Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-09-30
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
Reform, Retrenehment and Recon-
ciliatiOn.
[Adopted in Convention at st. Louis, June
%, 1876. Revised and corrected from the
original manuscript

Adopted in Convention at st. Louis, June
20, 1876. Revised and corrected from the
original manuscript.
We, the delegates of the Democratic party.
OF the United States in National Conven-
ton assem- bled, do hereby declare the adj
to be in urgent need ofimmediate Reform !;
do hereby enjoin upon the nominees of
this Convention, and of the Democratic
party in each state, q jealous effort and CO.
operation to this end and do hereby APP
peal to our fellow-citizens OF every former
political connection, to undertake with us
this first and most pressing patriotic duty.
For the Democracy of the whole country,
we do here reaffiFm our faith in the per-
manence of the Federal Union, our devo-
ton to the Constitution of the United
States with its amendments universally
accepted as q final settlement of the con-
troVersieS that engendered civil war, and do
here record our sLeadfaSt confidence in the
perpetulty of Republican self-government.
In absolute acquieScenee in the will of
the majOrity-tle vital principle of repub-
lies in the supremacy of the civil over
the military authority ; in the total separa-
ton of Church and Stale, for the sake alike
OF civil and religious 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 pest conqltlons
of human happiness and hope, we behold
the noblest products of a hundred years of
changed history; but while upholding the
bond of our Union and great Charter of
these rights, it behooveS a free people to
practice also that eternal vigilance which
is the price 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 Secession of States !;
but now to be saved from a corrupt Central
ism which, after inflicting upon ten States
the rapacity of carpet-bag tyrannies, has
honeycombed the offices of the Federal
Government itself with incapacity, waste,
and fraud infected States and municipal
tiles with the contagion of misrule, and
locked fast the prosperity of an industrio us
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 for all these
eleven years of peace to make good the
promise of the legal-tender notes, which
are a changing standard of value in the
hands of the people, and the non payment
of which lisa disregard ofthe plighted faith
of the nation.
We denounced the providence which in
eleven years of peace has taken from the
people in Federal taxes thirteen times the
whole amount OF the !egal-tender NOTES
and squandered four times their sum in
useless expense without accommodating any
reserve for their redemption.
We denounce the tinancialimbecility and
immortality of that party which, during
eleven years of peace, has made no adj
vance toward resumption, no preparation
for resumption, but instead has obstructed
resumption by wasting our resources and
eXnausting all our surplus income and,
while annually protesting to intend a
speedy return to specie payments, has an
nually enacted fresh hindrances thereto.
AS such a hindrance we denounce the Re-
sumption-day clause of the act of 1875, and
demand its repeal.
We demand a judicious system of prepa-
ration by public economies, by official re-
trenchmentS, and by wise finance, which
shall enable the nation soon to assure the
perfect readiness to meet any of its pro-
misses at the call of the creditor entitled 10
payment.
We believe such a system, well devised,
and, above all, intruSted 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
drawal of that Vaster machinery of credit
by which 50 per cent. of all business trans
actions are perfOrmed-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
ity of the people.
Reform is necessary in the sum and m odes
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 900 articles, as masterpiece
1t yields a dwindling, not yearly rising
revenue. 1t has impoverished many in
dustries to subsidize few. 1t prohibits
imports that might purchase the products
of American labor. It has dcgrated Amer
lean commerce from the first TO an inferior
rank on the high seas. 1t has cut down
the sales of American manufactures al
home and abroad, and depleted the returns
of American agriculture-an industry fol-
lowed by half our people. 1t costs the peo-
pie five times more than it produces to the
Ypnn nhGfr1RtS nFnHRSSGG
duction, and wastes the fruits of labor. Ii
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 mun1'
cipal. Our Federal taxation has swollen
from go millions gold in 1860 to $50 millions
currency III 1870 our aggregate taxation
from l54 millions gold in lS6Oto $50 million:
currency in 1870; or in one decade. from
less than So per head TO more than SIS pei
head. Since the peace the people have
paid to their taX-gatherers more thar
thrice the sum of the national debt, anC
more than twice that sum for the Fedora
Government alone. We demand a rigor
Gus frugality in every department, anC
from every officer of the Government.
Reform is necessary to put stop to the
profligate 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 GU
of more than thrice that aggregate has dis
posed of less than sixth directly to tiller'
of the soil.
Reform is necessary to correct the omis
sions of Republican Congress and the err
rOrs of our treaties and our diplomacy
which have stripped our telloW-c1tlzenS o
foreign birth and kindred race recroSSlnt
the Atlantic of the shield of American
citizenship, and have exposed our brethren
of the Pacific coast to the tncurslons OF {
race not sprung from the same great pan en-
stock, and, in fact. now by law denied citi
zenShip through naturalization, as being
neither accustomed to the traditions OF I
progressive civilization nor exei ciSed IL
liberty under equal laws. We denounc'
the policy which thus discardS the liberty
loving German and tolerates the revival o
the cOOlie trade in Monaghan women, i'm
ported for immoral purposes. and Mongo
liam men, hired to perform serVlle LABOR
contracts.
Reform is necessary and can never bt
effected but by making it the controlling
issue of the elections, and lifting it above
the two false issues with which the office
holding class and the party in power seel
to smother it
], The false issue with which they would
enhinQle seotarian strife in respect to tht
public schools, of whioh 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.
:. The false issue by which they seek tc
hate between kindred people once es
tranged but now reunited in one ind1visi
BILE republic and a common destiny.
Reform is necessary in the civil service
Experience proves that efficient, economi
cal conduct of the government business i
not possible if it's civil service be subject tC
change at every election, be prize fough
for at the ballot box, be brief reward O.
party zeal, instead of posts of honor as
signed for proved competency, and held
! Tor fidelity in the public employ that thu
dispensing of patronage should neither
be a tax upon the time of all our public
men. nor the instrument oftheir ambition
Here again promises falsified in the per
Torrance, 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, Vice-President, Judges, Senators
all others in authority are the peoples ser
wants. Their offices are not private per-
auisite-they are a.puhllc trust.
When the annals of this Republic show
the disgrace and oensqre OIL n Vice-PreSi-
dent a late Speaker of the House OF Re-
representatives. marketing his rulings as q
presiding officer; three Senators Fronting
secretly by their votes as Lawmakers; five
chairmen of the leading committees OF the
late House of Representatives exposed IN
jobbery a late Secretary of the Treasury
forcing balances in the public accounts a
late Attorney General misappropriating
public funds a Secretary of the Navy en-.
riched or enrIching friends, by percentages
levied off the profits of contractors with
his department; an ambassador to Eng
land censuTed in dishonorable specula.
ton the Presidents Private Secretary
barely escaping conviction upon trial fol-
guilty completely in frauds upon the reve.
nue.; a Secretary of War impeached for
high crimes and miSdemeanors,-thed dem
onstration is complete, that the first step
in Reform must be the peoples choice OF
honest men from another party, lest the
disease of one political organization infect
the body polite, and lest by making no
change of men or parties we get no change