The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1876-07-13
Democratic Platform.

We, the delegates of the Democratic party OF
the United States, i'm National Convention as
sembled, do hereby declare the administration
of the Federal Government to be in urgent need
of immediate reform, do hereby enjoin upon
the nominees of this Convention, and Of the
Democratic party in each State, a jealous effort
and cooperation to this end, and do hereby APP
peal to our felIow-citizens OF. every former po-
litical connection to undertake Ewith''. us this
first and most pressing patriotic. duty. For the
Democracy OF the whole country, we do here
reanirm 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
controversies that engendered civil war, and
do here record our steadfast confidence I'm the
perpetuity of republican selfgOveTnment I'm
absolute acquiescencs i'm the will of the major
ity, the vital principles of Republics; in the su
premaey of the civil over the military authori-
ty; in the total separation Of Church and State;
for the sake alike of civil and religious free
dom, in the equality of all citizens before just
laws of their own enactment; in the liberty Of
individual 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 happi-
ness and hope. We behold the noblest prod
ucts OF a hundred years Of changeful history,
but while upholding the bond Of union, and
the great charter of these rights. II behooves
free people to practice, also, that eternal vigi-
lance which is the price of liberty.
Reform is necessary to rebuild and establish
| ia the hearts of the whole peOplein the Union,
eleven years ago, happily rescued from the dan
| from a corrupt centralism, which, after infict-
| ing upon ten States the rapacity of caTpet-bag
| tyranny, has honeyeombed the offices of the
waste and fraud injected States and munici-
palities with the contagion Of misrule, and
| people in the paralysis of hard times.
/ Reform is necessary to establish a sound cur
| rency, restore the public credit, and maintain
/ the National honor
We denounee the Republican party for its
/ failure for all these eleven years 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 nonpayment 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 peo-
/ amount of the legal tender notes and squan-
/ dered four times this sum in useless expense
without accumulating any reserve for their re-
/ demption.
/ We denounce the financial imbecility and
/ immortality of that party which, during eleven
years of peace, has made no advance toward re-
l sumption, no preparation for resumption, but,
our resources and exhausting all our surplus
income, and, while annually protesting TO in
/ tend speedy return TO specie payment, has
annually enacted fresh hindrances thereto. As
such a hindrance we denounce the resumption
clause OF the act OF 1875, and we here demand
/ its repeal.
We demand a Judicious system of prepara-
tion by public economies, by official retrench-
ments, 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 promises at the call OF the cred
/ itor entitled to payment
| We believe such a system, well rdevised, and
| above all, intrusted to competent hands for ex-
ecution, creating at no time an artificial search
/ ty of currency, and at no time alarming the
public mind into withdrawal of that vaster
/ machinery of credit by which ninety-ive per
cent. of all business transactions are performed
"a system open, public, and tn@piTing general
| confidence, would, from she day Of It's adop-
/ ton, bring healing on its wings 10 all our har-
assed industry, and set in motion the wheels o.
| commerce, manufactures, and the mechanic
| arts restore employment to labor, and renew
| ing in all its natural sources the prosperity OF
| the people.
Federal taxation, TO the end that capital may
| be set free from distrust and labor lightly bur
We denounce the present tariff, levied upon
/ nearly four thousand articles, as a masterpiece
/ of injustice, inequality and false pretense. 1t
yields a dwindlfng, not yearly rising, reve-
nue.. 1t has Impoverished many industries to
subsi,lize a few. IL prohibits imports that
/ might purchase the products Of American la
Dor. II has degraded American commerce
/ from the first to an inferior rank upon the high
manufactures at home and abroad, and depict
| ed the returns Of American agriculture, an in
dustry followed by half our people.
1t costs the people five times more than IL
produces TO the Treasury, obstructs the pro-
ceSSes OF production, and wastes the fruits OF
| labor. 1t promotes fraud, fosters smuggling,
enriches dishonest officials, and bankrupts
honest merchants. We demand that all Gus
| tom House taxation shall be only for revenue.
Reform is necessary in tho scale of public ex-
pense, Federal, State and municipal Our Fed
| eral taxation has swollen from s6OOO0,UOO gold,
i'm lSGO TO $500 1000 currency, in lS7O- Our ag-
gregate taxation, from sl5O,0O0,OOO gold in 1860
TO 730.00O,0O0 currency, in 1870, in one decade
from less than So per head to more than SIS per
mead. Since the peace, the people have paid to
their tax gatherers more than twice the sum for
the Federal Government alone. We demand a
vigorous frugality in every department, and
frOm every officer Of the Government
Reform is necessary TO put stop to the prof
ligate waste of public lands and their diversion
from actnal settlers by the party in power
which has squandeTed 1000 900 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.
Reform Is necessary to correct the omissions
of Republican Congress, and the errors of our
treaties and our diplomacy which have strip
ped our fellow-citizens of foreign birth and
kindred race Te-crossing the Atlantic of the
shield of American citizenship, and have ex-
posed our brethren Of the Pacific coast To the
incursions Of race not sprung from the same
great parent stock, and, in fact, now by law de-
MED citizenship through naturalization, as be-
ing neither accustomed to the traditions of a
progressive civilization nor exercised In liberty
under equal laws.