494 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



an odious interference with personal liberty, the pro- 

 lific parent of hypocrisy, corruption, and crime, and 

 an affront to public decency in the surrender of all 

 attempt to enforce the law upon wealth or political 

 influence, and with its attendant satellite, the State 

 constabulary, an invasion of municipal rights and a 

 degradation of the ordinary and appropriate meaL 

 for the enforcement of the laws. 

 ^ Resolved, That the relations of the railroad corpora- 

 tions of the Commonwealth to the public ought to be 

 revised, that a new, direct, and immediate influence 

 may be exercised by the community over its means 

 of internal communication ; that franchises, in the 

 nature of monopolies granted to subserve the gen- 

 eral convenience and prosperity, shall not be held 

 for private profit only. 



Resolved, That in the candidates put in nomination 

 by this convention we present for the suffrages of 

 the people the names of eminent citizens in whose 

 signal ability and integrity the public safely confide 

 for an honest and capable administration of the gov- 

 ernment of the Commonwealth. 



There was a convention of the advocates of 

 " Labor Reform" at South Framingham on the 

 4th of October, at which nominations for State 

 officers were made, a State Central Committee 

 chosen, and a platform adopted. The nomina- 

 tions were: For Governor, E. M. Chamberlin, 

 of Boston; for Lieutenant-Govern or, Allen 

 Dean, of Westfield; for Secretary of State, H. 

 B. Maglathlan, of Duxbury; for Treasurer, 

 Henry T. Delano, of Charlestown ; for Attor- 

 ney-General, George L. Ruffin, of Boston; for 

 Auditor, Geo. P. Johnson, of Lynn. The plat- 

 form was as follows : 



We affirm as a fundamental principle that labor, 

 the creator of wealth, is entitled to all it creates. 

 Affirming this, we avow ourselves willing to accept 

 the_ final results of the operation of a principle so 

 radical, such as the overthrow of the whole profit- 

 making system ; the extinction of all monopolies ; 

 the abolition of privileged classes, in extended rather 

 than a restricted franchise ; universal education and 

 fraternity ; perfect freedom of exchange, and, the 

 best and grandest of all, the final obliteration of that 

 foul stigma upon our so-called Christian civilization 

 " the poverty of the masses." 



Holding principles radical as these, and bearing 

 before our mind an ideal condition so noble, we are 

 still aware that our goal cannot be reached at a, single 

 leap. We take into account the ignorance, selfish- 

 ness, prejudice, corruption, and demoralization of 

 the leaders of the people themselves, but still we 

 demand that some steps shall be taken in this direc- 

 tion : therefore 



Resolved. That we declare war with the wages 

 system, which demoralizes alike the hirer and the 

 hired, cheats both and enslaves the working-man : 

 war with the present system of finance, which robs 

 labor and gorges capital ; makes the rich richer and 

 the poor poorer, and turns a republic into an aristoc- 

 racy _of capital: war with these lavish grants of the 

 public lands to speculating companies and, when- 

 ever in power, we pledge ourselves to use every just 

 and legal means to recover all such grants hereafter 

 made : war with the system of enriching capitalists 

 by the creation and increase of public interest-bear- 

 ing debts. 



Resolved, That we demand that every facility and 

 all encouragement shall be given by law to coopera- 

 tion in all branches of industry and trade, and that 

 the same aid be given to the cooperative effort that 

 has heretofore been given to railroad and other 

 enterprises. We recommend a ten-hour day for fac- 

 tory-work as the first step, and that eight hours be 

 the working-day of all persons employed at the pub- 

 lic expense. We demand that, whenever women are 



employed at the public expense, and do the same 

 kind and the same amount of work as men perform, 

 they shall receive the same wages. We demand that 

 all public debts be paid at once, in accordance with 

 the tenure of the contract, and that no more debts 

 be created. Viewing the contract importation of 

 coolies as only another form of the slave-trade, we 

 demand that contracts made relative thereto be void 

 in this country, and that no public ship and no 

 steamship which receives public subsidy shall aid in 

 such importation. 



On the same day, October 4th, a convention 

 assembled at Boston in the interest of a strict 

 prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors. 

 An attempt to complicate its proceedings with 

 the question of female suffrage failed. A full 

 ticket was nominated, with Judge Robert C. 

 Pitman, of New Bedford, at its head for Gov- 

 ernor. A platform and address to the people 

 were adopted, the material portions of the 

 former being as follows : 



As intemperance wastes the resources of the in- 

 dividual and the community, diminishes production 

 and productive capacity, pauperizes its victims, en- 

 dangers the public health, is the chief occasion of 

 crime, deteriorates physically, intellectually, and 

 morally the human stock, and endangers with espe- 

 cial peril the success of our republican institutions, 

 it is, above all other evils, the enemy of the Com- 

 monwealth, and its suppression is an imperative 

 political necessity. 



We rejoice in the steady growth and conviction in 

 the public mind that the only possible remedy for 

 extirpating the traffic in intoxicating beverages is by 

 prohibitory laws rigidly and impartially enforced. 

 The plea for license has ceased even to interest the 

 people. The only struggle is between entire prohibi- 

 tion and free rum. 



The leading political party of this State having 

 refused to put prohibition into its platform, and hav- 

 ing nominated upon its ticket men active in defend- 

 ing and propagating extreme anti-prohibitory views, 

 it is unworthy of the further support of true temper- 

 ance men ; and we therefore call upon all such to 

 join the only party that can advance to victory the 

 cause they love. 



^ The beer law is the offspring of a corrupt competi- 

 tion for the liquor-vote ; it is a fraud, a deception, 

 a cheat, a disgrace and a disaster, and should be 

 blotted from the statutes of the Commonwealth. 



As a large proportion of the expenses of our State 

 government is for the relief of pauperism and for 

 the prevention, detection, and punishment of crime, 

 and as there can be no material reduction of these ex- 

 penses while their most fertile source exists, and as 

 the liquor-traffic preys upon all other business by de- 

 stroying the purchasing power of consumers, thereby 

 decreasing the demand for labor, therefore we coni"- 

 mend the Prohibitory party to the laboring-men as 

 their truest friend, and ask their assistance in this 

 reform, as being particularly in their interest. 



Since woman is the greatest sufferer by the preva- 

 lence of drinking, she should be the greatest helper 

 in its extirpation. We therefore ask her to employ 

 every right she now possesses and may possess to 

 assist in this reform, being assured that only by her 

 assistance can we entirely abolish this crime against 

 society, humanity, and God. 



The election took place on the 8th of No- 

 vember, and resulted in the triumph of the Re- 

 publican ticket. The total vote for Governor 

 was 136,793, of which Mr. Washburn received 

 75,129, Mr. Adams, 47,725; Mr. Chamberlin, 

 6,848 ; Mr. Pitman, 6,598, and General Butler 

 157, while 336 were for various other persons. 



