684 



NEW YORK (STATE). 



gent governmental expenditures, the reduction of the 

 public debt and interest charges, and the relieving ot 

 the people from unnecessary burdens, accomplished 

 by Republican management. 



Its approval of that policy of protecting home in- 

 dustry from foreign competition which has, through 

 a century of national being, encouraged immigration, 

 rewarded labor, fostered enterprise, and assured un- 

 paralleled progress and prosperity, all variations from 

 which policy have been the occasion of business con- 

 fusion and disaster, and which, therefore, is alike 

 justified in intelligence and by experience. 



Its purpose that equal civil rights shall be main- 

 tained under the guarantees of the Constitution 

 everywhere in the land, and that the franchise shall 

 be respected so that every voter shall have a free bal- 

 lot which shall be honestly counted. 



Its recognition of the national obligation imposed 

 by the enfranchisement of an uneducated race, its 

 appreciation of the extraordinary burdens thus laid 

 upon certain Commonwealths, and its cordial ap- 

 proval of legislation within just constitutional limits 

 which shall extend Federal aid to the various States 

 in the work of education. 



Its wish for the removal of all unjust restrictions 

 upon American shipping interests, the development 

 of our maritime industries, and, as incidental thereto, 

 the establishment of our navy upon a footing in keep- 

 ing with modern necessities and our dignity as a na- 

 tion. 



Its adherence to a sound financial policy which 

 dictates the immediate suspension of the coinage of 

 the standard silver dollar, the retirement of the trade- 

 dollar, and the inflexible adjustment of the currency 

 to the single standard of gold. 



Its protestation against that policy in Congress 

 which, in the weakness and imbecility of the Demo- 

 cratic majority of the House of Representatives, has 

 disturbed the smooth and satisfactory courses of busi- 

 ness and material aifairs that had been established 

 under Republican auspices, and that by ill-advised 

 and inexcusable assaults upon wisely matured and 

 advantageous legislation has brought the business 

 and the^ industries of the country to the verge of un- 

 certainty and distrust. 



A resolution was also adopted requesting 

 the National Convention to provide that, "in 

 future national conventions, representatives 

 shall be proportionate to the number of Re- 

 publican voters of the State and congressional 

 districts respectively." Candidates for Presi- 

 dential Electors were named for all the dis- 

 tricts, and members of the State Committee to 

 conduct the canvass were chosen, the delegates 

 from each district designating one member. 



The meeting of the Democratic State Com- 

 mittee to issue a call for the convention was 

 held at Albany on the 21st of May, and Sara- 

 toga was selected as the place, and June 18 as 

 the time, for the State Convention. " All Demo- 

 cratic electors of the State, and such citizens as 

 will, irrespective of past differences, unite with 

 them in an effort to secure a pure, economical, 

 and constitutional administration of the Fed- 

 eral Government," were invited to join in 

 choosing three delegates from each Assembly 

 district. The adherents of Go 7. Cleveland were 

 active in obtaining delegates to the State Con- 

 vention, and their efforts were encouraged by 

 the nomination of Mr. Blaine by the Republican 

 National Convention in June, as those Repub- 

 licans irreconcilably opposed to his candidacy 

 were understood to regard Mr. Cleveland fa- 

 vorably. The opponents of the Governor were 



not united in behalf of any'other candidate. 

 When the convention met, a majority of the 

 delegates were favorable to Cleveland; but 

 their strength was not sufficient, or the oppo- 

 sition was known to be too determined, to jus- 

 tify an effort to pledge the delegates to the 

 National Convention to his support. The dele- 

 gation of the Tammany organization in the 

 city of New York demanded that, instead of 

 the twenty-four representatives allowed to 

 them in previous conventions, they should 

 have a number equal to that accorded to the 

 rival organization known as the County De- 

 mocracy. Their demand was granted without 

 opposition. The resolutions adopted included 

 instructions to the delegates to the National 

 Convention to act and vote as a unit, and no 

 opposition was made to this. The resolutions 

 adopted were as follow : 



That the Democracy of the State of New York, as- 

 sembled to appoint its delegates to the National Con- 

 vention of the party, commits to those delegates, in 

 association with the representatives of the party from 

 the other States, the general declaration of Demo- 

 cratic principles upon national issues, at the same 

 time recognizing that no issue can be more important 

 than the election of the President of the United States, 

 whose character and public reputation shall give to 

 the whole people assurance of an honest^ impartial, 

 and efficient administration of the laws without sus- 

 picion of personal ends or private interests. 



That as a declaration concerning matters of State 

 government, this convention adopts and affirms the 

 resolutions of the conventions of the party in 1874, 

 1876, and 1882, to which the people of the State have 

 given hearty approval ; that it recognizes the duty ot 

 the Legislature to respect the popular vote in 1883 for 

 the abolition of the contract system of labor in the 

 prisons, and that it heartily commends anew the effi- 

 cient and upright administration of Grover Cleve- 

 land. 



That the delegates to the Democratic National Con- 

 vention to be appointed are hereby instructed to enter 

 that convention as a unit, and to act and vote as a 

 unit in accordance with the will of the majority 

 of the members thereof, every delegate or alternate 

 occupying the place of a delegate to be bound by this 

 rule, and in case of the absence of both delegate and 

 alternate from any district the vacancy to be filled by 

 the vote of the majority of the delegation. 



Delegates at large were chosen on nomina- 

 tion by a committee, and were Daniel Man- 

 ning, Edward Cooper, Lester B. Faulkner, and 

 John 0. Jacobs. The district delegates were 

 selected by the representatives of the several 

 districts and confirmed by the convention. 

 The candidates for electors were named, and 

 Andrews and Rapallo were nominated for 

 Judges of the Court of Appeals. The proceed- 

 ings of the convention were entirely harmo- 

 nious; and while the friends of Gov. Cleve- 

 land were confident that they had secured the 

 delegation to the National Convention, this 

 was disputed by their opponents until the fact 

 clearly appeared at Chicago in July (see UNITED 

 STATES). The opposition to Cleveland came 

 chiefly from the Tammany organization in 

 New York city, and from the friends of Mr. 

 William Purcell, of Rochester. Mr. Purcell, 

 who had been nominated on the electoral 

 ticket, declined the use of his name, and also 



