MINNESOTA. 



563 



Secretary of State, Luke Jaeger ; State Audi- 

 tor, G. A. Lundberg; State Treasurer, Henry 

 Poehler; Attorney-Genera], J. N. Ives; Clerk 

 of Court, George T. Gardner. After commend- 

 ing the administration of President Cleveland, 

 and denouncing the Republican management 

 of the State for the past twenty-six years, the 

 platform continues: 



That in national matters there should be a thorough 

 and complete tariff reform. The longer continuance 

 of taxes imposed in time of war for war purposes is 

 unnecessary and oppressive. The oppressed condi- 

 tion of pur agricultural and manufacturing industries 

 imperatively demand that they should no longer pay 

 tribute to the monopolists of the East. Justice and 

 sound policy alike dictate that the tools of the laborer 

 and the mechanic, the raw materials of the manufact- 

 urer, the implements of the farmer, and all things 

 necessary for the life, comfort, and employment of the 

 people, should not be excluded from our markets or 

 enhanced in price by taxes imposed upon them for the 

 profit of protected millions. We are, therefore, in 

 favor of a revision of the present unequal and unjust 

 tariff and its adjustment to a revenue basis, believing 

 that any tariff system for purposes other than raising 

 revenue for the expenses or the Government, economi- 

 cally administered, is unjust and without constitu- 

 tional authority. 



This convention affirms that the Department of Agri- 

 culture, as established at Washington, should be ele- 

 vated to the dignity and power of a Cabinet position. 

 We maintain that railroad, telegraph, express, and 

 similar corporations are created by State or Federal 

 law for public service, and derive al'l their powers and 

 privileges from their creators, and are properly sub- 

 ject to legislative government and control. We are 

 unqualifiedly in favor of such legislation in this State 

 as will insure free and open markets for buying and 

 selling, and equitable and reasonable transportation 

 charges and facilities, equal alike to the producer, 

 dealer, and consumer. We favor a careful revision 

 and a stricter enforcement of our State warehouse and 

 grain laws, to the end that the capital and labor of the 

 agriculturist and mechanic may no longer be made to 

 pay tribute to these great corporations who, having 

 in the past done so much for the growth and grandeur 

 of our State, have grown with its growth, and strength- 

 ened with its strength, until they are now assuming 

 and exercising authority and power antagonistic to 

 the public welfare, and in opposition to the will of 

 that people who are their creators and whose servants 

 they are. 



That we view with anxious interest the great ques- 

 tion of labor now agitating the public mind. The ad- 

 vance and pert'ection of machinery elevated the dig- 

 nity of labor, and urges it to reach out for more of the 

 intellectual, moral, and social enjoyments of life. In 

 tie term of hours which now constitutes a day's work, 

 we find at the very groundwork a gross lack of uni- 

 formity, the term running all the way from eight to 

 sixteen hours. It would be a marvel if, in this age, 

 human nature would rest quietly under such oppres- 

 sive irregularity. The eight-hour term is now a law 

 of the United States Government for ail laborers, 

 workmen, and mechanics employed therein : and it is 

 also the equal one third part of our time. In all na- 

 tional, State, or municipal works, a uniform rule should 

 be established and rigorously adhered to. We further 

 demand encouragement to the National Bureau of Sta- 

 istics and the establishment of a Labor Bureau in our 

 State ; better legislation securing the payment of wages 

 earned; provision for the health and safety of opera- 

 tives ; indemnification for injuries received; prohibi- 

 tion of the employment of immature children in shops 

 and factories; protection from the ravages from the 

 usurer and tax-title shark ; arbitration for all differ- 

 ences between capital and labor; and legislation 

 against convict-labor being brought into competition 



with honest toil. We specially condemn the practice 

 long in vogue in Minnesota of the State hiring out its 

 convicts. We further oppose in public works the con- 

 vict system, and believe that all such labor should be 

 done by the day and under careful supervision. W hat- 

 ever may be necessary to better guard the rights and 

 ennoble the calling of the laboring classes should re- 

 ceive early and earnest attention. 



That inasmuch as the relations of labor to capital, 

 of the public to corporations, are the domineering 

 questions in both national and State politics, and in- 

 asmuch as ordinary legislation is vacillating and often 

 partisan as a practical measure, we are in favor of a 

 constitutional convention for the purpose of adjusting 

 those relations upon a sound and equitable basis by 

 ingrafting the traditional doctrines of the Democratic 

 party upon the fundamental law of the State. 



That the party is opposed to all class and sumptu- 

 ary legislation. We encourage immigration of all 

 who are desirous of building up homes and acquiring 

 American citizenship, but we strenuously oppose the 

 importation of foreign labor under contract, as de- 



f-ading to humanity and hostile to free institutions, 

 he public lands, the heritage of the people, should 

 be reserved for actual settlers. We express our sym- 

 pathy with the patriots of Ireland in their efforts to 

 secure home-rule, pending which we earnestly hope 

 that Parliament will pass Mr. Parnell's present bill 

 to prevent further evictions until equitable lands laws 

 may be enacted. We declare that the nation owes a 

 debt of gratitude to its soldiers and sailors. We there- 

 fore favor such legislation by Congress as will insure 

 to every surviving veteran of the Union forces who 

 is incapacitated from labor a liberal pension for his 

 honoraole support during life and for the support of 

 those who are dependent upon him, whether such in- 

 capacity occurred during the war or since. We would 

 have it an axiom that ''republics are grateful," and 

 that pensions should be cheerfully bestowed as a rec- 

 ognition of honorable services rendered to the nation 

 in its hour of danger. We deplore the fact that in 

 our own State there are to-day a large number of vet- 

 erans who are objects of public and private charity. 

 We therefore urge that steps be taken by our next 

 Legislature for the erection of a suitable soldiers' home 

 for the care and maintenance of disabled and infirm 

 veterans. 



The Republican State Convention was held at 

 St. Paul on September 22. The following ticket 

 was nominated: Governor, A. R. McGill; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, A. E. Rice; Secretary 

 of State, Hans Mattson ; State Auditor, W. W. 

 Braden; State Treasurer, Joseph Bobleter; 

 Attorney-General, M. E. Clapp; Clerk of Su- 

 preme Court, D. D. Jones ; Judges of Supreme 

 Court, D. A. Dickinson, W. H. Vanderburg, 

 and William Mitchell. The platform contains, 

 among others, the following planks : 



Gold and silver coin and paper issued against coin 

 actually deposited should be united in the currency of 

 commerce. We believe that the interests of all classes 

 demand the use as money of both precious metals ; 

 but we favor an honest silver dollar only, intrinsically 

 equal in value to the dollar of gold. Looking toward 

 the establishment of real bimetallism, which no- 

 where now exists, we favor such legislation as will most 

 speedily promote consent by the principal commercial 

 nations of the world to resume the free coinage of sil- 

 ver, at a ratio fixed by international agreement. 



That we unreservedly indorse the action of the De- 

 partment of Minnesota, Grand Army of the Republic, 

 at its encampment of last February, in appointing a 

 committee to secure from the next Legislature the 

 provision necessary to establish in Minnesota a sol- 

 diers' home and a permanent relief fund. Our repre- 

 sentatives are requested to give their influence and 

 votes to the enactment of suitable laws for this purpose. 



