Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-06-30
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

party OF tNe UuReu ot"SSs,e1.S AAoeiolt.A ~ ~,
glance to the principles Of the party as
formulated by Jefferson and exenplihed
by the long andillustli0ils line of his sue
cessors in DEMOCRATIC leadership, from
Madison to Cleveland. we oaheve That the
public welfare demands thaIsthese pr,ncl-
pies be applied to the conoutot the leuer-
power of the party that advocates them;
and we solemnly declare that the need OF
a return to these fundamental principles OF
a free popular government based on the
same rule and individual liberty, was
never more urgent than now, when the
tendency to centrallze al power at the
federal capital has become menace to the
reserved rights of the states that strikes at
the very roots of our government under
the constitution as framed by the fathers
of the republic.
2. We warn the people Of our common
country, jealous for the Preservation OF
their Tree institutions, that the policy OF
federal control of elections to which the
Republican party has committed itself Is
less momentOuS than would result from
revolution practically establishing mon
archy 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; 1t means horde OF deputy
marshals at every polling place armed
with federal power, returning boards ap-
pointed and controlled by federal authori
ty, the outrage of the electoral rights OF
the people in the several states, the
subugaGion of the colored people TO
the control of the party in power and
the revivlng Of race antagonlSm now hap
PLY aoated. OF the utmost peril to the
safety and happiness of ALL SO that the
measure is deliberately and justly de-
scribed by leading Republican senator as
the most infamous bill that ever crossed
the threshold OF the Senate. Such a policy,
it sanctioned by law, would mean the es-
enlistment OF self-perpetuatlng OIL
garchy of offlce-holders, and the party first
entrusted with its machinery could not oc
dlslodged from power until by an appeal
to the reserved right OF the people to resist
oppression, which is inherent in all srlt-
governing communities. Two years ago
this revolutionary policy was emphaticaily
condemned by the people, but III
contempt of that verdict the lie
publican party has defiantly declared
in it's latest authoritative utterance that
its success in the coming election will
mean the enactment OF the force bill and
the usurpation of despotlc control over
elections In az the states. Believing that
the preservation of republican govern
ment in the United States is dependent on
the defeat of the policy of legallzeu force
and fraud, we invite the support OF all
citizens who desire to see the constitution
maintained In its integrity with the laws
pursuant thereto. which have gwen our
country hundred years OF uneXaHlplcd
prosperity; and We pledge the Democratic
party, if it be entrusted with lower, not
only to the defeat OF the force bill. but also
to offer relentless opposition to the kepub-
lican policy of prodiyate expenditure
which in this short space of two years has
squandered an enormous surplus and
emptied an overf1owlng treasury. after put
ting new burdens of taxation upon the al
ready overtaxed LABOR OF the country.
8. We denounce the Republican system
of protection as fraud the labor Of the
great majority of American people for the
fundamental principle Of the Democratic
party that the federal governmeht mas no
constitutional power TO impose aht-tUllcct
tariff duties. except for the purposes OF
revenue only, and we demand that the col
lection of such taxes shall be limited to the
necessities OF the government when hon
eStly and economically administered. We
denounce the Mckinley tariff law enacted
by the Flfty-tirst Congress as the culmi-
mating atrOclty of class legislation; we
endorse the efforts made by the Democrats
of the present Congress to modify its
most oppressive features in the direc-
ton Of free raw materials and cheaper
al consumption; and we promise its repeal
as one of the beneticent results that will
follow the action of the people i'll entruSt-
ing power to the Democratic party. Since
the Mckinley tariff went into operation
there have been ten reductions OF the
wages of the labOrlng 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 re-
ductions and strikes in the iron trade as
the. best possible evidence that no
such prosperity has resulted from the
Mckinley act. We call the attention OF
thoughtful Americans to the fact that after
the thirty years of restrictive taxes against
the. importation of foreign wealth IN
exchange for our agricultural surplus, the
homes and farms OF the country have be-
come burdened with 4 real estate mortgage
debt.of over So, 500, 0J0, 600, exclusive of all
all other forms of Indebtedness; that IN
one of the chief agricultural states of the
West there appears a real estate mortgage
debt averaging $165 per capita of the total
population, and that similar conditions
and tendencies are shown to exist in OTHER
agricultural exporting. states. We de-
nounce a policy which fosters no industry
so much as it does that of the sheriff.
4. Trade interchange on the basis of re-
ciprocal advantages to the countries par.
the democratic faith, but we denounce the
sham reciprocity which juggles with the
peoples desire for enlarged foreign mar
kets and freer exchange by pretending to
establish closer trade relations for coun-
try whose articles are almost exclusively
agricultural with other countries that are
also agricultural, while erecting CUSTOM
house barrier of prOhl5tlve tariff taxes
against the richest countries of the world
that stand ready to take our entire sur
plus of products and exchange therefor
commodities which are necessarlcs. and
comforts of life among our own people.
s. We recognize in the trusts and com
binations when are designed to enable
capital to secure more than it's just share
OF the Joint product OF eapltaI and laoor
laws which prevent free competition
which is the life OF honest trade.
&. The Republican party, while profess
ing policy of reserying the public land
tor settlement and holding by actual set
tiers. has given away the peoples heritage