Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-07-07
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
Democratic Platform.

need Of immediate reform; do hereby enjoii
upon the nominees of this convention and o
The democratic party in each Stale Jealous
effort and cooperation 10 this end, and Dc
hereby appeal 10 our felowcitizens of every
| former political connection to undertake will
us this first and most pressing patriotic cnty
| for the democracy of the whole country. VIZ
do here reaflirm our faith in the permanency
of the federal Union, our devotion TO the con-
sttution of the United States, with its amend
men's, universally accepted as final settle
ment Of the controversies that engendered the
civil war and do here record our sieadinsl
confidence in the perpetuity Of republican
| selEgovernment; in absolute acquiescence in
the will Of the majority, the vital principle OF
the republic; in the supremacy of the civil
over the military authority, in the total sep
aration Of church and state for the sake alike
of civil and religions freedom, in the equality
of all citizens before just laws of their own
enactment, in the liberty Of individual con-
duct unvexed by sumpinary laws in the
faithful education of the rising generation that
they may preserve, enjoy and transmit these
conditions of human happiness and hope, we
behold the noblest products of n hundred years
changeful history but while unfolding the
bond of our Union and great charter Of these,
our rights, il behooves free people 10 prac-
tice also the 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
dangers of secession of States, but now 10
be saved from a corrupt centralism which, af-
ter inficting upon ten States the rapacity of
carpet-bag tyrannies, has honeycombed the
Offices of the federal government itself with
ncapacity, waste and fraud, infected States
and municipalities with the conagion of mis-
rttIa aad lopl-a nd fact tha itp rf in
dustrious people in the paralysis of hard times
Reform is necessary to establish sound cur
rency, restore the public credit and maintain
the national honor. We dcnounce the failure
for all these eleven years to make good the
promises of the legal-tender notes, which are
n changing standard of value in the hands of
the people, and the non-payment of which is
disregard of the plighted faith O. the ma
ton. 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 nolrs, and squan-
dered four times this sum in useless expense
without accumulating any revenue for their
redemption. We denounce the financial inn
becilily and immortality of that party which
during eleven years of peace has made no ad-
vance toward resumption that instead has
obstructed resumption by wasting our re-
sources and exhausting all our surplus income,
and while annually protesting to intend "A
speedy return to specie payments has annually
enacted fresh hindrance thereto; as such a
hndance we denounce the resumption clause
of the act of 1875, and we here demand its
repeal. We demand a judicious system of
preparation by public economies, by official
retrenchments, and by wise finance which
shall enable the nation soon to assure the whole
world of its perfect ability and its perfect
readiness 10 meet any of its promises at the
call of the creditor entitled TO payment. We
believe such system, well devised, and above
all entrusted to competent hands for execution,
creating at no time an artificial scarcity of
currency, and at no time alarming the public
mind into withdrawal OF that vaster ma
chinery of credit by which ninety-five per
cent. of all business transactions are perform
ed. A system open, pnblicand inspiring gem
eral confidence would from the day of its
adoption bring healing on its wings TO all our
harassed industry, and set in motion the
wheels OF commerce, manufactures and the
mechanical arts, restore employment TO labor
and renew in all its natural force the prosperi-
ty of the people.
Reform is necessary in the form and mode
of federal taxation, TO the end that capital
may be set free from distrust and labor light
ly burdened. We denounce the present tariff
levid upon nearly four thousand articles as a
masterpiece of injustice, inequality and false
pretense. II yields dwndling not yearly
rising revenue. 1t has impoverished many
industries TO subsidiZe few. 1t prohibits
imports that might purchase the products of
American labor. II has degraded American
commerce from the frs, to an inferior rank
upon the high seas 1t has cut down the sales
of American manufactures ut home and abroad
and depleted the returns of American agrcul
ture and industry, followed by half our peo
nj 7 fla, 10 ~
it produces TO the treasury, obstructs the pro-
cesses Of production and wastes the fruits of
labor. 1t promotes frauds and fosters SNUG
Cling, enrches dishonest officials and bank
rupts honest merchants. We demand that all
custom house taxation shall be only for
revenue.
Reform is necessary in the scale of public
pense-federal, State and municipal. Our
federal taxation has swollen from $50, GOO, 600
gold in 1860 TO $3.50, 900, 90 currency in 1870.
Our aggregate taxation from Sl54, 900, 600
gold in $50 TO $3.50, 600, 900 currency in $40;
or in one decade from less than five dollars
per head to more than eighteen dollars 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 twic
that sum for the federal government alone =
We demand vigorous frugaty in every de-
partment aud from every officer of the gov
eminent.
Reform is necessary to put stop to the
profligate wsste of public lands and their d.
version from actual settlers by the party in
power, which has squandered two hundred
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. Reform is necessary to correct the
omissions of the republican Congress and the
errors of our treaties and our diplomacy
which have stripped our fellow citizens oil
foreign birth and kindred race recrossing the
Atlantic of the shield of American citizen
ship, and have exposed our brethren of the
Pacific coast 20 the incursions of a race not
sprung from the same great parent stock, and
in fact now by law denied citizenship through
naturalization, as being neither accustomed
to the traditions of progressive civilization
nor exercised in liberty under equal laws.
We denounce the policy which thus discards
the liberty-loving German and tolerates thu
revival of the coolie trade in Monaghan wo
men imported for immoral purposes and Mon
goian men hired TO perform servile labor con
tracts, and we demand such modification o
the treaty with the Chinese empire, o.
such legislation by Congress, within a consti
tutional limitation, as shall prevent the fur
Their importation or immigration os the Mon
golian race.
Reform is necessary and can never be ef
fected but by making it the controlling issu
of the elections and lifting it above the two
false issues with which the ofice-holding elias
and the party in power seek 10 smother it,
We denOunce the false issue with whicl
they would enkindle sectarian strife in re
spect to the public school, of which the estab
lishmeut and support belongs exclusively Il
the several States, and which the democrats
party has cherished from their foundation
and resolved 10 maintain without Partially o
preference for any class, sect or creed, ant