The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-07-15
The FULL Text
OF The PLATFORM
The Democratic Platform as Fin
ished and Adopted at the ST.
Louis Convention.
The hOEEY PLANK ELIMINATED:
VICTORY FOR WILLIAM j. BRYAN.
The Party Wants President
Trained In the ways of the Con-
Against Executive UsurpatiOn of
Legislative or Judicial Functions.

Legislative or Judicial Functions.
I'VE, the democratic party of the United
States, in national convention assembled,
declare its devotion to the essential prin-
ciples of the democratic faith which
brings us together in party communion.
Under them local self-government and
national unity and prosperity were alike
established. They underlaid our independ-
ence, the structure of our free republic
and every democratic extension from
Louisiana to California and Texas to Ore
gon, which preserved faithfully in all the
states the tie between taxation and rep
Tesentation They yet inspire the masses
of our people, guarding jealousy their
rights and liberties and cherishing their
fraternity, peace and orderly develop
ment They remind us of our duties and
responsibilities as citizens and impress
upon us, particularly at this time, the
necessity of reform and the rescue of the
ADMINISTRATION of government from the
methods which distract business by I'm
| certainty and pervade the public mind
with dread, distrust and perturbation.
The application of these fundamental
constitutes the first step toward the as
sured peace, safety and progress of our
nation. Freedom of the press, of eon-
science and of speech; equality before
| the law of all citizens; the right of trial
by jury; freedom of the person defended
by the writ of habeas corpus; liberty of
| personal contract untrammeled by sump-
tCary laws; the supremacy of the civil
over military authority; well-disciplined
state; economy in expenditures; low
taxes, that labor may be lightly bur
dened: tho prompt and sacred fulfillment
of public and private obligations; fidelity
to treaties; peace and friendship with all
Absolute % s i in the Viii viii Of the
majority. the vital principle of republics
| these are doctrines which democracy has
and they should be constantly invoked,
| preached. resorted to and enforced.
Controlling Expenses.
81. Large reductions can readily be
| made in the annual expenditures of the
| government without impairing the eff
cheney of any branch of the public service,
| and shall insist upon the strietest
economy and frugality compatible with
| vigorous and efficient civil, military and
naval administration as a right of the
people, too clear to be denied or with
''2. The enforcement of honesty in the
| public service, and to that end thorough
| legislative investigation of those eXecu-
| tive departments of the government all
ready known to TEEN with corruption, as
| well other departments suspected of
| harboring corruption and the punishment
Oh ascertalned corruptlonlsts WITHOUT rear
| or favor or regard TO persons. The per-
! sistent and deliberate refusal of both the
| senate and house of representatives to
permit such investigation to be made by
| either branch of congress demonstrate
| that only by a change in the executive
and in the house of representatives can
| complete exposure, punishment and cor
rection be obtained.
| federal government should not permit it.
! self to be robbed by entering into con-
| tracts with convicted trusts or unlawful
| combinations in restraint of Interstate
| trade, existing in violation of law We
| believe that one of the best methods of
| public service Is to have public officials,
| from the occupant of the White House
| down to the lowest of them, return, as
| nearly as may be, to Jeffersonian sim
| piicity of living.
Presidential Recon- m n dationn.
"3. We favor the nomination and cleo
| ton of president trained in the ways of
] the constitution, who shall set his face
| sternly against executive usurpa ton of
| legislative and judicial functions, whether
| that usurpatiOn be ruled under the gtfise
laws, or whether it take refuge in the
| tyrants pleas of necessity of superior
a The democratic party has been,
| and will continue to be. the consistent
! opponent of that class of tariff Legislation
! by which certain interests have been per-
mitted, through congressional favor. to
draw heavy tribute from the American
people. This monstrOus perversion of
those equal opportunities, which our p9-
litical institutions Were established to Sc
cure, has caused what may once have
been infant industries to become the
! greatest combinations of capital that the
| world has ever known. These publicly
favored enterprises have through trust
| methods, been converted into monopolies,
| thus bringing to an end domestic COM
petition, which was the only check upon
| the eXtraVagant profits made possible by
| the protective system These industrial
| combinations by the financial assistance
| they can give, now control the policy OF
the republican party.
I'VE favor a wise, conservative and
businesslike revision and a gradual re-
! duction of the tariff by the friends of the
masses and for the common veal, and
| not by the friends of its abuses, its ex-
| tortions and it's Determinations, keeping
in view the ultimate end of equality OF
burdens and equality of opportunities,
and the constitutional purpose of raising
| a revenue by taxation, to-wit, the sup
| port of the federal government, in all its
| integrity and virility, but in simplicity
| and keeping also in view, as men of com
| mon sense should, existing conditions
| however wrOngfully, mistakenly I'M
| the cause of tariff reform itself of abrupt
and revolutionary reversal of policy.
I'VE should bear in mind. in short, these
| the sole derivation of the power of tax
alton is the support of the federal gov
ernemnt,. economicaly: effectively and
| constuutiOnally administered; and (2),
| the equal truth that in the assertion of
any general principle and in reaching
| any Ultimate end, however sacred and
| logically unavoidable, due regard. but
| only due regard, must and should be paid
to actual existing conditions.
1--WE favor the reduction of tariff tax
alton upon truSt-prOduced articles to the
points where foreign competition may en-
ter the American market whenever trusts
and combines, seeking monopoly, raise
their prices to the American consumer
| above a reasonable and just profit, by
! such reduction depriVing trusts and mo-
nopoies of the power to extort from the
| American people, under shelter of AMER
| can law, prices higher than those charged
| foreigners for identical articles.
The Isthmi;,n Canal.
Our party having long and earnestly
advocated the construction of interoceanic
| canal for the purpose of national defense
| and commerce between the states and
| with foreign nations, we favor the early
| completion of the isthmian canal.
But while making this declaration and
accepting the results as an accomplished
| and irreversible fact, we can not too
methods by which, in disregard of the
usageS and obligations of international
law and treaty obligations, the canal
route has been acquired, or too solemnly
record orr hope that this precedent OF
defiant diplomacy may never be used
against US to our humiliation and injury.
Trusts and Unlawful Combinations.
I'VE recognize that the gigantic trusts
ana combinations designed to enable cap
itSs to secure more than its just share of
th- Joint product of capital and labor, and
which have been fostered and promoted
un>er republican rule, are a menace to
beneficial competition and an obstacle to
permanent business prosperity.
I'VE demand the vigorous and impartial
enforcement of the laws already made TO
binations. and we favor such further leg
isIation in restraint thereof rs experience
shows to be necessary.
CORPORA tons chartered by authority OF
the people must forever remain subject
to regulation in the interest of the people.
intolerable. We recognize the right OF
capital in all legitimate lines of enter
prise to combine for the increase OF bust
ness, fo~ charging productive capacity,
and for decreasing the cost of production
but when such combination in its pur-
pGSa effect creates tends TO Gre