Connecticut western news., 1884-07-16
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
Adopted by the Convention held at Chicago,
 July 10, 1884.

semed, recognizes that as the natlon grows oluer, new issues are born of time and progress, and old issues perish. But the fundamental prin- oiples of the Democracy, approved by the united voice of the people remain, and will ever remain, as the best and only security for the continuance of free govern. ment. The preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, the reserved rights of the States, and the supremacy of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution, will ever form the true basis of our liberties, and can never be surrendered without destroying that balance of rights and powers which enables continent to he developed in peace, and social order to be maintained by means of local self government.
 But it is indispensable for the practical ap- plication and enforcement Of these funda- mental principles that the Government should not always be controlled by one political party. Frequent change of administration is as nec- essary as constant recurrence to the popular
 will. Otherwise abuses grow, and the Govern ment instead of being carried on for the gen eral welfare, becomes an lnstrumentahty TOT imposing heavy burdens on the many who are governed for the benefit of the few who gov ern. Public servants thus become arbitrary rulers.
 This is now the condition of the country
 hence a changeis is demanded. The Republican
 party, so far as principle is concerned, IS reminiscence. In practice it is an organization
 for enriching those who control its machinery. The frauds and 1obbery which have been
 brought to light in every department of the
 Government are sufficient to have called for reform within the Republican party Yet those in authority made reckless by the long pos
 session of power, have succumbed to it's cor rupting influence, and have placed in nomina-
 tion a ticket against which the independent portion of the party are in open revolt.
 Therefore a change is demanded. Such change was alike necessary in 1876, but the | will of the people was then defeated by fraud | which can never be forgotten nor condoned. | Again, in 1880, the change demanded by the people was defeated by the lavish use of money | contributed by interruptions contractors and
 shameless jobbers who had bargained for un- | lawful profits or for high office.
 The Republican party, during it's legal, it's stolen, and its bought tenures of power, has | steadily decayed in moral character and pohh-
 cal capacity. Its platform promises are now 8 | list of it's past failures.
 It demands the restoration of our navy it
 has squandered hundreds of millions to create | navy that does not exist.
 It calls upon Congress to remove the burdens
 under which American shipping has been de- pressed; it imposed aud has continued those | burdens. It professes the policy of reserying | the public lands for small holdings by actual
 settlers; it has given away the peoples herit- | age till now few railroads and nonresident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a lar ger area than that of all our farms between the
 two seas. It professes preference for free institutions; it organized and tried to legalize | a control of State elections by Federal troops. | It professes desire to elevate labor; it has | subjected American workingmen to the compe- | tition of convict and imported contract labor. | It professes gratitude to all who were dis | abled or died in the war, leaving widows and orphans; it left to Democratic House of Rep resentatives the first effort to equalize both | bounties and pensions. It proffers pledge to
 correct the irregularities of our tariff; 1t | created and has continued them. Its own
 Tariff Commission confessed the need of more
 than twenty per cent. reduction; it's Congress gave 8 reduction of less than four per cent. It professes the protection of American manufac~ | lures; it has subjected them to an increasing flood of manufactured goods and hopeless competition with manufacturing nations, not | one of which taxes raw materials. It professes Il to protect all American indusirie it has im- poverished many to subsidiZe a few. It pro- | fesses the protection of American labor; 1t has | depleted the returns of American agriculture an industry followed by half our people. | It professes the equality of all men before | the law; attempting to fix the status of col | ored citizens, the acts of its Congress were | overset by the decisions of it's courts. It "ac- | cepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reforms" it's caught criminals are | permitted to escape through contrived dSlelays or actual connivance in the prosecution. Honeycombed with corruption, outbreaking exposures no longer shock it's moral sense. Its honest members, it's independent journals, no | longer maintain a successful contest for au- | thority in it's councils or veto upon bad nominations.
 | That change is necessary is proved by an | existing surplus of more than $100, ,000, 900, | which has yearly been collected from 8 suffer | ing people. Unnecessary taxation is unjust
 for Having failed to relieve the people from | crushing war taxes which have paralyzed busi-
 ness, crippled industry, and deprived labor of | employment and of just reward.
 | The Democracy pledges itself to purify the administration from corruption, to restore | economy, to revive respect for law, and to re- | duce taxation to the lowest limit consistent | with due regard to the preservation of the
 faith of the nation to its creditors and pen | sioners.
 Knowing full well, however, that legislation
 affecting the operations of the people should
 be cautious and conservative in method, not
 in advance of public opinion, but responsive
 to its demands, the Democratic party IS pledged
 to revise the tariff in spirit of fairness to all | interests.
 But in making reduction in taxes it is not proposed to injure any domestic industries, l but rather to promote their healthy growth.
 From the foundation of this Government taxes
 collected at the Custom House have been the l chief source of Federal revenue. Such they
 must continue to be. Moreover, many indus
 tries have come to rely upon legislation for | successful continuance, so that any change of l law must be at every step regardful of the la l Dor and capital thus involved. The process of | reform must be subject in the execution, to | this plain dictate of justice. All taxation shall
 be limited to the requirements of economical | government. The necessary reduction in tax | atlon can and must be effected without de-
 priving American labor of the ability to com. | pete successfully with foreign labor, and with
 out imposing lower rates of duty than will be | ample to cover any increased cost of produc-
 tion which may exist in consequence of the
 higher rate of wages prevailing in this coun- | try. Sufficient revenue to pay all the expenses | of the Federal Government economically ad-
 ministered, including pensions and interest and
 principal of the public debt can be got under | our present system of taxation, from Custom II House taxes on fewer imported articles bear | ing heaviest on articles of luxury, and bearing Il hghtest on articles of necessity.
 | We therefore denounce the abuses of the | existing tariff, and, Subject to the preceding
 limitations, we demand that Federal taxation
 shall be exclusively for public purposes, and
 shall not exceed the needs of the Government,
 economically administered. The system of direct taxation known as the 'internal reveuue'' | IS war tax, and so long as the law continues | the money derived therefrom should be sacred
 ly devoted to the relief of the people from the remaining burdens of the war and be made a fund to defray the expense of the care and | comfort of worthy soldiers disabled in the line | Of duty In the wars of the republic, and for
 the payment of such pensions as Congress may from time to time grant to such soldiers, & like
 fund for the sailors lhaying been already pro-
 yided, and any surplus should be paid into the treasury.
 We favor an American continental policy
 based upon more intimate commercial and
 political relations with the fifteen sister re-
 publies of North, Central, and South America
 but entangling alliances with none, We be-
 lleve in honest money, the gold and silver coin
 Of ha af;
 medium convertible into such money without
 loss. Asserting the equality of all men before
 the law, we hold that it is the duty of the
 Government in it's dealings with the people to
 mete out equal and exact justice to all citizens
 Of whatever nativity race, color or persua-
 sion, religious or political. We believe in a
 Tree ballot and a fair count and we recall to the memory of the people the noble struggle of the Democrats in the Forty fifth and Forty sixth Congresses, by which 8 reluctant Repub- hcan opposition was compelled to Eassent to Legislation making everywhere illegal the pres- aFE