416 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Oliver Warner ; Attorney-General, Charles 

 Allen; Treasurer, Jacob H. Loud; Auditor, 

 Charles Endicott. The following resolutions 

 were adopted as the platform of the party : 



Resolved, That we reaffirm our devotion to the 

 principles and policy of the Bepublican party, which 

 arrested national degeneracy, proclaimed liberty to 

 all the oppressed of the land, vanquished a most 

 formidable rebellion, preserved the integrity and 

 unity of the Eepublic, and placed on an endunng 

 foundation its safety, prosperity, and glory. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party, by its close 

 alliance with the slave power during a whole gener- 

 ation, its sympathy with the public enemies during 

 the late civil war, its constant endeavors to perpetu- 

 ate disorder in the rebel States, and by the enuncia- 

 tion of the doctrines of practical repudiation, has 

 forfeited forever all claims to the confidence of the 

 people, and cannot without great peril to their liber- 

 ties and fortunes be intrusted with the government 

 of the nation or of this Commonwealth. 



Resolved, That the reconstructed States are not yet 

 beyond the watchful care of the National Govern- 

 ment, and that the Legislative and Executive De- 

 partments should take all lawful and constitutional 

 measures to guarantee liberty, personal security, and 

 equal rights to all the people thereof. "With malice 

 toward none and charity to all," we welcome the 

 truly repentant rebels back to the privileges of fel- 

 low-citizens, while we insist upon complete protec- 

 tion of all loyal men, white and black. 



Resolved, That the Administration of President 

 Grant, by its moderation and firmness, and its for- 

 eign and domestic policy, its scrupulous regard for 

 the public faith as pledged to public creditors, its re- 

 forms in the direction of economy, and its able man- 

 agement of the public revenue, whereby the debt has 

 been reduced and the national credit maintained and 

 raised, has fully justified the confidence reposed in 

 it, and gives promise of great and lasting benefits to 

 the country. 



Resolved, That as we contemplate the high place 

 which our country,, now relieved of slavery, holds in 

 the family of nations, the widening influence of its 

 example, and the marvellous development of its re- 

 sources, it is becoming to remember gratefully the 

 patriotic soldiers and sailors, living and dead, by 

 whose toils and blood in our civil war this precious 

 land was kept one and indivisible. The commemo- 

 ration of their deeds by fitting rites and memorials, 

 and the care of their disabled survivors and of their 

 bereaved families, will remain a perpetual duty. 



Resolved, That we regard as political aims of prime 

 importance, the encouragement of the moral, educa- 

 tional, and industrial interests of the State, a just 

 distribution of the burdens of taxation, so that they 

 shall fall where they can be most easily borne, a rigid 

 economy in public expenditures, less special legisla- 

 tion for private and corporate interests, a material 

 abridgment of the sessions of the Legislature, and 

 the requirement of high personal character in all 

 public officers. 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party recognize all 

 the rights and privileges that belong to labor, and 

 that the same chartered rights and privileges which 

 are extended to organized capital, by legislation, 

 should also be extended to organized labor. 



Resolved, That the Eepublican party is a national 

 party, coextensive with the country; that in this 

 Commonwealth it applies no tests not exacted in 

 other States or sections; that it ought not here to 

 add or subtract from its national creed ; that diverse 

 views upon the best method of suppressing intem- 

 perance are honestly held among its members, and 

 that the decision, as to what legislation upon the sale 

 of intoxicating liquors is likely to prove most salu- 

 tary, shall be left entirely to the wm of the people, 

 as indicated by the Senators and Representatives 

 elected by their votes. 



Resolved, That Governor Claflin has, in his official 

 term, demonstrated the same integrity of purpose 

 and capacity for affairs which have always been con- 

 spicuous in his private life, and we commend him 

 and the other nominees or this convention to the 

 suffrages of the people of this Commonwealth. 



A convention was held in Worcester on the 

 28th of September, at which the Labor Ee- 

 form party of Massachusetts was organized, 

 and the following ticket put in nomination: 

 For Governor, E. M. Chamberlain ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, James Chattaway ; Secretary of 

 State, S. B. Pratt; Treasurer, K W. Stod- 

 dard ; Attorney-General, Thomas Crawley ; 

 Auditor, J. L. Glines. 



The principles of the party were announced 

 in the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That we reaffirm the principles of the 

 Declaration of Independence, that " all men are 

 created 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- 

 tinctions in favor of their condition, nationality, or 

 pursuit, are a clear violation of the fundamental 

 principles of democratic government. 



Resolved, That, as labor lies at the foundation of 

 all national prosperity, it is the duty and the interest 

 of both the State and the nation to foster and pro- 

 tect it. Therefore, all associations of working men 

 or women, formed with a view of promoting their 

 moral or material interests, should receive the same 

 chartered rights and privileges at the hands of legis- 

 lators. State and national, as are granted associated 

 capital, especially as all the chartered rights of asso- 

 ciated capital are derived solely from the people who 

 are the true source of power under democratic insti- 

 tutions. 



Resolved, That a cardinal principle of the labor- 

 reform movement is reduction in 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 State, coun- 

 ties, cities, and towns, as experiments which the 

 public is able to make and is interested in making, 

 since they will establish the preliminary claim neces- 

 sary to prove finally that they mean a better-paid and 

 better-educated laborer. 



Resolved, That we will demand of every candidate 

 who seeks our suffrage for political honors in the 

 coming campaign, a faithful pledge and guarantee 

 that he will advocate, and, if elected, vote for the en- 

 actment of a law, prohibiting all incorporated and 

 other manufacturing establishments in this Common- 

 wealth from employing 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 the exemption from tax of bonds 

 or securities is a violation of the just principles of 

 revenue laws, and lays an unjust burden upon the 

 producing classes of the country. 



Resolved, That we view with pride the fact that the 

 soldiers and sailors were enlisted mainly from the 

 ranks of the working-classes, and that they fought 

 heroically to maintain the national integrity and up- 

 hold the honor of Massachusetts, and we claim that, 

 if true to her promises and to herself, she should 



Srovide means for equalizing the bounties to her sol- 

 iers and sailors on just and equitable principles. 

 Resolved, That we heartily indorse the demands 

 of the mill operatives of Massachusetts for a reduc- 

 tion of the hours of labor to ten per day. 



Resolved, That the power, honor, and prosperity of 

 the country rest upon the skill, intelligence, and 

 welfare of the industrial classes. 

 Resolved, That we welcome to our shores indus- 



