680 



TENNESSEE. 



bonded indebtedness, and we declare that we favor a 

 prompt settlement by the Legislature with our cred- 

 itors upon the best terms that can be agreed upon as a 

 result of negotiation. 



6. Jt&olved, That we demand the most rigid econo- 

 my in the administration of all the public affairs of 

 the State and national Government, the suppression 

 of any and all extravagances in public expenditure, 

 the reduction of all salaries and fees of office, so far us 

 can be done consistently with the proper discharge of 

 public offices, and the strictest honesty in the man- 

 agement and application of all public revenues. 



7. Hesoived, That we regard a thoroughly organized 

 system of public instruction as a matter of the utmost 

 importance to the people of our State, and pledge our 

 united support to its institutions of learning and'to the 

 maintenance and better perfection and development 

 of our system of public schools. 



8. Resolved^ That we are unalterably opposed to the 

 usurpations of the Republican party, and we recognize 

 the fact that the administration of the Government, 

 both State and Federal, by^that party, will, under its 

 rapid strides to centralization, soon result in the de- 

 struction of our republican form of government. 



9. That, in view of the complaints coming up from 

 every part of the State against the policy of the rail- 

 roads discriminating against local freight and passen- 

 gers, and in favor of through freight and passengers, 

 it is the sense of this Convention that the coming Leg- 

 islature shall pass a law requiring the railroads to do 

 justice to the trade and business of the State. 



The two minority reports, agreeing general- 

 ly with the majority on other points, dissent 

 from it in regard to the State debt by making 

 its settlement, and consequently its amount, 

 ultimately depend on the people's judgment 

 expressed for that purpose by a direct vote, 

 though in different ways, as follows: The Gar- 

 ner report says, in section 4 : 



We are unalterably opposed to any settlement of 

 the State debt by the Legislature until the same has 

 been first submitted to the people, at a separate elec- 

 tion, and ratified by their free voices at the ballot-box. 



The Johnson report, in the ninth and last sec- 

 tion or paragraph : 



We favor a compromise and settlement of the State's 

 indebtedness upon the most favorable terms that can 

 be honorably obtained ; and we favor the inaugura- 

 tion by the next Legislature of measures for a just and 

 honorable settlement with the creditors of the State ; 

 and that any settlement proposed to the Legislature 

 by the creditors lie over for action thereon by the suc- 

 ceeding Legislature, to the end that such settlement 

 may be fully discussed before the people in the Legis- 

 lative canvass, and such settlement, when effected, 

 shall be final. 



The final result of the very warm debate 

 which was held was as follows: 



The Johnson minority report was first put 

 to vote on a motion to lay it on the table, 

 which passed yeas 740, nays 580. A motion 

 made on the following day to take this report 

 from the table was, after another long-pro- 

 tract'ed discussion, lost nays 751, yeas 578. 



The Garner minority report was put upon 

 the question whether it should be substituted 

 for the majority report, and it was voted down 

 nays 849, yeas 470. 



The mnjority report was adopted yeas 825, 

 nays 455. 



On the day previous to the adoption of the 

 majority report, a delegate proposed, as an ad- 



dition and amendment to it, the following reso- 

 lution, which was adopted : 



Resolved, That we are opposed to making coupons 

 receivable for dues to the State, and we demand that 

 no settlement be made which embodies such a feature. 



Upon the adoption of the majority report 

 being announced, and the motion made by a 

 member that the Convention proceed to nom- 

 inate a candidate for Governor, about one 

 hundred and sixty delegates left the hall in a 

 body, organized themselves elsewhere into a 

 State Convention of the Democracy of Ten- 

 nessee, observing all the usual forms of con- 

 vention proceedings, and nominated S. F. 

 Wilson as the Democratic candidate for Gov- 

 ernor, by acclamation, and, by acclamation 

 also, adopted the following platform : 



The Democratic party of Tennessee, represented 

 in convention by its delegates, who have been else- 

 where denied the right to reflect the will of the party 

 and the people, by the opposition of men assuming to 

 be the managers and masters of the Democratic party, 

 by the combination of its enemies and the mistakes of 

 its friends, by the manipulation and fraud of the vast 

 railroad corporations who have their iron grasp upon 

 the liberty of the people, and are determined to destroy 

 it, and who, to perpetuate their power, have labored 

 assiduously in every manner, even to the furnishing 

 of free tickets and free passes to many delegates to 

 the State Convention, and are determined to uphold 

 them and their action, and deny to the people not 

 only their rights, but to take from them also the 

 privilege of voting upon them ; and they brought 

 here all the power which they could secure to capture 

 the State Convention in their interest, and override 

 the expressed will of the State, and this power has 

 united with the small element of the Democratic mi- 

 nority of the State Convention, and in such unholy 

 combination have been able to stifle the voice of the 

 people, in the rejection of Democratic doctrine, and in 

 denial of the only right the people have been able to 

 secure after years of Struggle and contest, the right to 

 settle for themselves by direct vote their alleged in- 

 debtedness. And that combination have asserted in 

 unequivocal terms their determination to have the 

 debt of the railroads paid by the people of the State, 

 while the holders of the bonds are claiming that the 

 railroads owe the debt, and are now, by suit, trying 

 to enforce its collection against them. 



Regarding, as we do, such combinations as de- 

 structive of the liberty and prosperity of the people, 

 and such doctrines as monstrous subversions of every 

 principle of Democracy and of justice, we refuse to 

 surrender to them the sovereignty of the masses we 

 represent, and, in justice to our people, we stand with 

 them the Democracy of Tennessee and decline to 

 abandon their principles at the behest of such au alli- 

 ance ; and, therefore, 



We denounce the action of such combination, 

 pretending to be a State Democratic Convention, as 

 undemocratic; and, as a platform of Democratic 

 principles, on which we invite the support of the 

 Democratic party and all friends of true Democracy, 

 we declare 



We approve the national platform adopted at Cin- 

 cinnati, and heartily endorse the nomination of Han- 

 cock and English. 



We declare our allegiance to the time-honored prin- 

 ciples of the Democratic party ; the right of the ma- 

 iority to rule; the subordination of the military 

 to the civil authority ; opposition to fraud and vio- 

 lence, and the supremacy of law and order, and the 

 economical administration of the State and national 

 Governments. 



We favor the adjustment and speedy payment of 

 the State debt proper. 



