OREGON. 



609 



the members of the convention were deputies 

 of the national Parliament, members of the 

 bar, priests, literary men, and numerous rep- 

 resentatives of the working classes. The move- 

 ment at this time was confined to Southern 

 Italy, having societies in Naples, Salerno, 

 Foggia, Bari, Palermo, Messina, Syracuse, and 

 many other towns. 



In France, Abbe" Michaud continued to dis- 

 play a great literary activity in behalf of an 

 Old Catholic movement ; but no practical re- 

 sults were attained. 



OREGON. The most important public 

 movements in this State during 1875 had 

 reference to the 'congressional election. Not 

 fewer than four parties were in the field with 

 their candidates. The Democratic State Con- 

 vention, held in Salem, July 29th-30th, nomi- 

 nated L. F. Lane, and adopted the following 

 resolutions : 



The Democratic party of Oregon, in State Con- 

 vention assembled, proclaim the following propo- 

 sitions of political faith and action : 



1. Unfaltering devotion to the cardinal principles 

 of republican government, as declared and put into 

 practical operation by the fathers of the republic. 



2. The preservation of the General Government in 

 the proper exercise of the powers delegated to it in 

 the Constitution, carefully and strictly construed, 

 and the maintenance, inviolate of the several States 

 of the Union in all their rights, dignity, and equal- 

 ity, as the most competent and reliable administra- 

 tion of their own domestic concerns, and the surest 

 bulwark against the tendency toward a centralized 

 despotism. 



3. Opposition to aggressions by either department 

 of the Government upon the functions of any other, 

 and to the exercise by Federal authority of any of the 

 rights or powers reserved by the Constitution to the 

 States respectively, or to the people. 



4. That every attempt on the part of the Federal 

 Government to exercise any powers not delegated 

 to it, and especially every interference by the Gov- 

 ernment, or any ot its departments, with the local 

 aifairs of any State, or with the rights of the people 

 thereof to choose their own representatives, is an 

 act of usurpation which should be repudiated and 

 condemned by every friend of constitutional liberty. 



5. We demand retrenchment, reform, and the most 

 rigid economy in the administration of every de- 

 partment of the Government ; the honest payment 

 of the debts, the sacred preservation of the public 

 faith; strict accountability of all officers, and the 

 speedy and impartial arraignment of all abuses of 

 public trust before the tribunals of justice ; a zeal- 

 ous care of the rights of election by the people ; the 

 absolute subordination of the military to the civil 

 authority. The equal and impartial administration 

 of the laws, and the protection of the rights of all ; 

 freedom of religion, of the press, and of the person, 

 under protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by 

 juries impartially selected. 



6. We protest against the burdens of a protective 

 tariff, as needless 'exactions from a people already 

 intolerably oppressed by a national debt, and we 

 insist that the tariff be so regulated as to provide 

 only sufficient revenue for an economical adminis- 

 tration of the Government, and not for the purpose 

 of enriching the few at the expense of the many, 

 or fostering one branch of industry to the detriment 

 of another. 



T. That the precious metals are the only basis of 

 commercial values ; that an irredeemable paper cur- 

 rency is a national curse, and we insist upon the 

 speedy return by the national Government to specie 

 payments. 



VOL. xv. 39 A 



8. The institution of the system of national banks 

 was a fraud upon the country and an injustice upon 

 the laboring classes, and we demand such prudent 

 legislation as will gradually bring this vicious sys- 

 tem to a close ; that all currency which may be 

 issued shall be convertible into coin upon demand, 

 and be issued directly by the Government. 



9. That the treaty between the United States and 

 China shall be so modified as to apply solely to com- 

 mercial relations. 



10. That we condemn the party in power, not 

 only for its contempt of constitutional obligations, 

 but for extravagant, partisan, and corrupt adminis- 

 tration of the Federal Government ; for its reckless 

 expenditure and profligate waste of the people's 

 money^ ; for its oppressive, unjust and defective sys- 

 tem of finance and taxation ; for the perversion of 

 the functions of the General Government to enrich 

 the great corporations at the expense of the people; 

 for the jobbery and frauds which have brought re- 

 proach upon democratic institutions ; for the iniqui- 

 ties of the protective system ; for the curse of an in- 

 convertible paper-money ; for its disgraceful diplo- 

 matic service and unfit appointments and continu- 

 ance in office of incompetent and corrupt men at 

 home and abroad ; for its attempt to pass an uncon- 

 stitutional force bill, and for a catalogue of other 

 enormities which have rendered that organization 

 offensive to and subversive of the liberties of a free 

 people. 



11. That corporations are the creatures of law ; 

 their functions and privileges are granted to sub- 

 serve the public interests j and when they are not 

 used for the object of their creation, but for pur- 

 poses of oppression and extortion, we declare it to 

 be the right and duty of the legislative power to 

 regulate and control such corporations for the pub- 

 lic good. 



12. That we disapprove all measures in the interest 

 of monopolies against labor, and therefore we ap- 

 prove of the declared principles and sympathize with 

 the avowed objects of the order known as the Pa- 

 trons of Husbandry, and with those of all other or- 

 ders having for their object retrenchment and re- 

 form in public affairs and' the social advancement of 

 the people. 



13. That we are in favor of laboring to secure ju- 

 dicious appropriations from Congress for the pur- 

 pose of improving our harbors along the western 

 and northern boundaries of our State, and we de- 

 mand that our Eepresentatives in Congress shall use 

 their best efforts to secure the aid' of the General 

 Government for the free navigation and improve- 

 ment of the Columbia Eiver, by the construction of 

 locks at the Cascades ; the improvement of the Wal- 

 larnet and Coquille Rivers ; the construction of the 

 Portland, Dalles & Salt Lake, and Winnemucca 

 Railroads, and the early completion of the Oregon 

 & California Railroad from Roseburg to the State 

 line. 



14. That the policy of the Republican party in 

 dealing with the Indian tribes is impolitic and un- 

 wise ; that the time has arrived when the few In- 

 dians now occupying the Urnatilla, Grand Ronde, 

 and Siletz reservations should be removed to some 

 other locality, and thus he opened up to settlement by 

 the whites some of the richest portions of the State. 



15. That we invite the hearty cooperation of all 

 persons, whatever may have been their past politi- 

 cal affinities, to unite with us in carrying out the 

 principles herein enunciated. 



The Independent State Convention was as- 

 sembled in Salem, August 10th, and nomi- 

 nated for Congress George M. Whitney, of 

 Lane. The platform adopted was as follows : 



Resolved, .1. That there is just cause for alarm in 

 the extravagance and profligacy prevalent in our 

 government both State and national administra- 

 tions ; and we congratulate the people of this State 



