The Russellville Democrat., 1876-10-19

own enactment; in the liberty of
 individual conduet unvexed by sumptuary laws; in the faithful
 education 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 a
 hundred years of changeful histo-
 ry. But while upholding the
 bond of our Union and great charter 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 establish in the hearts of the
 whole people the Union eleven years ago happily rescued from
 the danger ofa secession of States,
 but now to be saved from q cor.
 rupt centralism, which, after in : f1ictiag upon ten States the rapac-
 ity of carpet bag attorneys, has
 honey -combed the offices of the
 Federal Government itself with
 incapacity, waste and fraud: in
 fected States and municipalities
 with the contagion of misrule, and locked last the prosperity of industrious people in the paraly- sis of hard times. Reform is nee.
 essary to establish a sound cur
 rency, restore the public credit and maintain the national honor.
 We denounce the failure for all
 these eleven years to make good the promise of the legal tender
 notes wEich are changing stan
 dard of value in the hands of the people, and the non-payment of which is the disregard of the plighted faith of the Nation.
 We denounce the lmprovidence 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 their sum in useless expense without accommodating any reserve for their redemption. We de- nounce the financial imbecility and immortality of that party which, during eleven years of peace, has made no advance to- ward resumption, no preparation for resumption, but instead has obstructed resumption by vast ing our resources and cXhausting all our surplus income, and while annually protesting to intend a speedy return to specie payments, has annually enacted fresh hin drances thereto. As such him dranccs, we denounce the resump tion clause of the act of 1875, and we here demand it's repeal. We demand a judicious system of preparation by public economies, by official rctrenchments, and by a wise finance which shall enable the Nation soon to assure the whole world of it's ability and it's perfect readiness to meet any of it's promises at the cail of q cred itor entitled to payment. We be- lieve such a system well ll-advIsed and, above all, entrusted to com potent hands for execution, creat- ing at no time an artificial scarci- ty of currency, and at no time alarming the public mind into a withdrawal of that vast machin- cry of credit by which ninety five per cent. of our business transac- tions are pcrformed-a system open and public, and inspiring general would. from the day of its adoption, bring healing on it's wings to all our harassed industries, set m mo tion the wheels of commerce, manufactures and the mechanical arts, restore employment to labor, and renew in all its sources the prosperity of the people. Reform is necessary in the sum and mold 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 as a masterpiece of injustice, in and false pretense, which yields a dwindling, and not q yearly rising revenue, has impov erished many industries to subsi- dize a few. It prohibits imports that might purchase the products of American labor; it has derang | ed American commerce from the first to an inferior rank upon the | high seas; it has cut down the walls of American manufacturers at home and abroad; it has depict ed the returns of American agri- culture, an industry followed by half of our people; it costs the people five times more than it produces to the treasury; ob- structs the process of production and wastes the fruits of labor; it promotes fraud, fosters snug gling, enriches dishonest officials, and brnkrupts honest merchants. We demand that all Custom House taxation shall be only for revenue. Reform is necessary in the scale of public expense--Fed eral, State and Municipal. Our