Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1904-07-14
THE FULL TEXT
OF THE PLATFORM
The Democratic Platform as Fin
ished and Adopted at the st.
Louis Convention.
The MONEY PLANK ELIMINATED;
VICTORY FOR WILLIAM ]. BRYAN.
The Party Wants President
Trained In the Ways of the Com
stitution, Who Shall Set His Face
Against Executive Isurpntion of
Legislative or Judicial Functions.

I'VE, the democratic party Of the United
States. in national convention assembled.
declare its devotion to the essential pFin-
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 ana Texas to Ore
gon, which preserved faithfully in all the
states the tie between taxation and rep
rssentation They yet inspire the masses e
of our people, guarding jealously their
rights ard liberties, and chertshing 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
headstrong, arbitrary and spasmodic
methods which distract business by un-
certainty and pervade the public mind
with dread, distrust and perturbation.
The application OF these fundamentai
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 con-
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-
trary laws; the supremacy of the civil
over military authority; a well-disciplined
militia; the separf ton OF church and and
tbsf aSor In mas e phy
dened; the prompt and sacred fulfillment
of public and private obligations; fidelity
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
these are doctrines which democracy has
established as proverbs of the nation,
ard thew ShOlld he 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 we shall insist upon the strictest
economy and frugality compatible with
vigorous and efficient civil, military and
naval administration as right of the
people, too clear to be denied or with
held
% The enforcement of honesty in the
public service, and to that end a thorough
legislative investigation of those execu-
tive departments of the government al
ready known to TEEN with corruption. as
well as other departments suspected OF
harboring corruption, and the punishment
of ascertained corruptionists without fear
OF 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 demonstrates
that only by change in the executive
and in the house of representatives can
complete exposure, punishment and cor
rection be obtained.
I'm 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
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 be, TO Jeffersonian sim
plicity of living.
Presidential Recon n dations.
"3 We favor the nomination and cleo
| tion of president trained in the ways Of
the constitution, who shall set his face
sternly against executive usurpation 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
wisdom.
u. 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 a heavy tribute from the American
people This monstrous perversion of
those equal opportunities, which our po-
ltical institutions We're 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 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.
eve favor a wise, conservative and
businesslike revision and 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 its 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,
justly 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: "a The general principle that
the sole derivation of the power of tax
alton is the support of the federal gov
ernemnt, economically, effectively and
constitutionally 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-
| nopolies of the power to extort from the
| American people, under shelter of Aver
can law. prices higher than those changed
foreigners for identical articles.
The Isthmiitn 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 toe
methods by which. in disregard of the
| usages and obligations of international
| law and treaty obligations. the canal
| route has been acquired, or too solemniy
record our 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
4 and combinations designed to enable cap
| ital to secure more than its just share OF
| the Joint product of capital and labor, and
| which have been fostered and promoted
| under republican rule, are a menace t.
| beneficial competition and an obstacle t.
permanent business prosperity.
| I'VE demand the vigorous and lmpartia
| enforcement of the laws already made tc
| prevent and control such trusts and com
| binations, and we favor such further leg
| islation in restraint thereof as experience
| shows to be necessary.
"Corporations chartered by authority OF
\ the people must forever remain subjec
| to regulation in the interest of the people
"A private monopoly is indefensible ane
| intolerable We recognize the right o.
| capital In all legitimate lines of enter
| prise 10 combine for the increase of bust
| ness for eniarging productive capacity
| and for decreasing the cost of production
l t-..t Stt1j, coua hiua INN in < MIR