Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1886 — INDIANA REPUBLICANS [ARTICLE]

INDIANA REPUBLICANS

Proceedings of the Indiana Republican State Convention. • - • • Full Text of the Platform Adopted— A Strong Ticket. * The Indiana Republican State Convention met at Indianapolis, with a full attendance of delegates and an abundant manifestation of enthusiasm. Senator Harrison was selected as permanent chairman. THE PLATFORM ADOPTED. Mr. E. W. Halford, from the committee on resolutions, submitted the following report: The Republicans of Indiana, in convention assembled, invoke the dispassionate judgment of the people of the State upon the acts and record of the Democratic party. Acceding to power in. the national government (by virtue of unpardonable crimes against free suffrage), it has demonstrated its incapacity and insincerity by failure to redeem its pledges made to the people. Promising economy in public expenditures, the appropriations made by the last Congress and approved by the President were of unparalleled extravagance. Its attempts to legislate on tariff and finance served only to weaken public confidence, paralyze industry, to check the returning tide of commercial prosperity, and to interfere with regular and orderly reduction of the public debt, which was so conspicuous a feature of Republican administration. Under its control the Civil Service has been degraded by the appointment not only of unfit persons but of convicted criminals to posts of responsibility and honor. It has scandalized justice and decency by the methods inaugurated by the postoffice and other departments to distribute the offices to party workers, while it sought to placate the growing sentiment against the spoils system. The federal appointments made in Indiana aye a fair sample of what has brought the.cadse of Civil-service refdfcm into needless djjaKvor and made its success an impossibility under Democratic auspices. The attempt of the Democratic House of Representatives to make oeious pension legislation by adding a special tax bill to every pension measure (thus declaring that pensions should not be paid out of the general treasury), the spirit and language of numerous vetoes of meritorious pensions, and the failure of the Democratic House of Representatives to even reconsider them before adjournment of Congress, reveal -the continued enmity of the Democratic party to the Union soldier and his cause. ‘ ». Since its advent to power, the old heresy of State sovereignty has been rehabilitated. In the Southern States, where the political strength of the party resides, the country has witnessed the resurrection of treason and traitors, the flaunting of the rebel flag and the defiant expression of sentiments at war with the integrity of the Union. The flag of the United States has been lowered in honor of a man who gained unique infamy by his despicable course as a public enemy;the services and memory of men held in reverence by loyal people have been attacked in Congress by those who were formerly in arms against the Government; persons have been appointed to high office who have offensively declared the national government to be a “bloody usurpation of natural rights;” and in federal appointments preference has been fiven to those who >. ere most conspicuous ui heir service to the Southern Confederacy. Anxious for the full and complete harmonizing of all sections of the Union, we can but reprobate these evidences of hostility to the prinples of the .Government. There can be no assurance of permanent safety and security until all people unitedly honor the Union, and as unitedly deplore the differences which, in past years, so seriously threatened.its overthrow'. In its relations _jvith foreign, governments the Democratic administration has conspicuously failed to maintain the honor and dignity of the nation, and to protect the rights of American citizens. It has disfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters in the North by its failure to discharge an imperious moral obligation imposed by the constitution for the admission of Dakota into the Union, for the same reason that led it to extinguish Republican majorities in the Southern States by fraud and violence. The last Legislature of Indiana was Democratic in both branches by a majority of twothirds. It passed apportionment bills disffahcliising hal f the voters of the State in legislative and congressional elections, thus accomplishing under the forms of law what it has accomplished elsewhere by the tissue ballot and the shot-gun. It failed to redeem its pledges to the laboring classes made in its last platform, promising a reduction in the hours of labor on public works, the establishment of bureaus of labor statistics, the use of prison labor, so as to compete with honest labor, the prohibition of the employment of children under 14 years of age, and the prohibition of the watering of corporate stocks. All bills-which were even introduced to accomplish any of these things were defeated by Democratic votes. It failed to pass a bitt to" rostrain the manufacture and use of dynamite for the purpose of destroying life and-property. : —— It failed to amend the extravagant fee and salary bill; it defeated measures introduced by Republicans to limit the excessive allowances of county officers; it refused to cut down the enormous perquisities of the reporter of the Supreme Court; it refused to provide means for ascertaining ana recovering from the clerk of that court sums of money due from him and wrongfully withheld;.it forced upon the State, at great expense and ( without just cause, an extra session Of the General Assembly; and, although it appropriated four and one-half millions of dollars, it crippled our educational institutions by insufficient allowances, and left unpaid just debts of the State to private citizens fusing to pass Jhe specific appropriation It failed to provide citizens of the State with the speedy justice guaranteed in the Constitution, by defeating all measures for the relief of the overcrowded condition of the docket of the Supreme Court. It failed a to obey the imperative mandate of the Constitution to enact a law providing for the registration of voters in the interest of free and fair elections. ■ It failed to comply with the just demands of our colored citizens for equal rights, and a bill to secure such rights, introduced by a Representative of the negro race, was defeated through Democratic opposition. It failed to honor its profession favoring Civil-service reform, “so that honesty and capability might be made the condition of public employment. ” It defeated a bill for this reform introduced and unanimously supported by Republicans. It consigned the benevolent institutions to corrupt and partisan boards 1 ; it surrendered the management of feeble-minded children, and the orphans of our Union soldiers to trustees and care-takers,' by whom they were debauched, outraged, liand-cuffed, confined in dungeons, and maltreated under circumstances of unspeakable barbarity. It failed to investigate the acts of the Democratic Treasurer of State, after it was proved and admitted that large sums of money had been lost; that he had used the moneys of the State and received interest thereon, in violation of the criminal statutes; and, notwithstanding the fact that of the vouchers exposed by him to the legislative committee as part of his assets, a large portion showed the money they represented to have been deposited within two days prior to-their inspection, another porfion appeared to have been antedated, and part consisted of oounty orders long since due and taken in violation of law, and only $7,700 appeared in cash in the treasury. And it declined to allow even an inquiry into these evidences of presumed credit. It has enormously increased the public debt of the State. Its scandalouf' alliance with the honor league forced it to defeat a bill to permit the effects of alcohol on the hufnan system to be studied by our children in the,public schools. On this record we ask the verdict of the people, and also upon the following declaration of principles: The security of government rests upon an equal, intelligent, and honest ballot, and we renew our declaration against crimes of fraud and violence, wherever practiced and under whatever form, whereby the right of every man to cast one vote, and have that vote counted and returned, is imperiled or abridged. We especially protest against the flagrantcrime

of the Democratic party of Indiana against free suffrage in the passage of an infamous gerrymander. We demand that, man for man, the votes of members of all parties shall be given equal force and effect. > - ■—■■■' Freedom of labor is essential to the contentment and prosperity of the people. Workingmen should be protected against the oppressions of corporate combinations and monopolies. We arc opposed to the importation of contracted and ill-paid labor from abroad: the unfair competition of convict labor "with free labor; the conipetion of “assisted” emigrants and the vicious classes of Europe with American workingmen ; the employment of young children in factories and mines; and we recommend to the next General Assembly the passage of such laws as will guarantee to workingmen the most favorable conditions for their labor—especially in the proper ventilation and safeguards for life and health in mines and factories—and the sure and prompt payment of wages." We favor the reduction of the le&al number of working hours wherever practicable, an 1 the submission of all matters of controversy between employe and employer, under just regulation, to impartial arbitration. The right of all men to associate for the promotion of their mutual good and protection without interfering with the rights of others, cannot be questioned. We favor the maintenance of tliflß principle of protection under which the resources of the State and Nation have been and are being developed, and whereby the wages of workingmen are from 15 to 30 per cent higher than under the revenue tariff in force before the Republican party came into power. Favoring the reduction and readjustment of the tariff from time to time, as circumstances may. require, upon the basis of affording protection to products and results of American skill and industry. In our opinion the duties should be reduced as low as will be allowed by a wise observance of the necessity to protect that portion of our manufacturers and laborers whose prosperity is essential to our national- safety and independence. We, at the same time, condemn the declaration of the Democratic party of Indiana in favor of practical free trade as a serious menace to the prosperity of the State, and to the welfare and advancement of workingmen. The wisdom and honesty of the Republican party secured sound money to the people. Gold and silver should be maintained in friendly relation to the coin circulation of the country, and all the circulating medium—coin and paper alike—should be kept of equal and permanent value. The surplus in the treasury shpqld be steadily applied to the reduction of the national debt. We favor a thorough and honest enforcement of the civil service law, and the extension of its- principles to the State administration wherever it can be made practicable, to the end that the corruption and flagrant abuses that exist in the management of our public institutions may be done away with, and they may be liberated from partisan control. ’ The Republican party carried in effect the homestead policy, under which the Western States and Territories have been made populous and prosperous. We favor the reservation of public lands for small holders by actual settlers, an t are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of the public domain by corporations and non-resident aliens. American lands should be preserved for American settlers. The watering of corporate stock should be prevented by law. Railway and other public corporations should be subjected to the control of the people, through the legislative power that created them, and their undue influence in legislation and in courts should be summarily prevented. We favor the creation of a bureau of labor and statistics, whereby the interests of both labor and statistics may be protected and the welfare of the State promoted. The constitutional provision that all taxation shall be equal and uniform should be made effective by such revision of the. assessment and taxation laws as will remedy the injustice whereby Certain localities have been made to bear more than their share of the public burdens. The strict and impartial enforcement of law is the only safeguard of society; and we demand of State and local authorities the vigorous execution of legal penalties against all criminals. We congratulate the people on the unanimous opposition of all classes to the imported crime of anarchism, which is the enemy of all social order, and an attack upon the safety of life and property. It is the special foe of honorable workingmen, and is justly condemned by intelligent and patriotic labor everywhere. Lapse of time does not weaken the gratitude due the soldiers and sailors of the Union. We favor such changes in the pension laws as will make proof of enlistment conclusive evidence of the physical soundness of the applicant, that will equalize allowances and will simplify the methods by which just claims can be judicatedln the pension office.. We favor the granting of a pension to every honorably discharged soldier and sailor suffering from unavoidable disability. We favor the granting of pensions to the survivors of the Mexican war who are not laboring under political disability. The Legislature should make a liberal appropriation for the erection of a soldiers’ and sailors’ monument at the capital of the State. We favor the separation of the soldiers’ orphans’ home from the home for the feebleminded children. 'We renew the pledge of our devotion to the free, unsectarian school system, and favor measures tending to increase ite practical value to the people. We are opposed to any movement, however insidious, whether local or State, whereby a sacred fund may Be diverted' from its legitimate use, or the administration of the schools made less impartial or efficient The amendment to the constitution of the State providing for the equalization of fees and salaries ought not to remain a dead letter, and we favor the enactment of a just law - for the compensation of all public officials. We favor the pending constitutional amendments making the terms of county officers four years, and striking out the word “white” from Section 1, Article 12, of the constitution, so that colored men may become a part of the regular militia force for the defense of the State. The attempted domination of the liquor league of political parties and legislation is a menace to free institutions which must be met and defeated. The traffic in intoxicating liquors has always been under legislative restraint, an i believing that the evils resulting therefrom should be rigidly repressed, favor such laws as will permit the people in their several localities to invoke such measures of restriction as they may deem wise, and to compel the traffic to compensate for the burdens it imposes on society, and relieve the burden of local taxation. The party of freedom to all, irrespective of the accidents of birth or condition—the Republican party—welcomes every advance of the people to” a higher standard of politicalrights. The peaceful revolution in Great Britain, whereby Ireland is sure to receive the benefits of home rule, after centuries of oppression, has our sympathy, and should command every proper’and legitimate assistance. Hon... Benjamin Harrison, United States Senator for Indiana, has worthily won a front rank among the trusted and honorable statesmen of the nation, and by his signal abilities and devotion to the highest public interest, has brought credit upon the State and country. His course in the Senate of the United States meets with our warmest approval and we commend him to the esteem and confidence of all the people. The Republican Representatives in the Lower House of Congress also deserve the thanks of the Republicans of the State for their--faithful and honorable service. In common with the nation we deeply mourn the death of Ulysses 8. Grant, whose deeds in war and peace secured for him the grateful admiration of his country, and the honor of the world. We favor an appropriation by Congress of such an amount as may he necessary to erect in the city of Washington a monument befitting the military achievements and civic virtues of one who shed imperisahble lustre upon the American name and character. Coupled with our great chieftain and leader in the country's history, is the name of one of Indiana’s most illustrious citizens, Hon. Schuyler Colfax. His death’is sincerely lamented, and his memory should be appropriately honored. The Convention then proceeded to the nomination of officers, which resulted in the choice of the following ticket: Lieutenant Governor, R. S. Robertson, of Allen County. Secretary of State, Charles F. Griffin, of Lake. ? Auditor of State, Bruce Carr, of Orange. Treasurer of State, James A. Lemcke, of Evansville.

Judge of the Supreme Court, Byron K. Elliott. Attorney General, Lewis I. Miehener. Clerk of the Supreme Court, William I. Noble. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Edward LaFollette. 'The Convention then adjourned amid much enthusiasm.