Gloucester County Democrat., 1892-11-03

Democracy's Claims for the Votes of
the People In November.


assembled. do reatfirm their allegiance to the
principles OF the party IS formulated by JEFF
ferson and exemplificd by the long and iilustri-
GUS 1ine of his successors in Democratic leader
strip. from Madison 70 Cleveland. We believe
the public welfare demands that these pr7nci-
pies be applied To the conduct of federal gov
trnmeEt through accession to power of the
party thax votes them, and we soiemnly de-
clare that the need Of a return to these funda-
mental principles offree popular government,
based on home rule and individual liberty,
was never more urgent than now. when the
tendency to ceDtralize all power at the federal
capital has become a menace to the reserved
rights of the states that strikes at the very
roots of our government and under the con-
stitution, as framed by the fathers of the re-
public.
We warn tho people of our common country,
jealous of the preservation Of their free in
stitutions, that the policy Of the federal con-
troll Of elections 10 which the Republican
party has committed itself is fraught with the
gravest dangers, scarcely less momentous
than would result from revolution, practi-
cally establishing monarchy on the ruins of
the republic, 1t strikes at the north as well as
the south, and Injuries the colored citizen even
more than the white; it means horde Of
deputy marshals at every polIing'place, armed
with federal power. returning boards ap-
pointed and controlled by federal authority,
the outrage of the electoral right of the people
in the several states, the subjugation Of col
ored people to the control of the party in
power and the reviving Of race aRtagonisms,
now happily abated. OF the utmost peril to
the safety and happiness Of all, it is measure
deliberately and justly described by leading
Republican senator as "the most infamous
bill that ever crossed the threshold Of the SEN
ate" Such a policy, if sanctioned By law,
would mean the dominance of a self perpetu-
ating ohgarchy of Office holders, and the
= 4.
be dislodged from power only by an appeal to
the reserved right Of the people to resist op-
preston which is inherent in all self govern
ing communities. Two years ago this revolu-
tionary policy was emphatically condemned
by the people at the polls, but in contempt OF
that verdict the Republican party has de-
family declared in its Latest authoritative ut
terance that its success in the coming election
would mean the enactment Of the force bill
and the usurpation of despotie control over
the elections in all the states.
Believing that tho preservation of republi-
can government in the United States is de-
pendent upon the defeat of this policyof legal
lied force and fraud, we invite the assistance
of all citizens who desire to see the constitu-
tuition maintained in its integrity, with the
laws pursuant thereto, which have given us
a hundred years OF unexampled prosperity;
and we pledge the Democratic party, if it be
entrusted with power. not only to the defeat
of the force bill, but also to relentless opposi-
tion to the Republican policy of profigate ex-
penditure, which in the short space of two
years has squandered tan enormous surplus
and emptied an oyerfowing treasury, piling
new burdens Of taxation upon the already
overtaxed labor of the country.
We reiterate the oft repeated doctrines of
the Democratic party that the necessity of the
government is the only justification for taxa
tion, and whenever tax is unnecessary it is
ia wi cTYGt N
ton is levied on articles of any kind produced
in this country the difference between the
cost of labor here and labor abroad, and when
such difference exists, fully measures any
possible benefits to labor, and the enormous
additional impositions of the existing 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 unjust share Of the expenses of the
government, and we demand such a revision
OF the tariff laws as will remove their lniquit-
GUS inequality, tighten their oppression and
put them in a constitutional and equitable
basis. But in making reductions in taxes it is
not proposed to injure any domestic industries,
but rather to promote their healthy growth.
From the foundation Of this government the
taxes collected at the custom house have been
the chief source Of federal revenue. Such
they must continue to be. Moreover, many
industries have come to reply upon legisla-
tion for successful continuance so that any
change Of law must be at every step regardful
of the labor and capital thus involved; the pro-
cess of reform must be subject to the exccu-
tion of this plain dictate of justice.
We denounce the Mckinley tariff law en-
acted by the Fifty-first congress as the cul-
minating atrocity Of class legislation. We in
dorse the efforts made by the Democrats Of
the present congress to modify its most op-
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 benefcent re-
suits that will follow the action of the people
in intrusting power to the Democratic party.
Since the Mckinley tariff went into operation
there have been ten reductions of wages Of
laboring men to one increase. We deny that
there has been amy increase of prosperity to
the country since that tariff went into opera
ton, and we point to the dullness and distress,
the wage reductions and strikes in the iron
trade as the best possible evidence that no
such prosperity has resulted from the Nc
Kinley act.
we call the attention Of thoughtful Ameri-
cans to the fact that after thirty years of re-
strictiva taxation AGAINST irnpo-t4tio.ss ee far-
eign products in exchange for our agricultural
products, the homes and farms Of the country
have become burdened with real estate mort
gage of over two and one-half billion dollars,
exclusive of all other forms of Indebtedness
that in one of the chief agricultural states of
the west there appears a real estate mortgage
debt averaging Sl65 per capita, and that sim
liar conditions are shown to exist IN other
other agricultural exporting states. We de-
nounce policy whichfosters no industry 50
much as that Of the sheriff.
Trade interchange on the basis of reciprocal
advantage to the countries participating is a
time honored doctrine of the Democratic
faith, but we denounce the sham reciprocity
which juggles with the peoples desire for en-
by pretending to establish trade relations for
country whose articles of export are almost
exclusively agricultural. While erecting a
custom house barrier of prohibitive tariff
taxes against the richest countries Of the
world, they stand ready to take our entire
surplus Of products and exchange their com
modities, which are necessary and are COM
forts of life among our own people.
We recognize in trusts and monopolies
which arc designed by capital to secure more
than their just share Of the joint product of
capital and labor, natural consequence Of
prohibitiye taxes which prevent the free COM
petition 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
laws made to prevent and control them, to-
gether with such further legislation in re-
straint of their abuse as experience may show
to be necessary
The Republican party, while protesting a
policy OF reSery1ng the public lands for small
holdings by actual settlers, has given away the
peoples heritage until now a few railroads
and nonresident aliens, individual and cor
porate. possess a larger area than that Of all
our farms between the two seas. The last
Democratic administration reversed the i'm
provident and unwise policy of the Repub-
lican party touching the public domain, and
reclaimed from corporations and syndicates,
alien and domestic, and restored to the people
nearly one hundred million acres Of valuable
land, TO be sacredly held as homesteads fer
our citizens, and we pledge ourselves to con-
tinue this policy until every acre Of land SO
upAawfully held shall be reclaimed and re-
stored to the people.
" We denounce the Republican legislation
known as the Sherman act of 1890 as cow
ardly makeshift, fraugAt with possibilities Of
danger in the future, which should, make all
of its supporters. as well as its author, anxious
for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use Of
both gold and silver, without discrimination
against either metal or charge for mintage,
but the dollar unit Of coinage of both metals
must be OF equal intrinsic and exebzngeabie
wsxEn, or to- be adjusted by International
agreement or by.such safeguards aflegislafion
asshali insure The maintenance of the parity
nfThe rwo- nsetals and tEree4ual pswer of any
6Bi1arRt all times in the market and in the
payment Of debts, and We demand that all
paper currency shall he kept at par with and
redeemabie in such coin. We insist upon this
policy as especially Necessary for the prOtec-
tiun offhe farmers and laboring classes, the
first and most defenseless victims Of unstable
money and a fuctuatfng currency.
We recommend that the prohibitiye - per