COLORADO. 



109 



by the choice of James P. Maxwell as chair- 

 man. The following platform was adopted: 



The Republicans of Colorado, in convention as- 

 sembled, ao hereby declare and resolve : 



1. That the American people are one people ; that 

 the American States are a nation, the sovereignty of 

 whose Government is supreme. 



2. We demand the equality of all men before the 

 law ; that equal justice shall be done to all, and es- 

 pecial privileges conferred on none. 



3. That in the present financial condition of the 

 country and the Government, no subsidies in money, 

 bonds, public lands, endorsement, or pledges of the 

 public credit, should be granted by Congress to asso- 

 ciations or corporations engaged in private enter- 

 prises, and that strict economy is demanded in the 

 administration of public aifairs, both State and na- 

 tional. 



4. That it is the primary and sacred duty of the 

 national Government to protect and maintain every 

 citizen in all his civil, political, and public rights ; 

 and until this principle of the Constitution is cheer- 

 fully obeyed, and, if need be, vigorously enforced, 

 the work of the Republican party is unfinished. 

 The Republican party is committed to unremitting 

 efforts to secure all the legitimate beneficial results 

 of the late civil war, the sovereignty of the Union, 

 equal rights for all citizens, untrammeled suffrage, 

 and the redemption of every pledge made by the 

 Government to those who furnished the means or 

 gave their services to save the Union. 



5. That we recognize the fact that while in Colo- 

 rado, on account of its peculiar industry, labor is 

 well rewarded, and the laborer still found "worthy 

 of his hire," yet in many other sections of the coun- 

 try all branches of industry manufacturing, mechan- 

 ical, and mining are at this time greatly depressed ; 

 and we deprecate any legislation that in its nature 

 must further unsettle values and bring the labor of 

 America in competition with the ill-paid labor of the 

 Old World ; and since it is now necessary to raise a 

 large part of our national revenues by a tariff on im- 

 ports, we demand such duties on those imports as 

 shall afford the greatest protection to American labor 

 and productions, yet not be a burden on the con- 

 sumer. 



6. That the General Government should provide 

 and be responsible for honest national money, suf- 

 ficient for all the legitimate needs of the country, 

 with gold, silver, and paper equal in value, and alike 

 receivable for all debts, public and private. The in- 

 terest-bearing debt of the nation should be as soon 

 as possible reconverted into a popular loan, repre- 

 sented by small bonds, or notes within the reach of 

 every citizen. 



7. That the national honor and credit alike de- 

 mand that the national debt be held sacred, to be 

 paid as agreed upon at the time such debt was con- 

 tracted. 



8. That we approve of tho action of the Republi- 

 can Senate in attempting to make greenbacks re- 

 ceivable in payment of Government dues, and we 

 denounce the action in the Democratic House in de- 

 feating that measure. 



9. That while we demand rigid economy on the 

 part of the Government, both State and national, in 

 their expenditures, and such reduction of taxation 

 as may be consistent therewith, we denounce the 

 action of the Democratic House of Representatives 

 in withholding proper and necessary appropriations 

 under the specious cry of "economy" and u reform," 

 to the great inconvenience and detriment of the ser- 

 vice, as the veriest claptrap, conclusively proved by 

 their making good the deficits in a succeeding Con- 

 gress by deficiency bills, a piece of trickery unwor- 

 thy the legislation of a great and free country. 



10. That the arid lands of Colorado, like the 

 swamp-lands of other States, should be donated by 

 the General Government to the State, for its benefit 



and advantage, in aid of the construction of irrigat- 

 ing ditches and highways through the mineral re- 

 gions of the State. 



11. That we accept the resumption of specie pay- 

 ments as practically accomplished, and denounce 

 the fraudulent practices of the Democratic party in 

 now making war on the resumption of specie pay- 

 ments, after declaring, in 1872 and 1876, that the 

 same ought to be brought about at the earliest prac- 

 ticable period. 



12. That the army and navy of the nation have 

 earned for themselves the admiration and gratitude 

 of every true and patriotic citizen, and that they 

 should be maintained in efficiency, and in such force 

 as to protect the nation from attack without, and 

 from commotion, treason, and rebellion within; and 

 we condemn the present Democratic House in seek- 

 ing to destroy the efficiency of both, especially while 

 our brethren and their wives and children are being 

 ruthlessly murdered by savages in the northwestern 

 territory of the nation. 



13. Inasmuch as the production of gold and silver 

 constitutes one of the great industries of our country, 

 and we are largely interested in everything which 

 increases the demand therefor, we declare it to be 

 the duty of the General Government to increase the 

 coinage of the precious metals ; and especially de- 

 clare it to be the duty of Congress, without delay, 

 to establish one or more coinage mints in Colorado, 

 whereby the production of our own mines can be 

 put into circulation here, without the expense and 

 annoyance of first shipping our bullion east for coin- 

 age and then back again for use. 



14. That we view with alarm the growing tenden- 

 cy of great and powerful corporations to consolidate 

 their capital and influence, in order to shut out com- 

 petition on the great lines of trade and travel, and 

 thus leave the people at the mercy of merciless spec- 

 ulators and unscrupulous but aspiring politicians. 



15. That we also view with alarm the action of the 

 present Democratic House of Representatives in seat- 

 ing a man as a member of that body who had not re- 

 ceived, under the forms of law or otherwise, the en- 

 dorsement of the people of his district. We declare 

 the act a gross outrage upon a free people, subversive 

 of the fundamental principle of a popular govern- 

 ment ; an act done in violation of right,* justice, and 

 law, in a partisan spirit, to accomplish partisan ends, 

 and one which can not be too severely condemned 

 by every honorable man, by every patriot and every 

 lover of popular institutions. 



16. That Thomas M. Patterson, by becoming a 

 party to this great fraud and outrage perpetrated up- 

 on the people, and in accepting a seat in the House 

 at the hands of an unscrupulous and partisan majority 

 in that body to which he was in no sense entitled, 

 and against the expressed wish of the people of Colo- 

 rado, has forfeited their respect and confidence, and 

 has well earned for himself the contempt of all honor- 

 able and high-minded men. 



17. That we commend to our State government 

 our system of free schools, and all our educational 

 interests, which should be preserved, fostered, and 

 built up with a faithful care and a generous liber- 

 ality. 



18. That the legislation of the nation should be 

 such as to promote both the interests of capital and 

 labor; that we are opposed to sumptuary laws and 

 laws in the interest of any special class, and demand 

 that legislation be in the interest of the whole people. 



19. That we protest against the payment by the 

 national Government of the millions of rebel claims 

 already presented, and the billions more to be pre- 

 sented, if a precedent is once established by tho 

 payment of one dollar of these claims claims that 

 are at once illegal, presumptuous, and impudent. 



20. Lastly, we affirm our unfaltering: faith in the 

 principles, the patriotism, and the political honesty 

 of the Republican party, and in its preeminent fit- 

 ness over all other parties to administer the govern- 



