The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-06-23
THE PLATFORM.
Dcmocracy's Claims for the Votes of
the People in Noyember.

Dcmocracy's Claims for the Votes of
the People in November.
The representatives Of the Democratic party
of the United States, in national convention
assembled, do reaffirm their allegiance to the
principles of the party as formulated by JEFF
ferson and exemplified by the long and illustri-
Gus line of his successors in Democratic leader
ship, from Madison to Cleveland. We belove
the public welfare demands that these princi-
pies be applied TO the conduct of federal gov
ernment through accession to power of the
party that votes them, and we solemnly de-
clare that the need of a return to these funda-
mental principles of free popular government,
based on home rule and individual liberty,
was never more urgent than now, when the
tendency to centralize 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 the people Of our common country.
Jealous of the preservation of their free in
stitutions, that the policy of the federal con-
troll of elections to which the Republican
party has committed itself is fraught with tho
gravest dangers, scarcely less momentous
than would result from a revolution practi-
eally 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 n horde of
deputy marshals at every polling place, armed
IL
pointed and controlled by federal authority.
the outrage of the electoral right of the people
in the several states, the subjugation of col
orcd people to the control of the party In
power and the rcyiving of anta9onisms,
now happily abated. OF the utmost peril to
the safety and happiness of all. il is a measure
deliberately and justly described by u leading
Republican senator as "the most infamous
bill that ever crossed tho threshold of the SEN
atc." such policy, If sanctioned by law,
would mean the dominance of d self perpetu-
ating olisarchy of office holders, and tho
party first intrusted with its machinery could
be dislodged from power only by an appeal 70
the reserved right of the people to resist up-
preston which Is inherent in all self govern
ing communities. Two years ago this reyolu-
tionary policy was cmphaticillly condemned
by tho people at the polls, but in contempt Of
that verdict the Republican party has de-
family declared in its latest authoritative ut
tcrance that Its success in thu coming election
would mean the enactment of the force bill
and the usurpaton of despotc control over
the elections in all the states.
Believing that tho preservation of repnbl-
ran government in the United States is de-
pendent upon the defeat of this policy of legal
lZod force and fraud, we invite the assistance
Of all citizens who desire to SEQ tho constitu-
tuition maintained in its integrity, with the
laws pursuant thereto, which have givon us
D hundEed years of uncxampled prosperity;
End we pledge the Democratic party, il it be
tnlTuSltu Win power, nDt oTig 10 InC ueIeAb
pf the force bill, but elso to relentless opposi-
tiOn to the Republican policy of prohigate ex-
penditure, which In tho short space of two
years has squandercd enormous surplus
and emptied an overlooking treasury, piling
new burdens of taxation upon the already
overtaxed labor of the country
We reitsrato the oft repeated doctrines of
the Democratic party that the necessity of the
government is the only justification for taxa
tion, and Whenever a tax ia unnecessary it is
tA41N1s hat
tion 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 n
grossly unjust share of the expenses of tho
government, and we demand such revision
of the tariff laws as will remove their iniunit-
GUS inequality, tighten their oppression and
basis. But In making reductions in taxes it is
not proposed to juro any domestic industries,
but rather to promote their healthy growth.
From tho foundation of this government tho
taxes collected-lt the custom house have been
the chief source of federal revenue Such
they must continue TO be. Moreover, many
industries bsre come to reply upon lcgsla-
tinn Tor successful continuance, so that any
change of law must be at every step regardful
of tho labor and capital thus involved; the pro-
cess of reform must be subject to tho exucu-
lion OF this plain dictate of Justice.
We denounce the Mckinley tariff law en-
acted by the Fifty-frst congress tho cnl-
minating atrocity of Glnss legislation. We in
dorse the efforts made by the Democrats of
the present congress- to modify its most OPP
pressiye features in the direction of free raw
material and cheaper manufactured goods
that enter into home consumption, and we
propose its repeal one Of the bcneficent re-
BulLs thnt will follow the action of the people
in intrustinS power to the Democratic party.
since tho lickinley tariff went into operation
there have been ten reductions of wages of
laboring men to one increase. We deny that
thore has been amy increase of prosperity to
the country since thnt tariff went into opera
tion, and we point to the dullness and distress,
tho wage reductions and strikes in the iron
trado as the best possible evidence that no
such prosperity has resulted from the Nc
kinlcy act.
We call the attention of thoughtful Ameri-
cans to tho fact that after thirty years of re-
strictiye taxation against importations Of for
eiBn products in exchange for our agricultural
products, the homes and farms of the country
have become buriened 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 nsi d titural states of
the west there appears real estate mortgage
debt averaging $l1h per capita, and that SIM
other agricultural exporting states. We de-
nounce policy which fosters industry SO
much as that of the sheriff.
Trade interchange on the basis of reciprocal
advantage 10 the countries participating is u
time honored doctrine OF the Democratic
faith, hut NC denounee the sham reciprocity
which jnggles with the peoples desire for
larged foreign markets and freer exchanges
by pretending to establish trade relations for
country whose articles of export are almost
nj HTn n,,1t L. H..
custom house barrier of prohibitive tariff
taxes against the richest countries of tho
world, they stand ready to take entire
surplus of products and exchange their COM
modltios, which are necessary and COM
forts OF life among our own people.
We recognize in trusts and monopolies,
which ere designed by capital to secure more
than their just share of the joint product of
capital and labor, natural consequence of
prohibitive taxes which prevent the free COM
! petition which Is the life of honest trade, but
We boliaye 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 sEeh further legislation In re-
stfalnt OF their abuse as experience may show
to be necessary.
Tue Republican party, while protesting q
policy of reseRYing the public lands for small
holdings by actual settlers, has given away the
peoples heritage until now few railroads
and nonresident aliens, individual and cor
posnte, possess a larger area than that of all
our farms betweon the two seas. The last
Democratic administration reversed the i'm
proyident and unwiso policy of the Repub-
lcan party touching the public domain, and
/ reclaimed from corporations and syndicates,
alien and domestic, and restored to the people
nenrly ono hundred million Rcros of valuable
land, to bo sacredly held as homesteads for
our citizens, and we pledge ourselves to con-
Time this policy until every acre of land so
unlamfnlly held shall be reclaimed and re-
stored 10 the people.
We denounce tho Republican legislation
known as the Sherman act of 1900 as a cow
ardly makeshift, fraught 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 mintsFe