The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-03-28
THE PLATFORM

We, the Republicans of the State
of South Carolina. in convention as
sembled, reahirm our adherence to
the declaration of principle enuncl
ated in the platform of the national
convention at St Louis, upon which
Mckinley and Hobart were nomi
mated, and which the American peo
pie so emphatically endorsed at the
polls iu November, 1896
We congratulate the American
people upon the era of Industrial
prosperity SO ausp;oiousIy begun and
grandly kept up under the admin
istration of President Mckinley !;
and upon the further fact that they
have the keenness and foresight to
see and know that Bryanism and
Democracy are mepaces to these
excellent conditions, and that their
triumph would serve only to bring
return of industrial depression, idle
mess and want to the !aboriDg classes
and farmers with national dishonor,
and the humiliation of our republic
in the eyes of progressive nations
of the world
We endorse the course of the
present administration in so nobly
and wisely seeking to guard the
results of the triumph Of the Amer
ican army aud navy in rescuiog
millions of people from the yoke of
Spanish oppression, by institutlng
American authority in our newly
acquired territory, till the people of
these possessions are ableto establish
! and maintain stable governments of
their owD
We still protest against the sup.
preston of The BALLOT of the citizens
of South Carolina by the criminal
notification of the constitution and
laws of the United States, enacted
under the color of law by the 80
called constitution of 1895 And we
contend that the unjust deprivation
of one hundred thousand citizens of
the State of their right uf suffrage is
q crime against the government,
which we call upon congress to place
the seal of condemnation upon by
epacting such laws as will protect
the citizens of the United States in
the highest right of citizensbip-a
voice in the selection of their public
oficers-apd thus preserve in it's
purity the American doctrine that
All governments derive their just
power from the consent of the gov
erned y We insist upon free, honest
and enlightened ballot as the bull
wark of our republican form Of gov
ernment and the great palladium of
the rights and liberties of the peo-
pie We condemn the Democratic
party of the State for it's ruthless
rspe of the ballot, by which they
accomplish present political ends aid
warn them that they thus plant the
seed of sin and crime in the breast
of the youth of the State, which will
some day return to plague them
For the national de'euse, for rein-
foreemeot of the navy, for the enlarge
meot Of our foreign markets, for the
employment of American working
mes, 10 the mines, forests. farms. mile,
factories and sbipyards, We demand The
Immediate enactment of legislation
similar to tia, reported to each brauch
of congress, 80 that American built,
American owned and American named
ships may regain The csrryiog of our
foregn com mnerce.
We condemn the crime OF yochiog
aad The uDment;onabie cfimc which
usuai:y causes L. bu, we losist tost
ihe legally construed authorities are
adequate 70 pfo?e;ly Try. aud justly
coeylct. all par'les IN the State for
ahaiever crime they may be guilty,
AID we deplore apy sor' 10 mob law as
being subversive to law aud order,