Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1884 — DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. [ARTICLE]

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.

The Democratic party of Indiana, iu ivention assembled, renews its pledges fidelity to the Constitution and to the -ctiine* taught by the illustrious men i) were its founders and illustrated in eir administrations of tne Government, l insists upon an honest and economil administration of public affairs, teral, State and municipal. It will st all efforts to deprive the Federal verument of any of its powers as dele* glinthefW tution, and will maini for the Bi>‘tes apd the people respect* ;y the rights arid powers reserved to m ip tii * v iMWUWuon, i sondrinns the corrupt and extrava■tniHiVfttait ifri 11 terwm&XWslwSmMiTfr

g*nt expenditures of the public mom-y that have prevailed at Washington during the rule of the Republican party. 2. To the end that such expenditures may be discontinued, and cruel burdens removed from the taxpayers we insist that the Federal taxes be reduced to the lowest point consistent with efficiency in the public service, and we demand a yision and reform of the present unjust tariff. The Constitution of th« United States, which is the only somr-e of taxing power, confers upon Congress the right tojestablish a tariff for revenue, and as a just exereise of that power we favor such an adjustment of its provisions, the revenue standard, as will relieve, as for as possible, the necessaries of life from the burdens of taxation, and derive the principal amount of revenue for the support of government economically administered. 'rom luxuries; and such tarifi should be adjusted without favoritism, so as to prevent monopolies, and thus in effect promote labor and the interests of the laboring people of the United States We insist that the surplus revenue shall be faithfully applied to the payment of the public debt. When these revenue reforms shall have been accomolished the people may hope for economical and honest expenditures. S. The Democratic party being ol the people and for the people, favors such legislation as will guarantee the > roadest protection to the interests and welfare of the industrial masses; it recognizes the fact that labor is the producer of the wealth of a nation, and that laws should be so framed as encourage and promote the interest, progress and prosperity of each and every branch of industry; it fa vnrs the enforcement of the National eight hour law, as also a reduction of the number of hours iu a day's labor udod all public work. State and municipal; it livors the establishment of Bureaus of Labor Statistics, State and National; it favors, as far as practical, the use of pris on and reformatory labor so as not to compete with the labor of the honest citizen upon the outside; it favors the enactment of such law? as will prohibit the employment of children under fourteen years of age in our manufactories, mines and work shops; it favors the passage of laws for the payment of labor performed in lawful currency, instead of priv te depreciated scrip, and that the mechanic shall he secured, by a first lien upon work done, for wages thereon performed. We demand a strict enforcement of the laws against Chinese immigration, and such legislation by Oongress as shall effectually prevent the importations of persons under the passage-contract system wh are brought here with no purpose of permanent settlement or residence —a system which reduces the wages and deteriorates the character of our home industries. 4. That ws recognize the right of all men to organize for social or material advancement; tthe right of wage-workers to use all lawful means to protect themselves against the encroachment of monied monopolists, and the right to fix a price for their labor commensurate with the work required of them, and we hold that every man has the right to dispose of his own upon such terms as he may think will best promote-liis interests, and without interference by : y other person. In relations betweei capital and labor the Democratic part.’ favors such measures a d policies as will omote harmony bettween thom, and wi >i adequately protect the rights of both. 5. We deem It of vital im: » tance that private corporations should i-.. prohibited by law from watering their corporate stock.

6. Resolved,. That it i? the duty of the Government to repossess .itself of all public lands heretofore granted for the benefit of corporations which have been torfeited by non-compliance with the conditions of the grant, and should hold the same for the use and benefit of the people. Laws should be passed to prevent the ownership of large tracts of land by corporations, or by persons not citizens of the United States, or who have not declared their intention to become such as provided by law. Oongress should discourage the purchase of public laud in large bodies by any parties for speculative purposes, but should preserve the same, as far as practicable, for|actua’ setters, and to that • ndall subsidies of land, as well as money, to corporation? and speculators, should cease forcvei.

7. The Democratic party is the faith - ful friend of the soldiers, their widows and orphans. We are in favor of the granting of pensions to all soldiers suffbring from disability incurred during setvice in the army; of granting pensions to tbe soldiers of the Mexican War; of equalizing bounties and pensions to soldiers and pensioners without limitation as to time, and of providing for the widows of all soldiers. 8. We hold it to be the duty of our Government to protect in every part of the world all our naturalized ditlzens, including those who have declared their intention to become such according to our laws, the same as we would our na-tive-born, and to resist all improper claims upon them by governments to whem they no longer owe allegiance; and our sympathies are with all oppressed people in all parts of the world, in all rightful and proper efforts to free themselves from oppression, and establieh free institutions based on the consent of tbe governed. 9. The Democratic party demands res forms in theeiyil service that will again result in the employment of those who are honest and capable, and that honesty and capability shall again be made a condition of pwblicemployment. 10. The free schools of Indiana are the pride and glory of the State, and the Democratic party will see to it that they are not poisoned by the breath of sectas rianism, or destroyed by waste and extravagance in their management. 11. We approve of the action of the late Democratic Legislature in preventing a partisan Governor trom politically revolutionizing the benevolent i etitutions of the State, which he had already commenced by the nomination of his party friends to fill tbe vacancies abnin to occur in the boards of directors of said Institutions

11. We also approve of the repeal by said Legislature of the infamous law passed by the former Republican Leg s iature for tbe settlement of decedents’ estates under which law estates were being consumed by court costs, and we declare in favor of i’ll fees and salaries according to tbe necessities or the times, and that rigid economy shall be observed in every department of the State and Federal Government. 13. We also approve of the passagt by said Legislature of the Metropolitan Police bill,' whereby a riotous parttsan police, at the capital of the State, whose chief business was to labor to keep the Republican party in power, was superceded by a strictly Dou-partisan police.

equally divided as to politics between Democrats and Republicans, and who are requited by the law to preserve order and attend to regular police business, and forbidden to interfere in electors. It is particularly appropriate that the State should have some voice in choosing the nolice of its own eapital, where the State Treasury, public buildings and archives and much public property are situated, and where its principal public officers re side, or periodically assemble, ani about the greatest nnigsnne that can be indicted on a city is a mer« partisan police chosen by a lot of ward bummers and low grade politicians and adventurers. We favor all measures that will elevate and puriry mu nicipal governments and make them protective of the interest? of the whole people rather than of the party which, for the time being, happens to be in power 14. We commend the act of the last Democratic Legislature in refusing an indirect subsidy tojbe contractors upon the New State-house, and it is the sense of the Democratic party of Indiana that no subsidy, either direct or indirect, shall be hereafter voted to contractor on said building. 15. Resolved, That we are opposed to calling a conyention to alter and amend tne Constitution of this 3tate. Such a Convention would be a great anu useless expense, and would result in unsettling laws and systems now well established and understood, and which couldjnot be as ""ell understood under a new oon9ti« tution for a quarter of acentury. It will be wise in this matter to Jet well enough alone. The country has prospered and grown great under the present Constitution, and it needs no tinkering with at the present time, especially inlthe interest ot any party seeking to invade the rights of private property and personal libertynow secured by the Constitution. And any amendments that may become necesn sary in the future should be made in the cheap, simple and just manner provided in the Constitution itself. 16> It is provided by the Constitution of this State that the liberty of the people should be protected aud that their private properly should not be taken without just compensation, and we arc opposed to any change in the Constitution tending to weaken these safeguards, or to auv legislation which asserts the power to take or destroy the private property of any portion of the people of this State, without compensation, or which unjustly interferes with their personal liberty as to what they shall eat or drink or as to the kind of dlothing they shall wear, beliov. ing that the government should be ad' ministered in that way heat calcinated t<> confer the greatest good upon the greatest number, without sacrificing the lights of person or of property, and leaving the innocent creeds, habits, customs and bu* siness of the people unfettered bv sump, tuary laws, class legislation, or extortionate monopolies. While standing faithfully by the rights of property and personal liberty guaranteed to Hie people by the Constitution, we distinctly declare that we are in lavor of sobriety and tern, pcrance, and all proper means for the promotion of these virtues, but we believe that a well regulated license system, and reasonable and just laws upon the subj ct. faithfully enforced, would be better than extreme measures winch, being subversive of personal libertv ami in conflict with public sentiment, would never be effectively executed, thus bring' ing law into disrepute and tending to make sneaks ami hypocrites of our peo* pie; therefor** we are opposed to any Constitutional amendment relating |to the subject « tip* "'--nuf.icfure and sale of intoxicating arid malt liquors, 17. Believing that the elections should be controlled by the people funder State laws, and that the stability of our insti, tutions depend upon fair elections and an honest count of the votes cast by the people, the Democratic party demands a repeal of the laws enacted by the Repub. lican party designed to place the elections under federal control in violation of the rights of the States, and that it will hold up for the detestation of the people the supreme fraud ot 1876-7 by which the will of the people was set aside and usurpers were placed in the two most important offices of the country. 18. The Republican party stands arraigned at the bar of public opinion far its long and continued course of usurpation and misrule. It has disregarded ti e rights of the people and the States; it has held on to its ill -gotten power in defiance of the popular will by the corrupt use of money in the elections [especially in Indiana in 1880], and it has corrupted publie morals by elevating to high places men who are known tobe dishonest, and has continued during a period of peace a system of high taxation justified only by a condition of war in which it had its ori. gin, and to furnish a pretext foi R s continuance has favored every extravagant appropriation of the public money tailed a burden on the people, and which is a benefit only to those who share in the plunder. The remedy for these evils is an immediate change of aclmmistralion. Let taxation be reduced to the end that the money shall remain in the pock* cts of the people instead of accumulat* ing in the Treasury to tempt the cupidity of the venal and corrupt.

19. The cohtinuance of the same party or set of men in power consecutively for a great many years is naturally corrupting, and not in accordance with the genius ofjour republican institutions. The long continuance of the Republican party in power, now nearly the quarter of a century, has led to Star-route and other frauds and corruptions frightful to contemplate, the full extent of which will never be known until the partv is driven from power, which is now demanded by the best interests of the country; and we favor holdihg all public officers to a strict accountability, and their prompt and severe punishment for all thefts of public money and corrupt maLadminisIration of office. 20. Resolved, That our confidence in, and esteem for, Hon. Daniel W. Voorbees, our great representative in the Uni* ted States Senate, continues unabated, and we cheerful!\- greet him, and liis Democratic Rgs'i-ia*.-- from Indiana in tin- IJoUrH* ot Rcpie-. i.ratives, with the plaudit: “Well done, good and faithful public servants.” 21. Reselved, That it will be the mission of tbe Democratic party to foster ar d build up all the greut business and material interests of the country and restore the Government to the purity of its earlier days. To successfully accomplish this a man should be placed in the Presidential chair in whom the business men of the country, and the whole people, have implicit confidence; a man fully endowed with all the qualities desirable in the head of the great American Republic; a man with a pure and spot less personal and political record, and always sound upon all the great questions A the times.

We know Joseph E. McDonald of la* diana, to be sack & man. W e respectfully present his name to the people of the United States as worthy to be their Presideot, and vre hereby instruct the delegates from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention to sop. port his nomination for that high office as a unit, and to use all honorable means to secure his nominatton.