216 



CONNECTICUT. 



for their part in this plot, for their fictitious claims 

 of doubt about the election of a Governor, for attempt- 

 ing to repeat in this State the injustices of an elec- 

 toral commission, for their delay to declare the elec- 

 tion of officers whose election they themselves ad- 

 mitted, and for refusing to make the investigation of 

 the election which they themselves held to be needful, 

 in order that no result might be reached. 



We condemn the acts of R. Jay Walsh in keeping 

 John J. Phelan out of the office of Secretary of State, 

 and in permitting the case at law, begun for the pur- 

 pose of inducting Mr. Phelan into the office to which 

 he was elected, to be defended in his name, when 

 George P. McLean, the unsuccessful candidate against 

 Mr. Phelan, does not contest the election. We con- 

 demn him for resorting to the technicalities of the 

 law for purposes of delay, with the result that, al- 

 though the case was begun almost a year ago, a trial 

 on their merits in the lower court is only reached to- 

 day, and may outlast the term of office. 



We point to Article II of the Constitution of the 

 State, which holds that the powers of government 

 shall be divided into three distinct departments, and 

 each of them confided to a separate magistracy, to 

 wit: Those which are legislative to one, those which 

 are executive to another, and those which are judicial 

 to another, for the purpose of criticising his flagrant 

 disregard of the requirements in still holding the ex- 

 ecutive office of Secretary of State at all, by any title 

 however good, while he is at the same time holding 

 an important judicial office in this State. 



We condemn the nets of E. Stevens Henry in ex- 

 cluding Marvin H. Sanger from the office of Treasurer, 

 to which he was elected. We regard all these acts as 

 a political crime, to be resisted at every point by all 

 the resources available to freemen, and to be resented 

 at the polls. 



We commend and applaud Nicholas Staub in his 

 conduct of the office of Comptroller in times of uncer- 

 tainty and trial, and we pledge him our hearty assist- 

 ance and support. 



Finally, we express our disapproval of the Consti- 

 tution of this State and its incoherent amendments, 

 as a system wanting in adaptation to present condi- 

 tions. Its election machinery has broken down, its 

 representation is unjust, its provisions are cunningly 

 devised to bring minorities into power, and are filled 

 with distrust of the electors as the legitimate sover- 

 eign ruling power of the Commonwealth. We there- 

 fore demand its revision as a whole by a constitutional 

 convention, to be called by the General Assembly. 



On Aug. 30 the Prohibitionists at Hartford 

 nominated presidential electors and the follow- 

 ing State ticket : For Governor, Edwin P. Augur ; 

 for Lieutenant- Governor, Alexander M. Ban- 

 croft ; for Secretary of State, Henry R. Palmer: 

 for Treasurer. Watson M. Hurlburt ; for Comp- 

 troller, Eliakim E. Wildman. In addition to 

 the usual antilicense declarations, the conven- 

 tion adopted resolutions favoring protection, an 

 increase of the circulating medium, woman suf- 

 frage, arbitration of labor disputes, restriction 

 of immigration, the election of the President 

 and United States Senators by direct vote of the 

 people, and greater discrimination in the grant- 

 ing of pensions. Other declarations were as fol- 

 low: 



We stand unequivocally for the American public 

 school and opposed to any appropriation of public 

 moneys for sectarian schools. We declare that only 

 by united support of such common schools, taught in 

 the English language, can we hope to become and re- 

 main a homogeneous and harmonious people. 



We favor the enactment of stringent laws to protect 

 the dairy interests of the State against impure food 

 products. The Storrs Agricultural School should be 

 made the agricultural and mechanical college of this 

 State. 



We demand the Australian ballot law and a plural- 

 ity of votes to elect all State officers. 



We demand a reform of our criminal code, to put an 

 end to the iniquitous farce of fines and rounders in our 

 municipal courts, and insure equal punishment for 

 equal crimes to both rich and poor. 



The Republican State Convention for the nom- 

 ination of presidential electors and candidates 

 for State offices was held at New Haven on Sept, 

 7. Samuel E. Merwin, the candidate in 1890. 

 was again nominated for Governor; Frank W. 

 Cheney was the nominee for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor ; Stiles Judson, Jr., for Secretary of State ; 

 Henry Gay for Treasurer ; and George M. Clark 

 for Comptroller. The platform contained the 

 following : 



We believe in the principle of protection to Ameri- 

 can industries and American labor. 



We recognize the truth that the general prosperity 

 of the whole land is essential to the prosperity of 

 every part, and that a fatal blow struck at the tobacco 

 industry, cutlery, hat making, or any one established 

 industry, must react upon every other established 

 industry. 



We believe that the interests of the laboring men 

 of this country demand that the tariff upon the pro- 

 ductions of cheap foreign labor should be supplemented 

 by the stringent prohibition of the importation of 

 foreign paupers, criminals, and contract laborers ; 

 and that, if necessary, existing laws, regulating immi- 

 gration, should be so amended as to further protect 

 the American wage earner against degrading com- 

 petition with imported cheap labor, as well as the im- 

 ported products of such labor. 



We hold, in the language of President Harrison, 

 " that every dollar, paper or coin, issued or authorized 

 by the Government, should at all times, and in all its 

 uses, be the exact equivalent of every other dollar, 

 not only in debt paying, but in purchasing power." 



We denounce the Democratic proposition to repeal 

 the law enacted by a Republican Congress which re- 

 placed the system of" wildcat" State bank notes by 

 a sound national banking system. 



We believe in the right of every qualified voter to 

 cast one free ballot, and to have that ballot counted 

 as cast. The disfranchisement of a legal elector is an 

 oftense too grave to be ignored. The attempt of the 

 Democratic party of Connecticut to secure partisan 

 gain through the disfranchisement of over 1,200 legal 

 voters in the election of 1890, and the determination 

 of the Democratic Senate to block all public business 

 and thus take advantage of the public necessities in 

 order to force compliance with their illegal schemes, 

 should receive emphatic popular condemnation. The 

 thanks of every patriotic citizen are due to the Ee- 

 publican executive officers and members of the House 

 of Representatives and Senate, who so sturdily and 

 successfully resisted the revolutionary attempt. 



We pledge ourselves to maintain the plan of town 

 representation, which for two hundred and fifty years 

 has served Connecticut so well. Its attempted over- 

 throw by the Democratic party would result in the 

 partial disfranchisement of the country town, and 

 prove detrimental to the best interests of the whole 

 State. 



On Sept. 13 the Democratic State Convention 

 at Hartford renominated all but one of the can- 

 didates that were on the State ticket of 1890. 

 Dr. Alsop, the candidate for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor in that year, having died in 1891. The 

 nominees were as follow : For Governor, Luzon 

 B. Morris ; for Lieutenant-Governor, Ernest 

 Cady ; for Secretary of State, John J. Phelan ; 

 for Treasurer, Marvin H. Sanger ; for Comp- 

 troller, Nicholas Staub. Presidential electors 

 were also nominated. The platform demands a 



