MICHIGAN. 



561 



the Commonwealth, and the maintenance of public 

 fuith. 



Bewlveii, That while we entertain an undoubting 

 f.dth that in the honest judgment of mankind the 

 past record of the Republican party will furnish, 

 both in its patriotism and achievements, some of 

 the most illustrious pages in our national history, 

 we pledge to the future an unfaltering fidelity to the 

 just and humane principles which in time of great 

 public extremity inspired and created it. We recog- 

 nize among the sacred obligations of a Government 

 founded on these principles the duty of securing to 

 all citizens a free and untrammeled exercise of the 

 right of suffrage, and of protecting every man and 

 woman from whom it claims allegiance in the peace- 

 ful pursuit of an honest life by every Legitimate means 

 within its reach. 



Resolved, That we congratulate our fellow citizens 

 on the unmistakable evidence, apparent in BO many 

 directions, that the business interests of the country 

 are recovering from the long depression brought on 

 by overtrading and excessive speculation, and on 

 the certainty that this recovery is to be made en- 

 during by the resumption of specie payments, now 

 happily within immediate reach, and certain to be 

 accomplished without a shock either to industry or 

 commerce ; that in financial as in other matters the 

 world is governed too much, and the pressing need 

 of the time is stability upon which to build confi- 

 dence, allowing the natural laws of trade to assume 

 their healthful operation ; and that, in common with 

 the best intelligence of all parties, we rejoice in the 

 early adjournment of Congress and the respite it will 

 afford from the reckless and mischievous schemes of 

 ignorant legislators made formidable by the despot- 

 ism of a caucus. We denounce repudiation in every 

 disguise. We regard the plighted faith of a commu- 

 nity as binding upon all its members, and failure to 

 fulfill a public obligation as a stain upon both public 

 and private honor. We insist that the debts of the 

 nation shall be paid with the same fairness and in- 

 tegrity with which the honest man seeks to pay his 

 individual debts. We assert that no prosperity can 

 be real or durable that is founded on a fictitious stand- 

 ard ; that the value of paper currency, whether Is- 

 sued by the Government or banks, is derived from 

 its promise to pay and the credit that promise is 

 worth ; that the full benefits of such currency can not 

 be realized unless it is convertible on demand into 

 gold and silver ; that a circulation of paper and coin, 

 interchangeable at par and at the will of the holder, 

 has been proved by experience to be the best known 

 to commerce ; that this country is too great to sub- 

 mit to a subordinate place among commercial nations, 

 and its people too honest to be content with unre- 

 deemed and irredeemable promises ; and in the name 

 of all the producing classes, and every honest work- 

 ingman, we demand a currency that is not only worth 

 its face value all over the Union, but will command 

 respect, recognition, and its full value in every mar- 

 ket of the world. 



Resolved, That we view with apprehension the 

 spread of the opinions and the growth of the senti- 

 ments embodied and proclaimed in the platforms, 

 resolutions, publications, and speeches of the so- 

 called National Greenback party, and the various 

 socialistic and communistic organizations and their 

 advocates throughout the land, which, if adopted as 

 the policy of the Government, must bring disaster 

 and ruin to business, discredit and dishonor to the 

 nation, and tend in a high degree to subvert many 

 of those principles which we regard as fundamental 

 to the structure and support of free government ; 

 and the Republican party will meet all these doc- 

 trines and tendencies with most prompt, vigorous, 

 and uncompromising opposition. 



Resolved, That the question of the election of the 

 present incumbents to the offices of President and 

 Vice-President was finally settled by the Forty-fourth 

 Congress, and that any attempt to reopen it on any 



VOL. xvin. 36 A 



pretense whatever is fraught with danger to repub- 

 lican institutions ; and the Republicans of this State 

 will maintain with inflexible firmness their right to 

 exercise the functions of their respective offices until 

 terminated in a constitutional manner. 



Resolved, That the administration of Governor 

 Croswell has been prudent, wise, economical, and 

 honest, and that he is entitled to the cordial respect 

 and confidence of the people of Michigan. 



The Democratic State Convention was held 

 at Detroit July 10th, when the following tick- 

 et was nominated : For Governor, Orlando M. 

 Barnes ; for Lieutenant-Governor, A. P. Swine- 

 ford ; for Treasurer, Alexander McFarlan ; for 

 Secretary of State, George H. Murdock; for 

 Auditor, W. J. B. Schermerhorn ; for Commis- 

 sioner of the State Land Office, George H. 

 Lord ; for Attorney-General, A. B. Morse ; 

 for Superintendent of Public Instruction, F. 

 Triesdale. The following resolutions were 

 adopted : 



The Democratic party of the State of Michigan, 

 in Convention assembled, renewing its fidelity to its 

 time-honored principles, standing for a sacred pres- 

 ervation of the national credit and the nation's faith, 

 for the Constitution and the laws, and for the great 

 truth that this is a Government of the people, where 

 the will of the people should rule, does hereby de- 

 clare : 



1. That we arraign the Republican party for its cor- 

 ruption in office, its unwise legislation, and its wick- 

 ed perversion of the people's will as expressed at the 

 polls. It has squandered public funds and lands and 

 corrupted the body politic; it has placed men in of- 

 fice who are dishonest and incapable, and have used 

 their positions as private perquisites; it has legis- 

 lated for the rich and oppressed the poor, and has 

 created gigantic monopolies ; it has burdened each 

 town and city with debt and taxation, and driven 

 them to the verge of bankruptcy; it has driven our 

 commerce from the sea and destroyed our once pow- 

 erful navy, and it completed its career of crime and 

 dishonor'by stealing the Presidency from the people 

 and placing a fraud in the Presidential chair. 



2. We endorse the investigation of the electoral 

 frauds, to the end that the truth of history be vindi- 

 cated and a repetition of such crimes prevented. 



8. We declare that gold and silver coin are the 

 money of the Constitution, and that all paper money 

 should be convertible into such coin at the will of 

 the holder. We are opposed to further forcible re- 

 duction of the volume of currency, and we affirm the 

 action of Congress prohibiting such reduction. We 

 declare that the prostrate condition of the business 

 interests of the country imperatively demands that 

 taxation, both Stats and national, shall be reduced 

 to the lowest point consistent with the attainment 

 of the objects tor which such taxes shall be levied, 

 and that economy shall be practiced in every depart- 

 ment of the Government. We congratulate the coun- 

 try upon a reduction of over $50,000,000 in the na- 

 tional expenditures during the last four years, and 

 which result was secured by the Democratic House 

 of Representatives. 



A Prohibitionist State Convention was held 

 at Detroit August 14th, when Watson Snyder 

 was nominated for Governor, J. W. McKeever 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, Traverse Phillips for 

 Secretary of State, D. W. Stone for Treasurer, 

 E. G. Fuller for Attorney - General, Samuel 

 Decker for Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, William G. Brown for Commissioner of 

 the Land Office, and L, L. Farnsworth for Au- 

 ditor. 



