Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-08
Platform Drafted by the Res
olutions Subcommittee.
DISCRETION OF SILVER
MONEY STANDARD DECLARED TO
BE NO LONGER AN ISSUE.
Mr.. Bryan Absent When the Vote Was
Taken on That Proposition-Con-
servative Tariff Revision.

| ScIVdLktS 4dAAA ASSSASASAAs
The. following is the draft of the plat
form as submitted by the subcommittee to
the committee on resolutions of the demo-
| cratic convention at ST. Louis yesterday
| afternoon:
1--WE the delegates of the democratic
party of the United States in national con-
vention assembled, declare our devotion to
the essential principles of the democratic
faith which brings US together in hearty
communion.
Under them local self-government and
national unity and prosperity were alike
tabished. They underlaid our indepen-
| dence, the structure of our free republic
| and every democratic extension from
Louisiana to California and Texas. to Ore
| gon, which preserves faithfully in all the
states the tie between taxation and repre-.
| sentation. They yet insprit the masses OF
our people. guarding jealousy their rights
and liberties and cherishing their fratern-
| ity, peace and orderly development. Ihey
remind us of our duties and responsibilities
| as citizens and impress upon US, part1cu-
| larly at this time, the necessity Of reform
! and the rescue of the administration or
| government from the headstrong, arbitrary
| and spasmodic methods which distract
| business by uncertainty and pervade the
| public mind with dread, distrust and per-
! turbation
| Fundamental Principles.
| THE application of these fundamental
principles to the living issues of the day
| constitutes the first step toward the as
sured peace, safety and progress of our
nation. Freedom of the press, of conscience
| 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
| untrlmmeleN bV SumDtuafy
| laws: the supremacy of civil over military
| authority; a we'll disciplined militia; tne
| separation of church and state; economy
| in expenditures; low taxes, that labor may
| be lightly burdened; the prompt and sacred
| fulfillment of public and private obliga-
| items; fidelity to treaties; peace and friend
| ship with all nations; entanglng alliances
| with none; absolute acquiescence in the
will of the majority, the vital principle OF
| republics; these are doctrines which de-
| mocracy has established as proverbs OF
| the nation and they should be constant
| ly invoked, preached, resorted to and en-
| forced.
Economy in Government Expenses.
| 81 Large reductions can readily be made
| in the annual expenditures of the govern
ment without mpairing the efficiency of
any branch of the public service, and We
shall insist upon the StricteSt economy
and frugality compatible with vigorous ana
efficient civil, military and naval admins
tration as a right of the people, too clear
| to be denied or withheld.
80 The enforcement of honesty in the
public service and to that end thorough
legislative investigation of those executive
| departments of the government, already
known to TEEN with corruption, as we'll as
other departments suspected of harboring
corruption and the punishment of ascer-
tanned corruptionists without fear or favor
or regard to persons. The persistent ana
| deliberate refusal of both the Senate and
| House of Representatives to permit such
investigation to be made by either branch
| Of Congress demonstrates that only by
change in the executive and in the House
of Representatives can complete exposure
punishment and correction be obtained
I'm broader furtherance Of that end the
| federal government should not permit itself
| to be robbed by entering into contracts 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 procuring economy and
honesty in the 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 pc, 10 JeIersonlan
simplicity of living.
"3 We favor the nomination and cleo
| ton of a President trained in the ways Of
| the Constitution, who shall set his face
sternly against executive usurpation of leg
| islative and judicial functions, whether that
usurpa alton be ruled under the guise of ex-
| ecutiye construction of existing laws or
| whether it take refuge in the tyrant's pleas
| 90 The democratic party has been and
will continue TO be the consistent opponent
| of that class of tarim legislation by which
| certain interests have been permitted,
| through congressional favor, to draw a
heavy tribute from the American people.
| This monstrous perversion or those equal
opportunities which our political institu-
lions were established to secure 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
| monopoles, thus bringing to an end do
| mestic competition, which was the only
| che ok 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.
Revision of the Tariff.
I'VE favor a wise, conservative and bust
| ness-like revision and a gradual reduction
of the tariff by the friends of the masses
| and for the common veal, and not by the
| friends of it's abuses, its extortions and its
| determinations keeping in view the ulti-
| mate end of equality of burdens and
| equality of opportunities and the consti-
tutonal purpose of raising a revenue by
| taxation, to wit, the support of the federal
| government in all Its integrity and vrilty,
| but in simplicity; and keeping also in view,
| as of common sense should, exist
| ing COnGlllOUS, however WIOHeluily, HIS
| takenly or unjustly brought about, and 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: First, the general principle that
| the sole derivation of the power of taxation
| is the support of the federal government,
| economically effectively and constitutional
| ly administered, and, second, the equal
| truth that in the assertion of any general
| principle and in reaching any ultimate eEd,
! however sacred and logically unavol liable,
| due reeard-but only due regard-must AID
| should be paid to actually existing condi-
| tons.
| "5. We favor the reduction Of tariff tax
| alton upon trust-produced articles to the
| point where foreign competition may enter
| the American market whenever trusts and
combines, seeking monopoly, raise their
| prices to the American consumer above a
| reasonable and just profit, by such reduc-
| ton depriving trusts and monopolies Of the
| power to extort from the American people
| under shelter Of American law prices high
err than those charged foreigners for ideni!-
| cal articles.