Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1875 — Platform Adopted by the Illinois Farmers’ Association. [ARTICLE]

Platform Adopted by the Illinois Farmers’ Association.

The resofutions adopleTby'tlie Dlinbts Farmers’ Association at its recent convention at Springfield read as follows: Whereas, Through the departure from the primary principles of our Government as promulgated bv its founders, and through the imprudent exercise of that highest prerogative of the freeman, the right of suffrage, we, the farmers of Illinois, in common with the wealth and food producers of these United States, have, through our past action, acquiesced In a system of classlegislation which makes the great majority slavishly subservient to a small minority; and Whereas, This condition is clearly traceable to the fostering protection which has been accorded by the legislative bodies, both State and National, to the financial, mercantile, manufacturing and transporting interests, enabling them to accumulate an undue proportion of the national wealth, and encouraging them in the exercise of the corrupting lobby influences which have become inseparable from our legislative system; therefore, 1. Resolved. That the preservation of our national life imperatively demands that every American voter shall attend with care all primary nominations and elections, so as to insure the election of competent and honest men to all offices in the gift of the people. 2. Resolved, That the record of old political parties of this country is such as to forfeit the confidence and respect of the people, and that-we are, therefore, absolved from all allegiance to them and should act no longer with them. 3. Resolved, That we do not recognize any necessity that public officers should receive extravagant salaries to the end that they may conform to-the demand of expensive and fashionable tastes, which, In their very nature, are antagonistic to republican principles, and, therefore, we demand a reduction of official salaries, including that of the President of the United States to its former basis as soon as can constitutionally be done. 4. Resolved, That we demand the immediate reform of abuses in the civil service, through which the patronage of the Government is dispensed as a reward for partisan service rather than with regard to the public necessities. 5. Resolved, That we are in favor of improving and perfecting the navigation of our principal lakes and rivers and .water connections, and we urge the immediate improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi River. 6. Resolved, That the right to exchange the products of labor is coextensive with the right of ownership. We submit to all needful taxation for the support of the Government, but denounce all taxation levied for the benefit of special classes. We hold that the existing duties on clothing, lumber, salt, iron and steel are not only unnecessary to the successful prosecution of these industries, but oppressive to labor, and tend to create monopolies, while at the same time they furnish a pretext for extravagant charges for railway transportation. 7. Resolved. That we deprecate any further grants of public lands, or loans of public credit, and of National, State or local subscriptions in aid of corporations. 8. Resolved, That we demand the repeal of the National Banking law, and that the Government shall supply national paper money directly from the Treasury made a full legal tenderjfor all debts, public and private, including duties, on imports, to be interchangeable for registered bonds bearing 3.65 interest. 9. Resolved, That, instead of increasing the revenue of the National Government to meet its expenditures, we are in favor of reducing the expenditures to meet the revenues. 10. Resolved, That we hold that our Patent laws arc too often made to subserve the interests of monopolists, and should be carefully revised and restricted. 11. Resolved, That we are oppose d to a construction of the State Constitution which will justify, under any pretext whatever, annual instead of biennial sessions of otir State Legislature. 12. Resolved, That the existing railroad legislation of the State should be sustained and enforced until thoroughly tested before the courts; that we oppose any legislation by Congress under the plea of regulating commerce betw’een the States which shall deprive the people of their present controlling influence through State legislation. 13. Resolved, That the right of the Legislature to regulate and control the railroads of the State must be vindicated, established and maintained as an essential attribute of State government, and that these holding the doctrine that railroad charters are contracts in the sense that they are not subject to legislative supervision and control have no just appreciation of the necessary powers and rights of- a Tree government, and we will agree to no truce and submit to no compromise short of complete vindication and re-establish-ment of the supremacy of the State Government in its right, through its Legislature, to supervise and control the railroads of the State in such a manner as the public interest shall demand. 14. Resolved, That we uncompromisingly condemn the practice of our public officials in receiving free passes from railroad managers. 15. Resolved, That we demand a reduction of all public expenditures, to the end that taxation may be reduced to the lowest possible limit. IS. Resolved, That the present Revenue laws should be so amended as to require County Clerks to carry out the tax for State purposes on the equalized assessment as made by the State Board of Equalization, and taxes for county, township, district and other taxes on the equalized assessment as made by the County Board of Equalization. 17. Resolved, That we are in favor of the adoption of a revenue system as nearly similar to that of Pennsylvania as our circumstances will permit. 18. Resolved, That the association again extend a cordial invitation to all industrial organizations and individuals to join in every effort to throw off the burdens imposed on the industrial glasses by the encroachments of aggregated capital in the hands of monopolies. 19. Whereas, We recognize the necessity and importance of making the independent Reform party a national one, in both character and influence. and recognizing the fact that a call has been made for s National Convention at Cleveland, Ohio, March 11, 1875. to consider the general interest of the industrial classes and the formation of a national party; be it 29. Resolved, That this convention do elect one delegate, with alternate, for each Congressional district of the State to attend the couvention at Cleveland as provided for. —An injunction against a New Haven manufacturer of Vulcanized rubber for dental plates was recently rendered valueless by his strange conduct. Being summoned before the court at Hartford, it took four men to get him on board the train, as he said. he had a warning that the train would be wrecked; and when he reached the court he declared that it had been wrecked and he had been killed, his spirit only being present before the Judge. Being asked why he had not obeyed the summons before, he said he had been advised not to by “ the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Judge told him that no cant was wanted there, and he remarked: “ That’s what Festus said to Paul,” and as nothing more could be got out of him he was supposed to be crazy and was discharged, and is still at work on his rubber plates. —Lake Huron’s length is 260 miles; greatest breadth, 100 miles; area, 29,482 square miles; discharge at outlet, 283,725 cubic feet per second; deepest sounding, *702 feet; elevation of surface above the sea, 578 feet.