464 



KANSAS. 



G. Isett ; Associate Justice, W. M. Whitelaw ; 

 Secretary of State, W. F. Petillon ; Attorney- 

 General, A. S. Devenney; Auditor, W. D. 

 Kelly (colored) ; Treasurer, L. P. Birchfield ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, W. J. A. 

 Montgomery. 



The platform favors a board of arbitration 

 for the settlement of differences between labor 

 and capital ; and urges that the railroad laws 

 should prevent railroad companies" from charg- 

 ing the people excessive rates of freight to pay 

 the interest on watered stock ; should provide 

 for a reasonable compensation for services ren- 

 dered, and no more ; and the commissioners, if 

 any there be, should have the power to enforce 

 their decisions in the name of the State." 



The following are other planks : 



That the Eepublican policy of special pension legis- 

 lation is designed as a political machine, and is the 

 crying evil of the hour. We demand a revision of the 

 whole pension system and the enactment of a general 

 law, unhampered by technicalities, so that the truly 

 worthy survivors of the Union army, participants in 

 the late war, or their needy heirs, may, without delay, 

 receive pensions in some measure commensurate with 

 their disabilities and sufferings ; and we further de- 

 mand an appropriation by Congress sufficient to 

 employ such clerical force as will bring about a settle- 

 ment of each case within thirty days after the proper 

 application has been filed in the Pension Bureau. 



That we demand the speedy forfeiture of all un- 

 earned land grants, and the opening up of all lands of 

 the United States to homestead settlement ; and that 

 proper legal proceedings be instituted at once to se- 

 cure title to the settlers on such forfeited lands. 



That we believe in a tariff for revenue, so adjusted 

 as to meet all the demands of the Government, and 

 that any surplus derived therefrom be at once applied 

 to the reduction of the national debt; and we demand 

 a revision of the present complicated tariff laws, so 

 that the wealth of the country and the luxuries of life 

 may bear more evenly the burdens of taxation, and 

 the necessaries of life go free. 



That we are opposed to convict-labor or pauper- 

 labor, and demand the most stringent legislation on 

 this subject. 



That the Oklahoma country should be opened up 

 to actual settlement, and should be free alike to all 

 persons having legal rights to settle thereon. 



That we demand an amendment of the railroad laws 

 of Kansas so as to adjust the rates on coal to a basis 

 that will admit of the transportation of the product of 

 all mines of the State to all parts thereof at such rates 

 as are reasonable and just to producers and consumers. 



That we are in accord with the national Democracy 

 in opposition to all sumptuary legislation, either State 

 or national. That we are opposed to the principles of 

 constitutional prohibition, and demand a resubmission 

 of the prohibitory amendment in this State to a vote 

 of the electors, BO that the question may be finally 

 intelligently settled, and whereby the interest of true 

 temperance may be promoted and the individual lib- 

 erty and manhood of the citizen respected and re- 

 stored, and instead of constitutional or statutory pro- 

 hibition we favor a well-regulated and just license 

 system. 



The Republican State Convention met at 

 Topeka on July 7. The following is the ticket 

 nominated: For Governor, John A. Martin; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, A. P. Riddle ; Secretary 

 of State, E. B. Allen; Associate Justice of 

 Supreme Court, D. M. Valentine; Treasurer, 

 James W. Hamilton ; Auditor, Timothy McCar- 

 thy ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. 



H. Lawhead ; Attorney- General, S. B. Brad- 

 ford. The following are the main points of 

 the platform : 



The Democratic party, having obtained control of 

 the executive branch of the Government, and the 

 lower house ofCongress,by the deliberate disfranchise- 

 ment of the colored voters of the South, and by hypo- 

 critical pretenses of civil-service reform and economi- 

 cal administration, is now giving the country daily 

 reminders of its bad faith, and of its inability to legis- 

 late for the people, and to transact the departmental 

 business with equal and exact justice to all classes. 

 It has persistentlyviolated the civil-service rules. It 

 has displaced veteran Union soldiers from responsible 

 positions and filled every department of governmental 

 service with ex-Confederate soldiers. It lias repeated - 



S 1 attempted to depress the industries and embarrass 

 e laborers of this country by its interference with 

 the legislative protection given these great interests 

 by the Kepublican party. It has sought to withhold 

 from the gallant defenders of the Union the small 

 pittance that a grateful people would willingly pay to 

 the wounded and diseased heroes of the war, and has 

 interposed presidential vetoes of acts of Congress grant 

 ing pensions to a class of most meritorious soldiers, 

 whose old age, enfeebled by wounds and disease, alone 

 compelled them to apply to the nation for help in the 

 hour of their misfortune. It has rewarded Fitz-John 

 Porter for his failure to obey the orders of his superior 

 officer, and has reversed the judgment of Lincoln, 

 Stanton, and Garfield condemning his acts of insub- 

 ordination and treachery. It has threatened and an- 

 noyed the homestead and pre-emption settlers of the 

 West by malicious misrepresentations, by partial and 

 prejudicial investigations, by vexatious rulings and 

 ill-considered orders, and by attempted nullification 

 of plain acts of Congress respecting the settlement of 

 the public lands. 



W e demand that system of protection known as the 

 American system, which has been built up and fos- 

 tered by the Eepublican party for twenty-five years, be 

 maintained in all its integrity, so that our industries 

 may be systematically developed, our commerce ex- 

 tended, la'bor receive its own compensation and reward, 

 and capital find remunerative employment. 



And we demand, further, that this system, under 

 which the wealth of this country has been more than 

 trebled in a single generation, and which affords the 

 most fail- and liberal protection to our agricultural as 

 well as manufacturing interests^ and all individuals 

 employed in connection therewith, be also extended 

 to our commerce by the establishment of a commercial 

 marine to the end that we may diversify industry, 

 find new fields for the overcrowded ranks of labor, 

 make use of the products of the forest, mine, and mill 

 in building our own ships and provide for the nation's 

 defense, and vindicate its honor by training a body of 

 men for service upon the seas, furnishing ships that 

 can be transferred to the service of the Government 

 in case of need, and securing the establishment of 

 ship-yards and machinery that will enable us, as a 

 nation, to construct, equip, and float a navy that can 

 meet all the demands of modern naval warfare. 



The people of Kansas have adopted prohibition as 

 the settled policy of this State, and have deliberately 

 decided that the saloon with its corrupt and demoral- 

 izing influences and associations wherein every form 

 of vice, immorality, and crime is fostered, must go ; 

 and we are in favor of carrying into effect this verdict 

 of the people by such amendments of the present law 

 as practical experience has shown to be necessary, and 

 by the election of law officers who will so firmly and 

 faithfully enforce it as to render it impossible to sell 

 intoxicating liquors in this State, except for the pur- 

 poses specified in the prohibition amendment to the 

 Constitution. 



The Eepublican party of Kansas has embodied^ m 

 the Constitution of the State, and in various legislative 

 enactments : 



