MASSACHUSETTS. 



499 



Samuel M. Fairfield, of Maiden, for Attorney- 

 General. The folio wing resolutions were adopt- 

 ed after considerable discussion : 



Whereas. The law of God, as revealed in the Bible, 

 never provides for the licensing of any wrong, but is 

 a thoroughly prohibitory enactment throughout, with 

 penalties for every violation ; 



Therefore, be it resolved, as the sentiments of this 

 Convention, that the traffic in alcoholic drinks is an in- 

 famous wrong against society, and a shameful dishon- 

 or to a Christian nation ; and as all history shows that 

 every license law for the sale of such drinks, whether 

 stringent, judicious, or otherwise, has always proved a 

 failure, we' affirm that our State and national Legisla- 

 tures should legally require its entire suppression 

 within their respective jurisdictions. 



That as the prohibition of the importation, manu- 

 facture, and sale of alcoholic beverages transcends in 

 importance every other question affecting our national 

 prosperity, we declare our paramount object is to re- 

 lieve the State and national Governments from all 

 complicity with this wicked business, by electing men 

 to office who will put the seal of their condemnation 

 upon it. 



That a party opposed to the prohibitory policy, or 

 refusing to make it an issue in its platform, has no 

 claim iipon us for support. That with " malice toward 

 none, but with charity for all," we are logically com- 

 pelled to separate ourselves politically from those who 

 are unwilling to grapple earnestly with this gigantic 

 crime of crimes, the liquor-traffic. 



That, relying upon the Giver of all good for aid and 

 strength, we will work on and work ever for the en- 

 tire abolition of the drinking customs of society. 



That the cowardly and vacillating course of the 

 Legislature of 1880 upon the liquor question deserves 

 and should receive the earnest condemnation of all 

 Prohibitionists. 



That we are pledged to the ballot for women by 

 past declarations, by present convictions, and by the 

 nature of our organization. 



That we accept the platform of principles of the 

 National Prohibition Ketbrm party, adopted in Cleve- 

 land, Ohio. June 17, 1880, and commend to the suf- 

 frages of the voters of Massachusetts the candidates 

 there nominated, viz., Hon. Neal Dow for President, 

 and Rev. II. A. Thompson for V ice-President. 



The Republican Convention was held at Wor- 

 cester on the 15th of September. Its proceed- 

 ings were very quiet and harmonious, and the 

 existing State officers were renominated, with 

 the exception of the Treasurer, whose term of 

 office had reached the constitutional limitation. 

 The candidates were John D. Long, of Hing- 

 h am, for Governor; Byron Weston for Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor; Henry B. Peirce for Secre- 

 tary of State ; Daniel A. Gleason for Treas- 

 urer ; Charles R. Ladd for Auditor, and George 

 Marston for Attorney-General. A long plat- 

 form declaring the position of the party in the 

 State was unanimously adopted. The follow- 

 ing is the material part of the document : 



We heartily desire that a cordial feeling of brother- 

 hood and friendship should exist between the States 

 and citizens of the Union. We arc willing to make 

 any concession save that of principle to accomplish 

 such a result. We rejoice that the Southern States 

 have, notwithstanding great disadvantages, made 

 substantial progress in material wealth, and we hope 

 that time will soon heal the wounds made by civil 

 strife, and that the political rights of all the inhabi- 

 tants of the South will, in the not remote future, be 

 universally recognized and maintained. But we owe 

 it to our self-respect, to the settled convictions of 

 Massachusetts, to our obligations to the freedmen of 



the nation, and to truth, unequivocally to declare that 

 so long as the colored or any other citizens of the 

 United States arc prevented oy intimidation or vio- 

 lence from exercising the great rights of free discus- 

 sion and free suffrage, or are defrauded of the results 

 of their ballots by false counting, so notorious that it 

 is scarcely denied, our voices shall be heard in loud, 

 constant, and indignant protest, and we will invoke 

 the public opinion of the country and of mankind in 

 condemnation of these atrocious acts not only upon 

 their authors but also upon that political party which 

 tolerates or condones them ; and we call upon the na- 

 tional Government, acting under the provisions of the 

 Constitution and in the exercise of its inherent right 

 of self-protection, to take all necessary means to in- 

 sure a peaceful election for national Representatives, 

 and to put forth all its power to maintain in such elec- 

 tions the right of all citizens of the United States to a 

 free ballot and an honest count. 



The resumption of specie payments, by which the 

 national promises to pay are made equal in value to 

 coin, and the great and satisfactory progress that has 

 been made toward the extinguishment ot the national 

 debt, are results of Republican legislation and admin- 

 istration which have been effected in despite of the 

 opposition of the Democratic party. It is therefore to 

 the Republican party alone that the friends of a cur- 

 rency based upon the value of gold coin can look for a 

 repeal or modification of the laws relating to the corn- 

 age of the silver dollar which derived their chief sup- 

 port from Democratic votes, and which were passed 

 over the veto of a Republican President. And the 

 Republicans of Massachusetts are of the opinion that 

 the continued coinage of silver dollars of the present 

 standard while the monetary relations of gold and sil- 

 ver remain substantially as they are now, will bring 

 about the expulsion of gold from the country, and im- 

 pose upon our commerce and industry the disadvan- 

 tages of a currency depreciated in the markets of the 

 world ; and that the coinage of these dollars, now 

 going on at the rate of two millions a month, ought 

 to be suspended until the relation between gold and 

 silver as money has been uniformly established by the 

 leading commercial countries. We have faith to be- 

 lieve that the Republican party of the country, as it is 

 a party of progress that can profit by the lessons of ex- 

 perience, will, if intrusted with the power, remove by 

 appropriate legislation the only serious obstacles that 

 now exist to placing the currency of the country upon 

 an absolutely sound and durable basis. 



We take the occasion to express our satisfaction that 

 the National Convention of the party declared in favor 

 of legislation by Congress for the establishment of a 

 system of appointments to the subordinate offices of 

 the national Government, which, by providing for 

 practical tests to determine the competency of appli- 

 cants, will relieve the Executive, heads of departments, 

 and members of Congress from the solicitations of per- 

 sons seeking office for themselves or their friends, and 

 will place the civil service upon a permanent basis of 

 fitness and merit, and no longer upon that of partisan- 

 ship. We believe that not only is it true that the nation 

 needs and may justly claim the services of the ablest 

 and the fittest, but that every loyal citizen should have 

 the right fairly and freely to compete for the honor 

 and advantage of holding official place ; that no ap- 

 pointments or removals should be made from favorit- 

 ism or for the obtaining or holding of political power ; 

 that public examinations, directed to subjects of knowl- 

 edge essential to an efficient performance of official 

 work, and an open competition of merit, should place 

 all citizens upon a footing of absolute equality in pre- 

 senting their claims for office, and that a tenure of of- 

 fice of reasonablcpermanency should protect faithful 

 and competent officials from capricious and arbitrary 

 dismissal. 



We oppose as Republicans and good citizens the 

 giving over of the Federal Administration to the Dem- 

 ocratic party : 



1. Because the great prosperity that the country 



