Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-14
rmG DEMOCRATIC PLArFoRM.
Reform. Reirenchment aud Recon.
eillatI0n.
ADOPTED ia Convention at at, l.euls. June
20, 1876 REVISED nnd corrected ftOsH the
nfinlnnl fundamentally

ton assembled, dn hereby declare titn uds
ministfhtinn OF tile Federal Government
10 he Ia argent need q Immediate Haforn
do hereby en1nin upon the upiaintrH OF
this Conventions. aud Of the ilefnaeTatie
party In zach state, a Ienl1uH eIfoft aud ros
operation TO this end and do hereby ap-
peal 20 our fellow .citiHenA OF every former
Political connection, 10 undertake. With as
this first aud most pressing patriotic duty
For the Democracy OF the whole country,
we do here rnnflrm our faith la The per-
manenee Of the Federal unien, our dove
ton 10 the Consultation Of the United
States with It's amendments universally
accepted AS dual settlement OF the con-
troversles that engendered civil war, and do
here record our stead inst confidence in the
perpetuIIy OF Republican seii-goyernment
In absolute aequiescence in the will OF
the maiority--the vital principle of repub-
lies In the supremacy OF the civil over
the military authority in the total separa
ton OF Church and state, for the sake alike
OF civil and religions freedom In the
equality of all citizens before just laws of
their own enactment; in the liberty of in
dividual conduct, unVexed by sumptuary
laws; in the faithful education of the
rising generation, that they may preserve.
enjoy and transmit these best conditions
of human happiness and hope, we behold
the noblest products of a hundred years of
changed history; but while uphoiding the
bond of our Union and great Charter of
these rights, IL behooves a Tree people to
practice also that eternal vigilance which
is the pric of Liberty?
Reform is necessary to rebuild and establish
in the hearts of the whole people, the
Union, eleven Years ago happily rescued
from the danger of a Secession OF states;
but now to be saved from a corrupt Central
ism which, after infiicting upon ten States
the rapacity of carpet-bag tyfannieS, has
honeycombed the offices OF the Federal
Government itself with incapacity. waste,
and fraud infected States and municipal
titles with the contagion of misrule, and
locked fast the prosperity of an industrious
people in the paralysis of Hard Times.
Reform is necessary to establish a sound
currency, restore the public credit, and
maintain the national honor.
We denOunce the failure Tor all these
eleven years of peace to make good the
d omise of the Jegai-tender notes, which
are changing standard OF value in the
hands of the people, and the non pay ment
of which is disregard ofthe plighted faith
of the nation.
We denounce the improvidence which in
eleven years OF peace has taken from the
people in Federal taxes thirteen times the
whole amount of the legal-tender notes
and squandered TOUR times their sum in
useless expense without accommodating any
reserve for their redemption.
We denounce the financial i'm becility and
immortality of that party which, during
eleven years of peace, has made no adj
vance toward resumption, no preparation
| for reSum ption, but instead has obStrueted
| resufn ptiOn, ny wasting our resources and
eXnausting all our surplus income; and,
| while Annually processing to intend
| speedy return to specie payments, has an
| nually enacted fresh h1ndranceS thereto.
| AS such hindrance We denounce the Re-
sumption-day clause OF the act OF 1870 and
! demand its repeal.
| We demand a judicious system of prepa-
ration by public economies, by ofnclai re-
| trenchments, and by wise finance, which
] shall enable the nation soon to assure the
whole world of its perfect ability and its
( perfect readiness to meet any of ITS pro-
| misses at the call of the creditor entitled to
/ We believe such system, we'll devised.
! and, above all, Entrusted to competent
| hands for exec ution, creating at no time
/ an artificial scarcity of currency and at no
| time alarming the public mind into with
rfNf
| by which IS per cent. of all business rams
| actions are perforned-a system open,
| public, and inspiring general confidence,
! would from the day OF its adoption bring
/ healing on its wings to all our harassed in
! duStries, set in motion the wheels of COM
/ merce, manufactures, and the mechanic
| arts, restore employment to labor, and re-
new in all its natural sources the prosper
I ity of the people.
| Reform is necessary in the sum and modes
| of Federal Taxation, to the end that cap
| ital may be set free from distrust, and labor
/ lightly burdened.
| we denounce the present Tariff, levied
! upon nearly 1900 articles as masterpiece
of injustice, inequality, and false pretence.
/ 1t yields q dwindllng, not yearly rising
/ revenue. 1t has Impoverished many in
dustries to subsidize a few. 1t prohibits
/ imports that might purchase the products
| OF American labor. 1t has degrated Amer
| lean commerce from the first to an inferior
| rank on the high seas. 1t has cut down
! the sales of American manufactures at
/ home and abroad, and depleted the returns
| OF American aSflcultufe-an industry IOl-
! lowed by half our people. 1t costs the peo-
| pie five times more than it produces TO the
treasury, obStructS the processes OF pro-
duction, and wastes the fruits of labor. 1t
promotes fraud, fosters smuggling. enricheS
dishonest officials, and bankTuptS honest
| merchants. We demand that all Custom
/ House taxation shall be only for Revenue.
Reform is necessary in the scales of Pub
| lie EXpenSeS-Federal, State, and muni-
cipal. Our Federal taxation has swollen
! from so millions gold in 1860 to $50 millions
. / en- n t1XAIi0n
| from l54 millions gold in lSf0tO 40 millions
! currency in 1870 or in one decade, from
less than So per head 10 more than SIS per
head. Since the peace the people have
paid to their taX-gatherers more than
thrice the sum of the national debt, and
more than twice that sum for the Federal
| Government alone. We demand rigOr-
Gus frugality in every department, and
from every officer of the Government.
Reform Is necessary to put stop to the
/ profiigate waste OF public lands and theil
diversion from actual settlers by the party
| in power, which has squandered 200 mil
lions OF acres upon railroads alone, and out
of more than thrice that aggregate has dis
! posed of less than sixth directly to tillers
/ of the soil.
! sions of a Republican Congress and the en-
| rOrs of our treaties and our diplomacy,
! which have stripped our felIow-cltlzens OF
/ foreign birth and kindred race recroSSing
! the Atlantic of the shield OF American
| citizenship, and have exposed our brethren
of the Pacific coast to the incursions OF q
race not sprung from the same great pan emf
| stock, and, in TACT. now by Jaw denied citi-
zenship through naturalization, as being
/ neither accustomed to the traditions of q
| progressive civilization nor exc cised in
liberty under equal laws. We denounce
the policy which thus discards the liberty
! loving German and tOlerateS the revival OF
| the coolie trade in Monaghan women, i'm
! ported for immoral purposes, and Mongo-
liam men, hired to perform servile labor
/ contracts.
Reform is necessary and can never be
| effected but by making it the controlling
| issue of the elections, and lifting it above
1 the two false issues with which the office
holding class and the party in power seek
! TO smother it
| l. The false issue with which they would
/ enkindle sectarian strife in respect to the
public schools, OF which the establishment
| and support belong exclusively to the sew
eral States, and which the Democratic
party has cherished from the foundation
/ and is resolved to maintain without pre-
jUdice or preference for any class, sect, OF
creed, and without largeSses from the treas
ury to any.
2. The false issue by which they seek to
light anew the dying embers of sectional
| hate between kindred people once eS-
tranged. but now reunited in one indivisl-
blerepublic and a common destiny.
Reform is necessary in the civil service
| Experience proves that efficient, ecOnOmi-
cal conduct of the government business is
not possible if its civil service be subject to
change at every election, be prize fought
for at the ballot box, be a brief reward OF
party zeal, instead of posts of honor as
signed IOf proved competency, ana helu
for fidelity in the public employ that the
dispensing OF patronage should neither
De a tax upon the time of all our public
| men. nor the instrument Oftheir ambition
Here again promises falSifieQ in the per-
| fOrmance, attest that the party in power
can work out no practical or Salutary re-
form
Reform is necessary even more In the
| higher grades of the public service. Pres
! ident. Nice-Presideut, Judges, Senators
| Representatives, CABINET officers, these and
| all Others in authority are the peoples ser
quiSite-they are public trust.
When the annals of this Republic show
| the disgrace and censure O, Nice-Presi-
| dent; n late Speaker of the House of Re-
! personalities marketing his rulings as a
| presiding officer; three Senators profiting
secretly by their votes as lawmakers five
| chairmen of the leading committees of the
| late House of Representatives. exposed in
jObbery late Secretary of the Treasury
forcing balances in the public accounts "a
/ late AttOrne General Disappointing
! public funds n Secretary of the Navy en-
| riched or enriching friends by percentages
/ levied of the profits of contractors with
| his department; an EmbaSsadOr to Eng
I land cenSured in q ShOnOrable specula
| ton the Presidents Private Secretary
! barely escaping conviction upon trial for
guilty completely in frauds upon the reve-
| nue.; Secretary of War impeached for
| high crimes and miSdemeanOrs-thet DEM
| onstration is complete, that the first step
in Reform must be the peoples choice of
| honest men from another 'partv lest tn o
disease of one political organization inject
I the body polite, and lest by making no
change OF men or parties We get no change
I OF measures and no real Reform.
! zSAll these abuses, wronuS and crimes tho
product Of sixteen years ascendancv of
the republican party create q necessity
Tor Reform, confessed by Republicans