The Forrest City times., 1892-06-17
1892 * 4th of July 4 1892
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
Adopted Ey The State Convention at it'
 se<.tey, in Little Rock on Tuesday

We the delegates of the Democratic ' party of the state of Arkansas, assembled | in convention nt Little Rock, declare tiat ! the supreme issue ot the day Is the reform | of the administration of the government; and that the people caH safely trust ;he party founded by Jefferson. and whcsc i principles were einphasizcdiu in the splendid pAtristie and non sectional administration ot Grover Cleveland.
 We denuunce the Republican party for its Ragrant abuse and prostitution ot power during the last f0GT years. Coming into full control ol all branches of the,goFern- ment in 1889 by the USE ot an Enprecedent- ed corruption fund. largely levied upon government favnTitas by those before and since, close. personally and officially, to the clief beneficiary, that party nnine- diasely entered upon crusade of tyranny, fraud and proAigate eXtravaganee never before venturcd upon by any party Tn times of peace.
 it found the treasury with a large and daily increasing surplus, and in times ot great depression, accompanied by the uni versai demand for relief from the burdens of taxation. il dissipated the surplus by making annual appropriations Of $500, Ooo,- coo. largely for unnecessary and ut teriy indefensihle purposes. and thereby failed Co meet and discharge the maturing bonded indebtedness of the government. and now finds itself confronted with an imminent deficiency. Moreover, it mate many of its appropriations permanent for 10 other purpose than to prevent the peo- pie from correcting the evils done, so long as thc Republican party retained control of either the senate or chief magistraey of the nation.
 It transcended all prccedeRts in vicious class legislation in the enactment ot the Mckinley bill, and finally, frightened hy the extrerni.ies to which it had gone, sought to appease the public diScontent by reciprocity fraud, the adoption of which was confession of the iniquity 1t had perpetrated.
 IL deprived states Of their just representa- tion by false census.
 It deprived, in the most insolent and ar bitrary manner, and practically without an opportunity to be heard. representatives of the people of their seats in the lower house of congress.
 Ard, finally, drunk with its own ex- cesses, il sought to perpetuate the wrongs it had done by depriying the people of the right to hold their own elections and choose their own servants by the enact neut of the infamous and exccrable force bill.
 It treated with utter contempt all ideas of economy and honesty. both in its pen sion legislation anu its administration Of that bureau.
 It rejected democratic territories and admitted republican territories ill order to maintain party supremacy. This regime of tyranny. extravaganza and ng-doing, coutrasted with the clean | honest, prudent and wise administration | of Grover Cleveland, brought upon tho l Republican party the most stupendoaS de- l feat that ever befell any party i'll this country. and inspired anew with confidence and hope all the people in ;he possibility of preserving flee government for man. l kind.
 We declare our abiding fidelity to the constitution of the United States in its let . ter and spirit
 We declare ouI faith in the capacity of [ the people for self-government, and in i their inherent right to enjoy it, free from all federal interference. We denounee the Republican party be- cause It turned it's back upon the interests 1 Of the great masses Of society and sound, ! stable government for all, and allied its | fortunes with corporate wealth, squander-
 ing millions Of the public domain upon
 railroads. fostering legislation, the legiti- mate offspring of which has been c0mbi-
 nations and trusts, expressing the labor it proIessed to protect, and fastening ever increasing burdens on agriculture, until
 the homes Of the people in great sections
 of the country are covered with mortgages, and the markets Of the world closed 10 the fruits of honest toi.
 No d Ea lSV 4 a
 crime against honest government and 8 free people, not only because u leyies an
 unnecessary tax and thereby imposes wan
 ton and cruel burdens on the people, but
 because it distroys the market for thcil
 surplus produ:s.
 We dcu0uce it because fl is class legis-
 lation, enacted in the interest ot the ia
 vorDd few, who are wealthy, ard at the
 expense and for the oppression ot the
 great mass of people,
 We dcnounce it because il does not in-
 crease wages, but surrenderS the taxing
 power of the government to the manutac-
 turcrs, and leaves it to the employers to
 determine whether they will divide the i'm
 mense bounty it yields with those they
 employ.
 We denounce 1t because it is an abuse
 and peTveIsion 0f the taxing power of the
 constitution, which was intended to be
 used to raise necessary revenue for the
 support of the government, into the means
 of pluudering all for tue benefit of @
 class.
 We denounee t because it inaLguratcd for the first time in free government, the practice of taking from, the public treasury
 the money collected for public purposes
 from all the people, and with II, pay boun-
 ties 10 select industries.
 We den0unce it because it destroys the
 independence and self-reliance of the peO-
 pie, which Is d national characteristic, and
 teaches them to rely upon governmental favoIitsm
 We dcnounee fl because the inevitable tendency of this system is the destruction
 of popular government, in the debauch- ment of the ballot, by tribute extorted from favored classes, whose enormous
 bounties depend upon the continuance Of the system itself.
 We declare that the mission of the Demo cratic party is to so reform the tariff by a reduction of taxation as to limit the rev
 euues of the government to its absolute
 necessities when economically admins tered, and to so frame its tariff schedules
 as to place the burdens of government
 upon the luxuries and not upon the neees- saries of life.
 We favor a safe and sufficient currency, composed of gold and silver and legal ten der paper, convertible into coin on de-
 mand, and maintained at par with each
 other.
 We declare it to be the duty Of the
 Democratic party to preserve the parity | in vaiua of gold and siiyar ou0 +o rrnvida