The Russellville Democrat., 1876-08-10
DEMOCRATIC
 PLATFORM.

We, the delegates 0f the Dem pcratic party of the United States, in National Convention assem
 blcd, do hereby declare the ad- ministration of the Federal Gov trnmcnt to be in great need nf Immediate reform. Do hereby cnjoin upon the nominees oi this Convention, and of the Demo cratic party in each state, a zeal ous effort and co operation to this end. and do here appeal to our fellow citizens of every form of political connection to undertake with us this first and most press
 ing patriotic duty for the Democ- racy of the whole country, we do here rcailirm our faith in the per manence of the Federal Union, our devotion to the Constitution pf the United States with its amendments universally accept cd as a final settlement of the controversy that engendered the civil war-and do hcre record onr steadfast confidence in the per petuitv of republican govern inent; in absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority, the vital principle of republics; in the su- prcmacy of the cirll over the mil itarv; in the two-fold separation of the Church and State, for the sake alike of ci;.il and religious Freedom; in the equality of all 7 citizens before just laws of their own enactment; ill the liberty of individual conduct unyeXcd by sumptuary laws; in the faitttul education of the rising gcneratIon, that they may preserve, enjoy and transmit these best conditions of human happiness and hope, we behold the noblest products Of q hundred years of chmgeful histo, ". But while upholding the bond of our Union and great charter of these, our rights, 1t behooves free people to practices also. that eternal vigilance which is tlc 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 a COT rupt centralism, which, after in dieting upon ten States the rapac- ity of carpet-bag attorneys, has h6ney-comted the offices of the Federal Government itself With incapacity, waste and fraud: in- footed States and municipalities with the contagion of mlsrule, and locked fast tine prosperity oi industrious people in the paraly- Sis of hard times. Reform IS nee cssarv to establish sound cur rcncy, 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 which are c changing stan Hard of value in the hands cf the 7 people, and the non-payrhen' ot which is the disregard of the plighted faith of the Nation'
 We denounce the lmprovldence which, in eleven years of peace, has taken from the people Tn 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 imbccility 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 bbstructed rcsum ption hy vast ing our resources pnd cxhaustlng all our surplus in o'ne; and while annually professing to intend q speedy return'to specie payments, has annually enacted fresh him drances thereto. As such him dranccs, we denounce the resump- tion clause of the act of 1875, and i've here demand it's repeal: We demand a iudicious system of preparation by public economies, by official retrenchmentsi and by wise finance which shall enable the Nation soon to assure the whole world of it's ability and its perfect readiness to meet any Of its promises at the cail of q cred itor entitled to payment. We be- lleve such a system well-advised and; above all, entrusted to com petent hands for execution, creat- ipq at no time an artificial scarci- ty of currency, and at no time alarming the public mind into . < withdrawal of that vast machin- cry of credit by which ninety five ter cent. of our business transac- lions are performed--a system open and public, and inspiring general coniidence-would. from the day of it's adoption, bring healing on it's wings to all our harasscd industries, set Tn mo tion the wheels of commerce, manufactures and the mechanical arts, restore employment to labor, and renew in all its sources the