636 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



lower rate of interest should be carried forward as 

 rapidly us possible; that the strictest economy in 

 expenditures should be used and the industries of 

 the country relieved from taxation so far as honor, 

 good faith, and necessity will permit ; that the civil 

 administration should be maintained in its honesty 

 and efficiency by the executive department, whicii 

 should take the responsibility, which belongs to it, 

 of making nominations to office without dictation or 

 control from other departments of the Government, 

 and should, in the exercise of this power, use the 

 same care and good judgment, and demand the same 

 fidelity and devotion to duty, that are required in 

 the management of important business affairs ; and 

 we will certainly support every measure which shall 

 be needed to raise the civil service to the high plane 

 of honesty and efficiency demanded by the Cincin- 

 nati platform and the President's letter of accept- 

 ance. 



4. That, mindful of the condition of the industries 

 of the Commonwealth, and of the decline in the 

 values of property and in the earnings of labor and 

 capital, it is the imperative duty of the town and 

 city governments and of the State government to 

 use the strictest economy in the administration of 

 public affairs. We demand that the Legislature 

 shall make no new grants of public moneys in aid 

 of private enterprises; that the public indebtedness 

 shall not be increased; that the reduction already 

 made in the public expenditures shall be vigorously 

 continued, and such changes made therein as may 

 be for the benefit of the Commonwealth ; that the 

 system of taxation shall be so modified that each 

 person shall contribute only in proportion to what 

 he is worth, to the end that there shall be a substan- 

 tial relief from existing burdens of taxation. 



5. We commend the efficiency and integrity with 

 which all the departments of the State government 

 have been carried on, and we denounce as false the 

 charges of mismanagement made against its admin- 

 istration. Although inflation of currency has caused 

 extravagance in public and private life,'and has in- 

 fluenced legislation, without distinction of party, to 

 authorize unnecessary and unwise appropriations, 

 which ought not to be repeated, yet the State has 

 been well arid honestly governed. 



6. That the Commonwealth of Massachusetts lias 

 prospered for more than two centuries because her 

 citizens have believed that the interest of each is the 

 interest of all, and have labored together for the 

 Commonwealth ; and when this union of interest 

 and action which has endured through seasons of 

 depression and disaster ceases, her prosperity must 

 cease also. They who would foment discord by 

 falsely teaching that our community is composed of 

 hostile classes, whose interests are antagonistic, are 

 public enemies whose defeat is essential to the pub- 

 lic welfare, and should be accomplished by the united 

 efforts of all honest men. 



,7. That the success of the bold attempt to place 

 an open repudiator in the chair of this renowned 

 Comtnonwealth would be an announcement to the 

 world, for the first time in her history, that Massa- 

 chusetts wavers in her devotion to honest finance, 

 and is indifferent to the sacredness of public 

 faith. 



8. That the Eepublicans of Massachusetts will 

 keep all their pledges, and will stand by the Presi- 

 dent of the United "States in his efforts to keep his. 

 We cordially commend the purposes and integrity 

 of his administration ; his firmness in resisting to 

 the limit of his constitutional power all attempts to 

 depreciate the currency or to violate the plighted 

 faith of the nation; and his constant endeavors to 

 promote the restoration of good will and of social 

 and commercial intercourse between the citizens ot 

 all parts of the country. 



9. That we confidently recommend to the people 

 of Massachusetts the nominees of this Convention, 

 as men whose character and 'ability are a guarantee 



that they will -wisely, prudently, and efficiently ad- 

 minister the government of the Commonwealth. 



The Democrats who adjourned from Wor- 

 cester assembled in Convention at Faneuil 

 Hall, Boston, on September 25th. It was said 

 that 304 towns were represented. The Con- 

 vention was organized by the appointment of 

 James S. Whitney as President, and other offi- 

 cers. The following nominations were made : 

 Governor, Josiah G. Abbott ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, William E. Plunkett ; Secretary of State, 

 Henry C. Ewing ; Treasurer and Receiver- Gen- 

 eral, David N". Skillings; Auditor, John E. Fitz- 

 gerald ; Attorney-General, Richard Olney. The 

 following platform was adopted: 



The Democrats of Massachusetts, through their 

 delegates assembled in Convention in Faneuil Hall, 

 declare that the national Democratic party is the 

 party of the people and the Constitution ; that the 

 purpose of its existence and the bond of its unity 

 consist in its devotion to the principle of restricting 

 and localizing the powers of government in State 

 and nation. Applying that rule to the present po- 

 litical questions in which our people are interested, 

 we resolve : 



1. That the conduct and policy of the Eepublican 

 party throughout the United States have had a con- 

 stant tendency to centralize the powers of govern- 

 ment in Washington. That party has disregarded 

 the admitted rights of the State and of the people 

 until, in a final act of usurpation, it has defrauded 

 both State and people of their constitutionally elected 

 Chief Magistrate, and imposed upon the country as 

 President a man whose only title to the office is de- 

 rived through legislation agreed to by Democratic 

 members of Congress and assented to by the people 

 in times of peace, and in the belief that a solemnly 

 constituted tribunal appointed to carry out the law 

 would, without regard to party, render a decision in 

 accordance with the facts as ascertained by judicial 

 investigation. 



2. That the Eepublicans of Massachusetts, ly 

 their failure to condemn the plot to capture tLe 

 Presidency, while that plot was in process of accom- 

 plishment, and by their tacit approval of the result 

 of it, and sharing in the benefit derived from that 

 result, have shown themselves utterly unfaithful to 

 the maxims of our own State Constitution, and are 

 not entitled to call upon any Democrat or indepen- 

 dent citizen to act with their party or vote for their 

 candidates. 



3. That the disregard of the just limitations of 

 the powers of the Government by the Eepublican 

 party is shown both in the Federal and State Gov- 

 ernments. The people have been taxed beyond 

 measure to provide funds for carrying on enterprises 

 in which Government can not rightfully embark. 

 Both the nation and State have been made the tools 

 of private enterprises, and Congress and Legisla- 

 tures have shaped their laws to meet the demands 

 thereof. Against this perversion of the public funds, 

 this concentration of capital and power in the hands 

 of a few, the Democracy of Massachusetts have" for 

 years protested ; and we may point with pride to the 

 fact that whatever progress has been made in staying 

 corruption and extravagance and retrenching the 

 expenses of the Government has been largely due 

 to the efforts of Democrats in Congress and the 

 Legislature. 



4. The scheme invented and carried into effect by 

 the Eepublican party of providing a paper currency 

 not redeemable in coin, and compelling the people 

 to receive the same in payment of debts, is without 

 the authority of the Constitution. Congress has no 

 power to make anything unless it be gold and silver 

 a legal tender. Whatever power it may have to au- 



