Daily Texarkana Democrat. (Texarkana, Ark.) 1890-1894, 1892-08-27
DEMOCRATIC STATE PLATFORM
Adopted by the Democratic State Con
renti0n at Little Rock,
June 14ih, 1892.
THE PLATFORM.

! THE PLATFORM.
f We, the delegates of the Democrrtic part
: of the State OF Arkansas, assembled in cor
g -ention at Little Rock, declare that the ST
S preme issue OF the day is the reform of II
. administration Of the Government; and tb,
the people can safely trust the party founde
! by Jefferson, and whose principles were err
phasized in the splendid, patriotic and nor
sectional administration Of Grover Cevt
land.
We denounce the Republican party fo
its fagralt abuse and prostitution of powe
during the last four years. Coming into iul
control of all branches Of the t'oyernmen
in 1888 by the use of unprecedented corrup
ton fund; largely l.vicd upon Government
fsyorites by those before and since, close
personally and officially. TO the chief bene
iciary, that party Immediately enter, upo
a crusade of tyrany, fraud and prefigat'
extravaganza never before ventured upon BY
any party In times of peace.
1t found the treasury with large anC
daily increasing surplus, and in times O
great depression, accompanied by the uni
versal demand for relief from the burdens
of taxation, it dissipated the surplus BY
making annual appropriations Of $500,000,
900, largely for unnecessary and utterly in
defeEsible purposes, and thereby failed Il
meet and discharge the maturing bonded in
debtedposs of the Government, and now findl
itself confronted with an imminent defcisn
cy. Moreover, 1t made many Of its appro
priations permanent, for 10 other purpose
than to prevent the people from correcting
TIE evils done, SO long as the Republican
party retained control of either the Senate
or Chief Msgstrscy of the nation.
1t transcribed all precedents in vicious
class legislation, in the enactment of the Nc
Kiney bill, and finally, frightened by the
extremities to which it had gone, sought tc
appease the pubic discomfort by rcciprocit,
fraud, the adoption of which was a comics
sion Of the iniquity it had perpetrated.
1t deprived States of their just representa-.
ton by a false ccntus.
1t 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.
And, finally drunk with its own excuses
it fought to perpetuate the wrongs it had
done by depriving the people of the right 10
hold their own eections and choose their
own servants by the enactment of the in.
lannon's and exccrabla force bill.
| 1t treated with utter contempt all Ideas OF
economy and honesty, both in its pension
legislation and in its administration of that
bureau.
1t rejected Democratic territories and ad.
mitted Republican territories in order to re-
tain party supremacy.
This regime of tyranny, extravaganza and
wrong doing, contrasted with the cleo..,
honest, prudent and wise administration of
Grover Cleveland, brought upon the Rerub-
lican party the most stupendous defeat that
ever befell any party in this country, and
inspired anew with confidence and hope all
the people in the possibility of preserving
tree government for mankind.
We declare our abiding fidelity to the
| Constitution ofthe United States in its let
ter and spirit.
We declare our faith in the capacity of
the people for selt-government, and in their
inherent right to enjoy it, free from all Fed
ersl interference,
We denounce the Republican party be-
cause it turned its back upon the interests
of the great masses of society. and sound,
stable government for all, and allied its for
tunes with corporate wealth, squander ng
millions of the public domain upon railroads
fostering legislation, the legitimate offspring
OF which has been combinations and trusts,
expressing the labor it professeo 10 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 to the fruits of honest toll.
We denouDce the Mckinley tariff as a
crime against honest government and q free
people, not only because it levies an unnec-
essary tax and thereby imposes wanton and
cruel burdens on the people, but because it
destroys the markets Tor their surplus pro-
ducts.
We denounce it because it is class leglsla-
ton, enacted in the interest of the favored
few, who are wealthy, and at the expense
and tor the oppression Of the greet mass OF
the people.
We denounce it because It does not in
crease wages, but surrenders the taxing pow
or of the Government to the manufacture rs,
and leaves it TO the employers to determine
whether they will divide the immense boun-
! ty it yields with those they employ.
We denounce it because it Is an abuse
and perversion Of the taxing power of the
Constitution, which was intended to be
used to raise necessary revenue for the sup
port of the Government into the means of
plundering all for the benefit of class.
We denounce II because it lnaugurated
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 it, pay boun-
ties to select industries.
We denounce it because it destroys the in
dependence and self-relance of the people,
which is a National characteristic, and
and teaches them to iely upon government
tai favortsm.
| We denounce 1t because the inevitable
tendency OF this system Is the destruction of
popular government, in tho debauchment OF
the ballot, by tribute extorted from favored
Glasses, whose enormous bounties depend
upon the continuance of the system itself
We declare that the mission Of tho Demo-
cratic party is ito so reform the tariff by a
reduction of taxation as to limit the revenues
of the Government to its absolute necessi.
ties when economically administered, and to
so frame ito tariff schedules as TO place the
burdens OF government upon the luxures
and not npon tho nocessrries of lite.
We favor sato and sufficient currency,
composed OF gold and silver and legal lender
paper, convertible into coin on dem md, and
maintained at par with each other.
We declare II to be the duty of the Demo-
cratic party to preserve the parity iE value
OF gold and silver, md 70 provide the means
by tho equal and fair treatment of both met
ais.
We lcnounce the Sherman Silver bill a.
an obstruction to the fair treatment Of silver
and as y sham and pretense, intended to
postpone honest honest legislation and TO
sppoase the silver producers while giving no
relief TO the people,
We declare our purpose TO continue to
maintain, support and develop our public
schools in the interest Of general intelligence