478 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



That the reduction of the national expenditures 

 during the last fiscal year by more than twelve mill- 

 ion dollars, following a constant reduction dur- 

 ing the whole period of the present Administration, 

 is a gratifying proof of the earnest endeavors of the 

 Eepublican party by economy, frugality, and fidelity 

 in the public service, to lighten the public burden. 



That the President of the United States is entitled 

 to the gratitude of the country for the independence, 

 courage, and good sense with which, in urgent crises 

 of affairs, he has assumed the great ^responsibilities 

 of his office, and maintained the national honor and 

 credit. 



That the Eepublican party hails with exceeding 

 joy the many evidences of reconciliation in spirit 

 and in purpose, as well as of peace in fact, which 

 have taken the place of bitterness and disturbance 

 in the restored States, and makes haste to testify its 

 anxiety to meet reconciliation with confidence, and 

 every proof of peace with proof of affection and re- 

 gard ; that we have no more earnest desire than that 

 our brethren at the South, without distinction or ex- 

 ception of race or party, may enjoy to the fullest 

 extent those inestimable blessings to which we 

 owe all our prosperity universal free education and 

 security of personal rights under local self-govern- 

 ments, without the necessity of any interference 

 from abroad. 



That the Republicans of Massachusetts welcome 

 all auguries and evidences that the Centennial of 

 American Independence will be celebrated by the 

 complete restoration of fraternity, and they express 

 the opinion that the time has come for the removal 

 of all remaining political disabilities. 



That sound-reason as well as the wise and unbroken 

 usage of the republic, illustrated by the example of 

 Washington, requires that the tenure of the chief- 

 magistracy of the United States should not exceed a 

 second term. 



That the national Government is sacredly bound 

 in the interest of the common welfare, in good faith, 

 in the light of all experience and history, to fulfill 

 its promises by the speediest possible return to spe- 

 cie payment. 



That an irredeemable currency is a national evil, 

 and, when it continues beyond the necessity of its 

 creation, a national reproach. 



That the demoralization of values, caused by infla- 

 tion of the national currency while it tends to place 

 the earnings of labor, which depend on steadiness 

 and uniformity in the measure of value, in the power 

 of speculators in gold and credit also involves the 

 demoralization of public and private conduct, credit 

 and expenditure ; speculation in the place of thrift, 

 ultimate prostitution of trade and industry, risk of 

 increasing crime and dishonor, and the whole train 

 of evils which follow any departure from the homely 

 virtue that keeps its word and pays as it goes. 



That while we gladly count among the most signifi- 

 cant assurances of the good work of the Republican 

 party its regenerating influence upon our Democratic 

 fellow-citizens, as shown in the better utterances of 

 their recent convention in this hall, in their unre- 

 served acceptance of the constitutional results of a 

 Republican statesmanship, and in their nomination 

 to office of men trained in Republican teachings and 

 service, we protest that it would be the height of im- 

 prudence to commit all that has been achieved for 

 union, freedom and human rights, to the keeping 

 of a party which had no heart for the work, and has 

 no staki in the glory. 



The Democratic Convention was held at 

 Worcester on the 22d of September. It was 

 characterized by a good deal of spirit and by 

 general harmony. After organization' had been 

 effected, and some very hopeful speeches had 

 been made, Governor William Gaston was nom- 

 inated by acclamation, amid general enthu- 



siasm. General William F. Bartlett, of Pitts- 

 field, known in former years as a ^Republican, 

 was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor by ac- 

 clamation and with cheers and plaudits. The 

 rest of the ticket was made up by a committee, 

 and adopted as a whole as follows : For Secre- 

 tary of State, George H. Monroe, a Liberal Ke- 

 publican ; for Treasurer, Weston Howland, of 

 Fairhaven; for Attorney-General, George F. 

 Verry, of Worcester ; for Auditor, John E. 

 Fitzgerald, of Boston. A little contest sprung 

 up as to the method of chosing the State Cen- 

 tral Committee, which resulted in the election 

 of one member from each senatorial district 

 by the delegates therefrom, instead of the 

 nomination, as usual, of the whole body by a 

 committee consisting of one from each con- 

 gressional district. Delegates at large to the 

 National Convention were also elected in a 

 report of a committee of thirteen appointed 

 by the chair. The platform of the convention, 

 which was unanimously adopted, was as fol- 

 lows: 



The Democrats and Liberal Republicans of Mas- 

 sachusetts, assembled by their delegates in conven- 

 tion to consider the public exigency and organize for 

 the great work of political reform, appealing to all 

 honest men for cooperation in their efforts, deqlare 

 and affirm as the basis of their action 



1. We reiterate the declarations comprehensively 

 made by the National Convention at Cincinnati and 

 Baltimore in 1872, accepting the recent amendments 

 to the Federal Constitution as a full, final, and per- 

 manent adjustment of political controversies inci- 

 dent to the late war. 



2. We demand for the Union the support in full 

 vigor of all its constitutional powers as the supreme 

 authority, utterly repudiating all claim of right by 

 any State to secede from the Union or to nullify its 

 laws ; and we demand for each State as equally in- 

 violable the right to govern itself at its sovereign 

 pleasure, subject only to the limitations and obliga- 

 tions of the Federal Constitution. 



3. In the interests of public morals, the nation's 

 credit, and the common welfare, we oppose any fur- 

 ther issue by the Government of a currency incon- 

 vertible with gold the world's recognized measure 

 of values ; and we favor a speedy return to specie 

 payments as essential to the revival of the commerce, 

 business, and credit of the country, and to the welfare 

 of the laboring masses. 



4. We arraign the Republican party for its extrav- 

 agant expenditures and profligate waste of the peo- 

 ple's money ; for its corruption ; for its peculations ; 

 for its contempt of constitutional obligations ; for 

 its extortionate increase of sinecures and of the sala- 

 ries of our public officers ; for its oppressive, unjust, 

 and defective system of taxation, finance, and cur- 

 rency, which have degraded public and private mo- 

 rality and brought upon us the present depression 

 in the commercial and industrial interests of the 

 country ; for its centralization of powers and its en- 

 couragement of monopolies and corporate corrup- 

 tion ; for its continuance of incompetent and dishon- 

 est men in office; and for its general mismanagement 

 of both State and Federal Governments. 



5. We view with alarm the increase in this Com- 

 monwealth, under Republican administration, of the 

 public debt by prodigal appropriations for objects 

 not demanded by the public-interest. We denounce 

 unnecessary taxation as a great crime. We demand 

 a reduction of State expenditures, rigid economy, and 

 the utmost limitation of the practice of mortgaging 

 the industry of the future for purposes of doubtful 

 expediency. 



