Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-08-09
For President of the United States of America,
BENJAMIN HARRISON, of Indiana.
For Vice-President OF the United States,
LEVI p. MORTON, of New York.
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

by their delegates in National Convention pause on
the threshold of their proceedings to honor the
memory of their first great leader, the immortal
champion of liberty ami the rights OF the people
Abraham Lincoln, and to cover also with wreathS
of imperishable remembrance and gratitude the
heroic names of our later leaders who have more
recently been called away from our c0uncil-Grant,
Garfield, Arthur, Logan, Conkling. May their
memories be faithfully cherished. We also recall
with greetings and with prayer for his recovery
the name of one of our living heroes whose memory
will be treasured in the history both Of the Repub
licans and the republc-thc name Of that noble
soldier and favorite child of victory, Philip II.
sheridan.
In the spirit of those great leaders, and of our
own devotion to human liberty, with that hostility
to all form of deSpOtiSn and oppression which is
the fundamental idea of the Republican party. We
send traternal congratulations to our fellow Amer
leans of Brazil, upon their great act OF emancipa
tiOn, which completed the abolition OF slavery
throughout the two American continents. We
earnestly hope that We may soon congratulate our
fellOw-citiZenS of Irish birth upon the peaceful re-
cOvery of home rule for Ireland.
We reaftm our mSTerying devotion to the Na-
tiOna Constitution and to the indiSS0ube union OF
the States, to the autonomy reserved to the States
under the Constitution. to the personal rights and
liberties of citizens in all the States and Territories
of the Union. and especially to the supreme and
sovereign right of every lawful citizen, Tich or
poor, native or foreign born white black To cast
one free ballot in public elections, and to have that
popular ballot and the just and equal representa-
ton of all the people, to be the foundation of
republican government, and demand effective legiS
laOn to secure the integrity and purity of elections,
which are the fountains of all public authority. We
charge that the present Administration and the
Democratic majority in Congress owe their eXiS-
teuce to the suppression of the ballot by criminal
nuliiflcatiOn Of the Constitution and laws OF the
United States.
We are mcOmprOmiSngly in favor of the Ameri-
can system of protection; We protest against its
destruction as proposed by the President and his
party. They serve the interests of Europe: will
support the interests of America. We accept the
ISSUE and confidently appeal to the people for their
Judgment. The protective system must be MAIN
tanned. Its abandonment has ALWAYS been follow
ed by general disaster to all interests, except those
of the uSurer and the sheriff. We denOmce the
Mills bill as destructive to the general interests of
the country, and we heartily ndOrse the consistent
and patriotic action of the Republican Representa-
tives in Congress in opposing its passage.
We condemn the proposition of the Democratic
party to place wool on the free list, and insist
that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and MAIN
tanned so as to furnish full and adequate prOtec-
ton to that industry.
The Republican party would effect all needed re-
ductiOn 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 production of which gives employ
ment to our labor, and releases from import duties
those articles of foreign production except lux
urieSl, the like of which cannot be produced at
home. II there shall still remain 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 of the protective
system at the Joint beheSt of the whisky trusts and
the agents OF foreign manufacturers.
We declare our hostility to the Introduction into
TINS country OF foreign contract labor, and OF
Chinese labor, alien to our civilization and our Con-
stitutOn, and we demand the rigid enforcement of
the existing laws against it, and favar such i'm
mediate legislation as Will exclude such labor from
our shores
We declare our opposition to all combinations of
arbitrarily the condition of trade among citizens
and we recommend to Congress, and the State
Legislatures in their respective Jurisdictions such
Legislation as VIII prevent the execution OF all
schemes to 0ppreSs the people by undue charges
on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the tranSpOr
tatiOn of their products to market. We approve
the legislation by Congress to prevent like unjust
States
lands of the United States to be hOmesteads for
American citizens and settlers not aliens, which
the Republican party established i'll 1862, against
the persistent opposition of the Democrats in Con-
greSS, and which has brought our great Western
domain INTO such magnificent development The
restoration of uneaned railroad land grants to the
public domain for the use of actual settlers which
was begun under the Administration of President
Arthur, should be continued. We deny that the
Democratic party has ever restored one acre to the
people, but declare that by the joint action of Re
publlcanS and Democrats about fifty millions of
acres OF unearned lands originally granted for the
construction OF railroads have been restored to the
public domain in pursuance of the conditions in
serted by the Republican party in the original
grants. We charge the Democratic AdminiStra- |
ton with failure to execute the laws securing to
settlers titles to their hOmeSteadS and with using
appropriations made for that purpose to haraSs in
nOcent settlers with spies and prosecutions under |
the false pretenSe OF exposing frauds and Endicat
ing tile law.
The Government by Congress of the Territories is |
based upon necessity only to the end that they may
become States in the UnOn therefore, whenever
the condition of population, material resources,
public intelligence and morality such as to in
sure stable local government therein. the people
of such territories should be permitted as right |
inherent in them to form for themselves COnstitIl-
tloIS and State governments, and be admitted into
the Union. Pending the preparation for Statehood
all officers thereof shOudbe selected from the bona
hde residents and citizens of the Territory wherein
they are to serve. South Dakota should OF right !
be Immediately admmitted a State in the Union, |
under the Constitution framed and adopted by her |
people, and we heartily indOTSe the action of the
Republican Senate in twice passing bills for her |
admission. The refusal of the Democratic House |
of Representatives for partisan PURPOSES to favor
ably consider these bills is a willful violation of the
American principle of local Self-gOVeTnment, and |
merits the condemnation of all just men. The pen
ding bills in the Senate for acts to enable the people
of Washington, North Dakota and Montana Ter
rtOrieS to form Constitutions and establish State
governments, should be passed without unneees
Sary delay The Republican party pledges itself to
do all in its power to facilitate the admission of the
Territories of New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and
Arizona to the enjoyment of SelEgOvernment as
States such of them as are now qualified as soon as
possible, and the others as soon as they become So
The political power of the Mormon Church i'm the
4
free institutions too dangerous longer to be suffer-
ed Therefore we pledge the Republican party to
appropriate legislation asserting the sovereignty
of the Nation in all Territories where the same is
questioned and in frtherance of that end to place
upon the statute book legislation stringent enough
to divorce the political from the ecceSiaStie power
and thus stamp out the attendant wickedneSS of
pOlygamy.
The Republican party is in favor of the use of
both gold and silver as money. and condemns the
policy of the Democratic Administration in its eff
forts to demOnetize silver.
We demand the reduction of letter postage to
one cent per ounce.
In Republic like ours, where the citizen is the
sovereign and the official is the servant, where no
power Is exercised except by the will of the people,
it is important that the sOyereign-the people
should possess intelligence The free school is the
of that intelligence which is to preserve
us free NatOn therefore, the State or Nation, or
both combined should support free institutions of
learning, sufficient to afford TO every child growing
up IN the land the opportunity of good common
school education.
We earnestly recommend that prompt action be
taken by Congress in the enactment of such legiSla
non as VIII best secure the rehabilitation of our
American merchant marine, and we protest against
lhe passage by Congress OF a free ship bill, as cal
oulated to work injustice to labor by eSsening the
wages OF those engaged in preparing materials, as
well as those directly employed in our ShipyardS.
We demand appropriations for the early rebuild
ng OF our navy; for the construction of coast fOrt
iations and modern ordnance ana other approved
modern means of defense for the protection of our
lefenseless harbors and cities for the payment of
lSt pensions TO our soldiers; for necessary works
lf national Importance in the Improvement of har-
DOrs and channels of INTERNAL cOaStwiSe and for
ign commerce. for the encouragement of the
shipping interests of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific
States as well as for the payment of the maturing
public debt. This policy will give employment to
,ur labor, activity to our various industries in
,reaSe the security of our country, promote trade,
,pen new and direct markets for our produce and 4
heapen the cost Of transportation We affirm this :
o he far better for our country than the Demo-
,ratic policy of lOaning the Governments money !
Without interest to pet banks"
The conduct of foreign affairs by the present Ad-
nlnlStratlOn has been distinguished bN its inet-
iciency and its cowardice. Having withdrawn -
rom the Senate all pending treaties effected by i
Republican administration for the removal of for
ign burdens and restrictions upon our commerce =
md for its extension into better markets, il has
neither effected nor proposed any others in their
tead. Processing adherence to the Monroe doe
rne, it has Seen with idle cOmplacency the eN-
enSiOn of foreign influence in Central America and
# foreign trade everywhere among our neighhorS.
{ has refused to charter, sanction or encourage
ny American organization for constructing the -
Cnnal n worL, nj II ,