INDIANA. 



443 



pecanoe County. The following platform was 

 adopted : 



The Republicans of Indiana, in convention assem- 

 bled, make the following declaration of principles : 



The maintenance of the great principles of the Ee- 

 publican party is essential to the peace, permanency 

 and prosperity of the nation ; the right of the people 

 to meet together and discuss grievances to be jealously 

 guarded and maintained, but determined opposition 

 to lawlessness, or to any resort to force and violence, 

 as subversive of the public peace, injurious to public 

 morals, and destructive to the rights and interests of 

 all classes ; equal rights before the law, and equal 

 protection under the law, without regard to race, 

 creed, condition, or occupation ; no exclusive privi- 

 leges to individuals or classes ; opposition to all sub- 

 sidies, national, State, county, or municipal; the 

 common-school system to be cherished and perfect- 

 ed, and to that end the school fund should not be 

 diverted to sectarian purposes; rigid economy in all 

 expenditures, national, State, county, and municipal ; 

 a just limitation upon taxes for State, county, town- 

 ship, and municipal purposes ; opposition to any 

 increase of municipal indebtedness ; strict account- 

 ability on the part of all public officers ; just reduc- 

 tion and equalization of all fees and salai-ies ; such 

 legislation as will secure to all persons laboring for 

 and furnishing supplies to railroad and other cor- 

 porations, full payment for their labor and material ; 

 an increased exemption of property from execution, 

 and a liberal homestead law ; such legislation as will 

 protect the lives and secure the comfort of miners 

 and other laborers employed in hazardous occupa- 

 tions; a constitutional amendment providing for 

 strict registration and election laws; full commen- 

 dation of and sympathy with all efforts for personal 

 reformation ; American industries to be encouraged 

 and fostered by such legislation as will develop the 

 material resources of the country and give full mea- 

 sure of employment and reward to labor ; opposition 

 to repudiation in all its forms; the honor and credit 

 of the nation to be maintained in every contingency ; 

 no abandonment of greenbacks or depreciation of 

 greenback currency ; a sound and stable currency of 

 gold, silver, and paper of the same value ; national 

 legislation authorizing the receipt of greenbacks at 

 par in payment of customs and in purchase of Gov- 

 ernment bonds ; opposition to further financial agi- 

 tation, stability in our finance system being essential 

 to business prosperity ; Union soldiers are entitled 

 to all honor, and their displacement and the sub- 

 stitution of rebel soldiers as employees by the nation- 

 al House of Representatives should be condemned by 

 every patriotic citizen ; opposition to the payment 

 of Southern claims arising out of the rebellion. 



We denounce the action of the Democratic House 

 of Representatives in demanding payment of over 

 $200,000,000 of rebel claims as a conspiracy against 

 the Government, less open but not less dangerous 

 than armed rebellion. 



We denounce the Democrats in the House of Rep- 

 resentatives for their lawless action in unseating 

 Republican Representatives fairly and legally elect- 

 ed, and in giving their places to their partisans, 

 regardless of the right of election by the people. 



The leaders of the Democratic party are seeking 

 to make it a revolutionary party. They will not 

 submit to the repose of the country or leave the 

 people to their peaceful pursuits so long as they have 

 hope of profit by agitation, and no law or public 

 measure is so sacred that they will not violate it to 

 obtain a party advantage. 



The cry of fraud in reference to the last Presiden- 

 tial election is a disguise to conceal the illegal and for- 

 cible means by which voters in Southern States were 

 intimidated, and thousands in all the States were 

 sought to be corrupted; and the unblushing man- 

 ner in which the leaders of the Democratic party 

 undertook to buy the votes of Presidential electors 



with money proves them unworthy of public con- 

 fidence. The denial of the title of President Hayes 

 is an act of party desperation, and the attempt to 

 oust him is revolutionary resistance to law, which, 

 if not condemned by the people, will furnish a pre- 

 cedent by which any defeated party may issue its 

 declaration in opposition to law, rally its supporters 

 to acts of violence, plunge the country into anarchy, 

 and thus Mexicanize and destroy our institutions. 

 The Electoral Commission was constitutionally cre- 

 ated by the act and consent of the Democratic party 

 in Congress, and its decision, subsequently con- 

 firmed by Congress, was final and conclusive upon 

 every department of this Government. There can 

 be no appeal from it except by revolution. Its de- 

 cision makes the title of President Hayes equal to 

 that of any former President, and we recognize in 

 his personal integrity, as well as in the general 

 course of his administration, the guarantee that he 

 will conduct the Government so as to preserve the 

 honor and promote the happiness of the whole coun- 

 try. We solemnly pledge ourselves to support and 

 maintain President Hayes and the lawfully consti- 

 tuted authorities of the Government in resisting 

 revolution. 



At this, the first opportunity presented to the Re- 

 publicans of Indiana, in this capacity, we desire to 

 place on the permanent records of the party a trib- 

 ute of our high appreciation of the character and 

 services of Oliver P. Morton. What he has done 

 for his country and State is now history. We can 

 never forget his intrepid leadership and his unselfish 

 devotion to the public weal. The people of Indiana 

 must ever regard and cherish the memory of him 

 whose name and fame are now the common heritage 

 of the nation. 



The result of the election for members of 

 Congress was as follows : 



In 1876 the Representatives elected were 9 

 Republicans and 4 Democrats. In 1878 the 

 Representatives elected were 7 Republicans and 

 6 Democrats ; of the latter, 2 are Nationals 

 also. 



The vote for State officers was as follows: 

 Secretary of State Shanklin, Democrat, 194,- 

 770 ; Moore, Republican, 180,557 ; James, 

 National, 39,415. Auditor of State Manson, 

 Democrat, 194,834 ; Miller, Republican, 180,- 

 718 ; Bird, National, 38,021. State Treasurer 

 Fleming, Democrat. 194,143 ; Herriott, Re- 

 publican, 180,574; Main, National, 39,451. 

 Attorney-General Woollen, Democrat, 194,- 

 752 ; Baldwin, Republican, 180,291 ; Gregory, 

 National, 38,267. Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction Smart, Democrat, 195,805 ; Mer- 



