Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-04-13
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

week were as follows:
The Republicans of Vermont, reafiirm-
ing their allegiance to the principles of
liberty and union which have been card
inal with the party, declare upon ques-
tions now uppermost as follows:
/. 1t is fundamental that elections
must be pure and honest. Undisputed
facts show that in several States MAORI
ties are practically disfranchised by in
timidation, frauds upon the ballot-box
and false returns. Thus is the constitu-
ton nullified and the present Democratic
ascendency in the House of Representa-
tives and in the executive branch of the
government is usurpation. Never be-
fore, except by hostile armies, has popu-
lar government been so seriously imper-
illed. We know of but one remedy, and
that is the restoration to power of the
party which saved the Union and estab-
lished the equality of all men before the
law, and which alone has shown pur-
pose to obey and enforce the constitution
and see that it protects the civil and po-
litcal rights of every man beneath the
flag.
2. All revenue laws require occasional
revision, to adapt them to the changing
circumstances of the country, but we be-
lieve in protecting American markets for
American citizens. The Democratic
President would repeal much of the exter-
nal taxation which serves to exclude for
eign productions. We favor such taxa
ton of any sort, as will yield only the
revenue that the general welfare re-
quires, and since revenue is often increas-
ed by reductions i'm duties, we favor such
tariff as will obviate a large surplus in
the treasury and protect our producers
and artisans from serious competition
here with the productions of foreign cap
ital and degraded labor.
3. The guiding principle of our rela-
tons with other countries should be peace
with honor, and the means of preserving
both. Under this we should find the best
markets for our surplus productions,
build up a merchant marine, control for
the credit and protection of American re-
publics the most feasible canal route be-
tween the oceans and treat for our fisher
men without the surrender OF dignity or
essential rights.
4. The policy of civil service reform
inaugurated by the Republican party
should be honestly executed and gradu-
ally extended. Considering President
Clevelands brave promises, by which he
drew from the Republicans small but
sufficient vote, the policy has sadly fallen
into disaster and disgrace under his adj
ministration. BY the confession of
friends, he has permitted it to become
farce in Maryland and Indiana; it has
been totally oyerthrown by his officials
in Vermont, and by his party in Massa-
chusetts it has been abandoned and de-
nounced. He has remained silent while
his appointees deserted their official du-
ties and, by means of "pernicious activi-
ty" and election frauds, conferred some
of the offices of large city upon convict
ed criminals, and in another city he
lent the influence of his name and pat
ronage in violation of his earlier profess
sions to the election of a man who was
opposed for good reasons by nearly all
the friends of honesty and reform. Re
cognizing, as we do, that in Il reformed
civil service there will be and should be
a fair distribution of the offices between
the adherents of each party, not as spoils
but as the most etlectual way of prevent
ing an unseemly scramble, we insist that
there should be rectificatiOn of the fla
grant abuses by which so many compe-
tent and worthy officials have been turn
ed out to make room for men who were
once described by the President himself
as "beseiging, importunate, tumultuOus
and disconnected" and whose appoint
ment has greatly impaired the public SER
vice.
5. Mindful of the power for good or
evil of great corporations and of enor-
nous aggregations of capital in the form
of trusts, we favor such extension of the
policy of public supervision, in State and
nation, as the public relations of the COM
bination may render advisable, and which
is already in successful operation in re-
spect to railroads.
6. Considering the rapid accumulation
of surplus in the treasury and the con-
sequent embarrassment to business by
the contraction of the currency, resulting
from the failure of the executive to carry
out a law of Congress authorizing the
purchase of bonds, which is but one of
many instances of partisan perversity,
we insist that laws should be enforced
according to the intention of Congress
and not according to the will or caprice
of the executive.
Z. The Republican party will never
cease to be grateful to the soldiers and
sailors who saved our country. Those
who survive have reached period in life
when the effects of their hardships are
rapidly impairing their earning capacity
and shortening their lives. We favor
generous provisions for their comfort, by
way of pensions and soldiers homes.
Such discharge of just obligation will
make the people no poorer, for the money
will go to the people, and we should not
forget that the presence of these veterans
among us during the last twenty years,
engaged in productive INDUSTRY but I'M
Outstanding war, has greatly promoted
the prosperity and absolutely preserved
the peace of the country, thus saving the
expense of large standing army.
s. Still believing that this country
should be an asylum for the oppressed of
other lands, with whose struggles for
freedom we cordially sympathize, and be-
lieving that the foreign contract labor
law should be so amended as TO permit
the engagement abroad of a clergyman,
a professor or skilled artisan, we yet
oppose the immigration of masses of peo-
pie of those nationalities which do not
readily assimilate with our own and of
expatriated paupers of any race, and of
criminals, anarchists, polygamists and
other enemies of social order.
Q. AS popular education is the chief