The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-06-30
THE PLATFORM.
Principles Upon which the Democracy
VIII Fight the Battle of '92.

CHICAGO, June 23-The following is
the full text of the platform as com
pleted by the committee on resolutions:
Sec, 1. The representatives of the Dem
ocratic party of the United States, in ma
tional convention assembled, do reafIirm
their allegiance to the principles of the
party as formulated by jefferson and ex-
empliiied by that long and illustrious line
OF his successors in Democratic leadership
from Madison to Cleveland; we believe
the public welfare demands that these
principles be applied to the conduct of the
federal government through accession to
power OF the party that votes them, and
we solemnly declare that the need of n re-
turn to these fundamental principles of
free popular government based on home
rule and individual liberty was. never
more urgent than now, when the ten
dency to centralize all power at the fed
eral capital has become a menace to the
reserved rights of the states that strikes
at the very roots of our government and
under the constitution as framed by the
fathers of the republic.
Sec. 2. We warn the people Of our COM
mon country, jealous for the preservation
OF their free institutions, that the policy
OF the federal control of elections, to
which the Republican party has commit
ted itself, is fraught with the gravest
dangers, scarcely less momentous than
WVuiu TeSuiJ from revolution praCtl-
cally establishing monarchy on the ruins
OF the republic. 1t strikes at the north as
well as the south and injured the colored
citizen even more than the whites; 10
means hoard Of deputy marshals at
every polling place, armed with federal
power; returning boards appointed and
controlled by federal authority, the out
rage of the electoral rights of the people
IN the several states, the subiugation of
the colored people to the control of the
party in power and the reviving of race
antagonisms, now happily abated of the
utmost peril to the safety and happiness
OF ALI measure deliberately and Justly
described bya leading Republican senator
as the most Infamous bill that ever
crossed the threshold of the senate"
The Force Bill Strongly Denounced.
Such policy,if sanctioned by law, would
mean the dominance Of a aself-perpetuating
oligarchy of office holders and the party
first entrusted with its machinery could
be dislodged from power only by an ap-
peal to the reserved right of the people to
resist oppression, which is Inherent in all
selt-goyerntng communities. Two years
ago this revolutionary policy was EN-
phatically condemned by the people at the
polls, but in contempt of that verdict the
Republican party has defiantly declared,
In its latest authoritative utterance, that
Its success in the coming elections will
mean the enactment of the force bill and
the usurpation of despotic control over
elections in all the states. Believing that
the preservation of republican govern
ment in the United States is dependent on
the defeat of this policy of legalized force
and fraud, we invite the assistance of all
citizens who desire to see the constitution
maintained in its integrity with the laws
pursuant thereto which have given our
country a hundred years of uneXampled
prosperity, and we pledge the Democratic
party, IL IL be entrusted with power, not
only to the defeat of the force bill, but
also to relentless opposition to the Repub-
hcan policy OF prohigate expenditure,
which, in the short space of two years,
has squandered an enormous surplus and
emptied an overfiowing treasury after pill
ing new burdens OF taxation upon the al
ready overtaXed labor of the country.
Sec. g. We reiterate the oft repeated
doctrines Of the Democratic party that
the necessity of the government is the
only justification for taxation, and when
ever tax is unnecessary il is unjustifi-
able; that when custom house taxation is
levied upon articles of any kind produced
In this country, the difference between
the cost of labor here and abroad, when
such difference exists, fully measures any
possible benefits to labor, and the enor-
nous additional impositions of the exist
ing tariff fall with crushing force upon
our farmers and workingmen, and for
the mere advantage of the few whom it
enriches, exact from labor a grossly un-
Just share of the expenses of the govern
ment, and we demand such revision of
the tariff laws as will remove their ini-
quitous inequalities, tighten their oppres-
sions and put them in u constitutional
and equitable basis
Promised Repeal of McKinley's Law.
But in making reductions in taxes, it is
not proposed TO injure any domestic indus
tries, but rather to promote their hearty
growth. From the foundation of this gov
ernment the taxes collected at the custom
house have been the chief source of fed
eral revenue. Such they must continue
to be. Moreover, many industries have
come to rely upon legislation for success
full continuance, 50 that any change of
law must be at every step regardful OF the
labor and cadital thus involved. The
process of reform must be subject in the
execution of this plain dictate of justice
The minority report on the tariff
plank, which strikes out all the foregoing
from section 3" is as follows, reading
between the brackets:
We denounce the Republican protection
policy as fraud--the labor of the great
majority of the American people for the
benefit Of the few. We declare it to be
party that the federal government has no
constitutional power to impose and collect
tariff duties except for the purpose of rev.
enue only, and we demand that the collec-
tion of such taxes shall be limited to the
necessities of the government when hon.
estly and economically administered;
the McKinlev tariff Law
enacted by the FilLy-ursU congress rs Cue
eliminating atrocity of class legislation.
We appreciate the efforts of the present
congress to abate some of it's most per-
nicious effects in the direction of free raw
materials and cheaper manufactured
goods that enter into general consump-
ton; and we promise its repeal as one of
the beneficent results that will follow the
action of the people in intrusting power
to the Democratic party. Since the Nc.
kinley tariff went into operation there
have been ten reductions of the wages of
the laboring men to one increase. We
deny that there has been any increase of
prosperity to the country since the tariff
went into operation, and we point to the
dullness and distress, of the wage reduc-
tions and strikes in the iron trade as the
best possible evidence that no such pros.
perity has resulted from the Mckinley
act.
We call the attention of thoughtful
Americans to the fact that after thirty
years of restrictive taxes against the inn
portation of foreign wealth, in exchange
Tor our agricultural surplus, the homes
and farms OF the country have become
burdened with a real estate mortgage
debt of over 81, 500 OOO,O0O exclusive Of all
other forms of Indebtedness; that in one
of the chief agricultural states of the
west there appears real estate mortgage
debt averaging $l65 per capita of the total
population; ana that similar conditions
and tendencies are shown to exist in the
other agricultural exporting states. We
denounce q policy which fosters no indus