Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1876-07-06
RLATFORM
Adopted by the National Democratic
Convention at st. Louis.

| OcraIlc party OF the CnlCeQ states IN Nd
tional Convention assembled, do hereby
declare the administration of the Federal
| Government to be in urgent need of i'm
4 mediate reform, do hereby join upon
| the nominees of this Convention and of
/ the Democratic party in each State
jealous effort and cooperation to this end,
and do hereby appeal to our fellow-citi-
zens of every former political conviction,
to undertake with us this first and most
pressing patriotic duty for the DemOcra-
ey of the whole country.
We do hereby reaffim our faith in the
permanency of the Federal Union, our
devotion to the Constitution of the United
States with its amendments universally
accepted as a final settlement of the con-
troversies that engendered civil war, and
do here record our steadfast confidence in
the peFpetuity of Republican self-goVern-
ment, in absolute acquiescence in the will
of the majority, in the vital principles of
republics, in the supremacy of the civil
over the military authority, in the total
separation of Church and State for the
sake alike of civil and religious freedom,
in the equality of all citizens before just
laws of their own enactment, in the lib
erty of Individual conduct unveNed by
sumptuary laws, in the faithful educa-
ton 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
hundred years of changeful history, but,
while upholding the bond of our Union
and great character of these our rights, it
behooves free people to practice also that
eternal vigilance which is the price of
liberty.
Reform is necessary to rebuild and es-
tablish in the hearts of the whole people
of the Union, eleven years ago happily
rescued from the danger of a secession of
| 1h,,E -
rupt centra1ism, which after inflicting
upon ten States the rapacity of carpet
bag tyrannies, has hOneycomed the offices
of the Federal Government itself with
, incapacity, waste and fraud, infected
States and municipalities with the con-
tagion of misrule, and locked fast the
prosperity of an industrious people in the
paralysis of hard times.
Reform is necessary to establish sound
currency, restore the public credit and
maintain the National honor.
| We denounce the failure, for all these
eleven years, to make good the promise
, | ofthe legal tender notes. which are chang
ing standards of value in the hands of
the people, and the non-payment of
| which is disregard of the 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
:
? notes, and squandered four times this
sum in useless expense without accumu-
lating any reserve for their redemption.
We denounce the financial inability
/ and immortality of that party, which, for
4 eleven years of peace, has made no ad-
= vance toward resumption, no preparation
for resumption but instead has obstruct-
ed resumption by wasting our resources
and exhausting all our surplus income,
: and while annually protesting to intend
a speedy return to specie payments, has
annually enacted fresh hindrances there
d to.
AS such hindrance we denounce the
resumption clause of the act of 1875, and
= we here demand its repeal.
:. We demand a judicious system of pre-
paration by public economies, by official
S retrenehment and by wise finances,
which shall enable the nation soon to as
a suEesthe whole world of its perfect abili-
I ty and its perfect readiness to meet any
e of its promises at the call of the creditor
entitled to payment. We believe such &
n system, well devised, and above all, in.
, trusted to competent hands for execution
Il creating at no time an artificial scarcity
of currency, and at no time alarming
IS the public mind into withdrawal Oftha
vaster machinery of credit by which
ninety-five per cent. of all business trans
}. actions are performed-a system open
public, and inspiring general confidence
would, from the day of its adoption, ,brin!
healing on its wings to all our harrasseC
" industry, and set in motion the wheels o
, commerce, manufactures and the me
| chanic arts, restore employment to labor
i and renew all its natural source, the pros
d perity of the people.
FefOrm is necessary i'll the sum AM
i, mode of Federal taxation, to the end tina
y capital may be set free from distrust am
>; >; labor lightly burdened.
We denounce the present tariff levie,
j, upon nearly four thousand articles as
u masterpiece of injustice, inequality an
d false pretense. 1t yields dwindling, no
yearly rising revenue. 1t has impoV
Io erished many industries to subsidiZe
10 few. 1t prohibits imports that might put
chase the products of American labor
It has degraded American commerc
IN from the first to an inferior rank upo
H the high seas. 1t has cut down the sale
" of American manufactures at home an
Il abroad, and depleted the returns of Amel
vn lean agriculture, an industry followed b
half our people. 1t costs the people fN
er times more than it produces to the Trea
o. ury, obstructs the processes of produ
81 ton, and wastes the fruits of labor.
promotes fraud, fosters smuggling, el
mo- riches dishonest officials, and bankrup
no honest merchants. We demand that a
sf Custom-house taxation shall be only fC
revenue.
n
lie expense, Federal; State and MuniC
on pal. Our Federal taxation has swolle
from $50, ,0OO, 900 in gold in 1860 to $45C
ad 600, 900 in currency in 1870, and our a.
ng gregate taxation from $154 ,000, 600
he gold in 1860 to $3.50, 900, 900 in currency
W. 1870, or in one decade from less than
per head to more than 18 per head. Sin
Isl the peace the people have paid to the
s." taxgatherers more than thrice the sum
ldy the National debt, and more than tWi
,ct- that sum for the Federal Governme
alone. We demand vigorous frugal
ent in every Department and from eve
,ci- officer of the Government.
ny Reform is necessary to put stop to t
profigate waste of public lands and thu
hat diversion from actual settlers by the ps
lst, ty in power, which has squandered t.
was hundred millions of acres upon railroa
alone, and out of more than thrice tt
she aggregate has disposed of less than six
directly to tillers of the soil.
- an ), Reform is necessary to. correct t
H.. omissions of Republican Congress, a
the errors of our treaties and our dip
- macy which have stripped our fello
NC citizens of foreign birth and kindl
olL0 n race, recrossing the Atlantic, of 4
ieII | shield of American citizenship, and
- ,; posed our brethren of the Pacific coas
AP' the incursiOns of a race not sprung fr
on the same great parent stock, and, in fs
arge I1otr,roEIi1otion rs beinr naitbar acc
toned to the traditions of a progress
civilization nor exercised in liberty
ng a der equal laws. We denOunce the pol
.ut which thus discards the liberty-le--
Tres, German, and tolerales the renew III
u by Cody trade in Mongolian women impC
men Tu IOF birad to nerfoTm serTiIa iI IaSnE
such tracts, and demand such modification
the treaty with the Chinese Empire
Eant such legislation by Congress within C
Ike stitutional Limitation as shall prevent
further importation or immigration
hlm' the Mongolian race.