The Russellville Democrat., 1892-06-30
ApKANsAs DEMOCRATIC PLAT
 FORM.


 AdoptesI in stnfe Convention June H. asV<
 xU.. N. fsleaa1es of the Democratic party. oi tbe sstafe of Afkansas assembled n conventlei 1f Fftfle Rock declare that the seprefns tssss G nf ff1e fSax IS the reform Of the ass s,f fla federal soeernment; aud that ne Peepa.. ,a 'a safely trust no party to adzninister tnA Government in their interest except tns l laaa founded by Jefferson. and wnos1 kss ktaasssi.s. ps. veere nfnrhasized in the splendid, pAtflotlI al,N non sectional administration q oroNeh S'ss0 w We 0euounce the Republican. party for li, fragrant abuse and ,s, ~ l pl control ! al1 branches of the government m locs oy VI use of an unprecedented corruption Iunus iat a " M ly levied upon government IasYrlsea ssa oeiaIIv before and since close. personally ana onSa@a3 to the chief beneficiary. that party T @ entered sspon areyoIutionary crasaae oi .s e n.y. fraud and proigate extfasa anSe ngsSi s.s, ' N fore ventured upon Dy ahS PatS nA It found the treasury with q large and da.. M increasing surplus, and ln tines os 5es for relief from the burdens of taxation. lt uls eipafed the surplus by making annual AppLo priations of S5Ol eOg sD largeiy TOT T,f thereby failed to meet and discharge tn' maturing bonded indebtedness or the kvsefn ,s.as ment and now finds itself confronteu nl.n \. ,,s s,, imminent deficiency Moreover, t made nltiis s. of ifs appropriations permanent, for no othe' purpose than to prevent the people rom l,s Sys recfing the evils done, so long as the heIuDn
 
 or chief inagistracy of the nation. i,
 It transcended all precedents in vicious a cllss legislation, in the enactment of the 4hshA biiI and finally, frightened by the extremitles to which it had gone. sought to appease ths public discontent by the reciprocity fraud, tne adoption of which was confession of the ID iquity it had perpetrated.
 It deprived the states of their just represehta ti0n by a false census.
 It deprived in the most insolent and arbitrary manner, and practically without an opportunlts t, la4h slarr1 tat O their seats in the lower house of congress. .
 And, finally. drunk with its own excesses, l' sought to peTpetuate the wrongs 1t had done by depriving the people of the right to hold then own elections and choose their owu servants, by the enactment of the infamous and eXecrt bic force bill.
 ii treated with ntter contempt all ideas of economy aud honesty both in it's pension leg islation and in its administration of tass
 1t rejected Democratic territories and aa- mitted Republican territories in order to retain party supremacy.
 This regime of tyranny, extravaganza and wrong doing, contrasted with the clean, hon est. prudent and wise administration Of Grovef Cleveland, brought upon the Republican party the most stupendous defeat that ever DeIeh any party in this country, and inspired anew witt confidence and hope all the people in the possi- bility of preserving free government for man We declare our abiding fidelity to the eonsti- tuition of the United States ill its letter and spirit.
 1. We declare our faith in the capacity of the people for self government, and in theIr lnne- rent right to enjoy it, free from all federal in reference.
 We denounce the Republican party because it turned it's back upon the interests of the great masses of society and sound, stable gov ernment for all and allied its fortunes with cor porate wealth, squandering millions of the pub lie domain upon railroads, fostering leg1siation, the legitimate offspring of which has been combinations and trusts, expressing the labor it professed to protect and fastening ever in creasing burdens upon agriculture until the homes of the people in great sections of the country are covered with mortgages and the markets of the world closed to the fruits oi honest toll.
 We denounce the Mckinley tariff as a crime against honest government and free people, not only because 1t leyies an unnecessary taS and thereby imposes wantOn and cruel burdens on the people, but because it destroys the mark cts for their surplus products.
 We denounce It because 1t is class legislation, enacted in the interests of the favored few, who are wealthy, and at the expense and for the oppression of the great mass of the people. We denounce 1t because 1t does not increase wages, but surrenders the taxing power of the government to the manufacturers and leaves 1t to the employers to determine whether they will divide the immense bounty it yields with those they employ.
 We denounce 1t because it is an abuse and perversion of the taxing power of the constitu- tion, which was intended t. be used to raise necessary reveue for the support of the govern ment, into the means of piundering all for the benefit of class.
 We denounce it because it inaugurated, for the first time in free government. the rIslc- tice of taking from the public treasury the money collected for public purposes from the people, and with 1t, pay bounties to select i'm dustries.
 We denounce it because it destroys the inde- pendence and lf-relance of the people, which IS national characteristic, and teaches them to rely upon governmental fayoritis1n.
 We denounce it because the inevitabie ten dency of this system is the de structson of popu- lar government, in the debanchment of tue bal lot, by tribute extorted from favored classes, whose enormous bounties depend upon the con tnuance Of the system itself.
 We declare that the mission of the Democratic party is to so reform the tariff by reduction of taxation as to limit the revenues of the govern ment to its absolute necessities when econom. ically administered, and to so frame its tariff schedules as to place the busdens of government upon the luxuries and not upon the necessaries or life.
 We favor a safe and sufficient currency. com posed of gold and silver and legal tender paper. convertible into coin on demand and main- tained at par with each other.
 We declare it to be the duty of the Demo- cratic party to preserve the parity in value of gold and silver, and to provide the means by the equal and fair treatment of both metals
 We denounce the sherman silver bill as an obstruction to the fair treatment of silver, and as a sham and q pretense, intended to postpone honest Legislation to appease the silver pro- ducers while giving no relief to the people.
 We declare our purpose to continue to main tam, support and develop our public schools in the interests of general intelligence and sound and stable government.
 We declare it to be the sense of this conyen- tion that the penitentiary lease system should be abolished and sytem adopted for the treat nent or cony1cts more consistent with the better instincts and more improved methods of the age, and that the next general assembly should not adjourn without appropriate legislation on this important subject
 We declare for free and fair eiections re moved from intimidation and corruption of all kinds. and to that end we will give the modified Australian ballot law, enacted by the last Democratic legislature, fair and full trial in the interest of good government.
 We indignantly hurl back upon the Republi- can party the oft repeated, false accusation that elections in Arkansas are controlled by intimidation and fraud; and we denounce it as the old cry of Stop. Thiefi'' by which the ambitious demagogues repudiated bosses and favored classes of that party seek to divert at tention from their own misdeeds and to con tinue with impunity both to intimidate their own employees and to debauch the ballot by the corrupt use of money.
 We believe that the power and official ratron age, conferred by the people on the national ad. uinlstration, should be used in the interest of the whole people, and not prostituted to parti- san purposes, or Co subserve the ambition of in diylduai officials, high or low. And We con uelnn in unime.Asured terms the abuse and pros ututlon Of official patronage so fagrantly and ulsgustngly exhibited at the recent Republican Natlonai Convention, as inimical to the spirit ana dangerous to the perpetuity of our institu- tions.