MISSOURI. 



577 



9. That, an cultivators of the toll, we have been 



too long governed and controlled by tho great mon- 



>wcr of tho laud, and !> tin- rings and oom- 



bbuuona whioh arc in I.-.,_MIC against UM, nimply be- 



AC arc ignorant i -I' nur own strength, or have 



.rt.d that strength lor our own dd'cnse, or 



liuvr wasted it in wrinkling with cadi other. 



8. That as retrenchment and reform is our motto 

 rons, we should begin at homo, uiul while we 

 we have a right to ; that our lefflaUton 

 an.! rulers shall be economical m the expenditure <>!' 

 u<- public money, let us not bo prodigal in the ex- 

 penditure of our private means. While we condemn 

 .travaganoe of public otlicials and coinpluin of 

 tin- wrongs inflicted upon us by those whom we have 

 intrusted with power, lotus not still further wrong 

 ourselves and our families by living above our in- 

 come, thus sacrificing peace, comfort, and indepen- 

 dence, at tho shrine of a fashion und show. 



4. That we invite the hearty support and coopera- 

 tion of our sisters of the order in our reformatory 

 movement ; that woman's true position is the Gou- 

 riven arul divinely-sanctioned one of helpmeet to 

 man ; therefore her place is by his side. Ilers is a 

 hiirh und noble position, and if rightly improved 

 \\i\\ rear to her memory monuments more aurublo 

 than marble, and leave an inheritance to those that 

 will come after more to be prized than wealth or 

 honor. 



0. That in a republican government all power is 

 vested in the bands of the people, and that in ours a 

 majority of the people belong to the producing or 

 farming classes. Yet the power and strength of that 

 class have been used by a less numerous and more 

 unscrupulous class for the advancement of their own 

 selfish purposes. That, although this is not a politi- 

 cal organization, and especially ignores political or 

 partisan questions, yet we call upon our representa- 

 tives in Congress and the State Legislature to listen 

 to the appeal of more than 100,000 Patrons in the 

 State of Missouri to economize the resources of the 

 Government, and stop the current of extravagance 

 and corruption which has borne us to the very verge 

 of ruin. 



The opposition to the Democratic party in 

 the political canvass of the year was consoli- 

 dated under the name of the People's party. 

 The Democratic State Convention was held at 

 Jefferson City, on the 26th and 27th of August. 

 The first day was taken up chiefly with discus- 

 sions. <s>n the second day the nominations 

 were made and the platform adopted. On the 

 first ballot for a candidate for Governor, Gen- 

 eral F. M. Cockrell received the largest number 

 of votes, but on the fourth ballot Chas. II. liar- 

 din was nominated. The other nominations 

 were Colonel Norman J. Colman for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Michael K. McGrath for Secretary of 

 State, Thos. Holliday for Auditor, J. W. Mer- 

 cer for Treasurer, J. A. Hockaday for Attor- 

 ney-General, Geo. M. Deiger Register of Lands, 

 R. D. Shannar Superintendent of Schools, 

 Warwick Hough Judge of the Supreme Court, 

 and Wra. B. Naptin Judge of Supreme Court 

 for the short term. The platform, which was 

 unanimously adopted, was as follows: 



The representatives of the Democratic party of the 

 State of Missouri, in convention assembled, point 

 with justifiable pnde to the two years of record of 

 a Democratic administration, during which time 

 nearly |1 ,500,000 of the State debt have been dis- 

 charged without an increase in taxation the result 

 of strict economy in all branches of the public ser- 

 vice. 



VOL. xiv. 87 A 



We desire our fellow.citizt.-ns to note that the 

 pledges upon which, in 1872, we were again intrualed 

 with power, have been observe d u ion of 



penses of the guv -runu nl to un amount 

 COHH of $800,000 per annum, with an anurauc<; or u 

 still greater reduction in the future through the cur- 

 tailment of the fees of public; officer*. 8tat and 

 county ; a careful revision of the law relating to the 

 cost of criminal trials : and u change in the peniten- 

 tiary ay hit in, l'\ which it ha been made a *elf-up- 

 poruog institution instead of an annual burden upon 

 tho Treasury to the extent of nearly $200,000. 



We call attention also, with gratification, to the 

 addition of over $50,00<J,000 to the taxable wealth of 

 the State, by a judicious assessment of the railroad 

 property within its borders, wberefrom an annual 

 income of $250,000 will be derived thus lessening 

 the burdens of taxation by a just and equal distribu- 

 tion of them. 



lidicving that we thus, by our acts, justified the 

 confidence of the people when they intrusted un with 

 power, and also profoundly convinced that every 

 reasonable demand in the way of reform und re- 

 trenchment can be best effected by the Democratic 

 party, we cordially invite the cooperation and sup- 

 port of all classes of our citizens who agree with us 

 in those objects, irrespective of their former politi- 

 cal associations. 



We favor now, as in the past, a strict construction 

 of the Constitution of the United States, and espe- 

 cially of that article which provides that the powers 

 not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 

 tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 

 to the States respectively or to the people. 



Resolved, That we arraign the national Republican 

 Administration as having proved false to the true 

 principles of government and to the Constitution, 

 in the revival of the worst features of the sedition 

 law. by the passage of an act known as the Poland 

 libel law, and as disclosed in the shameful Crddit 

 Mobilier and revenue moiety frauds, and we de- 

 nounce as especially unworthy of confidence every 

 man. Democrat or Republican, who voted for the 

 equally flagrant increase of congressional and presi- 

 dential salaries. 



Reeofaed, That we are opposed to the passage of the 

 civil rights bill, believing it to be uncalled for by 

 the blacks, and grossly unjust to the whites sure to 

 work great injury to the cause of education through- 

 out the nation, and possibly lead to a dangerous con- 

 flict between the two races. While thus declaring, 

 we announce ourselves in favor of a liberal system 

 of education for the benefit of the negro, as well an 

 the white children of Missouri, but are opposed to 

 the mingling of the white and black races in our 

 public schools or other educational institutions. 



Resolved, That beyond guaranteeing to each State 

 a republican form of government, neither the Pres- 

 ident nor Congress has the slightest right or justifi- 

 cation for interfering with their domestic concerns, 

 and that the personally irresponsible, wasteful, ana 

 anarchical rule in South Carolina, Louisiana, and 

 other Southern States, by which republican institu- 

 tions have been brought into general disrepute, is 

 the natural result of a violation of this fundamental 

 article of the Democratic creed. 



Jtesolved, That the public debt should be paid in 

 exact accordance with the contract whereby it was 

 created ; that any thing less would be repudiation, 

 and that any thing more would bo an unjustifiable 

 abuse of power by Congress, in the interests of the 

 bondholder and to the detriment of every other 

 class. That the 5-20 bonds, authorized by the act 

 of February, 1882, and succeeding acts, are distinctly 

 by their terms made payable in legal-tender notes, 

 or greenbacks, and that the act of March 18, 1869, 

 whereby Congress solemnly pledged the faith of the 

 United States to a coin redemption, was an utterly 

 unjustifiable usurpation of power. 



Jtetolted, That, while not conceding the right of 



