NEW YORK. 



607 



by the convention, with the cheerful acqui- 

 escence of the factions concerned. The report 

 of the committee, which was submitted on the 

 morning of the second day of the convention, 

 recognized the County Democracy as the regu- 

 delegation ; but, with the view to success 

 the party at the polls and for the purpose 

 securing entire harmony, recommended that 

 the County Democracy be allowed 38 dele- 

 gates, Tammany Hall 24, and Irving Hall 10. 

 The following platform was adopted : 

 The Democracy of New York, in convention assem- 

 bled, declare : 



1. Whereas, The country is again subjected, by Re- 

 publican maladministration, to the evils and abuses 

 which afflicted it in 1874, we reaffirm the principles of 

 our platform that year, under which the Republican 

 party was driven from power and the government of 

 the State brought back, for a time, to the practice of 

 economy and honesty. 



2. We arraign the Republican majority in Congress 

 for culpable failure to reduce the amount of taxation 

 to a sum sufficient only for the legitimate require- 

 ments of the Government, under an honest and frugal 

 administration ; and we favor such tariff and fiscal 

 reforms as shall relieve an overtaxed people from all 

 unnecessary burdens, and prevent the accumulation 

 of a fund to be lavished in profligate legislation, and 

 in support of a horde of useless and idle placemen. 

 In particular, we proclaim our condemnation of the 

 River and Harbor Bill, in which, by the multiplica- 

 tion and mutual support of obnoxious provisions, the 

 infamous measure purchases its passage through Con- 

 gress in disregard of the limitations of the Constitu- 

 tion, and to the depravation of public morals. 



3. In the nomination of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury for Governor of New York, by which, in effect, 

 the candidate for the chief magistracy of the State 

 was appointed by the President, we see a fresh and 

 impressive proof of the dangerous power of public 

 patronage, and, urged by this alarming spectacle, we 

 protest against Federal intervention in State elections, 

 and repeat our demand of 1881 for reform and purifi- 

 cation of the civil service ; and we are further admon- 

 ished by the recent experience of Republican corrup- 

 tion of the necessity of forbidding, by penal enact- 

 ment, the levying of black-mail from dependent office- 

 holders to promote the interests of the party, which 

 finds no support in the intelligent and independent 

 convictions of the people. 



4. We hold the present Republican Administration 

 responsible for the unredressed outrages on our for- 

 eign-born fellow-citizens, and we demand for them, 

 when abroad, the protection to which they are entitled 

 in return for the voluntary allegiance which the honor 

 of the American Government requires shall be ex- 

 tended to them. 



5. We charge that in this State the Republican 

 party has lowered the standard of public service by 

 its local administration, and by the representatives it 

 has sent to the two Houses of Congress. That it has 

 made the State Legislature an instrument of the lobby 

 to rob the public and enrich corporations, and has re- 

 fused to its Governor the renommation which was due 

 to him by custom, because he dared to use his veto- 

 power to thwart such purpose, in disregard of those 

 who sought to control him by the influence of political 

 and moneyed power. 



6. We demand the restoration of the New York 

 State National Guard to the efficiency of which it has 

 been deprived, and which made it representative of 

 the soldierly spirit of the people. 



7. In order to restore our merchant marine to its 

 former prosperity, we demand the immediate revision 

 and amendment of the laws relating to the shipping 

 and carriage of ocean-freights. 



8. We favor the adoption, by the next Legislature, 

 of the resolution of 1882, providing amendments to 



the Constitution for the local self-government of 

 cities. 



9. Primary elections, openly and honestly conduct- 

 ed, afford the surest means of securing the most suit- 

 able candidates for public office, thus best preserving 

 the democratic form of government. We, therefore, 

 favor the speedy passage of general laws providing 

 against fraud and intimidation at such election. 



10. The public welfare demands that the various 

 questions relating to chartered monopolies and meth- 

 ods of transportation should be met and decided, 

 and we are in favor of the adoption of measures to 

 restrict the growing power of such monopolies. They 

 should be subjected to the strict supervision of the 

 commission now provided by law. All unjust dis- 

 criminations in the transportation of passengers and 

 merchandise should be prohibited. The charges of 

 corporations, which have taken the property of private 

 citizens for public use, should be limited to the cost 

 of the service, with a reasonable profit, instead of the 

 mercenary exaction of " all the traffic will bear." 

 The laws should be so revised that taxation may be 

 reduced, as far as possible, and that personal and cor- 

 porate property may severally pay their fair propor- 

 tion of the taxes. 



11. We approve the submission to the vote of the 

 people of the constitutional amendment in favor of 

 free canals, and we have full confidence that they will 

 dispose of it in such a manner as to promote all the 

 great interests of the State, agricultural, manufactur- 

 ing, and commercial. 



12. We reaffirm the policy always maintained by 

 the Democratic party, that it is of the first importance 

 that labor should be made free, healthful, and secure 

 of just remuneration. That convict-labor should not 

 come into competition with the industry of law-abid- 

 ing citizens. That the labor of children should be 

 surrounded with such safeguards as their health, their 

 rights of education, and their future, as useful mem- 

 bers of the community, demand. That workshops, 

 whether large or small* should be under such sanitary 

 control as will insure the health and comfort of the 

 employed, and will protect all against unwholesome 

 labor and surroundings. That labor ^shall have the 

 same right as capital to combine for its own protec- 

 tion, and that all legislation which cramps industry, 

 or which enables the powerful to oppress the weak, 

 should be repealed ; and, to promote the interests of 

 labor, we recommend the collection of statistics and 

 information respecting the improvements, needs, and 

 abuses of the various branches of industry. 



13. Whereas the founders of the Democratic party 

 inculcated frequent recurrence to fundamental prin- 

 ciples, the Democracy of New York again avow their 

 fidelity and respect for the liberty of the individual, 

 which characterized the administration of the Govern- 

 ment in the primitive days of the republic. 



The first choice for a candidate for Governor 

 was greatly divided, and the following was the 

 result of the first ballot : 



Whole number of votes cast 884 



Necessary to a choice J 



Henry W. Slocum 



Roswell P. Flower 9 J 



Grover Cleveland J> 



Allan Campbell T 



Erastus Corning * 



Homer A. Nelson f 



Waldo Hutchins * 



Perry Belmont * 



On the second ballot, Slocum and Flower had 

 123 votes each, and Cleveland only 71 ; but it 

 was evident that a break in the forces was im- 

 pending. The third ballot was taken amid 

 much excitement, and resulted as follows : 



Whole number of votes cast 382 



Necessary to a choice . 



Grover Clevt 



211 



H enry W . Slocum". ".'.'.'.'.'. 1BJJ 



Eoswell P. Flower 10 



