Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1873 — Massachusetts Republican Platform. [ARTICLE]

Massachusetts Republican Platform.

The following are the resolutions adopted by the recent State Republican Convention of Massachusetts: Resolved, That the Republicans of Massachusetts emphatically disapprove of and condemn the action of those members of the last Congress, Republicans and Democrats, who availed themselves of the occasion of an increase of salary of the President and Judges of the Supreme Court and members of the Cabinet, supposed to be just and necessary for the future, to secure to themselves a disproportionate. and extravagant compensation for past as well as future services. Resolved., That while we recognize the full right of every citizen to express and act upon his convictions upon all questions of public interest, no person holding public office has the right to seek to influence the action of his subordinates by exciting their fear of lose of place if their opinions and actions shall differ from bls own, and we call upon the President further to remove all public officers who have improperly interfered wlth the fndependenceofthe Republicans of Massachusetts in the management of their local concerns, whenever the fact is proved to his satisfaction. Resolved, That the adoption of a policy which shall so reduce the freights on railroads that the raw materials, food, and coal of the -West anil South shall be exchanged at the least possible cost, for the manufactures of New England, interests the whole country, and it is vital to the industries of Massachusetts; that the power vested by the Constitution in Congress to regulate commerce between the States includes jurisdiction over this great subject, and that we call upon Congress and our State legislature to so exercise all their powers over railroads and all such monopolies, that, without injustice to them, they may reduce freights and fares to proper rates, and secure the advantages of these great highways to the whole people free from all preferences or monopoly. Resolved, That every great achievement for personal liberty, for the preservation of the Union, for education, for the elevation of labor, for the elevation of woman, for the extension of suffrage, which has been accomplished in this country for a generation, has been due to the Republican party; that while none of these great causes bas anything to hope’for in the future from any other source, while every new truth, every claim founded on justice, will in future as in the past find its earliest converts, its most generous recognition, its strongest advocates, and its first victories among the Republicans of Massachusetts; the pressing duty of the day is to secure honesty and purity, the right of the people peaceably to assemble and take council on public matters, and select their agents free from violence, intimidation and fraud; the right to hold caucuses and conventions without being cheated and bullied, and we therefore call upon all honest Republicans, however they may differ on other questions, or howsoever they may have advanced in thqir recep tion of new ideas, to unite in purging the Commonwealth and Nation of violence, treachery and corruption. Resolved, That we demand such legislation on the hours of labor as will secure the ten-hour system for women and minors employed in the factories of Massachusetts. Resolved, That the Republican party is a party of temperance, order and law; that it favors the honest and impartial execution, in good faith, of all laws, especially those for the suppression of crime, intemperance and disorder. That the chart acter and details of such laws mast be such as the people shall decide through representatives chosen to the Legislature, and when so determined should be obeyed cheerfully by all law-abiding citizens, until repealed by the same authority. The last resolution commends the ticket nominated to support of the people.