Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-10

committee on resolutions, to be submitted
to the convention when the report is
called for:
We, the democrats of the United States,
in national convention assembled, do re-
affirm our allegiance to the essential prin-
ciples OF justice and liberty upon which
our institutions are founded, and which
the democratic party has advocated from
Jefferson's time to our own-freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of
conscience, the preservation of personal
rights, the equality of all citizens before
the law and the faithful observance of
constitutional limitations.
During all these years the democratic
party has resisted the tendency of selfish
interests to the Capitalization of govern
ment power and steadfastly maintained
the integrity of the dual scheme of gov
eminent established by the founders of
this republic of republics. Under its
guidance and teachings the great princi-
pie of local self-government has found its
best expression in the maintenance OF
rights of the states, and in it's assertion
of the necessity of combining the general
government to the exercise of the powers
granted by the constitution of the United
States. te '2af
Civil and Religious Liberty.
Inc CONSTITUTION OIL the OHiteu Oldlco
guarantees to every citizen the rights OF
civil and religious liberty. The demo-
cratic party has always been the expo
nent of political liberty and religious
freedom, and it renews its obligations
and reaffirms its devotion to those funda-
mental principles of the constitution.
The Financial Plank.
Recognizing that the money question
is para mount to all others at this time,
we invite attention to the fact that the
federal constitution names silver and
gold together as the money metals of the
United States and that the first coinage
law passed by congress under the consti-
tuition made the silver dollar the none
tary unit and admitted gold to free coin
age at a ratio based upon the silver dol
lar unit.
We declare that the act of 1873 demon
etizing silver without the knowledge or
the approval of the American people has
resulted in the appreciation of gold and
a corresponding fan in the prices of COM
modities produced by the people; heavy
increase in the burden of taxation and of
all debts, public and private; the enrich
ment of the money lending class at home
and abroad; the prostration of industry
and impoverishment of the people.
We are unalterably opposed to mono
metallism, which has locked fast The
prosperity of an Industrial people in the
paralysis of hard times. Gold mono
metallism is a British policy, and It's
adoption has brought other nations into
financial servitude to London 1t is not
only un-American, but anti-American,
and it can be fastened on the United 4
States only by the sitting of that spirit
and love of liberty which proclaimed our
political independence in 1776 and won 1T
in the war of the revolution.
We demand the free and unlimited coin
age of both silver and gold at the present
legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for
the aid or consent of any other nation.
We demand that the standard silver dol
lar shall be full legal tender equally
with gold, for all debts, public and prl-s
vate, and we favor such legislation as
will prevent for the future the demoneti-N
cation of any kind of legal tender money
by private contract.
We are opposed to. the policy and prac-
tice of surrender!ng to the holders of the
obligations of the United States the op-i
ton reserved by law to the government
of redeeming such obligations in either
silver coin or gold coin.
Restriction of Bond Issues.
We are opposed to the issuing of in
terest-bearing bonds of the United
States in time of peace, and condemn the
trafficking with banking syndlcates
which, in exchange for bonds at an enor-
nous profit to themselves, supply the
federal treasury with. gold to maintain
the policy of gold monometallism.
Congress alone has the power to coin
and issue money, and President Jackson
declared that this power could not be
delegated to corporations or individuals.
We therefore denounce the Issuance or
notes intended to circulate as money by
national banks as in derogation of the
constitutions; and we demand that all pa
per which is made legal tender for pub
lie and private debts, or which Is receiva-
BILE for dues to the United States shall be
issued by the government of the United
States and shall be redeemable in coin.
We hold that tariff duties should be
levied for purposes of revenue such
duties to be so adjusted as to operate
equally throughout the country and not
discriminate between class or section,
and that taxation should be limited by
the needs of the government honestly
and economically administered. We de-
nounce as disturbing to business the re-
publican threat to restore the Mckinley
law, which has twice been condemned by
the people in national elections, and
which, enacted under the false plea OF
protection to home industries, proved a
prolific breeder of trusts and monopolies,
enriched the few at the expense of the
many, restricted trade and deprived the
producers of the great American staples
of access to their natural markets.
No Tinkering With the Present Tariff.
Until the money question is settled
we are opposed to any agitation for fur
ther changes III our tdIul laws cACCpt
such as are necessary to meet the deficit
in revenue caused by the adverse decis-
ion of the supreme court on the income
tax But for this decision by the su-
preme court there would be no deficit in
the revenue under the law passed by
democratic congress in strict pursuance
of uniform decisions Of that court for
nearly 100 years, that court having In
that decision sustained constitutional OBJ
jections to it's enactment which had pre-
viously been overruled by the ablest
Judges that ever sat on that bench. We
declare that 1t is the duty of congress
to use all the constitutional power
which remains after that decision, or
which may come from its reversal by
the court as 1t may hereafter be consti-
tuted, so that the burdens of taxation 4
may be equally and impartially laid to !
the end that wealth may bear its proper
ton of the expenses of the government.
Labor Planks.
We hold that the most efficient way of
protecting American labor is to prevent
the Importation of foreign pauper labor
to compete with 1t in the home market,
and that the value OF the home market
to our American farmers and artisans