State platforms of the two dominant political parties in Indiana, 1850-1900;

— „__„

REESE LIBRARY

OF mi.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Class No.

GREASE THE WAY
TO£FICE

Spend Money Like Water to
Get Nominations at Repub-
lican State Convention—One
$3,000 Barrel Is Tapped,

Defeated Candidates Whose
Funds Run Out Allege That
Their Downfall Is Due to the
Unscrupulous Use of Cash,

[Special by leased wire, the longest In the world.]
INDIANAPOLIS, April 24.— Money flowed
like water last night and to-day in the Re-
publican Convention in this city and thou-
sands of dollars finally reached the pockeU j
of susceptible delegates. One of the candi-
dates for State office drew a check for $3,000
payable to himself, sent it to one of the
local banks and made arrangements to have '
it cashed without sending it to the bank in j
the candidate's home town for collection.
Part of the sum realized was used last night
and the remainder enriched delegates who ;
were on the market to-day. Several de- j
feated candidates whose barrel was not i
large enough to withstand the strain, to- |
night allege their defeat was due to the un-
scrupulous use of money. One county chair-
man is said to have solicited expense money
for the boys and he promised to cast the en-
tire vote of his delegation for the man fur-
nishing the funds.

A delegate from the extreme northern
part of the State is known to have received
$20 of this $3,000. It was paid to him to
cover his expenses in coming to Indian-
apolis. The $3,000 that wag placed on tap
by this particular candidate compelled some
of the more parsimonious candidates to
scatter money. Word was soon passed j
ground as to who had the barrel and money !

went freely, but systematically. It was
said that one candidate, who ecaitered the
most of the money, had notes kept as to who
got the money that went from his hands and
the people that did were watched in the con-
vention.

A district committeemau said that never
1n the history of Republican State conven-
tions in Indiana did so much money pass in
such few hours.

The convention adjourned to-night after
nominating the following ticket:

Secretary of State, Daniel E. Storms; Au-
ditor, David E. Sherrick; Treasurer, X. U.
Hill; Attorney-General, Charles W. Miller;
State Geologist, Willis S. Blatchley; State
Statistician, Benjamin P. Johnson; Judge Su-
preme Court, John H. Gillett; Clerk of the
Supreme Court, Robert A. Brown; Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction, F. A. Cotton.

The Secretary of State, State Geologist,
State Statistician, Judge of the Supreme
Court and Judges of the Appellate Court
were nominated by acclamation. For every
other position on the ticket there were ani-
mated but friendly contests.

The resolutions adopted affirm the plat-
form of the Republican National Conven-
tion in Philadelphia in 1900, indorse the Ad-
ministration of the Republican party and
President Roosevelt, deplore the deaths of
President McKinley, General Benjamin Har-
rison and Governor James A. Mount, favor
reciprocity with Cuba and the extension of
American markets, reaffirm the party's
faith in protection and the gold standard,
and deal with the Philippine and Chinese
questions and trusts in the following terms:
We approve the course of the administration
n establishing peace and civil government in
the Philippine Islands. We oppose those who
continue to resist the authority of the United
States, whether openly or in arms in the
_ hilippines, or whether openly or secretly in
the United States, by giving sympathy to the
nsurgents. We hold to the doctrine that
American sovereignty must be respected
within the United States and all territory un-
der its. jurisdiction. We favor the establish-
ment of absolute peace in the Philippines' and
he erection of civil government therein. We
nsist that the people of the islands shall be
given Increased participation in the adminis-
ration of their domestic affairs, as they shall
demonstrate intelligence and capacity for self-
government.

We are opposed to all trusts or combinations
of capital whose purpose or effort is to restrict
business or control prices. And, we especially
n ounce those whose tendency it is to in-
crease the cost of living and the necessaries of /
life. We favor legislation to prevent such
abuses. We approve the sincere and deter-
mined effort of President Roosevif t to enforce
the laws against illegal combinations in re-
straint of trade, and demand that administra-
tive officers, State and national, shall enforce
the laws in the most vigorous mane or, FO that
the legitimate competition shall not be em-
barrassed or destroyed.

\\v approve the enactment by Congress of
legislation which will debar Chinese from gain-
Jng admission to the United States to the
iujury of American labor, and we demand the
enforcement of immigration Jaws which shall
?xc!ude all unworthy and undesirable immi-
srants whose presence menaces our citizenship
)r injures our wage workers.

STATE PLATFORMS

OF THE

TWO DOMINANT

Political Parties in Indiana

1850—1900

COMPILED BY

W. E. HENRY, STATE LIBRARIAN

PRIVATELY PRINTED

INDIANAPOLIS

\go2

COPYRIGHTED, 1902,

BY
WILLIAM E. HENRY.

PRESS OF

WM. B. BURFORD,

INDIANAPOLIS.

PREFATORY NOTE.

Together with the growing interest in matters historical relating to our
State there is a corresponding demand for ready access to all documents
relating to our State's history.

Many requests for statements of doctrine set forth in the State plat-
forms of the two dominant political parties have convinced me that the
publication of these documents in a compact form will be of great service
to all who are interested in the history of politics in Indiana. Therefore
this publication.

In every instance except three the text from which each document is
printed is that found in the State organ of the party represented. The
Democratic platforms for 1856, 1866 and 1868 are copied from a Repub-
lican paper, as I have been unable to find copies of the Seminel for those
dates.

This publication covers fifty years, and includes all the platforms of
the two parties from 1850 to 1900; but the first conventions after January
1, 1850, occurred in 1852, and provided for the first election under the new
Constitution adopted in 1851.

The arrangement of the platforms is chronological, and is also alpha-
betical following the order in which they stand on our State ballot.

W..B. HENRY.

February, 1902.

95273

(3)

STATE PLATFORMS

OF THE

Two DOMINANT POLITICAL PARTIES

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J852.

(Indiana State Sentinel, February 26.)

Resolved, That the good old Democratic principles, to wit: a strict con-
struction of the Constitution and no assumption of doubtful powers; no
encroachment by the General Government on the proper rights of the
States; no connection between the General or State Governments and
Bunks; no connection between Church and State; no tariff beyond what is
strictly necessary for revenue purposes; no vast system of internal im-
provements either by the General Government or by States; no public
debt, either by the General Government or by the States, except
for purposes of urgent necessity; no grants of exclusive chartered privi-
leges, by special legislation, to banks; no proscription for honest opinions;
a simple and frugal government, securing life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness with the least possible amount of legislation; fostering aid to
public education; are, and must ever remain, the true watch- words of the
Democratic party; with which inscribed upon our banners, we have often
marched to victory; with which embodied in the legislation of our coun-
try, she has reached her present power and prosperity; and that we receive
and recognize as members of the great Democratic family, all men, no mat-
ter what their creed or country, who acknowledge in theory and carry out
in practice, these unchanging principles; the same yesterday, today, and
forever.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention, the common senti-
ment of the people of Indiana, sustains and endorses, in their general
tenor and intention, each and all of that series of Acts of Congress, com-
monly known as the Compromise measures: that it recognizes, in their suc-
cess, an earnest of security and perpetuity to our glorious Union; and that
it regards our present tranquility, after dangerous sectional heart-burnings,
as the best evidence of the wisdom and prudence of these measures, and
the best proof, that they should, under no pretence, be disturbed.

Resolved, That, according to the soundest principles of international
law sometimes violated but not the less universally recognized by the
civilized world, each nation has an inalienable right to regulate its internal
policy, and establish such form of government as it pleases; and that no
nation may lawfully interfere with the domestic concerns of another.

• Resolved, That if, in violation of the acknowledged code which governs
the family of nations, one nation, interfering by force of arms, seek to con-

(5)

Q POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1852

trol, or dictate, the internal policy of another, the aggressing nation places
herself without the pale of international law; and any third nation may
lawfully resent and resist such interference, either without war, as by
breaking off all diplomatic relations, or by going into the field, and repell-
ing force with force.

Resolved, That while we protest, as every free people most rightfully
may, against the recent outrage committed by Russia, alike upon the rights
of humanity and the law of nations; while we declare, as every republican
people most earnestly should, our heartfelt sympathy with the cause of pop-
ular freedom and equal -rights, as well in Hungaria as in all other nations
throughout the earth; while, with no stinted hospitality but as brethren
in a great and good cause, we welcome to our homes and our hearts, those
wrho have fought Freedom's battles in other lands, and have been driven by
the iron hand of Despotism, to seek refuge on our shores; we deem it con-
trary to sound policy for the United States Government in exercise of an
undoubted right, at this time, 10 pledge our people either to interfere, or
not to interfere, as the armed champions of violated international law,
among the distant nations of Europe. We believe it to be in accordance
with the dictates of wisdom and of prudence, that we remain, for the
present, uncommitted but deeply interested spectators; ready, in fitting
season, to act as the contingencies of the World's Future (fraught, as it
may be, with national convulsions, unexampled in history), may hereafter
demand, at our hands.

Resolved, That we approve and endorse the administration of our pres-
ent Governor, Joseph A. Wright, and that we pledge to him, as nominee
for re-election, in the approaching contest, our hearty support.

Resolved, That we have undiminished confidence in the undeviating
and well tried democracy of our distinguished and able Senators in Con-
gress, James Whitcomb and Jesse D. Bright, and that wTe fully endorse
their senatorial actions.

Resolved, That Joseph Lane, the State Legislator, the gallant General,
the Territorial Governor, tried in the Council Chamber, tried in the tented
fields, tried in the executive chair, and never found wanting, is, of the
People of Indiana, the first choice for the Presidency. While we repose
entire confidence alike in his administrative capacity, in his firmness, in
his honesty of purpose and in his unswerving devotion to Democratic
principles, at the same time desiring above all things union and harmony
in the support of the nominee of the National Convention, let the choice
of the majority fall as it will, and fully trusting the judgment and devo-
tion to principle of our Delegates to that Convention—

•Resolved further. That we leave said Delegates untrammeled by in-
structions as to persons to act as their convictions of right and propriety
at the time, may dictate.

Resolved however, That in casting the vote of the State for President,
the said Delegates be instructed to give it, throughout, as a unit and not
by separate districts: the name of the person so voted for, to be. at all
times, determined by the majority of the votes of said Delegates.

Resolved, That if General Joseph Lane be the Democratic nominee for
President of the National Convention, we pledge to him the vote of Indi-
ana,— of that State the honor of whose sons he has so nobly vindicated, —
by a majority, as we confidently hope and truly believe, of 25,000 votes.

1852] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

WHIG PLATFORM, J852.

(Weekly Indiana State Journal, March 6.)

1. Resolved, That while we pledge ourselves to support the nominees
of the Whig- National Convention, we know that the Whigs of Imli-um are
in favor of the nomination of Gen. Winfield Scott as the Whig cnn idate
for the Presidency; and that, therefore, we hereby instruct our delegates
to such Convention to cast the united vote of this State in favor of the
nomination of that renowned hero and patriot.

2. That the Whigs of Indiana have the utmost confidence in the abil-
ity, patriotism and integrity of John J. Crittenden, that his opposition to
everything tending to disunion, his long known and tried fidelity to the
best interest of the whole country recommend him as a suitable candidate
for Vice-President, and we hereby instruct our delegates to cast the vote
of Indiana in favor of the nomination of that distinguished statesman for
that office.

3. That we have unabated confidence in the patriotism and integrity
of Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, and in his devotion to
what he believes will promote the prosperity of the country.

4. That in relation to our sympathy for Republicanism and free princi-
ples in Europe, we re-affirm the resolution of the Whig State Convention
of January, 1849, which is as follows:

Resolved, That we sympathize warmly with the Republican move-
ments of the Old World, where the flag of freedom has been unfurled,
after a long night of political and social gloom; that while the Patriots of
that good old land have united, the league of Tyrants has been formed —
that while the voice of the people, unaided by wealth, has gone up for the
political regeneration of Europe, the Despotism of centuries, strong in the
elements of carnage and desolation, has put forth its mighty power to
crush constitutional freedom— that while all looks dark and gloomy for the
cause of Liberty, we still have an unshaken reliance that Heaven will, in
its own good time "bring light out of darkness," and prepare men and na-
tions for the universal brotherhood of Republican Institutions. To our
down-trodden brethren in the Old World we would say—

"Bide your time — the morn is breaking,

Bright with FREEDOM'S blessed ray—
• Millions from their trance awaking,

Soon shall stand in stern array.
Man shall fetter man no longer,
Liberty shalt march sublime;
Every moment makes you stronger-
Firm, unshrinking bide your time."

Resolved, That while Europe is thus convulsed, and her patriots scat-
tered and sent into exile— while the sons who would regenerate and build
up the dead and expiring liberties of her people, are banished from their
native land— while the so-called Christian Powers of Europe look on, with
cold indifference, at the expatriation of the pure of heart and the bold of

g POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1852

spirit— we, a portion of the people of a Sovereign American State, bid a
hearty welcome to all who shall seek an asylum on our shores.

5. That we are in favor of an economical administration of the Gen-
eral Government; and, that we are now, as always heretofore, in favor of
a Tariff so levied as to furnish a sufficient revenue to meet the expenses of
the General Government, and, at the same time, encourage home industry,
thereby preventing our being drained of the precious metals and avoiding
a system of direct taxation upon the people.

6. That the unexampled growth and increase of the products and
commerce of the great West imperiously demand at the hands of Congress
liberal appropriations for the improvement of Western rivers and har-
bors; that the past history of the action and votes of the Democratic Mem-
bers of Congress from Indiana, upon the subject of these great Western
interests, is only a history of repeated treachery and recreancy to the best
interests of a deceived and outraged constituency, and that the people of
Indiana owe it to themselves and to the great West with which they are
peculiarly identified, to hurl from place and power men who have so
basely betrayed them.

7. That we do not deem it necessary to further reiterate the distinctive
principles of the Whig party, which are well known, in the success of
which we believe the prosperity of the country is involved, and for the
triumph of which in the approaching contest we here pledge ourselves to
each other and to the country.

8. That the Democratic party of this State, since it came into power,
has been characterized by a wasteful and reckless extravagance, showing
a total disregard of that economy of expenditures which should be ob-
served by and be required of the public servants of a hard-working people
—especially, when taking into consideration the large indebtedness of the
State and the positive necessity of husbanding all resources.

9. That the geographical position of Cincinnati is such as to insure a
more general attendance of delegates than any other point: and that we
earnestly recommend that it be selected as the place of holding the Whig
National Convention, and that Thursday, the 17th of June next, be fixed
as the time at which said convention shall assemble.

1854] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J854.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, May 26.)

Resolved, That the Democrats of Indiana, fully approve of the princi-
ples of the act extending the laws of the United States over and organ-
izing the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas.

2. Resolved, That we concur in the opinion that it is not properly
within the jurisdiction of Congress to determine the provisions of the Con-
stitution of a State, further than to require that it be a republican form,
but on the contrary, that the people do possess the right and power to
.adopt such form of government as they may deem best suited to their
views and wants; and that this right should be recognized as one of the
fundamental principles of self-government.

3. Resolved, That this Convention is distinctly opposed to that pro-
vision of the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, commonly known as the Clayton
amendment, which made a distinction between native born and foreign
inhabitants, who may be residents of the Territories, and feel gratified that
the efforts of the Democracy have been successful in expunging that odious
feature from the act.

4. Resolved, That intemperance is a great moral and social evil, for
the restraint and correction of which legislative interposition is necessary
and proper: but that we can not approve of any plan for the eradication
or correction of this evil that must necessarily result in the infliction of
greater ones; and that we are therefore opposed to any law upon this sub-
ject that will authorize the searching for or seizure, confiscation, and de-
struction of private property.

5. Resolved, That we regard all political organizations, based upon the
single idea of temperance reform, as dangerous to the perpetuity of our
republican form of government, by withdrawing the attention of the peo-
ple from the great political principles upon which it is founded; and that
we most earnestly appeal to our fellow Democrats, throughout the State,
to adhere, in the selection of members of the legislature, to the practice
of choosing such men as will make these great principles of Democratic
policy, under the influence of which this country has been brought to its
present elevated and prosperous condition, paramount to all other con-
siderations.

G. Resolved, That we have full faith and confidence in the wisdom,
patriotism and ability of Franklin Pierce, President of the United States,
and that we fully approve of the principles laid down in his Inaugural
Message, and his message to Congress, and that we most truly and cor-
dially endorse the general policy of his Administration, as carried out In
conformity with the principles laid down in said message.

7. Resolved, That Judge Douglas of the U. S. Senate is entitled to,
and receives our hearty thanks, for so ably advocating the principle of
non-intervention, as contained in the Kansas and Nebraska bill, and that
we cordially endorse the action of our Senators and Representatives in
sustaining the same.

10 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1854

8. Resolved, That the Democracy of Indiana still adhering; to the Con-
stitution of the Confederacy openly and avowedly condemn any organiza-
tion, secret or otherwise that would aim to disrobe any citizen, native, or
adopted, of his political, civil, or religious liberty.

PEOPLE'S PLATFORM (REPUBLICAN), J854.

(The Indianapolis Journal, July 14.)

Whereas, We the freemen of Indiana, without respect to party, and
actuated by a common devotion to our Republic, and a common reverence
for its founders, have assembled ourselves together in commemoration
01 the passage of the Ordinance of July 13th, 1787, consecrating the N. W.
Territory to freedom; and whereas, the unanimous adoption of said Ordi-
nance, by the Representatives of all the States in the Union, at that
date, clearly evinces that opposition to the extension of Slavery, to the
extent of Constitutional power, was the fixed policy of our fathers; and,
whereas, we regard the recent repeal of the 8th section of the ''Missouri
Compromise," as a gross and wanton violation of the faith of the Union,
plighted to a solemn compact, restricting the extension of Slavery.
Therefore,

Resolved, That we are uncompromisingly opposed to the extension
of slavery; and further, that we utterly deprecate and repudiate the plat-
form of principles adopted by the self-styled 'Democratic Convention on
the 24th day of May last, endorsing and approving the Kansas-Nebraska
Iniquity.

Resolved, That wre will waive all former party predilections, and, in
concert, by all lawful means seek to place every branch of the Federal
Government in the hands of men who will assert the rights of Freedom,
restore the Missouri Compromise, and refuse, under all circumstances,
to tolerate the extension of Slavery into Territories secured to Freedom
by that Compromise.

Resolved, That we regard Intemperance as a great political, moral and
social evil— a legitimate subject of legislation— and that we are in favor
of the passage of a Judicious, Constitutional and Efficient Prohibitory
Law, with such penalties as shall effectually suppress the traffic in intoxi-
cating liquors as a beverage.

Resolved, That we utterly condemn the abusive attacks which have
recently been made, from various quarters, on the Protestant ministry of
the country. We cherish with gratitude, and pleasure, the memory of their
patriotic zeal in the Revolutionary struggle, and we recognize in the min-
istry of the country the worthy sons of such illustrious sires.

1856] INDIANA, .1850— 1900.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1856.

(Tlie Indianapolis Journal, January 9.)

Resolved, That the Democratic party of the State, here in conven-
tion assembled, in conformity with established usage, and with a firm
reliance in the virtue and intelligence of the people, submit the following-
declaration of principles.

Resolved, We approve the principles of the compromise measure in
1850, and their application as embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and
will faithfully maintain them.

Resolved, We recognize the great body of the people as the only
tribunal for the decision of questions affecting their government, both as
to men and measures; and open appeals to their reason and patriotism as
the legitimate means of influencing their action; and we utterly condemn
all associations and combinations for political purposes formed to govern
them by oaths and obligations; or other compulsory means, or to impair
the exercise of free will, and independent judgment among them. And
we hold in abhorrence all secret political orders and organizations, deem-
ing them dangerous to the stability of government and the rights of the
people.

Resolved. We are in favor of religious toleration, as the founders of
our republican institutions achieved and understood it, and secured its
enjoyment by constitutional guaranties; and we declare that it ought to
be maintained free from invasion either by means of legislative interfer-
ence, or the equally tyrannical proscription of political parties, founded on
bigotry and ideas of intolerance.

Resolved, While we esteem it the duty of government to roster and
protect religion Avithout invidious preferences, leaving all free to choose
among denominations according to their consciences; and while we esteem
it the part of true religion, under every form, to render allegiance and due
support to government, recognizing the constitution as the supreme law
in all temporal and political concerns; we hold the separate administration
or the affairs of Church and State, essential to prevent that union of the
two, which experience has shown to be pernicious to both, and the worst
form of Tyranny.

Resolved, That while we are in favor of Sobriety and Temparance
and of all proper means for the promotion of those virtues, we are uncon-
ditionally opposed to the Prohibitory Liquor Law passed at the last ses-
sion of the General Assembly of this State, and to any enactment embody-
ing the oppressive and arbitrary provision of that law.

Resolved, That our naturalization laws, our republican institutions,
our marvelous growth of national greatness and the happiness of our peo-
ple, have been and are irresistible inducements and invitations to the
inhabitants of less favored lands to become citizens of ours; and that
past experience, justice, sound policy, and national pride, all concur to
favor the continuance of our present naturalization laws; that if any
abuses have grown up under those laws, they have sprung from their
imperfect execution alone, and not from inherent defects in the laws them-
selves, and that we are in favor of that policy which will soonest assimi-

12 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1856

late naturalized citizens with the mass of our people, and opposed to that
anti-American and illiberal policy which proscribes the foreign born citi-
zen for the accident of birth, and drives him to self-defence, to antagonism
with our native born citizens in feeling, political opinions and ctmduct.

Resolved, That the gallant band of Democrats in Congress, who
throughout the protracted and yet pending contest for the organization of
the House of Representatives, have so nobly illustrated the National
character of the Democratic party by their unanimous adherence to its
principles, maintaining alone an unbroken front, while the faction of the
opposition, destitute of a common principle to bind them together, are
disunited and discordant— have deserved well of their country, and ren-
dered the most emphatic testimony to the excellence of their political
creed— that our sympathies are with them, and that we look to them
with proud confidence to maintain unsullied the honor of their country, and
to surrender nothing for a coalition with factions opposed to civil and
religious liberty, and to the constitution of their country.

Resolved, That the Democracy of Indiana have undiminished confi-
dence in the Hon. Jesse D. Bright, our Senator in Congress, and while
we are ready cheerfully and enthusiastically to support for the Presi-
dency in the approaching election whoever may be selected as the candi-
date for that office by the Democratic National Convention, from whatever
quarter of the Union he may come— if the north-west is honored with
that distinction we present the name of the Hon. Jesse D. Bright to that
convention, and to the Democracy of the Union, as a suitable candidate,
and one whom the Democracy of Indiana delight to honor.

Resolved, That we approve of the administration of the State Govern-
ment by His Excellency Joseph A. Wright, and that his integrity, ability,
and executive talents have fully met the expectations of the Democratic
party of Indiana, and won for him increased confidence and gratitude from
the people.

Resolved, That the Democracy of Indiana assert as a principle in
which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that
the American Continent by the free and independent condition which it
occupies is not to be considered subject for colonization by any European
Powers and that they cordially endorse the position taken by President
Pierce in his late message to Congress on that subject.

Resolved, That the entire vote of the delegates from this State, be
cast as an unit in the National Convention and that a majority of the
delegation shall control the entire vote of the State.

1858J INDIANA, 1850—1900. 13

PEOPLE'S PLATFORM (REPUBLICAN), J856.

(The Indianapolis Journal, May 2.)

The People of Indiana consisting of all who are opposed to the policy
of the present Federal administration, assembled in Convention at the
capital of the State, now submit to the people the following platform of
principles:

Resolved, That we are uncompromisingly opposed to the extension of
slavery; and that we utterly repudiate the platform of principles adopted
by the self-styled Democratic Convention of this State endorsing and
approving the Kansas-Nebraska iniquity.

Resolved, That we will resist by all proper means the admission of
any Slave State into this Union formed out of the Territories secured to
freedom by the Missouri Compromise, or otherwise.

Resolved, That we are in favor of the immediate admission of Kansas
as a free State.

Resolved, That we are in favor of the Naturalization Laws of Con-
gress with the five years probation, and that the right of suffrage should
accompany and not precede naturalization.

Resolved, That we believe the General Assembly of the State have the
power to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and that
we are in favor of a constitutional law which will effectually suppress the
evils of intemperance.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J858.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, January 9.)

1. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, and every
part thereof, together with the laws of Congress in aid of its wise and
patriotic provisions, commands and receives our cordial devotion and
support.

2. Resolved, That we recognize in the early doctrines of the Republic
an absolute and entire equality among the States of this Union, and
among the citizens of the several States, as respects all the rights and priv-
ileges which make American citizenship valuable, and to those doctrines
wTe now anew pledge ourselves and the faith of our party.

3. Resolved, That for Indiana, AVC assert the right to maintain and
control her domestic institutions in her own way, subject only to the
Constitution of the United States, and what we claim for ourselves we
concede to others.

4. Resolved, That the right of the people of any State in this Union
to mould their laws and institutions to suit themselves, and not others,
being an unquestioned right it follows that the manner in which they per-
form this high duty to themselves is not a proper subject for the dictation
of any sister State or of all the States of the Confederacy in Congress

14 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1853

assembled, save only that the Constitution and the laws of the United
States shall not be violated.

5. Resolved, That we endorse and reaffirm the Platform laid down by
the National Democratic Convention of 1856, as embodying the spirit and
the letter of the law of our political gravitation, which constitutes the
Union as it is; holds each State in its own particular sphere, and reduces
the theory of self-government to a practical reality.

6. Resolved, That we also endorse and reaffirm the platform laid down
by the Indiana Democratic State Convention of the 8th of January, 1856;
and we hail the rich memories of past victories achieved upon its prin-
ciples as bright omens to cheer us in the campaign of 1858.

7. Resolved, That in the late decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States, known as the Dred Scott decision, we recognize a legal
exposition of the doctrines of the Constitution of the United States and
of the State of Indiana, and we hereby denounce and hold up to the uni-
versal execration and scorn of all loyal American citizens the loathsome
uoctrine of "negro equality" now sustained and endorsed by the so-called
Republican party of Indiana, as a natural and inevitable consequence of
their opposition to the decision of the Supreme Court above named.

8. Resolved, That the unanimous action of the Democratic members
of the last Indiana Legislature in the election of Senators in Congress is by
the Democratic party of Indiana cordially approved, fully endorsed and
firmly sustained and that Jesse D. Bright and Graham N. Pitch, the
Senators-elect, are worthy the high position in which they were unani-
mously placed by their party.

9. Resolved, That we arraign the Black Republican party of Indiana
before the people for sustaining the members of that party in the last
Legislature of this State in the commission of the following enormous
outrages upon the public and private rights:

1st. Creating a revolution in the first step towards the organization
of the State and violating the constitution and the law by attempting to
supplant the legal presiding officer of that body with one of their own
number.

2d. Refusing in open defiance of the constitution and in flagrant vio-
lation of their oaths to meet in joint convention and be present at the can-
vass of votes for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor when counted by
the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

3d. Meeting without a quorum and without a presiding officer, and
expelling the Senator from Clark county thereby making a mockery of the
Constitution, breaking their oaths as Senators, and in all their councils
calling to their aid the evil spirit of anarchy which has in every age
involved nations in bloodshed and overthrow.

4th. Voting more than one hundred times by a strict party vote
against appropriating money to defray the expenses of the Benevolent
Institutions of the State, thereby closing the doors of charity and sending
the Deaf, the Dumb, the Blind, and the Insane abroad in the world without
the protection which humanity dictates and Indiana gives to them.

5th. Voting more than one hundred times by a strict party vote
against a Revenue Bill and an Assessment Bill, thereby attempting to
prostrate the State government, to bring her into dishonor at home and
abroad by failing to pay the interest on the State debt, as provided for

1858] INDIANA, 1850—1900. ^5

and made obligatory by the Constitution, and inflicting other grievous
injustices upon her citizens.

(5th. Refusing to join and assist in the election of Senators in Con-
gress, thereby setting at naught the will of the majority of the voters of
Indiana as expressed at the ballot-box October 14th, 1856.

7th. Attempting, as far as in their power lay, to legalize gross, pal-
pable, and wicked frauds upon the elective franchise; recognizing and re-
ceiving from the counties of Rush, Fountain and Marion persons as Sen-
ators conclusively proven in legal investigations to have been elected by
illegal, hired, and perjured voters; stifling the voice of inquiry into their
pretended and usurped right to their seats as Senators, in the face of
legally instituted contests in each instance. Thus alone enabling the
party in which the said spurious and illegally elected Senators belonged,
to inflict their spirit of misrule upon the State; and finally sending forth
to the world a forgery upon the Journals of the Senate by which to cover
up their high-handed villainy, and avert from themselves if possible the
just indignation of all honest men.

For the foregoing and other crimes against the Constitution, the laws,
public virtue, the popular will and good government, we ask the trial of
the so-called Republican party before a jury of the people of Indiana in the
coming canvass, and for judgment against them at the polls in October,
1858.

10. Resolved, That James Buchanan was the first choice of the Democ-
racy of Indiana for the Chief Magistracy of this Republic at the Nomi-
nating Convention in June, 1850, and of the people of the State at the
ballot box in the ensuing November, and nothing which he has done
since his elevation to the high position which he now occupies has abated
or diminished our confidence in his ability, integrity, patriotism and states-
manlike qualities, and we cordially approve and endorse his adminis-
tration.

11. Resolved, That we endorse and approve the administration of our
State government as conducted by Ashbel P. Willard, the hero of the
fierce fought fight of 185(3.

12. Resolved, That harmony being essential to the strength and support
of the Democratic party, we take for our motto, "The union of the Demo-
cratic party for the sake of the Union of the State.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1858

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J858.

(The Indianapolis Journal, March 5.)

1. That our National Government ought to be so administered as
to promote harmony between the different sections of our country, secure
the affections of all the people of the United States, and command the re-
spect of the nations of the earth.

2. That the people of a territory when they come to form a constitu-
tion preparatory to their admission into the Union as a State have the
right to adopt such a constitution, being Republican in form, as may be
acceptable to themselves, and that no State ought to be received into the
Union before the constitution thereof has been fully and fairly submitted
to the people for their adoption or rejection and received the approval of
the majority of its legal voters.

3. That the attempt now being so persistently made by the present
administration to impose upon Kansas the Lecompton Constitution, noto-
riously obnoxious to the great majority of her citizens and with no other
object than to force upon them institutions against which they have
repeatedly and most earnestly protested, is a gross outrage upon the
rights of the people of the territory, and calculated to disturb the peace
and harmony of the country.

4. That freedom is national and slavery sectional, and that we do
most earnestly protest against and denounce the dangerous and alarming
doctrine first promulgated by the disunionists and nullifiers of the South,
that the Constitution of the United States of itself carries slavery into,
and protects it in, all the territories of the United States and this doctrine
and all its supporters, maintainers and defenders, whether in or out of
Authority, we here pledge ourselves to resist and oppose, as enemies to
the peace and welfare of the country.

5. That we re-affirm the doctrine, that Congress has the constitutional
power to exclude slavery from the national territories, notwithstanding
the extra judicial opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States to
the contrary.

6. That we disclaim any right to interfere with slavery in the States
where it exists under the shield of State Sovereignty, but we oppose now,
as heretofore, its extension into any of the territories, and will use all
proper and constitutional means to prevent such extension.

7. That we do not struggle for a mere party triumph, but for the
right, and. the good of our whole country, and that we honor those po-
litical opponents who have had the manliness to place themselves in oppo-
sition to the administration in its assault upon the fundamental principles
of American liberty.

8. That Jesse D. Bright and Graham N. Fitch are not of right the
representatives of this State in the Senate of the United States, and ought
to be immediately ousted therefrom.

9. That we will always resist the scheme of selfish and unscrupulous
persons, high in power, having for its object the re-transfer of the Wabash
and Erie Canal from bondholders to the State.

10. That we are in favor of granting to actual settlers on the public
lands a homestead of at least 100 acres.

1860] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 17

DEMOCRATIC RESOLUTIONS, J860.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, January 13.)

Resolved, That our Federal government is one of limited power, de-
rived solely from the Constitution; that the grants of power made therein
ought to be strictly construed by all departments and agents of the
government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful
Constitutional powers.

Resolved, That now, as heretofore, claiming fellowship with and ear-
nestly desiring the co-operation of all who regard the preservation of the
Union and the Constitution as the paramount issue we again declare our
utter repudiation of all sectional parties and platforms concerning do-
mestic slavery which tend to embroil the State, and incite to treason and
armed resistance to law, and whose avowed purposes, if consummated,
must end in disunion and civil war.

Resolved, That the history of the past fully attests the correctness
and wisdom of the adoption by the American Democracy of the principles
contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska as embodying the only safe and sound solution of the slavery
question upon which the great National idea of the people of the whole
country can repose in its determined conservatism of the Union: non-inter-
ference by Congress with slavery in State or Territory, or in the District
of Columbia.

Resolved. That it has been fully demonstrated that by the uniform ap-
plication of this Democratic principle to the organization of Territories,
and to the admission of new States with or without domestic slavery, as
they may elect, the equal rights of all the States may be preserved intact;
the original compacts of the Constitution maintained inviolate, and the
perpetuity and expansion of the Union insured to its utmost capacity;
embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American State that may
be constituted or annexed with a Republican form of government.

Resolved, That, in the harmony and union of the Democratic party
consists the strongest bond of union among the several States of this
confederacy; and that the' harmony and union of our party can only be
maintained by a strict observance of, and faithful adherence to, the estab-
lished rules and regulations of the party; therefore, be it further resolved,
that,1 in the contest now going on for the election of Speaker in the House
of Representatives, at Washington, it is the imperative duty of every
Democrat from Indiana to stand firmly by, and support by his vote for
that office, the regular nominee of the Democratic party.

Resolved, That it is the deliberate opinion of this convention that the
subject of slavery has been too long mingled with party politics, and as
the result has been the creation of sectional parties, contrary to the advice,
letter and spirit of the Farewell Address of the father of our common coun-
try; that therefore it is the duty of every citizen, North and South, East
and West, to discountenance all parties and organizations that thus violate
the spirit of the Constitution and the advice of Washington.

Resolved, That recognizing its importance, a measure of great national
interest in securing our ascendancy in the Gulf of Mexico, and maintaining

2— Platforms.

}g POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1800

a permanent protection to American commerce, we shall hail with satis-
faction the success of any efforts which may be made by the present, or
any future administration, for the honorable and peaceful acquisition of
Cuba.

Resolved, That any distinction amongst citizens on account of their
religion or place of birth, continues to be utterly reprobated by the Indiana
Democracy, in common with their brethren of the other States, as neither
justified by the past history or future prospects of the country, nor in
unison with the spirit of toleration and enlarged freedom which peculiarly
distinguishes the American system of government; and that we mast ear-
nestly denounce the unjust and disparaging imputation upon the character
of our foreign born population, contained in the recent enactments in-
corporated in the laws of that State by the so-called Republicans of Massa-
chusetts, whereby a class of white men whose rights are entitled to equal
respect with those of all others, are deprived of privileges and immunities
accorded even to the negro, and whereby a most odious example has been
set, from which that party, if successful in retaining power, may feel
justified in perpetrating, there and elsewhere, new aggressions and out-
rages on that portion of our population.

Resolved, That the incipient efforts foreshadowed by the opposition,
or so-called Republican party, to kindle anew the fires of fanaticism with
a view to the establishment of such laws as are calculated to infringe on
the constitutional rights of the people in determining what they shall eat
and what they shall drink or wherewith they shall be clothed, will here-
after as heretofore meet with our most persistent opposition.

Resolved, That the Democracy of Indiana entertain a high appreciation
of the ability and capacity of our distinguished Chief Magistrate, James
Buchanan, and that he has our patriotic wishes for the success of his ad-
ministration, and that we will on all proper occasions defend his action
when carrying out the principles of the Democratic party against the
unjust and unprincipled attacks of the Republican party.

Resolved, That we appreciate the past labors of our present State
Executive, Ashbel P. Willard, in behalf of Democratic principles, and
congratulate him upon the success which has attended his administration.

Resolved, That as a statesman of tried character, and a citizen in
whom all sections of the Union may confide tneir interests, as the friend
and supporter of our rights at home and our honor abroad, and in
the sincere conviction that we will thereby contribute to secure to all
sections of the Union, and each of the States, their just and equal rights,
and their full share in the benefits of our Federal Union, and in no sec-
tional spirit, but in the expansive love of our whole country, the Democ-
racy of Indiana present to the Convention of the American Democracy to
assemble at Charleston, as their choice for nomination as a candidate for
the Presidency of the United States, the name of Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois, and believing him to be the preference of an overwhelming ma-
jority of our people, we hereby instruct the delegates this day appointed by
us to that Convention to cast their votes in his favor as a unit, so long as
his name is before the Convention, and to use all honorable efforts to
secure his nomination; and the delegation is also instructed to vote as a
unit upon all questions which may come before that body, as a majority
of the delegates may determine.

I860] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 19

Resolved, That we protest against and denounce as contrary to the
plighted faith on which the Constitution of our country -was established,
all acts, or inflammatory appeals, which intend or tend, to make this
Union less perfect, or to jeopard or disturb its domestic tranquility, or to
mar the spirit of harmony, compromise and concession, upon which the
Union was formed by our fathers.

Resolved, That we regard the recent outrage at Harper's Ferry as a
crime, not only against the State of Virginia, but against the Union itself;
and we hereby reprobate and denounce the crime and the treason.

Resolved, That we are in favor of home-stead to all actual settlers
upon the public lands of the United States.

Resolved, That we accept the decisions of the Supreme Court of the
United States, as the best evidence of the true meaning of the Constitu-
tion, and will respect and maintain them with the fidelity we owe to the
Constitution itself.

Resolved, That adhering to and being determined to stand by the well
considered declaration of principles contained in the Cincinnati Platform,
as expounded by President Buchanan in his letter of acceptance, we affirm
that it is the unquestionable right of "the people of a Territory, like those
of a State, to determine for themselves whether slavery shall or shall not
exist within their limits."

Resolved, That it is a slander upon the Democratic party, .both north
and south, made by the Opposition, when they charge them with being
in favor of a re-opening of the African slave trade.

Resolved, That we believe in that provision of the Constitution and
the laws thereunto enacted for the naturalization of foreigners, and that
when they declare their intention to become citizens of our Government,
we believe that they are entitled to its protection, wherever the flag of our
country may wave over the land, as though they were native born citizens.

Resolved, That we are opposed to the transfer of the Wabash and Erie
Canal to the State, or any change in the relation of the State to the canal
bondholders.

2Q POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1860

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, I860.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 23.)

Resolved. 1. That while disunion doctrines are proclaimed in the
Halls of Congress by the Democracy, and disunion purposely openly
avowed, we point with pride to the fact that not a single rejublican,
either in Congress or the walks of private life— not a single republican
press— not a single republican orator— not a single republican convention,
has avowed any design against the integrity of the Union, even should the
present administration with its corrupt policy be perpetuated by the vote
of the people.

2. That we are opposed to the new and dangerous doctrine advocated
by the democratic party, that the Federal Constitution carries slavery into
the public Territories; that we believe slavery cannot exist any where in
this government unless by positive local law, and that we will oppose its
extension into the Territories of the Federal Government by all the power
known to the Constitution of the United States.

3. That we are opposed to any interference with slavery where it
exists under the sanction of State law; that the soil of every State should
be protected from lawless invasion from every quarter, and, that the citi-
zens of every State should be protected from illegal arrests and searches,
as well as from mob violence.

4. That the territory of Kansas, now desiring admission under a Con-
stitution Republican in form, expressing the will ana wish of an over-
whelming majority of her people, ought to be admitted as a sovereign
member of the Union, speedily and without delay.

5. That we are in favor of the immediate passage by Congress of a
Homestead Law, thereby giving out of our public domain homes to the
homeless.

6. That the fiscal affairs of the State of Indiana have been badly
managed. That State officers have been shown to be defaulters to large
amounts, and suffered to go unprosecuted. That large amounts of the
public moneys have been squandered to enrich officials and partisan favor-
ites, and that when the representatives of the people sought to stop those
peculations, by the passage of an "Embezzlement Bill" the Governor of
the State vetoed that bill, and thus kept the doors of the treasury opened
to be further robbed by dishonest partisans.

7. That »it is the duty of every branch of the Federal Government to
enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public
affairs, and the acts of certain parties in high places, in cheating and de-
frauding the government out of large and valuable tracts of the public
lands, as well as a reckless Avaste and extravagant expenditure of the
public money, by which the National Treasury has become bankrupt,
and a borrower in the public markets, by the sale of bonds and treasury
notes, meets our earnest condemnation.

8. That we consider the slave trade as justly held to be piracy by
the law of nations and our own laws, and that it is the duty of all
civilized nations, and of our public authorities to put a stop to it in all
parts of the world.

1862] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 21

9. That we are in favor of equal rights to all citizens, at home and
abroad, without reference to the place of their nativity, and that we will
oppose any attempt to change the present Naturalization Laws.

10. That we regard the preservation of the American Union as the
highest object and duty of patriotism, and that it must and shall be pre-
served, and that all who advocate disunion are, and deserve the fate of
traitors.

11. That we take this occasion to express our thanks to our Repub-
lican members in Congress, from this and other States, for their persever-
ance and triumphant success in the organization of the House of Repre-
sentatives, in the election of high minded and national men, over the efforts
of a corrupt, sectional and disunion party.

12. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central prac-
ticable route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole
country, and that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and
efficient aid to its construction.

13. That the soldiers of the war of 1812, who yet remain among us,
deserve the grateful remembrance of the people, and that Congress should
at once recognize their services by placing their names upon the pension
rolls of the government.

14. That we are opposed to the retrocession of the Wabash and Erie
Canal, as well as to the State becoming liable for any of the debts, or
bonds for which the same was transferred to satisfy.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J862.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, January 9.)

Resolved. 1. That we reaffirm and endorse the political principles
that from time to time have been put forth by the National Conventions
of the Democratic party.

2. That we are unalterably attached to the Constitution, by which
the Union of these States was formed and established; and that a faithful
observance of its principles can alone continue the existence of the Union,
and the permanent happiness of the people.

3. That the present civil war has mainly resulted from the long con-
tinued, unwise and fanatical agitation in the North, of the question of
domestic slavery, the consequent organization of a geographical party,
guided by the sectional platforms adopted at Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Phila-
delphia, and Chicago, and the development thereby of sectional hate and
jealousy, producing (as has long been foreseen and predicted by us) its
counterpart in the South of secession, disunion, and armed resistance to
the General Government, and terminating in a bloody strife between those
who should have been forever bound together by fraternal bonds, thus
bringing upon the whole country a calamity which we are now to meet as
loyal citizens, striving for the adoption of that mode of settlement best
calculated to again restore union and harmony.

4. That in rejecting all propositions likely to result in a satisfactory
adjustment of the matters in dispute between the North and the South,

22 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1862

and especially those measures which would have secured the border slave
States to the Union, and a hearty co-operation on their part in all consti-
tutional and legal measures to procure a return of the more Southern States
to their allegiance, the Republican party assumed a fearful responsibility,
and acted in total disregard of the best interests of the whole country.

5. That if the party in power had shown the same desire to settle, by
amicable adjustment, our internal dissensions before hostilities had actu-
ally commenced, that the Administration has recently exhibited to avoid
a war with our ancient enemy, Great Britain, we confidently believe that
peace and harmony would now reign throughout all our borders.

6. That the maintenance of the Union upon the principles of the Fed-
eral Constitution should be the controlling object of all who profess loy-
alty to the Government, and in our judgment this purpose can only be
accomplished, by the ascendancy of a Union party in the Southern States,
which shall, by a counter revolution, displace those who control and direct
the present rebellion. That no effort to create or sustain such a party can
be successful which is not based upon a definite settlement of the question
at issue bet\veen the two sections; and we therefore demand that some
such settlement be made by additional constitutional guaranty, either in-
itiated by act of Congress or through the medium of a National Con-
vention.

7. That the Republican party has fully demonstrated its inability to
conduct the Government through its present difficulties.

8. That we are utterly opposed to the twin heresies Northern section-
alism and Southern secession, as inimical to the Constitution; and that
freemen, as they value the boon of civil liberty and the peace of the coun-
try, should frown indignantly upon them.

9. That in this national emergency the Democracy of Indiana, ban-
ishing all feeling of passion and resentment, will recollect only their duty
to the whole country; that this war should not be waged in the spirit of
conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfer-
ing with the rights or institutions of the States, but to defend and main-
tain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with
all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and
that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

10. That we will sustain, with all our energies, a war for the mainte-
nance of the Constitution, and of the integrity of the Union under the Con-
stitution; but we are opposed to a war for the emancipation of the negroes,
or the subjugation of the Southern States.

11. That the purposes avowed and advocated by the Northern dis-
unionists, to liberate and arm the negro slaves, is unconstitutional, insult-
ing to loyal citizens, a disgrace to the age, is calciilated to retard the sup-
pression of the rebellion and meets our unqualified condemnation.

12. That the total disregard of the writ of habeas corpus by the au-
thorities over us, and the seizure and imprisonment of the citizens of loyal
States where the judiciary is in full operation, without warrant of law and
without assigning any cause or giving to the party arrested any oppor-
tunity of defense, are flagrant violations of the Constitution and most
alarming acts of usurpation of power, which should receive the stern
rebuke of every lover of his country and of every man who prizes the se-
curity and blessings of life, liberty and property. .

1862] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 23

13. That liberty of speech and of the press are guaranteed to the peo-
ple by the Constitution, and none but a usurper would deprive them of
these rights; they are inestimable to the citizen and formidable to tyrants
only. And the attempts which have been made since our present unfor-
tunate troubles, to muzzle the press and stifle free discussion, are exer-
cises of despotic power against which freedom revolts and which can not
be tolerated without converting freemen into slaves.

14. That the seizure of Slidell and Mason, on board a neutral vessel,
on the high seas, was either in accordance with international law, and so
legal, or else in violation of such law, and so illegal. If the former, we
lament that our nation has been humiliated by their surrender, under a
threat; if the latter, it was the duty of the Administration at once to have
disavowed the act of their officer, and instead of incarcerating the captives
in Fort Warren, to have immediately repaired the wrong by placing them,
as far as practicable, in the same condition in which that officer had found
them. In either event, the action of the Administration was vacillating
and cowardly, and degrading to the dignity of a great nation.

15. That the action of the Republican party, as manifested in the
partisan character of all appointments of the Administration to civil
office; and, in holding party caucuses by the Republican members of Con-
gress for the purpose of impressing upon the legislative action of that
body the peculiar dogmas of that party, have demonstrated that their
professions of "sacrificing party platforms, and party organizations, upon
the altar of their country," are but so many hypocritical and false pre-
tences by which they hope to dupe the unwary into their support; and we
warn all loyal persons, as they love their country, not to be deceived
thereby.

16. That the disclosures made by the investigating committee in Con-
gress of the enormous frauds that have stalked into the army and navy
departments, implicating the heads of those departments in a connivance
at, if not an actual participation in a system of corruption, and in which
our brave soldiers have been defrauded of their proper supplies, and our
Government threatened with bankruptcy, demands a thorough investiga-
tion into all our expenditures, both State and National, and that a speedy

and marked example be made of all such "birds of prey," who, taking ad-
vantage of the necessities of our country, have fed and fattened upon
public plunder.

17. That the meritorious conduct of the Indiana troops, in every battle
field where the victory has perched upon the national banner, has filled
the people of this State with the highest gratitude to her gallant sons, and
that we send our best wishes to officers and men, dispersed throughout
the country, and the heartfelt greetings of every Democrat for their
further brilliant achievements in the coming contests for the maintenance
of the Constitution and the Union.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1802

UNION (REPUBLICAN) PLATFORM, J862.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 19.)

Whereas, the National Government is engaged in a war waged against
it by its enemies for the avowed purpose of its destruction and the subver-
sion of our Republican form of .Government, therefore

Resolved, That the present civil war was forced upon the country by
the dis-unionists in the Southern States, who are now in rebellion against
the constitutional government; that in the present national emergency, we,
the people of Indiana, in convention assembled, forgetting all former polit-
ical differences, and recollecting only our duty to the whole country, do
pledge ourselves to aid with men and money the vigorous prosecution of
the present war which is not being waged upon the part of our Govern-
ment for the purpose of conquest, subjugation or overthrowing or inter-
fering with the rights of established institutions of any of the States,
but to suppress and put down a wicked and causeless rebellion, defend and
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union
SUB established by our patriot fathers, with all the dignity, equality and
rights of the several States unimpaired, and when these objects are fully
accomplished, and not before, we believe the war ought to cease; and that
we invite all who coincide in these sentiments to unite with us in support
of the ticket this day nominated.

Resolved, That we demand and expect of our Executive and Legisla-
tive bodies, both State and National, an economical administration of
governmental affairs, and the punishment of fraud against the govern-
ment, as well as a fearless discharge of their duties.

Resolved That as long as patriotism, courage, and the love of consti-
tutional liberty shall be honored and revered among the people of the
United States, the heroic conduct of the soldiers of the Union, who have
offered their lives for the salvation of their country, will be remembered
with the most profound feelings of veneration and gratitude, and that we
now tender to them the warmest thanks and lasting gratitude of every
member of this Convention.

Resolved, That we tender to the 60,000 volunteers from Indiana our
heartfelt congratulations, and hail with pride the fact that upon every
battle field where Indianians have been found, they have displayed the
bravery of patriots in defence of a glorious cause, and we pledge them
that while they are subduing armed traitors in the field, we will condemn
at the ballot box all those in our midst who are not unconditionally for
the Union.

18G4J INDIANA, 1850—1900. 25

DEMOCRATIC RESOLUTIONS, J864.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, July 13.)

Resolved, 1. That we utterly condemn as revolutionary and subversive
of the Constitution of our State, the action of Governor O. P. Morton in
counseling the factions and lawless conduct of the Republican members
of the last General Assembly,' and we wholly condemn their conduct in
seceding from the House of Representatives, in violation of their official
oaths and solemn duty, as representatives of the people, thereby defeating
all necessary legislation, either in the making of appropriations to carry
on the government of the State, or for the support and assistance of our
sick and wounded soldiers, and we denounce as worthy of especial con-
demnation the conduct of Governor Morton in usurping, for personal and
partisan purposes, the power and functions of the coordinate departments
of the government.

2. That we disapprove of, and condemn the action of Governor Morton
in establishing a "financial bureau," an institution unknown to the Con-
stitution, the laws, and the usages of the State of Indiana; in securing, dis-
bursing and squandering the funds of the State; in borrowing money on
the faith of the State and pledging the property and the energies of the
people to pay such loans, and interest thereon, and in paying out such
money in open and flagrant disregard of the Constitution and laws of the
State, without any appropriation directing the payment thereof, and with-
out any of the checks and safeguards that the wisdom and experience of
the past have demonstrated were necessary for the safety, preservation
and economical expenditure of the money of the people of the State.

3. That the suppression of the right of the writ of habeas corpus in
States or places not in actual rebellion, and the suppression of the freedom
of speech and of the press by the Administration, are alike crimes against
civilization and the highest hopes and interests of mankind.

4. That the profligate and reckless expenditure of the public treasure
by the administration, and its criminal inefficiency in the management of
the general business and finances of the country, always either leading
to or directly tolerating public immorality, or the shamelessly dishonest
waste of the people's money, have brought the nation to the verge of
bankruptcy and general ruin.

5. That the suppression of newspapers; the arrest of citizens without
warrant, and their confinement in prisons without examination or trial;
the denial of the right of asylum, and forcible seizure of subjects of for-
eign powers and their delivery to agents of such Governments, without
law or treaty, are criminal violations of civil liberty and the rights and
privileges secured to the citizen and alien under the American Consti-
tution.

6. That the failure of the Administration to promptly pay disabled or
discharged soldiers, and pensions to the widows and children whose
husbands and fathers have fallen in battle or died in camp or by the way-
side, and the readiness with wrhich the powers at Washington audit and
pay shoddy contractors, officers and placemen of the government, are cruel
wrongs to the destitute and deserving, and merit the withering scorn of
the American people.

2Q POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1864

7. That the noble and patriotic sons of Indiana, who, for love of
country and a restoration of the Union as established by our fathers, have
sacrificed the endearments of home for the hardships and perils of war,
merit the thanks of the people of Indiana; that we will ever hold in grate-
ful recollection the memory of those who have fallen in battle, and that
it is the duty, and should be the highest pleasure of the people to make
ample provision for the support of those who have received disabilities in
the service of the country, and the thousands of widows and tens of thou-
sands of orphan children, whose husbands and fathers have sacrificed
their lives in defense of their country and honor of the American flag.

8. That a faithful adherence to the Constitution of the United States,
to which the Democracy are pledged, necessarily implies the restoration
of liberty, and the rights of the States under that Constitution unimpaired,
and wrill lead to an early and honorable peace.

9. That we cordially sympathize with the Democracy of Kentucky in
their present subjugated condition, deprived of the rights of free men,
and we will stand by them in a manly and lawful struggle to recover con-
stitutional liberty.

10. That we pledge ourselves to cordially support the nominations
made by this Convention.

Resolved, That wre, the Democracy of Indiana in State convention as-
sembled, are in favor of maintaining personal and constitutional liberty,
and we pledge ourselves to sustain our rights as citizens to the bitter end.

UNION (REPUBLICAN) PLATFORM, J864.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 24.)

1. Resolved, That the cause of the Union demands of every patriotic
citizen the sacrifice of every partisan feeling, of all selfish purposes, of
all private ambition, and that no action of the Government, whether in
accordance with our views of correct policy or not, can absolve any man
from the duty to render every possible aid to crush the rebellion, by
furnishing the Government men and means, counsel and encouragement.

2. That we hail with joy the indications of approaching peace, not
by a compromise with rebels in arms, but by their complete and utter
subjugation to the laws and constitution of the United States; and that
we are in favor of the destruction of every thing which stands in the way
of a permanent and perpetual peace against the people of all the States,
and a full and complete restoration of the just authority of the Union
under the Constitution of the United States.

3. That those who persist in their opposition to the Government in
its hour of peril, who denounce its every act for the preservation of the
Union, who refuse to contribute men or money for its support, or who
organize secret combinations to embarrass the Government by resisting
the laws and encouraging desertions, are hereby rendering the rebel
cause more effective support than if they joined the rebel armies, and are
entitled to and will receive the execration of all patriotic citizens to the
latest posterity.

4. Resolved, That now, henceforth and to the end of time, the thanks
of a grateful people are due to the rank and file of the army and navy,

18GG] INDIANA, 1850-1000. 27

to the officers and men, who on so many battle fields have perilled their
lives in defence of their homes and of constitutional liberty, and by their
patient endurance of trials and privations, by their dauntless courage and
their devotion to the Union have covered themselves with imperishable
renown.

5. Resolved, That in the midst of a civil war for the preservation of
the life of the Government, and having confidence in the patriotism, the
wisdom, the justice and the honesty of Abraham Lincoln, we regard his
re-election to the position he now occupies as essential to the speedy and
triumphant end of the war, and therefore, hereby instruct the delegates
to be appointed by this Convention to represent this State in the National
Union Convention, to cast their votes for his nomination.

G. Resolved, That the gratitude of the American people is due to An-
drew Johnson, of Tennessee, for his unselfish devotion to the cause of the
Union, and his patriotic and successful efforts for the overthrow of the
rebellion, and that we present his name as the choice of our people for the
Vice-Presidency of the United States.

7. Resolved, That duty, patriotism, and the interests of Indiana, de-
mand the election of Oliver P. Morton as her next Governor and we
hereby declare him to be the Union candidate for that position.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J866*

(The Indianapolis Journal, March 16.)

1. Resolved, That among the powers reserved to the States, that of
withdrawal at will from the Union cannot "be found, and consequently,
such doctrine can be asserted only as a revolutionary measure, and not
peaceably as a right; and the late action of the Southern people, in resort-
ing to such means as a mode of redress of grievances, was illegal, and had
no sustaining principle but that of physical force, and that, having proved
insufficient, those principles became remitted to their constitutional obli-
gations or rights, of which obedience and protection are chief.

2. Resolved, That the principles avowed by President Johnson in his
annual message, looking to the early practical restoration of all the States
to their rights in the Union, meets with our hearty approval; and the
action of the majority in Congress, dictated as it may be by revenge, fa-
natacism, or thirst for political power, and being exerted to thrust such
States out of the Union, we solemnly condemn; therefore, we cordially en-
dorse the vote of the Freedmen's Bureau bill, and declare that in our
judgment the courage displayed, the doctrines avowed, and the high sense
of rights manifested in that message, and subsequent speeches, promise
well for the future administration of the President, and we hereby pledge
him the earnest and disinterested support of the Indiana Democracy in all
his conflicts with that fanatical congressional majority in his laudible
efforts to prevent them from changing or destroying our cherished form
of government.

3. Resolved, That, in our opinion, the sole power of the Senate and
House of Representatives over the admission of members to their re-

28 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1866

spective chambers, is confined to the "election, return and qualification
of its members respectively;" that this convention further declares its
conviction that Congress, in rejecting from representation eleven States
acknowledged to be in the Union, by having their votes counted in favor
of the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, the Senate and House
have usurped powers not delegated to them by the Constitution, and are
acting in violation thereof. We further believe that all members from
the Southern States who have been lately elected, and possess the con-
stitutional qualifications, should be immediately admitted and upon the
refusal of Congress to admit the members of such States to their seats,
it is the prerogative and duty of the President of the United States to
defend and uphold the integrity of every State now in the Union, and
"to take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

4. Resolved, That we are inflexibly opposed to a prohibitory or pro-
tective tariff, for the reason that it largely increases the price of all
articles of consumption, and decreases the revenues of the Government,
that it operates greatly to add to the honerous burdens of industry, while
it yearly adds fabulous wealth to the manufacturing interests of New
England, and that it is oppressive to the great agricultural interests of the
north west, in making such interest subservient to that of the manufac-
turing, by greatly decreasing the profits of the former, and largely in-
creasing that of the latter.

5. Resolved, That we declare it to be a just principle that taxation
and representation should go together— that property of every descrip-
tion, whether houses, lands or merchandise, or government bonds, should
bear its fair share of taxation, and that there should be no "favored
classes" on the duplicate. The man who has money to buy bonds, and
live on the interest, is exempt, and contributes not a dollar to support
State, county or city. As Democrats, we are compelled to say that these
laws are unjust, oppressive, and should be changed. We believe that
the men who voted for them should not be trusted, and that the party
which sustains them should not have charge of this government. We ask
that all men pay in proportion to their wealth, their means and their
ability.

6. Resolved, That the repudiation of the rebel debt by the Southern
States themselves, by solemn enactment, has relieved the people of the
nation from all apprehension that they will ever be called upon to pay
any portion of the same; but if this is not deemed suflicient, the De-
mocracy hereby declare that no portion of that unjust debt shall ever be
paid with our consent.

-7. Resolved, That the soldiers who left the comforts of a home to sus-
tain the flag of our country, are entitled to, and should receive, the heart-
felt thanks of a grateful people. And those who early rushed to the
standard should, by the action of Congress, be equally remunerated, by an
equalization of bounties, or otherwise, with their brethren who, at a later
day, were called upon to fill that highest duty of a citizen.

8. Resolved, That we will cheerfully and heartily sustain the man
who, in an official capacity, either State or National, shall be guided by
the principles we this day avow; and in so doing, we will not let party
affiliations prejudice our actions.

1866] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 29

9. Resolved, That the vote of the House of Representatives conferring
the right of suffrage on negroes, against the almost unanimous vote of
the people of the District of Columbia, shows a recklessness which none
but fanatics would defend, and none but tyrants practice; and we hereby
denounce that vote as a precursor of universal negro suffrage, and to
other outrages upon the rights and liberties of the people of the various
States.

10. Resolved, That we are opposed to the repeal of the 13th article
of the Constitution of Indiana prohibiting negroes and mulattoes from
settling in this State, and now, more than ever, deprecate the entrance of
that class of persons within its borders; and we most emphatically con-
demn and disapprove the action of the Republican majority in the late
General Assembly of Indiana in passing through the House a joint resolu-
tion providing for the abrogation of that article in the Constitution.

11. Resolved, That we are in favor of the Legislature, by friendly
enactments, encouraging immigration to this State.

12. Resolved, That eight hours in twenty-four is as long as a laboring
man can work and have left 10 him sufficient time for rest and improve-
ment; and we therefore insist that it shall be declared by statute that
eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work.

13. Resolved, That we 'are in favor of religious toleration, as the
founders of our Democratic institutions achieved and understood it, and
which they secured to all our people by constitutional guarantees; and we
declare that this great principle, and the personal rights of every citizen,
ought to be maintained free from invasion, either by means of Legislative
interference, or the equally tyrannical proscription of political parties,
founded on bigotry and intolerance.

14. Resolved, That the immense frauds, in financial, cotton and other
matters, practiced by the State and Federal governments, under abolition
rule, is deserving the stern condemnation of this convention.

15. Resolved, That all prohibitory liquor laws, or laws affecting the
private rights of citizens to use their own time in innocent pursuits, or
to force men to abstain by law, under pains and penalty, are injurious to
the cause of personal temperance and morality, and should be discounte-
nanced. The agencies of moral suasion are more in consonance with the
character of our people and their institutions. The luxury of doing
right without constraint is, to all men, an ennobling sentiment. We
further believe that the people of Indiana have had enough of "Maine
lawism" under the fanatical rule of men opposed to the Democratic party
in days gone by, and, with our consent, that kind of legislation shall
never be re-enacted in this State. We are equally hostile to the pet law
of Republican fanatics, defeated by Democratic votes at the late extra
session of the General Assembly, and all kindred legislation. We shall
oppose all .radical temperance and other schemes having for their object
the annoyance of any class of our people.

10. Resolved, That Senator Hendricks, and Representatives Niblack,
Kerr and Voorhees, by their untiring devotion to constitutional liberty,
have shown themselves true patriots; and the expulsion of Mr. Voorhees
from the House we denounce a high-handed outrage of a profligate, un-
scrupulous party.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [I860

UNION (REPUBLICAN) PLATFORM, J866.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 23.)

Resolved, That we have full faith in President Johnson and his Cabi-
net, and in the Union members of both Houses of Congress, and in the
sincere desire and determination of all of them to conduct the affairs of
the Government in such manner as to secure the best interests of the
whole people; and we hereby declare that we will sustain them in all
constitutional efforts to restore peace, order and permanent union.

Resolved, That in Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, we
recognize a patriot true, and a statesman tried, that we will support him
in all his Constitutional efforts to restore national authority, law and order
among the people of the States lately in rebellion, on the basis of equal
and exact justice to all men; and that we pledge to the Administration,
Executive and Legislative, our united and hearty co-operation in all wise
and prudent measures devised for the security of the Government against
rebellion and insurrection in times to come.

Resolved, That whilst we endorse the President of the United States in
his Constitutional efforts for the safety of the Union, and the restoration
of law and order, we do hereby express our entire confidence in the Union
majority in Congress, and pledge to it our cordial support.

Resolved, That it is the province of the legislative branch of the Gen-
eral Government to determine the question of reconstruction of the States
lately in rebellion against that Government; and that, in the exercise of
that power, Congress should have in view the loyalty of the people in
those States, their devotion to the Constitution, and obedience to the laws;
and until the people of those States, by their acts, prove themselves loyal
to the Government, they should not be restored to the rights and position
enjoyed and occupied by them before their rebellion.

Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States should be so
amended that no representation in Congress, or the Electoral College,
shall be allowed to any State, for any portion of her population that Is
excluded from the right of suffrage on account of race or color.

Resolved, That, under the Constitution of the United States, the power
to determine the qualifications requisite for electors in each State rests
with the States respectively.

Resolved, That in the election of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew John-
son to the highest offices in the gifts of a great people, and in the libera-
tion of four millions of oppressed people as an incident of the war for the
Union, the nation has approached the perfection of free government,
which makes merit, and not birth or property, the basis of public con-
fidence, and secures universal intelligence and freedom, and the honor and
dignity of human labor.

Resolved, That the Union of these States has not been, and cannot be
dissolved except by a successful revolution; but that after the suppression
of a formidable rebellion against the General Government, we declare that
the Government may, and should hold in abeyance the powers of the
rebellious States, until the public safety will allow of their restoration.

1866] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 3^

•

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Government of the United States
to see that emancipation shall be thorough and complete; that no State
legislation shall be tolerated which will tend to keep the blacks a subject
and servile race, and that full protection to life, liberty and property,
shall be guaranteed to them by National legislation.

Resolved, That no man who voluntarily participated in the rebellion
ought to be admitted to a seat in Congress, and that the law excluding
them therefrom ought not to be repealed.

Resolved, That the constitutional provision, "that tne citizens of each
State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several States." shall be enforced by proper congressional legislation.

Resolved, That the assumption of the rebel debt and the direct or in-
direct repudiation of that of the General Government, are alike measures
which can receive favor only from the enemies of the country; that we de-
nounce both as but part of that treason which in the South was lately
in armed conflict with the National authority, aided in the North by the
whole influence of a corrupt political organization which now has the
effrontery to seek power over a country it sought to destroy.

Resolved, That the country owes a debt of gratitude to the soldiers
and sailors lately composing the armies and navies of the Union, which
no language can express, and that we shall co-operate with them, at the
ballot-box, in excluding from places of public trust in Indiana, those who
during the rebellion, plotting treason, sought to bring disaster to the
Flag, and disgrace upon the brave men who upheld it with their lives
upon the battle field.

Resolved, That justice and duty demand the bounties of our National
defenders should be so equalized in land grants or money, as to render
the amount received by those who entered the service in the first
years of the war. equal to the highest sums paid by the Governm?nt to
those who subsequently volunteered.

Resolved, That a rigid economy in public expenditures is absolutely
essential to the maintenance of the national credit, and that measures of
taxation should be so framed that the plighted public faith shall suffer
no dishonor, and the public burdens be equally borne by all classes of
the community in proportion to their wealth.

Resolved, That, sympathizing with every effort to elevate the great
mass of the people to a condition of the highest intelligence, we approve
the movement in favor of the laboring population to reduce the time of toil
to eight hours per day, and to give practical effect to this declaration we
respectfully request the next General Assembly of this State to pass
a law making eight hours the rule for a day's labor in all cases, except
where the parties interested shall expressly make a different agreement.

Resolved, That we are decidedly in favor of bringing the late rebel
leader, Jeff Davis, to trial for treason against the Government, as soon as
a fair and impartial trial can be had before a competent tribunal, and if
convicted, to the end "that treason may be made odious," that he be
punished as prescribed by law.

Resolved, That we most heartily indorse the administration of Oliver
P. Morton, as Governor of Indiana, and tender him our gratitude for his
humane and patriotic treatment of her soldiers; and that we deeply sympa-
thize with him in his recent afflictions.

/^ o

(( UNIVERSITY \

32 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [18(38

•

Resolved, That we have implicit confidence in the intelligence and
patriotism of Acting Governor Baker, and we rejoice tnat in the absence
of Gov. Morton, the Executive Department of the State Government is
so ably and impartially administered, and we hereby tender him our full
confidence.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1868*

(The Indianapolis Journal, January 9.)

1. Resolved, That language is not adequate to express our abhorrence
and condemnation of the Radical reconstruction policy of Congress— a
policy condemned by every consideration of justice and constitutional
obligation; a policy fraught with the most alarming apprehensions of evil
to ten States of the Union, and of destruction to the Union itself; a policy
that largely increases taxation; a policy that requires a large standing
army, which adds nearly one hundred million dollars annually to the
expenses of the Government, while it beggars the people; a policy the
avowed object of which is to continue in power the most venal and cor-
rupt political party that ever dishonored any civilization; a policy vindic-
tively enacted and mercilessly prosecuted with the unconstitutional pur-
pose of centralizing and perpetuating all political powers of the Govern-
ment in the dominant Radical party in Congress, and a policy which if
not early arrested by the American people, will sooner or later overwhelm
our national Government in one common and appalling ruin. We demand
the unconditional repeal of the act of Congress conferring exclusive rights
or privileges upon any class or classes of citizens at the expense of other
classes.

2. That we demand the unconditional repeal of acts of Congress, con-
ferring exclusive rights or privileges upon any class or classes of citizens
at the expense of other classes.

3. That the national bank system organized in the interest of the
bondholders ought to be abolished, and United States notes substituted in
lieu of the national bank currency, thus saving to the people in interest
alone more than eighteen million dollars a year; and, until such system of
banks be abolished, we demand that the shares of such banks in Indiana
shall be subjected to the same taxation, State and municipal, as other
property of the State.

4. That the bonds and other securities of the United States and every
description of property should bear equal proportion of taxation for State,
county, and municipal purposes, and to that end the bonds ?md other
securities of the United States ought to be taxed by Congress for national
purposes in amount substantially equal to the tax imposed on property
in the several States for local purposes.

."). That we are in favor of the payment of the Government bonds in
Treasury notes, commonly called greenbacks, except expressly made pay-
able in gold by law, at the earliest practicable point.

6. «That the unjust and iniquitous tariff laws now in force ought to be
repealed, and the tariff adopted looking to revenue only.

1868] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 33

7. That the monstrous extravagance of the Republican leaders in the
administration of government at all times, and all places, has been profli-
gate to an extent unexampled in history; and for the hundreds of millions
of dollars expended by them since the termination of the war, they have
nothing to show save several States under a military despotism, oppres-
sive law^s, usurped power, and a mutilated Constitution; that the burden
of taxation, too grievous to be borne, demands their removal from all
places of trust, and a thorough course of retrenchment and reform.

8. That we are opposed to conferring the right of suffrage on negroes.
We deny the right of the General Government to interfere with the ques-
tion of suffrage in any of the States of the Union.

9. That it is the duty of the United States to protect all citizens,
whether native-born or naturalized, in every right at home and abroad,
without regard to the pretended claim of foreign nations to perpetual
allegiance.

10. That the attempt to regulate the moral ideas and aspects of the
people by legislation is unwise and despotic, and we are opposed to that
class of legislation which seeks to prohibit the people from the enjoyment
of all proper appetites and amusements.

11. That we shall ever hold in sacred recollection the dead who freely
sacrificed their lives for the defense of our glorious Union, that the present
and future generations might enjoy the rich inheritance of a form of
government that secures an equality of rights and privileges to all the
citizens thereof; that the nation owes to the surviving soldiers and sailors
of the Union the highest marks of praise and gratitude for the great sacri-
fices they made in the late war, and to those disabled in the service of
the Union, and the widows and orphan children of those who fell in battle,
or died of wounds, or in the military service of the Union, such personal
aid as will enable them to enjoy the substantial necessaries of life.

12. That we recognize in the restoration measures of Andrew John-
son, President of the United States, a policy which would have given
peace, security, and prosperity to the State, and dispelled the dark clouds
caused by the vindictive measures of a Radical Congress. The adoption
of the President's policy would, in our opinion, have saved the nation
the expenditure of untold millions of treasure, lessened the burden of
taxation, secured peace to the South, and prosperity to the Union.

13. That Major-General Hancock, by his order at New Orleans, rein-
stating the civil law and dethroning the military despotism, has mani-
fested the highest respect for constitutional liberty, for which he deserves
the commendation of all friends of constitutional government, and who
revere the noble profession of arms. Like the great' and good Washing-
ton, this gallant soldier had learned to respect the civil rights of all good
citizens, and to declare that in time of peace military tribunals should
have no place in our jurisprudence. Eternal honor to the soldier who
refused to rise above the laws!

14. That we congratulate the Democracy of our sister State of Ohio
on the gallant political campaign closed on the 8th day of October, 1867— a
campaign marked by the highest order of devotion, ability, and effect,
and that prominent and close in the association in the minds of our fel-
low-citizens of Indiana stands the name of the Hon. George H. Pendleton,
identified with the vital measures upon which our party enters the canvass

3— Platforms.

34: POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1868

for 1868, together with his ability as a statesman and his high personal
qualities. All these entitle him to the commendation of the convention as
a true and consistent Democrat, and one who has our entire confidence and
preference.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J868.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 21.)

The Union Republican party of Indiana, assembled in convention at
Indianapolis, on the 20th day of February, 1868, to consult in reference
to the present condition of the country, make the following declaration of
principles:

First. The Congressional plan of reconstruction was made necessary
by the rejection of the Constitutional amendments, and the continued
rebellious spirit of the Southern people; and if they will not, upon the con-
ditions prescribed by Congress, become the friends of the Union, it is the
duty of Congress to do whatever the emergency requires to prevent them
from doing harm as enemies.

Second. The extension of suffrage to the negroes of the South is the
direct result of the rebellion and continued rebellious spirit maintained
therein, and was necessary to secure the reconstruction of the Union and
the preservation of the loyal men therein from a state worse than slavery,
and the question of suffrage in all the loyal States belongs to the people
of those States under the Constitution of the United States.

Third. The government of the United States should be administered
with the strictest economy consistently with the public safety and interest.
Revenue should be so laid as to give the greatest possible exemption to
articles of primary necessity and fall most heavily upon luxuries and the
wealth of the country, and all property should bear a just proportion of
the burden of taxation.

Fourth. The public debt made necessary by the rebellion should be
honestly paid; and all the bonds issued therefor should be paid in legal
tenders, commonly called greenbacks, except where, by their express
terms, they provide otherwise; and paid in such quantities as will make
the circulation commensurate with the commercial wants of the country,
and so as to avoid too great inflation of the currency, and an increase
in the price of gold.

Fifth. The large and rapid contraction of the currency, sanctioned by
the votes of the Democratic party in both Houses of Congress, has had
.a most injurious effect upon the industry and business of the country;
and it is the duty of Congress to provide by law for supplying the de-
ficiency in legal tender notes, commonly called greenbacks, to the full
extent required by the business wants of the country.

Sixth. We are opposed to the payment of any part of the rebel debt,
or to any payment whatever for emancipated slaves.

Seventh. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there
are none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and sea-
men, who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, and imperiled

1868] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 35

their lives in the service of their country; the bounties and pensions pro-
vided by law for these braves defenders of the nation are obligations
never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead are
the wards of the nation— a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's pro-
tecting care.

Eighth. The public lands are the property of the people; the monopo-
lies of them, either by individuals or corporations, should be prohibited;
they should be reserved for actual settlers; and, as a substantial recogni-
tion of the services of the Union officers and soldiers in the late civil
war, they should each be allowed one hundred and' sixty acres thereof.

Ninth. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers,
that because a man is once a citizen he is always so, must be resisted
at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of the feudal times, not
authorized by the law of nations, and at war with our national honor
and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to be protected in all
their rights, of citizenship, as though they were native born, and no citi-
zen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest
and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in
this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the gov-
ernment to interfere in his behalf.

Tenth. We cordially approve the course of the Republican members
of Congress in their active support of the bill prohibiting a further con-
traction of the currency, in which they faithfully represented the will of
the people of Indiana. And this convention expresses their unwavering
confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of Oliver P. Morton— his devotion
to the vital interests of the nation during the past six years has endeared
him to every lover of the Union, and Liberty, and we send greeting to
him, in the American Senate, and assurance to him of our unqualified
endorsement of his course.

Eleventh. General Ulysses S. Grant, and the Hon. Schuyler Colfax
are the choice of Indiana for President and Vice-President of the United
States; and this convention hereby instruct the delegates to the National
Convention to cast the vote of Indiana for these gentlemen.

36 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1870

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J870.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, January 10.)

That the Federal Union, with all the rights and dignity of the several
States, should be preserved; and to secure that great national blessing the
Constitution must be respected and observed and every approach to cen-
tralized despotism defeated, whether attempted by Congress or the
Executive.

That recent events have, more than ever, convinced us of the in-
famous and revolutionary character of the reconstruction measures of
Congress, and we denounce these measures as an invasion of the sovereign
and sacred rights of the people and of all the States.

That the independence of the Supreme Court of the United States is
essential to the safety and security of the States and the people; and we
declare that the measures of Congress having in view the destruction
of the powers of that Court, to adjudicate on the constitutionality of the
enactments of Congress is a dangerous evidence of the usurpations of the
legislative over the judicial department of the Government.

That we are in favor of a tariff for revenue only; and we demand that
the burdens of taxation shall be fairly and equally adjusted, and that such
an adjustment can not be made without striking from the statute book
the present unjust and odious tariff laws— a system of taxation based
upon favoritism, and which has destroyed American shipping and com-
merce, oppressed the people of the great agricultural regions which com-
pels the many to pay to the few, and which has built up monopolies
that control not only every American market, but also the legislation of
Congress; and we demand that the prime articles of necessity, such as tea,
coffee, sugar and salt, shall be placed upon the free list.

That we are willing to pay our national debt, in strict compliance with
our contracts, whether it was made payable in gold or greenbacks, but
we are unwilling to do more than that; and we declare that the five-
twenty bonds are payable in greenbacks, or their equivalent; and we con-
demn the policy of the Administration which is squandering millions of
money by buying such bonds at a high rate of premium, when the Govern-
ment has the clear right to redeem them at par.

That the National Bank system, organized in the interest of the bond-
holders, ought to be abolished, and greenbacks issued in lieu of such
bank paper, thus saving millions annually to the people, and giving to
the whole people (instead of the few) the benefits of issuing a paper
currency.

That the business of the country demands an increased and main-
tained volume of the currency; and the burthen of the public debt, the high
rate of interest and taxation imperatively forbid the contraction of the
currency in the interest of the bondholders.

That the shares of stock in the National Banks ought to be subjected
to school and municipal taxation on the same conditions, as other prop-
erty; and we demand of our State Legislature that the shares of such
Banks shall be subjected to equal taxation with other property of the
State.

1870] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 37

That the bonds of the United States ought to be taxed by Congress
for national purposes to such an extent as will substantially equalize the
taxation of such bonds with other property subject to local taxation.

That we denounce the action of our last Legislature in attempting to
force upon the people the proposed' fifteenth amendment to the Constitu-
tion of the United States, as in palpable violation of our State Constitu-
tion, and we solemnly protest against Indiana being counted for said
amendment; and we hereby declare our unalterable opposition to its rati-
fication.

That any attempt to regulate the moral ideas, appetites, or innocent
amusements of the people by legislation is unwise and despotic.

That we are opposed to any change in the naturalization laws of the
United States, whereby admission to citizenship will be made more diffi-
cult or expensive; and we especially denounce the proposed plan of trans-
ferring the naturalization of aliens to the Courts of the United States
and in abridging the powers of State courts in that respect, as a hard-
ship and expense to the poor and friendless candidate for American citi-
zenship; we recognize the proposed change as the off-shoot of intolerant
"Know-Notliingism"— the "twin relic" of Radicalism itself.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J870.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 23.)

The Union Republican party of Indiana, assembled in Convention at
Indianapolis, on the 22d day of February, 1870, makes the following dec-
laration of principles:

I.

We congratulate the country on the restoration of law and order in the
late rebellious States, under the reconstruction measures adopted by the
General Government, and upon the prevalence of peace and return of
fraternal feeling among the people of all the States, under a Constitution,
securing an equality of political and civil rights to all citizens, without
distinction of race or color.

II.

FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.

That we reverence the Constitution of the United States as the
Supreme law of the land, and a wise embodiment of the principles of free
government, and following its teachings we will adopt from time to time
such amendments as are necessary more completely to establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility and secure the blessings of liberty to our-
selves and our posterity; and that we rejoice at the ratification of the
Fifteenth amendment which forever secures an equality of political rights
to all men, and we extend to the colored man a helping hand to enable him
in the race of life to improve and elevate his condition.

38 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1870

III.

NATIONAL DEBT.

That the national debt created in the defense and preservation of the
Union, however great the burden, must be cheerfully borne, until honor-
ably and honestly extinguished in accordance with the letter and spirit
of the several laws authorizing the debt; and that all attempts at repudia-
tion of principal or interest should meet the scorn and denunciation of an
honest and patriotic people.

IV.

ECONOMY.

That we demand in every department of the Government, from -the
highest to the lowest, the strictest economy in all expenditures, consistent
with the requirements of the public service; the reduction and abolish-
ment of all extravagant fees and salaries; the closing of all useless offices,
and the dismissal of their incumbents, and all efforts to these ends in
Congress, or elsewhere, have our unqualified approval.

V.

REDUCED TAXES.

That a reduction of taxation is demanded, both of tariff and internal
taxes, until it reaches the lowest amount consistent with the credit and
necessities of the Government; and that we are in favor of a tariff for
revenue, believing that a proper adjustment of duties must necessarily
afford all the incidental protection to which any interest is entitled.

VI.

CURRENCY.

That we are in favor of a currency founded on the national credit, as
abundant as the trade and commerce of the country demand; and that
we disapprove of all laws in reference thereto which establish monopoly
or inequality tnerein.

VII.

LANDS AND SUBSIDIES.

That we are opposed to the donation of the public lands, or the grant
of subsidies in money to railroads and other corporations; and that we
demand the reservation of the public domain for the use of actual settlers
and educational purposes.

VIII.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.

That we reaffirm that "of all who were faithful in the trials of the
late war, there are none entitled to more especial honor than the brave
soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise

1870] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 39

and imperiled their lives in the service of their country, and the bounties
and pensions provided by law for those brave defenders of the nation are
obligations never to be forgotten, and should be paid without cost to the
recipient. The widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of
the nation— a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care."

IX.

ENDORSEMENT OF CONGRESS.

That we approve the general course of our Senators and Republican
Representatives in Congress, and express our full and entire confidence
that they will act with wisdom and integrity in all that concerns the wel-
fare of the people; and that we tender thanks to Senator Morton for his
exertions in so shaping the legislation of Congress on the reconstruction
of the late rebel States, as to secure the passage of the Fifteenth Amend-
ment.

X.

ENDORSEMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATION.

That we endorse the administration of General Grant as President of
the United States; accept the increased collections of revenue, the reduction
of expenditures, and payment of a large portion of the public debt as a
fulfillment of his promises of economy, and rejoice that the victorious
General of the Union armies should, as a civil officer, receive the last of
the rebel States in its return to the national family.

XI.

MORAL LEGISLATION.

Inasmuch as all Republican governments depend for their stability and
perpetuity on the intelligence and virtue of the people, it is the right and
duty of the State and national authorities to establish, foster and secure
the highest moral and intellectual development of the people.

XII.

COUNTY REFORM.

The taxation for county and other local purposes has become so great
as to be oppressive to the people; that our system of county administration
needs reform, and we demand of our representatives in the Legislature
such changes in the statutes of the State as will protect the people from
extravagant tax levies by local authorities; and as an aid to this needed
reform we favor a reduction of the fees of county officers to a standard
which will furnish a fair and reasonable compensation for the services
rendered, and that no officer should be favored with salary, fees, or per-
quisites beyond such fair and reasonable compensation.

40 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1872

XIII.

CANAL BONDS.

That the canal stocks, issued under the legislation of 1840 and 1847,
commonly called the "Butler Bill," were, by the terms of the contract,
charged exclusively upon the Wabash and Erie Canal, its revenues and
lands; and the faith of the State never having been directly or indirectly
pledged for the payment or redemption thereof, said canal stocks there-
fore constitute no part of the outstanding debts or liabilities of the State.
That the Constitution of this State ought to be amended at the earliest
practicable period, so as to prohibit the taking effect of any law or acts of
the General Assembly proposing to recognize or create any liability of the
State for the said canal stock, or any part thereof, until such proposition
shall have been submitted to a direct vote of the people of the State
and approved by them.

XIV.

ENDORSEMENT OF STATE ADMINISTRATION.

That we heartily endorse the administration of our State affairs by
Governor Baker, and his associate State officers, and especially congratu-
late the people that the time is so near when the State debt will be en-
tirely liquidated.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1872.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 13.)

Resolved, by the Democracy of Indiana, in convention assembled:
That the principles of the Cincinnati Liberal Republican Convention,
taken in connection with the propositions contained in Horace Greeley's
letter accepting the nomination of that Convention, constitute a platform
on which all the elements of opposition to the present corrupt Adminis-
tration of the Federal Government can stand, and which propositions are
as follows:

1. All the political rights and franchises which have been acquired
through the late bloody convulsions must and shall be guaranteed, main-
tained, enjoyed, respected evermore.

2. All the political rights and franchises which have been lost through
that convulsion should and must be promptly restored and re-established,
so that there shall be henceforth no proscribed class, and no disfranchised
caste within the limits of our Union, whose long estranged people shall
reunite and fraternize upon the broad basis of universal amnesty, with
impartial suffrage.

3. That, subject to our solemn constitutional obligation to maintain
the equal rights of all citizens, our policy should aim to local self-govern-
ment, and not at centralization; that the civil authority should be supreme
over the military; that the writ of habeas corpus should be jealously
upheld as the safeguard of personal freedom; that the individual citizens

1872] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 4.^

should enjoy the largest liberty consistent with public order; and that
there shall be no Federal supervision of the internal policy of the several
States and municipalities, but that each shall be left free to enforce the
rights and promote the well being of its inhabitants by such means as the
judgment of its people shall prescribe.

4. That there shall be a real and not merely a simulated reform in the
civil service of the Republic; to which end it is indispensable that the
chief dispenser of its vast official patronage shall be shielded from the
main temptation to^use his power selfishly by a rule inexorably forbidding
and precluding his re-election.

Resolved, That we regard it as unwise and imprudent to place two
tickets in nomination for the office of President and Vice-President as the
representatives of these principles, as the division of its friends would in-
sure the defeat of both, and it is therefore the fixed conviction of this
convention that the Democratic Convention to assemble in Baltimore in
July should adopt the nominees of the Liberal Republican Convention,
instead of making other nominations for the Presidency and Vice-Presi-
dency of the United States.

Resolved, That the delegates appointed from this State to the Balti-
more Convention be, and they are hereby instructed to vote as a unit
upon all questions in accordance with the opinion of a majority of the
delegation.

Resolved, That all drainage and other lawTs by wrhich the owners of
property may be divested of their title by arbitrary assessments or sum-
mary process should be carefully guarded, so as to protect the people from
undue oppression, and their property from being taken without just com-
pensation and due process of law; and that all laws contravening these
principles should be promptly repealed, or modified so as to conform
thereto.

Whereas, The Union soldiers and sailors, by their patriotism and
courage in the great rebellion of 1861, preserved the life of the nation and
made our public domain valuable; therefore,

Resolved, That we demand for each of the living who was honor-
ably discharged, and for the widows or orphans of the dead, one hundre'd
and sixty acres of the public lands— not heretofore entered, or given away
by a Republican Congress to railroad corporations— to be theirs absolutely,
without requiring them to become actual settlers thereon.

Resolved, That justice and equality demand that all soldiers who en-
listed in the military service of the country during the war of the late
rebellion, and who have been honorably discharged therefrom, shall have
a bounty granted to them by Congress in proportion to the time they may
have served, whether that time shall have been for three months or a
longer period.

42 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1872

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J872.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 23.)

1. That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere to the principles
of the Declaration of Independence, and firmly sustain the Constitution
of the United States as the true basis of popular freedom; and will main-
tain the equal rights of all men before the laAv; and .the authority of the
National Convention against all false theories of State rights.

2. That we therefore approve of the acts of Congress, and of the ad-
ministration, which put the rights of all citizens under the protection
of the National authority when they are assailed by hostile legislation, or
by the violence of armed associations, whether open or secret; and we
demand the enforcement of the laws, that these rights may be securely
and amply protected wherever and whenever invaded.

3. That we congratulate the country on the complete restoration of
the Union; and now as heretofore, the Republican party remembers with
gratitude our brave soldiers and seamen who imperiled their lives in the
service of the country, and to whom as men who saved the nation in the
hour of her peril we owe the highest honor; and we declare that our
obligations to them shall never be forgotten, and we demand that the
bounties and pensions now, or which may be provided for these brave
defenders of the nation, shall be paid without cost to the recipients; and
that the widows and orphans of the gallant dead, the wards of the nation,
shall receive the nation's protecting care, and while we cheerfully assume
all these burdens, we can not forget, and the American people can never
forget, that to the Democratic party, South and North, we owe all the
calamities of the late slave-holders' rebellion, and the debt now resting
upon the industry of our State and nation.

4. That we indorse the action of Congress, and of the administration
in maintaining the traditionary policy of the nation of living in friendly
relations with other governments, yet avoiding entangling alliances with
them, as evidenced in checking hostile expeditions from our shores, refus-
ing to interfere in domestic revolutions, even where our sympathies are
strongly enlisted, and agreeing to the arbitration of disputed claims, while
demanding admission of the wrong done.

5. That we approve the action of Congress and of the present admin-
istration in all their efforts to reduce expenditures in the several depart-
ments, and in the reduction of the tariff and internal taxes as rapidly as
trie exigencies of the Government will admit, while continuing to main-
tain the public credit by the sure and gradual payment of the debt of the
nation, and by discharging the obligations due her soldiers, sailors and
pensioners.

6. That we favor all efforts looking to the development of the great
industrial interests of the State, and we request our Senators and Repre-
sentatives in Congress to use their influence, in any revision of the tariff;
to secure to the coal and iron interests of our State all the incidental pro-
tection consistent with a due regard to the principles of reducing the bur-
den of taxation.

7. That the adherence of Congress and the administration to the pres-
ent financial policy— in spite of the hostility of political opponents— has

1872] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 43

been fully justified by the payments made on the public debt, and in the
stability, security and increased confidence it has given to all the business
affairs of the country.

8. That the financial affairs of the State and Nation should be con-
ducted on the principles of economy, and to this end all useless offices
should be abolished, fees and salaries limited to a fair compensation for
the services rendered, and by prohibiting the allowance of all perquisites,
and by avoiding all unnecessary appropriations and expenditures; and in
this State we favor the abolition of the offices of Agent of State and State
Printer.

9. That we are opposed to granting further donations of public lands
to railroads or other corporations, and demand that the public domain be
reserved for the use of actual settlers, the discharge of the obligations of
the country to its brave defenders, and the purposes of general education.

10. That Congress ought to interfere for the protection of immigrants,
to shield them from the unjust exactions levied upon them in the shape
of capitation taxes, under the laws of New York and other seaboard
States; the true policy of the country being to extend a cordial invitation
to the citizens of other countries to cast their lot with us, and share on
terms of perfect equality the blessings which we enjoy.

11. That we approve the efforts being made for the vindication of
honest government by the exposure, removal and punishment of corrupt
officials, whether of municipalities, State or Nation; we hail such expo-
sures, undeterred by fears of party injury, as proof of the integrity of the
party; and we spurn the attempts of the opposition to turn these efforts
at self-purifkation into proofs of party venality; and we. demand of all
public officers honesty, sobriety and diligence in the discharge of their
duties. And we announce our unrelenting hostility to all attempts by cor-
porations, monopolies or combinations to influence elections, or the Legis-
lature of the State, by the use of corrupt means.

12. That as a general dissemination of knowledge and learning among
the people is essential to the existence of a free republic, we hold the
public free schools to be the safeguard of our liberties, and pledge our-
selves to cherish and maintain them.

13. That we are in favor of such a revision of our criminal code as
will secure the more speedy and effectual administration of justice, and
such wise and judicious legislation as will enforce individual responsibility
for all acts affecting public interests.

14. That the efforts now being made by the working men of the nation
to improve their own condition, and more completely to vindicate their
independence of class subordination, meet our cordial approbation; and
for proof that the Republican party is the true friend of the laborer, we
point to the fact that while opposing all attempts to array capital and
labor against each other as mutually destructive, it has been by the efforts
of this party that labor was emancipated from the ownership of capital:
free homesteads provided for settlers on the public domain; the hours of
labor reduced and complete equality of rights established before the law;
and therefore we invite working men to seek whatever further advantage
or amelioration they may desire, within the embrace of the party of lib-
erty and equality.

44: POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1874

15. That the joint resolution passed by the last General Assembly pro-
posing to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit the Legislature from
ever assuming or paying the canal debt which was charged exclusively
upon the Wabash and Erie canal under the legislation of 1846 and 1847,
commonly called the Butler Bill, ought to be adopted by the next General
Assembly, and submitted to the people, to the end that it may be ratified
and become a part of the Constitution.

16. That we endorse the administration of Governor Conrad Baker,
and applaud the firm, able and courteous manner in which he has dis-
charged the duties of his high office, and we greatly regret that he has
not had the co-operation of a Republican Legislature to carry out the
various measures proposed for the reformation of abuses, the protection
of the people, against fraudulent canal claims and the further development
of the immense resources of the State.

17. That our Senators and Republican members of Congress deserve
the approbation of their constituents for the firm, able and energetic man-
ner in which they have discharged their duties.

18. That the administration of General Grant has been consistent
with the principles of the Republican party, and eminently just, wise and
humane, and such as fulfills his pledges and deserves our cordial support.
And, therefore, we instruct our delegates to the National Convention to
vote for the renomination of Grant and Colfax as our candidates fo'r
President and Vice-President.

THE INDEPENDENT PLATFORM (DEMOCRATIC), 1874.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 11.)

In making this call, and presuming to enter into competition with
existing parties, it is meet that we should give to the world our reasons,
as well as the remedies, we propose for the wrongs of which we com-
plain. Starting, then, with the maxim that our government is founded on
the sovereignty and consent of the governed, and its purposes to protect
property and enforce natural rights, we acknowledge the broad prin-
ciple, that difference of opinion is no crime, and hold that progress toward
truth is made by difference of opinion, while the fault lies in bitterness
of controversy. We desire a proper equality, equity and fairness, protec-
tion for the weak, restraint upon the strong; in short, justly distributed
burdens and justly distributed powers; these are American ideas, the very
essence of American independence, and to advocate the contrary is un-
worthy of the sons and daughters of an American republic. For our
business interests we desire to bring producers and consumers, farmers
and manufacturers, into the most direct and friendly relations possible.
We wage no aggressive warfare against any other interests whatever;
on the contrary, all our acts and all our efforts, so far as business is con-
cerned, are not only for the benefit of the producer and consumer, but
also for all other legitimate interests that tend to bringing these two
parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we hold that trans-
portation companies of every kind are necessary to our success; that their

1874] INDIANA, 1850—1900. • 45

interests are intimately connected with our interests, and harmonious
action is mutually advantageous. We shall, therefore, advocate for every
State the increase, in every possible way, of all the facilities of trans-
porting cheaply to the seaboard or between home producers and consum-
ers, all the productions of our country. We adopt it as our fixed purpose
to open out the channels in nature's great arteries, that the life blood of
commerce may flow freely. We are not enemies of railroads, navigable
and irrigating canals, nor of any corporation that will advance our indus-
trial interests. We are friendly to all laboring classes, but we hold that
all class legislation, whereby these original and common elements, or the
proceeds of the same, enhanced by intelligent labor, are prevented from
their original design, and made to enure to the benefits of non-producers,
and to the injury of producers, is wrong and subversive of the purposes of
good government. That all ablebodied, intelligent persons should con-
tribute to the common stock, by useful industry, a sum or quantity equal
to their own support, and legislation should tend as far as possible to the
equitable distribution of the surplus products.

If these propositions are true, our government is wholly perverted from
its true design, and the sacred names, democracy and republicanism, are
the synonyms of despotism, and the parties represented thereby as now
organized are engines of oppression, crushing out the lives of the people.
We need only point to the facts that in this beneficent country of un-
limited resources, with the land annually groaning beneath the products of
human effort, the mass of the people have no supply beyond their daily
wants; compelled from unjust conditions in sickness and misfortune, to
become paupers. Pauperism and crime are the perplexing questions of all
modern statesmanship, and it is with these we have to deal. How far
these evils are connected with the abuses inflicted on labor, a superficial
statesmanship seems not to perceive. Chattel slavery has been abolished,
but the rights and relations of labor stand just where they did before
the emancipation, in respect to the divisions of its products. The differ-
ence lies only in the methods of abstracting the results and concentrating
them in the hands of a few capitalists. Capital is now the master, and
indicates the terms, and thus all laborers are -practically placed in the
same condition of the slave before his emancipation. In thus placing
them, the interest of all laborers become common, and they must fight
the battle in unity if they would succeed. What, then, are the instru-
mentalities by which these wrongs are inflicted?

1st. Banking and monied monopolies, by which, through ruinous rates
of interest, the products of human labor, are concentrated in the hands
of non-producers. This is the great central source of these wrongs, in and
through which all other monopolies exist and operate.

2d. Consolidated railroads, and other transit monopolies, whereby all
industries are taxed to the last mill they will bear, for the benefit of the
stockholders and stock-jobbers.

3d. Manufacturing monopolies, whereby all small operators are
crushed out, and the price for labor and its products are determined with
mathematical certainty in the interest of the capitalists.

4th. Land monopolies, by which the public domain is absorbed, by a
few corporations and speculators.

5th. Commercial and grain monopolies, speculating and enriching
their bloated corporations on human necessities. We propose to restore

46 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1874

the government to its original purpose, and as far as possible to remedy
these evils and remove their results.

1. By abandoning the gold basis fallacy, and establishing a monetary
system, based on the faith and resources of the nation, in harmony with
the genius of this government and adapted to the exigencies of legitimate
commerce. To the end the circulating notes of the national and State
banks, as well as all local currency, be withdrawn from circulation, and
a paper currency issued by the government, which shall be a legal tender
in the payment of all debts, public and private, duties on imports included,
and declared equal with gold, the lawful money of the United States;
this currency or money to be interchangeable at the pleasure of the holders
for government bonds bearing a low rate of interest, say 3 65-100; the
government creditors to have the privilege of taking the money or bonds
at their election, reserving to Congress the right to regulate the rate of
interest on the bonds and the volume of the currency, so as to effect the
equitable distribution of the products of labor between money or non-
producing capital and productive industry.

2. By paying the national debt in strict accordance with the laws
under which it was originally contracted, gold, where specifically prom-
ised, but all other forms of indebtedness, including the principal of the
5-20 bonds, should be discharged at the earliest option of the government
in the legal tender currency of the United States, without funding it in
long bonds, or in any way increasing the gold paying and untaxed obliga-
tions of the government.

Resolved, That we are in favor of the office seeking the man, and not
the man the office; that we will endeavor to select men to fill the various
offices who are honest and capable, without regard to former political
opinions; that we detest bribery, corruption and fraud in obtaining votes,
either by the use of money or whiskey, and will not support any man for
office known to be guilty of the same; and that we are opposed to solicit-
ing any man to fill the same office for more than one term in succes-
sion, from the President down.

Resolved, That we uncompromisingly condemn the practice of our pub-
lic officers in receiving free passes from railroad managers.

Resolved, That we denounce the action of our last Legislature and Rep-
resentatives in Congress, and the Senate, for the increase of taxes, fees
and salaries, and we will use all honorable means in our power to reduce
the taxes, fees and salaries of all to a reasonable basis.

Resolved, That we dejnand the reduction of all public expenditure, to
the end that taxation may be reduced to the lowest possible limit.

Resolved, That it is contrary to the policy of good government to en-
courage litigation, and that the law allowing ten per cent, on judgments
and the collection of attorney's fees off of defendant encourages litigation,
favors capital, and is a source of corruption and subserves no good end,
therefore, ought to be remedied by appropriate legislation.

Resolved, That the present assessment laws of real estate imposes
unequal and unjust burdens on the producing class, and favors capital and
corporate wealth, and we demand its speedy amendment.

Resolved, That we demand a change in our grand jury system, that
their jurisdiction extend to felonies only.

Resolved, That no party is worthy our confidence who denies the right
of the people to restrict the abuses of the liquor traffic.

1874] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 47

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J874.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 18.)

The Republican party appeals with pride and confidence to its past
history, in proof of fidelity to its principles and its consistent discharge
of duty to the country, in peace and war. These principles, and the meas-
ures growing out of them, have been stamped with the public approval.
There is no taint of suspicion now resting upon its honor as a party. It
has so conducted public affairs that, at the last Presidential election, one
of the ablest and most earnest defenders of its policy was accepted as the
Democratic candidate for the Presidency— thereby leaving that party no
other hope of future success than may be found in a return to its original
and abandoned organization, or in negative hostility to measures it has
solemnly approved. It recognizes the fact that diversities of individual
opinion will exist in reference to details of public policy, and does not
seek or expect precise agreement among its members, in all such details.
Unity in fundamental principles is all that can reasonably be expected in
a country like ours, where the people are capable of intelligent thought.
Unlike the Democratic party, it lays no claim to political infallibility. But
it does claim that it has shown itself both ready and competent to resist
every form of wrong and oppression— to restrain injustice, to remove the
public ills when they are known to exist; to condemn the conduct of dis-
honest and faithless public agents, and to detect and expose abuses in
the administration of government, even when practiced by its professed
supporters. It has never failed in the work of reform, when shown to
be necessary. No offender, detected in corruption, has escaped its condem-
nation, no matter what party services he may have rendered. It has
never endeavored to defeat the public will, but regards the people, and not
mere party organizations as the primary source of all political power. By
Credit Mobilier investigation its repeal of the "salary grab" saw the aboli-
tion of the corrupting moiety system and of the Sanborn contract it has
shown how readily it pays obedience to the public judgment. By its
searching investigation into abuses in the District of Columbia and its
prompt condemnation of administrative officers it has demonstrated its
unabated hostility to the demoralizing doctrine that "to the victors belong
the spoils of office." And having thus secured a record which defies im-
peachment and brought the country into its present condition of peace and
prosperity by measures which no party is reckless enough to assail it has
left no practical differences to settle except upon mere questions of admin-
istrative policy. And yet it is a progressive party— wedded to no class and
the especial interests of no class — but as the party of the people it suits
its policy to each step in the progress of those developments which marks
the advancing eras of our prosperity.

The Republicans of Indiana therefore assembled in State Convention,
do hereby declare their unchangeable determination to adhere to all the
fundamental principles of the Republican party, in so far as the future
condition of the country shall require their enforcement.

1. As the Union remains unbroken, and the people of all the sections
are again bound together as brethren by a common destiny and under a

48 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1874

common flag, we favor such measures as shall develop the material re-
sources of every portion of it; secure to all, of every class and condition,
full protection in all the just rights of person and property; remove all the
acerbities of the past, and perpetuate the nation as the "Model Republic"
of the world.

2. We recognize that as the true policy of government which shall
harmonize all the diversified interests and pursuits necessarily existing
in a country of such vast extent as ours; and as this can be done only by
so directing legislation as to secure just protection and reward to every
branch of industry, we are in favor of giving precedence to those measures
which shall recognize agricultural and mechanical pursuits as entitled to
the amplest protection and the fullest development; of putting a stop to
large grants of the public domain to railroad corporations, and reserving
it for settlement and cultivation; of improving the navigation of our great
inland rivers; of securing cheap transportation and profitable markets for
the products of argicultural and manufacturing labor; of encouraging such
manufacturers as shall bring the consumer and the producer in the neigh-
borhood of each other, and thus to establish mutual relations between
them and those engaged in commerce and transportation; of properly ad-
justing the relations between capital and labor in order that each may
receive a just and equitable share of profits, and of holding those in the
possession of corporate wealth and privileges in struct conformity to law,
so that by these combined influences the people of all the varied pursuits
may be united together in the common purpose of preserving the honor
of the nation, of developing the immense resources of every section of the
Union and of advancing the social and material prosperity of all its in-
dustrial and laboring classes.

3. We are in favor of such legislation on the question of finances as
shall make national banking free; as shall furnish the country with such
an additional amount of currency as may be necessary to meet the wants
of the agricultural, industrial and commercial interests of the country —
to be distributed between the sections according to population — and such
as, consistent with the credit and honor of the nation will avoid the pos-
sibility of permitting capitalists and combinations of capital from con-
trolling the currency of the country.

4. We are in favor of such a revision of our patent right laws as shall
destroy the oppressive monopoly incident to the present system, and shall
regulate and control the manufacture, use and sale of patent right articles,
for the benefit alike of the inventor, consumer and manufacturer.

5. That the Republican party continues to express its gratitude to the
soldiers and sailors of the republic for the patriotism, courage and self-
sacrifice with Avhich they gave themselves to the preservation of the coun-
try during the late civil war; and will especially recognize the services of
the enlisted men by favoring the extension from time to time, as the ability
of the Government will permit, of the pension and bounty laws.

6. In the opinion of this convention intemperance is an evil against
which society has the right to protect itself; that our whole system of
legislation throughout all the history of the State has asserted and main-
tained this right, and it can not now be surrendered without yielding up
that fundamental principle of American government which places the
power of passing laws in the hands of a majority; therefore, we are in

1870] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

49

favor of such legislation as will give a majority of the people the right to
determine for themselves, in their respective towns, townships or wards,
whether the sale of intoxicating liquors for use as a beverage shall be per-
mitted therein, and such as will hold the vendor responsible for all dam-
ages resulting from such sales.

7. We favor the enactment of a law limiting the power of the Town-
ship Trustee, County Commissioners, and municipal authorities to assess
taxes, and increase township, county and municipal indebtedness.

8. Inasmuch as great abuses have grown up under our present system
of fees and salaries, we demand such legislation as will so reduce and reg-
ulate all fees and salaries as will allow no more than a fair and just
compensation for services rendereu.

9. We look with pride and satisfaction upon our common school sys-
tem, and regain! its munificent fund as a sacred trust to be faithfully and
honestly administered, so that all the children of the State may be edu-
cated in the duties of citizenship, and thereby become better able to per-
petuate our popular institutions; and whosoever shall seek to strike it
down, or to impair its usefulness, will meet our ceaseless and unrelenting
opposition.

10. We have entire confidence in the integrity and honor of the Presi-
dent of the United States; and our Senators and Republican Representa-
tives in Congress are entitled to our thanks for the zeal with which they
have represented the principles of the Republican party during the present
sessi<m of Congress: and the Republicans of Indiana -view with especial
pride and hearty approval the course of Senators O. P. Morton and D. D.
Pratt, and the fidelity and ability with which they have represented the
sentiments of the people of this State.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J876.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, April 20.)

The Democracy of Indiana declare their fidelity to all the provisions
of the federal constitution, to a perpetual union of the States, to local
self-government in every section, to all public trusty and obligations, to
the honest payment of the public debt, to the preservation of the public
faith, to the maintenance of the free schools, and to the pure and econom-
ical administration of the federal, State and municipal governments. They
contemplate with alarm the distress that prevails, the widespread financial
ruin that impends over the people, and the corruption that pervades the
public service, and they charge that these evils are the direct results of
the personal government, unwise legislation, vicious financial policy, ex-'
travagance, the great contraction of the currency and selflshnesfe of the
party and its officials who have so long held unchecked control. Inviting
all who believe in and earnestly desire official purity and fidelity, the ad-
justment of financial questions upon a sound basis, having a regard for the
interests and welfare of the whole people, and not a class, and the recog-
nition of a final settlement of all questions submitted to the arbitrament of
the sword to unite with them, they declare

4— Platforms.

50 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1876

1. That the civil service of the government has become corrupt, and
is made the object of personal gain, and that it is the first duty the
people owe to themselves and the government to restore the tests of hon-
esty, capacity and fidelity in the selection of persons to fill all public
positions.

2. The repeated exposures of corruption in the administration of every
branch of public affairs call for continued and thorough investigation, not
only that corrupt practices may be brought to light, and guilty parties
to punishment, but also that it may be made clear to the people that their
only remedy for reform is by making a general and thorough change.

3. That retrenchment and economy are indispensable in federal, State
and municipal administration, as an essential means towards lessening the
burdens of the people, and we commend the efforts of the majority of the
House of Representatives for the reduction of the expenditures of the
federal government to a just standard, and their determination to lessen
the number of useless offices.

4. We believe in our ancient doctrine that gold and silver are the true
and safe basis for the currency, and we are in favor of measures and
policies that will produce uniformity in value in the coin and paper money
of the country without destroying or embarrassing the business interests of
the people. We oppose the contraction of the volume of our paper cur-
rency, but declare in favor of the adoption of measures looking to the
gradual retirement of the circulation of the national banks, and the sub-
stitution therefor circulating notes issued by authority of the government.

5. We recognize with patriotic satisfaction the vast recuperative ener-
gies with which our country is endowed, and we observe that in spite of
the constant interference with the laws of commerce which has been
practiced, our currency has improved in proportion as our wealth has
increased, and the sense of national and local security has been con-
firmed. We are, therefore, of the opinion that a natural return to specie
payments will be promoted by the increase of national wealth and indus-
tries, by the assurance of harmony at home and peace abroad, and by
strengthening our public credit under a wise and economical administra-
tion of our national affairs.

6. The legal tender notes constitute a safe currency, and one especially
valuable to the debtor classes, because of its legal tender quality. We de-
mand the repeal of the legislation enacted by the Republican party pro-
viding for its withdrawal from circulation and the substitution therefor
of national bank paper.

7. The act of Congress for the resumption of specie payments on the
first of January, 1879, was a party measure devised in secret caucus for
party ends, and forced through the House of Representatives without the
allowance of amendment or debate under party discipline; it paralyzes
industry, creates distrust of the future, turns the laborer and producer out
of employment, is a standing threat upon business men, and should at
once be repealed without any condition whatever.

8. As Democrats, we may indulge in laudable pride at the great suc-
cess of our common school system, which had its origin in Democratic
policy, and its development in Democratic measures. We will stand by
and forever maintain our constitutional provision which guarantees our
common school fund from diminution and misappropriation, and its use

187G] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 51

only to support non-sectarian common schools, and we denounce as ene-
mies of the schools the Republican politicians, who, for party ends, have
sought to bring them into political and sectarian controversy.

0. We believe that a license law properly guarded is the true prin-
ciple in legislation upon the liquor traffic.

10. It is not the right of any political party to make the just claims of
the Union soldiers, their widows ;ind children, the subject of partisan con-
troversy, for such rights are most secure when protected by all the people,
and are endangered only when thrown into the political arena by dema-
gogues. We will stand by and maintain their rights to honors, to pen-
sions, and to equal bounties— not as partisans, but because it is our duty
and pleasure as citizens.

11. That the jurisdiction of the United States Courts in civil causes
has been extended so as to become a burden to the people by increased
costs in said courts and forcing citizens to try their causes at the capital
of the States or places distant from their homes.

1± We approve the bill which recently passed the House of Repre-
sentatives, prohibiting members of Congress and all officers and employes
of the United States from contributing money to influence elections.

13. That we are opposed to the assumption by Congress of the debts
of the District of Columbia, contracted by the late corrupt ring, and we
believe the United States Government should pay her equal share and just
proportion for improvements made in said district the same as other own-
ers of property are liable for and have to pay, and no more.

14. That we are opposed to the payment of any part of the rebel debt,
or to any payment whatever for emancipated slaves, or the property of
rebels destroyed in war.

1.1. That the people of Indiana recognize with pride and pleasure the
eminent public service of the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks. In all public
trusts he has been faithful to duty and in his public and private life pure
and without blemish. We therefore declare that he is our unanimous
Choice for the Presidency of the United States.

10. That the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, this
day appointed, be and they are hereby instructed to cast the vote of this
State in said convention, as a unit, in such manner as the majority of the
-delegates may determine.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1876

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J876.

(The Indianapolis Journal, February 23.)

I. We will remain faithful to the principles of the National Republican
party in all things concerning the administration of national affairs, until
every right guaranteed by the constitution shall be fully secured and en-
joyed—until all existing laws shall be faithfully executed and such others
shall be passed as are necessary to that end— until the ballot box shall be
protected against all frauds and violence — until the right of popular rep-
resentation shall be fully vindicated, and until all voters, whether white
or black, shall be so secured in the right to cast their ballots that the laws
shall rest upon "the consent of the governed."

, II. We do not recognize the right of the State to impede the execution
of the National laws, or to impair any of the rights conferred by them, and
hold it to be the duty of the Government to see that these laws are exe-
cuted in every State, and that all these rights are enjoyed without impedi-
ment or hindrance.

III. We hold the government of the United States to be a nation, and
not a mere conferedation of States; that it represents the sovereign au-
thority of the people of the United States, and not the States; that a»
the constitution and laws of the National Government are supreme, no
State has the right to resist or impede their execution, or to withdraw from
the Union in consequence thereof; and that although the result of the late
rebellion settled this question against the right to secede, yet the future
harmony and safety of the Union require that this doctrine shall be so
condemned that under no possible exigency shall it ever be hereafter
revived.

IV. While we believe that the National Government is entirely inde-
pendent of the States, when acting within its own proper circle, we also
believe that the State governments are entirely independent of the National
when acting within their own proper circles; and we will maintain this in-
dependence of both, to the end that harmony may exist between them, that
the national welfare may be advanced, and that the States may be secured
in the exercise of ample jurisdiction over all their domestic affairs, so
that they may be enabled to develop their material interests and employ
all the means necessary to the intellectual and moral enlightenment of the
people.

V. We are willing and anxious to restore entirely amicable relations
between the people of the Northern and those of the Southern States who
were engaged in the rebellion, and with a view thereto are ready to forgive
and grant amnesty to all those who desire to be forgiven and amnestied—
but we are neither willing or ready to extend this forgiveness and amnesty
to those who remain unrepentant for their attempt to destroy the Union,
or to place the rebellion and those who fought on its side upon an equality
with the cause of the Union and the gallant soldiers who defended it —
we believe that the war for the Union was right and the rebellion wrong,
and that thus it should forever stand in history.

VI. We have no wish to see disfranchised any officer, soldier or citi-
zen who defended the cause of the confederacy, and has been amnestied;

187G] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 53

under existing laws— but when faithful Union soldiers, who were honestly
discharging the duties of office have been removed to make place for any
of these, the act is so flagrant an insult to the Union cause and those
who risked their lives for it, that it deserves the rebuke and condemnation
of the whole country, and the special censure of every loyal soldier.

VII. We believe that in conducting the civil service, men should be
selected for office on account of their qualifications, integrity and moral
character and not on account of mere party service, in order that thereby
the public business may be faithfully conducted, administrative economy
secured and the patronage of the government be so dispensed that it shall
not be brought "in conflict with the freedom of elections."

VIII. We believe that all men are equal before the law, and that
this great and fundamental principle our free institutions can not be
departed from without violating their genius and spirit; and, in order
that equal justice shall be done to all and special privileges conferred on
none, it is the duty of the government to provide, by all necessary laws,
for its preservation and enforcement.

IX. We insist on perfect religious freedom, and freedom of conscience
to every individual; are opposed to any interference whatever with the
church by the State, or with the State by the church, or to any union be-
tween them; and in our opinion it is incompatible with American citizen-
ship to pay allegiance to any foreign power, civil or ecclesiastical which
asserts the right to include the action of civil government within the domain
of religion and morals, because ours is a "government of the people, by the
people, and for the people," and must not be subject to or interfered with
by any authority not directly responsible to them.

X. A country so bountifully supplied as ours is with all the sources
of wealth— possessing unsurpassed capacity for production, every facility
for the growth of mechanic and manufacturing arts, and all the agencies
of labor, needs the fostering aid of government to establish its mate-
rial prosperity upon a durable basis— in our opinion, therefore, it is the
duty of the government so to regulate its revenue system as to give all
needful encouragement to our agricultural, mechanical and mining and
manufacturing enterprises, so that harmonious relations may be per-
manently established between labor and capital, and just remuneration
be secured to both.

XI. In our opinion it is the duty of the government, in passing laws
for raising revenue, so to lay taxes as to give the greatest possible exemp-
tion to articles of primary necessity, and to place them most heavily upon
luxuries and the wealth of the country.

XII. We believe that it is the duty of the government in furnishing
National currency so to regulate it as to provide for its ultimate redemp-
tion in gold and silver; that any attempt to hasten this period more rapidly
than it shall be brought about by the laws of trade and commerce is inex-
pedient; therefore, in our opinion, so much of the so-called resumption act
as fixes the time for the resumption of specie payments should be repealed;
and after such repeal the currency should remain undisturbed— neither
contracted nor expanded, we being assured that the financial troubles of
the country, when relieved from interference, will be speedily and perma-
nently cured by the operation of the natural laws of trade, and by pre-
serving that course of policy which the republican party has constantly

54 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1876

maintained of steadily looking to an ultimate resumption of specie pay-
ments.

XIII. The greenback currency was created by the republican party
as a matter of absolute necessity, to carry the government successfully
through the war of the rebellion and save the life of the Nation — it met
the fierce opposition of the democratic party on the declared ground that
it was unconstitutional and would prove worthless, and if this opposition
had been successful the war would have resulted in the independence of
the Southern Confederacy. If the democratic party was sincere in this
opposition, one of its objects in now seeking to obtain possession of the
government must be to destroy this currency, along with that furnished
by the National banks, so that the country may be compelled to return to
the system of local and irresponsible banking which existed under the
administration of Mr. Buchanan; and therefore, as it is necessary that
this currency shall be maintained in order to save the country from this
most ruinous system of local and irresponsible banking, and from conse-
quent financial embarrassments, its best interests require that it shall be
left in the hands of its friends and not be turned over to its enemies.

XIV. When the republican party obtained possession of the govern-
ment in 1861, the annual expenditures were greater than the* receipts from
revenue, in consequence of a general derangement in commerce and trade
brought on by maladministration. A large amount of Treasury notes had
been issued and thrown upon the market to make up the deficiency — the
credit of the United States was below par, and in addition to these finan-
cial embarrassments, it inherited from the administration of Mr. Buchanan
a domestic war of immense proportions; yet it has so conducted the gov-
ernment that its credit has been placed above par, and its bonds are sought
after in all the great money markets of the world, notwithstanding the
magnitude of the war and the debt necessarily occasioned thereby; and
the revenues have been so increased and so faithfully collected and eco-
nomically applied that in addition to the ordinary expenses over $500,-
000,000 of the public debt have been paid, and regular monthly payments
are made thereon, and thus the absolute necessity of continuing the policy
by which these results have been achieved is fully demonstrated.

XV. We remain, as heretofore, irrevocably opposed to the payment of
any part of the rebel debt, or to any payment whatever for emancipated
slaves, or the property of rebels destroyed in war.

XVI. We demand that the government of the United States, as well as
that of this State, shall be administered with the strictest economy consis-
tent with the public safety and interest.

XVII. The ordinance of 1787 made it the duty of the States formed
out of the territory of the Northwest to forever encourage schools and the
means of education as necessary "for extending the principles of civil
and religious liberty." Washington declared that "the education of our
youth in the science of government" is necessary to prepare them for
becoming "the future guardians of the liberties of the country." Jef-
ferson placed education "among the articles of public care." Madison said
that by its general diffusion it would enlighten the opinions, expand the
patriotism, and assimilate the principles and sentiments of the people,
and thereby "contribute no less to strengthen the foundations than to
adorn the structures of our free and happy system of government." And

1876] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 55

the people of this State, having by the Constitution, approved the principle
that it is the duty of the State to educate all her children, and having thus
made it an essential feature of our system of State government, we shall
regard all opponents of our common schools as assailing a fundamental
principle of free government, and shall not falter in our support of them
until every child in the State has been furnished with a common school
education and shall be taught in the fundamental principles of free pop-
ular government; and we shall demand a faithful administration of the
school law and the strictest economy in the disposition and expenditure of
the funds, which should remain undivided, so that instead of the public
schools being conducted with a view to prepare students for college and
professions, they may continue what they were designed to be, the schools
of the people.

XVIII. Inasmuch as all republican governments depend for their sta-
bility and perpetuity on the intelligence and virtue of the people, it is the
right and duty of the State and National administrations to foster and
secure the highest moral and intellectual development of the people; and
no laws should be enacted that are despotic in character, or disregard the
wishes of the majority.

XIX. We have not forgotten, and shall not forget, the services ren-
dered to the cause of the Union by our gallant soldiers and seamen during
the war of the rebellion— how firmly they stood amid the leaden hail of
battle, how patiently and heroically they endured the hardships of camp
and field, and what terrible afflictions some of them suffered as prisoners
of war. The honor of the Nation is pledged to provide bounties and pen-
sions for them, and to take care of the widows and orphans of those who
have lost their lives in defense of the government, and upon this we
shall earnestly and constantly insist.

XX. The administration of General Grant commands our fullest
confidence and approbation— our respect for him as a man of unspotted
honor— and as a statesman of wisdom and prudence and our admiration
of his high qualities as a soldier remain unabated, and we especially
commend him for the example he will leave to his successors of removing
from office those of his own appointment whe'n he has found them to be
unfaithful, and of causing those who have proved dishonest to be prose-
cuted that "no guilty man shall escape."

XXI. In our opinion the Hon. Oliver P. Morton possesses in an emi-
nent degree the ability and qualities that fit him for the office of President
of the United States. During his service as Governor of this State, when
the Union was in the utmost peril, he displayed executive abilities of
the very highest order, and his Senatorial career has been distinguished
by such statesmanlike wisdom as to win the approbation of the whole
country. We know his faithfulness to every public trust, his earnest devo-
tion to the cause of the Union, his unflinching advocacy of the rights of
the oppressed, and therefore present his name to the National Republican
Convention for nomination for the office of President.

56 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1878

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J878.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 20.)

That national bank notes shall be retired, and in lieu thereof there shall
be issued by the government an equal amount of treasury notes with full
legal tender quality.

That we are in favor of making the United States notes, commonly
called greenbacks, a full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and
private, except such obligations only as are by the terms of the original
contracts under which they were issued, expressly payable in coin.

That the right to issue paper money as well as coin is the exclusive
prerogative of the government, and such money should be issued in such
amounts as the sound business interests of the country may from time
to time require.

We are in favor of such legislation by congress as will authorize the
taxation by the States of the United States notes in common with all
other money.

That we deem it unwise and inexpedient to enact any further legisla-
tion for the funding of the national debt abroad, through the means of
home syndicates or other methods, and we believe the true policy of the
.government and the best interests of the people would be subserved by
legislating so as to distribute said debt among our people at home— afford-
ing them the most favorable and practical opportunities for the investment
of their savings in the funded debt of the United States.

That we are in favor of such legislation which shall fix the legal
rate of interest at not exceeding six per centum per annum.

We demand the restoration of the silver dollar of 4121/^ grains to the
-coin of the ceuntry, and with full legal tender quality in the payment of
.all debts, both public and private; and that the coinage thereof shall be
unlimited, and upon the same terms and conditions as may be provided for
the coinage of gold.

That we are in faATor of the immediate and unconditional repeal of the
resumption act.

We are in favor of the most rigid economy in public expenditures, and
we declare that the fees and salaries of all public officers should be re-
duced.

That we are in favor of the repeal of the bankrupt act.

That we sincerely deplore the recent violent collision between labor
and capital, and to prevent the recurrence thereof and to protect the
future public order and security we believe the wages of corporations
engaged in the business of mining, manufacturing and transportation
should be a first lien upon the property, receipts and earnings of said cor-
porations, and that such lien should be declared, defined and enforced by
appropriate legislation.

That we favor the passage of a law for the ventilation of coal mines-
one that would be just to the miner and owner.

The democratic party is the friend of the common school system, and
will in every legitimate way labor for its success, and will oppose any at-
tempt to divert any portion of the common school fund to any sectarian
purpose.

1878] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 57

That the last apportionment of the state for legislative purposes was
grossly unjust and dishonorable, and we demand that the next legisla-
ture, in apportioning the state for legislative purposes, as will be their
imperative duty, shall have regard alone to population and contiguity of
territory.

That the jurisdiction claimed and exercised by the circuit courts of the
United States over questions of corporate and individual rights, arising
under the laws of the states, tends to oppress and burden litigants to such
an extent ns to amount to a practical denial of justice in many cases;
and we consider the legislation which has conferred such jurisdiction as
unwise and hurtful to the true interests of the people. And we demand
such legislation as will restrict and limit the jurisdiction of such courts
to such matters as are clearly contemplated by the constitution and ex-
pressed in the judiciary act of 1789.

We are opposed to class legislation, and protest against the grant of
subsidies by the federal government, either in lands, bonds, money or by
the pledge of the public credit.

That we abhor and hold up to public detestation the leaders in the
republican party who secretly connived, and with barefaced effrontery
carried out the scheme, by and through venal returning boards, whereby
Samuel ,T. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, the people's choice for presi-
dent and vice-president, were wrongfully kept out of the positions to
which a free people had called them. We hold it up as the monster crime
of the age, a crime against free government, a crime against the elective
franchise, and a crime that can only be condoned when the malefactors
who seated a fraud in the presidential chair are driven from power and
consigned to everlasting infamy by the people whom they have outraged.
And we denounce the act of the President of the United States in appoint-
ing to high and lucrative positions the corrupt members of the returning
boards, and condemn the acts of federal officers in attempting to interfere
with the rights and powers of the state courts in the prosecution of these
criminals.

That our senators and representatives in congress be and are hereby
requested to secure passage of a law giving to the soldiers of the Mexican
war a pension similar to that now given to the soldiers of the war of
1812.

58 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1878

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1878.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 6.)

The Republicans of Indiana, in convention assembled, make the follow-
ing declaration of principles:

The maintenance of the great principles of the republican party as
essential to peace, permanency and prosperity of the nation. The right of
the people to meet together and discuss their grievances, to be jealously
guarded and maintained; but determined opposition to lawlessness, or to
any resort to force and violence, as subversive of the public peace, in-
jurious to public morals, and destructive of the rights and interests of all
classes. Equal rights before the law and equal protection under the
law, without regard to race, creed, condition or occupation. No exclusive
privileges to individuals or classes. Opposition to all subsidies, national,
state, county or municipal. The common school system to be cher-
ished and perfected, and to that end the school fund should not be di-
verted to sectarian purposes. Rigid economy in all expenditures, national,
state, county and municipal. A just limitation upon taxes for state,
county, township, and municipal purposes. Opposition to any increase of
municipal indebtedness. Strict accountability upon the part of all public
officers. The just reduction and equalization of all fees and salaries.
Such legislation as will secure to all persons laboring for and furnishing
supplies to railroad and other corporations full payment for their labor
and material. An increased exemption of property from execution, and
a liberal homestead law. Such legislation as will protect the life and
secure the comfort of miners and laborers engaged in hazardous occupa-
tions. A constitutional amendment providing for strict registration and
election lawTs. Full commendation of and sympathy with all efforts for
personal reformation. American industries to be encouraged and fostered
by such legislation as will develop the material resources of the country
and give full measure of employment and reward for labor. Opposition
to repudiation in all its forms; the honor and credit of the nation to be
maintained in every contingency. No abandonment or appreciation of
the greenback currency. A sound and stable currency of gold, silver, and
paper of the same value. National legislation authorizing the receipt of
greenbacks at par in payment of customs and in purchase of government
bonds. Opposition to further financial agitation, stability in our financial
systems being essential* to business prosperity. Union soldiers are entitled
to all honor, and their displacement and the substitution of rebel soldiers
as employes by the National House of Representatives should be con-
demned by every patriotic citizen. Opposition to the payment of Southern
claims arising out of the rebellion.

We denounce the democrats of the House of Representatives for their
lawless action in unseating republican representatives fairly and legally
elected, and in giving their places to partisans, regardless of the right of
election by the people.

We denounce the action of the Democratic House of Representatives
in demanding payment of over two hundred million dollars of rebel claims
as a conspiracy against the government less open but not less dangerous
than armed rebellion.

1878] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 59

The leaders of the democratic party are seeking to make it a revolu-
tionary party; they will not submit to the repose of the country, or leave
the people to their peaceful pursuits so long as they have hope of profit
by agitation; and no law or public measure is so sacred that they will not
violate it to obtain a party advantage. The cry of fraud in regard to the
last presidential election is a disguise to conceal the illegal and forcible
means by which voters in the Southern States were intimidated, and thou-
sands in all the states were sought to be corrupted; and the unblushing
manner in which the leaders of the democratic party undertook to buy the
votes of presidential electors with money proves them unworthy the public
confidence.

The denial of the title of President Hayes is an act of party despera-
tion, and the attempt to oust him from office is revolutionary resistance to
law, and if it is not condemned by the people it will furnish a precedent
by which any defeated party may issue its declaration in opposition to
law, rally its supporters to acts of violence, plunge the country into
anarchy, and thus Mexicanize and destroy our institutions.

The electoral commission wras constitutionally created by the act and
consent of the democratic party in Congress; and its decision subsequently
confirmed by Congress, was final and conclusive upon every department of
this government. There can be no appeal from it except by revolution;
its decision makes the title of President Hayes equal to that of any former
president; and wre recognize in his personal integrity, as well as the general
course of his administration, the guarantee that he will conduct the gov-
ernment so as to preserve the honor and promote the happiness of the
whole country.

We solemnly pledge ourselves to support and maintain President
Hayes and the lawfully constituted authorities of the government in resist-
ing revolution.

At this, the first opportunity presented the republicans of Indiana In
this capacity, we desire to place on the permanent records of the party
a tribute of our high appreciation of the character and services of Oliver
P. Morton. What he has done for his country and state is now history.
We can never forget his intrepid leadership and his unselfish devotion to
the public weal.

The people of Indiana must ever regard and cherish the memory of
him whose name and fame are now the common heritage of the nation.

60 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1880

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J880.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 10.)

We, the democracy of Indiana, in Delegate Convention assembled,
congratulate the democracy of the country upon the harmony prevailing
within its organization, and upon its unanimity in the purposes to cast
behind it every occasion and sentiment of discord, and to stand as one man
for success in 1880; and we give assurance to the democracy of the coun-
try that, accepting the declaration of principles and purposes, that may be
made at Cincinnati, and the candidates who may be there chosen, we will
give to them our earnest and undivided support.

2. We believe that laws should be enacted, executed and administered
only for the public good, and all class legislation, and all favoritism in the
affairs of the government, should be defeated and made odious; that taxes
should be levied justly, and the most rigid economy should control public
expenditures; that the elections must be freed from the control of the
array, and of partisan officials, in that they shall be fair and honest as
they once were; that the rightful jurisdiction of the State Courts must be
restored, In all cases where it has been usurped by the federal authority,
so that justice may be administered cheaply and speedily.

3. The coin and paper money of the country should be of uniform
value, and readily convertible, and should have as great purchasing power
as the money of other first-class commercial countries of the world, and
the paper money, like the coin, should be furnished by the United States,
and should not be in excess of such quantity as will be, and remain always,
at par with coin.

4. Inasmuch as the outstanding treasury notes are no longer neces-
sary to the government in the use of its credit, and are useful only as
money, they should be made subject to taxation, the same as other money.

As taxpayers, we declare our gratification at the action of the demo-
cratic members of Congress in reducing public expenditures, and in cut-
ting off the allowance and payment of questionable and fraudulent claims,
resulting in a saving to the Treasury of more than $100,000,000.

5. We will stand with all our might against the aggression of the re-
publican leaders upon the rights of the state, made for the purpose of
building up a strong central power, dangerous to the liberty of the people.

We will in all fidelity maintain the constitutional rights and powers of
the United States, and as faithfully we will maintain and vindicate the
rights of the States as reserved to them in the Constitution.

6. The legislature of 1879 is entitled to honorable mention for having
redeemed the pledges of the Democratic Convention of 1876 to provide by
law for the comfort and safety of laborers in mines, and for securing
their wages to the persons employed by corporations, and we are in favor
of such further legislation in the premises as may be necessary and
proper.

We congratulate the people of the State that by the action of the demo-
crats of the last legislature in basing representation upon population and
contiguity of territory only, the shame and taint of fraud have been re-
moved from the apportionment of representation, and that now the people
will be equally and fairly represented.

1880] INDIANA, 1850—1900. QI

7. The people of Indiana are justly proud of their system of free
schools, and will maintain them in their full force and usefulness, and to
that end we must see to it that the management thereof does not become
wasteful or extravagant, and that no part of the munificent fund
which they have provided shall be used for sectarian or for any other
purposes whatever than the support of the common schools.

8. We are gratified that the democrats in Congress have acted in
respect to bounties and pensions for soldiers and their families in the
spirit of justice and liberality.

9. We hold up to the public detestation the conduct of the leaders in
the republican party in placing Hayes and Wheeler, by criminal practices
shocking to every honest sentiment and damaging to our institutions, in
offices to which they were not elected. It was an outrage on free govern-
ment, and a crime against the elective franchise that cannot be forgiven,
and must not be repeated, and for which the guilty parties must be driven
from power and consigned to infamy. And we hold up to public detesta-
tion the conduct of the President in rewarding the guilty parties by con-
ferring upon them high and lucrative offices. To reward crime is itself
criminal.

10. During the past few years our country has been blessed in a
high degree with favorable seasons, and the production of .our valuable
staples has been enormously in excess of our own consumption. We have
sold to foreign countries many hundred millions more than we have pur-
chased from them; gold and silver has come to us; business confidence
has been restored, and we have the hope and promise of good times again.
In all this we recognize the blessing of God upon our country, and we
denounce it as false and blasphemous when partisan leaders claim that this
is the work 01' their hands, and that the people should be thankful to them
and not grateful to Heaven for our returning prosperity.

11. We approve the sentiment expressed by Governor Hendricks in
his letter of acceptance in 1876, that "the iniquitous coolie systems which,
through the agency of wealthy companies imports Chinese bondsmen, es-
tablishes a species of slavery, and interferes with the just reward of
labor on our Pacific coast, should be utterly abolished."

12. Our state administration is entitled to the respect and support of
the people. The government of Indiana is efficiently administered, and
more cheaply than that of any other state.

13. That we recognize the right of colored citizens as well as white
to immigrate into Indiana, but we condemn and denounce the action of
the republican party in importing into this state pauper negroes for the
sole purpose of using them as voters.

14. We hereby instruct our delegates to the national convention at
Cincinnati to present to that body the name of Thomas A. Hendricks as a
candidate for President of the United States, one who has at all times
faithfully maintained the cause of democratic truth and justice acceptably
to the democracy of the whole Union, thus assuring the election of a demo-
cratic legislature and United States Senator in 1881, and a fresh, pure and
constitutional administration of the General Government.

15. We favor the continuance of the two-thirds rule in the national
convention, and the delegates this day chosen are hereby instructed to
vote for Thomas A. Hendricks as our candidate for the Presidency, and
to vote as a unit on all questions in said convention.

(52 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1880

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1880.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 18.)

The republicans of Indiana, in convention assembled, reaffirm the truth
of the declarations made, and fully indorse the resolutions adopted by the
national convention assembled at Chicago, on the 2nd of June, 1880.

In the nominees of the Chicago convention we recognize representative
men of the republican party, and statesmen who may well be intrusted
with the administration of our national government, and we heartily com-
mend them to the support of the people.

Resolved, That as an inflexible principle of personal liberty, we main-
tain the right of locomotion, including the right of foreigners to emigrate
hither and become American citizens, and the right of native-born citizens
to migrate from one state to another without vexatious investigation as
to their motive for so doing.

Resolved, That we favor such state legislation as will protect the peo-
ple from imposition by the dishonest procurement of promissory notes
payable in bank, without, however, impairing the validity of commercial
credits.

Resolved, That we congratulate the people of Indiana upon the adop-
tion of the constitutional amendments recently submitted, under which,
by wise legislation, the purity of the ballot-box may be secured, increased
economy in the government attained, the speedy administration of justice
provided for, and extravagant municipal taxation prevented. And we
point to the open hostility of the leaders of the Democratic party to these
salutary provisions as evidence of the insincerity of their professions,
their unfaithfulness to the public welfare, and their unfitness to administer
the State government— recognizing at the same time, the patriotism and
independence of the large mass of the democratic party who gave those
amendments their support.

Resolved, That we reaffirm our devotion to the system of free, common,
unsectarian schools as the source of popular intelligence,, and indispensable
to the perpetuity of free government.

Resolved, That the gratitude of the country to the brave men who
periled their lives for the preservation of the Union is a perpetual debt
which must never be forgotten, and the duty of congress to embody this
sentiment in the form of laws for their substantial benefit is imperative.

Resolved, That we favor all proper measures tending to develop the
great agricultural and mineral resources of our State, and especially such
wise and wholesome laws as will insure the comfort and safety of those
en.uiiged in the dangerous work of mining; and recognizing existing de-
fects in our laws, we favor such further legislation as will secure to
all laborers a speedy and effectual enforcement of their rights as against
all corporations and individuals.

Resolved, That all laws on the subject of fees and salaries shall be
made so as to afford justice to the citizen and a fair compensation to the
officer.

1882] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J882.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, August 3.)

The democratic party of Indiana, in convention assembled, renews
its pledge of fidelity to the doctrines and traditions of the party as illus-
trated by the teachings of Thomas Jefferson, its founder, and exemplified
in the administration of the government under democratic rule. And we
insist upon an honest and economical administration on the principles on
which it rests. Conceding to the federal government its just rights and
full powers as delegated in the federal constitution, and claiming for the
states and the people respectively the powers therein reserved to them.

We arraign the republican party at the bar of public opinion for its
long and continued course of usurpation and misrule. It has disregarded
the 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, and it has corrupted the public morals by elevating
to high places men who are known to be dishonest.

We condemn the republican party for enacting and enforcing laws
designed to place the elections under Federal control, in violation of the
rights of the state.

We condemn it for the fraud and perjuries of 1876, by which the will
of the people was set aside and a usurper placed in the Presidential office
for four years.

We condemn it for having kept up and maintained in time of peace an
onerous and unjust system of taxation, by means of which large sums of
money have accumulated in the Treasury, which ought to have been left
in the pockets of the people; and we condemn it for its wasteful extrava-
gance in the expenditure of public money.

We condemn it for its shameless disregard of its pledges in favor of
"civil service reform" and its corrupt use of the public patronage under
the "spoils system."

We condemn it for its systematic levy of black-mail upon the clerks
and minor officeholders of the United States, in violation of law, to raise a
fund for the corruption of the ballot-box; and we call especially upon the
voters of Indiana to vindicate their honor and to erase the stain that was
placed upon them by the "Dorseyites" in 1880.

We demand that the present wasteful and unnecessary expenditure
of the public money shall be stopped, and that the surplus revenue shall
be faithfully applied to the payment of the national debt.

We demand that Federal taxes be reduced to the lowest point con-
sistent with the wants of the government under an honest and economical
administration of its affairs, and that such taxes be so adjusted as to
secure an equitable distribution of the burdens.

We demand that there shall be such reforms in the civil service as
will again result in the employment in the public service of those only who
are honest and capable, and that no assessments or exactions of any kind
shall, be required of them for political purposes.

We demand protection to our citizens, native and adopted, at home and
abroad, and we denounce and condemn the present republican administra-

64 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1882

tion for its neglect of duty toward those lately imprisoned as "suspects"
in the Jails of Ireland by the arbitrary action of the British authorities.

We demand a revision of the present unjust tariff. The Constitution
of the United States confers upon Congress the power to establish a tariff
for revenue, and as a just and proper exercise of that power, we favor
such an adjustment of its provisions, within the revenue standard, as will
promote the industries of the country and the interests of labor, without
creating monopolies.

The democratic party is now, as it has always been, opposed to all
sumptuary legislation, and it is especially opposed to the proposed amend-
ment to the Constitution of Indiana, known as the prohibitory amendment,
and we are in favor of the submission of said proposed amendment, as
well as other proposed amendments, to the people, according to the pro-
visions of the Constitution for its own amendment, and the people have
the right to oppose or favor the adoption of any or all the amendments at
all stages of their consideration, and any submission of Constitutional
amendments to a vote of the people should be at a time and under cir-
cumstances mose favorable to a full vote, and therefore should be at a
general election.

That we freely indorse and approve the laws passed pursuant to the
demands of former democratic conventions making provision for the
safety and protection of laborers and miners, and providing for the collec-
tion of their wages, and are in favor of all other enactments to that end
which may be necessary and proper.

The free schools of Indiana are the glory and pride of the State and
we will see to it that they are not poisoned by the breath of sectarianism,
nor destroyed by waste and extravagance in their management.

In the relations between capital and labor we favor such policies as
will promote harmony between them, and will adequately protect the
rights and interests of labor.

We esteem Daniel W. Voorhees as an able and faithful representative
of our State in the Senate, and specially commend him for his active
sympathy in behalf of the soldier.

1SS2! IXDIANA, 1850— WOO. (35

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1882,

(The Indianapolis Journal, August 10.)

The republican party of Indiana, represented in delegate convention,
recalls, as an incentive to further exertions, for the public welfare, the
achievements of the party in restoring the national union; in overthrowing
slavery; in securing to disabled soldiers and to the widows and orphans
of those who fell in battle, or died from wounds or diseases contracted in
the service of the Union, laws providing for liberal bounties and pensions;
in building up an unexampled credit upon the simple foundation of an
unchangeable public faith; in reducing the great debt necessarily in-
curred for the suppression of the rebellion one-half, and the interest on the
remainder to so IOAV a rate that the national debt is no longer regarded as
a burden: in establishing a currency equal to any in the world, based upon
the convertibility of greenbacks, and the national bank notes into gold
and silver at the option of the holders; in increasing the value of agri-
cultural productions and the wages of labor, by building up home markets,
on the policy of reasonable protection to domestic industries; in exalting
the value of our naturalization laws to our foreign-born fellow-citizens,
by securing to American naturalization everywhere the full rights of Amer-
ican citizenship; in founding American citizenship upon manhood, and not
on complexion, and in declaring that citizenship and the ballot shall
ever go liand-in-liand; in maintaining and cherishing as a chief safeguard
of liberty our system of free schools, supported by a tax imposed upon
all property for the education of all children; and in the submission, from
time to time, in the respectful obedience to what has been deemed the
popular will, of amendments to the national constitution, and the consti-
tution of the State, Animated by these recollections, it is resolved—

1. That reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we de-
mand that the pending amendments to the Constitution shall be agreed
to and submitted by the next legislature to the voters of the State for their
decision thereon. These amendments were not partisan in their origin,
and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon
them. Recognizing the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in
regard to the propriety of their adoption ov rejection, and cherishing the
right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments
at a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon,
uninfluenced by partisan issues.

2. That we feel it due to the memory of President Garfield to express
our sense of the great loss suffered by the nation in his death. We recall
with pride the fact that, springing from the humblest conditions in life, Lin-
coln and Garfield arose, step by step, without any help but the force of
their abilities and exertion, to the front rank among Americans, and were
chosen by the republican party to bear its banner in its struggles to main-
tain the supremacy and glory of the national Union.

3. That lapse of time can not efface from the grateful recollection of
the republican party its memory of the brave soldiers, from whatever
section or party ranks they may have come, who offered their lives in sup-
port of its policy of restoring and maintaining the union of the States.

5— Platforms.

QQ I'OI.ITK'AL I'LATFOKMX. [1882

4. That a revenue greatly reduced in amount, being all that is now
needed to pay the interest on our public debt, and the expenses of the
government, economically administered, the time has arrived for such a
reduction of taxes and regulation of tariff duties as shall raise no more
money than shall be necessary to pay such interest and expenses. We
therefore approve of the efforts now making to adjust this reduction, so
that no unnecessary burdens upon the consumers of imported articles
may exist, and that no injury be inflicted upon our domestic industries,
or upon the industrial classes employed therein.

5. That we are gratified to observe that the laws for the protection of
miners and securing their wages, under the constant administration of
them by republican mine inspectors, has done much for the comfort of
the workers in the mines, and that we hope to see important suggestions
of the present inspector for amendments farther to promote their comfort
adopted by the next legislature.

6. That the relations between capital and labor should be so adjusted
that the rights of laborers shall be fully protected.

7. That the fees of all State and county officers should be so regu-
lated as to give a fair compensation to them, but not so great as to tempt
applicants to corrupt methods to obtain the same, or to impose unjust
burdens upon the people.

8. That we join with our Irish fellow-citizens in sincere sympathy
with the efforts of their brethren in Ireland to break up, by means of just
legislation, the large landed estates in that island, and to introduce upon
these lands, for the general good of the people, peasant-proprietorship.
We join with them also, in the hope that efforts for home rule in all
matters of local concern will prove successful.

9. That it is the duty of Congress to adopt laws to secure a thorough,
radical and complete reform of the civil service, by which the subordinate
positions of the government should no longer be considered rewards for
their party zeal, which will abolish the evils of patronage, and establish
a system making honesty, efficiency and fidelity the essential qualifica-
tions for public position.

10. That the industry, wisdom and firmness of President Chester A.
Arthur meets the cordial indorsement of the republicans of Indiana.

11. That Senator Benjamin Harrison, by his able and faithful dis-
charge of duty, and on account of his eminent abilities, challenges our
admiration and confidence.

12. That Governor Albert G. Porter is a wise and honest executive
officer, and we congratulate the State upon securing the services of so
faithful a public servant.

13. Since the last meeting of the republican convention of Indiana, ex-
Senator Henry S. Lane, one of the gifted and ever honored founders and
trusted leaders of the republican party, has departed this life, and left a
void in our ranks that fills us with sadness. He was eloquent for the
right, always moved by the highest impulses of patriotism, and his mem-
orv is enshrined in the hearts of the people of the State.

1884] IXDIAyA. 18oO—1900.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J884.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 26.)

The Democratic party of Indiana, in convention assembled, renews its
pledges of fidelity to the Constitution and to the doctrines taught by the
illustrious men who were its founders and illustrated in their administra-
tions of the government, and insists upon an honest and economical admin-
istration of public affairs, Federal, state and municipal. It will resist all
efforts to deprive the Federal Government of any of its powers as dele-
gated in the Constitution, and will maintain for the State and the people,
respectively the rights and powers reserved to them in the Constitution.

It condemns the corrupt and extravagant expenditures of the public
money that have prevailed at Washington during the rule of the repub-
lican 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 revision and reform of the present unjust tariff. The
Constitution of the United States which is the only source of taxing power,
confers upon Congress the right to establish a tariff for revenue, and as
a just exercise of that power we favor such an adjustment of its provis-
ions, within the revenue standard, as will relieve, as far as possible, the
necessaries of life from the burdens of taxation, and derive the principal
amount of revenue1 for the support of government, economically admin-
istered, from luxuries; and such tariff should be adjusted without favor-
itism, 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 accomplished
the people may hope for economical and honest expenditures.

3. The democratic party being of the people and for the people, favors
such legislation as will guarantee the broadest 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 to encourage and promote the interest, progress and prosperity
of each and every branch of industry; it favors the enforcement of the
national eight-hour law, as also a reduction of the number of hours in a
day's labor upon all public work, State and municipal; it favors the estab-
lishment of Bureaus of Labor Statistics. State and National; it favors, as
far as practical, the use of prison and reformatory labor so as not to
compete with the labor of the honest citizen on the outside; it favors the
enactment of such laws 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 private and depreciated script, and that the mechanic
shall be secured, by a first lien upon work done, for w^ages thereon per-
formed. We demand a strict enforcement of the laws against Chinese
immigration, and such legislation by Congress as shall effectually prevent
•the importation of persons under the passage-contract system who are

68 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1884

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 we recognize the right of all men to organize for social or
material advancement; the right of wage-workers to use all lawful means
to protect themselves against the encroachments of moneyed 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 labor upon such terms as he may think will best promote his
interests, and without interference by any other person. In relations be-
tween capital and labor the democratic party favors such measures and
policies as will promote harmony between them, and will adequately pro-
tect the rights and interests of both.

5. We deem it of vital importance that private corporations should be
prohibited by law from watering their corporation stock.

6. Resolved, That it is the duty of the government to repossess itself
of all public lands heretofore granted for the benefit of corporations which
have been forfeited 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 lands by cor-
porations, or by persons not citizens of the United States, or who have
not declared their intention to become such as provided by law. Congress
should discourage the purchase of public land in large bodies by any
parties for speculative purposes, but should preserve the same, as far as
practicable, for actual settlers, and to that end all subsidies of land, as
well as money, to corporations and speculators, should cease forever.

7. The democratic party is the friend of the soldiers, their widows and
orphans. We are in favor of the granting of pensions to all soldiers suffer-
ing from disability incurred during service in the army; of granting pen-
sions to the soldiers of the Mexican War; of equalizing bounties and pen-
sions to soldiers and pensioners without limitation as to time, and of pro-
viding 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 citizens, including those who have
declared their intention to become such according to our laws the same
as we would our native-born, and to resist all improper claims upon them
by governments to which they no longer owe allegiance; and our sympa-
thies are with all oppressed people, in all parts of the world, in all rightful
and proper efforts to free themselves from oppression, and establish free
institutions based upon the consent of the governed.

0. The democratic party demands reforms in rhe civil service that
will again result in the employment of those only who are honest and
capable, and that honesty and capability shall again be made a condition
of public employment.

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 sectarianism, 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 from politically revolutionizing the benevo-
lent institutions of the State, which he had already commenced by the

1884] f\!>L\XA, 1850—1900. (39

nomination of his party friends to fill the vacancies about to occur in the
boards of directors of said institutions.

12. We also approve of the repeal by said legislature of the infamous
law passed by the former republican legislature for the settlement of
decedents' estates, under which law estates were being consumed by
court costs, and we declare in favor of all fees and salaries according to
the necessities of the times, and that rigid economy shall be observed in
every department of the State and Federal Government.

13. We also approve of the passage by said legislature, of the Metro-
politan Police Bill, whereby a riotous partisan 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 non-partisan police equally divided as
to politics between democrats and republicans, and who are required by
the law to preserve order and attend to regular police business, and for-
bidden to interfere in elections. It is particularly appropriate that the
State should have some voice in choosing the police of its own capital,
where the State Treasury, public buildings, and archives and much public
property are situated, and where its principal public officers reside, or
periodically assemble, and about the greatest nuisance that can be inflicted
upon a city is a mere partisan police chosen by a lot of ward bummers
and low grade politicians and adventurers. We favor all measures that
will elevate and purify municipal governments and make them protective
of the interests of the whole people rather than of the party which, for
the time being, happens to be in power.

14. AVe commend the act of the last democratic legislature in refusing
an indirect subsidy to the 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 contractors on said building.

15. Resolved, That we are opposed to calling a convention to alter
and amend the constitution of this State. Such a convention would be a
great and useless expense, and would result in unsettling laws and systems
now well established and understood, and which could not be as well
understood under a new constitution for a quarter of a century. It will
be wise in this matter to let well enough alone. The country has pros*
pered and grown great under the present Constitution and it needs no tink-
ering with at the present time, especially in the interest of any party seek-
ing to invade the rights of private property and personal liberty now se-
cured by the Constitution. And any amendments that may become neces-
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 and that their private property should not
be taken without just compensation, and we are opposed to any change in
the Constitution tending to weaken these safeguards, or to any 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 un-
justly interferes with their personal liberty as to what they shall eat or
drink, or as to the kind of clothing they shall wear, believing that the
government should be administered in that way best calculated to confer
the greatest good upon the greatest number, without sacrificing the rights
of the person or of property, and leaving the innocent creeds, habits,

70 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1884

customs and business of the people unfettered by sumptuary laws, class
legislation, or extortionate monopolies. While standing faithfully by the
rights of property and personal liberty guaranteed to the people by the
Constitution, we distinctly declare that we are in favor of sobriety and
temperance, 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 subject, faithfully enforced, would be better than extreme
measures which being subversive of personal liberty and in conflict with
public sentiment, would never be effectively executed, thus bringing law
into disrepute and tending to make sneaks and hypocrites of our people;
Therefore we are opposed to any Constitutional amendment relating to the
subject of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating and malt liquors.

17. Believing that the elections should be controlled by the people
under State laws, and that the stability of our institutions 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 republican
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 of 1876-77 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
for its long and continued course of usurpation and misrule. It has disre-
garded the rights of the people and of the States; it has held on to its ill-
gotten poAver in defiance of the popular will by the corrupt use of money
in the elections (especially in Indiana in 1880) and it has corrupted public
morals by elevating to high places men who are known to be dishonest,
and has continued during a period of peace a system of high taxation justi-
fied only by a condition of war in which it had its origin, and to furnish a
pretext for its continuance has favored every extravagant appropriation
of the public money, entailed a burden on the people, and which is benefit
only to those who share in the plunder. The remedy for these evils is
an immediate change of administration. Let taxation be reduced to the
end that the money shall remain in the pockets of the people instead of
accumulating in the Treasury to tempt the cupidity of the venal and
corrupt.

19. The continuance of the same party or set of men in power con-
secutively for a great many years is naturally corrupting, and not in ac-
cordance with the genius of our republican institutions. The long con-
tinuance 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
party is driven from power, which is now demanded by the best interests
of the country; and we favor holding all public officers to a strict accounta-
bility, and their prompt and severe punishment for all thefts of public
money and corrupt mal-administration of office.

20. Resolved, That our confidence in, and esteem for Hon. Daniel W.
Voorhees, our great representative in the United States Senate, continues
unabated, and we cheerfully greet him, and his democratic associates from
Indiana in the House of Representatives, with the plaudit, "well done,
good and faithful public servants."

1884] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 71

21. Resolved, That it will be the mission of the democratic party to
foster and build up the great business and material interests of the coun-
try and restore the government to the purity of earlier days. To success-
fully accomplish this a man should be placed in the presidential chair in
whom the business men of the country, and the whole people have im-
plicit 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 of the times.

We know Joseph E. McDonald of Indiana, to be such a man.

We respectfully present his name to the people of the United States
as worthy to be their President, and we hereby instruct the delegates
from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention to support his
nomination for that high office as a unit, and to use all honorable means to
secure his nomination.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1884.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 20.)

The republicans of Indiana, in State convention assembled, ratify and
adopt the platform of the recent national republican convention at Chicago
as a comprehensive and sufficient declaration of their faith and purposes
in respect to all questions of national scope and character; and they ratify
and approve the nomination of James G. Elaine and John A. Logan for the
offices of President and Vice-President of the United States, and pledge
to them the earnest and united support of the republican party of Indiana.

"I. We endorse with pride and satisfaction the pure, able, dignified,
and patriotic administration of Governor Albert G. Porter.

"II. We favor an appropriation by the legislature for the erection of a
suitable monument to the memory of the loyal and brave sons of Indiana,
who gave their lives to save the republic.

"III. In the lapse of thirty-three years, by the increase of our popu-
lation, and by the marvelous development of our material resources and
the spread of intelligence, our state has outgrown the Constitution of 1851,
and we therefore favor the calling of a convention at an early day, for
the purpose of framing a new State Constitution, adapted to the present
circumstances of a great and growing Commonwealth.

"IV. We favor such change in the law as shall take the administra-
tion of the prisons and the reformatory and benevolent institutions of the
State out of the domain of party politics.

"V. We regard the system of prison contract labor as a degrading
competition with the labor of the honest citizen, and we favor its aboli-
tion.

"VI. We favor the enactment and enforcement of laws for the im-
provement of the sanitary conditions of labor, and especially for the
thorough regulation and ventilation of mines, under the supervision of the
police authority of the State.

72 POLITICAL PLATFOlfMX. [1886

"VII. We renew the pledge of our devotion of the free, unsectarian
public schools, a,nd will favor all measures tending to increase its effi-
ciency, and especially such as will promote its usefulness as a prepara-
tion for the practical duties of life.

"VIII. The amendment of the Constitution of the State, which author-
ized and contemplated a revision of the laws relating to fees and salaries
ought not to remain a dead letter, and we favor the enactment of such
laws as will place the compensation of all public officials upon a basis
of fair compensation for services rendered.

"IX. Recognizing with gratitude the services of the Union soldiers
in defending the government against armed rebellion, we favor a just
equalization and adjustment of bounties and pensions, and a liberal con-
struction and application of all laws granting pensions to honorably dis-
charged soldiers of the Union army.

"X. We denounce the action of the democratic majority in the last
General Assembly in enacting laws of purely partisan character whereby
experienced, competent, and efficient officials were displaced, and mere
politicians appointed, to the serious injury of the benevolent institutions
of the State, including those for the deaf and dumb, the insane, the blind,
the Boys' Reformatory, and the Soldiers' Orphan Home; and in the
passage of a metropolitan police bill, by 'which, in cities of a certain
population, the control of municipal affairs is taken from the citizens con-
cerned and placed in the hands of a partisan state commission.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1886.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, August 12.)

ResohTed, That the democracy of Indiana, in convention assembled,
cordially approves the administration of President Cleveland, for its
ability, integrity and economy in the management of national affairs, and
recognize in the President and members of his cabinet faithful and patri-
otic servants.

Resolved, That the Democrats of Indiana sincerely lament the loss of
their honored and trusted leader, the late Thomas A. Hendricks. By his
wise counsel and superb leadership the democracy of Indiana gained and
enjoyed an enviable reputation for heroic and unselfish devotion to the
principles of just government. The memory of our latfe beloved leader
can not be better perpetuated than by a steadfast observance of his con-
ciliatory counsel and patriotic teachings, to the end that the efforts of all
true democratic citizens may be directed to the faithful application of
those grand and ennobling principles that conduce to the welfare and
happiness of a liberty loving people.

We also profoundly deplore that during a brief period of time, the
nation, and particularly the democratic party, has suffered the loss of
four other eminent citizens, in the person of the gallant leader, George B.
McClellan; the superb hero, Winfield Scott Hancock; the pure and wise
statesman, Horatio Seymour; and more recently the demise of that dis-
cerning statesman, sagacious counselor and profound political philoso-

18SG] IXDIAXA, l^n—llinn. 73

pher, Samuel J. Tiki en. The career of these illustrious men may well
serve as examples for those upon whom shall devolve the responsibility
of leadership.

Resolved, that taxation of the people for other purposes than raising
revenue for the expenses of the government, economically administered,
is robbery under the forms of law. We are, therefore, in favor of a reduc-
tion of the present unjust tariff to a revenue basis, and we hereby reaffirm
the principles laid down in the Chicago platform on that subject, and
heartily indorse the action of the democratic representatives in Congress
from this State for their fidelity to the cause of tariff reform.

Resolved, That the action of the Democratic House of Representatives
of the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses in declaring forfeited and
reclaiming from railroad corporations about one hundred millions of acres
of land is hereby heartily endorsed and approved.

That the ownership of real estate in this country by persons not citi-
zens of the United States is injurious to true American interests and may
be attended with many evil consequences. We therefore heartily approve
the act of the last General Assembly in prohibiting the ownership of
real estate in Indiana by aliens, and thereby repealing the act allowing
aliens to hold and convey real estate passed by a republican legislature
and approved by a republican Governor. And we specially approve of
such legislation by Congress as shall effectually protect the public lands
from such aliens' entry and ownership, so that the same may, as far as
possible, be reserved for our own citizens.

That the financial policy in which the gold and silver coin and paper
money, readily convertible into coin, including the volume of United States
notes now provided for by law, shall be the circulating medium; they insist
that the surplus in the National Treasury shall be promptly applied in
payment of the National public debt, and that taxation shall be reduced
to the end that large accumulations in the Treasury beyond the proper
necessities of the public service shall not occur, thus assuming honest and
economical government, and relieving the people from unnecessary and
oppressive taxation.

Resolved, That the State Government of Indiana, in all its depart-
ments, has been characterized by prudence, economy and wisdom, and we
cordially endorse the same.

Resolved, That the democratic party of Indiana is now, as it has al-
ways been, opposed in principle to all sumptuary laws and prohibitory
legislation, but it is in favor of just and proper measures for regulating
traffic in spirituous and intoxicating liquors under a license system de-
signed to repress the evils of intemperance, and it favors a reasonable in-
crease of the license tax, discriminating between malt liquor and wines
and distilled spirits so as to place the highest license on distilled spirits.
The proceeds of such tax to be applied to the support of the Common
Schools.

Resolved, further, That we demand the abrogation of all laws, which
do not bear equally upon labor and capital; the passage of stringent laws
to promote the health and enhance the safety of employes of railways,
manufacturing establishments and mining operations, and to compel the
employers to make prompt payment of wages to those in their employ;
the enactment of laws prohibiting the hiring out of convict labor in com-

74 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1886

petition with the honest laborers of the country, prohibiting the employ-
ment of children under fourteen years of age in the mines and factories
of the State, and, finally, that the importation of foreign laborers under
contract be forever prohibited under stringent penal statutes. And we
especially commend and approve the action of the last General Assembly
in prohibiting the importation of foreigners and aliens under contract to
perform labor within the State of Indiana. We demand such further
legislation by Congress as may be necessary to prevent such importation
of foreign laborers into this country, and we declare ourselves in favor
of the strictest enforcement of acts prohibiting Chinese immigration —
both of these systems, being in our judgment, hostile and destructive of
the best interests of the American laborer and mechanic.

Resolved, That it is due to the memory of the brave men of Indiana
who gave their lives for the preservation of the Government, that a suit-
able monument should be erected at the capital of the State, and for that
purpose we ask of the General Assembly of the State a liberal appro-
priation.

Resolved, That we are in favor of such revision of the law as will
bring about a just and equitable valuation of the property of the State,
in order that no county shall pay more than its just proportion of the
State taxes.

Resolved, That we approve the joint resolution proposing an amend-
ment to the Constitution making the term of county officers four years.

Resolved, That the democratic party is interested in the cause of lib-
erty wherever and whenever it is being waged, and especially do we feel
a profound sympathy with Ireland, and her friends in her struggle for
Home Rule, and we confidently predict that that contest which has but
fairly begun, will find no abatement of its strength, but will continue to
grow until she achieves that position and power to which she is entitled
as a brave and generous people.

Resolved, That we cordially approve the recent legislation of Congress
giving increased pensions to the widows and dependent parents of deceased
soldiers, and to soldiers who were disabled in the Union army and we
cordially approve all measures of legislation in behalf of the soldiers of
the Union army who suffered in defense of their country and of their
widows and orphans.

Resolved, That in the enactment of all laws a strict regard should be
had for the rights of the laboring masses; that taxation should be re-
stricted to the lowest amounts required by an economical administration
of public affairs; that wage-workers should be protected by legislation
from the oppressive power of monopolies and corporations; and that all
laws not in harmony wTith the foregoing purposes should be repealed.

1886] INDIAXA, 1850—1900. 75

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J886.

(The Indianapolis Journal, September 3.)

The republicans of Indiana, in convention assembled, invoke the dis-
passionate judgment of the people of the State upon the acts and record
of the democratic party. Succeeding to power in the national govern-
ment 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, to paralyze industry,
to check the returning tide of prosperity, and to interfere with the orderly
and regular 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 scandal-
ized 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 by
false pretenses. The federal appointments made in Indiana are a fair
sample of what has brought the cause of civil service reform into need-
less disfavor and made its success an impossibility under democratic
auspices. The attempt of the democratic House of Representatives to
make odious 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 Repre-
sentatives 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 senti-
ments 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 "bloody usurpation of natural rights;" and in federal
appointments preference has been given to those who were most conspicu-
ous in their service to the Southern Confederacy. Anxious for the full
and complete harmonizing of all sections of the Union we can but repro-
bate those evidences of hostility to the principles of the government.
There can be no assurance of permanent safety and security until all peo-
ple unitedly honor the Union, and as unitedly deplore the differences,
which, in past years, so seriously threatened its overthrow.

( UNIVERSITY

76 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1880

In its relations with foreign governments the democratic administra-
tion has conspicuously failed to maintain the .honor and dignity of the
nation, and to protect the rights of American citizens. It has disfran-
chised 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 two-thirds. It passed apportionment bills, disfranchising
nearly half the voters in the State in legislative and congressional elec-
tions, thus accomplishing under the forms of law what it has accomplished
elsewhere by the tissue ballot and the shotgun.

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 not to compete \vith free and honest labor, the prohibition of the em-
ployment of children under fourteen years of age, the prohibition of the
watering of corporate stocks. All bills which were even introduced to
accomplish any of these things were defeated by democratic vote.

It failed to pass a bill to restrain the manufacture and use of dyna-
mite 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 dowrn the enormous perquisites of the
Reporter of the Supreme Court; it refused to provide means for ascertain-
ing and 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, due to private citizens, by refusing to pass the
specific appropriation bill.

It failed to provide the citizens of the State wTith 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 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 representa-
tive 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 employ-
ment." It defeated a bill for this reform introduced and unanimously
supported by republicans. It consigned the benevolent institutions to cor-
rupt and partisan boards; 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, handcuffed, confined
in dungeons, and maltreated under circumstances of unspeakable bar-
barity.

1886]

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 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 portion appeared to have
been antedated, and part consisted of county 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 scandal-
ous alliance with the Liquor League forced it to defeat a bill to permit the
effects of alcohol on the human 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 vio-
lence, 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 flagrant crime
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 cor-
porate monopolies and combinations. We are opposed to the importation
of contracted and ill-paid labor from abroad; the unfair competition of
convict labor with free labor; the competition of "assisted" emigrants and
the vicious classes of Europe with American workingmen; the employment
of young children in mines and factories; and we recommend to the next
General Assembly the passage of such laws as will guarantee to working-
men the most ravorable condition 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 legal number of working hours wherever practicable, and the sub-
mission 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 the principle of protection, under which
the resources of the State and nation have been and are being developed
and whereby the wages of working men 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 tjie products and results of American skill and industry, in
our opinion the duties should be reduced as low as will be allowed by a

78 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1886

wise observance of the necessity to protect that portion of our manu-
factures and labor 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 menace
to the prosperity of the State arid to the welfare and advancement of work-
inginen.

The wisdom and honesty of the republican party secured sound money
to the people. Gold and silver should be maintained in friendly relation
in 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 should 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 wher-
ever 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 be liberated from partisan control.

The republican party carried into effect the homestead policy, uncle*1
which the Western states and Territories have been made populous and
prosperous. We favor the reservation of public lands for small holdings
by actual settlers, and 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 statistics, whereby the interests of
both capital and labor may be protected and the welfare of the State
promoted.

The constitutional provision that all taxation shall be equal and uni-
form, should be made effective by such revision of the assessment and tax-
ation laws as will remedy the injustice whereby certain localities have
been made to bear more than their due share of public burdens.

The strict and impartial enforcement of law is the only safeguard to
society; and we demand of state and local authorities the vigorous execu-
tion of legal penalties against all criminals. We congratulate the people
on the unanimous opposition of all classes to the imported crime of anarcn-
isni, which is the enemy of 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 graititude due the soldiers and sail-
ors of the Union. WTe 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 adjudicated in the Pension Office. We favor
the .in-anting of a pension to the survivors of the Mexican War who are not
laboring under political disability. We favor the separation of the Sol-
diers' Orphan Home from the Home for the Feeble-Minded Children. We
favor the granting of a pension to every honorably discharged Union sol-
dier and sailor suffering from unavoidable disability. The legislature

1886] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 79

should make a liberal appropriation for the erection of a soldiers' and
sailors' monument at the capital of the State.

We renew the pledge of our devotion to the free, unsectarian school
system, and favor measures tending to increase its 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 amendment 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 legis-
lative restraint; and believing that the evils resulting therefrom should be
rigidly repressed, we 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 oppressions 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 political rights. The peaceful revolution in Great
Britain, whereby Ireland is sure to receive the benefits of local self-
government 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 honored statesmen of
the Nation, and by his signal abilities and devotion to the highest public
interests, 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 confidence and esteem of all the people. The re-
publican 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 S.
Grant, whose deeds in war and peace secured for him the grateful admira-
tion of his country, and the honor of the world. We favor an appropria-
tion by Congress for such an amount as may be necessary to erect, in the
city of Washington, a monument befitting the military achievements and
civic virtues of one who shed imperishable luster upon the American name
and character. Coupled with our great chieftain and leader, in the coun-
try's history, is the name of one of Indiana's most illustrious citizens,
Hon. Schuyler Coif ax. His death is sincerely lamented and his memory
should be appropriately honored.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [18SS

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J888.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, April 27.)

The democratic party in convention assembled, renews its pledge of
fidelity to the constitution and the doctrines taught oy the illustrious men
who were its founders and illustrated them in their administration of
the government, and insists upon an honest and economical administration
of public affairs, federal, state and municipal. It will resist all efforts to
deprive the federal government of any of its powers as delegated in the
constitution, and will maintain for the States and the people respectively
the rights and powers reserved to them in the constitution.

2. We congratulate the people of the whole country upon the emi-
nently successful administration of President Cleveland.

Coming into power under circumstances peculiarly difficult and embar-
rassing, after a long period of republican rule, he has conducted the affairs
of the executive department with such prudence and ability as to challenge
the approval of all unprejudiced people.

That he has earnestly labored to discharge the duties of his great office,
in the interest of all the people, there can be no question. That he has
succeeded so well is a source of pride and gratification to those who
elected him as it should be to all his countrymen. Not even party malice
dares to assail his honesty or integrity, and all his acts have not only
been clean, but above suspicion.

The country is at peace with all the world, the laws are faithfully
administered, good order and economy prevail wherever the executive
has control, and the whole country is enjoying remarkable prosperity
under his wise and beneficent administration; therefore the democracy
of Indiana feels that it would be unwise to risk the hazard of a change,
and declare themselves emphatically in favor of his re-election.

3. We are opposed to taking money from the pockets of the people
and hoarding it in the Treasury of the United States beyond the needs of
a proper administration of the government, thus converting it into dead
capital at the expense of the business of the country, and encouraging
extravagant and corrupt expenditures. To the end that these cruel bur-
dens be removed from the taxpayers, and that such expenditures shall
cease, we insist that the taxes on imports be reduced to the lowest point
consistent with efficiency in the public service, and we demand an immedi-
ate revision and reform of the present unjust tariff as recommended in the
late message of the president.

4. The democratic party of Indiana favors such rules and regulations
for the civil service, both national and state, as will secure honest, capable
and deserving public officers, but, where honesty, ability and merit are
equal, we believe there would De both wisdom and justice in giving prefer-
ence to those who would harmonize in principle and policy with the party
having the responsibility of administration.

5. The democratic party being of the people and for the people, favors
such legislation as will guarantee the broadest 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

1888] INDIANA; 1850—1900. g}

as to encourage and promote the interests, progress, and prosperity of all
classes, and especially of all laboring people.

(I. We recognize the right of all men to organize for social or material
advancement; the right of wage- workers to use all lawful means to pro-
tect themselves against the encroachments of moneyed monopolists, and
the right to 11 x a price for their labor commensurate with the work re-
quired of them, and we hold that every man has the right to dispose of
his own labor upon such terms as he may think will best promote his
interests. In relations between capital and labor the democratic party
favors such measures and policies as will promote harmony, between
them, and will adequately protect the interests of both.

"We freely indorse and approve the laws passed pursuant to the de-
mands of former democratic conventions making provision for the safety
and protection of laborers and miners, and providing for the collection
of their wages, and are in favor of all other enactments to that end. which
may be necessary and proper.

7. It is the duty of the government to repossess itself of all public
lands heretofore granted for the benefit of corporations which have been
forfeited by non-compliance with the conditions of the grants, and should
hold the sair.e 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. Congress shouldtdis-
courage the purchase of public land in large bodies by any parties for
speculative purposes, but should preserve the same, as far as practicable,
for actual settlers, and to that end all subsidies of land, as well as money,
to corporations and speculators should cease forever.

8. It is provided by the constitution of this State that the liberty of
the people should be protected and that their private property should not
be taken without just compensation, and we are opposed to any change
in the constitution tending to weaken these safeguards, or to any legisla-
tion 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 clothing they shall wear, believing that the
government should be administered in that way best calculated to confer
the greatest good upon the greatest number, without sacrificing the rights
of person or property, and leaving the innocent creeds, habits, customs
and business of the people unfettered by sumptuary laws, class legisla-
tion or extortionate monopolies. While standing faithfully by the rights
of property and personal liberty guaranteed to the people by the constitu-
tion, we distinctly declare that we are in favor of sobriety and temper-
ance, arid all proper means for the promotion of these virtues, but we be-
lieve that a well regulated license system, and reasonable and just laws
upon that subject, faithfully enforced, would be better than extreme meas-
ures which, being subversive of personal liberty and in conflict with pub-
lic sentiment, would never be effectively executed, thus .bringing law
into disrepute and tending to make sneaks and hypocrites of our people.

9. We unqualifiedly condemn the action of the republican party in
the last general assembly of the State of Indiana in their revolutionary
scheme to unseat democratic members, and thus obstruct needful legis-

6 — Platforms.

g2 POLITICAL /-7,.177-'0/M/N. [1888

lation and subvert the will of the people as expressed at the ballot-box,
and we heartily commend and endorse the action of the democratic mem-
bers thereof in their successful effort to preserve that majority.

10. The democratic party of Indiana believes in fair elections and an
honest count, and deplores and holds up for the detestation of the people
the supreme fraud of 1876-7 by which the will of the people was set
aside and men not elected were placed in two of the most important
offices of the country; also for the use of vast sums of money in controll-
ing and corrupting- the elections in 1880, which leading men of that party
have admitted reached the enormous sum of .$400,000 in this state alone;
also for setting the bad example in various other ways of carrying elec-
tions by unfair and unlawful methods, both in this State and elsewhere.

11. The democratic party is the faithful friend of the soldiers* their
widows and orphans, and in appreciation of the heroic and unselfish
service of the soldiers and sailors we declare in favor of liberal legisla-
tion in their behalf, including an enactment by Congress of a just and
equitable service pension law, as a recognition of patriotism and a reward
for honorable services rendered the government.

12. Resolved, That our contidence and esteem for the Hon. Daniel W.
Voorhees and the Hon. David W. Turpie, our great representatives in the
United States Senate, continues unabated, and we cheerfully greet them
and their democratic associates from Indiana in the House of Representa-
tives with the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful public servants."

We heartily indorse the pure and able administration of Gov. Isaac
P. Gray, and commend him to the democratic national convention as the
choice of the democracy of Indiana for vice-president, and hereby in-
struct oiu' delegates to present his name to the convention for that high
office, and to cast their votes for him as a unit while his mime is before
the national convention as a candidate.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J888.

(The Indianapolis Journal. "August 0.)

With grateful pride the republicans of Indiana indorse and ratify the
action of the national convention held at Chicago, in June last. Affirm-
ing allegiance to the principles and policy of the republican party, we
pledge to the nominees for President and vice-president a united and suc-
cessful support. The electoral votes of Indiana will be given 'for Har-
rison and Morton. In commending Benjamin Harrison to the people of
the United States, we repeat the words in which the state presented him
as a candidate for nomination: "A republican without equivocation,
always in the forefront of every contest, devoted to the principles of the
party with which he has been identified since its organization, prominent
and zealous in all campaigns, wise and trusted in its councils, serving
with honorable distinction in the military and civil service of the govern-
ment, of great abilities, long and distinguished public life,, of high char-
acter and unblemished reputation."

The national platform expresses the faith of the party upon national
questions. For the republicans of Indiana we declare—

1888] IX 1)1 AX A. 1850—1900. §3

Crimes against an equal ballot and equal representation are destructive
of free government. The iniquitous and unfair apportionment for the con-
gressional and legislative purposes, made at the behest of the Liquor
League of Indiana, followed by conspiracy, and forgery upon the election
returns of 1880, in Marion county, for which a number of prominent demo-
cratic party leaders were indicted and tried, two of whom are now suffer-
ing the deserved penalty of their acts, demands the rebuke of every
patriotic citizen. The gerrymander by which more than half of the people
of the State are shorn of their just rights must be repealed, and constitu-
tional apportionments made whereby the votes of members of all political
parties shall be given equal force and effect. We believe equal political
rights to be the only basis of a truly democratic and republican form of
government.

The action of the democrats in the last general assembly was revolu-
tionary and criminal. The will of the people, expressed in a peaceable
and lawful election, advised and participated in by the democratic party,
was set at defiance, and the constitution and laws, as expounded by the
{supreme Court of the State, disregarded and nullified. Public and private
rights were subverted and destroyed, and the Capitol of the State dis-
graced by violence and brutality. The alleged election of a United States
Senator was accomplished by fraud and force, by high-handed usurpation
of power, the overthrow of constitutional and legal forms, the setting
aside of the results of popular election, and the theft of the prerogatives
of duly elected and qualified members of the Legislature. The stolen
senatorship is part of the democratic administration at Washington, now
in power by virtue of public crimes and the nullification of constitutions
and laws.

The sworn revelations of corruption, scoundrelisni and outrage in the
conduct of the penal and benevolent institutions of the State, made before
investigating committees of the last legislature, and confessed by the
action of a democratic Governor and democratic legislators, en fore 3 the
demand of an enlightened public sentiment that these great and sacred
trusts be forever removed from partisan control. We favor placing all
public institutions under a wisely conceived and honestly-administered
civil-service law.

Labor is the foundation of the State. It must be free, well paid and
intelligent to remain honorable, prosperous and dignified. In the inter-
ests of labor we favor the establishment and permanent maintenance of
a bureau of labor statistics. We favor the passage and strict enforcement
of laws which will absolutely prevent the competition of imported, servile,
convict or contract labor, of all kinds, with free labor: prohibit the employ-
ment of young children in factories and mines; guarantee to workingmen
the most favorable conditions for their service, especially proper safe-
guards for life and comfort in mines and factories, on railways, and in all
hazardous occupations— to secure which the duties and powers of the
State Mine Inspector should be enlarged, and provisions made whereby
only skilled and competent men may be placed in positions where they
may be in control of the safety and lives of others; enforce the certain
and frequent payment of wages; abridge the hours of labor wherever prac-
ticable, and provide for the submission co just and impartial arbitration,
under regulations that will make the arbitration effective, of all contro-

84 POLITICAL PLATFORM*. [1888

versies between working men and their employers. The right of wage-
workers to organize for the legitimate promotion of their mutual good
cannot be questioned.

A just and equal enforcement of the law is the only sure defense for
the rights of the people. It is the highest duty of the State and local
governments to administer all laws for the protection of life and property,
and the abdication of this function to private and personal agencies is
dangerous to the public peace and subversive of proper respect for legal
authority.

We favor such legislation as will secure to every head of a family in
Indiana a comfortable homestead, in addition to the personal property
now exempted from execution by the law.

Fees and salaries should be equalized under the constitutional amend-
ment adopted by so large a majority for that purpose, and a law for the
equitable compensation of public officials should be promptly enacted.
The methods of county and township business should be economized and
simplified.

The amendments to the State Constitution making the terms of county
officers four years, and striking out the word "white" from Section 1,
Article 12, so that colored men may become a part of the regular militia
force for the defense of the State, should be renewed.

Railway and other public corporations should be subject to control
through the legislative power that created them; their undue influence
in legislation and courts, and the imposition of unnecessary burdens upon
the people, through illegitimate increase of capital, should be summarily
prevented.

The free, unsectarian school system must be protected against im-
pairment or abridgment from any cause. The constitutional provision for
a common school education of the children of all the people should be
given the widest possible scope. The State Normal School for the training
of teachers for the common schools should be rebuilt, and the school fund
of the state released from restrictions that keep it out of the hands of the
people.

Politics and legislation must be kept free from the influence of the
saloon. The liquor traffic must obey the law. We favor legislation upon
the principle of local option, whereby the various communities throughout
the State may, as they deem best, either control or suppress the traffic
in intoxicating liquors.

The gratitude of a patriotic people to the defenders of the Union cannot
be measured by money. They will not consent that any Union soldier
or sailor, or his widow or orphans, shall be impoverished or embarrassed
because of the refusal of liberal provision by the government, or by tech-
nical requirements of law or administration in securing recognition of
their just claims. Proof of an honorable discharge and of existing disa-
bility ought and must be deemed sufficient showing to warrant the award
of a pension.

We congratulate the people of the State upon the indications of a pros-
perity that is being maintained despite all adverse influences. The rapid
iitiliza.tion of natural gas has greatly stimulated the industrial interests
of the commonwealth, and rendered more essential the continuance of
that economic system under which our marvelous advancement has been

1800 J INDIAyA, 1850—1900. 85

made. State legislation should be directed towards the reclamation of
untiliable lands and the development of our resources of every kind.

Democratic filibustering in the House of Representatives prevented the
return to the Treasury of the State of Indiana of the sum of $904,875.33,
the justice of which claim against the general government has been offi-
cially acknowledged and its repayment provided for. Like hostile demo-
cratic action has prevented the return to our State Treasury of $60(5,979.41
discount and interest on war-claim bonds rendered necessary to equip and
maintain the volunteer soldiers who went out under the first call for troops
in 1SG1. More than a million and a half dollars justly due the State are
thus withheld, in the presence of an increasing federal surplus and of a
practically bankrupt State treasury, caused by the incompetence of the
democratic state administration.

The services of our republican members of the national House of Rep-
resentatives meet our unqualified approval. They have been alert to
protect the interests of the State and their respective constituents. The
location of a branch of the national soldiers' home, and the prospective
establishment of a marine hospital, within the borders of the State, are
causes for special congratulation.

Under this declaration of facts and principles, the republicans of In-
diana invite the co-operation of all citizens, irrespective of past political
faith or action.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J890.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, August 29.)

We. the democracy of Indiana, in convention assembled, for the first
time since the memorable contest of 1888, when we went down in defeat
but not in dishonor, overcome by the shameless methods of Dudleyism
and the blocks-of-nve, do solemnly declare:

That the electoral vote of Indiana was obtained for Harrison and
Morton by the most flagrant crimes against the ballot-box ever perpetrated
in an American commonwealth; that these crimes were committed under
the direct auspices of William Wade Dudley, then aiid now treasurer of
the national republican committee, and by the procurement and connivance
of republican leaders in this State and in the nation; that the administra-
tion of Benjamin Harrison has made itself an accessory after the fact to
these crimes by shielding the criminals from punishment, and even by
rewarding them for their knavery; and that the brazen prostitution of
the machinery of the federal court for the district of Indiana, by its judge
and attorney, to the protection of these conspirators against the suffrage,
constitutes the most infamous chapter in the judicial annals of the repub-
lic. The federal court of Indiana has decided that advising and organizing
bribery is not a crime. We appeal from the decision to the people of
Indiana, and we demand a verdict against William A. Woods, and the
miscreants whom he saved from legal punishment.

We denounce the administration of Benjamin Harrison for its delib-
erate abandonment of civil service reform; for its use of cabinet positions

§(3 POLITICAL PLATFORM*. [1890

and other high stations in payment of financial campaign debts: for treat-
ing the public patronage as a family appendage, instead of a public trust,
and quartering a host of relatives, by blood and by marriage, upon the na-
tional treasury; for dismissing honest and competent public servants, in
violation of solemn pledges, because of their political opinions, and filling
their places with men devoid of character or capacity and whose only
title to preferment rested upon disreputable partisan work; for its dalli-
ance with questionable gift enterprises; for its complete subservience to
Wall st. and the money power, and its undisguised hostility or indifference
to the rights and interests of the producing and laboring masses.

We denounce the tariff monopolists for their efforts to perpetuate
themselves in power by measures inconsistent with free institutions and
contrary to good morals. We find in the force election bill, the bills cre-
ating rotten borough states and the McKinley tariff bill, the open mani-
festations of a gigantic conspiracy of the minority to oppress a groaning
people wTith additional burdens of taxation for private benefit and to fasten
it on the country in such a way that the people can not free themselves
from the galling load.

We condemn the republican party for the deliberate theft of two
seats in the Senate of the United States from the people of Montana; for
degrading the house of representatives from a deliberate body into a one-
man despotism under the false and hypocritical pretense of expediting
the public business; for unseating legally elected representatives of the
people in order to strengthen a partisan majority, which was originally
the product of fraud; for trampling upon the rights of the minority in
disregard as well as justice and decency as of parliamentary usage and
the plain requirements of the constitution; and for reckless prodigality in
appropriations, which has converted the surplus accumulated under the
wise, frugal and statesmanlike administration of Grover Cleveland into
a deficit of alarming dimensions, involving in the near future, a further
heavy increase of the people's burden.

We denounce the force election bill, which has passed the house, and
has the active support of the administration, as revolutionary and uncon-
stitutional. It strikes down home rule and local self-government; sug-
gests and encourages fraudulent elections, and provides the machinery to
accomplish dishonest returns and false certificates of election; fosters
sectionalism and bayonet rule where every interest of the people invites
to peace, fraternity and unity; outrages the traditions and customs of a
century by giving life tenure to partisan returning boards; makes the legis-
lative and executive branches dependent upon the judiciary, and converts
the judiciary into an instrument of oppression and corruption: involves
the unnecessary expenditure of millions of the people's money, and in Indi-
ana nullifies the Andrews election law passed by the last legislature over
the determined opposition of the republicans. We declare that interfer-
ence of any kind by the federal government with state elections is a dan-
gerous menace to the form of government bequeathed us by the framers
of the constitution, and that the intelligence and patriotism of the Amer-
ican people may safely be trusted to remedy any evils that may exist in
our elections.

We denounce the McKinley tariff bill as the most outrageous measure
of taxation ever proposed in the American congress. It will increase taxes

1890] IXDIANA, 1850—1900. 87

upon the necessaries of life and reduce taxes upon the luxuries. It will
make life harder for every farmer and wage-earner in the land in order
that the profits of the monopolies and trusts may be swelled. It affords
no relief whatever to the agricultural interests of the country, already
staggering under the heavy burdens of protection; in the words of James
G. Elaine, "it will not open a market for a single bushel of wheat or a sin-
gle barrel of pork." We are opposed to legislation which compels Indiana
farmers to pay bounties to the sugar planters and silk growers of other
states. We are opposed to class legislation of every kind; to subsidies
and bounties of every description and in every disguise. We are in favor
of that wide measure of commercial freedom proposed by Grover Cleve-
land which would benefit the farmers and laborers of the entire country,
instead of that limited measure of so called reciprocity offered by Mr.
Elaine, which would benefit only a few eastern manufacturers. So long
as the government depends for support in any degree upon a tariff, we
demand that it be levied for revenue only, and so far as possible upon the
luxuries of the classes, instead of the necessaries of the masses.

We denounce the silver bill, so-called, recently enacted, as an igno-
minious surrender to the money power. It perpetuates the demonetization
of silver and the silver gold standard, whereas the interests of the people
require the complete remonetization of silver and its restoration to per-
fect equality with gold in our coinage. We demand the free and unre-
stricted coinage of silver upon the basis existing prior to 1873.

We are in favor, as we always have been, of a just and liberal pension
system. We denounce the republican party for making pledges to the
veterans in 1888 which have not been redeemed, and were not intended to
be redeemed, and we warn them against further attempts at deception
from the same quarter.

We are rejoiced at the evidences of an awakening of the farmers of
the country to the necessity for organized efforts to better their own con-
dition and protect themselves against unjust legislation and oppressive
administration. We invite attention to the fact that farmers are demand-
ing, in substance, the same measures of relief which the democratic party
has been advocating for years, but has not had the power to enact, and
that the surest and speediest way of obtaining this relief is to restore the
democracy to power in every department of the government.

We demand legislation prohibiting aliens from acquiring lands in
America, and for die forfeiture of titles to the 20,742,000 acres of our
public lands now held by them.

We favor the election of United States Senators by the people.

We endorse most heartily the legislation of the general assembly of
1889. We applaud the election reform laws and pledge ourselves to their
support and full enforcement. We applaud the school text-book laws
by which the people are given school books at one-half their former price.
We favor such additional legislation as will give full effect to the objects
of this act, and will extend its scope as far as practicable, and pledge our-
selves to resist every attempt of the school-book trust to regain its old
control over our public schools. We favor such simplification of the school
laws affecting township trustees and county superintendents, and their
duties as will increase their efficiency and decrease expenses.

$8 POLITICAL PLA.TfOtf.MK. [1800

We applaud the bill for county farmers' institutes, and pledge our-
selves to countenance and extend that valuable means of universal instruc-
tion in agricultural science.

We applaud the state board of charities law, and commend the excel-
lent work done by that board in improving the conditions and methods
of our benevolent and reformatory institutions. The creation of our
splendid system of public charities, and their honest and efficient manage-
ment, constitutes one of the strongest titles of the Indiana democracy to
popular confidence and support.

Wo applaud the law for funding the school debt, by which the State
is saved annually $120,000 in interest and nearly $4,000,000 has been dis-
tributed to the counties to be loaned to the people at 6 per cent, interest.

We denounce the conspiracy of certain republican state officials and
newspapers to destroy the State's credit for partisan purposes by dis-
seminating false statements as to her financial condition and resources.^
Indiana is not bankrupt. Her taxes are low and her debt is not oppressive,
and for every dollar of it she has more than value received in great public
institutions— a fact which speaks volumes for democratic integrity, econ-
omy and efficiency.

The state debt obligations should not be hawked over the country, but
should be made a popular domestic security, issued direct to the people of
the state in bonds of small denomination, drawing a low rate of interest,
and non-taxable, that the interest paid may remain at home, and the se-
curities may be made a safe investment for trust funds and the people's
savings.

We demand the adoption of a system of equalizing the appraisement
of real and personal property in this state, to the end that an equal and
proper uniformity in such assessments shall be secured, for the reason that
under existing regulations many counties are compelled to pay an unjust
proportion of the state's expenses, wThich others as unjustly escape.

We applaud the eight-hour labor law, the law to prevent "blacklisting,"
the law prohibiting "pluck-me" stores, the laws for the protection of coal
miners, the law preventing the importation of Pinkerton detectives, and
the repeal of the republican intimidation law of 1881 as manifestations of
the steadfast friendship of the democratic party to the workingmen. We
point to these laws as evidence that our friendship to American labor is
not confined to words alone.

We denounce the employment of Pinkertons by a railroad corporation
in New York in the pending contest with^its employes and hold it to be
the duty of state and local officials everywhere to prevent such an usurpa-
tion by capital of the police powers of the state. We are in favor of arbi-
tration as the only just and fair method of settling labor controversies,
and we demand of the next legislature the passage of a law creating a
permanent tribunal of arbitration for that purpose. We insist that labor
has as good right to organize in self -protection as capital, and that labor
organizations should be placed on a perfect equality before the law with
organizations of capital, known as corporations.

We favor the just and equitable apportionment of the school revenues
of the State.

We favor the total abandonment of the system of fees and perquisites
in the payment of state and county officers; and we demand the enact-

1890 J IX DIANA, 1S50— !'.">< >. go,

ment of a law by the next legislature fixing fair salaries for all public
officials, the same to go into effect as soon as practicable.

Judges Coffey, Berkshire and Olds, republican members of the supreme
bench, deserve the contempt of the people of Indiana for their action in
overturning the settled construction of the constitution, reversing all legal
precedents, and contradicting their own rulings for the sake of a few
petty offices and at the dictation of unscrupulous political tricksters.

While we heartily indorse, and will always uphold, maintain and foster,
at any cost, our system of public schools for the free instruction of all who
choose to make use of them, we are unalterably opposed to all attempts to
regulate by law the course of study in any private or parochial school,
and we deprecate and denounce any interference on the part of the state
in the management of schools, maintained by citizens at their own ex-
pense, as an arbitrary, despotic and intolerable encroachment upon private
rights.

We favor legislation for establishing and preserving the township
libraries of the State of Indiana as invaluable adjuncts of our common
school system.

We heartily indorse the course of Daniel W. Voorhees and David
Turpie in the United States Senate, and commend them for their able
and brilliant advocacy of democratic principles and their vigilant defense
of the public interests against the assaults of plutocracy and monopoly.
We also indorse the course of Indiana's ten democratic representatives
in Congress.

Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention that hereafter the
members of the state central committee shall be chosen on the 8th of
January of each alternate year (commencing in the year 1892) by the
voters of the respective congressional districts represented by delegates
appointed by the respective counties and such delegates shall assemble
at the call of the chairman of the state central committee. The members
of the state central committee thus chosen shall hold their position for
two years and until their successors are respectively elected.

90 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1800

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J890.

(The Indianapolis Journal, September 11.)

The republicans of Indiana congratulate the people of the State upon
the fact that, since we were last assembled on a like occasion, the State
has been honored the first time in its history by the elevation of one of
its citizens to the position of chief executive of the nation.

We endorse the administration of Benjamin Harrison, and the able
statesmen selected as his co-laborers and advisers, as being wise, vigor-
ous and patriotic. He has kept the pledges made to the people, has care-
fully guarded and zealously promoted their welfare, and elevated the condi-
tion of the public service.

We heartily approve the action of the republicans in Congress. Under
the brilliant and fearless leadership of Thomas B. Reed they have again
proved that the republican party can be relied upon to meet and solve
great political questions, and have once more demonstrated its capacity
for intelligent and patriotic government. Important treaties concluded and
pending, liberal pension laws, the revision of the system of impost duties,
provision for the certain and impartial collection thereof, laws authorizing
States to deal with articles deemed harmful, legislation to secure pure
food, for our people, and removing all objections of the products of our
farms in foreign markets, provision for increasing the volume of a sound
currency, laws designed to make elections fair and pure, legislation for
the protection of railroad employes, laws against trusts and monopolies,
to suppress lotteries, to prohibit convict labor on public works, to prohibit
importation of foreign laborers under contract, for the protection of
miners, to endow colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, and stat-
utes adding six stars to the flag of the Union, each representing a common-
wealth already great and populous, constitute work completed or well
advanced, which, in character and value has rarely been equalled in any
single session of Congress.

Familiar with the history of the last thirty years, the people need
scarcely be reminded that all this useful legislation has met democratic
opposition, prolonged, bitter and determined. With single persistence the
representatives of the party have flung themselves under the wheels of
the car of progress and filled the ears of the people with their outcries.
Charged with high public duties, they have vehemently insisted that they
were not present in the halls of legislation except for the purpose of re-
ceiving their salaries and obstructing public business. We condemn their
conduct as unworthy of the representatives of the people wThose govern-
ment is founded on the right of the majority to rule, and as hostile to the
welfare of the laborer, the mechanic, the soldier, the farmer and the manu-
facturer, all of whose interests are directly involved in the legislation
they have so violently opposed.

We reaffirm our belief in the republican doctrine of protection to Amer-
ican industries. Home markets, with millions of consumers engaged in
varied industries, are the best in the world, and for many perishable
articles the only ones accessible. American markets should be first for
our citizens, and to this end we favor levying import duties upon products

1890] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 9^

of other nations, often the result of degraded labor, selecting such articles
as we can produce profitably, and as will bring revenue to the government
and impose the least burden upon our people.

We condemn the democratic doctrine of free trade, under the operation
of which thousands now engaged in manufacturing, mining and like indus-
tries, must be driven to agricultural pursuits, at once increasing our farm
products and destroying the best and most reliable market for them, and
commend the policy of reciprocity proposed in connection with pending
tariff legislation, to the end that when our markets are opened more freely
to the products of other countries, we should obtain as a consideration
therefor more favorable trade privileges with countries so benefited. We
will thus secure, especially in Mexico, the Central and South American
States, and adjacent islands, such a market for our agricultural and manu-
factured products as will enable us to pay for our sugar and coffee with
the product of our mills and farms.

We heartily approve the action of republicans in Congress in making
generous provision for him who has borne the battle, and his widow and
orphans. A wise liberality, far surpassing any similar action by other
nations, gives to the defenders of the Union and those dependent upon
them, at least one hundred and fifty millions of dollars annually. Of this
vast amount over fifteen millions will be disbursed in the State of Indiana
each year, bringing needed relief to thousands of patriotic homes, and
stimulating business by largely increasing the volume or money circulating
among our people.

As against all democratic promises and pretenses, we proudly recall
the fact that all important pension legislation has been placed on the stat-
ute books by the republicans; and against constant democratic opposition
they have steadily maintained a revenue system adequate to meet its
demands. Nor has it been the habit of republican Presidents to sneer
at or veto laws adding to the comfort of those who maintained the integ-
rity of the Union, and gave to the Nation one flag of honor and authority.
In justice to the Union soldiers and sailors, we urge the passage of the
service pension bill.

We commend the action of republicans in Congress on the subject of
silver coinage. Every democrat in Congress who is recorded as voting,
including the last candidate of that party for Vice-President, at the time
of the demonetization of silver, voted in favor of the measure. Ex-Presi-
dent Cleveland, by messages to Congress, strongly opposed all legislation
favorable to free coinage, and the law recently enacted was passed in
spite of persistent democratic opposition. Under its beneficent influence,
silver has rapidly approached the gold standard of value, farm products
are advancing in price, and commerce is feeling the impulse of increased
prosperity. It will add more than $50,000,000 annually of sound currency
to the amount in circulation among the people and is a long yet prudent
step toward free coinage.

Prosperous and dignified labor is essential to a free State. It should
be well paid, and the hours of employment be such as to leave leisure for
recreation and mental and moral culture. We favor protection against
every form of convict or servile labor, prohibition of the employment of
young children in factories and mines, protection of railroad employes by
requiring the adoption of a uniform coupler, protection of employes en-

92 POLITICAL PLATFORlLti. [1890

gaged in factories and mines, or other hazardous occupations, from every
danger that can be removed or diminished, the adjustment of differences
between employe and employer by arbitration, and such legislation as
may be needed to facilitate and protect organizations of farmers and
wage laborers for the proper and lawful promotion of their mutual in-
terests. And we condemn the conduct of the representatives of the demo-
cratic party, both in Congress and the Legislature of Indiana, who, while
professing abundant regard for the welfare of the workingman, have failed
to enact valid and efficient laws on these subjects.

We repeat our demand for elections that shall be free, equal and honest
in every part of the Union. Upon such elections depend the political
equality and just representation of the people of every State. Our national
government is founded upon the idea that there shall be such elections,
and we urge the Congress of the United States to enact such laws as will
accomplish this result, and make ample provision for forcing the discon-
tinuance of intimidation, corruption and fraud.

We believe that the soil of the United States should be reserved for
its own citizens, and such as may become citizens, and favor such legisla-
tion by Congress and the State Legislature as will prevent aliens becoming
the owners of the land needed for homes for independent American
farmers.

Believing that the food supply of the people should be kept as pure as
possible, and that all articles should be sold under such names as will
indicate their true character, -we favor such legislation by Congress and
the State legislature as will best accomplish these purposes.

WTe denounce all trusts and combinations tending to hurtfully affect
the price of commodities, as opposed to the welfare of the people at
large, and favor such State legislation as will supplement the action of a
republican Congress looking to their suppression.

To cheapen transportation and so improve the markets of our farms
and mills, w^e favor improvement of our rivers and harbors, wherever a
reasonable expenditure will increase the facilities for carrying freight.

We cordially indorse the administration of Gov. Alvin P. Hovey and
his republican associates as courageous, prudent and earnestly devoted
to the best interests of the people of the State.

We demand that our benevolent institutions be placed above the level
of partisan politics, and that they be controlled by boards composed of
members of different political parties, appointed by the Governor, to the
end that the cost of their maintenance may be reduced, and the helpless
and unfortunate wards of the State may not be made the victims of unfit
appointments dictated by the caucus, and made as a reward for party
services.

We denounce all attempts to correct supposed evils by the lawless acts
of mobs, commonly called White Caps, as unworthy of a civilized State.
We favor such legislation as will aid the executive and local authorities
in exterminating such evils in the few localities where there have been
occasional manifestations of this lawless spirit, and that there may be no
pretext for lawless attempts to redress supposed grievances we demand
the vigorous enforcement of the laws against all offenders by the duly
constituted authorities of the State.

The efforts of the saloon to control political parties and dominate elec-
tions must be met and defeated. The traffic in intoxicating liquors has

1890 J INDIANA, 1850—1900. 93

always boon regarded as a proper subject for legislative restraint, and
those engaged in it should be compelled to obey the laAvs. We favor
legislation upon the principle of local option, whereby the various com-
munities throughout the State may, as they deem best, either control or
suppress the traffic, and approve the recent action of Congress remitting
the control of this subject to the several States.

We believe that all State officers who serve the whole people should
be elected by them as soon as appointments made by the executive under
the Constitution expire, and favor such an amendment to the national Con-
stitution as will extend the same method to the election of United States
Senators, thus reducing the danger of corruption, giving the majority
representation, and making such an election as that under which one
Indiana Senator now misrepresents its people impossible.

We believe that the making of public improvements, and other purely
business affairs of our larger cities, can be best and most economically
managed by non-partisan boards, and favor legislation to that end, but we
maintain the right of local self-government, and believe that such boards
should be appointed by the Mayor of the city they are to serve.

The better to secure the savings of our people so largely invested in
building associations, we favor legislation requiring foreign associations
and those organized in other states to make proper proof of their solvency,
furnish ample security, and pay a reasonable license fee for the privilege
of doing business in the State.

We condemn the legislature of Indiana for creating offices and attempt-
ing to fill them with its own favorites, contrary to the established cus-
toms and in defiance of the Constitution. We denounce as unpatriotic
and as tending to revolution and anarchy, denunciation of able and upright
judges of any political party, by party newspapers and political plat-
forms, for the sole reason that in the conscientious and proper discharge of
high judicial duties such judges have rendered opinions against supposed
partisan interests. We believe our State and federal judges to be able
and conscientious, and recognize in the malignant censure bestowed upon
them another democratic attempt to bring the law into disrepute, and
teach the lesson of disobedience by villifying the judges charged with the
grave duty of deciding all controversies among our citizens.

The constitutional amendment adopted by an immense majority in
March, 1881. authorizing the legislature to enact laws grading the com-
pensation of officers according to population and services required, ex-
pressed the demand of the people for such laws. In party platforms
and public utterances the democratic party has often declared in favor of
such legislation, but having often a majority in both branches of the
legislature, it has suffered this amendment to remain a dead letter for nine
years. We favor legislation under this amendment, by which officers
shall be paid fixed salaries, having regard to population and the cha-ac-
ter of the services rendered, and the prices paid for similar work in other
occupations, and all fees collected be paid into the proper treasury for the
public benefit. Such legislation should take effect at the close of officials'
terms for which elections have been made at the time of its enactment,
and should be followed by a constitutional amendment making the terms
of State and county officers, except the judiciary, four years, and render-
ing incumbents ineligible for re-election in any period of eight years.

94 POLITICAL PLATFOIfMS. [1890

We congratulate the people of the State upon its magnificent free-
school system. It has always been fostered and cherished by the repub-
lican party as the great safeguard of government by the people. To the
end that free schools may accomplish more perfect work and extend the
inestimable benefits of education still further, to free school-houses and
free tuition, we would add free text-books, so that to the humblest child
within our borders would be offered an education absolutely free. Legis-
lation to this end should not be postponed, but be so framed as not to
impair contracts to which the State stands pledged. To further promote
the efficiency, and the better to secure equality in the operation, of our
school laws we favor a just and equitable apportionment of the school
funds of the State. AVe are opposed to any interference with the rights
now conceded to citizens maintaining private and parochial schools.

We condemn the reckless and unbusinesslike policy of the Democratic
party, under which, at a time when neighboring States have been reducing
their indebtedness, Indiana presents the spectacle of a rapidly-increasing
public debt, amounting now to more than eight million dollars. It is a
most flagrant instance of that extravagant and utterly indefensible demo-
cratic policy of making large expenditures, entailing heavy interest
charges upon the people, while attempting to delude them with the false
pretense of reducing their burdens. Extravagant appropriations for the
expenses of the legislature, to pay its numerous officers and attendants,
and for the benefit of parasites demanding compensation for partisan
services, have helped to swell the current expenses of the State until they
exceed the revenue provided for their payment by nearly half a million
of dollars annually. The condition that confronts us is one that has be-
come sadly familiar, where there has been a period of government by the
democratic party. We have no surplus to distress us, but a robust and
growing deficiency. We would meet it, first, by such rigid economy in
appropriations as will limit them to the actual necessities; second, by in-
creasing in revenue by laws designed to compel personal as well as real
property to bear its full share of the public burdens, and also by requir-
ing corporations, obtaining valuable franchises belonging to the people
and granted by the State, to pay to the State a substantial license fee
therefor, to be fixed according to the value and character of the franchise
granted. And only as a last resort do we favor any additional taxation,
either by increasing the rate, or under the guise of a higher appraisement.

We condemn the gerrymandering of election districts to secure partisan
advantages, as in violation of the spirit of our State Constitution, and as
an assault upon political equality and popular government, having the
same object as similar disfranchisement accomplished by forged returns,
tissue ballots and the shotgun, and as being equally infamous. By this
iniquity two successive legislatures have directly opposed the will of our
people, and to that extent government by the people has been overthrown.
One of them, by methods violent and revolutionary, elected a member of
the United States Senate, who assumes to represent a constituency that
voted against his principles at the very election at which this legislature
was chosen. Aiding him in misrepresenting our people are ten members
of the National House of Representatives, elected at an election at which
the party that carried the State chose but three. Above all other questions
in which any class of our people are interested, stands the question of our

1S92] IXDIAXA, 1850—1900.

95

power to make public opinion public law, but the party responsible for
the existing outrage upon popular rights does not even promise us in its
platform that it will either mitigate or correct it. We stand pledged to
a just and equitable apportionment of the State for legislative and con-
gressional purposes, under which any party having a majority of votes
can elect a majority of representatives, and we invite all who believe in
government by the majority, who concede to their neighbors the political
rights claimed by themselves, to aid us in accomplishing this reform, upon
which all other reforms depend.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J892.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, April 22.) '

We, the democracy of Indiana, in delegate convention assembled, re-
affirm our devotion to the time-honored principles of our historic party.
We believe that the powers delegated by the people should be strictly
construed; that the anatomy of the states and the rights of local self-
government and home rule should be jealously guarded; that no money
should be taken from the people, under any pretext, for other than public
purposes: that the strictest economy should be exercised in all government
expenditures, whether local, state or national: that legislation should be
confined to the legitimate objects of government; that public office is a
solemn public trust. We are uncompromisingly opposed to the enlarge-
ment and concentration of federal powers; to the usurpation by the cen-
tral government of the functions of the states; to bounties and subsidies
in every form; to every species of class legislation and government partner-
ship with private enterprises; to the whole theory and practice of pa-
ternalism.

We believe that in a "free country the curtailment of the absolute
rights of the individual should only be such as is essential to the peace
and good order of the community," and we regard all legislation looking
to the infringement of liberty of person or conscience, not absolutely neces-
sary to the maintenance of public order, as vicious in principle and de-
moralizing in practice.

We arraign the administration of Benjamin Harrison for its subservi-
ency to the interests of the money power, which created it. and its indiffer-
ence to the welfare of the people; for its brazen violation of its solemn
pledges to the country, to elevate and purify the public service; for its
shameless prostitution of the public patronage to the vilest partisan pur-
poses, as illustrated by the sale of a cabinet office to John Wanamaker;
by the employment of the pension bureau as a party machine, and by the
promotion of William A. Woods to a higher post in the federal judiciary
as a reward for his services in saving the "blocks-of-five"' conspirators
from the penitentiary: for its contemptuous repudiation of its promises to
the veteran soldiers of the Union; for its wicked attempt to fasten upon
this country the odious and un-American force bill, intended to deprive
the people of the right to regulate their own elections.

96 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1892

We favor such a radical and comprehensive measure of tariff reform
as shall relieve the necessities of the people and the crude material of our
manufacturers from federal taxation.

We condemn the so-called reciprocity policy as a transparent attempt
to impose upon the American people the shadow of commercial freedom,
for its substance, in order to perpetuate the existing system of licensed
spoliation for the benefit of trusts and monopolies, which are the chief
support of the republican party.

We believe that there should be kept in constant circulation a full and
sufficient volume of money, consisting of gold, silver and legal tender
paper currency at par with each other.

We favor the election of U. S. Senators directly by the people and
commend Senator Turpie for his efforts in Congress to secure this great
reform. We indorse the course of our distinguished Senators Daniel W.
Voorhees and David Turpie.

We most heartily applaud the action of our two last legislatures 'in
passing the school book laws, thereby giving the people of Indiana a com-
plete series of school text-books, equal to those formerly used, at one-half
of the old trust prices. We pledge ourselves to resist every attempt of
the school-book combine to regain their control of Indiana, and by that
means bring about the frequent expensive changes in books, of which the
people justly complained in former years.

We approve the Australian election system, introduced in Indiana by
the democratic party. It has stood the test of experience and we are in
favor of maintaining it intact.

This convention hereby renews the expression of appreciation of the
patriotism of the soldiers of Indiana in the war for the preservation of the
Union, and we favor just and liberal pensions for all disabled soldiers,
their widows and dependents; but we demand that the work of the pension
office shall be done industriously, impartially and honestly. We denounce
the administration of that office by the present commissioner, Green B.
Raum, as incompetent, corrupt, disgraceful and dishonest, and we demand
his immediate removal from office.

We heartily indorse the new tax law as a wise and beneficent act. by
which the increased revenues necessary for the support of the state gov-
ernment are raised entirely from the corporations of the State, that had
heretofore unjustly escaped their fair proportion of taxation. We com-
mend the legislature for refusing to adopt Governor Hovey's recommenda-
tion to increase the state levy from 12 cents to 25 cents on the $100, and
for meeting the necessary expenses of the State's benevolent institutions
by a levy of 6 cents on the $100. We denounce the infamous conspiracy
of the republican county commissioners, township trustees and other offi-
cials of Indiana, who, for the purpose of creating unfair prejudice against
the new tax law, have wantonly and needlessly increased the local taxes,
in the forty-six counties controlled by them, more than $1,250,000— a sum
greater than the total increase of state taxes in the entire state. We call
on the taxpayers of those counties to rebuke at the polls these local offi-
cials, who have put this needless and oppressive burden upon them.

Inasmuch as the exemption of the greenback currency from taxation
by national law is not only unjust in principle, but also is the occasion of
much fraudulent evasion of local tax laws, and inasmuch as interstate

1892] INDIANA, 1850—1900. 97

transportation companies are exempted from equitable taxation, by Hie
constitutional powers conferred on Congress concerning interstate com-
merce, vre demand that the Indiana senators and representatives in Con-
gress use their influence to secure the passage of laws making greenbacks
taxable as other money, and making interstate commerce taxable on the
same terms as domestic commerce.

We congratulate the taxpayers of Indiana on the adoption by the legis-
lature, of the system of paying public officials stated salaries instead of
giving tlTem power to compensate themselves by fees and perquisites.

We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the interests of public educa-
tion, not only as identified with the common school system, but also in
connection with the higher institutions of learning, free public libraries
and all other legitimate means for promoting and preserving the virtue
and intelligence of the people.

The democratic party stands by its record as the friend of the masses
as against the classes, and calls attention of the laboring men of Indiana
that it has given to them the eight-hour law; the law to prevent blacklist-
ing; the law prohibiting "pluck-me" stores; the law for the protection of
miners, and laws which make it impossible for Pinkerton detectives to
arrest and slay laboring men in Indiana because of their efforts toward
self-protection.

For twenty years the republican party has legislated for the rich and
powerful and in the interest of corporate wealth. The democratic party
pledges itself to remedy the costs growing out of such class legislation
and in ail future contests to stand by the great producing masses whose
toil and self-sacrificing are at the foundation of all natural wealth.

We commend the organization of the industrial classes for self-pro-
tection against trusts, combines and monopolies, and call the attention of
farmers and laborers to the fact that every evil complained of by them
is the result of republican legislation.

Resolved, That this convention indorse the wrise and patriotic admin-
istration of Grover Cleveland; that the presidential campaign of 1892
should be conducted on the issue of tariff reform as defined in the presi-
dential message of 1887; that upon this issue Mr. Cleveland is the logical
candidate of the democratic party.

Resolved, That the democratic party of Indiana expresses its un-
alterable confidence in and attachment to its gallant leader, Isaac P.
Gray: that it holds him worthy of any honor in the gift of the American
people, and that his name be presented to the convention by the delegation
this day appointed, and in the event that the national convention deems
the nomination of Mr. Cleveland inexpedient, the delegation is instructed
to use every honorable effort to secure the nomination of Governor Isaac
P. Gray for the presidency.

7— Platforms.

98 POLITICAL PLATFORM*. [1892

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1892.

(The Indianapolis Journal, June 29.)

The republicans of Indiana heartily approve the declarations adopted
by the republican national convention at Minneapolis.

As citizens of Indiana we congratulate the people of the State upon the
nomination for President of the United States our fellow-citizen, Benjamin
Harrison. The administration of the national government under his lead-
ership has been marked with such wisdom and patriotism as to impress
the whole country and give abundant assurance that its continuance will
add lustre to the American name and increase the comfort of the Amer-
ican home. We commend the candidates of the republican party of the
Nation as eminently worthy of the suffrage of an intelligent and patri-
otic people.

The democratic party has often demonstrated its incapacity for govern-
ment in both national and state affairs. In Indiana, believing itself
intrenched behind a gerrymander of surpassing iniquity, it has shown a
reckless disregard of the people's interest and welfare, imposing intol-
erable burdens without benefit. We therefore condemn the democratic
management of our State affairs as incompetent, wasteful and in the in-
terest of party managers, and direct attention especially to the subject
hereafter mentioned.

Debt and Democracy are synonymous terms with the tax-payers of
Indiana. Unparalleled extravagance in public expenditures has marked
the course of democracy in Indiana during the past decade until the state
is now burdened with a debt of nine million dollars. The current expenses
of the State government have been radically increased by reckless manage-
ment. The burdens thus imposed have become too oppressive to be en-
dured. Our progress as a, people has been greatly impeded, and the credit
of the State will soon become seriously impaired, unless radical changes in
the conduct of our public business are speedily introduced. Relief lies
with the people, and we invite the voters of all political opinions to unite
in turning out of power the party that has always been false to its pledges
of economy and reform.

We arraign the democratic party of Indiana for enacting an unequal
and unjust tax law. It imposes upon the farmer, laborer and householder
an excessive and unjust share of public burden. It creates a great number
of unnecessary offices hitherto unknown to law. To the burden of taxa-
tion, already too heavy, it adds more than $100,000 for the fees, salaries
and expenses of these offices and officers. We demand its radical revision.
We pledge ourselves to enact such amendments to the present tax law as
shall relieve the farm and home from the unjust taxation now borne by
them; which shall place a just share of the public burden on capital and
incorporate property and provide a more simple and less expensive method
of assessment.

We condemn the action of the last democratic legislature in largely in-
creasing the fees and salaries of State and county offices. It made many
public offices sinecures by providing for the performance of official duties
by deputies paid out of the public funds.

1892] lyDIANA, 1850—1900. 99

The law passed by the last Democratic Assembly, apportioning the
state for legislative and congressional purposes, was designedly and wick-
edly framed, so as to deny to many counties and localities fair and equal
representation in the legislative department of the State and Nation to
place and retain under democratic control in this state all its public insti-
tutions and affairs, and to give that party an increased and unfair repre-
sentation in Congress and the Legislature. Such a policy is dangerous and
destructive of all good government, and merits the condemnation of all
patriotic people. And we now pledge the "republican party to continue the
warfare against this dishonest policy of the democratic party until the
state shall be honestly apportioned by giving to each county and locality
its fair and equitable representation in proportion to its numbers.

We denounce the purpose of the democratic party, clearly avowed in
the national platform, to repeal the law imposing a 10 per cent tax on
State Bank issues, and thus removing the only barrier to a return of the
system of "wild-cat" money, which once disgraced our state and largely
impoverished our people.

The democratic party deserves the emphatic condemnation of every
citizen of the State for its refusal to replace our benevolent institutions
upon a non-partisan basis, when murder, cruelty, debauchery, fraud and
incompetency mark that party's management of many of these institu-
tions, and for still persisting in retaining partisan control of the asylums
of the helpless and unfortunate that they may be made the coin in pay-
ment for party services. We, therefore, demand an absolute non-partisan
management of the benevolent and reformatory institutions of the State
through boards whose members shall be appointed by the Governor, from
the different political parties of the State, to the end that they may be re-
lieved from the present profligate management.

We favor the enactment by Congress of a law, thrice recommended by
President Harrison, compelling the use of standard safety car-couplers
for the protection of the lives and limbs of employes engaged in interstate
•commerce. The people in the employ of railroad companies in this state
form a large percentage of its population, and are justly entitled to such
legislation, as will place them on an equality with such corporations be-
fore the law; and we are opposed to railways maintaining insurance
companies by coercing their employes to become members of them. The
-employers of labor should be liable in damages for injuries to persons, or
destruction of life where the employer is more at fault than the employe.

We also favor a law governing convict labor in the penal institutions
of the State that will work the least possible injury to free labor. We are
in sympathy with all well directed efforts of laboring men to improve their
condition by united action or otherwise, and pledge ourselves to give them
such legislation as will tend to advance the interests of wage-workers.

We most heartily endorse the generous pension laws enacted by re-
publicans in Congress, and congratulate the country that during the ad-
ministration of President Harrison no pension bill has been vetoed. We
demand that proper and suitable provisions be made for the care and
maintenance of indigent soldiers, and their wives and widows, to the end
that no soldier, or wife or widow of a soldier shall ever be an inmate of
a poor-house in the State of Indiana, and that such provisions be made
that the soldier, when overtaken by poverty and adversity, shall not,' in

100 POLITICAL PLATFOHMH. [189*

his declining years, be separated from the wife of his youth. We, there-
fore, advocate the establishment, by the State, in connection with the
Indiana Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, of a suitable
state soldiers' home for the care and maintenance of indigent soldiers,
and their wives and widows, upon the plan recommended by the G. A. R.

The people of Indiana cherish the memory of Alvin P. Hovey. He
was a native of this State, and with only such opportunities as were open
to all, arose to high position in the State and Nation, and distinguished
himself as a jurist, soldier and statesman. The republicans of Indiana
lament his death as the loss of a trusted leader and of a statesman who
crowned a long and useful career by a courageous and manly defense of
the Constitution he helped to frame and of the just powers of tlie State's
chief executive.

We tender to that eminent republican leader, James G. Blaine, and the
members of his family our sincere sympathy, and with them mourn the
loss of those who so recently formed part of their family circle.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J894.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, August 16.)

The democratic party of Indiana takes just pride in the strength of
the record it has made in the legislative and executive departments of
this commonwealth by the enactment and enforcement of wise and benefi-
cent laws in the interest of the people and in the fulfillment of its pledges.

It passed the mechanic lien laws and the law giving laborers a lien
upon the product of their labor for wages and materials furnished, the law
protecting labor organizations, the law providing for the safety of miners
and proper ventilation of mines, constituting eight hours a clay's labor in
public employment, prohibiting the blacklisting of employes, prohibiting
"pluck-me" stores, the employes' liability law, forbidding the employment
and importation of Pinkerton detectives, against the importation of alien
or foreign labor. It enacted the school book law, saving large sums to
the people, breaking down an oppressive monopoly and placing the instru-
ments of education within the reach of the poorest and humblest citizens;
it enacted our existing laws purifying elections, giving an untramineled
ballot to the voter, and by the Australian ballot successfully preventing
fraud and the intimidation of employes and others at the polls. It framed
and. passed our present tax law, thus adding millions of property to our
tax duplicates; it passed the present fee and salary law; ii enacted the
Barrett improvement law which has proven a blessing wherever used; it
also passed the state board of charities law, which has insured honest,
humane and intelligent administration of our public institutions.

All this has been accomplished in almost every instance, in spite of
the determined objection and opposition of the republican party. By this
course of legislation in fulfillment of pledges to the people. Indiana has
been placed at the fore front of all the states in matters of this kind and
kindred reform legislation, and we pledge ourselves to the maintenance
and enforcement of these measures, while the republican party stands

1894J I\I)[A.\A, 1S50—1900.

pledged, at the first opportunity, to destroy, either by repeal or amendment,
the most important of these wise laws.

We congratulate the people of Indiana upon the upholding of the tax
law of 1891, under which more than a hundred millions of dollars of cor-
porate property has been added to the tax duplicate. And we especially
commend the action of the state officers in charge in prosecuting and en-
forcing to a successful conclusion the provisions of said laws.

We reaffirm our opposition to the vicious system of class legislation,
miscalled protection, and pledge ourselves to continue the battle against
it until every species of extortion and robbery fostered by the McKinley
act shall be obliterated from our revenue system and the people enjoy all
the blessings of commercial liberty. The protective system has built up
the great monopolies and trusts which control absolutely so many indus-
tries and has done so much to debauch the politics of the country and
corrupt the legislative department of the government. We denounce
tariff protection of every kind as a fraud and a robbery of the great ma-
jority of the American people for the benefit of the few. We maintain
that no tariff taxes should be levied except for the purpose of revenue only
and that such taxes should be limited to the necessities of the government,
when honestly and economically administered.

We denounce the McKinley tariff law enacted by the Fifty-first Con-
gress as the culminating atrocity of class legislation. We approve the
efforts of President Cleveland and his administration of the democratic
house of representatives and of the large majority of the democratic sen-
ators, and particularly our distinguished senators from Indian ?i, the Hon.
Daniel W. Voorhees and the Hon. David Turpie, and our entire democratic
delegation in congress, to redeem the pledges made to the country by the
last democratic national convention, and to execute the will of the Amer-
ican people, as expressed so emphatically at the ballot box in November,
1892. We condemn the republican party for its persistent efforts to pre-
vent the execution of this unmistakable popular verdict, and we especially
condemn a small coterie of senators who, masquerading as democrats,
by threats to defeat all tariff legislation, have temporarily prevented the
democratic party from carrying out all of its pledges to the people for tariff
reform, as announced in the democratic national platform of 1892.

We congratulate the democratic party and the country upon the fact
that, notwithstanding the open opposition of the republican party and the
conduct of a few pretended democrats, a substantial measure of reform
has been enacted; that many important raw materials of our industries
have been placed on the free list; that a material reduction has been made
in the duties on iron ore and coal, and that the tariff tax on nearly all
classes of manufactured goods, including woolens and on the necessities
of daily life, have been very largely reduced.

We approve the action of the house of representatives in following the
enactment of this law with the passage of separate acts, placing sugar,
coal, iron ore and barbed wire on free list, and we demand that the senate
shall concur in these righteous measures at the earliest possible moment.
We especially indorse the income tax as a wise and equitable measure
designed to place a fair share of the burdens of the government upon the
property of the country, for the benefit of which the expenses of the gov-
ernment are so largely incurred.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1894

We indorse the law passed by a democratic congress authorizing the
taxation of greenbacks as other money is taxed as a great measure of
reform, and we take pride in the fact that the demand for such reform was
first formulated by the democracy of Indiana, and that it is due to the per-
sistent and intelligent efforts of a democratic representative from Indiana
that this reform has been embodied into law. We favor the prompt en-
actment of a law by our next legislature for the taxation of that class
of money.

We most heartily indorse the action of the democratic congress in re-
pealing the odious election law.

We are in favor of a constitutional amendment providing for the
election of United States senators by direct vote of the people. We are
also in favor of such constitutional and other changes as may be necessary
in order that Congress may assemble as soon after its election as practica-
ble, and to the end that the will of the people, as expressed at the polls,
may receive full and prompt legislative expression.

We believe and declare that the policy and principles of what is called
the American protective association are illiberal, unwise, unpatriotic, un-
democratic and un-American. In the spirit of that religious freedom
which characterizes our constitution and laws, and the spirit of that wise
toleration and generous statesmanship which seeks to accord to all the
rights and privileges of American citizenship, we call upon every man to
do battle against such an organization.

The democratic party of Indiana is, as it always has been, the friend
of the laboring man, of whom its membership is so largely composed. It
is in hearty sympathy with every lawful effort to secure for those who
earn their livelihood by their daily toil full protection in all their rights
as American citizens, to better the condition of their lives, to secure for
them full and fair compensation for their labor and to afford them every
possible opportunity for moral, social and material advancement. We con-
demn the efforts that have been made, whether by the professed friends
or the avowed enemies of our wage-workers, to identify their cause with
the infamous conspiracies of lawlessness and anarchy which threaten the
very foundations of social order and civilization. We are opposed to every
manifestation of violence and mob spirit and stand squarely for the main-
tenance of law and order upon all occasions and under all circumstances.

We favor the enactment and enforcement of such laws regulating
immigration from other countries as shall exclude the pauper and vicious
classes, who are unfitted to become American citizens, and whose presence
in the country will furnish a standing menace to the order and prosperity
of our land.

We denounce the unprincipled and cowardly effort of the republican
party to escape the responsibility for the existing depressed condition of
the business affairs of the country. This condition is the natural, logical
and inevitable result of the infamously corrupt system of taxation known
as McKinleyism, combined with other vicious legislation and the profligate
extravagance of the republican party.

We favor the establishment of a tribunal of arbitration in which there
may be secured a peaceful settlement of all disputes between employers
and employes.

1894] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

103

The democratic party is, as it has ever been, opposed to all sumptuary
laws as contrary to the principles of free government, and favor the
largest individual liberty of the citizens consonant with good government.

We indorse the repeal of the purchasing clause of that cowardly re-
publican makeshift, the Sherman silver act of 1890. We reaffirm our be-
lief that both gold and silver should be used as the money standard of
the country, and that both should be coined without discriminating against
either metal and without charge for mintage. We believe it absolutely
necessary to the welfare and prosperity of the great producing masses-,
that silver should be restored to the place it occupied in the currency sys-
tems of the world a quarter of a century ago, and we hail with delight the
many signs of a revolution in public opinion in the great commercial na-
tions in favor of a restoration of the bimetallic system. We pledge our
hearty efforts to secure the adoption of every measure for the complete
restoration of silver to its proper place in our monetary system, either
through international 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 payment of debt;
and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par and redeem-
able in such coin.

We declare that the present national administration has acted wisely
and honorably in permitting the people of Hawaii, unawed by our naval
or military forces, to manage their own domestic concerns and to place
their country in the family of republics.

We heartily indorse the able, fearless and patriotic administration of
Grover Cleveland and especially his course in maintaining law and order.

We heartily indorse the wise and patriotic administration of Governor
Matthews, whose conduct as a public servant has called forth the com-
mendation of the people of every state in the Union and placed our state
in the foremost rank for good government, and cordially commend the ac-
tion and conduct of our several state officers.

We remember with gratitude the patriotic services of the soldiers and
sailors of the late war, and recognize the fact that, after the lapse of thirty
years, by reason of the hardships, privations and exposures of army life,
many are passing away and others becoming more helpless. We therefore
demand that congress in the matter of pensions, shall not only deal gen-
erously, but bountifully with those aged veterans.

We also reiterate the declaration of our convention in 1892, that the
state should provide by liberal appropriation for the support of a home
where our disabled veterans, with their wives, may be supported without
sending them to almshouses.

104 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1894

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J894.

(The Indianapolis Journal, April 26.)

We, the republicans of Indiana, in delegate convention assembled, re-
affirm our faith in the progressive principles of the republican party. We
believe its policies, past and present, best calculated to promote the happi-
ness and prosperity of the people.

The administration of President Harrison and the congressional legis-
lation of that period was wise, pure and patriotic, and we point to the
marked contrast between the home and foreign policies of that adminis-
tration and the present travesty on government inflicted upon the Ameri-
can people.

We believe in the republican doctrine of protection and reciprocity,
which furnishes a home market for the products of our factories and our
farms and protects the American laborer against the competition of the
pauper labor of Europe. We denounce the unwise and unpatriotic action
of the democratic party in attempting to eliminate the reciprocity principle
from our tariff system, thereby closing a large foreign market to the
products of American farms and depressing agricultural interests. We
denounce the present attempt of the Democratic Congress to overthrow
and destroy the American industrial system, a course that, with the gen-
eral fear of violent readjustment of the country's business to a free-trade
basis, has increased the national debt, has plunged the country into the
most disastrous business depression of its history, has closed large num-
bers of banks and factories throughout the country, has thrown an unprec-
edented number of American citizens out of employment, has compelled
thousands of able-bodied and industrious men to humiliate themselves by
asking for charity and has filled our broad land with free soup houses and
food markets. .

We believe in a currency composed of gold, silver and paper, readily
convertible at a fixed standard of value and entirely under national con-
trol; and we favor the imposition of increased tariff duties upon the im-
ports from all foreign countries which oppose the coinage of silver upon a
basis to be determined by an international congress for such purpose. We
denounce the avowed purpose of the democratic party to restore the era of
"wild-cat" money.

We believe in a liberal construction of our pension laws, and we con-
demn the unjust policy of the present administration in depriving ex-
soldiers of their pensions without a hearing, a policy intended to cast
odium upon loyalty and patriotism. We believe it to be the duty of the
State as well as the nation, to make suitable provision for the care and
maintenance of all indigent soldiers, and their wives and widows; we
therefore favor the establishment by the State of a suitable soldiers home
for the reception of such soldiers, their wives and widows, as may be over-
taken by adversity.

We demand a rigid enforcement of all existing immigration laws by
the national government, and demand such further legislation as will
protect our people and institutions against the influx of the criminal and
vicious classes.

18DG} iyi.)IAXA, 1850— WOO.

105

We denounce the unpatriotic action of the Cleveland administration
in hauling down 'the American flag- in Hawaii, and condemn the arrogant
assumption of power displayed in the effort to restore a tyrannical Queen
over a free people, who had thrown off the yoke of despotism.

We condemn the outrageous bargain and sale of federal patronage by
the Cleveland administration in its unblushing efforts to usurp the pre-
rogatives of the legislative branch of the government, to force favorite
measures through Congress and compel the confirmation of presidential
appointments by the Senate.

We condemn the reckless and extravagant administration of the finan-
cial affairs of this State, whereby the people are subjected to unjust and
unnecessary burdens of taxation, by an increased assessment of property
and an increased rate of taxation and by a multiplication of offices to be
supported by the tax-payers of the State.

We believe that the educational, benevolent and correctional institu-
tions of the State should be placed under nonpartisan control.

We believe in such legislation, state and national, as will protect the
lives and limbs of employes of railroads, mines and factories.

We condemn the policy steadily pursued by the democratic legislatures
of Indiana in so gerrymandering the State as to deny the people a fair
representation of their views in the State Legislature and national Con-
gress, thus imperiling the foundations of our institutions.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J896.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 25.)

Resolved, That we reaffirm our adherence to and faith in the demo-
cratic doctrine of bimetallism, and therefore we demand the immediate
restoration of bimetallism by the free and unrestricted coinage of both
silver and gold, as primary money, at the ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting
the cooperation of Great Britain or any other foreign power, all such coin-
age to be full legal tender in the payment of all debts, private and public.

Resolved, That we believe the existing tariff laws will be fully equal
to all demands for needed revenue for the expenses of government eco-
nomically administered under the conditions which will arise from the
restoration of bimetallism.

We are opposed to the redemption and final cancellation of United
States notes (greenbacks) or any other notes or certificates issued by the
United States to circulate as money, such redemption and cancellation
necessarily involving an increase of the public debt by the issue of bonds
and the reduction of currency.

We demand a sufficient, stable volume of money— gold, silver and paper
—to meet the requirements of our ever-growing population and the con-
stant increase of our productive interests.

We protest against the increase of the public debt by the issue of
interest-bearing bonds, or otherwise, in a time of peace, and if the redemp-
tion clause of the so-called Sherman "resumption act" of 1875 authorizes,
as is claimed, the right of the treasury department to issue interest-bearing

106 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1896

bonds without limit, without the express and definite authority of Con-
gress as to each issue of such bonds, we demand that that provision of
said act be unconditionally repealed. The democratic party has never be-
lieved that a public debt is a public blessing.

We demand that obligations of the government, of every form, be paid
and redeemed, in conformity with the laws under which they were issued,
in coin, gold and silver, at the option of the government of the United
States, a"nd not at the option of the creditor.

Resolved, that we have heretofore favored and enforced much legisla-
tion in our state friendly to labor; we continue to support, and shall
maintain a policy favorable of organized labor, with all its rightful ordi-
nances and orders, and we especially commend the action of the United
States Senate, during its last session, in passing the act providing trial by
jury in the federal courts in cases of alleged contempt.

That we demand such legislation by the general assembly of the state
as shall provide for a just and equitable method of arbitration of all dis-
putes and controversies arising between employees and employers.

To the gallant survivors of the army of the union, to the widows and
children of those deceased, we tender our steadfast regard and gratitude.
We favor the prompt adjustment, the punctual and regular payment of all
pensions as the same accrue. We believe that the pension is a vested right.
We heartily indorse the rule of Commissioner Murphy that no name shall
be arbitrarily dropped from the rolls, and the fact of enlistment and
service should be deemed conclusive evidence against prior disease or
disability.

That we do most earnestly sympathize with the people of the island
of Cuba in their gallant struggle against the Spanish monarchy, for free-
dom and independence. We believe that public war exists in Cuba, and
that the parties thereto ought to be accorded all the rights of belligerents.

We are in favor of the election of United States Senators by direct
vote of the people of the several States.

The democratic party is the faithful and consistent adherent of that
great principle of popular government known as personal liberty of the
citizen and oppose intolerance of whatever character, and especially oppose
any attempt to control the habits of the people where such habits are con-
sistent with the public order and general welfare.

The comfort and convenience of all the inhabitants of the State re-
quire good roads. We are, therefore, in favor of such legislation, as will
serve to stimulate the enterprise of the people to the end that such roads
may be constructed.

We are opposed to all subsidies of land grants to private corporations,
believing that the remainder of the public domain ought to be subject to
entry by actual settlers only.

Resolved, That this convention fully and cordially indorses the course
and action of Senator Voorhees and Senator Turpie in the senate of the
United States as having been at all times true and loyal to the interests
of our state and country, and as having been distinguished by signal
ability and success in the discharge of the duties of their high position,
and we tender the Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, the faithful and long-tried
friend of the people, our sincere sympathies in the severe illness from
which he has suffered, with our heartfelt wishes for his early and complete
recovery.

1896] INDIANA, 1850-1900. 107

Resolved, That we indorse the administration of Hon. Claude Mat-
thews, governor of Indiana, as having been wise, prudent and patriotic,
and that his practical ability, his executive genius and capacity for
public affairs, as well as his high personal integrity and character and his
popularity with the* people all show him to be well worthy of higher
honors.

We therefore earnestly commend him, in full confidence of success, at
the election, to the democracy of the United States as a candidate for the
presidency. And the delegates from Indiana to the national convention
are hereby instructed to cast their votes in his favor for president, first,
last and all the time, and to use all honorable efforts to secure his nomina-
tion.

The thirty delegates selected to represent the democracy of Indiana in
the Chicago national convention are instructed to vote as a unit upon
all questions involving platform or candidates in that convention.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J896.

(The Indianapolis Journal, May 8.)

The republicans of Indiana are in favor of protection. We demand a
tariff that will not only secure the necessary amount of revenue, but will
also afford adequate and certain protection to the wage workers and pro-
ducers of the country.

We demand that American sellers shall have the first chance in Ameri-
can markets. From Lincoln to Harrison, under the wise policy of pro-
tection and reciprocity, we steadily decreased our bonded debt, re-
sumed specie payment, maintained the public credit, kept unimpaired
the gold reserve, increased the wealth of the whole country, and added
to the comfort and happiness of the people in a degree unparalleled
in the history of nations. The reversal of this beneficent and patriotic
policy by the democratic party has brought to the American people noth-
ing but distrust, deficit and disaster. We therefore demand a return to
the sound republican policy of protection and reciprocity.

We are firm and emphatic in our demand for honest money. We be-
lieve that our money should not be inferior to the money of the most en-
lightened nations of the earth.

We are unalterably opposed to every scheme that threatens to debase
or depreciate our currency.

We favor the use of silver as currency, but to the extent only and un-
der such regulations that its parity with gold can be maintained; and in
consequence are opposed to the free, unlimited and independent coinage of
silver at a ratio of 16 to 1.

We demand a rigid enforcement of all existing immigration laws by
the national government, and the enactment of such further legislation
as will the better protect our people from the influx of the criminal and
vicious classes of foreign countries.

We believe in a liberal construction of our pension laws, and condemn
the unjust and unfair policy of the present administration in depriving ex-

103 POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1898

soldiers of their pensions without notice and without a hearing upon
charges filed against them.

We believe it to be the duty of the State as well as the nation
to make suitable provision for the care and maintenance of all unfor-
tunate soldiers, their wives and widows, and we therefore commend the
act of the last legislature of Indiana providing a suitable home for the
reception of such soldiers, their wives and widows as may be overtaken
by adversity.

Believing as we do, in a protective tariff, the leading issue before the
people, we favor the nomination for President of the United States of the
man who perfectly represents a protective tariff, and the cardinal prin-
ciples of the republican party; a man who has devoted his life to the
defense of his country in war and in peace; one who, at seventeen, fought
with Hayes and Crook and Sheridan at Antietam and in the Shenandoah
in defense of our flag against foes within; and for fourteen years in Con-
gress contended against our country's foes from without, beating back
British free trade and aggression which finally, under the present demo-
cratic administration, obtained possession of our markets and has almost
destroyed our industries; a man, who, with the resistless shibboleth, "pro-
tection and prosperity," has challenged the attention of the commercial
world and won the support of every patriotic workingman of our coun-
try; whose life and work, open as a book, are in themselves a platform,
and whose very name is magic— that loyal American citizen, soldier, states-
man and Christian gentleman, William McKinley of Ohio; and the dele-
gates to the Republican National Convention selected by this body are
directed to cast their vote for William McKinley as frequently and con-
tinuously as there is any hope for his nomination.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J898.

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 23.)

We, the democracy of Indiana, in convention assembled, now, as al-
ways, loyal to our country and our flag, affirm that the cause for which
the United States is engaged in war with Spain, is just and righteous.
We recall with pride the early espousal and united and persistent support
of this cause, by the senators and representatives of the democratic party
in Congress. We congratulate the country upon the universal patriotic
uprising which has swept away the last vestige of sectionalism, and re-
vealed us to the world as a united people. We rejoice in the heroic deeds
of Dewey, Bagley, Hobson and their brave comrades which have added
new luster to the American name. We demand, now as heretofore, the
most vigorous prosecution of the war until it shall have ended in vindica-
tion of the national honor, and absolute relinquishment by Spain of pos-
session or control of any part of the western hemisphere, and the formal
acknowledgment by that kingdom of the independence of the Cuban re-
public. We favor the prompt recognition by the United States of such
independence as a war measure, and as an act of justice to a brave people,
struggling for freedom. We urge the immediate increase of the volunteer

1898] INDIANA, 1850—1900. }()g

forces of our army and navy to any extent necessary to assure speedy and
decisive results, and the appropriation of all the funds requisite for the
adequate equipment and support, and for the comfort, of our gallant sol-
diers and sailors in armed conflict against the public enemy. The supreme
duty of the hour is to relieve the perishing victims of Spanish cruelty and
secure the complete triumph of the national arms. When this shall have
been accomplished the justice and wisdom of the American people may be
safely trusted to deal with all questions which may grow out of existing
complications, in such a way as best promote the objects for which this
republic was founded.

We favor such a permanent strengthening of the navy of the United
States and such improvements of our system of coast defenses as shall
assure adequate protection of the country against foreign aggression.

The democratic party of Indiana, now, as in the past, advocates liberal
pensions as well to the disabled survivors of the Union army in the civil
war, and their widows and orphans, as to the victims in the present con-
flict, and those Avho may be dependent upon them. We honor alike the
valor of those who suffered for the flag in the gigantic contest of 1801-65,
and of those who have now gone forth to do battle in the cause of liberty
and humanity.

We are in favor of the construction and control of the Nicaraguan
canal by this government, when its feasibility shall have been determined;
but we are opposed to the loan of the national credit to any private corpo-
ration for that purpose.

We reaffirm and emphasize the platform adopted by the National demo-
cratic convention of 1800 at Chicago. We are in favor of the free and
unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the existing ratio of 10 to 1,
without the aid or consent of any other nation.

We are unalterably opposed to the single gold standard, and we
especially protest against the declared purpose of the present republican
secretary of the treasury of applying that policy more thoroughly. We
believe that the practice of the treasury in paying treasury notes in gold
only, in violation of law, and in surrendering the option of the government,
reserved by the statute, to pay in gold or silver, is chiefly responsible for
the great money depression now, and for so long a period, existing in this
country, is destructive of business enterprise, dangerous to the public
credit and the prosperity of the people, and a serious menace to the na-
tional honor.

We insist that the wealth of the country should bear its just share of
the public burdens. For that reason we approve the inheritance tax
recently adopted through the efforts of the democrats in congress, and we
favor the principle and policy of an income tax. The demonetization of
silver and the judicial denial of the power to tax incomes have materially
impaired our resources for war purposes. We favor the reimposition of
the income tax, so that the question of its validity may be reviewed by
the supreme court.

We earnestly reassert the democratic doctrine that all tariff taxes shall
be laid for revenue as their sole object and purpose, and we do at this time
especially denounce and condemn the high prohibitory rates of the present
republican tariff, commonly called the Dingley Bill, under the operation
of which trusts and combinations have multiplied, the cost of the neces-

POLITICAL PLATFORM*. [1898

saries of life has been increased and the wages of labor have not been
advanced, and which has entailed upon the country a deficit of many mil-
lions to be made up only by additional taxation in time of war, thus impos-
ing, instead of a benefit, an onerous burden upon the people of the United
States.

We reaffirm and emphasize our repeated declarations in favor of the
election of United States Senators by the people.

We congratulate the taxpayers of Indiana on the rapid decrease in the
state debt, and beg to remind them that the revenues, with which the pay-
ments thereon have been made and are being made, result from ihe enforce-
ment of the democratic tax law of 1891, which was enacted by a demo-
cratic legislature over republican opposition and protest, which was as-
sailed by a republican state convention, denounced by republican orators
and the entire republican press, but which was sustained in the highest
court of the nation through the efforts of a democratic attorney-general.
Every dollar paid on the state debt by republican officials is cumulative
evidence of the stupidity or worse, of the republican organizations in its bit-
ter opposition to the law which made such payment possible, and which,
since coming into power, they have made no effort to repeal.

We also recall that a democratic legislature enacted a law creating
a sinking fund of 3 cents on the hundred dollars, to be applied exclusively
to the extinguishment of^ the state debt, and that under these laws the
democratic administration of Governor Matthews, in 1895, and 1896, set
the pace by reducing the state debt more than two million dollars.

The democratic party feels a just pride in the other great legislative
reforms it has accomplished for the people of Indiana and points to their
continuing benefits as certain proof of their wisdom. We call attention
to the Australian ballot law, enacted against republican opposition and
still having a great purifying effect on elections, notwithstanding the re-
publican amendments lessening its safeguards; to the board of state char-
ities law for the supervision and regulation of our penal and charitable
institutions: to the school book law, by which the great school book trust
has been driven from the State, the price of books used in public schools
has been reduced over one-half and the frequent changes in books, for-
merly so burdensome to the people and detrimental to the schools, have
been prevented; to the fee and salary law and other great measures of
reform which the State of Indiana owes to the democratic party.

We call attention to the record of the last two legislatures, each repub-
lican in both branches, which made scarcely a law of material benefit
to the people. Both of these legislatures were marked by corruption and
debauchery so scandalous that even republican organs were driven to de-
nounce them. They have to their credit the iniquitous special verdict law
—made in one and repealed in the other; the present legislative gerry-
mander, by which the senate is given fifty-one members, in violation of the
constitution; the anti-trust law, inspired by trust attorneys and purposely
made so worthless that republican state officials dare not attempt to en-
force it; an oppressive garnishee law, which undertook to deprive wage-
earners of the state of their constitutional right of exemption; and the
outrageous partisan measures to extend the term of the appellate judges,
county superintendents and township trustees.

1898] lyDIAXA, 1850—1000.

Ill

We are earnestly in favor of legislation for the regulation and reform
of primary elections.

We recognize the existence of grave defects in the laws governing
counties and townships of this state. We favor a complete and systematic
Revision of such laws to the end that public business may be enacted with
greater efficiency and economy.

We favor such an amendment of the truancy law, which now requires
a large and unnecessary expenditure of public moneys, so as to transfer
the duties of such officials to township trustees, who shall perform the
same without further compensation.

We sincerely sympathize with organized labor in its efforts to adjust
differences between the employer and employe. We denounce the incor-
porated trusts which have overcome these efforts by cruel and unjust
methods and we favor a system of equal and disinterested arbitration as
a means of adjustment of such differences.

We take pride in the long list of laws enacted by democratic legisla-
tures for the benefit of the workingmen of the State, including the eight-
hour labor law, the law prohibiting "pluck-me-stores," the repeal of the
infamous republican intimidation laws, the law prohibiting the importa-
tion of Pinkertons, the law prohibiting "blacklisting," the miners' law
providing for the proper ventilation of mines and the use of honest weights
and screens; the law protecting workingmen in the right to organize for
mutual defense; the co-employes' liability law; the mechanics' lien law;
the law prohibiting the forced collection of fees from employes of railroad
corporations to sustain company hospitals, restaurants, etc.; the law guar-
anteeing the civil rights of all citizens, and the law prohibiting the im-
portation of paupers and aliens under contract into the state who have
no purpose of becoming citizens thereof.

We demand a more thorough enforcement of the eight-hour and other
laws in the interest of labor by the public officials charged with that duty.

We are opposed to the contract labor system in prison, but we believe
that to maintain convicts in idleness is inhuman and unjustly burdensome
to the people. We believe some plan should be devised for the profitable
utilization of their labor without bringing it into competition with free
labor. The projects for its employment under the public account system,
or in the construction of a ship canal connecting Lake Michigan with the
Wabash River, or in some other enterprise of great public utility should be
carefully considered and that plan which promises the best results and is
open to the feAvest objections should be adopted by the next legislature.

We approve the child labor and factory inspection law, and favor such
amendments to same as shall render it more effective.

We adhere firmly to the teachings and practice of the democratic party
in favor of the largest measure of personal liberty consistent with public
security and social order. We are opposed to all projects of legislative
interference with, or regulation of, matters which lie withjn the domain
of individual judgment and conscience.

We express our undiminished confidence in William Jennings Bryan,
our peerless leader in the national campaign of 1896, and we note with
much gratification his patriotic course in leading to the defense of his
country a regiment of citizen soldiers.

I'OJJTICAL PLATFORMS. [1898

We indorse the record of our distinguished Senator, the Hon. David
Turpie, who by his able and eloquent championship of democratic prin-
ciples and measures, his sturdy devotion to the interests of the people, his
uncompromising warfare upon extravagance and jobbery, his advocacy
of great reforms such as the popular election of United States senators,
and his Avarm espousal of the cause of Cuban independence, has justified
the confidence which the Indiana democracy has reposed in him.

Whereas, since the meeting of the last state convention we have suf-
fered an irreparable loss in the death of the Hon. Daniel W. Yoorhees.
late a senator of the United States, one who has faithfully served the peo-
ple, the state and the country, for many years in the highest official sta-
tion, we deplore, with profound sorrow, his departure from the scene of
his great achievements, and shall always cherish his memory with the
most sincere regard, reverence and admiration.

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, f898.

(The Indianapolis Journal, August 4.)

The republicans of Indiana, in state convention assembled, congratu-
late the nation at large on its return to republican rule, which furnishes
a sure guaranty of stability and prosperity to all our institutions, and a
comparison that gives little hope of a return to power of the party of
calamity and distress. While we sincerely deplore the necessity of war,
we believe the President and Congress acted wisely in demanding the com-
plete withdrawal of Spanish sovereignty over the island of Cuba and in
proceeding to enforce and demand with the military and naval power of
the government. And nowr that our army and navy, through their splendid
achievements, have blest our Nation with triumphs not excelled in the
world's history, rendering many names illustrious and immortal, and add-
ing prestige and glory, limited only by civilization, to our great Republic,
the occasion is one of supreme gratitude to the great ruler of nations. We
extend to the brave men on land and sea who have gone forth to battle for
the glory of our flag and the cause of human liberty our deepest sympathy
on account of the sacrifices they have made and the hardships they are
called upon to endure, and our warmest praise for their unconquerable
valor.

We honor, congratulate and applaud our country's heroes who have
once more proved the match-less intelligence, devotion and courage of
American manhood. They have proved to the Avorld that the United
States is a nation, bne and indivisible, without sections and without
classes, whose purpose is "to deal justly, love mercy and walk humbly
before God."

We felicitate the country on the fact, when in the exigencies of war
it became necessary to issue $200,000,000 of government bonds to meet the
extraordinary expenditures, a republican administration had the good
sense and wisdom to put the loan within the easy reach of the people,
where it has been wholly absorbed, furnishing a splendid security for their

1898] INDIANA, 1850-1MQ. 113

savings, awakening a new interest in the permanency of our government
and the soundness of its financial system.

We most cordially approve the administration of President McKinley.
He has met the unusually grave and difficult questions which have arisen,
since his incumbency of the presidential office in a manner so wise and
patriotic as to challenge the admiration of all parties at home, and to win
the approval of the best people throughout the civilized world. We espe-
cially commend his conservative and patriotic course in earnestly hoping
and negotiating for peace while yet prudently preparing for war. And we
further express our most earnest approval of his vigorous prosecution of
the war, and our entire confidence in his ability to secure such terms of
peace, now happily near at hand, as will advance human liberty, and com-
port with the dignity and honor of the American people.

The republicans of Indiana are unreservedly for sound money, and are
therefore opposed to the heresy to which the democratic party is wedded,
of the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of
10 to 1, which Ave regard as absolutely sure to debase our money and de-
stroy our private and public credit, and cause general business dis-
aster. We recognize the necessity of comprehensive and enlightened
monetary legislation, and believe that the declaration in the St. Louis
National Republican platform for the maintenance of the gold stand-
ard and the parity of all our forms of money should be given the
vitality of public law and the money of the American people should be
made, like all its institutions, the best in the world.

We especially commend the President and Congress for the prompt
passage of a wise revenue lawr in accordance with the sound republican
doctrine of reciprocity and protection to American industries and home
labor, and express our unbounded confidence in the beneficial results pre-
dicted for this measure by our party leaders, evidences of which are
daily accumulating in the way of renewed business prosperity and ample
revenue for ordinary governmental expenditures. We, therefore, reaffirm
our belief in the doctrine of reciprocity and protection to American labor
and home industries, and condemn the democratic doctrine of tariff for
revenue only as unsound and unsuited to the best interests of the coun-
try, a doctrine whose falsity which has been demonstrated by our experi-
ence under the Wilson revenue bill that plunged the Nation into commer-
cial and financial distress, from which it is fast recovering since the
change from that democratic policy.

We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved
the life of the Nation, and those who were but recently called to arms in
vindication of their country's honor and the cause of human liberty.
Just and liberal pensions to all deserving soldiers are a sacred debt of the
Nation, and the widows and orphans of those who are dead are entitled
to the care of a generous and grateful people.

Having achieved its manhood, the Republic, under God, is entering
upon its greatest period of power, happiness and responsibility. Realizing
the mighty future of wealth, prosperity and duty which is even now upon
us, we favor the extension of American trade, the reformation of our con-
sular system accordingly, the encouragement by all legitimate means of
the American merchant marine, the creation of a navy as powerful as
our commerce shall be extensive and for the public defense and security,

8— Platforms.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1898

and the establishment of coaling stations and naval rendezvous wherever
necessary.

We most heartily approve of the annexation of the Hawaiian islands
as a wise measure. We recommend the early construction of the Nica-
raguan canal under the immediate direction and exclusive control of the
United States government— the importance and necessity of the canal hav-
ing been emphasized by recent events connected with the present war with
Spain.

We favor the enactment and enforcement of laws restricting and pre-
venting the immigration of such undersirable foreign population as is
prejudicial to free American labor.

We indorse the record of Senator Fairbanks, who has by his wise and
patriotic counsel and courageous ability aided the President and served his
country with marked distinction and great honor to our State.

We commend and congratulate the republican congressional delegation
upon the high standard of ability manifested by them and the conspicu-
ous station they have taken in national legislation.

We commend the administration of Governor Mount and the republican
state officials, under which, with a reduction of 25 per centum in the state
tax rate within the last eighteen months, $920,000 of the state debt has
been discharged; an army of over seven thousand men has been equipped
and placed in the field at an expense of over $200,000; the laws have been
enforced and the name of Indiana honored throughout the land.

In 1895-97, the first time since 1883, owing to the vicious system of
enacting apportionment laws, whereby the minority might still control
the majority, the republican party found itself in condition to legislate
for the state, and the laws that it wisely enacted and the other measures
which it still more wisely refused to pass, constitute an epoch in legisla-
tion that is an enduring monument to the faithfulness and intelligence
of the party which the Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth General Assemblies repre-
sented. Among the many wise and just measures of legislation that stand
upon the statute books as the result of the labors of those two General
Assemblies, are the acts creating a labor commission; providing means
for the settlement of disputes between employers and employes by arbitra-
tion; abolishing the prison-contract system; taking convict labor out of
competition with free labor; providing for factory inspection and the pro-
tection of the lives and health of operatives and prohibiting the employ-
ment of child labor; providing safeguards in the auditing of public expendi-
tures; complying with the constitutional mandate that the penal code
should be founded on principles of reformation and not of vindictive jus-
tice; providing for the protection of the people against incompetent and
inefficient professional men; making permanent in county and extending
to State officials the provision that officers shall be paid according to their
services, and not constitute a burden upon the people by reason of exces-
sive fees and salaries; the taking of the benevolent institutions out of the
purview of partisan politics, whereby the poor and unfortunate wards
of the State are assured competent and humane treatment; and, above all,
the enactment of an honest, fair and constitutional apportionment law.
These acts emphasize and illustrate the intelligence and integrity of the
Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth General Assemblies, and we congratulate the re-
publican party and the people of the State upon their action.

1900] INDIANA, 1850-1900.

Believing that there is need of reform in county and township gov-
ernment, and that a vast saving of the public money can be made by bet-
ter methods, we favor early and thorough revision of the laws upon this
subject, to the end that the people of Indiana may have the best and most
economical management of local affairs.

We favor, as a supplement to our present election law, the enactment
by the next Legislature of such a primary election law as will secure to
the people a full and free expression in the selection of their candidates for
office.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, J9(XX

(The Indianapolis Sentinel, June 7.)

We, the democrats of Indiana, in convention assembled, reaffirm our
allegiance to the principles of liberty and justice which the democratic
party has advocated from the time of Jefferson.

We reaffirm and pledge our allegiance to the principles of the declara-
tion of Independence, and acknowledge our debt of gratitude to Thomas
Jefferson, the author of that charter of human rights.

We reaffirm our allegiance to the principles of the constitution of the
United States, and declare our veneration for the wise and far-sighted
patriots who instituted its beneficent provisions, not only for themselves,
but for the welfare of the people for all time.

We reaffirm and pledge our allegiance to the principles of the Chicago
platform of 189<>, and commend its distinguished exponent, William Jen-
nings Bryan, to the people of the United States as an able statesman,
a sincere patriot and an honest man, who can safely be trusted to stand at
all times for the people and against their foes at home and abroad.

And we instruct the delegates selected by this convention to cast their
votes for him at the democratic national convention to be held at Kansas
City.

It is of vital importance at this time that the people should restore the
fundamental principles of their government to their original force.

We are already far advanced in the policy of arbitrary rule, which has
caused an encroachment on the rights of the people at home and on liberty
abroad, and a subversion of popular government.

It is the history of the human race that every nation which has sought
to extend its power by destroying the liberty of others has, in the end,
destroyed the liberty of its own people. No people can exist part free
and part slave, part citizen and part subject, part republic and part empire.

We submit the corrupting influence of colonial domain has already
brought disgrace upon the republic; that usurped and dictatorial power
has already readied the danger line. The constitution and the plighted
faith of the republic have been violated in Porto Rican legislation, for the
purpose of asserting power to rule without regard to law, duty, or right
principle. Independence is withheld from the Cubans in defiance. of law
and national promises. Slavery is recognized and protected in Sulu, and
involuntary servitude in Hawaii in violation of the Constitution.

POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1900

We condemn the extravagances of the present administration, the vio-
lation of the civil service, the fraudulent army contracts, the payment of
double salaries to military officers, the spoliation of the people of Cuba,
and the favor and protection shown partisans, speculators and corrupt
officials in their dealings with the government.

We demand an honest and economical administration of national
affairs, the repeal of the stamp tax, and such constitutional amendments
as will enable congress to levy a graduated income tax and provide for
the election of United States Senators by a direct vote of the people.

We are opposed to a large standing army. Military rule should find
no place under a republic, and we condemn it, whether used to administer
government in Cuba or to crush liberty in the Philippines.

Domestic order is best conserved by the civil authorities, and in time
of war the safety and honor of the republic can be intrusted to its
volunteers.

We extend our sympathy to the people of the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State in their heroic effort to maintain their liberty and inde-
pendence.

We demand the strict enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine, and the
construction of the Nicaraguan canal, and we denounce the Hay-Paunce-
fote treaty as an abject surrender at English dictation of the right of the
republic to fortify and in time of war to control the Nicaraguan canal.

We call attention to the reform legislation which the democratic party
has given the people of this state, the school book law, the tax laws, the
Australian ballot, the fee and salary reform, and the many statutes for
the protection of labor.

The republican party is now hypocritically claiming credit for the re-
duction in our state debt, made possible by the democratic tax laAv, the
enactment of which it opposed.

It has mutilated the Australian ballot law and repealed the statute
making the bribery of voters a penal offense. In four years of absolute
control of state affairs it has failed to pass any effectual legislation against
monopolies or trusts, but has uniformly defeated all effort to enact anti-
trust laws.

We pledge ourselves to an economical administration of state affairs,
the non-partisan management of the state institutions, the continuation of
the reform work begun by the democratic party and the enactment and
enforcement of state legislation against trusts.

We call attention to the extraordinary concentration of wealth and the
alarming growth of monopoly during the McKinley administration; the
arbitrary regulation of markets; the increased cost of living; the loss of
industrial independence; the despotic power of employment and discharge
of American labor, now, concentrating in a few hands; the activity of these
monopolies in politics; their increasing influence in the enactment and en-
forcement of the laws, and the unconcern or real favors with which these
things are regarded by the republican leaders. Relief can not be expected
so long as the friends of trusts remain in office. The democratic party, free
from their influence, and not embarrassed by their favors, pledges its rep-
resentatives in office to the positive enactment and enforcement of anti-
trust legislation.

1000] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

We are opposed to a protective tariff, and condemn the Dingley law
as the culminating- atrocity of the protective policy. It is unjustifiable in
principle, and pernicious in practice, and has contributed to the develop-
ment and fostering of trusts, which have been maintained under that law
at their highest point. The menace of monoply at this time is most pro-
nounced, and no sincere effort has been made by the republican party,
now in full control of the government, to strike a blow at the trust out-
rage.

We therefore demand the removal of all tariff from articles made or
controlled by a trust and that no tariff be levied for other purpose than
revenue.

We renew our thanks and grateful acknowledgment to the soldiers
and sailors who fought in the war for the union, the Mexican war, the war
with Spain and in the Philippines.

We protest against the policy of the republican administration, which
has, in many instances, needlessly embarrassed the adjustment and denied
the consideration of claims for pensions on account of disabilities, wounds
and death incurred in the military and naval service, and demand an im-
mediate and just adjudication of such claims now so long postponed. And
we concur in the criticism of the present administration of the pension
department. We, therefore, call on all men who love their country and its
institutions, who hold popular government better than absolute rule, who
realize that self-government can be preserved only by constant adherence
to constitutional safeguards, who oppose special legislation, and believe
that all should stand equal before the law, and that the flag should not be
a symbol of subjugation and wrong, but of freedom and right, and that
this republic should be a guarantee of equality and equity at home, and
of honor and justice abroad, to unite with us in the vindication of these
principles.

Resolved, That the figure or device to be used on the ballot to desig-
nate the candidates of this convention and for the democratic candidates
in all the elections throughout the state, shall be the "rooster" in the
attitude of crowing.

ng POLITICAL PLATFORMS. [1900

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, J900.

(The Indianapolis Journal, April 26.)

The republicans of Indiana in state convention assembled at the city
of Indianapolis adopt and proclaim the following declaration of principles:

We emphatically indorse the wise and patriotic administration of Pres-
ident McKinley. In the whole history of this country there has been no
period so distinctively marked by prosperity and progress as that of this
splendid republican administration. It furnishes a most practical illustra-
tion of the difference between a party of capacity and one of incapacity.
Under its policies the country has passed from extreme depression to un-
paralleled prosperity. Party pledges have been scrupulously kept; the dig-
nity and honor of the nation maintained everywhere; the dangers and per-
plexities of a great foreign war successfully met; the glory of the flag
augmented; imperishable fame added to our army and navy; the public
credit strengthened until the nation's bonds, bearing a lower rate of inter-
est than any like securities in the world, command a premium in the mar-
ket; new opportunities to labor created; additional markets opened to our
surplus products of every kind, taxing production to its utmost capacity to
meet consumption and demand; Spanish cruelty and oppression forever
banished from this hemisphere and the Philippine islands; the open door
policy in China secured to all the commercial nations of the world through
American diplomacy; and a more fraternal feeling inculcated between the
North and South. We offer this partial review of magnificent achieve-
inents of the administration of William McKinley as a warrant for its
continuance in power. And we pledge the hearty support of the repub-
lican party in Indiana to his renomination and re-election, as a just and
well deserved reward for his splendid services to the nation.
. Indiana has been well and faithfully represented in Congress and we
point with special pride to and congratulate our senators and republican
representatives in Congress upon their distinguished ability and the con-
spicuous part they have taken in shaping national legislation, thereby add-
ing to the prestige of this great State.

1. We mourn the death of Garrett A. Hobart, Vice-President of the
United States, a statesman of exalted character, of upright purpose, and of
great usefulness to the country.

With reverence we refer to the absence from this convention of that
"grand old man," Col. Richard W. Thompson, whom we all loved, and
whose memory is firmly enshrined in our hearts. Stilled is that voice,
which for more than half a century, gave utterance to republican wisdom
and eloquence; at rest is that silvered head, which was as inspiring as were
the white plumes of Henry of Navarre.

In the death of Major General Henry W. Lawton, Indiana's famous
fighter, we recognize the pathetic yet glorious ending of a soldierly career,
full of years and honors, leaving to a devoted wife and loving children
the richest heritage any man can bestow. He laid down his life where any
hero-soldier might well choose to die— under the folds of the flag, on the
firing line, at the battle's front.

1900] INDIANA, 1850—1900.

2. The conflict with Spain was begun and carried on from humane
and disinterested motives. The possession of the islands which came
to our hands as a result of that war was a consequence of it not foreseen,
but which could not be avoided with honor and safety. We can not escape-
the responsibility resting upon us. Our first duty is to establish the au-
thority of the United States against armed resistance; then to replace mili-
tary by civil administration. The guiding principle of our conduct in deal-
ing with the people of these islands should be to promote their highest
welfare, and we pledge the largest possible freedom of control in their
affairs, as their ability for self-government shall be developed, and to use
all proper means to advance their civilization and enlightenment.

3. We unhesitatingly approve and indorse the policy and course of
the administration and the legislation by Congress in respect to our newly
acquired possessions and express full confidence in the wisdom, integrity
and ability of the administration supported by a republican Congress, to
deal wisely and justly with the questions concerning the same, as they
may arise.

4. The employment of the people is the contentment of the people.
The greatest benefaction to man is the opportunity to labor. Our best
hope for the continued employment of labor lies in the domination of the
world's markets by American agricultural and mechanical products. Low
interest rates are potent factors in the extension of American commerce
and industry at home and abroad. The wise financial legislation of the
republican party has largely secured these results. We, therefore, con-
gratulate the American people in that the republican party has kept its
beneficent pledge for the maintenance of the gold standard and the parity
of all our forms of money by comprehensive, courageous legislation. The
republican party has always stood and now stands for money laws that
benefit all our people alike, without preference of one over another, the
borrower as well as the lender, and such as equalize and lower the rates of
interest throughout the country. And to this end we favor legislation
authorizing elasticity in our bank currency for the benefit of our producers,
the laborer, the farmer and the manufacturer, and for the general com-
merce of our people, under the guidance and control of the secretary of the
treasury.

5. Combinations of capital having as their object or effect the con-
trol of the production of commodities, or the markets thereof, are hurt-
ful and injurious to the best interests of the people. This evil should be
overthrown without injury to honest trade. We, therefore, favor such
additional legislation, both State and National, as shall establish the com-
plete legal control over all trusts and monopolies, with full power to dis-
solve the same, and mete proper punishment to all who thus seek to de-
stroy honest competition and prevent the widest possible employment to
labor.

6. We reaffirm our belief in the doctrine of reciprocity and protection
to American labor and home industries and point to the beneficial results
which have come from the enactment of the Dingley law. It will be the
care of the republican party to maintain the law in harmony with chang-
ing conditions from time to time; so that it shall at all times subserve the
purpose of protection to the interests of labor and production.

£20 POLITICAL PLATFORM*. [1900

7. We recognize a debt of gratitude to the soldiers and sailors of the
late Avar with Spain and in the Philippine islands; and we tender to those
QOW iii the field our fullest confidence, sympathy and support. Just and
liberal pensions to all deserving soldiers and sailors are a debt of the
nation; and the widows and orphans of those who are dead are entitled
to the care of a generous and grateful people.

8. We again recommend the early construction of the Nicaraguan
canal under the immediate direction and exclusive control of the United
States government.

9. We favor the enactment and enforcement of laws restricting and
preventing the importation of such undesirable foreign population as is
prejudicial to free American labor.

10. We indorse the clean and able administration of Governor James
A. Mount in the intelligent, honorable and economical management of
state affairs. We congratulate the people of Indiana upon the emanci-
pation of the penal and benevolent institutions from partisan control and
the provision through ample appropriation by the last legislature, for
new buildings and appropriate maintenance to accommodate the unfor-
tunate wards of the State — many of whom have been compelled to be
quartered in county almshouses. The penal and reformatory institutions
are now conducted on humanitarian lines. The benevolent institutions
of the State are an honor to her citizenship. The dependent soldier's
and sailor's orphan has a home and is fitted for the practical duties of
life; the State Soldiers' Home at Lafayette is the creature of republican
legislation and is being so provided for that the Union veteran and his
wife, in the days of their need, can find a haven of comfort and care.

11. The State's finances are carefully and economically managed.
The state debt is being rapidly canceled. The growing demands of all our
penal and benevolent institutions have been met. The State tax levy has
been reduced and with a continuance of republican administration we
pledge that the State will shortly be free from debt and the people enjoy
the blessings resulting from a prudent, economical and conservative gov-
ernment of her affairs. Since the republican party took charge of the
fiscal affairs in this State not only have increased and necessary accommo-
dations for the wards of the State been provided, but, at the same time,
the State debt has been decreased in the sum of $2,515,000 and an interest
saving of $78,600 per annum has been effected.

12. We congratulate the people upon the fulfillment of the pledge of
the republican party for reform in county and township government,
whereby in the first year of the operation of the reform laws over $1,000,-
000 will be saved to the tax-payers of the State, and we favor such
amendments thereto as experience has taught are necessary to harmonize
with other existing legislation in order to increase their efficiency. We also
favor such legislation as will insure greater economy and more efficient
methods in municipal government.

13. The republican party pledges itself to do all in its power to bring
about the adoption of an adequate primary election law.

14. The wisdom of the establishment of a labor commission by the pres-
ent state administration has been abundantly verified. Vast good in behalf
of the public weal has resulted from the substitution of rational arbitra-

1900] INDIANA, 1860—1900.

tion for acrimonious contention in the settlement of differences between
employers and employes, thus infinitely bettering conditions in mines,
factory and workshop. Since the Indiana State Labor Commission was
instituted in 1897, it has been the direct means of peaceably adjusting one
hundred and fifty strikes and lockouts, affecting 25,000 workingmen. In
80 per cent, of the contentions so arbitrated, increased wages and im-
proved working conditions have resulted, besides making a saving to capi-
tal and labor, by the shortening of strikes, amounting, at a conservative
estimate, to more than one million dollars. This has been augmented by
the establishment through republican legislation of a bureau of factory
inspection insuring better protection to life from fire and accident, im-
proved sanitary conditions and the suppression of abuses of child labor.

15. At the beginning of the present State administration thousands of
Indiana coal miners were without employment and in a condition of piti-
able destitution, owing to the universal business depression directly trace-
able to the gross mismanagement of national affairs by a democratic ad-
ministration. The Governor promptly appointed a commission of investi-
gation. The result of that humane policy proved highly gratifying. He
issued an appeal for aid that met with prompt and generous response.
The pressing necessities of the miners and their suffering families were
speedily relieved, arbitration methods were introduced and the sun of
prosperity again shone upon the mining industry.

16. We congratulate the people of Indiana upon the passage by the
republican legislature of 1899 of the mortgage exemption law. One hun-
dred thousand home owners are now receiving the benefits of this law in
the just reduction of their taxes.

17. We refer with pride to the fact that at the outbreak of the Span-
ish-American war Indiana was first to report to the President that its
quota was full and ready for the orders of the commander-in-chief. It was
first to pay its volunteers in full without drawing upon any other source
than a carefully husbanded treasury. It was first to report this back to
the secretary of war, eliciting from him the response, "Indiana is always
good to her soldiers"— a thoughtful tribute to the record and memory of our
revered and matchless chieftain, the great war Governor, Oliver P. Morton.
Indiana may well be proud of the conspicuous part it had in the war with
Spain, and we hereby attest our admiration of all the men who so cheer-
fully made personal sacrifices to uphold the honor of the nation and pre-
serve the sacredness of the flag.

18. To the Indiana soldiers now patriotically serving their country
in the Philippines we send words of cheer and assurances of steadfast
support. The American flag and the American soldier stand ever and al-
ways for liberty and humanity. The insurrection of Aguinaldo is kept
alive by the hope of Democratic success based on the false cry of "im-
perialism." We condemn this unpatriotic policy as being responsible for
the continued war in the Philippines, with its cost of lives, suffering and
treasure.

NOTE.

ABBREVIATIONS :

Democrat d.

Independent i.

People's p.

Republican r.

Union u.

Whig ...w.

(122)

INDEX.

Compiled by Anna G. Hubbard, Reference Librarian, Indiana State Library.

ABOLITION KULE, condemn frauds under,
d. 29.

Agent of state, favor abolition of, r. 43.

Aguinaldo, r. 121.

Alcohol, a study in the schools, r. 77.

American protective association, denounce
principles, d. 102.

American union, preservation a duty, r. 21.

Amnesty, grant to rebels, r. 52.

Anarchism, oppose, r. 78.

Andrews' election law, d. 86.

Antietam, r. 108.

Appellate judges, term, d. 110.

Appropriation bill, democrats refused to
pass, r. 76.

Army and navy, frauds in, d. 23 ; favor ap-
propriation, d. 109; favor increasing
navy, d. 109 ; favor enlarging of navy, r.
113; oppose large standing, d. 116.

Arthur, Chester A., indorse administration,
r. 66.

Assessment; See Taxation.

Attorney's fees, collection from defendant,
i.46.

Australian ballot, indorse, d. 96, 110.

BAGLEY, WORTH, d. 108.

Baker, Conrad, indorse administration as
acting governor, u. 32 ; indorse adminis-
tration, r. 40, 44.

Baltimore, national convention, d. 41.

Bankrupt act, favor repeal, d. 56.

Banks, not connected with the government,
d.5.

Benevolent institutions, republicans oppose
appropriations for, d. 14 ; partisan con-
trol, d. 68 ; corrupt boards, r. 76 ; non-
partisan control, r. 92, 99, 105, 120.

Berkshire, John D., d. 89.

Bimetallism, believe in, d. 50, 56, 103, 105;
See also, Currency; Free coinage; Money.

Black republican party, sobriquet, d. 14.

"Blacklisting," indorse law against, d. 88,
97, 111.

Blaine, James G., indorse nomination, r. 71 ;
attitude on McKinley tariff bill, d. 87 ;
lament death, r. 100.

Blocks-of-five, d. 85, 95.

Bonds, taxation of, d. 32; paid in green-
backs, r. 34 ; five-twenty bonds payable
in greenbacks, d. 36 ; ought to be taxed,
d. 37 ; war claim bonds, r. 85 ; See also
Government bonds.

Bounties, should be regulated, u. 31; pro-
portion to service, d. 41; no cost to re-
cipient, r. 42 ; liberal, d. 61, r. 72.

Bright, Jesse D., indorse senatorial actions
of, d. 6, 12 ; present name for president,
d. 12 ; condemn, r. 16.

Bryan, William Jennings, indorse, d. 111,115.

Buchanan, James, indorse administration,
d. 15, 18; reference to letter of accept-
ance, d. 19; denounce administration,
r.54.

Buffalo, national convention, d. 21.

Building and loan associations, solvency of
foreign, r. 93.

"Butler bill," legislation of 1846-47, r. 40;
ought to be adopted, r. 44.

CANAL CLAIMS, fraudulent, r. 44.

Capital, labor against, r. 43; the master,
i. 45 ; favor legislation to control, r. 119 ;
See also, Labor; Money; Monopolies.

Car-couplers, r. 99.

Charities, state board of, law, d. 88, 110.

Charleston, S. C., convention, d. 18.

Children, age limit for employment, d. 67, 74,
r. 76, 83, d. 111.

Chicago, national convention, d. 21, 61, r. 82,
d. 107, 115.

Chinese bondsmen, import, d. 61.

Church and state, no connection, d. 5, 11,
r.53.

Cincinnati, national convention, w. 8, d.
60,61.

Cincinnati liberal republican convention,
d.40.

Circuit courts of the U. S., jurisdiction con-
ferred unwise, d. 57.

Citizenship, against prosecuting foreign
born, d. 12 ; indorse principle for Ameri-
can, d. 13; distinction amongst citizens,
d. 18 ; naturalized citizens should be
protected, d. 19; duty to protect all, d.
33, r. 35, d. 63, 68; Great Britain's idea
opposed, r. 35 ; democrats fail to protect,
r.76.

Civil service, should be reformed, d. 41, 50, r.
53, d. 63, r. 66, d. 68, r. 78, d. 80, 116; dem-
ocrats fail to favor, r. 76; abandoned,
d.85.

Civil war, cause, d. 21, u. 24; purpose, d. 22;
rights acquired to be maintained, d. 40;
rights lost must be restored, d. 40; slave-
holders' rebellion, r. 42.

Clayton amendment, oppose, d. 9.

Cleveland, Grover, indorse administration,
d. 80, 86, 97, 101, 103.

Coffey, Silas D., d. 89.

Coinage, See Free coinage; Money.

Colfax, Schuyler, indorse for vice-president,
r. 35; indorse for renomination, r. 44;
lament death, r. 79.

Colonies, against colonial domain, d. 115.

Commerce, protect, d. 18; indorse, i. 45, r.
113; with Mexico, Central and South
American states, r. 91; interstate, d. 97.

Compromise measures, sustained, d.5.

(123)

124

INDEX.

Congress, qualifications, u. 30; rebel soldier
should not be admitted to a seat, u. 31;
demand repeal conferring rights upon
any class, d. 32; indorse, r. 39, 42; as-
sembling, d. 102.

Constitution of Indiana, oppose repeal of
13th article, d. 29; oppose amendment,
d. 64; indorse amendment, r. 65, 79, 84;
outgrown, 1851, r. 71.

Constitution of the Confederacy, adhere to,
d.10.

Constitution of U. S., 15th amendment, r. 37;
denounce 15th amendment, d. 37; amend-
ment, d. 70.

Construction, See Strict construction.

Coolie systems, Gov. Hendricks' sentiment,
d.61.

Corporations, railroad, d. 41; advance in-
dustries, i. 45; watering stock, d. 68, r. 76,
78; wage-workers, d. 74; legislation for,
r. 78; control by legislation, r. 84; em-
ployes sustaining hospitals, etc., d. Ill;
See also Monopolies; Trusts.

County, methods of business, r. 84; reform
in government, r. 120.

County officers, favor reduction of fees, r. 39;
defeat measure, r. 76; term, d. 74.

County superintendents, d. 110.

Courts, denounce criticism of, r. 93.

Credit Mobilier, investigation, r. 47.

Criminal law, favor revision, r. 43; See also
Law.

Crittenden, John J., indorse for vice-presi-
dent, w. 7.

Crook, George, r. 108.

Cuba, favor acquisition, d. 18; sympathize
with, d. 106; independence withheld, d.
115; spoliation system, d.116.

Currency, should be law prohibiting con-
traction, r. 34; bill prohibiting contrac-
tion, r. 35; oppose contraction, d. 36;
founded on national credit, r. 38; abolish
gold standard, i.46; indorse paper issued
by government, i. 46; favor increase of,
r. 48; specie resumption condemned, d.
50; redemption, r. 53; greenback, r. 54;
right to issue, d. 56; paper, d. 60; taxes
on treasury notes, d. 60; parity of, d. 96;
gold standard, r. 104, 119; indorse 16 to 1,
d. 105, 109; against 16 to 1, r. 107, 113;
against debasing, r. 107; oppose single
gold standard, d. 109; sound money, r.
113; See also Greenbacks; Legal tender,
Money.

DAKOTA, admission, r. 76.

Davis, Jeffersbn , favor trial for treason , u. 31.

Day's work, eight hours, d. 29, u. 31, d. 67, 88,
97, 111; reduce, r. 43; democrats fail to
reduce, r. 76.

Democratic party, arraignment of, r. 20, 58,
76, 83, 90, 94, 98, 105 ; preamble, d. 5, 9, 11,
13, 17, 21, 25, 27, 32, 36, 40, 44, 49, 56, 60, 63,
67, 72, 80, 85, 95, 100, 105, 108, 115.

Dewey, George, d. 108.

Dingley law, condemn, d. 109, 117; approve,
r. 119.

District of Columbia, oppose congress as-
suming debts of, d. 51.

" Dorseyites," d. 63.

Douglas, Stephen A., advocating non-inter-
vention, d. 9; indorse for president, d.18.

Dred Scott decision, indorse, d. 14.

Dudley, William Wade, d. 85.

Dynamite, restrain use, r. 76.

EDUCATION, aid to public, d. 5, r. 54; moral
and intellectual, r. 39, 55.

Educational institutions, allowances, r. 76;
non-partisan control, r. 105.

Election laws, demand repeal of, d. 70; in-
dorse reform, d. 87, 102; free elections,
r. 92.

Electoral college, qualifications, u. 30; state
determine qualifications, u. 30.

Electoral commission, no repeal from de-
cision, r. 59.

Emancipation, should be complete, u. 31.

" Embezzlement bill," vetoed by governor,
r.20.

Estates, settlement, d. 69.

Expenditures, condemn extravagance, w. 8,
d.25, 33,116; extravagance of federal ad-
ministration, r. 20; economy necessary,
u. 31, r. 38, d. 56; demand economy of U.
S., r. 34, 39,54, d. 69, 116 ; demand reduc-
tion, i. 46, d. 63; increase denounced, i.
46; indorse reduction, d. 60; indorse, d.
73; need of reform in laws, r. 115.

FACTORY INSPECTION, law, d. Ill, r. 114.

Fairbanks, Charles W., indorse administra-
tion, r. 114.

Farmers' organization, indorse, d. 87, 97 ;
legislation, r. 92.

Fees and salaries, demand legislation, r. 49;
declare for reduction, d. 56; legislation,
r. 62, 76, 79, 84,114; revision of laws, r. 72,
d. 110; approve legislation, r.93; arraign
democrats for increase, r. 98.

"Financial bureau," condemn Governor
Morton's establishing, d. 25.

Fillmore, Millard, indorse administration,
w. 7.

Food laws, favor pure, r. 92.

Force bill, denounce, d. 86, 95.

Foreign relations, non-intervention, d. 5, r.
42; result of intervention, d. 6.

Fort Warren, prison of Slidell and Mason,
d.23.

Fountain county, d. 15.

Fraud of 1876-77, d.70, 82.

Free coinage, unrestricted, d. 87; Cleveland
opposed legislation, r. 91; unlimited, d.
109.

Free trade, See Tariff.

Freedmen's bureau, indorse bill, d. 27.

INDEX.

125

GARFIELD, JAMES A., indorse, r. 65.

Garnishee law, d. 110.

General assembly, extra session, r. 76 ; con-
demn attempt to unseat members, d. 81.

Government, local not centralized, d. 36, 40;
approve honest, r. 43 ; relation of state
and federal, r. 52; condemn administra-
tion, d. 57; demand obligations paid as
contracted, d. 106.

Government bonds, favor payment in green-
backs, d. 32; purchased by people, r. 112.

Grand army of the republic, r. 100.

Grand jury, jurisdiction, i. 46.

Grant, Ulysses S., indorse for president, r.
35 ; indorse administration, r. 39, 42, 44,
55; indorse for renomination, r. 44; mon-
ument to, r. 79; lament death, r. 79.

Gray, Isaac P., indorse for vice-president, d.
82; indorse administration, d. 97; in-
dorse for president, d. 97.

Great Britain, d. 22.

Greeley, Horace, accepts nomination for
presidency, d. 40.

Greenbacks, congress should supply de-
ficiency, r. 34 ; origin of, r. 54 ; favor
making legal tender, d. 56 ; condemn ex-
empting from taxation, d, 96, 102; can-
cellation of, d. 105.

HABEAS CORPUS, indorse, d. 22, 25, 40.

Hancock, Winfield Scott, reinstating civil
law, d. 33; lament death, d. 72.

Harper's Ferry, Va., d. 19.

Harrison, Benjamin, indorse as senator, r. 66,
79; indorse for president, r. 82; denounce
administration, d.85,95; elected by fraud,
d. 85; indorse administration, r.90, 104.

Hawaiian islands, control of domestic con-
cerns, d. 103; denounce hauling down of
American flag, d. 105; approve annexa-
tion, r. 114; slavery, d. 115.

Hay-Pauncefote treaty, denounce, d. 116.

Hayes, Kutherford B., democrats deny elec-
tion of, r. 59, d. 61; indorse, r. 59; as a
soldier, r. 108.

Hendricks. Thomas A., indorse administra-
tion, d. 29, 51; indorse for president,
d. 51, 61; defrauded of office, d. 57; ac-
ceptance of 1876, d. 61; lament death,
d. 72.

Henry of Navarre, r. 118.

Hobart, Garrett A., lament death, r. 118.

Hobson, Richmond P., d. 108.

Homesteads, favor, r. 16, d. 19, r. 20, 35, d. 41,
r. 43, 78, 84.

Hospital, marine, r. 85.

House of representatives, organization, d. 12;
appreciation of organization, r. 21; con-
demn republicans for seceding from,
d. 25; democrats unseat members, r. 58.
Hovey, Alvin P., indorse administration,

r. 92; lament death, r. 100.
Hungarian insurrection, sympathy with, d. 6.

IMMIGRATION, welcomed, w. 7, d. 29; protect
from unjust exactions, r. 43; denounce
pauper negro, d. 61; approve, r. 62;
Chinese, d. 67, 74; legislation, d. 74, 102,
r. 104, 107,120; rigid enforcement of law,
r. 107, 114.

Imperialism, democratic cry, r. 121.

Industries, favor development, r. 42: en-
courage, r. 62; laws for control, d. 73, 80.

Institutions, out of domain of party politics,
r. 71; See also under kinds of institu-
tions.

Intemperance, See Temperance.

Interest, legal rate, d. 56.

Internal improvements, no vast amount,
d. 5; rivers and harbors, w. 8.

Internal policy, right to regulate, d. 5.

Ireland, landed estates and home rule, r. 66,
d. 74, r. 79.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, indorsed education,
r. 54; indorse doctrines, d. 63, 115.

Johnson, Andrew, approve message, d. 27;
name presented for vice-president, u. 27;
indorse, u. 30; uphold policy, d. 33.

Judiciary act of 1789, d. 57.

KANSAS, favor admission as free state, p. 13,

r. 20.
Kansas-Nebraska bill, indorse, d. 9, 11, 17;

oppose, p. 10, 13.

Kentucky, subjugated condition, d. 26.
Kerr, Michael C., indorse administration,

d.29.

LABOR, emancipated from capital, r. 43; im-
prove condition of working classes, r. 43;
cause of abuses, i. 45; friendly to work-
ing classes, i. 45, d. Ill; how wrongs are
inflicted, i. 45; safety of laborers in
mines, d. 60; legislation, r. 62, d. 73, 102,
106; favor protection, d.64; protect, r.66,
d. 74, r. 83, 91; prison, d. 67,111; against
prison contract, r. 71, d. Ill; sanitary
conditions, r. 71; conflict, d. 73; foreign
contract, tl. 74; freedom of, r. 77; oppose
foreign contract, r. 77; organizations,
d. 81; personal safety of employes, d. 81;
arbitration, d. 88; prison-contract sys-
tem abolished, r. 114; See also Capital.

Labor commission, created, r. 114; approve,
r. 120.

Labor organizations, indorse, d. 68, 88, 97,
106,111; right cannot be questioned, r.84;
legislation, r. 92.

Labor statistics bureaus, favors establish-
ment, d. 67, r. 78, 83; democrats failed to
establish, r. 76.

Lake Michigan, d. 111.

Lane, Henry S., death, r. 66.

Lane, Joseph, indorse for president, d. 6.

Law, enforcement, r. 78; of county and town-
ship, d. Ill: See also Criminal law.

Lawton, Henry W., lament death, r. 118.

126

INDEX.

Lecompton constitution, attempt to impose

on Kansas, r. 16.
Legal tender, demand reinstatement, d. 50,

56.
Legislation, favor promissory notes, r. 62;

oppose prohibitory, d. 73.
Legislative apportionment, unjustly done,

d. 57, r. 76, 83, 99; approve, d. 60, r. 95; de-
nounce system, r. 114.
Liberty, civil and religious, d. 12.
License tax, liquor, d. 73, 81.
Lincoln, Abraham, indorse for re-election,

u. 27; indorse, u. 30; r. 65; protection
• policy, r. 107.

Liquor law, oppose prohibitory, d. 11.
Liquor league, r. 79, 83.
Liquor traffic, favor license law, d. 51, r. 79;

local option, r. 84, 92.
Litigation, excessive, i. 46.
Logan, John A., indorse nomination, r. 71.

MCCLELLAX, GEORGE B., lament death, d. 72.

McDonald, Joseph E., indorse for president,
d. 71.

McKinley, William, indorse for president,
r.108; approve administration, r. 113, 118.

McKinley tariff bill, denounce, d. 86, 101.

McKinleyisin, condemn, d. 102.

Madison, James, indorse education, r. 54.

Marion county, d. 15, r. 83.

Mason, James M., seizure of by government,
d.23.

Matthews, Claude, indorse administration,
d. 103, 107; indorse for president, d. 107;
state debt reduced under, d. 110.

Metropolitan police bill, d. 69, r. 72.

Mine inspector, laws, r. 66; powers, r. 83.

Mines, ventilation, d. 56, r. 71, d. 111.

Minneapolis, national convention, r. 98.

Missouri compromise, repeal, p. 10: sustain,
p. 10, 13.

Moiety system, r. 47.

Money, U. S. notes equal with coin, d. 73;
sound, r. 78; See also Currency, Green-
backs.

Monopolies, denounce, r. 43; money, trans-
portation, manufacturing, public land,
commerce, i. 45; wage-workers, d. 74.

Monroe doctrine, indorse President Pierce's
position, d. 12; demand enforcement, d.
116.

Montana, senators' seats stolen, d. 86.

Monuments, soldiers and sailors, r. 71, d. 74,
r. 79.

Morton, Levi P., indorse for vice-president,
r. 82; elected by fraud, d. 85.

Morton, Oliver P., democrats condemn
actions, d. 25; indorse for re-election, u.
27; indorse administration, u. 31, r. 35;
praise ability, r. 39, 121; indorse for pres-
ident, r. 55; indorse administration, r.

, 49,59.

Mount, James A., indorse administration,
r. 114, 120.

NATIONAL BANKS, denounce system, d. 32,36;
indorse taxation, d. 36; paper, d. 50; re-
tiring circulation, d. 50, 56.

National debt, made by rebellion, r. 34; pay
as contracted for, d. 36, i. 46; must be
borne, r. 38; part payment, r. 39; pay-
ments, r. 43; funding amongst the people,
d. 56; payments, d.63; denounce issue of
interest-bearing bonds, d. 105.

National government, state claims against
defeated, r. 85.

Natural gas, r. 84.

Naturalization, laws invite citizenship, d.ll;
five years probation, p. 13; favor present
laws, r. 21; oppose change, d. 37.

Negroes, immigration opposed, d. 29; equal
rights, r. 7i>.

Nepotism, Harrison charged with, d. 86.

Niblack, William E., indorse administra-
tion, d. 29.

Nicaraguan canal, favor construction by
government, d. 109, r. 114: construction, d.
116; recommend construction, r. 120.

North and South, fraternal feeling between,
r. 118.

Northern sectionalism, oppose, d. 22.

OHIO, approve campaign, d. 33.
Olds, Walter, d. 89.
Open door policy, in China, p. 116.
Orange Free state, d. 116.
Ordinance of 1787, p. 10, r. 54.

PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE, republicans at-
tempt to depose presiding officer, d. 14;
republicans expel senator from Clark, d.
14; republicans meet without quorum
and presiding officer, d. 14; republicans
refuse to meet in joint convention, d. 14;
republicans refuse to vote for senators,
d. 15; senators of Rush, Fountain and
Marion, illegally elected by republicans,
d. 15.

Party emblem, " rooster," d. 117.

Patents, favor revision of law, r. 48.

Penal institutions, law for convict labor, r.
99; non-partisan control, r. 105, 120.

Pendleton, George II., commend actions, d.
33.

Pensions, soldiers of 1812, r. 21; failed to pay
promptly, d. 25; soldiers should be pen-
sioned, d. 26, r. 72, 78, 84; no cost to
recipient, r. 42; Mexican war soldiers, d.
57, 68, r. 78; soldiers of war of 1812, d.57;
liberal, d. 61, 74, 82, 87, r. 91, d. 103, r. 104,
107, d. 109, r. 113; oppose special tax bill,
r. 75; change of laws, r. 78; service bill,
r. 91.

Personal liberty, republicans infringe on, d.
18; suppression and arrest, d. 25; favor,
d. 26, 33, 37, 64, 69, 95, 106; indorse protec-
tion, r. 42; and equality, r. 43; favor, r.
^48, 62; equal, r. 53; oppose sumptuary
'laws, d. 103; laws for safety, d. Ill; See
also Temperance.

INDEX.

127

Philadelphia, national convention, d.21.

Philippine islands, U. S. authority estab-
lished in, r. 119.

Philippine war, result feared, d. 115; imperi-
alism cry cause of, r. 121.

Pierce, Franklin, indorse administration,
d. 9; Monroe doctrine views, d. 12.

Pinkerton detectives, d. 88, 97, 111.

Pittsburgh, national convention, d. 21.

"Pluck-me stores," d. 88, 111.

Politics, denounce corrupt means, r. 43; con-
demn bribery methods, i. 46; campaign
money, d. 51, 70, 82; campaign fund con-
demned, d. 63; no campaign assessments
in civil service offices, d. 63.

Porter, Albert G., indorse administration as
governor, r. 66, 71. *

Porto Rico, legislation, d. 115.

Pratt, Daniel D., indorse administration, r.
49.

President, ineligible to re-election, d. 41.

Press, liberty of, d. 23.

Primary election law, favor legislation, d.
Ill, r. 115, 120.

Property, laws of assessment guarded, d. 41.

Protestant church, condemn attack against
ministry, p. 10.

Public debt, when legitimate, d. 5; See also
National debt; State debt.

Public lands, property of people, r. 35; oppose
donations, r. 38; for settlers and educa-
tion, r. 43; condemn grants to railroads,
r. 48; for citizens not speculators, d. 68,
73, r. 78, d. 81, 106; non-compliance of cor-
porations, d. 68, 81; ownership by aliens,
d. 73, 87, 92.

Public officers, union soldiers not confed-
erates, r.53; fees, r. 66; against system of
fees, d. 88; displaced by politicians, r. 72;
against successive terms, r. 93; fixed sal-
aries, r. 93, d. 97; term, r. 93.

Public schools, See Schools — Public.

Public works, Board, favor, r. 93.

RAILROAD PASSES, opposed for public officers,
i.46.

Railroads, to Pacific ocean, r. 21; laws for
employes, d. 73; oppose insurance com-
panies, r. 99.

Raum, Green B., d. 96.

Rebel claims, denounce actions demanding
payment, r. 58.

Rebel debt, repudiation, d. 28; denounce
assumption as treason, u. 31; oppose
payment, d. 51, r. 54.

Rebellious states, held in abeyance, u. 30.

Reciprocity, favor, r. 104, 107, 113, 119.

Reciprocity policy, condemn, d. 96.

Reconstruction measures, condemn radical,
d. 32; indorse President Johnson's ideas
on, d. 33; suffrage to negro, r. 34; de-
nounce, d. 36; Morton's work, r. 39.

Reconstruction period, votes of eleven states
rejected, d. 28; congress should deter-
mine question, u. 30; plan of necessary,
r. 34.

Reed, Thomas B., r. 90.

Religious freedom, favor, d. 11, 29, r. 53.

Republican party, arraignment of, d. 22, 25,
50, 57, 63, 67, 86, 95, 101, 110,116; preamble,
w. 7, p. 10, 13, r. 16, 20, u. 24, 26, 30, r. 34,
37, 42, 47, 52, 58, 62, 65, 71, 75, 82, 90, 98, 104,
107, 112, 118.

Republican party sobriquets, "Black repub-
lican party," d. 14.

Republicanism, of Old World, sympathy,
w. 7.

Resumption act, desire part repealed, r. 53;
favor repeal, d. 56.

Revenue, increased collection, r. 39.

Revenue bill, republicans vote against, d. 14.

Rivers and harbors, favor improvement,
r.92.

Roads, legislation, d.106.

Rush county, d. 15.

Russia, against outrage committed by, d. 6.

ST. Louis, national convention, r. 113.

"Salary grab," r. 47.

Sandborn contract, r. 47.

School debt, funding, d. 88.

School revenues, apportionment, d. 88;
equitable apportionment, r. 94.

Schools— Private, denounce law to regulate,
d.89.

Schools— Public, indorse, r. 43, 49, d. 50, r. 55,
d. 56, 61, r. 62, d. 64, 68, r. 72, 79, 84, d. 89;
license tax for benefit, d. 73; simplifica-
tion of laws, d. 87.

Schools— Sectarian, public school funds not
for, d. 56.

Scott, Winfield, indorse for president, w. 7.

Secession, against, p. 20; republicans reject
all propositions for adjustment, d. 22;
illegal, d. 27, r. 52.

Secret societies, oppose political, d. 10, 11,
u.26.

Senators of U. S., popular election, d. 87,
r. 93, d. 96, 102, 106, 110.

Seymour, Horatio, lament death, d. 72.

Shenandoah, r. 108.

Sheridan, Philip H., r. 108.

Sherman silver act of 1890, d. 103, 105.

Silver bill, denounce, d. 87.

Sinking fund, established, d. 110.

16 to 1, See Currency.

Slave trade, not favor reopening, d. 19; pi-
racy, r. 20.

Slavery, oppose extension, p. 10, 13, r.20; re-
sist admission of territories as slave
states, p. 13, r. 16; no right to interfere
in states in which it exists, r. 16, 20;
oppose, r. 16; favor, d. 17, 22; territory to
decide, d. 19; domestic, d. 21; should be
settled by congress or national conven-
tion, d. 22; emancipated slaves, r. 34,
d. 51, r. 54.

Slidell, John, seizure of, by government,
d.23.

Soldiers, tribute to Indiana's, d. 23; praise
conduct, u. 24; Indiana's thanked, d. 26.

128

INDEX.

Soldiers and sailors, gratitude, u. 27, d. 28,
u. 31, d. 33, r. 34, 38, d. 41, r. 42, 48, 55, 62,
65, 78, d. 82, 103, r. 112, 113, d. 117, 120.

Soldiers' home— National, location of
branch, r. 85.

Soldiers' home— State, for soldiers, wives,
and widows, r. 100, d. 103, r. 104, 108; at
Lafayette, r. 120.

Soldiers' orphan home, r. 78,120.

Southern secession, heresy, d. 22; See also
Secession.

Spanish- American war, affirm cause as just,
d. 108; praise to soldiers, r. 112; Indi-
ana's record, r. 121.

Special verdict law, d. 110.

Star-route fraud, d. 70.

State central committee, how and when
chosen, d. 89.

State debt, r. 40; democrats increased, r. 77;
bonds to the people, d. 88; rapid de-
crease, d. 110.

State house, indirect subsidy to contractors,
d.69.

State normal school, rebuilding, r. 84.

State officers, popular election, r. 93; See
also Public officers.

State printer, favor abolition of, r. 43.

State rights, no encroachment, d. 5; for, d. 9,
13; adopting constitution, r. 16; slavery,
d. 17; oppose federal supervision, d. 41;
against, r. 42, 52; indorse, d. 60; favor,
d. 63; southern states, r. 75.

Strict construction, of constitution, d. 5, 17.

Strikes, deplore, d. 56; favor national board
of arbitration, d. 102; arbitration, d. 106.

Subsidies, oppose grants by federal govern-
ernment, d. 57.

Suffrage, accompany naturalization, p. 13;
for negroes, d. 29; denounce for negroes,
d. 33; for negroes result of rebellion,
r. 34; not to be denied, d. 40; gerryman-
der passed, r. 77.

Sulu islands, slavery, d. 115.

Supreme court of U. S., accept decisions, d.
19; independence necessary, d. 36; docket,
r, 76; perquisites of reporter, r. 76.

TARIFF— PROTECTIVE, declaration for, w. 8, r.
34; oppose, d. 28, 101, 117; indorse, r. 42,
53, 77, 78, 90, 91, 104, 113; approve reduc-
tion, r. 66; demand, r. 107.

Tariff-Revenue, only, d. 5, 32, 36, 64, 73, 80,
87, 96, 109, 117; favor, r. 38; See also
Revenue.

Taxation, laws unjust, d. 28; burdens to be
borne by all, u. 31; equal, d. 32: national
bank stock, d. 36; demand reduction, r.
38, d. 74; oppose extravagant local, r. 39;
real estate, i. 46; favor limiting power of
authorities, r. 49; U. S. notes, d. 56; fed-
eral, d. 63; unjust system, d.63; demand
reduction of federal taxes, d. 67; state
taxes, d. 74; uniformity of, r. 78; favor
exemption laws, r. 84; equalizing, d. 88;
corporations, d. 96; Gov. Hovey's recom-
mendation for increase, d. 98; law of

1891, d. 101; income tax, d. 109, 116r
inheritance tax, d. 109; state tax rate re-
duced, r. 114: stamp tax, d. 116; mortgage
exemption law, r. 121.

Temperance, legislation limited, d.9,70; un-
limited legislation, p. 10, 13; oppose
radical, d. 29; indorse, i. 46: favor, r. 48;
towns to decide concerning laws, r. 49;
license system, d. 73; See also Personal
liberty.

Temperance party, against, d. 9.

Text-book law, for schools, d. 87, r. 94, d. 96,
110.

Thompson, Richard W., r. 118.

Tilden, Samuel J., defrauded of office, d. 57;
lament death, d. 73.

Township, reform in government, r. 120.

Township libraries, legislation, d. 89.

Township trustees, d. 110.

Transportation, facilities necessary, i. 45.

Transvaal, d. 116.

Treason, assumption of rebel debt denounced
as, d. 31; democrats plotting, u. 31.

Treasury of state, failed to investigate demo
crats, r. 77.

Truancy law, favor revision, d. 111.

Trusts, denounce affecting prices, r. 92; anti-
trust law, d. 110.

Turpie, David W., indorse administration,
d. 82, 89,96,101,106, 112.

UNITED STATES, referred to as "States of the

Confederacy," d. 13.
United States courts, jurisdiction in civil

causes, d. 51; See also Circuit courts of

U.S.

VOLUNTEERS, \irge increase of forces, d. 109.

Voorhees, Daniel W., expulsion from House
an outrage, d. 29, 82; indorse administra-
tion, d. 29, 64, 70, 89, 96, 101, 106; lament
death, d. 112.

Vote, unit vote for president, d. 6, 12, 18;
unit, d. 18, 41,51, 61, 71,107; two-thirds
rule, d. 61; registration of voters, r. 76.

WABASH AND ERIE CANAL, resist re-transfer
from bondholders, r. 16, 21, d. 19; stocks
issued under "Butler bill," r.40; "Butler
bill" ought to be adopted, r. 44.

Wabash river, d. 111.

Wall street, d. 86.

Wanamaker, John, d. 95.

Washington, George, praise, d. 33.

Wheeler, William A., denounce election of,
d.61.

Whitecaps, denounce, r. 92.

Whitcomb, James, indorse senatorial ac-
tions of, d. 6.

"Wild-cat" money, r. 99, 104.

Willard, Ashbel P., indorse administration
as Governor, d. 15, 18.

Wilson revenue bill, r. 113.

Woods, William A., d. 85, 95.

Working classes, See Labor.

Wright, Joseph A., indorse administration,
d. 6,12.

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the

NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
2-month loans may be renewed by calling

(510)642-6753
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books

to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days

prior to due date

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

AUG 27 1992

0868

;

95273

v +