The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-09-24
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
Adopted by the Republican Territorial Con-
v+nsion at Butte, Sept. Is, I $50.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES,

| DEtIAIaA 1ECN fhlAC1PLESs
The Republicans of Montana. at the clost
Of third of a century since the Grganiza
tion of the party, reviewing history, find ii
the past career of their party abundant
cause for congratulation. Organized tt
protect alld dignity labor and secure TO thu
present and future generations the institu
tioEs of liberty, and confronted by oppo
sition and pefils such ss no party tefors
experienced, it bore itself nobly, and its
record is among the eternal splendors o.
history. Every sproposiboles of benefcence
which it brought forward was confronted
by Democratic opposition, and every sucf
proposition the people approved aud made
secure. III the midst of q career thus noble
it has been called upon to lay down for the
time being The responsibilities of power, and
the Democratic party reigns in its stead.
/. We cannot join the Democratic party
of Montana in its approval of The admins
tration of Grover Cleveland. Before his
inauguration, when besought by his politi.
cal friends to consult with them before
committing himself in raid upon silver, he
obstinately refused their courteous request,
and rushed into print to depreciate so far
as lay in bis power the value of metal
which has been measure of commercial
value from The dawnings of history. His
administration since his Inauguration has
been SO deity conducted by him and his
conspirators that the value of silver during
that time has decreased with greater rapid
ity than it ever did before. Omitting no
sction, personal or official, that would de-
crease the value of this metal, his admins
tration has sought by every means in its
grasp TO increase the cost of its production
in the United States, to the end that this
great industry might be within our limits
ann;hilated. They have ught for excuses
| to endeavor to set aside titles to mining
property already granted; they have rem.
| dered difficult, if not impossible, the pro-
curement by the miner of wood, timber
and lumber necessary in the prosecution of
this industry, and they have thrown around
the production of the precious metal every
obstruction which lay in their power. To
this end obsolete laws have been resurrected;
violent and unjust interpret ations have been
placed upon them; regulations annoying and
hsrrassing to the miner have been adopted
in clear controvention of any lawful author
ity, and this great resource of the United
States is threatened by this administration
with practical extinction, while at the time
Of its organization the citizens of the United
S,ses were encouraged by wise laws ard
liberal interpretations of them, to give con-
sequence to their country by producing large
quantities of the precious metal, until it
promised to he the great producer of the
precious metals of the world.
2. AS TO the agricultural laws, the infu-
| enee ef she administration -has been given to
the repeal or amendment of those laws
whereby the settler could secure land and
home to himself, and Commissioner of the
General Land Office, renowned for his hos
tility to the people of the West for score of
years, assumed to suspend law of Congress
granting to the people of the West pre-emp-
tion, homestead and desert entry rights, and
when thwarted by a Republican Senate,
gave as his excuse That the people of the
West were securing these homes in great
numbers, in the apprehension that the laws
might finally be repealed. For such crime
as this ministers have been impeached,
States have rebelled, and monarchs be-
headed. Regulations Justified by no author
ity Of law have ben by him prescribed to
harrass and annoy the farmer, the miner and
the grazier. Recognizing the corrup ing in
fuence of public patronage, and trusting for
continued authority by its unblushing use,
he has taken every tree and field of the pub
lie domain into his possession to be farmed
out TO favorites as the whim or caprice of
persons may dictate who are alien to our
population and without sympathy with their
sacrifices and tolls. Beyond this, he has
filed the country with spies, animated by
his malice and anxious for his approval,
who prowl by night and day around the
homestead of the citizen, the mill of the
miner, and the shop of the mechanic, to find
SOAAC CiIS0uStouSC VI SNSPlSAOu W equiv "
his chief, and thereby win his approval. A
system of espionage thus extensive and &C.
tive and characterized by such malice has
been unknown until now since the dark
ages.
8. The veterans Of the armies of the United
States, survivors of their country's wars,
whom Congress has unanimously adludged
to be worthy of support, and has voted pen
sions accordingly, are by the gross and ribald
veto messages of the President denied such |
an expression Of the public gratitude. Army |
officers of approved yalor who have added to
their country's renown are refused promo
tion because advancing years will soon place
them OF the retired list of the army. The |
heroes of hundreds of battles who led our
arr.ies 10 victory are denied by arbitrary |
orders the selection of their military fami-
lies. Il has decreased the military force
among the various Indian tribes In the Ter
ritories, where 1t is liable at any time TO be
needed.
4. The administration has abolished many
postoffices aud diminished the mail service
of the Territory, and has turned over the
distribution of letters in many instances to
men wholly unfamiliar with the service and
utterly incompetent for the discharge of its
duties, thus crippling the service where its
blessings are invaluable, that the money
thereby saved might be squandered in polt:-
cally powerful communities of the East.
5. In defiance of the pledges and platform
Oh which the President was elected, be has
chosen to diaregard The civil service law
has arbitrarily disobeyeG the command of
bis party that the Territories shall have
home rule; but has imported into them
strangers TO their people and institutions 10
continue the influences of disorganization
hat lave SO long been active. He has
.ssailed our ship building insteresls, and for
PARTISAN reasons pursued one of our citizens,
whose reputation was world wide, to bis
until the products of his inge-
luity and skill are now sailing under foreign
lags. he refused to encourage American I
upon the high seas, employing /
oreign merchant ships sailing under foreign
Iags TO carry The United States mail, and by /
efusing 10 par oar approximations passed By ! I