436 



KANSAS. 



Government back to its ancient landmarks of patri- 

 otism and economy. 



4. That the faith of the nation must be retained 

 inviolate ; that the public debt, of whatever kind, 

 should be paid in strict accordance with the law un- 

 der which it was contracted. 



5. That we demand the repeal of the national 

 banking law, and that the Government shall issue a 

 legal-tender currency direct from the Treasury, in- 

 terchangeable for Government bonds bearing the 

 lowest possible rate of interest, and which currency 

 shall be receivable both for public and private dues. 



6. That we favor the repeal of the tariff on lumber, 

 and that the tariff on the necessities of common life 

 be abolished or reduced to the lowest possible figure, 

 and that the tax on incomes be restored. 



7. That the act of the Legislature of Kansas of 

 March 1, 186(5, by which the 5,000 acres of land dedi- 

 cated forever to the school-fund by Section 3, Arti- 

 cle VIII. of our State constitution was divided among 

 and appropriated to four railroad corporations, is un- 

 constitutional and void, and this land still in right 

 and equity belongs to the State school-fund, and the 

 next Legislature ought to pass an act repealing the 

 act of March 1, 1866, and directing the Attorney- 

 General of the State to commence suit in the proper 

 courts to cancel all patents and other conveyances 

 made to said lands under the authority of said act. 



8. That we hereby extend our sympathy to the 

 settlers on the Osage lands and to homestead settlers 

 whose titles are contested by railroad companies ; 

 and we hereby declare that the Reform party of Kan- 

 sas will use every honest means to aid these people 

 in their struggle for their homes. 



9. That railroad corporations should be made sub- 

 servient to the public good; that while we shall dis- 

 countenance any action calculated to retard the prog- 

 ress of railroad enterprises, or work injustice to these 

 invaluable auxiliaries to commerce and civilization, 

 yet we demand such constitutional legislation upon 

 this subject, both State and Federal, as will effectu- 

 ally secure the industrial and producing interests of 

 the country against all forms of corporate monopoly 

 and extortion. 



10. That we denounce the passage of the act of last 

 Congress, vesting certain powers in the courts of the 

 District of Columbia, as an outrage tending to destroy 

 the freedom of the press, the liberty of the citizen, 

 and the sovereignty of the States, and we demand 

 that our Senators and Representatives in Congress 

 at the next session vote for its unconditional repeal. 



11. That in view of the wide-spread corruption that 

 has permeated Kansas in every department of its 

 government since its organization as a State, we will 

 support no man for office merely because he is the 

 nominee of a party ; but to obtain our votes, in every 

 instance, he must possess the Jeffersonian standard 

 of fitness honesty, capacity, and fidelity to the Con- 

 stitution. 



12. The frequent cases of malfeasance in office 

 which have been developed within the last four years 

 upon the part of State and county officials, and the 

 losses sustained by the people through defalcations 

 of county treasurers, imperatively demand such legis- 

 lation as will give to the tax-payer security for all 

 funds paid into the State and county treasuries, and 

 all interest accruing thereon, and we denounce it as 

 an act of criminal neglect in the Legislature having 

 failed to provide for the speedy removal of default- 

 ing treasurers from office, and their punishment for 

 malfeasance therein. 



13. That we enter our protest against the Indian 

 policy as now administered subjecting as it does 

 cur. citizens to brutality, and all the horrors of sav- 

 age warfare. 



"14. That we are in favor of the election of Presi- 

 dent and Vice-President, and United States Sena- 

 tors, by the direct voice of the people. 



The Republican State Convention was held 



at Topeka on the 26th of August, and nom- 

 inated the following ticket : Governor, Thomas 

 Osborn; Lieutenant-Governor, M. J. Salter; 

 Secretary of State, T. H. Oavanaugh ; Auditor, 

 D. W. Wilder ; Treasurer, Samuel Lappin ; 

 Attorney-General, A. M. F. Randolph ; Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, John Fraser ; 

 Associate-Justice, D. M. Valentine. 



The platform, which was introduced by a 

 long preamble, rehearsing the achievements of 

 the Republican party in the p,ast, consisted of 

 the following resolutions: 



Resolved, That the powers of the General Govern- 

 ment having been stretched to an unhealthy extent, 

 to meet the crisis of civil war and reconstruction, 

 should now be restored to their normal action ; that 

 the public debt should be reduced, not spasmodi- 

 cally but gradually and surely, and in a way that will 

 not burden the industries of the country by exces- 

 sive exactions ; that any and all schemes of taxation 

 devised to meet an extraordinary demand should be 

 modified according to the dictates of the strictest 

 principles of economy and justice ; that the official 

 prodigality, recklessness, and corruption incident to 

 times of haste, irregularity, and convulsion, must 



five place to economy, stability, and honesty; and, 

 nally, that the only test of political preferment 

 should be capacity and integrity in the discharge of 

 official trust ; that, as the policy of the Republican 

 party in relation to the finances has afforded the 

 people not only a safe, sound, and popular currency, 

 of equal and uniform worth in every portion of the 

 Commonwealth, but has greatly improved the credit 

 of tne country, at home and abroad, we point with 

 pride to its record and accomplishment in this re- 

 gard ; and while reaffirming tne policy announced 

 by the party in the National Conventions in 1868 and 

 1872, and triumphantly indorsed by the people at 

 the polls a policy which, while contributing to the 

 public credit, has also enhanced the individual and 

 collective prosperity of the American people we fa- 

 vor such legislation as will make national banking 



of the country, to the end that the volume of cur- 

 rency may be' regulated by the natural laws of trade. 

 Resolved, That while all the necessary wants of 

 the State government should be supplied by a rea- 

 sonable, just, and uniform taxation, the labor and 

 production of the Commonwealth must not be crip- 

 pled by the employment and maintenance of too 

 many office-holders. Hence it becomes the duty of 

 the Legislature to lessen the number of officials, and 

 make such a revision of the laws of the State as to 



Erovide for a more economical administration of our 

 tate and county affairs. We are opposed to all offi- 

 cial gratuities under the guise of an increase of pay 

 on salaries during official terms. 



Resolved, That the peril of the Government lies 

 not so much in high ambition as in low dishonesties, 

 and the pressing duty of the day is to secure honesty 

 and purity in the public service. We commend the 

 courage of the Reform party in instituting the in- 

 vestigation of corruption in office, sparing neither 

 friends nor foes, and we demand such legislation as 

 will bring to certain punishment any officer who, 

 being intrusted with the charge of public funds, ap- 

 propriates the same to his own use or fails to proper- 

 ly account for them. Embezzlement is theft, and 

 ought to be punished as such. 



Resolved, That all the railroad corporations of the 

 State are the creatures of its Legislature, and it is the 

 duty of that body to subject them to such wise and 

 impartial enactments as will protect the people of 

 the State from extortion, and will secure them trans- 

 portation of products, merchandise, and passengers. 



