The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-09-12
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

The Democracy of Ohio, in COnven-
tiOn assembled, hereby reaffirm the
principles of he party, as expressed in
primaries, State and National platforms,
in regard to personal liberty, the true
functions of government, and as EN-
bTaced in the political creed expOunded
by the great Ounder of the Democratic
party, Thomas jefferson. The applica
tiOn of these principles to our present
condition, demands the publication of
the public service, the punishment of
the robbers of the public Treasury, the
equalization of all public burdens, the
arrest of prOfligacy and extravaganza
that cOFTuptS the administration of pub
lie affairs and total change in the pol
icy that has so long been pursued by
the Repblican party; favOring indlVidu-
al and class interests, at the expense Of
the labOTing and wealth producing
people of the country; and we announce
our previous declarations for stable
money, the gradual extinction of the
of the public debt, and the payment of
pensions to disabled soldiers, their wild
Ows and orphans.
SecOnd-We favor tariff for revenue
limited to the necessities of Government
economically administered, and so ad-
justed in its application as to prevent
unequal burdens, encourage productive
industries at home, afford just cOmpen-
satiOn to labor, but not create or foster
mOnOpOlies.
Third-The act of the Republican Con-
gress reducing tariff on wool, while at
the same time increasing it on wooden
goods, already highly protected, was
iniquitOus legislation, discriminating in
favor of monopoly and against the agTi-
cultural interests of the country, and
ought to be corrected; and we heartily
approve the action of the Democratic
members of the Ohio delegation in Con-
gress in voting against that measure.
FOurth-The Democratic party is, as
it always has been, opposed to sumptuary
Legislation and unequal taxation IN any
form, and is in favor of the largest lib
erty of private conduct consistent with
the public welfare and the rights of
others, and of regulating the liquor
traffic and providing against the evils
resulting therefrOm, by a judi clOus and
properly graded license system.
Fifth--The abuse of the present con-
tract system in our State Penitentiary,
by which the products of the labor of
cOnVicts are brought in competition
with the products of honest labor, to the
great detriment of the latter, are in
furious aud unWise and ought to be cor
rected; and the promises of the Republi-
can party to abolish this system are
shown to be false and hypOcTitical, by its
failure to do so while it has had the
power.
Sixth-The protection of the Govern
ment is due to all American citizens,
native and foreign born, at home as well
as abroad.
Seventh-We reafirm the resolutions
of the state conventions of Ohio in 1880,
81 and '82, and of the Democratic Ma
tiOnal Conventions of 1872, '76 and 80,
| demanding thorough reform and puri-
ficatiOn of the Civil Service, and charge
that the Republican party has violated
every pledge it has heretofore given for
the reform thereof, and has failed dur
ing its long administration of the Gov
ernment, to correct even the most cry
| ing abuses, and we demand, therefore
change in the Executive administra.
tiOn of the Government itself, as the re-
form first of all necessary (as made still
more manifest by the recent Star route
trials), thereby Ousting corrupt rings
cOnfederated to protect crime and pre-.
vent the punishment of criminals, and
by so doing to make it possible again tC
punish fraud and theft in the public
service.