Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-19
THE PLATFORM.
It Is Drag Net-GoId and Protection the Big Strands-StraddIe on Female
 Suffrage.

The republicans of the United States, assembled by their representatives in national convention, appealing for the popular and historical justification of their claims to the matchless achieve ments of the thirty years of republican rule, earnestly and confidently address themselves to the awakened intelligence, experience and conscience of their coun- trymen in the following declaration of facts and principles:
 Democratic Party Arraigned.
 For the first time since the civil war the American people have witnessed the calam1tous consequences of full and un- restricted democratic control of the gov ernment. It has been a record of un- paralleled incapacity. dishonor and dis aster. In administrative management it has ruthlessly sacrificed indispensable revenue, entailed an unceasing deficit, eked out ordinary current expenses with borrowed money, piled up the public debt by $262, 2,O0O, 900 in time of peace forced an adverse balance of trade kept a perpet- uai menace hanging over the redemption fund, pawned American credit to alien synd1cates and reversed all the measures and results of successful republican rule.
 In the broad effect of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted industry and II, factories, reduced work and wages. halt ed enterprise and crippled American pro- auction, while stimulating foreign pro- auction for the American market. Every conslueratlon or public safety and indi- Vlduai interest demands that the gov ernment shall be rescued from the hands or those who have shown themselves in- capable to conduct it without disaster at home and dishonor abroad, and shall De restored to the party which for thirty YGarS administered xxifh oIz-1 success and prosperity and in this con nection we heartily indorse the wisdom. patriotism and the success of the admin lstration of President Harrison.
 The Protection Plank.
 we renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection as the bulwark or American industrial independence and the foundation of American development and prosperity. This true American poli- cey taxes foreign products and encourages nome industry; it puts the burden of rev enue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American pro- queer; 1t puts the factory by the side of the Iarm and makes the American farmer less dependent on foreign demand and price; 1t diffuses general thrift and rounds the strength of all on the strength Of each. In it's reasonable application if IS just, fair and impartial, equally oppos- ed to foreign control and domestic mo- nopoly, to sectional discrimination and individual favoritsm,
 We denounce the present demooratio tariff as sectional, injurious to the public credit and destructive to business enter prise. We demand such an eouita ble tarin on foreign imports which come into competition with American products as wii not only furnish adequate revenue Tor the necessary expenses of the govern ment, but will protect American labor from degradation to the wage level of other lands. We are not pledged to any particular schedules. The question of rates is practical question, to be gov erned by the conditions of the time and of production. The ruling and uncom- promising principle is the protection and deVelopment Of American labor and in- dustry. The country demands a right settlement and then 1t wants rest.
 We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated by the last re- publican administration was a national calamity, and we demand their renewal and extension on such terms as win equallze our trade with other nations. re- move the restrictions which now obstruct the sale of American products in tbe ports of other countries and secure en- iarged markets for the products of our farms forests and factories. Protection ana reciprocity are twin measures of re- publican policy and go hand in hand Democratic rule has recklessly struck down both, and both must be re-estab- lished
 Protection for what we produce: free admission for the necessaries of life which we do not produce: reciproca1 agreements of mutual interests which gain open markets for us in return for our open markets to others. Protection builds up domestic industry and trade secures our own market for ourselves. reciprocity builds up foreign trade and nnds an outlet for our surplus
 we condemn the present administra ton for not keeping faith with the sugar producers of this country. The republi can party favors such protection as will lead to the production on American soil or all the sugar which the American peo- pie use and for which they pay other countries more than $10O, ,O0O. .0OO annuaIlv TO all our products-to those of the mine and the field as well as to those of the shop and the factory-to hemp. to WOOL, the product of the great indus try of sneep husbandry. as well as to the finish ed woolens of the mill, we promise the most ample protection.
 We favor restoring the early American policy Of discriminating duties for the up- building of our merchant marine and the protection of our shipping in the foreign carrylng trade, so that American ships the product of American labor, employed in American, ship yards, sailing under the stars and stripes and manned. offfcered and owned by Americans-may regain the carrying of our foreign commerce.. Declaration for the Gold Standard. The republican party is unreservedly for sound money. Ii cause d the enact ment of the law proyi ,ng fol the re~ sumption of specie payments in 1879 Since then every dollar has been s good as gold. We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our coun- try. We are, therefore, opposed to the