Year: 1876

ThOs. A. Hendricks Tor t1ce.Fresiueht'
THE PL A TT 0 r M


HARD MONEY AND HOME RULE.


CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.


The National Democratic Convention
assembled 10 the hall of the Chamber ol
Commerce, at St. Louis, on Tuesday at
noon, and was called to order by Hon.
Augustus Schell, Of New York, chair
man of the National Executive Commit
tee, who in stating the objects OF the
convention said that its purpose was to
nominate candidates for the presidency
and vice-presidency, whose election shall
change the government, overthrow cor
ruption. and produce the administrative
reforms demanded by the people. He
spoke of the democratic party as the
party of hard money from the begin
ming, and said that the acts authorizing
paper money and making it legal-tender
were the work Of republican Congresses.
The remedy for our financial troubles,
he contended, was neither rapid con-
traction nor increased currency He
held that the repeal Of the resumption
act and the assumption Of the reins Of
government by the democratic party.
with its policy Of economy and sound
finance. would bring about specie pay
ments speedily. In closing be nomi-
mated Henry Watterson, Of Kentucky,
(editor Of the Louisville Courier Jour
nal, } for temporary chairman, which
was unanimously agreed to.


On taking the chair, Mr.. Watterson
addressed the convention as follows:


Gentlemen of the Conuention-We are called
together 10 determine by our wisdom whether
honest government administered by honest
men shall be restored to the American people
or to decide by our folly that it is the destiny
of this country to pursue an endless ever re-
volving circle Of partisan passion and cor
ruption until, with loss of our material we'll
being, we lose the poor mans last hope, civil
liberty itself Every citizen of the republic,
be he of one party or the other, feels and has
felt for many day the depressing influence
of what are called hard times. We look about
us and'we see neglected fields and vacant
houses, the factories closed, the furnace door
is shut, there are myriads of idle hands, the
happy activity of prosperous life is nowhere
to be found; loyalists fatten while honest men
starve; empty the mart and shipless the bay.
What is it that has wrought so great change
in land that under the rule of an intell:-
gent and progressive constitutional party rose
within half century from the condition Of
a huddle of petty and squalid provincial SOW
ereignties to foremost place among the ma
tions of the earth?


The reason of men must answer partisan
misrule and sectional misdirection. The Re
publicans, my friends are not alone respon-
sible; with them rests the disgraces, with US
the folies These twin agents of national
mischance working under the miserable rule of
centuries have set the people of the North and
South aside, and have supplied sustenance TO
corruption They have disturbed values,
they have unsettled prices, they have made
our whole financial system cheat and q
snare. They have driven the best elements Of
political society into exile, and have organ
lied charlatanism into sort of public polity
enabling the rogue to get cheap advantage
of his dnpe, and sacrificing every popular in
terest to the lust of that oligarchy which has
become SO encrusted with power as to be-
lieve itself entitled to rule by the sheer force
of its wrong doing. So much let us set down
to the convenient pretext of war, SO much to
the long account Of damages between North
and South.


1t is for you TO say whether the same con-
conflict, with consequences multiplied and
magni6ed, shall by any act Of yours be in
augurated between East and West. shall
not undertake on an occasion of this kind
and in a presence so imposing, to enforce the
the familiar lesson of mutual forbearance. No
body doubts our capacity to make battle
among ourselves, entreating you to direct
your energies to the common enemy. ask
indulgence only on my own behalf. You
have called me to place not merely Of dis
tinction but of difficulty; to a place which





than am. In taking it trust to your con-
fidence and good nature and heart, incapable
OF an unmanly or unfair act. The work
before us should relate to ideas rather than TO
individuals.


It is the issue, not the man, that should en-
gage u.s. We have come here to make the
peoples, not our fight for free no less than
for honest government; for the reform of the
public service and the regeneration of public
morals; for administrative relief from ad-
ministrative nihilism, embraced in the simple
creed Of home rule. Reduce taxes, and a
living chance for the South as well as North,
for both the East and west, if nything, comes
of our proceeding. 1t must spring from the
spirit Of association and fellowship. When
warned, the followers of Andrew Jackson and
Silas Wright, Of Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster, met together ON common ground at
last to wrest the government of their fathers
from the clutch of rings, robbers, federal,
State end municipal, aud who mean TO ex-
tirpate these wherever they are found, and
whether they be Republican or Democrat.


The points Of the speech were en-
phasized by frequent applause AT its
conclusion be introduced Rev. Mr.
Marvin. who offered prayer.


The rules Of the last Democratic Con-
vention, which net in Baltimore in
1872. including the two-thirds rule.
were adopted without much opposition


The delegates from the National
Woman's Suffrage Association. asking
hearing Of their cause, were admitted,
and Miss Phoebe Cozzens made an ad-
dress, and offered resolution, the
tenor Of which she asked to have in
corporated in the platform. in favor Of
Female Suffrage The young lady was
listeaed to with respectful attention and
at the close Of her address her resolu-
ton was referred to the committee on
resolutions.


The Convention then, at 2 o'clock
took recess till 5 p. m.