Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-06-25

policy of discriminating duties for the
upbuilding of our merchant marine, and
the protection of our shipping in the for
eign carrying trade so that American
ships, the product of American labor, en-
ployed in American ship yards sailing
under the Stars and Stripes, and manned,
Differed and owned by Americans. may re-
gain the carrying of our foreign commerce
MONEY.
The republican party Is unreservcdly for
sound money. 1t caused the enactment of
the law providing for the resumption of
specie payments in 1879 Since then every
dollar has been as good is gold We are
unaltcrably opposed to every measure cal
culatcd to debase our currency or impair
the credit Of our country. We are, there
fore, opposed to the free coinage of sill
Yer except by international agreement
with the leading commercial nations of
tho world, which we pledge ourselves to
promote, and unless an agreement can be
obtained the existing gold standard must
be preserved. All our silver and paper
currency must be maintained at a parity
with gold, and we favor all measures de-
signed to maintain iniolabe the obliga-
lions of the United States and all our mon
ey, whether coin or paper, at the present
standard, the standard of the most en-
lightencd nations of the earth.
PENSIONS.
The veterans of the Union armies de-
serve and should receive fair treatment
and generous recognition. Whenever
practicable they should be given the pre-
ference In the matter of employment and
they are entitled to the enactment of
such laws as are best calculated to Sc
cure the fulhllment of the pledges made
to them in the dark days of the country's
peril We denounce the practice in the
pension bureau, so recklessy and unjust
ly carried on by the present administration
of reducing pensions and arbitrarily drop
ping names from the rolls as deserving
the severest condemnation of the Amerl-
can people.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Our foreign policy should be at all times
firm, vigorous, and dignifcd, all our inter-
ess in the Western Hemisphere carefully
watched and guarded. The Hawaiian ISL
ands should be controlled by the United
States and no foreign power.
ARMENIAN MASSACRES.
The massacres in Armenia have aroused
the deep sympathy and just Indignation
of the American people, and we believe
that the United States should exercise all
the influence 1t can properly exert to bring
these atrocities to an end. In Turkey
American residents have been exposed to
the gravest dangers, and American prop
erty destroyed there and everywhere.
American citizens and American property
must be absolutely protected at all haz-
ards and at any cost.
MONROE DOCTRINE.
We re-assert the Monroe doctrine in It's
full extent, and we rc-afiirm the right of
the United States TO give the doctrine eff
feet by responding to the appeals of any
American state for friendly Intervention
m EllrOnpan
have not intcrfored. and shall not inter-
fere, with the existing possessions of any
European power in this hemisphere, but
those possessions must not on any preteNt
be extended. We hopefully look forward
to the eventual withdrawal of the Euro
pcan powers from this hemisphere, and to
the ultimate union of all of the English
speaking part of the continent by the free
consent of its inhabitants.
CUBA.
From the hour of achieving their own
independence the people of the United
States have regarded with sympathy the
struggles of other American people TO free
themselves from European Nominations
We watch with deep and abiding interest
the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots
against cruelty and oppression, and our
best hopes go out for the full success of
their determined contest for liberty. The
government of Spain, having lost control
of Cuba, and being unable to protect the
| property or lives of resident American
citizens, or to comply with It's treaty obl-
| cations. we believe that the government of
the United States should actively use its
| influence and good offices to restore peace
and give independence to the island.
THE NAVY.
The peace and security of the republic,
and the maintenance of its rightful influ-
ence among the nations of the earth, de-
mand a naval power commensurate with
its position and responsibility. We, there
fore favor the continued enlargement of
! the navy, and a complete system of har-
Dor and sea coast dcfences, and by the
purchase of the Danish Islands. we should
secure a proper and much needed naval
station in the West Indies.
FOREIGN IMMIGRATION
For the protection of the equality of our
American citizenship and of the wages of
our workingmen against the fatal compe-
tition of low priced labor we demand that
the immigration laws be thoroughly en-
forced and so extended as to exclude from
entrance to the United States those who
can neither read nor write.
CIVIL SERVICE.
The civil service law was placed on the
statute books by the republican party
renew our repeated declaration that II
shall be thoroughly and honestly enforced
and extended wherever practical.
FREE BALLOT
We demand that every citizen of the
United States shall be allowed to cast
one free and unrestricted ballot, and that
such ballot shall be counted and returned
as cast
! LYNCHINGS
We proclaim our unqualified condemna-
ton of the uncivilized and barbarous prac-
tees, well known as lynching or killing OF
human beings suspected or charged with
crime, without process of law.
, NATIONAL ARBITRATION.
We favor the creation OF a national
. board OF arbitration to settle and adjust
differences which may arise between EN-
ployers and employed, engaged in inter
state commerce
. HOMESTEADS.
: We believe in an immediate return tc
the free homestead policy of the republi
can party, and urge the passage by Con
gress of the satisfactory free Homestead
measure which has already passed tn,
I House and is now pending in the Senate
TERRITORIES
/ We favor the admission Of the remain
| ing territories at the earliest practica bl
e of the people of the territories and OF tn
United States. All the federal Offices ap
pointed for the territories should be Sc
iected from bona fde residents thereof
e and the right of self government shoul,
D be accorded as far as practicable.