principles of justice upon which our de-
mocratic republican institutions are found
ed, and without warrant in the CoEstitu-
ton; justice, reason and sound policy de-
mands its immediate repeal and the subs
stitution of legal-tender Treasury notes a.
the exclusive currency of the nation.


That this money monopoly is the parent
of all monopolis-the very root and es-
sence of slavery = railroads. warehouses
and all other monopolies, of whatever
kind or nature, are the outgrowth of and
subservient to this power, and the means
used by it to rob the enterprising, indus
trial wealth producing classes Of the pro-
ducts of their talents and labor.


That as Government is instituted to
protect life and secure the rights Of pro-
perty, each should share its Just and
proper proportion of the burthens and
sacrifices necessary for its maintenance
and perpetuity, and that the exemption
from taxation of bank capital and govern
ment bonds, bearing double and bank
rupting rates of interest, is a species Of
dangerous and unjust class legislation
opposed to the spirit of our institutions,
and contrary. to the princi Piles of sound
mortality and enlighted reason. v1s #-s


That our monetary, financial and reve-
nue. laws are in letter and spirit opposed
to the principles Of freedom and equality
upon which our democratic republican
institutions are founded, there is in all
their provisions manifestly studied
design to shield non producing capital
from its just proportion of the burthens
necessary for the support Of the Govern
ment, imposing them mainly on the in
dustrial wealth producing classes, thereby
condemning them to lives of unremunerat-
ed toll, depriving them of the ordinary
conveniences and comforts of life; of the
time and means necessary for social en-
joyment, intellectual culture and moral
improvement; and ultimately reducing
them to a state of practical servitude.


We further hold that while these un-
righteous laws of distribution remain in
force, laborers cannot, by any system Of
combination or cooperation, secure their
natural rights. The first and most impor,
tant step towards the establishment of
the rights of labor, is the institution of
system of true cooperation between nom
producing capital and labor. That to ef.
feet this most desirable object, money, the
medium of distribution to capital and
labor, must be instituted upon such a wise
and just principle that instead of being u
power to eentralize the wealth in the hands
Of a few bankers, usurers, middlemen and
non- producers generally, it shall be
power that will distribute products to pro-
ducers in accordance with the labor or
service performed in their. production.
the servant and not the master of labor.