Birmingham state herald., 1896-09-06
NATIONAL TICKET.
 FOR PRESIDENT William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska. FOR VICE PRESIDENT. Arthur NJ. Sewall of Maine
OUR PLATFORM.


 For some time we have been publishing tn our columns the platform of the demo- cratic party adopted in convention at Chicago in July, 1896. We propose to con- tinue this at intervals during the present campaign.
 Our purpose in doing so is not simply to fill space. There is no lack of inter- estlng matter to occupy twice the room we have. But we regard this platform the best campaign document which can be put in the hands of our readers, and we wish every one of them to have a copy for himself and others to give to his neighbors. The democratic party and it's candidates stand squarely on This plat form before the people now, and they propose to stand there when placed in power by the people. They wish to be un- derstood beyond all doubt by all whose votes they seek; and that they may be so understood they ask that the people shall judge them by their own declara- tions and statements of doctrine, and not by the silly distortions and malignant perverslons thereof by their enemies, whether avowed or concealed. Let the people, then, read this platform carefully. section by section and asa connected whole, weighing carefully each word and sentence, and thus get at it's true mean ing; then let them prove the doctrine by the test of truth and the traditional stand ards of democracy, and they can hardly fail to reach right conclusions on any point.
 Several things about the platform make this undertaking easy. To some of these we call attention.
 The platform is not the composition of men who use language to conceal their meaning. This is clear on its face. No one who understands plain English words can be in doubt moment as to it's true imports. There is not an ambiguous phrase or doubtful word in it; not cow ardly evasion, mot straddle, nor even a platitude. Its authors meant to be under stood, and they will be understood by all who will honestly read and try to under stand. The platform did not emanate from Wall street nor its purlieus, nor from the official slums of Washington, outside or inside of the White House, nor from the henchmen of trusts or syndi- cates, nor from political sepoys any where. It throbs and swells with the warm, patriotic aspirations and feelings of the great masses of the good people of the whole countrywide true men ot the east, as we'll as of the great central west and northwest; the Pacific slope, the g it south, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and of the mountain regions, who. through their delegates that had not been bought and could not be bribed nor bullied framed this new declaration of independence from the thraldom of British financiers and their underlings and parasites, which they fully purpose to maintain at all hazards and costs. Read this platform, then, through and through, carefully and prayerfully, and you will need no one to tell you whet ther or not William Mckinley, Jr.. and Abra m S. Hewitt, and other little fellows who echo them, tell the truth or lie when they assert that it is sudden, dangerous and revolutionary assault upon law and order" an assault upon the faith and honor of the government and the welfare of the people" and "an open declara ton of war upon the constitution of the United States
 The platform speaks in the language of the people. to the people, of the inter- esls and concerns of the people, It's words arc familiar words to them and its topics have forced their unweicome presence not only at all the frcsides and tables of the lowiy of the land but into the hcnes of it's yeomanry, where homes are siii lcft 10 them They need no im- ported hrelings, like Cochran no crea- lures of sale to the highest bidder like Schurz. no moral lepers like Breckin- ridge, no mortgaged man like Mckinley, no fossils or muDmies like Palmer and Buckner. nor any other tool of the money power, high or low to tell them what the platform means, which their own