The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-07-06
THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY.
Platform as Adopted at
st. Louis.

| Convention assembled, do hereby declare
| the administration of the Federal Gov
| ernment to be in urgent need of immedi-
| ate reform, and do hereby eniCin upon
the nominees of this convention, and of
| the Democratic party in each State, a
/ jealous effort and corporation to this
| end, and do hereby appeal to our fellow
| citizens Of every former political cOnnec-
| ton to undertake with US this first and
most pressing patriotic duty.
For the Democracy of the whole coun-
| try We DO here reathrm cur faith in the
! permanance of the Federal Union, our
devotion to the Constitution of the United
! States, with its amendments universally
accepted as e final settlement of the
! controversies that engendered civil
war.
We do here record our steadfast con-
| hdeuce In the perpetuity of republican
| self governments; IN absolute acuuiesence
in the viii of the majority, the vital prIn-
| ciple OF Republics. 10 the supremacy of
| the civil over the military authority; IN
| the total separation OF Church and State
| for the sake alike of civil and religious
| freedom; in the equality of all citizens be-
| fore Just laws of tn cir own enactment; in
| the liberty of individual conduct unvex-
ed 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
products Of a hundred years of change
! full history, 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 peo-
pie the Union, eleven years ago happily
rescued from the danger of a corrupt
centralism, which, after inhicting upon
ten States the rapacify Of earpet-bag
tyranny, has honeY-cOmbed the officers
of the Federal Government itself with
incapacity, waste aud fraud, infected
States and municipalities with the con-
| tagion of Elisrule and locked fast the
prosperity of an Industrious people In
| the paralysis Of hard times. Reform is
necessary to establish q sound currency,
restore the public credit and maintain
| the national honor.
| We denOUnce the failure for a II these
IL 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
pledge of the plighted faith of the na-
| ton.
We dsnounce the imprOVidence which,
in eleven years of peace, has taken from
| the people in Federal taxes thirteen
| times the hole amount Of the legal ten
| der notes, and squandered four times
| this sum in useless expense, without
accumulating any reserve for their re-
dempIon.
~ e denounce the financial imbeoility
| and immortality of that party, which
during eleven years of peace, has made
no advances towards resumption, no.
preparation for resumption, but instead
has obstruted resumption by wasting
our resources and exkaustIng our sur
plus income, and while annually pro-
Tossing to intend a speedy return to
specie payments, has annually enacted
fresh hinderance thereto.
We denOunce the resumption clause
of the act of 1875, and we demand its
repeal. We demand judicious system
Of preparation by public economies, by
official Tetrenchments 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 It's promises at the call
of the creditors entitled to payment
We believe such a system we'll devised,
and above all, entrusted to competent
hands for It's execution, creating at no
time an artificial scarcity Of currency,
and at no time alarming the public mind
into a Withdrawal of that vastcr machinery
| of credit by which 95 percent. of all bus
! mess transactions are performed
A system open to the public and in
| spring general confidence, it would
from tbs day of its adoption bring heal
| ing on its wings TO allOur narrowed in
| dustries, set in motion the wheels Of
| commerce, manufactures, aud the ma
/ chanical arts, restore employment to
/ labor and renew all its national soGres
| 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 distrnst
and labor lightly burdened
We denOunce the present tariff levied
! upon nearly four thousand articles as a
masterpiece Of injustice, in equality and
! false pretense. 1t yields dWindling, not
| rising, revenue. 1t has Impoverished
many industries to subsidize a few It
| prohibits imports that might purchase
the products Of American labor. 1t has
degraded American commerce from the
first to an inferior rank upon the high
seas. 1t has cut down the sales Of
American manufactures at home and
abroad aAd depleted the returns Of Amer
lean agriculture and industry, followed
by half our people. 1t costs the people
five times more than it produces to the
Treasury, abstracts the process Of pro-
duction and wastes the fruit Of labor. It
promotes fraud, fosters smuggling, en-
riches dishonest officials snd bankrupts
! honest merchants.
We demand that all custOm-house tax
alton shall be only for revenue.
Reform is necessary in the scale Of
public expense, Federal, State AMI mu-
nicipal Our Federal taxation has swol-
len from sixty millions in gold in 1860 70
four hundred ond fifty millions currency
in 1870, and our aggregate taxation from
one hundred and fifty four millions gold
/ in 1860 TO seven hundred and thirty
millions currency IN 1870, or 10 one
decade from less than s. per head to
more than Is dollars per head. Since
! peace the people have paid their tax
| gatherers more than thrice the sum Of ths
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