The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-07-01
THE PLATFORM.
Republican Methods Denounced and
Democracy Laudad

P~p VI Tue OnAteo oLaLee, IN nations
convention assembled, do Ee-affirm the
allegiance to the principles OF the part
as formulated by jefferson and c4em
plitied by the long and ilustricas line @
his successors in democratic Leadership
from Madison to Cleveland. We beIiev
the public welfare demands that thes
principles be applied TO the conduct O
tho federal government through the &C
cesIon to power Of, the party that voice
them, and we sOlemnly declare that th,
need OF return to these Hunds
mental principlesOf free popular gov
eminent, based on home rule and indi
Vidual liberty, was never more urgen
than now, when the tendency to central
ize all the power at tho federal capita
has become a menace to the reserved
rights OF the states, that strikes at the
very roots of our government, and under.
mines the constitution as framed by the
fathers Of the republic
Federal Control Of Elections.
We warn the people OF our common
country, jealous for the preservation OF
their free institutions, that the policy OF
the federal control OF elections, TO which
the republican party has committed
itself, is fraught with the gravest
dangers scarcely less mOmentous
than would result from q
revolution practically establishing
monarchy on the ruins Of the re-
public. 1t strikes at the north as well
as the south, and would iuiure the col.
Believing that the preservation OF a
republican form OF government in the
United States is dependent upon the de-
feat OF this policy Of legalized force and
fraud, we invite the assistance OF all
citizens who desire to SEQ the cOnstitu-
ton maintained in it's integrity with the
laws pursuant thereto which have given
our country 100 years OF unexampled
prosperity, and we pledge thedemocratic
party ii it be entrusted with power not
only to the defeat OF the force bill, but
also to relentless, opposition. to the re-
publican policy Of profigats expendi-
Lure, which, in the short space Of two
years, has squandered an enormous sur.
plus and emptied an oVer6Owing treas
Jury, after piling new burdens. OF taxa
tion upon the already oVertaxed labor Of
the country,
The Mckinley Act Denounced
We reiterate the oft repeated doctrine
OF the democratic party that the neces-
stiles OF the government is the only JUS
LITIGATION for taxation, and. that when
ever q tax is unnecessary 1t is In iusti-
fable; that when custom house taxation
is levied upon articles Of any kind pro
duced in this country, the difference be-
tween the cost Of labor here and labor
abroad, when such difference exists,
fully measures any possible benefits to
labor, and the enormous additional I'M
positions of the existing tariff fall with
crushing force upon our tanners and
and for the mere advan-
tage Of the few whom it enriohes, eGaets
from labor grossly unjust, share OF the
expenses of the government, and we de-
mRnd such revision OF the tariff laws
as will remove their iniqpituous ineQual-
tiles, tighten their expressions. and pWt
them on a constitutional and equitable
basis.
But in making reduction in taxes it is
not proposed to injure any domestic
but rather to promote their
healthy growth. From the foundation
OF this government the taxes, collected at
tie custom house have been the chief
source OF federal revenue. Such they
must continue to be. Moreover. many
industries have come TO rely upon, leRis-
lation for successful continuanos, 80
that any change OF law must,be at every
step regardful Of the labor aud capital
thus involved. The process of reform
must be subject in the execution, Of this
plain dictate Of justice.
We denounce the Mckinley tariff law
enacted by the Fifty-first ccngl ess as the
atrocity OF class legislation,
and we indorse the efforts made by the
democrats of the present congress 10
modify its oppressive features, in, the
direction of free raw materials and
cheaper manufactured goods that enter
into home COZ SUMPTION and we propose
it's repeal as one Of the beneticent results
that will follow the action OF the people
in entrusting power to the democratic
party. Since the Mckinley tariff went
INTO operation there have been ten re-
auctions of wages of laboring men to one
increase. We deny that,there. has been
any increase OF prosperity 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 evidence that
no such prosperity has resulted from tho
act.
We call the attention, Of thoughtful /
Americans to the fact that after thirty
years OF restrictive taxation against inn
DOrtation of foreign products in ex-
change for our agricultural products, the
homes and farms OF the country have be-
come burdened with,a real estate mort
gage indebtedness Of over $4,000, 900, 900,
exclusive Of allIother forms OF indebted
ness; that in one Of the chief agricultural
states Of the west there appears q real
estate mortgage debt averaging $165 per
capita, and that similar conditions are
shown to exist in otheu agricultural ex.
porting states We denounCe a policy
which fosters no industry 30 much as it
does that OF the sheriff
Reciprocity Attacked.
Trade interchange on the basis Of re-
ciprocal advantages to the countries
is tune hOnOred doctrine
OF democratic faith. but we denouncs
the cham reciprocity which juggles with
the peoples desire for enlarged foreign
markets and freer exchanges by pre-
tending to establish trade relations with
a country whose articles Of export are
almost exclusively agricultural, while
erecting a custom house barrier OF pro-
hibitive tariff taxes against the richest
countries of the world that stand ready
to take our entire surplus of products,
and to exchange therefor commodities
W hinh ara necessary and nra cnnnfnrfa ni