474 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



honorable record, and of tried and true principles ; 

 and we commend them to the hearty and united sup- 

 port of all good citizens at the polls. 



The convention of the Labor Reform party 

 was held in Worcester, on the 8th of Septem- 

 ber, and was attended by 250 delegates. The 

 enthusiasm manifested was very great, and the 

 first nomination was that of Wendell Phillips 

 for Governor by acclamation, thus making him 

 the standard-bearer of the two parties. After 

 forming the rest of the ticket, their platform 

 was presented in the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That we reaffirm the principles of the 

 Declaration of Independence that "all men are cre- 

 ated free and equal," and have certain "inalienable 

 rights," to secure which is the only just and true pur- 

 pose of government ; therefore all laws creating dis- 

 tinction in favor of color, condition, nationality, or 

 pursuit, are a clear violation of the fundamental 

 principles of democratic government. 



Resolved, That, as labor lies at the foundation of 

 national prosperity, it is the duty and interest of both 

 the State and the_ riation to foster and protect it; 

 therefore all associations of working men or women 

 formed with a view of promoting their moral or ma- 

 terial interests should receive the same chartered 

 rights and privileges at the hands of legislators, 

 both State and national, as are granted to associ- 

 ated capital, especially as the chartered rights of as- 

 sociated capital are derived solely from the people, 

 who are the true source of power under democratic 

 institutions. 



Resolved, That a cardinal principle of the labor re- 

 form movement is the reduction of the hours of labor ; 

 therefore, be it resolved, that we insist upon the re- 

 duction of the hours of labor to eight hours for all 

 labor employed at the public expense by States, 

 countieSj cities, and towns, as experiments, which 

 the public is able to make and interested in making, 

 since they will establish the preliminary claim neces- 

 sary to prove finally that they mean a better paid and 

 better educated labor. 



Resolved, That we will demand, of every candidate 

 who seeks our suffrage for political honor in the 

 coming campaign, a faithful pledge and guarantee 

 that, if elected, he will vote for the enactment of a law 

 prohibiting all incorporated and other manufacturing 

 establishments in this Commonwealth from employ- 

 ing females and minors more than ten hours per day, 

 and we pledge ourselves to use all honorable means 

 to defeat every candidate for office who will not 

 pledge himself unreservedly to the enactment of such 

 a law. 



Resolved, That while we are implicitly opposed to 

 any and all schemes of repudiation, yet we demand 

 the immediate passage by Congress of a law provid- 

 ing for the speediest possible payment of the entire 

 national debt, according to the terms of the contract, 

 as due the laborer, who carries the principal burden, 

 and as a measure calculated to secure honesty and 

 economy in the administration of public affairs. 



Resolved, That we demand the repeal of so much 

 of the national banking law as allows banks to issue 

 notes circulating as money, and the substitution 

 therefor of legal-tender government notes as the best 

 and safest currency the government ever had. 



Resolved, That the public lands should be held in 

 sacred trust by the Government for actual settlers. 

 and should never be given into the possession of 

 speculators and railroad monopolists. 



Resolved, That while we welcome voluntary immi- 

 grants from every clime, and pledge them the pro- 

 tection of our laws and equal opportunity in every 

 field of industry, still we are inflexibly opposed to 

 the importation by capitalists of laborers from China 

 and elsewhere for the purpose of degrading and 

 cheapening American labor, and will resist itT>y all 

 legal and constitutional means in our power. 



Resolved, That we view with pride the fact that 

 the soldiers and sailors were talisted mainly from 

 the ranks of the laboring classes, and that they 

 fought heroically to maintain the national integrity 

 anduphold the honor of Massachusetts, and we claim 

 that, of true to her promises and herself, she should 

 provide the means for equalizing the bounties to her 

 soldiers and sailors on just and equitable principles. 



Resolved, That we earnestly urge the friends of 

 labor in this State to use all their influence individu- 

 ally and collectively to secure the election to public 

 office of those candidates who are unequivocally com- 

 mitted to the principles embraced in this platform. 



On the 5th of October, the Eepublican State 

 Convention assembled at Worcester, and chose 

 ex-Governor A. H. Bullock as the presiding of- 

 ficer. William Claflin was nominated for Gov- 

 ernor almost unanimously, and the other 

 nominations were, for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Joseph Tucker ; for Secretary of State, Oliver 

 Warner; for Attorney-General, Charles Allen; 

 for Aiiditor, Charles Endicott ; for Treasurer 

 and Receiver-General, Charles Adams, Jr. 

 The following were the resolutions : 



The Republicans of Massachusetts congratulate 

 their brethren throughout the country on the con- 

 summation, within the past year, of the greatest civil 

 event in history since the formation of the Constitu- 

 tion the adoption by the people of the last of the 

 three great constitutional amendments, which secure 

 personal freedom, equality before the law, and equal- 

 ity of political power, to all men born or naturalized 

 in the United States ; and, in asking for the continued 

 confidence of the people, we point with just pride to 

 the fact that these are the precious fruits of the Ad- 

 ministration in peace of that candidate whose military 

 administration nad already triumphantly conducted 

 the country to safety and prosperity through a war 

 of unexampled magnitude and peril. 



Resolved, That we cordially approve the vigorous 

 and successful administration of General Grant, which 

 in less than two years has introduced reform in reve- 

 nue in all branches of the public service, has effected 

 a reduction of the public debt unexampled in history, 

 has made faithful and thorough collection of the reve- 

 nues, and has vastly lightened the weight of taxa- 

 tion which oppressed the industries of the country, 

 and gives promise of still further and larger reduc- 

 tion, and we take especial pleasure in the fact that in 

 the accomplishment of these great results the Presi- 

 dent has been aided by Massachusetts administrative 

 ability in the Treasury, Massachusetts integrity and 

 energy at the head of the Committee on Appropria- 

 tions, and Massachusetts firmness and sense at the 

 head of the Committee on Claims. 



Resolved, That, as the burden of the national debt 

 has been incurred in defence of the common life of 

 the Republic, and as the benefits of which it is the 

 price, are to be permanent and enduring to the re- 

 motest generation, every proper effort should be made 

 to fund the same at the lowest practicable rate of 

 interest, and that the process of reduction should bo 

 so gradual as to bear with moderate weight only upon 

 the people, and that taxation should be further re- 

 duced so as to relieve, ag far as practicable, the press- 

 ure upon the industry of the nation. 



Resolved, That the Republican party is pledged, by 

 its past history and the cherished personal convictions 

 of its members, to labor to carry out the great prin- 

 ciples, which it has been the means of enacting into 

 the fundamental law of the country, to their logical 

 results, and especially to protect the newly-enfran- 

 chised citizens in the rights which arc declared by the 

 recent constitutional amendments, and to secure to 

 them that education which will enable them to take 

 full and intelligent share in the administration of the 

 country. 



