New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-29
House.

/
for anv amount. The bill goes TO the Ser
ate. Adjourned.
POLITICAL.
| The St. Louis Conveniion-The Platform
The Struggle Of the FavOrites-NOmi
nation Of Governor Tilden.
ST. LOUIS. June ss-The convention wa
called to order at 2:l5 P. NJ.
Judge Meredith, Of Virginia, chairman o
the committee on resolutions, presented tn
| report, stating a great many resolution
| were presented all of which had been care
| fully examined AID discussed before com
ing to an agreement He requested Gov
ernor Dorsheimer, Of New York, to read il
to the convention, ss follows:
| PLATFORM.
| We, the delegates of the Democrat,
party of the United States, in national con
vention assembled. do here declare the 90
| ministration Of the federal government Il
be in urgent Iced OF immediate reform; d.
hereby enjoin upon the nominees Of thil
convention and of the Democratic party II
each State zea,ous effort and cooperation
| to this end, and do hereby appeal to 0ul
l tellow-citizens Of every former pOlitioal
connection to undertake with ne this frs,
and most pressing patriotic duty. For The
| Democracy Of the whole country we do here
resffrm our faith in the Permanency Of
| the federal Union, our devotion to the
| constitution OF the United States, with i'll
amendments, universally accepted ss q
| final settlement Of the controversies that
| engendered civil war, and do here record
| our etesdfast confidence in the perpetuity
| of republican sefgovernment; in absolute
| acquiescence in the will Of the majority, the
| vital principles Of republics; in the su.
premacy of the civil over the military al.
rhority; in the total separation Of Church
| and State, for the sake alike Of civil and
religious freedom; in the equality Of all
| citizens before the juet laws of their own
| enactment; in tine liberty Of individual
! conduct, unvexed by sump.uary laws; in
| the faithful education of the rising genera.
| ticn, that they may preserve, enjoy and
! tranemi. these best conditions Of hu-
! man happiness and hope; we behold
the nobleet products Of hundred years
Of changeful history. But while upholding
the bend Of our Union and great charter Of
these our rights, il behooves free people
70 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 cor
rupt centralism, which, after inhictlng upon
ten States the rapacity of carpetbsg tyran-
mes, has honeycombed the officers of the
federal government itself with incapacity,
waste and fraud, infected States and muni-
cipslities with the cOntagion of misrule, and
locked fast the prosperity OF our Industrious
people in the paralysis of hard times. Re.
form is necessary to establish q sound cur.
rency, restore the public credit and main
tain the national honor. We denounce the
failure for all these eleven years to make
good the promise of the legal tender
notes which are changing standard of
value in the hands Of the people, and
the non payment of which is a 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 the
whole amount Of legal tender notes, and
squandered tour times this sum in useless
expense without accommodating any reserve
for their redemption.
We denounce the financial imbecility and
immortality of that party, which, during
eleven years of peace, has made NO advance
toward resumption; that instead has OBJ
structed resumption by wasting our re-
come, and while annually protesting to
intend q speedy return to specie payments,
has annually enacted fresh hindrances
thereto. As such hindraEce we
denounce the resumption clause of the
act Of 1875, and We here demand its re-
peal. We demand q judicions system of
preparation by public economies, By official
retrenchmente, and by wise finance, which
shall enable the nation to insure the whole
world of its perfect ability and its perfect
readiness to meet any Of its promises at the
call of the creditor entitled 70 payment.
We believe euch system well devised,
and, above all, in:rusted to competent hands
for execution, creating at no time an
artificial scarcity Of currency, and at no
time alarming the public mind into q with
drawal Of that vaster machinery of credit
by which ninety-five per cent of all business
transactions are performed. A system
open, public, and inspiring general conf
dence, would, from the day of its adoption,
bring healing on its wings to all our har-
rassed industry, and set in motion the
wheels of commerce, manufactures, and the
mechanical arts, restore employment to
labor, and renew in all its national source
the prosperity of the people. Reform is
necessary in the sum and mode of federal
taxation, to the end that capital may be set
free from distress, and labor lightly bur.
dened.
We denounce the present tariff, levied
upon nearly 1000 articles, az o master. piece
of injustice, inequality and false pretense;
IL ylelu6 OWIuulluk, uOG carly, rising
revenue; it has impoverished many indus
tries to subsidize few; it prohibits i'm
ports that might purchase the products of
American labor; it has degraded American
commerce from the first to an inferior upon
the high seas; it has cut down the sales of
American manufactures at home and
abroad, and depleted the returns of Ameri-
can agricultural industry followed by
half our people: it costs the people Eve
times more than it produces to the treasury,
Obstructs the processes Of production and
wastes the fruits of labor; it promotes
fraud and fosters smuggling, enriches
dishonest officials and bankrupts honest
merchants. We demand that all custom
house taxation shall be only for revenue.
Reform is necessary in the scale OF public
expense, federal State and municipal.
Federal taxation has swollen from
$l6O00,0 900 gold, in 1860, to $3.50 0OO, 900 cur
rency in 1870 Our aggregate taxation
from $lS4, 100000 gold in 1860 to $3.50 OOO, 600
currency in 1870, or in one decade from less
than s. per head to more than 4l8 per head
Since tho peace the people have paid to
their tax gatherers more than thrice the
sum Of the national debt, and more than
twice that amount for the federal govern
ment alone. We demand vigorous frugal
iry in every department. and from every
officer of the government. Reform is neces-
sary to put stop to the profligate waste of
public lands, and their diversion from actual
settlers by the party in power, which
has squandered two hundred millions
of acres upon railroads alone, and ont of
more than twice that aggregate has dis
posed of less than Q sixth directly to the
.tillers of the soil. Reform is necessary to
correct the omissions of the Republican
Congress and the errors OF our treaties and
Oyrp M Dh hovy atr fo1