MINNESOTA. 



631 



lions which in all respects would prove beneficial. At the East by the present system of protection, is an in- 

 tho same time MX- demand that every constitutional tolerable burden and a gross injustice. We demand as 



means bo exerted to maintain that liU-rty and security 

 throughout the South which all citizens are entitled to 

 under the (.Jovi-rnnu-iit. 



8. We U'lluTc to the advanced position heretofore 

 taken by tho Republican party in favor of civil-service 

 reform. A true reform of the civil service should 

 amon other benefits lead to a reduction in the num- 

 ber of offices u;ul promote economy. Any important 

 measure of civil-service reform in order to be effective 

 Bhoul.l 1)0 put into tho form of law^and not be left sub- 

 ject to annulment by mere executive authority. 



4. We demand retrenchment wherever practicable, 

 and the strictest economy coasistcnt with wise admin- 

 istration in every department of the national and 

 State governments. Without abindoning a just poli- 

 cy of protection, wo nevertheless believe the time has 

 come when some reduction should bo made in tho 

 fcvritf, especially in the duties on clothing, on books, 

 and on such other articles as enter into industrial ana 

 household economy. 



6. Tho Republican party sots its face absolutely 

 against everything that savors of monopoly, and it 

 will always use every possible constitutional means to 

 protect tno people against unjust discriminations and 

 combinations by railroad or other corporations. 



6. Whereas the duty on wheat-flour exported from 

 the United States into Cuba is at the enormous rate of 

 six dollars and twelve cents a barrel, and the restric- 

 tions both in tho ports of Cuba and Mexico bear very 

 heavily on the products of the Mississippi Valley, we 

 would therefore request our Senators ana Representa- 

 tives in Congress to use their best efforts to procure an 

 amelioration of our commercial relations with Cuba 

 and Mexico. 



7. Our thanks are hereby tendered to the Senators 

 and Representatives of Minnesota for their successful 

 efforts in obtaining appropriations for improving our 

 lake and river navigation. 



8. We will generously cooperate with our fellow 

 citizens, without distinction ot party, in securing tho 

 shortest and cheapest route for transportation to the 

 seaboard. 



9. The prudence, efficiency, and practical sagacity in 

 tho management of State affairs by the administration 

 of Governor John S. Pillsbury deserve the continued 

 confidence of the people. 



The Democratic State Convention assem- 

 bled at St. Paul on September 26th. John B. 

 Brisbin was chosen chairman, and the follow- 

 ing nominations were made : For Governor, 

 Edmund Rico, Sr. ; for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 E. P. Barnum ; for Secretary of State, Felix 

 A. Borer; for State Treasurer, Lyman E. Cow- 

 dery ; for Attorney-General, P. M. Babcock ; 

 for Railroad Commissioner, William Colville. 

 The following platform was adopted : 



We, tho Democracy of Minnesota, in convention as- 

 sembled, pledge ourselves to the support of the follow- 

 ing principles of public policy : 



1. The United States is an indissoluble union of in- 

 destructible States: the Federal Government is su- 

 preme within the limits defined by the Constitution 

 and its amendments ; the powers not thereby conferred 

 upon it nor prohibited to the States are reserved to the 

 States respectively or to tho people ; the preservation 

 in their separate integrity of tho just powers of tho 

 Union and of tho States as part of an harmonious 

 whole ; the maintenance of national authority and of 

 local self-government as well is essential to tho per- 

 petuity of our free institutions ; and we shall resist nil 

 attempts to dismember the Union by nullification or 

 secession, or to extinguish the States by centralization 

 or usurpation, as alike unconstitutional, revolutionary, 

 and treasonable. 



2. The enormous tribute which tho producers of 

 tho West are compelled to pay to the monopolists of 



a right that our people shall be allowed to buy and sell 

 hi the markets of the world untrammcled by vexatious 

 and oppressive tariffs. We favor the speedy estab- 

 lishment of free trade as the permanent commercial 

 policy of this country. 



8. We demand the thorough revision of our patent 

 laws, to the end that the innocent purchasers of manu- 

 factured articles, using the same in good faith, shall 

 be protected from harassing and oppressive suits for 

 the infringement of patent rights. 



4. We hold that gold and silver coin is tho money 

 of the Constitution ; that all paper currency should at 

 all times be redeemable hi coin at tho option of the 

 holder, and the volume thereof should be regulated by 

 the business wonte of the country : that we favor the 

 unlimited coinage of silver coin and its immediate res- 

 toration to its original place as money, the same as 

 gold. 



5. We favor a genuine reform in the civil service of 

 tho country to the end that honesty and efficiency 

 shall alone be the tests of public employment. Such 

 a reform, to be permanent, should not only be put into 

 the form of law, but should also include the abolish- 

 ment of superfluous offices, and such a wholesome re- 

 duction of salaries that the expenses of partisan cam- 

 paigns can not be paid out of the public funds by the 

 indirect method of political assessments upon official 

 incomes. 



6. We hold to the old Democratic maxim, that that 

 government is best which governs least which be- 

 stows upon the citizen tho greatest personal liberty 

 consistent with tho public peace and welfare, and, 

 while it affords full protection to life and property, 

 leaves the creeds, habits, customs, and business of the 

 people unfettered by sumptuary laws, class-legislation, 

 or extortionate monopolies. 



7. We demand a free ballot and an honest count of 

 the votes cast at an election as the inalienable right of 

 American citizens. The presence of armed troops at 

 the polls upon election day, and of partisan officials 

 clothed with arbitrary power to intimidate, arrest, and 

 imprison voters without legal process, is intolerable 

 in a free country, a direct clow to the rights of all 

 adopted citizens, and suited only to the schemes of a 

 desperate party determined to maintain its political 

 power at all hazards. Never again by fraud or force 

 shall the will of the people constitutionally expressed 

 be nullified by treasonable conspiracy of unscrupulous 

 partisans. 



Resolved, That the enormous expense attending tho 

 administration of the State government by the Repub- 

 lican party demands the most serious consideration of 

 all thoughtful citizens and patriotic men, and that the 

 policy established by that party which has rendered it 

 necessary, in the administration of the State govern- 

 ment ana the maintenance of the public credit, to 

 wring frdln the hands of the struggling settlers and 

 producers of our frontier State more than one million 

 of dollars annually, for the purpose of governing less 

 than one million of tho most orderly and law-abiding 

 people on earth, is unsound and cruel, and should re- 

 ceive at the ballot-box such a rebuke as will prevent all 

 political parties hereafter from any attempt to repeat 

 the outrage. 



We demand that tho railroads which the people have 

 chartered and endowed with vast and profitable privi- 

 leges, shall be operated for their benefit and not for 

 their ruin. And we affirm it to bo of the first impor- 

 tance, that the office of Railroad Commissioner in this 

 Stato should no longer be a political sinecure, but 

 should be intrusted to a man of unchallenged capacity, 

 who is allied to tho interests of tho people. Thnt 

 while we fully recognize and respect all the rights and 

 privileges legally pertaining to the railroad and eleva- 

 tor corporations of this State, and would discourage 

 any causeless or unnecessary agitation thereof, we 

 nevertheless believe the time nas come when the doc- 

 trine of the sovereignty of tho people over corpora- 

 tions, as expounded by the Supreme Court or the 



