Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-09-05
THE DEMOCRATIC
PLATFORM

PLAlTUkM
1--WE, the democratic party OF the United
States, in national convention assembled.
declare its devotion to the essential prln-
ciples of the democratic faith which
brings US together in party communion.
Under them local self-government ana
national unity and prosperity We're alike
established: They underlaid cur % 1ndepehhnac ,I,ehnc
and every democratic extension from
gon, which preserved faithfully IN al tne
sf our people: fuard,ng {sal,oSSS;ly Their Their
ment. They remind US of our duties and
responsibilities as citizens and impress
US at TT this Of he
administration OF government from the
headstrong,, arbitrary and spasmodic
methods WHICH distract h business h,, oy y,ind nm5
with dread, dlstrust and perturbation.
THE application OF these fundamental
TO the 1 rst t sfep towapd the s
sured peace, safety and progress of our
nation. Freedom Of the press. of con-
by jury; freedom OF the person defended
by the writ OF habeas corpus; liberty OF
tuary laws; the supremacy OF, the civil
over military authority; well-disciplined
militia; the separation OF church and 3da,
taxes, that labor may be lightly bur
dened; the prompt and sacred fulfilment
Of public and private obligations; hd,eilty
to treaties; peace and friendship with all
nations; entangling alliances with none;
absolute acquiescence in the will of the
majority, the vital principle of republics
established as proverbs of the nation,
and they should be constantly invoked,
preached resorted to and enforced.
Controlling Expenses.
'1. 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 we shall insist upon the strictest
vigorous and efficient civil, military and
naval administration as a right Of the
people. too clear to be denied or with
80. The enforcement of honesty in the
public service, and to that end thorough
legislative investigation OF those eXecu-
ready known to TEEN with corruption, as
we'll as other departments suspected of
of ascertained corruptionists without fear
sistent and deliberate refusal of both the
permit permit such @ investigation to be made by BY
either branch of congress demonstrates
that only by change in the executive
and in the house Of representatives can
complete exposure. punishment and cors
rection be obtained.
''In broader furtherance Of that end the
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
lott tn @Na ~
believe that one OF the best methods of
procuring economy and honesty In the
public service Is to have public officials.
down to the lowest of them, return, as
nearly as may be. to Jeffersonian SIM
plicity of living
"s We favor the nomination and cleo
ton of president trained in the ways OF
the constitution, who shall set his face
oternly against executive uSurpatlon Of
legislative and judicial functions. whether
that usurpation be ruled under the guise
OF executive construction of existing
laws or whether it take refuge in the
tyrants pleas OF necessity Of superior
3 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 po-
litical institutions were established TO se
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 monopoies,
thus bringing to an end domestic com
petition, which was the only check upon
the eNtravagant profits made possible by
combinations, by the financial assistance
they can give, now control the policy Of
the republican party.
I'VE favor q wise, conservative and
businesslke revision and a gradual re-
duction of the tariff by the friends OF the
masses and for the common veal, and
tortions and its discrImtnations. 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 viriliIy, but in simplicity;
mon sense should. existing conditions,
however wrongfuliy, mistakenly or un-
justly brought about ana the danger to
the cause OF tariff reform Itself Of abrupt
and revolutionary reversal of policy.
1--WE should bear in mind, in short, these
two things; % The general principle that
alton is the support OF tbe. federal gov
ernemnt, economically. effectively and
constitutonally administered; and t2),
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
I'VE 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 tae American consumer
above reasonable and just profit, hy
such reduction depriving trusts and mo-
nopoles of the. power to eNtort from the
American people. undeY shelter of Amer
lean law, prices higher than those charged
foreigners for identical articles.
The ISthmiun Canal.
"Our party having long and earnestly
advocated the construction of interoceanie
canal fUr tile 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 irreversble fact, we can not toe
forcibly express. our disapproval of the
methods by which, in disregard of the
usages and obligations Of international