The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-12
VERMONT ON NATIONAL ISSUES.
Platform Adopted at the state Con
VentIOn last Week,

firming their allegiance to the prin-
ciples of liberty and union which hav,
been cardinal with the party, declaT,
upon questions now uppermost as fol-
lows:
/. 1t is fundamental that elections
must be pur' and honest. Undisputet
facts show that in several States major
lties are practically disfranchised by in
timidation, frauds upon the ballot-bo1
and false returns. Thus is the Consti-
tuition nulified and the present Demo.
cratic ascendency in the House OF Rep
resentatives and in the executive branch
of the Government is usurpatIon. Never
before, except 10y hostile armies has pop
ular government been 80 seriously i'm
periled. We know of but one remedy
and that is the restoration to power
of the party which saved the Union and
established the equality of all men be-
fore the law, and which alone has shown
a purpose to obey and enforce the Con-
stitution and see that it protects the civ
il and political rights of every man be-
meath the flag.
2. All revenue laws require occasional
revision, TO adapt to the changing cir
cumstances of the country, but we be
| llGN6 DlObSOLlllS hNNs
for American citizens. The Democratic
President and repeal much of the exter-
nal taxation which serves TO exclude
foreign productions. We favor such
taxation, of any sort, as will yield only
the revenue that the general welfare
requires and since revenue is often in
creased by reductions in duties, we favor
such tariff as will obviate a large sur
plus i'll the treasury and protect our pro
ducers and artisans from serious com
petition here with the productions oI
foreign capital and degraded labor.
3. The guiding principle of our rela,
tions with other countries should be
peace With honor, and the means OF
preserving both Under this we should
find the best markets for our surpu;
productions, build up merchant ma
rine, control for the credit and protec
ton of American republics the most
feasible canal route between the oceans
and treat for our fishermen 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 Preslden
Cleveland's brave promises, by which he
drew from the Republicans a small bul
sufficient vote, the policy has sadly fal
len into disaster and disgrace under his
administration. BY the confession OF
friends, he has permitted it to become a
farce IN Maryland and Indiana, il ha;
been totally overthrown by his official:
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 activ
ity' and election frauds, conferred some
OF the Offices of large ci upon con
victed criminals, and in another city he
lent the influence of his name and pat.
ronage, in violation of his earlier puo
fessions, to the election of a man who
was opposed for good reasons by nearly
all the trends of honesty and reform.
Recognizing, as we do, that in a re-
formed civil service there will be and
should be fair distribution of the of,
fees between the adhurents of each
party, not as spoils but as the most eff
Iectual way Of preventing an unseemly
scramble, we insist that there should be
rectification of the flsgrant abuses by
which so many competent and worthy
| nave Ucth Oul W lldh
room for men who were described by
the President himself as 'besieging, i'm
Fortunate, tumultous and dIsconted
and whose appointment has greatly i'm
paired the public service.
5. Mindful of the power for good oil
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 reletions of the
combination may render advisable, and
which is already IN successful operation
in respect to railroads.
g. Considering the rapid accumulation
of a surplus in the Treasury and the
consequent embarrassment to business
by the contraction of the currency, re
sulting from the failure of the eXecu-
tive to carry out a law of Congress au
thorizing 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 a period OF
life when the effacts of their hardships
are rapidly impairing their earning ca
pacity and shortening their lives. We
favor generous provisions for their com
| fort, by way Of pensions and soldiers
homes. Such discharge of just Obliga-
ton 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 in
dustry but understanding wai, has
greatly promoted the prosperity and
absolutely preserved the peace of the
country, thus saving the expense of d
| large standing army
8. Still believing that this country
should be an asylum for the oppressed
of other lands, with whose struggles for
freedom we cordially sympathlze, and
believing that foreign contract labor
law should be so amended as to permit
the engagement abroad Of a clergy
a professor or a skilled artisan, we yet
oppose the immigration of masses of
| people of those nationalties which do
not readily assimilate with our own, and
| of expatriated paupers of any race, and
of criminals, anal chists, polygamists and
other enemies of social order.
o As popular education is the chief
corner stone of free government. and as
the Nation, by its great acts of EmancI-
patton and Acknowledgement, brought
into the electorate large numbers OF men
who were iliterate. we consider it the
duty and interest Of the general govern.
ment to provide means, to some extent
at least, for the educati n OF those men
and their children, so far as 1t can be
done without invading the rights of the
states.
TO- True TO it's impulses, history and
traditions of liberty, equality and pro.
gress, he Republican party in Vermont
will welcome women TO an equal parti.
clpation in government whenever they
give earnest of their desire for enfran.
chlsement in sufficient numbers to midi
cate its practical success.
II. After thirty five years Of prohibi-
tion of the liquor traffic in Vermont,
notwithstanding many infractions of the
law. we have new and temperate gen.
GRAFTON, which testitjes to the general
efficacy of this method OF managing a
Great evil. We recommend such amend
mendments as recent decisions of the
the Supreme Court OF the United States
may render desirable. We look upon
the saloon as an unmIxed social evil and
political menace and we believe that the
friends of temperance should work to-
gether for the most restrictive measures
and their enforcement.
l2. The Importance of selecting the
best possible candidates for public office
obvious, but amorg many good men il
| Ia Iess imnortant who is President than