The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-03
OF PEOPLE
 PROCLAIMED BY .......... DEMOCRACY
Platform Demands Reduction of Tariff, Con- servation of Nations Resources, valua- tion of Railroads, Telephones
 and TeIegraphs

I | We. the representatives. of the Dem | ocratic party of the United States, in | national convention assembled reaf- l firm our devotion to the principles of Democratic government formulated by 1 Thomas Jefferson and enforced by a long and illustrious line of Democratic Presidents.
 TARIFF REFORM We declare 1t to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party | that the Federal government under constitution has no right or power to | impose or. collect tariff. duties, except for the principle of revenue and we demand that the collection of such taxes shall be limited to the necessi- ties of government honestly and eco- nomically administered.
 The high Republican tariff is the principal cause of the unequal distri- button of wealth. 1t is system of taxation which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, under it's opera tions, the American farmer and labor ing man are the chief sufferers; it raises the cost of the .necessaries of life to them but does not protect their product or wages The farmer sells largely in free markets and buys al- most entirely in the protected mar kets. In the most highly protected in- dustries such as cotton and wool, steel and iron,. the wages of the labor
  industries. We denounce the Repub- lican pretense on that subject and as- sert that American wages are 1estab- 1ished by competitive conditions and not by the tariff.
 We favor the immediate downward revision of the existing high and. in many cases prohibitive tariff duties. insisting that nnateria1 reductions be speedily made Aipon the necessities of life Articles entering into competi- seA.-nn .z1 1.-- -A4 and articles of American manufacture which are sold abroad more cheaply than at home. should be put upon the free list
 | We recognize that our system of Ftarfff taxation is intimately connect and we favor the ultimate attainment of the principles we advocate by leg islation that will not injure or des- troy legitimate industry.
 We denounces the action of Presi- dent Taft in svetolng the bills to re- duce the tariff in the cotton, woolen, steel and metal schedules and the farmers free list bills, all of which were designed to give immediate re- klief to the masses from the exactl0ns of 1t the fss trssEs gsEb,nsia while prorn- a ising tariff revision. has shown by dts tariff legislation that such legisla- ton is not to be in the peoples irl- terests and having. been fatthless to its pledges of 1908, it should no long We appear to the. American people to support us in our demand for tariff Iifor revenue only.
 HIGH COST OF LIVING
 The high cost of living is a serious problem in every American home. The Republican party, in it's platform, at tempts- to escape from responsibility q~r1c hat they are due to a protective tariff. We take issue with them on this subject and charge that the excess sive prices result in a large measure from the tariff laws enacted and maintained by the Republican party and from trusts and commercial con- spiracies fostered and encouraged by such laws and we assert that no sub stantial relief can be secured for the people until import duties on the nee essaries of life are materially reduc- ed and these criminal conspiracies broken up
 ANTITRUST LAW A private monopoly is indefensible and into1erable. We. therefore, favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal as well as the civil law against trust and trust officials and demand the enactment of such addi- tional legislation as may be ueces- y vate monopoly to exist in the United States.
 We favor the declaration by law of the conditions. on which corporations shall be permitted to engage in inter sta te trade, including, among others, a. prevention of holding companies, Of interlocking directorates, of stock wa tering, of discrimination in monopoly and control by any corporation of so large proportion of any industry as | VAa%S ri concerns. We condemn action of, the Republican. administration in compro- missing with the Standard Oil Com- panye and. the Tobacco Trust and it's failure to invoke the criminal proNi- sions of the antitrust law against the officers of those corporations af- ter the court had declared that, among undisputed facts in the record they had violated the criminal provisions of the law.
 Trust law has received a Judicial con- struction depriving it of much of it's efficacy and we favor the enactment of legislation which will restore to this statute the strength of which it has been deprived by such interpreta- tion.
 RIGHTS OF THE STATES
 We believe that the most efficient results under our system of govern ment are to be attained by the full exercise by the states of their re- served sovereign powers. We de- nounce as usurpation the efforts or our opponents to deprive the states of any of the rights reserved to them and to enlarge and magnify by. indirection the powers of the federal government.
 We insist upon the full exercise of all the powers of the government. both )Ftate and national, to protect the peo- ple from injustice at the hands of those who seek to make the govern ment a private asset in business. There is no twilight zone between the nation and the state in which exploit ing interests can take refuge from both. It is as necessary that the fed eral government shall exercise the powers reserved to them but we insist that federal remedies for the regula- tion of interstate commerce and for the prevention of private monopoly shall be added to and not subtract ed for state remedies.
 INCOME TAX AND POPULAR
 ELECTION OF SENATORS