Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-07-07
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

The Committee on Resolutions on
Thursday reported as follows:
The Republicans of the United
States, assembled by their delegates
in national convention, pause on the
threshold of their proceedings to
henor the memory of their first great
leader, the immortal champion of
liberty and the rights of the people,
Abraham Lincoln; and to cover al
so with wreaths of imperishable re-
membrance and gratitude the heroic
names of our later leaders who have
recently been called away from our
councils-Grant, Garfield, Arthur,
Logan, Conkling. May their memo
ries be faithfully cherished. We al
so recall with our greetings and with
prayer for his recovery the name of
one of our living heroes whose mem
DRY win be treasured in the history
both of Republicans and of the re-
public--the name Of that noble sold
Ter and favorite child of victory
Philil H. Sheridan.
In the spirit of those great leaders,
and of our own devotion to human
liberty, and with that hostility to all
forms of depotism and oppression
which is the fundamental idea of the
Republican party, we send fraternal
congratulation to our fellow-Ameri-
cans of Brazil upon their great act of
emancipation, which completes the
abolition of slavery throughout the
two American continents. We earn.
estly hope that we may soon con-
graduate our fellow citizens Of Irish
birth upon the peaceful recovery of
home rule for Ireland.
We reaffirm our answering devo-
ton to the national Constitution and
to the indissoluble union of the states;
to the autonomy reserved to the
states under the Constitution to the
personal rights and liberties of citi-
zens in all the states and territories
in the Union, and especially to the
supreme and sovereign right of every
lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or
foreign born, white or black, to cast
one free ballot in public elections,
and to have that ballot duly counted.
We hold the free and honest popular
ballot and the just and equal repre-
sentation of all the people to be the
foundation of our republican govern
ment, and demand effective legisla-
ton to secure the integrity and puri-
ty of elections which are the foun-
tains of all public authority. We
charge that the present administra-
ton and the Democratic majority in
Congress owe their existence to the
suppression of the ballot by crimi-
nal notification of the Constitution
and laws of the United States.
THE TARIFF THE ISSUE.
We are uncompromisingly in favor
of the American system of protec-
ton. We protest against it's destruc-
ton, as proposed by the President
and his party. They serve the inter-
ests of Europe; we will support the
interests of America. We accept the
issue, and confidently appeal to the
people for their Judgment. The pro-
tective system must be maintained.
It's abandonment has always been
followed by general disaster to all
interests, except those of the usurer
and the sheriff. We denounee the
Mills bill as destructive to the gener-
al business, the labor and the farm
ing interests of the country, and we
heartily endorse the consistent and
patriotic action of the Republican
representatives in Congress in oppoS-
ing its passage.
We condemn the proposition of
the Democratic party to place wool
on the free list, and we insist that
the duties thereon shall be adjusted
and maintained, so as to furnish full
and adequate protection to that in.
dustry.
The Republican party would effect
all needed reduction of the national
revenue by repeating the taxes upon
tobacco, which are an annoyance and
burden to agriculture, and the tax
upon spirits used in the arts and for
mechanical purposes; and by such
revision of the tariff laws as will tend
to check imports Of such articles as
are produced by our people, the pro-
duction of which gives employment
to our labor, and release from import
duties those articles of foreign pro-
duction, except Injuries, the like of
which cannot be produced at home.
If there shall still remain a larger
revenue than is requisite for the
wants of the government, we favor
the entire repeal of internal taxes
rather than the surrender of any part