Republican national platform : adopted at St. Louis, June 18, 1896 : also the tariff and money planks in former years

Party Platforms, 1896 . THE MONEY AND TARIFF PLANKS OF FORMER YEARS. Republican, Democratic, Populist and National. Also the Test Votes in the Republican and Democratic Conventions. BOSTON, 1S96: Published by the Home Market Club. LIBRARY THE EEFOEN. SSUHD YorK . 52 William St., N eW TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Republican Platform of 1896, 3 u “ former years, - - - - 11 Vote in Republican Convention on Money Plank, 1896, 10 Democratic Platform of 1896, - - - - - *3 u “ former years, - - - - 21 Vote in Democratic Convention on Money Plank, 1896, 19 Populist Platform, 1896, ------ 2 3 National Party’s Platform, 1896, ----- 28 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. ADOPTED AT ST. LOUIS, JUNE 18, 1896. Also the Tariff and. Money Planks in Former Years. THE ONLY DIVISION AT ST. LOUIS WAS ON THE MONEY PLANK, AND THIS PLATFORM WAS ADOPTED BY A VOTE OF 8l2 Yz TO IIO^ THE VOTE BY STATES. THE PLATFORM. T HE Republicans of the United States, assembled by their representatives in national convention, appeal- ing for the popular and historical justification of their claims to the matchless achievements of thirty years of Republi- can rule, earnestly and confidently address themselves to the awakened intelligence, experience, and conscience of their countrymen in the following declaration of facts and principles : For the first time since the Civil War the American peo- ple have witnessed the calamitous consequences of full and unrestricted Democratic control of the government. It has been a record of unparalleled incapacity, dishonor, and disaster. In administrative management it has ruthlessly sacrificed indispensable revenue, entailed an unceasing de- ficit, eked out ordinary current expenses with borrowed money, piled up the public debt by $262,000,000 in time of peace, forced an adverse balance of trade, kept a per- petual menace hanging over the redemption fund, pawned American credit to alien syndicates, and reversed all the measures and results of successful Republican rule. In the broad effect of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted industry and trade with prolonged depression, closed factories, reduced work and wages, halted enter- prise, and crippled American production while stimulating foreign production for the American market. Every con- sideration of public safety and individual interest demands that the government shall be rescued from the hands of those who have shown themselves incapable to conduct it without disaster at home and dishonor abroad, and shall be restored to the party which for thirty years administered it with unequaled success and prosperity, and in this connec- tion we heartily endorse the wisdom, patriotism, and the .success of the Administration of President Harrison. * The Tariff Plank. We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection as the bulwark of American industrial inde- pendence and the foundation of American development and prosperity. This true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry ; it puts the burden of revenue on foreign goods ; it secures the American mar- ket for the American producer ; it upholds the American standard of wages for the American workingman ; it puts the factory by the side of the farm and makes the Ameri- can farmer less dependent on foreign demand and price ; it diffuses general thrift, and founds the strength of all on the strength of each. In its reasonable application it is just, fair, and impartial, equally opposed to foreign control and domestic monopoly, to sectional discrimination and indi- vidual favoritism. We denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional, injurious to the public credit, and destructive to business enterprise. We demand such an equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into competition with American pro- ducts as will not only furnish adequate revenue for the necessary expenses of the government, but will protect American labor from degradation to the wage level of other lands. We are not pledged to any particular sched- ules. The question of rates is a practical question, to be 5 governed by the conditions of the time and of production ; the ruling and uncompromising principle is the protection and development of American labor and industry. The country demands a right settlement and then it wants rest. Reciprocity Indorsed. We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated by the last Republican Administration was a national calamity, and we demand their renewal and ex- tension on such terms as will equalize our trade with other nations, remove the restrictions which now obstruct the sale of American products in the ports of other countries, and s secure enlarged markets for the products of our farms, forests, and factories. Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of Republi- can policy and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has reck- lessly struck down both, and both must be re-established. Protection for what we produce ; free admission for the necessaries of life which we do not produce ; reciprocal agreements of mutual interest, which gain open markets for us in return for open market to others. Protection builds up domestic industry and trade and secures our own market, for ourselves ; reciprocity builds up foreign trade and finds an outlet for our surplus. We condemn the present administration for not keeping faith with the sugar producers of this country. The Re- publican party favors such protection as will lead to the production on American soil of all the sugar which the American people use, and for which they pay other coun- tries more than $100,000,000 annually. To all our products — to those of the mine and the field, as well as those of the shop and the factory — to hemp, to wool, the product of the great industry of sheep husbandry, as well as to the finished woolens of the mill — we promise the most ample protection. We favor restoring the early American policy of dis- criminating duties for the upholding of our merchant marine and the protection of our shipping in the foreign carrying trade, so that American ships — the product of American 6 labor, employed in American ship-yards, sailing und^r the Stars and Stripes, and manned, officered, and owned by Americans — may regain the carrying of our foreign com- merce. The Coinage Plank. The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the enactment of the law providing for the re- sumption of specie payments in 1879* Since then every dollar has been as good as gold. We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are, therefore, opposed to the free coinage of silver ex- cept by international agreement with the leading commer- cial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to promote, and until such agreement can be obtained the existing gold standard must be preserved. All our silver and paper currency must be maintained at parity with gold, and we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolable the obligations of all our money, whether coin or paper, at the present standard — the standard of the most enlightened nations of the earth. The Pension Question. The veterans of the Union Army deserve and should re- ceive fair treatment and generous recognition. Wherever practicable they should be given the preference in the mat- ter of employment, and they are entitled to the enactment of such laws as are best calculated to secure the fulfillment of the pledges made to them in the dark days of the coun- try’s peril. We denounce the practice in the Pension Bureau, so recklessly and unjustly carried on by the pres- ent Administration, of reducing pensions and arbitrarily dropping names from the rolls, as deserving the severest condemnation of the American people. Our Foreign Policy. Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous, and dignified, and all our interests in the Western Hemis- phere carefully watched and guarded. The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States, and no 7 foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them. The Nicaraguan Canal should be built, owned, and oper- ated by the United States, and by the purchase of the Danish Islands we should secure a proper* and much- needed naval station in the West Indies. The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sym- pathy and just indignation of the American people, and we believe that the United States should exercise all the in- fluence it can properly exert to bring these atrocities to an end. In Turkey American residents have been exposed to the gravest dangers, and American property destroyed. There and everywhere American citizens and American property must be absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost. The Monroe Doctrine. We reassert the Monroe doctrine in its full extent, and we reaffirm the right of the United States to give the doc- trine effect by responding to the appeals of any American State for intervention in case of European encroachment. We have not interfered and shall not interfere with the ex- isting possessions of any European power in this hemis- phere, but those possessions must, not, on any pretext, be extended. We hopefully look forward to the eventual with- drawal of the European powers from this hemisphere, and to the ultimate union of all English-speaking parts of the continent by the free consent of its inhabitants. Sympathy for Cuba. From the hour of achieving their own independence the people of the United States have regarded with sympathy the struggle of other American peoples to free themselves from European domination. We watch with deep and abiding interests the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined contest for liberty. The government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba, and being unable to protect the property and lives of resi- dent American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obliga- tions, we believe that the government of the United States 8 should actually use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island. The peace and security of the Republic and the main- tenance of its rightful influence among the nations of the earth demand a naval power commensurate with its position and responsibility. We, therefore, favor the continued en- largement of the navy and a complete system of haibor and sea coast defenses. Educational Test of Immigrants. For the protection of the quality of our American citizen- ship and of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low-priced labor, we demand that the immi- gration laws be thoroughly enforced, and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who can neither read nor write. Civil Service Reform. The civil service law was placed on the statute book by the Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our repeated declarations that it shall be thor-> oughly and honestly enforced and extended wherevei practicable. Free Ballot and Fair Count. We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast. Against Lynching. We proclaim our unqualified condemnation of the un- civilized and barbarous practice well known as lynching or killing of human beings suspected or charged with crime, without process of law. National Arbitration Board. We favor the creation of a national board of arbitration to settle and adjust differences which may arise between employers and employees engaged in interstate commerce. \ 9 Free Homesteads. We believe in an immediate return to the free homestead policy of the Republican party ; and urge the passage by Congress of the satisfactory free homestead measure which has already passed the House and is now pending in the Senate. * , . . . „ Admission of New States. We favor the admission of the remaining Territories at the earliest practicable date, having due regard to the in- terests of the people .of the Territories and of the United States. All the Federal officers appointed for the Terri- tories should be elected from bona fide residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded as far as practicable. We believe the citizens of Alaska should have repre- sentation in the Congress of the United States, to the end that needful legislation may be intelligently enacted. Temperance and Morality. We sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent the evils of intemperance and promote morality. Rights of Women. The Republican party is mindful of the rights and inter- ests of women. Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protec- tion to the home. We favor the admission of women to , wider spheres of usefulness, and we welcome their co-oper- ation in rescuing the country from Democratic and Popu- list mismanagement and misrule. Appeal to the People. Such are the principles and policies of the Republican party. By these principles we will abide and these policies we will put into execution. We ask for them the consid- erate judgment of the American people. Confident alike • in the history of our great party and in the justice of our cause, we present our platform and our candidates in the full assurance that the election will bring victory to the Republican party and prosperity to the people of the United States. 10 The following is the detailed vote on the adoption of the financial plank : State Yeas. Nays. State. Yeas. Nays. Alabama, • 19 8 NeAv York, . • 72 — Arkansas, . • 15 1 Noi-th Cai-olina, . • 7/4 California, . • 4 H North Dakota, . 6 — Colorado, . — 8 Ohio, . . 46 — Connecticut, . 12 — Oregon, . 8 — Delaware, . 6 — Pennsylvania, . 64 — Florida, • 7 X Rhode Island, . 8 — Georgia, • 25 I South Carolina, . . 18 — Idaho, . 6 — South Dakota, • . 7 1 Illinois, . 46 2 Tennessee, . • 23 1 Indiana, • 30 — Texas, . • 30 — Iowa, . . 26 — Utah, . . — 6 Kansas, • i5 5 Vermont, . 8 — Kentucky, . . 26 — Vii-ginia, • W 7 Louisiana, . 16 — Washington, . 8 — Maine, . 12 — West Virginia, . . 12 • — Maryland, . 16 — Wisconsin, . • 24 — Massachusetts, . • 3° — Wyoming, . — 6 Michigan, . • 25 3 Arizona, . — 6 Minnesota, . . 18 — New Mexico, 2 4 Mississippi,. . 18 — Oklahoma, . . — 6 Missouri, • 33 — Indian Territory, . 6 Montana, . 6 — District of Columbia, . 2 — Nebraska, . • 13 3 Alaska, • 4 — Nevada, . — 6 — New Hampshire,. . 8 — Totals, 812 K "O % New Jersey, . 20 — The vote then came on the adoption of the platform, and it was adopted with only a few scattering noes. Previous to this there had been a vote on Mr. Foraker’s motion to lay Mr. Teller’s free silver coinage substitute on the table. That vote had resulted in yeas 818 1-2 and nays 105 1-2. On the second roll call — the vote on the adoption of the financial plank — there was some change in the voting. The silver men lost four votes in Alabama, one in Califor- nia, one in Florida, two in Georgia, one in Missouri, one in South Dakota. Silver gained as follows : One in Illinois, three in Iowa, two in Michigan, one in Kansas, three in Nebraska, one in New Mexico, five in Oklahoma and two in Virginia. i 11 THE PLATFORM OF 1888. On the Tariff Question. We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of Protection ; we protest against its destruction, as proposed by the President and his party. They serve the interests of Europe ; we will support the interests of America. We accept the issue, and confidently appeal to the people for their judgment. The protective system must be maintained. Its abandonment has al- ways been followed by general disaster to all interests, except those of the usurer and the sheriff. We denounce the Mills bill as destructive to the general business, the labor and the farming interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the consistent and patriotic action of the Republican Representatives in Con- gress in opposing its passage. We condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to place wool on the free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and maintained so as to furnish full and adequate protection to that industry throughout the United States. The Republican party would effect all needed reduction of the national revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, which are an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical purposes, and by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check imports of such articles as are produced by our people, the production of which gives employment to our labor, and release from import duties those articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the like of which cannot be produced at home. If there shall remain larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the government, we favor the entire repeal of the internal revenue taxes, rather than the surrender of any part of our protective system, at the joint behest of the whiskey ring and the agents of foreign manu- facturers. On the Money Question. \ The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic ad- ministration in its efforts to demonetize silver. THE PLATFORM OF 1892. On the Tariff Question. We reaffirm the American doctrine of protection. We call attention to its growth abroad. We maintain that the prosper- ous condition of our country is largely due to the wise revenue legislation of the Republican Congress. We believe that all articles which cannot be produced in the United States, except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that on all imports coming into competition with the products of American labor 12 there should be levied duties equal to the difference between wages abroad and at home. We assert that the prices of manu- factured articles of general consumption have been reduced un- der the operations of the tariff act of 1890. We denounce the efforts of the Democratic majority of the House of Representa- tives to destroy our tariff laws piecemeal, as is manifested by their attacks upon wool, lead and lead ores, the chief products of a number of states, and we ask the people for their judgment thereon. We point to the success of the Republican policy of reciproc- ity, under which our export trade has vastly increased, and new and enlarged markets have been opened for the products of our farms and workshops. We remind the people of the bitter op- position of the Democratic party to this practical business meas- ure, and claim that, executed by a Republican administration, our present laws will eventually give us control of the trade of the world. On the Money Question. The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bi- metalism, and the Republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be determined by legislation, as wilk secure the maintenance of the parity of values of the two metals, so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollars, whether of silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal. The interests of the producers of the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the government shall be as good as any other. We com- mend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our govern- ment to secure an international conference to adopt such meas- ures as will insure a parity of value between gold and silver for use as money throughout the world. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PLATFORM. ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, JULY 9, 1896. Also the Tariff and. Money Planks in Former Years. THE MAIN ISSUE WAS ON THE QUESTION OF FREE COINAGE AT 1 6 TO I BY THIS COUNTRY ALONE, AND SILVER WON BY 628 TO 3OI THE VOTE BY STATES. HE Democrats of the United States in national conven- vention assembled, do reaffirm our allegiance to those great essential principles of justice and liberty upon which our institutions are founded, and which the Democratic party had advocated from Jefferson’s time to our own — freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of conscience, the preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, and the faithful observance of Constitutional limitations. During all these years the Democratic party has resisted the tendency of selfish inter- ests to the centralization of Governmental power and stead- fastly maintained the integrity of the dual scheme of Govern- ment, established by the founders of this Republic of republics. Under its guidance and teachings the great principle of local self-government has found its best expres- sion in the maintenance of the rights of the States and its assertion of the necessity of confining the general Govern- tnent to the exercise of the powers granted by the Constitu- tion of the United States. THE PLATFORM. 14 Personal and Political Liberty. The Constitution of the United States guarantees to ev- ery citizen the rights of civil and religious liberty. The Democratic party has always been the exponent of politi- cal liberty and religious freedom, and it renews its obliga- tions and reaffirms the devotion to these fundamental prin- ciples of the Constitution. Finance. Recognizing that the money question is paramount to all others at this time, we invite attention to the fact that the Federal Constitution names silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States, and that the first coin- age law passed by Congress under the Constitution made the silver dollar the monetary unit and admitted gold to a free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver unit. We declare that the act of 1873, demonetizing silver without the knowledge or approval of the American people, has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a correspond- ing fall in the prices of commodities produced by the people. We are unalterably opposed to monometalism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold monometalism is a British policy, and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American, but anti-American, and can be fastened on the United States only by the stifling of that spirit and love of liberty which proclaimed our political independence in 1776 an ^ won it in the War of the Revolution. We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender money by private contract. We are opposed to the policy and practice of surrender- ing to the holders of the obligations of the United States 15 the option reserved by law to the Government of redeem- ing such obligations in either silver coin or gold coin. We are opposed to the issuing of interest-bearing bonds of the United States in times of peace, and condemn the trafficking with banking syndicates which, in exchange for bonds at enormous profit to themselves, supply the Federal Treasury with gold to maintain the policy of gold mono- metalism. Congress alone has power to coin and issue money, and President Jackson declared that this power could not be delegated to corporations or individuals. We therefore denounce the issuance of notes as money for National Banks as in derogation of the Constitution, and we demand that all paper which is made legal tender for public and private debts, or which is receivable for dues to the United States, shall be issued by the Government of the United States and shall be redeemable in coin. Tariff for Revenue Only. We hold that the tariff duties should be levied for pur- poses of revenue, such duties to be adjusted so as to operate equally throughout the country, and not discriminate be- tween class or section, and that taxation should be limited by the needs of the Government honestly and economically administered. We denounce as disturbing to business the Republican threat to restore the McKinley law, which has been twice condemned by the people in national elections, and which was enacted under false pleas of protection to home industries, proved a prolific breeder of trusts and monopolies, enriched the few at the expense of the many, restricted trade and deprived the producers of the great American staples of access to their natural markets. Tariff Must Wait Until Money Question Is Settled. Until the money question is settled we are,, opposed to any agitation for further changes in our tariff laws, except such as are necessary to meet the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse decision of the Supreme Court on the income tax. But for this decision by the Supreme Court there would be no deficit in the revenues under the law passed by 16 a Democratic Congress in strict pursuance of the uniform decisions of that Court for nearly ioo years, that Court having in that decision sustained constitutional objections to its enactment, which had previously been overruled by the ablest judges who have ever sat on that bench. Income Tax Still Favored. We declare that it is the duty of Congress to use all the constitutional power which remains after that decision, or which may come from its reversal by the Court as it may hereafter be constituted, so that the burdens of taxation may be equally and impartially laid, to the end that wealth may bear its due proportion of the expenses of the Gov- ernment. How to Protect Labor and Agriculture. We hold that the most efficient way of protecting American labor is to prevent the importation of foreign labor to compete with it in the home market, and that the value of the home market to our American farmers and artisans is greatly reduced by a vicious monetary system, which depresses the prices of their products below the cost of production, and thus deprives them of the means of purchasing the products of our home manufactories. More Public Control of Railroads. The absorption of wealth by the few, the consolidation of our leading railroad systems and the formation of trusts and pools require a stricter control by the Federal Govern- ment of those arteries of commerce. We demand the enlargement of the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission and such restrictions and guarantees in the control of railroads as will protect the people from robbery and oppression. More Simplicity and Economy. We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the people by oppressive taxation and the lavish appropriations of recent Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high, while the labor that pays them is unem- ployed and the products of the people’s toil are depressed in price till they no longer repay the cost of production. We 17 r i demand a return to that simplicity and economy which befits a Democratic Government and a reduction in the number of useless offices, the salaries of which drain the substance of the people. No Federal Interference in “Debs Rebellions.” We denounce arbitrary interference by Federal author- ities in local affairs as a violation of the Constitution of the United States and a crime against free institutions, and we especially object to government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression by which Federal Judges, in contempt of the laws of the States and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges „and execution- ers, and we approve the bill passed at the last session of the United States Senate and now pending in the House of Representives, relative to contempts in Federal Courts and providing for trials by jury in certain cases of contempt. Against Pacific Railroad Compromise. No discrimination should be indulged in by the Govern- ment of the United States in favor of any of its debtors. We approve of the nHusal of the Fifty-third Congress to pass the Pacific RaiLpad funding bill and denounce the effort of the present Republican Congress to enact a sim- N ilar measure. Pensions. Recognizing the just claims of deserving Union soldiers, we heartily indorse the rule of the present Commissioner of Pensions that no names shall be arbitrarily dropped from the pension roll, and that fact of enlistment and service should be deemed conclusive evidence against disease and disability before enlistment. Favor Early Admission of Territories, We favoV the admission of the Territories of New Mex- ico and Arizona into the Union as States, and we favor the early admission of all the Territories having the necessary population and resources to entitle them to Statehood, and while they remain Territories we hold that the officials appointed to administer the government of any Territory, * 18 together with the District of Columbia and Alaska, should be bona fide residents of the Territory or district in which their duties are to be performed. Home Rule. * The Democratic party believes in home rule, and that all public lands of the United States should be appropriated to the establishment of free homes for American citizens. We recommend that the Territory of Alaska be granted a delegate in Congress and that the General Land and Timber laws of the United States be extended to said territory. Cuba. We extend our sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence. Against Civil Service Reform. We are opposed to life tenure in the public service. W^e favor appointments based upon merit, fixed terms of office and such an administration of the Civil Service laws as will afford equal opportunities to all citizens of ascertained fitness. No Third Term for Presidents. We declare it to be the unwritten Aaw of this Republic, established by custom and the usap of ioo years, and / sanctioned by the example of the greatest and wisest of those who founded and maintained our government, that no man should be eligible for a third term of the Presiden- tial office. Waterways. The Federal Government should care for and improve the Mississippi River and other great waterways of the Republic, so as to secure for the interior States easy and cheap transportation to tide-water. When any waterway of the Republic is of sufficient importance to demand aid of the government, such aid should be extended upon a definite plan of continuous work until permanent improve- ment is secured. Invitation. Confiding in the justice of our cause and the necessity of its success at the polls, we submit the foregoing declara- tion of principle and purpose to the considerate judgment 19 of the American people. We invite the support of all cit- izens who approve them and who desire to have them made effective through legislation for the relief of the country’s prosperity. The Important Votes. On Minority Report. On Indorsing the Administration. On the Platform Itself. State. Yeas. Nays. Yeas. Nays. Yeas. Nays. Alabama. 22 . . 22 22 • . Arkansas 6 . . 16 16 . , California . . 18 7 6 18 . . Colorado 8 8 8 . , Connecticut 12 • . 12 1 . . 12 Delaware 5 1 5 1 1 5 Florida 3 S 7 1 5 3 Georgia 26 ' 1 25 26 Idaho 6 6 6 Illinois 45 48 48 Indiana 30 30 30 Iowa * 26 26 26 Kansas 20 20 20 Kentucky 26 26 26 Louisiana 16 16 16 Maine ■ IO 2 11 1 2 10 Maryland 12 4 16 4 12 Massachusetts 27 3 29 . - 3 27 Michigan 28 28 28 Minnesota 1 1 6 i 7 1 6 1 1 Mississippi 18 18 • • 18 Missouri 34 34 Montana 6 4 . . 6 Nebraska 16 16 16 Nevada 6 . . 6 6 New Hampshire 8 8 New Jersey 20 • • 20 • • 20 New Mexico 6 • • • - 6 . . New York 72 . . 72 • • • . 72 North Carolina 22 • • 22 22 North Dakota 6 . . 5 6 . . Ohio 46 • • 46 46 . . Oregon 8 8 8 . . Pennsylvania 64 • • 64 64 Rhode Island 8 • • 8 • • » . 8 South Carolina 18 . . 18 18 . . South Dakota . 8 . . 8 . - . . 8 Tennessee 24 24 24 . . Texas 30 • • 30 30 • . Utah/ 6 . • 6 6 • « Vermont . 8 . • 8 . . 8 Virginia 24 24 24 • • Washington • 3 5 3 5 5 3 West Virginia 12 11 12 • - Wisconsin 24 • • 24 24 Wyoming 6 6 6 Alaska 6 . . • - • • 6 Arizona 6 • • 6 6 . - District of Columbia. • • . 2 4 • - 5 6 . . Oklahoma 6 • • 6 6 . . Indian Territory • • • 6 • • 6 6 Totals 303 626 354 568 628 301 20 THE PLATFORM OF 1892. On the Tariff Question. “We denounce Republican protection as a fraud, a robbery of the great majority of the American people for the benefit of the few. We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the Federal Government has no constitutional power to impose and collect tariff duties, except for the purpose of revenue only, and we demand that the collec- tion of such taxes shall be limited to the necessities of the Government when honestly and economically administered. We denounce the McKinley Tariff law enacted by the 51st Congress as the culminating atrocity of class legislation ; we endorse the efforts made by the Democrats of the present Con- gress to modify its most oppressive feature in the direction of free raw material and cheaper manufactured goods that enter into general consumption, and we promise its repeal as one of the beneficent results that will follow the action of the people in intrusting power to the Democratic party. Since the McKinley tariff went into operation there have been ten reductions of the wages of the laboring man to one increase. We deny that there has been any increase of prosperity to the country since the tariff went into operation, and we point to the dullness and dis- tress, the wage reductions and strikes in the iron trade as the best possible evidence that no such prosperity has resulted from the McKinley act. We call the attention of thoughtful Ameri- cans to the fact that after thirty years of restrictive taxes against the importation of foreign wealth in exchange for our agricul- tural surplus, the homes and farms of the country have become burdened with real estate mortgage debt of over $2,500,000, exclusive of all other forms of indebtedness ; that in one of the chief agricultural States of the West there appears a real estate mortgage debt averaging $165 per capita of the total population, and that similar conditions and tendencies are shown to exist in other agricultural exporting States. We denounce a policy which fosters no industry so much as it does that of the sheriff. Reciprocity. — “ Trade interchange on the basis of reciprocal advantages to the countries participating is a time-honored doctrine of the Democratic faith, but we denounce the sham reciprocity which juggles with the people’s desire for enlarged foreign markets and freer exchanges by pretending to establish closer trade relations for a country whose articles of export are almost exclusively agricultural products with other countries that are also agricultural, while erecting a custom-house barrier of prohibitive tariff' taxes against the rich and the countries of the world that stand ready to take our entire surplus of products, and to exchange therefor commodities which are necessaries and comforts of life among our people. * \ 21 -T- [J- On the Money Question. “We denounce the Republican legislation known as the Sherman act of 1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught with possibilities of danger in the future, which should make all of its supporters, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and to the coinage of both gold and silver, with- out discriminating against either metal or charge for mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and unchangeable value or be adjusted through inter- national agreement, or by such safeguards of legislation as shall insure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in payments of debts, and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially necessary for the protection of the farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenceless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency. Banking. — “We recommend that the prohibitory 10 per cent tax on State bank issues be repealed. PLATFORM OF 18SS. On the tariff — a straddle. On the coinage — silence. PLATFORM OF 1S84. We believe in honest money, the gold and silver coinage of the Constitution, and a circulating medium convertible into such money without loss. On the tariff — a straddle. PLATFORM OF 1880. “3. Home rule, honest money — the strict maintenance of the public faith — consisting of gold and silver, and paper con- vertible into coin on demand ; the strict maintenance of the pub- lic faith, state and national, and a tariff for revenue only.” PLATFORM OF 1S76. On the Tariff. “ We demand that all custom-house taxation shall be only for venue. On the Currency. If “ Honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand. We denounce the resumption clause of 1875? and we here demand its repeal.” • a-. - ■= — PLATFORM OF 1872. On the tariff, owing to differences, discussion remitted to people in Congressional districts. On the Currency. “ A speedy return to specie payment is demanded alike by the highest considerations of commercial morality and honest government.” PLATFORM OF 1868. On the tariff, for revenue only, with incidental protection. On Public Debt. “Where the obligations of the Government do not expressly state upon their face, or the law under which they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and in justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the United States.” Also favored taxation of government bonds and other public securities. 23 THE POPULIST PLATFORM. Declaration Adopted, by the St. Louis Convention. A LONG LIST OF FAMILIAR DEMANDS AND DENUNCIATIONS THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE DECLARED TO BE FREE SILVER AT 1 6 TO I. HE People’s party, assembled in National Convention, reaffirms its allegiance to the principles declared by the founders of the Republic, and also to the fundamental principles of just government as enunciated in the platform of the party in 1892. We recognize that through the connivance of the present and preceding Administrations, the country has reached a crisis in its National life, as predicted in our declaration four years ago, and that prompt and patriotic action is the supreme duty of the hour. We realize that while we have political independence, our financial and in- dustrial independence is yet to be attained by restoring to our country the constitutional control and exercise of the functions necessary to a people’s government, which functions have been basely surrendered by our public servants to corporate monopo- lies. The influence of European money changers has been more potent in shaping legislation than the voice of the American people. Executive power and patronage have been used to corrupt our legislatures and defeat the will of the people, and plutocracy has thereby been enthroned upon the ruins of Democ- racy. To restore the government intended by the fathers, and for the welfare and prosperity of this and future generations, we demand the establishment of an economic and financial system which shall make us masters of our own affairs and independent of European control, by the adoption of the following declaration of principles : 24 : National Money. We demand a National money, safe and sound, issued by the general Government only, without the intervention of banks of issue, to be a full legal-tender for all debts, public and private ; a just, equitable and efficient lueans of distribution direct to the people and through the lawful disbursements of the Government. Free Coinage at 16 to i. We demand the free and unrestricted coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 1 6 to i, without waiting for the consent of foreign nations. Increase of Circulation. We demand the volume of circulating medium to be speedily increased to an amount sufficient to meet the demands of the business and population, and to restore the just level of prices of labor and production. , No More Bond Issues. We denounce the sale of bonds and the increase of the public interest-bearing debt made by the present Administration as un- necessary and without authority of law, and demand that no more bonds be issued except by specific act of Congress. Opposed to Private Contracts. We demand such legislation as will prevent the demonetiza- tion of the lawful money of the United States by private contract. The Government’s Option. We demand that the Government, in payment of its obliga- tions, shall use its option as to the kind of lawful money in which they are to be paid, and we denounce the present and preceding Administrations for surrendering this option to the holders of Government obligations. Income Tax Demanded. We demand a graduated income tax, to the end that aggre- gated wealth shall bear its just proportion of taxation, and we regard the recent decision of the Supreme Court relative to the Income Tax law as a misinterpretation of the Constitution and an invasion of the rightful powers of Congress over the subject of taxation. Postal Savings Banks. We demand that postal savings banks be established by the Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people and to facilitate exchange. Government Ownership of Railroads. Transportation being a means of exchange and a public neces- sity, the Government should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people and on a non-partisan basis, to the end that all may be accorded the same treatment in transporta- tion, and that the tyranny and political power now exercised by the great railroad corporations, which result in the impairment if not the destruction of the political rights and personal liber- ties of the citizen, may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accomplished gradually, in a manner consistent with sound public policy. Pacific Railroads. The interest of the United States in the public highways, built with public moneys and the proceeds of extensive grants of land to the Pacific railroads, should never be alienated, mort- gaged or sold, but guarded and protected for the general wel- fare, as provided by the laws organizing such railroads. The foreclosure of existing liens of the United States on these roads should at once follow default in the payment thereof by the debtor companies ; and at the foreclosure sales of said roads the Government shall purchase the same if it becomes necessary to protect its interests therein, or if they can be purchased at a reasonable price ; and the Government shall operate said rail- roads as public highways, for the benefit of the whole people, and not in the interest of the few, under suitable provisions for protection of life and property, giving to all transportation in- terests equal privileges and equal rates for fares and freights. We denounce the present infamous schemes for refunding these debts, and demand that the laws now applicable thereto be executed and administered according to their intent and spirit. Government Telegraph. The telegraph, like the postoffice system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest of the people. A Land Policy. True policy demands that the National and State legislation shall be such as will ultimately enable every prudent and in- dustrious citizen to secure a home, and, therefore, the land should not be monopolized for speculative purposes. All lands now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their 26 actual needs should by lawful means be reclaimed by the Gov- ernment and held for settlers only, and private land monopoly, as well as alien ownership, should be prohibited. Pacific Land Grants. We condemn the frauds by which the land grant Pacific Rail- road companies have, through the connivance of the Interim- Department, robbed multitudes of actual bona fide settlers of their homes and miners of their claims, and we demand legisla- tion by Congress which will enforce the exception of mineral land from such grants, after as well as before the patent. Free Homes for Settlers. We demand that bona fide settlers on all public lands be granted free homes, as provided in the National Homestead law, and that no exception be made in the case of Indian reservations when opened for settlement, and that all lands not now patented come under this demand. Direct Legislation. We favor a system of direct legislation through the initiative and referendum, under proper constitutional safeguards. Elections by Direct Vote. We demand the election of President, Vice-President and United States senators by direct vote of the people. Cuba. We tender to the patriotic people of Cuba our deepest sym- pathy in their heroic struggle for political freedom and inde- pendence, and we believe the time has come when the United States, the great Republic of the world, should recognize that Cuba is and of right ought to be a free and independent State. Home Rule in Territories. We favor home rule in the Territories and the District of Columbia, and the early admission of the Territories as States. Public Salaries. All public salaries should be made to correspond to the price of labor and its products. Labor on Public Works. In times of great industrial depression idle labor should be employed on public works as far as practicable. 27 The Courts Attacked. The arbitrary course of the courts in assuming to imprison citizens for indirect contempt and ruling them by injunction should be prevented by proper legislation. Pensions. We favor just pensions for our disabled Union soldiers. For an Honest Ballot. Believing that the elective franchise and an untrammelled ballot are essential to government of, for and by the people, the People’s party condemn the wholesale system of disfranchise- ment adopted in some of the States as unrepublican and un- democratic, and we declare it to be the duty of the several State Legislatures so take such action as will secure a full, free and fair ballot and an honest count. Finance the Chief Issue. While the foregoing propositions constitute the platform upon which our party stands, and for the vindication of which its organization will be maintained, we recognize that the great and pressing issue of the pending campaign upon which the present election will turn is the financial question, and upon this great and specific issue between the parties we cordially invite the aid and co-operation of all organization and citizens agree- ing with us upon this vital question. 28 PLATFORM OF THE NATIONAL PARTY. THE SECEDERS FROM THE PROHIBITIONISTS. A DECLARATION THAT IS LARGELY POPULISTIC, SOME OF THE FRAMERS OF WHICH AFTERWARDS TOOK PART IN THE POPULIST CONVENTION. HE National party was organized at Pittsburg, Pa., on May 29, 1896. There were present participating in the or- ganization over 300 men and women, representing twenty-seven States. The purpose of this party is declared by its executive committee to be “ to secure control of the government in State and nation, and so administer it that 4 Liberty, Justice and Equality’ may prevail.” The principles and purposes of this party are set forth in the following platform : — The National party, recognizing God as the author of all just power in government, presents the following declaration of principles, which it pledges itself to enact into effective legisla- tion when given the power to do so : — 1 . The suppression of the manufacture and sale, importation, exportation and transportation of intoxicating liquors for bever- age purposes. We utterly reject all plans for regulating or com- promising with this traffic, whether such plans be called local option, taxation, license or public control. The sale of liquors for medicinal and other legitimate uses should be conducted by the State, without profit, and with such regulations as will pre- vent fraud or evasion. 2. No citizen should be denied the right to vote on account 3. All money should be issued by the General Government only, and without the intervention of any private citizen, cor- poration or banking institution. It should be based upon the THE PLATFORM. of sex. wealth, stability and integrity of the nation. It should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and should be of sufficient volume to meet the demands of the legitimate business interests of the country. For the purpose of honestly liquidating our outstanding coin obligations, we favor the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold, at the ratio of 16 to i, without consulting any other nation. 4. Land is the common heritage of the people and should be preserved from monopoly and speculation. All unearned grants of land, subject to forfeiture, should be reclaimed by the Gov- ernment, and no portion of the public domain should hereafter be granted except to actual settlers, continuous use being essen- tial to tenure. 5. ' Railroads, telegraphs and other natural monopolies should be owned and operated by the Government, giving to the people the benefit of service at actual cost. 6 . The national Constitution should be so amended as to al- low the national revenues to be raised by equitable adjustment of taxation on the properties and incomes of the people, and import duties should be levied as a means of securing equitable commer- cial relations with other nations. 7. The contract convict labor system, through which specu- lators are enriched at the expense of the State, should be abolished. • 8. All citizens should be protected by law in their right to one day of rest in seven, without oppress