Litchfield enquirer., 1880-06-17
THE PLATFORM.

ton assembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal Government was first con- niitted to it's charge, submits to the people of the United States this brief report of it's ad- ministration. It suppressed rebellion which had armed nearly million of men to subvert tine National authority. It reconstructed tLe union of the States with freedom instead of ! slavery as it's er-stone. It transformed 4, ,000, 900 of human beings from the likeness of things to the rank of citizens. It relieved Congress from the infamous work of hunting l fugitives slaves and charged 1t to see that slavery does not exist. It has raised the l value of our paper currency from 38 per cent | to the par of gold. It has restored upon | solid basis payment in coin for all the | National obligations, and has given us cur rency absolutely good and equal in every part | of our extended country. It has lifted the credit Of the Nation from the point where 6 per cent bonds sold at 86c.. to that where 4 | per cent bonds are eagerly sought at 8 pre- | mirIn. Under it's administration railways have increased from 3i, 600 miles in 1860 to more than &, 900 miles in 1879. Our foreign iati,, has increased from $700, 000 GOO to | p1. l50 900, GOO in the same time, and our ex- ports. which were $20, 900, 900 less than our | imports in 1860, were $364, GOO, 900 more | than our imports Tn 1879. Without re- sorting to loans it has since the war closed
 
 ment. besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and has annually disbursed more than $39, 900, 900 for soldiers pensions. It has paid $SSS, 000 GOO af the public debt, and l by refunding the balance at lower rates has reduced the annual interest charge from near ly S151 ,0O0, ,000 to less than $S9, 900, 900. All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there isevidence of coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed.
 Upon this record the Republican party asks for the continued confidence and support of the people, and this Convention submits for their approval the following statements of the l principles and purposes which vii! continue to guide and inspire it's efforts:
 1 Frst-We affirm that the work of the last | twenty one years has been such as to con- mend itself to the favor of the Nation, and that the fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved through immense difficulties should be preserved: that the peace regained | should be cherished; that the discovered Union, now happily restored, should be per petuated, and that the liberties secured to this generation should be transmitted undimin- l ished to future generations; that the order es- tablished and the credit acquired should never | be impaired; that the pensions promised should be extinguished by the full payment of | every dollar thereof; that the reviving indus tries should be further promoted, and that the commerce, already so great, should be stead- l fly encouraged.
 Sec0asd-The Constitution of the United | States is supreme law and not a mere cong tract out of the confederate States it made a sovereign Nation. Some powers are denied to the States, but the boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved is to be | determined by the National and not by the | State tribunals.
 | 7Hird-The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several States, but it is the duty of the National Government to aid that work to the extent of its constitu- tional duty. The intelligence of the Nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several States, and the destiny of the Nation must be guided not by the genius of any one | State, but by the average genius of all
 Fourtt-The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting an estab- llshment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the Nation can be protected against the inf1u- l ence of sectarianism while each State is ex- 1 posed to its domination. We therefore recom- mend that the Constitution be 80 amended as to lay the same prohibition upon the Legisla- | ture of each State, and to forbid the appro- priation of public funds to the support of sec 1 tartan schools.
 FifM-We affirm the belief avowed in 1876 that the duties levied for the purpose of rev. enue should so discriminate as to favor Amer ican labor; that no further grant of the public domain should be made to any railway or other corporation that slavery having perished in the States its twin baf- parity, polygamy, must die in the Territories that everywhere the protection accord ed to citizens of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption, and that we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our watercourses and harbor, but insist that further subsidies to pri- vate persons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved it's integrity in the hour oi battle are undiminished by the lapse of the fifteen years since their final victory-to dc them perpetual honor is, and shall forever be, the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people. ...
 Sicth-Since the authority to regulate lmmi- grafton and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with Congress or with the United States and it's treaty making powers the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese as ar evil of great magnitude invoke the exercise of those powers to restrain and limit that i'm migration by the enactment of such just. hu mane and reasonable provisions as will produce that result. {f srEH
 SeoenM-That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier career u Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, ani which guided the thoughts of our immediate predecessors to him fora Presidential candl date have continued to inspire him in his cs- reer as Chief Executive, aud that history vii accord to his Administration the henors whiGl are due to an efficient, just and courteous di charge of pubic business, and will honor hs interpretation between the people and proposG
 partisan laws -.-
 Eighth-We charge upon the Democratc party the habitual sacrifice of patriotism aitl justice to supreme and unsuitable lust bf office and patronage; that to obtain possesspn of the National and State Governments md the control of place and position they h$e obsrncted all effort to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom of suffrage, and hEe devised fraudulent certifcations and rcturts;
 have labored to unscat lawfully elected Men bers of Congress, to secure at all hazards he
 vote of a majority of the States in the Hose of Representatives; have endeavored to oGu- py by force and fraud the places of trust gilen to others by the people of Maine, and rescied by the courageous action of Maine's patrific sons have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partian
 legislation to appropriation bills, upon wbse passage the very movements of the GovGn- ment depend, and have crushed the rights of individuals; have advocated the princres and sought the favor of rebellion against the
 Nation, and have endeavored to obliterate Ehe sacred memories of the war, and to overcome
 it's nestimable valuable results and natb
 ality, personal freedom and individual eglal-
 ity. +'N
 The equal, steady and complete enfFce-
 ment of laws and the protection of all ourGti-
 zens in the enjoyment of all privileges md
 immunities guaranteed by the Constitution
 are the first duties of the Nation. The an- ; gers of a Solid South can only be averted y a
 faithful performance of every promise which l the Nation has made to the citizen. Th{ ex-
 ecution of the laws and the punishment # all
 those who violate them are the only safe heth- eds by which an enduring peace can fe se- cured and genuine prosperity established