766 



TEXAS. 



ence. Free public schools shall ever be the dearest 

 motto of the Republicans of Texas. 



6. That the development of the vast mineral, agri- 

 cultural, and stock resources of Texas, is of vital im- 

 portance to the future prosperity of our people, and 

 a necessary prerequisite to that development is a 

 well-devised system of internal improvements, stim- 

 ulated by reasonable aid from the State, which 

 shall not tax the people, and the Republican party 

 of Texas will devise and support a reasonable sys- 

 tem of aid to such improvements in lands ;^but will 

 resist any and all further attempts at aid in bonds 

 or money. 



7. We declare our unabated confidence in the per- 

 sonal integrity and incorruptibility of Governor Ed- 

 mund J. Davis, in his fidelity and devotion to the 

 best interests of the people of Texas, and we will 

 give him our firm and unflinching support in every 

 effort to secure to all the people of the State a wise 

 and good government. 



8. That we declare our unqualified condemnation 

 of all corruption and peculation on the part of pub- 

 lic officials ; we will do all that in us lies to promote 

 honest and wise legislation, to secure honest and just 

 administration, and to guard with a jealous care all 

 the interests of all the people. 



9. That we will endeavor to give protection to our 

 frontier by every means at our command, and we 

 pledge ourselves to cut down every superfluous ex- 

 pense in the State government, and to reduce taxa- 

 tion to the very least amount compatible with effi- 

 cient government. 



The Democrats met in convention at Cor- 

 sicana, on the 18th of June, and nominated 

 A. H. Willie and K. Q. Mills for Congressmen 

 at large, besides naming a board of electors, 

 delegates to the National Convention at Balti- 

 more, and a new State Central Committee. 

 The following platform was adopted in addi- 

 tion to that of 1871, which was reaffirmed: 



"We, the Democrats of the Stato of Texas, in con- 

 vention assembled, deem it proper to announce pur 

 opinion and purposes in the present critical condition 

 of public affairs. It is therefore 



Resolved, That we have undiminished confidence 

 in the time-honored principles of the Democracy as 

 embodied in the platform of the Democratic State 

 Convention held at Austin, January 25, 1871, hereto 

 annexed and made part of this platform, and believe 

 that the welfare and prosperity of the country will 

 never be fully restored till those principles are in 

 the ascendant ; but we recognize as an alarming fact 

 that the issues to be determined in the next presi- 

 dential election not only concern matters 01 con- 

 stitutional construction and expedience, but also in- 

 volve the far greater and vital question whether we 

 are hereafter to live under a government of law or a 

 government offeree. 



Resolved, That the present Administration has been 

 subversive of constitutional government, and free in- 

 stitutions throughout the country, and in the South- 

 ern States has been a system of lawless spoliation 

 and central tyranny; that its chief, by accepting 

 gifts and bestowing offices in return, by appoint- 

 ing incompetent and unfit relations and personal ad- 

 herents to positions of profit and trust, and by de- 

 voting to unbecoming pleasures and pursuits time 

 that should be given to official duties, has been cul- 

 pably reckless of the responsibilities and dignity of 

 the high station, has set a bad example to the peo- 

 ple, and has violated alike the obligation of good 

 faith and the usages of common decency, and that, 

 encouraged and aided by the party in power, he has 

 attempted to usurp or control legislative and judicial 

 functions, and thus establish a consolidated personal 

 government, destructive of the rights of the States 

 and the liberties of the people. 



Resolved, That, in view of the threatening preten- 



sions and great power of those now in authority, we 

 consider their expulsion from offices of honor or trust 

 to be essential to the welfare of the people and coun- 

 try, and to the preservation of constitutional govern- 

 ment. 



Resolved, That we have seen with profound satis- 

 faction that patriotic movement of the Liberal Re- 

 publicans lately assembled in convention at Cincin- 

 nati, and we fully concur with them in believing 

 that local self-government, with impartial suffrage, 

 will guard the rights of all citizens more securely 

 than any centralized power. The public welfare re- 

 quires the supremacy of the civil over the military 

 authority, and freedom of person under the protec- 

 tion of the habeas corpus. We demand for the indi- 

 vidual the largest liberty consistent with public or- 

 derj and for the State self-government, and for the 

 nation a return to the methods of peace and the con- 

 stitutional limitation of power. The civil service of 

 the Government has become a mere instrument of 

 partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an ob- 

 ject of selfish greed, and is a scandal and reproach 

 on free institutions, and breeds a demoralization 

 dangerous to the perpetuity of republican govern- 

 ment. We therefore regard a thorough reform of 

 the civil service as one of the most pressing neces- 

 sities of the hour ; that honesty, capacity, and fidel- 

 ity, constitute the only valid claims to the public 

 employment; that the offices of the Government 

 cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and pa- 

 tronage, and again a post of honor. We demand 

 Federal taxation which shall not necessarily interfere 

 with the industry of the people, which shall provide 

 the means necessary to pay the expenses of the Gov- 

 ernment, economically administered, pensions, the 

 interest on the public debt, and a moderate reduc- 

 tion annually of the principal thereof. 



Resolved, That we recognize the movement of the 

 Liberal Republicans in opposition to the present Ad- 

 ministration of the General Government in behalf 

 of reform and constitutional liberty, and we, the 

 Democratic party of Texas, confiding in the wisdom, 

 patriotism, and integrity of the great national Demo- 

 cratic party, to assemble in Baltimore, do hereby 

 pledge ourselves to give a vigorous support to the 

 policy to be enunciated by the Baltimore Conven- 

 tion, and do battle for the restoration of civil gov- 

 ernment under whatever leadership it may direct.' 



Resolved, That whoever may be the nominee of the 

 Baltimore Convention, this convention finds no rea- 

 son therefrom for destroying, impairing, or even 

 modifying the present organization of the Democratic 

 party, which should maintain its organization vigor- 

 ously for the purpose of putting down and removing 

 the abuses under which our people labor from the 

 tyrannical,' dishonest, and unscrupulous State gov- 

 ernment of Texas. 



Resolved, That we are in opposition to all moneyed 

 subsidies to private corporations by the State gov- 

 ernment, and regard the same as unsound in princi- 

 ple and dangerous in practice. 



Resolved, That it is the duty of the General Gov- 

 ernment to protect our citizens from the marauding 

 bands of Mexicans and savages who are daily pillaging 

 our country, murdering cur citizens, and driving 

 back the tide of civilization upon our western fron- 



Resolved, That, as the school fund, sacredly set 

 apart for the education of the children of this State, 

 has under the political misrule of the last two years 

 been plundered by peculation, squandered and per- 

 verted to political purpose, the Democratic party 

 deem it fitting on this occasion to reaffirm the opinion 

 that, agreeably to the policy the party has ever pur- 

 sued, it is the duty of the State to establish common 

 schools, and furnish the means of a good common 

 education to every child within our State. 



Many Democrats being dissatisfied with the 

 action of the convention, in committing the 



