The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-07-19
PL A TT OR Nj
BIZ
THE DEMOCRATIC CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION,
JUNE 2 $3.50.


of the Federal government to be in great
need of immediate reform and do hereby
join upon the nominees of this convention and
Of the Democratic party in each State zeal
Gus effort and cooperation to this end, and do
here appeal TO our fellow citizens Of every
former political connection to undertake with
US this first and most pressing patriotic duty.
For the Democr ICY of the whole country we
do here re-affirm our faith in the permanence
of the Federal Union; our devotion 70 the
Constitution of the United States, with its
amendments, universally accepted as final
settlement Of the controversies that engender-
ed the civil war, and do here record our stead
fast confidence IN the perpetuity Of republic IN
self-gOVernment; in absolute acqulescence in
the will of the majority-the vital principle
of republics in the supremacy of the civil
over the military; in the total separation of
Church and State, for the sake alike Of civil
and rel gious freedom in the equality Of all
citizens before just laws of their own enact
ment; 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 happiness and hope,
we behold the noblest products Of a hundred
years of changeful history.
but while unfolding the bond Of our Union
and the great charter Of these our rights, il
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 ola secession of States, but now to be
saved from a corrupt ceHtraHsm, Whlch AFTER
inhicting upon ten States the rapacity Of car
pet-bag attorneys, has honey cOmbed the offices
of the Federal government itself with lncapacI-
~ waste and fraud, infected States and mu-
inequalities with the contagiOn of misrule, and
locked fast the prosperity of industrious
people in the paralysis of hard times. Reform
is necessary to establish sound currency,
restore the public credit and maintain the ma
tional honor.
We denounce the 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 nom
payment of which is disregard of the plight
ed faith of the nation.
We denounce the impr0vidence which in
eleven years Of peace has taken from the peo-
n1e in Federal taxes, thirteen times the whole
amount of the legal tender notes, and squan-
dered four times their sum in useless expense,
without accommodating any reserve for their
redemption.
We denounce the financial imbecility and
immortality of that party which, during eleven
wears Of peace, has made advance to-
ward resumption, made no preparation Tor
resumption; but instead has INSTRUCTED re
sumption by wasting our resources ana eX-
hausting all our surplus income-and, while
annually protesting to intend a speedy return
to specie payments, has annually enacted
fresh hindrances thereto. As such him
drance we denounce the resumption clause of
the act of 1876, and we here demand its re-
peal
We demand a judicious system of prepara-
ton. by PUBIC economies, Dy OWclul TeITeHCn-
ments, and by wise finance, which shall eHa-
BILE the nation soon to assure the whole world
of its perfect ability and its perfect readiness
TO meet any of its promises Mt the call of the
creditor entitled TO payment We believe
such system, well advised and, above all, in
trusted to competent hands tor execution
creating at no time artificial scarcity of
currency, and at no time alarming the public
mind into withdrawal of that vast ma
chinePy Of credit by which ninety-hve per
cent. of our business transactions is perform
md hi 10 IL
ring general confidence, would, from the day
of its adoption, bring healing on it's wings to
all our haPassed industries, set in motion the
wheels of commerce, manufactures ana the
mechanic arts, restore employment to 10 Dor,
and renew in all its sources the prosperity
of the people.
Reform is necessary in the sum and mode
of Federal taxation, to the end that capital
may be sat free from distrust and labor light
ly burdened. We dsnOunce the present tariff
levied upon nearly four thousand articles as
masterpiece of injustice, inequality and false
pretense, which yields a dwi ndling, not yearly
rising revenue; it has impoverished many in
dustries to Subsidize few it prohibits i'm
ports that might purchase the products of
American labor It has degraded American
commerce from the first TO an inferior rank
upon the high seas; it has cut down the walls
OfARerican manufactures at home and abroad; ;
IL hss depleted the returns of American
agrcuituFe-an industry followed by half our
people; it costs the people five times more than
il produces to the trea sury it obstructs the pro-
cess Of production and wastes the fruits of Ia
bOr il promotes fraud, fosters smuggling,
enFiehes dishonest officials aud bsnkrupts
honest merchants. We demand that all GUS
tom-house taxation shall be only for revenue.
Reform is NECESSARY in the scale of public
expcnse-Federai State and Municipal. Our
Federal taxation has swollen from sixty mil
lion dollars in gold in 1860 10 four hundred
and fifty million dollars III currency IN 1870,
our aggregate taxation from one hundred and
ffty-four millions in gold in 1860 to seven
hundred and thirty taillion dollars in curren-
IL Ia laos how fryA
dollars per head to more than eighteen dol
lars per head. Since the peace the psOple have
paid TO their tax-gatherers more than thrice
the sum of the national debt, and more than
twice that sum for The Federal government
alone. We demand rigorous frugalty in
every department and from every officer of
the government.
Reform is necessary to put a stop to the
prohigate waste of public lands and their di-
version from actual settlers by the party in
power, which has squa ndeFed two hundred mil
lions of acres upon railroads alone, and
out of more than thrice that aggregate has
disposed of less than sixth directly to the TIL
lers of the soil.
2eform is necessary to correct the omissions
Of Republican congress and the errors of
our tTe&ties and our diplomacy, which have
stripped cup fellow-citiZens of foreign birth
and kindred F4ce, re-eraslng the Atlantic
from the shield OF American citizenship, and
have exposed our brethren Of the Pacific
coast 10 the incurSious Of FaGe not sprung
from the game great parent stock, and, IN fact,
now by law denied citizenship through nath-
raliZation, as being unaccustomed TO the
traditions of u progressive civilization, and
uReKercised IN liberty uRtler equal laws.
We deH0unee the policy which thl4< discards
the hberty-loving German and tolerates tae
revival of the Goolie trade in Mongolian wo-
men Imported for immoral purposes and Mon
golian men held to perfoEW servile labor con-
tracts We. therefore, demaaa such modi
hcations of the treaty with the ChineFe EN-
piTe, and such legislation by Congress, within 4!
constitutional limitation, as shall prevent the |
further Importation immigration of the !
Monaghan race.
Reform is necessary and can never be effect |
ed but by making it the controlling issue of
the election, and lifting it above the two false |
issues with which the offce-holding class and
party in powersesk 20 smother it-lst. the false |
issues with whieh they would enkindle secta-
riaH strife in respect to the public schools, of |
which the establE hment and support belong |
exclusively TO the several states, and which !
the Democratic party has cherished from their
foundation and is resolved 10 maintain with
out partiality or preference fer any CLASS,
sex creed aud without contributions
from the treasury to any. I'd. The false issue |
by which they seek to light anew the dying en-
beers Of sectional hate between kindred peoples
once uRnatHrally estranged, but now Reunited
an one indivisibla republic and common des
tiny.
Reform is necessary ia The civil service.
Experience proves that an efficient and
eco noIaieal conduct of the government IS not
possible If its civil service be subject to change
at every eleettoR-if it be prize fought for
Mt the ballot-boX-er If il be an approved re-
ward of party zeal instead of posts of honor
assigned for approved competency and held
for &aslity in the public employ That the
dispensing of patronage should neither be a ! ,
tax upon the time of public men. nor an
instrument OF tbeir ambition Here again
professions falsi6ed In the performance attest |
that the party in power can work out no prac-
teal or salHtaPy reform.
Reform is necessary even more ia the higher
grades of the public serviee-President, Tiae-