680 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



to be completed in three years. The appoint- 

 ments under this act were made, and a compe- 

 tent geologist was selected in June. The work 

 of the survey began in September and extend- 

 ed before the close of the year to an examina- 

 tion of the iron-ores and slate-quarries of York, 

 Adams, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, 

 the fossil iron-ores of the Juniata Valley, the 

 bituminous coal-basins of Olearfield and Jeffer- 

 son Counties, and the oil-regions of Vanango 

 County. A museum of minerals is to be col- 

 lected at Harrisburg, as one of the results of 

 the survey. 



The State Convention of the Republican party 

 was held at Harrisburg on the 1 9th of August, 

 and the following nominations were made : 

 for Judge of the Supreme Court, Edward M. 

 Paxon, of Philadelphia; for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, A. G-. Olmsted, of Polder County ; for 

 Auditor-General, Harrison Allen, of Warren 

 County ; for Secretary of Internal Affairs, 

 Kobert B. Beath, of Schuylkill County. The 

 platform, which was unanimously adopted, 

 opened with approval of the State and nation- 

 al administrations under Republican control, 

 and condemnation of the conduct of the Demo- 

 cratic party. Then followed these resolutions 

 relating to State affairs : 



2. The Eepublicans of Pennsylvania having been 

 the first to demand a change in the constitution that 

 would abolish special legislation and all its attend- 

 ant evils, and the necessary legislation for the call 

 of a constitutional convention for that purpose hav- 

 ing emanated from them, we are justified in rejoicing 

 to-day over the accomplishment of that great reform 

 and over the delivery of the State from the evil con- 

 sequences of the old system. 



3. The movement for the formation of the new 

 constitution having been made by the Eepublican 

 party, and carried to completion under its auspices, 

 the task of putting into operation the machinery of 

 the new fundamental law belongs to it of right, and 

 the duty it involves will be, as it has been, faith- 

 fully performed by it. 



4. Inasmuch as great abuses have grown up in this 

 State under our present system of fees as a compensa- 

 tion for county officers, we demand such legislation 

 as will substitute adequate salaries for fees, and such 

 us will allow no more than a fair and just compensa- 

 tion for services rendered. 



5. We look with pride and satisfaction upon our 

 common-school system, which has grown up under 

 the fostering care of the State, and as it is now mu- 

 nificently endowed by the annual appropriation from 

 the State, secured to it by the constitution, the State 

 is bound to see that all her children are duly edu- 

 cated under it in the duties of citizenship, that they 

 may thereby become better able to enjoy and per- 

 petuate our popular institutions. 



The following resolutions relate to matters 

 of national policy : 



6. We recognize that as the true policy of govern- 

 ment which shall harmonize all .the diversified in- 

 terests and pursuits necessarily existing in a country 

 of such vast extent as ours, and this can be done 

 only by directing legislation so as to secure just pro- 

 tection and reward to every branch of industry. 

 We are in favor of giving precedence to those meas- 

 ures which shall recognize agricultural, mining, 

 manufacturing, and mechanical pursuits as entitled 

 to the amplest protection and fullest development ; 

 of putting a stop to large grants of the public do- 

 main to railroad Corporations and reserving it for set- 



tlement and cultivation ; of improving the navigation 

 of our great inland rivers, and securing cheap trans- 

 portation and profitable markets for the products of 

 agricultural and manufacturing labor ; of encourag- 

 ing such manufactures as shall bring the producer 

 and consumer in the neighborhood of each other, 

 and thus establish mutual relations between them 

 and those engaged in commerce and transportation : 

 of properly adjusting the relations between capital 

 and labor in order that they may receive a just and 

 equitable share of the profits, and of holding those 

 in the possession of corporate wealth and privileges 

 in strict conformity to the law, so that through com- 

 bined influences people of varied pursuits may be 

 united together in the common purpose of preserv- 

 ing the honor of the nation and developing the im- 

 mense resources of every section of the Union and 

 of advancing the social and mutual prosperity of all 

 its industrial and laboring classes. 



7. The paralysis which has fallen upon the manu- 

 facturing industry of the country within the past 

 year is a fresh evidence of the necessity of that pro- 

 tection to our manufacturing interests for which 

 the Eepublicans of Pennsylvania have always fought. 

 The reduction of the tariff, accompanied as it was by 

 largely-increased importations, not only helped to 

 bring on the panic, but has rendered recovery from 

 it more difficult, as well as lamentably slow. 



8. The attempt made just prior to the adjourn- 

 ment of Congress to establish free-trade through 

 the agency of the reciprocity treaty with Canada, 

 demands the severest condemnation. It was an ef- 

 fort to accomplish through the treaty-making power 

 alone that which belongs properly and of right to 

 the popular branch of the Government, and to put 

 redress out of the people's reach for twenty-one 

 years to come. The control over the subject of the 

 national revenue w_as placed by the Constitution in 

 the hands of the immediate representatives of the 

 people, and we protest against any scheme to take 

 it out of their hands by means of a treaty which the 

 people cannot abrogate or repeal. 



9. The frantic efforts now being made by the 

 Democratic party to bring on a war of races in the 

 South, with the design of depriving a portion of its 

 citizens of the rights which belong to them, show 

 that the mission of the Eepublican party has not 

 ended, and that its further continuance is necessary 

 to secure equally to every citizen the rights which 

 belong to all. 



10. Emancipation and enfranchisement having 

 been secured by the adoption of the thirteenth and 

 fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the 

 United States, and by the necessary legislation for 

 their enforcement, and equality of civil rights having 

 been guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment, it is 

 the imperative duty of Congress to see that such 

 guarantee is enforced by appropriate statutes. 



11. The establishment of the national-bank sys- 

 tem having secured to the people of the entire na-. 

 tion the best system of bank currency ever before 

 offered to them, the privileges of that system should 

 be no longer confined to a privileged class, but should 

 be free to all under general and equal laws, the ag- 

 gregate volume of the currency to be regulated by 

 the necessities of the people and the recognized laws 

 of trade. 



12. We reaffirm the declaration of the National 

 Eepublican Convention of 1872 in favor of a return 

 to specie payments at the earliest practicable day. 



13. That the Republican party continue to remem- 

 ber with gratitude the soldiers and sailors of the 

 republic for the patriotism, courage, and self-sacri- 

 fica with which they g^ave themselves to the preser- 

 vation of the country in the late civil war. 



Other resolutions presented Governor John 

 F. Hartranft as a candidate for nomination to 

 the presidency in 1876 ; directed that the can- 

 didates and the president of the convention 



