The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1892-06-29
THE PLATFORM.
- Following is the platform adopted by the
National Democratic convention:

SECTION 1.-The representatives of the
Democratic party OF the United States, in
National convention assembled, do reafIirm
party "a formulated by Jefferson and exem-
plified by that long and illustrious line Of
his successors in Democrat leadership from
Madison TO Cleveland. We believe the
public welfare demands that these princi-
pies be applied to the conduct Of the
Federal Government through the accession
60 power of the party that votes them, and
we solemnlv dec are that the need Of re-
turn TO these fundamental principles Of free
popula, government, based ON nome rule
and individual liberty, was never more
urgent than now, when the tendency to
centraize all power at the Federal Capital
has become n menace TO the reserved rights
Of the States that strikes at the very roots Of
our Government and under the Constitution
rs framed by the fathers of the Republic
SECTION 2--We warn the people of our
common country, Jealous for the preser-
vation Of their free institutions, that the
polio, of the Federal control Of elections TO
which the Republican party has committed
itself, is ifaught with the gravest dangers,
scarcely less momentuous than would result
from n revolution practically establishing
monarchy on the ruins of the Republic IL
strikes at the North as well as the South,
and injured the colored citizen even more
than the white II means horde Of deputy
marshals at every polling place, armed with
Federal power, returning boards appointed
and controlled by Federal authority, the
outrage of the electoral rights Of the people
in the several States, the subjugation of the
colored people to the control of the party in
power and the reviving of race antaConisms
now happily abated, of the utmost peril to
the safety. and happiness of all; measure
deliberately and Justly described by a
leading Republican Senator as 'the most in
famous bill that ever crossed the threshold
of the Senate Such policy, If sanctioned
by law. would mean the dominance of a
selt-perpetuating oligarchy of office holders,
and the party first entrusted with its ma
chinery could be dislodged from power only
by an appeal to the reserved right of the
people to resist oppression, which Is inherent
IN all self-governing communities. Two
years ago this revolutionary policy was
emphatically condemned by the people at
the polls but in contempt of that vendict 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 despotc control over elections
in sll the States.
Believing that the preservation of re-
publican government in the United States
is dependent on the defeat of this policy
of legal2ed force and fraud, we invite the
assistance of all citizens who desire TO see
the Constitution maintained in its integ.
rity, with the laws pursuant thereto, which
have given our country hundred years Of
unexampled prosperity; and we pledge the
DtInOCrdllC party, II IL De entrusted Win
power, not only to the defeat Of the Force
bill, but also tore lentless opposition to the
Republican policy of profligate expenditure,
which, in the short space of two years, has
squandered an enormous surplus and emp
tied an overfiowing treasury, after piling
new burdens of taxation upon the already
overtaxed labor Of the country.
SECTION 3. 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 il to
be fundamental principle of the Demo
cratic party that the Fedral Government has
no constitutional power to impose and col
lect tarif duties except for the purpose of
revenue only, and we demand that the col
lection Of such taxes shall be limited to the
necessities Of the Government when honest
ly and economically administered.
We denounce the Mckinley tariff law en-
acted by the Fifty-frst Congress as the cul-
minating atrocity of class legislation; we in
dorse the efforts made by the Democrats of
the present Congr, So to modify its most OPP
pressive features in the direction of free raw
material and cheaper manufactured goods
that enter into home consumption, and we
propose its repeal as one Of the beneiicent
results that will follow the action of the
people in trusting power to the Democratic
party.
Since the Mckinley tariff went into opera
ton there have been 10 reductions of wages
Of laboring men to one increase. We deny
perity to the country since that tariff went
into operation, and we point to the dullness
and distress, the wage reductions and strikes
in the iron trade as the best possible evil
IDENTIFY that no such prosperity has resulted
from the Mckinley act.
We call the attention Of thoughtful Amer
leans to the fact that after 80 years Of re-
etrictive taxes against the importation of
foreign wealth i'll exchange for our agricul-
tural surplus, the homes and farms of our
itttr Eava han h,,tI
estate mortgage debt of over 81 500 600 600 ex-
elusive Of 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 popu-
lation; aud that similar conditions and ten
dencies are shown toexist in the other agri-
cultural exporting States We denounce a
policy which fosters noindustry 50 much as
IL does that of the sheriff.
SEc. 4-rrade interchange on the basis of
reciprocal advantages to the countries par
tiuraiing is Il time honored doctrine Of the
Democratic faith, but we denounce the
sham reciprocity which juggles with the
peoples desire for enlarged foreign markets
and freer exchanges by pretending TO estab-
fish closer relations for country whose
articles OF fexport are almost exclusively ag-
ricultural products with other countries that
are also agricultural. while erecting a Gus.
tom house barrier of prohibitive tariff taxes
against the rich and the countries of the
.NoIiu lAat stdilu IeAuy 10 tdhe our entlre
surplus Of product. and to exchange therefor
commodities which are necessaries and COM
forts OF life smong our own people.
Sfc. 5--We recognize in the trusts and
combinations. which are designed to enable
capital TO secure more than its lust share of
the joint product of capital and labor, a ma
tural consequence of the prohibitive taxes
which prevent the free competition which
is the life of honest trade, but we believe
their worst evils can be abated by law, and
We demand the rigid enforcement of the
laws made to prevent and control them, TO.
gether with such further legislation in re-
striant OF their abuses as experience may
show to be necessary.
SIC. 8. The Republican party, white
protesting policy of reserving the pubic
land for small holdings by actual settlers
has given away the peoples heritage till
now few rich and non resident aliens, in
individual and corporate, possess larger
area than that of all our farms between The
two seas. The last Democratic administra