Wilmington journal., 1876-08-18
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PLATFOHN
AdODted at st. LOuiS. June oS 1879

! inns convention. ana pf the benOFr3tl
party in each Stale, 4 zealoHs effort an
Corporation to this end, and do hercl,
appeal to Our fallow-citiztns Of every fol
mer political connection tn undertake wit
lis this first and most pressing patriot
duty for the Democracy OF the ,;hol
country.
| We do here reatfirm OuT 1.Iith i'm the per
manency of the Federal Union, our devo
ton To the Constitution If the / nitet
| States, with its amendments. univcrSall7
accepted as final settlement Of the con
| troyersies that engendered the civil wal
and do here record o II stCadtAst contidenc,
| in the perpetuity of republican Self-govrru
| ment in all absolute aclU:1scence il
| the will of the majority, the vital primer
| pie of the Republic; in the supremacy .
| the civil over the military authority: il
the total separation of Church and State
for the sake alike of civil and religion,
| freedom in the equality of all citizens be
| fore just laws Of their own enactment il
| the liberty of individual conduct unvcXeG
| by sumptuary laws in the faithful edu
cation 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 charter ofthese our rights, it be
hOoyes Il free people to practice also that
eternal vigilance which is the price Of lib
erty.
THE NEED OF THE HOUR
Reform is necessary to rebuild and
establish in the hearts of the whole people
the Union, eleven years ago happily res
cued from the danger of a corrupt central
ism, which, after intiicting upon ten States
the rapacity of carpetbag tyrannieS, has
hOneycOmbed the offices of The Federal
government itself with incapacity, waste
and fraud, infected States and munici-
palities with the contagion of misrrle, and
locked fast the property Of an industrious
people i'll the paralysis of hard times. .-
Reform is necessary to establish sound
currency, restore the public credit, and
maintain the national honor.
RADICAL FINANCE DENOUNCED.
We denOunce the failure for all these
eleven years to make good the promise of
the legal tender notes, which are chang
ing standard of value in the hands Of the
people, and the nOn-payment of which is a
disregard of the plighted faith of thc nat ion.
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 four times this sum
in useless expense, without accImulating
any reserve for their redemption.
We denOunce the financial imbeclity of
that party which, during eleven y"rrS 0t
peace, has made no advance toward re-
sumption; that instead, has obstructcd re-
sumption by wasting Our resources and
all our surplus income, and
while annually protesting To intend
speedy resumption to specie payment, has
annually enacted fresh IinGrances thereto.
AS such hindrance we dCnOunce the re-
clause of the act of 1875, and we
here demand its repeal.
DEMOCRATIC FINANCE DEMANDED.
We demand Il iudicioIIs system of pre-
pa1ation by public economics, by official
and by wise finance. which
shall enable the nation To assure the whole
world Of its perfect ability and perfect
readiness to meet any Of its promises at
the call of the creditor entitled To payment.
We believe such a system well devised, and
above all, entrusted to competent hands
for execution, creating a no time an arti
fetal scarcity of currency, and at no time
the public mind into tie with
crawal of that vast machinery Of credit by
which 90 per cent. of all business transac-
tons are performed-a system open, public
and inspiring general confidence, would,
from the day of adoption, bring healing on
its wings to all our harassed industry, and
set i'll motion tho wheels of commerce,
and the mechanical arts
restore employment to labor, and renew:
in all its national source, the prosperity Of
the people.
REFORM IN TAN AXIOM.
Reform is necessary in the sum and
mode of Federal taxation 40 that capital
.fiS MI la
Dor lightly burdencd. We drno1mcc
ihe present tariff lev.rh upon nearly
five thousand articles rs Il master
piece of injustice, Inequality and false
pretence. 1t yields a dwindling, not
a yearly rising revenue. 1t has impover-
ished many Industries to suhsidiZe few
it prohibits imports that NIGH purchase
the products of American Labor; IL has de
graded American commerce from the Inst
to an inferior rank upon the mg! seas. II
has cut down the sales of American lndIi;I-
factureS at home and abroad, ana depleted
the return of American agriculture or i'll
dustry, followed by halt our people 1t
costs the people live times more than it
produces to the treasury, obstructs the
processes Of production, and wastes the
fruits Gf labor. 1t promotes fraud and
fosters smuggling, enrichcs dishonest otl-
cials and bankrupts honest merchants. We
demand that all customhOuse tax alton shall
be only for revenue.
RETHENCHMENT IN EXPENSES.
Reform is necessary in the scale of pub
lie expense, Federal, State and municipal
out of Federal taxation has swollen from
S6O, ,OO0, 900 gold, in 1860, to $3.50, 10000,
currency, in 1870. Our aggregate taxa
ton was from 1854 100000, gold. in 1860
to $50, ,00O, 900, currency, in 1870, or i'll
one decade less than s. per head to 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 de
mand vigorous trIlgality i'll every depart
Inent and from every officer OF the gov
WASTE OF TIE PUBLIC LANDS.
Reform is necessary 10 put a stop TO tie
protiigate wastes of the public lands and
their diversion from settlers by the party
in power which has squanderrd TWO hum
tIred millions of acres upon railroads alone,
and out of more than thrice that aggregate
has disposed of less than a sixth directly
To tillers of the soil.
CHRISTIAN CITIZENS AND HEATHEN
CHINESE.
Reform is necessary to correct the mis-
takes of the Republican Congress and the
errors of our treaties, aud our diplomatic
relations which have stripped our adopted
citizens of foreign birth and kindred race
recressing The Atlantic, of the shield Of
American citizenship, and have exposed our
brethren of the Pacific coast to the incur
sions Of I'll 70 not sprung from the same
great parent stock, and in fact now by law
denied citin nship through naturalization,
hain har n -
of progressive civilization, nor exercised
IL liberty under equal laws. We denounce
the policy which thus discards the liberty
loving German and t0leratPs the revival OF
the Coolie trade III Mongolian women, i'm
ported far immoral purposes, and Mongo-
Ian men hired to perform servile labor CON
tracts, and demand such modification by
Congress within a constitutional limita-
ton, as shall prevent the further importa-
ton or immigration of the Monaghan race.
REFORM IS THE CAMPAIGN IssUE.
20 I,oopS9ary can meyer he Of