The border vidette., 1904-07-16
Democratic Platform.


 which bring us together in party com
 munion. The application of thes
 fundamental principles to the Twin,
 issues of the day is the first step to
 ward assured peace,' safety and pro
 gress of our nation. Freedom of tn,
 press. of conscience and of speech
 equality before the law of all citizens
 right of trial by jury, freedom of per
 son defended by writ of habeas corpus liberty of personal contract untram- ! meled by sumptuary laws, supremacy of civil over military authority, and
 well disciplined militia. The separation or church and state, economy in eX- pendltureS, low taxes, that labor may
 be lightly burdened. prompt and sacred fulfillment Of public and private obliS- friendship with all nations and entan- | gling alliances with none; absolute acquiescence in the will of the maiori- ty, are the vital principles of the Re- public. These are the doctrines which the Democracy establishes for the should be constantly enforced.
 We favor the enactment and admin istratiOn of laws giving labor and cap- ital impartially their just rights; we deny the right of any executive to dis regard or suspend any constitutional privilege or limitation.
 The military should be used only to support and maintain the law. We un- qualitiedly condemn it's employment for the summary banishment of citi- zens without trial, or for the control of elections.
 We condemn the action of the Re publican party in congress Tn refusing to prohibit tue executive department from entering into contracts with con- vited trusts or unlawful combinations in restraint of interstate law. We hold that one of the best methods of precur- ing economy and honesty in the public service Is to have public officials, from the occu pant of the White House down to the lowest of them. return as nearly as may be to Jeffersonian simplicity of living
 We favor the nomination and cleo tion of president imbued with the principles of the constitution, who will set his face sternly against the execu- tive usurpation of legislative and judi cial notions, whether that usurpatiOp be yelled under the guise of executive construction of existing laws, or whether it takes refuge in the tyrant's plans of necessity or superior wisdom.
 We favor the preservation, so far as we can, of an open door for the world $ commerce in the Orient, without any unnecessary entanglement in Oriental and European affairs, and without arbi- triry, unlimited or irresponsible and absolute government anywhere within our jurisdiction. We oppose, as fer
  self. any inditinite. irresponsible, dis cretionary and vague absolutism and policy of colonial exploitation, no mat ter where or by whom exercised. We believe, with Thomas Jeffersen and John Adams, that no government has the right to make one set of laws for those ''at home" and another and diff ferent set absolute Tn their character, for those lin colonies V
 Wherever there may exist people iu- capable of being governed under Amer ican laws. iu conecti9n with the American constitution. the territory of that people ought not to be q part Of the American domain.
 We insist that we ought to do for the Filipinos what we have already done for the Cubans, and it is our duty to make that promise now, and upon the citizens of our own am d other coun- tries resident there at the time of our withdrawal, set the Filipino people upon their feet, free and independent, to work out their destiny.
 The Democratic party has been, and will continue to be, the consistent op- ponentS of that class of tariff legislation Of which certain interests have been permitted, through congressiOnai favor, to draw heavy tribute from tine Amer { ican people. This monstrous perver sion of those equal opportunities l which our political institutions were established to secure, has caused what may once have been infant industries ! to become the greatest com binatiOns of capital that the world have ever known. T:.ese especial favorites of the government have. through trust methods, been converted into mOuOpO lies, thus bringing to an end domestic 1 competition, which was the only check | upon tue eXtravagant profits made i possible by the protective system. These industrial com binations, by the financial assistance they can give, now control the policy of the Republican party.
 We denounce protection as robbery of the many to enrich the few, and we favor q tariff limited to the needs of the government economically ad minis tered, and so levied not to disc.imi- nate against any industry, class or sec tion, to the end that the burdens of taxation shall be distributed as equal ly as possible.
 We favor the revision and gradual reduction of the tariff by friends of the masses and for the cOmmonweal. and not by friends of it's abuses, it's ex- tortion and its discriminations, keeping in view the ultimate ends of equality of burdens and equality of ooportuui- ties, and eXecutional purpose of rais- ing revenue by taxation, to-wit. the support of the federal government in all of it's integrity and virilty, but in sim plicity-