750 



UNITED STATES. 



already taken upon this subject, and ask for such 

 further legislation as may be required to remedy 

 any defects in existing laws and to render their 

 enforcement more complete and effective. 



Post-office Reforms. We approve the policy of ex- 

 tending to towns, villages, and rural communities 

 the advantages of the free delivery service now en- 

 joyed by the larger cities of the country, and reaffirm 

 the declaration contained in the Republican plat- 

 form of 1888, pledging the reduction of letter post- 

 age to one cent at the earliest possible moment 

 consistent with the maintenance of the Post-office 

 Department and the highest class of postal service. 



Civil Set-vice Reform. We commend the spirit and 

 evidence of reform in the civil service and the wise 

 and consistent enforcement by the Republican 

 party of the laws regulating the same. 



The Nicaragua Canal. The construction of the 

 Nicaragua Canal is of the highest importance to the 

 American people, both as a measure of national 

 defense and to build up and maintain American 

 commerce, and it should be controlled by the 

 United States Government. 



Admission of the Territories. We favor the admis- 

 sion of the remaining Territories at the earliest 

 possible date, having due regard to the interests of 

 the people, of the Territories, and of the United 

 States. All the Federal officers appointed for the 

 Territories should be selected from bona fide resi- 

 dents thereof, and the right of self-government 

 should be accorded as far as practicable. 



Cession of the Arid Public Lands. We favor the 

 cession, subject to the homestead laws, of the arid 

 public lands, to the States and Territories in which 

 they lie, under such congressional restrictions as to 

 disposition, reclamation, and occupancy by settlers 

 as will secure the maximum benefits to the people. 



The World's Fair. The World's Columbian Ex- 

 position is a great national undertaking, and Con- 

 gress should promptly enact such reasonable legisla- 

 tion in aid thereof as will insure a discharge of the 

 expenses and obligations incident thereto, and the 

 attainment of results commensurate with the dignity 

 and progress of the nation. 



The Liquor Traffic. We sympathize with all wise 

 and legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent the 

 evils of intemperance and promote morality. 



Soldiers' 1 Tensions. Ever mindful of the service 

 and sacrifices of the men who saved the life of the 

 nation, we pledge anew to the veteran soldiers of 

 the Republic a watchful care and recognition of 

 their just claims upon a grateful people. 



President Harrison's Administration. We com- 

 mend the able, patriotic, and thoroughly American 

 administration of President Harrison. Under it the 

 country has enjoyed remarkable prosperity, and the 

 dignity and honor of the nation, at home and 

 abroad, have been faithfully maintained, and we 

 offer the record of pledges kept, as a guaranty of 

 faithful performance in the future. 



On June 11 Senator Edward 0. Wolcott, of 

 Colorado, nominated for President James G. 

 Elaine, and ex-Secretary of the Navy R. W. 

 Thompson, of Indiana, nominated Benjamin Har- 

 rison. There were 904 delegates present, making 

 the number necessary for a choice 453. President 

 Harrison was renominated on the first ballot, 

 receiving f>35 votes, or a clear majority of 166. 

 His plurality over Elaine, who received i8'3 votes, 

 was 853. McKinley also received 182 votes, while 

 4 were cast for ex-Speaker Reed, and 1 was given 

 to Robert Lincoln, Minister at London. In the i 

 evening Whitelaw Reid, of New York, was nomi- 

 nated for Vice-President by Edmund O'Connor, 

 of New York, and the nomination was made 

 unanimous. Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, was 

 also put in nomination, but he withdrew his 

 name before a ballot was taken. 



Democratic Convention. The National Con- 

 vention of the Democratic party met in Chi- 

 cago on June 21, 1892. William C. Owens, of 

 Kentucky, was made temporary chairman, and 

 William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, permanent 

 chairman. The struggle for the nomination was 

 chiefly confined to the friends of ex-President 

 Cleveland and the adherents of Senator Hill, of 

 New York. The latter had called together an 

 early State convention at Albany on Feb. 22, 

 and chosen delegates who were instructed to 

 vote for Hill. On May 31 a rival convention of 

 the Anti-Snapper New York Democrats met in 

 Syracuse, and chose contesting delegates, who 

 went to Chicago, but were not admitted. There 

 were several candidates who were put forward as 

 the second choice, in case the Convention should 

 be so equally divided between Cleveland and Hill 

 that neither could obtain the nomination. The 

 strongest of these was Gov. Eoies of Iowa, whose 

 friends worked hard to bring him to the front as 

 one of the principal candidates on the strength 

 of his having won the governorship of a State 

 that had always been Republican. 



The platform prepared by the committee on 

 resolutions was adopted, with the exception of 

 the tariff plank, which was altered at the in- 

 stance of Cleveland's opponents into a demand 

 for a tariff for revenue only. The platform as 

 adopted was as follows: 



The representatives of the Democratic party of 

 the United States, in National convention assem- 

 bled, do reaffirm their allegiance to the principles 

 of the party as formulated by Jefferson and exem- 

 plified by the long and illustrious line of his succes- 

 sors in Democratic leadership from Madison to 

 Cleveland ; we believe the public welfare demands 

 that these principles be applied to the conduct of 

 the Federal Government through the accession to 

 power of the party that advocates them, and we 

 solemnly declare that the need of a return to these 

 fundamental principles of a free popular govern- 

 ment based on home ruleTand individual liberty was 

 never more urgent than now, when the tendency to 

 centralize all power at the Federal Capital has be- 

 come a menace to the reserved rights of the States 

 that strikes at the very roots of our Government 

 under the Constitution as framed by the fathers of 

 the Republic. 



Elections Bill. We warn the people of our common 

 country, jealous for the preservation of their free 

 institutions, that the policy of Federal control of 

 elections, to which the Republican party has com- 

 mitted itself, is fraught with the gravest dangers, 

 scarcely less momentous than would result from a 

 revolution practically establishing monarchy on the 

 ruins of the Republic. It strikes at the North as 

 well as the South, and injures the colored citizens 

 even more than the white ; it means a horde of 

 deputy marshals at every polling place armed with 

 Federal power, returning boards appointed and con- 

 trolled by Federal authority, the outrage of the 

 electoral rights of the people in the several States, 

 subjugation of the colored people to the control of 

 the party in power and the reviving of race antag- 

 onisms now happily abated, of the utmost peril to 

 the safety and happiness of all, a measure deliber- 

 ately and justly described by a leading Republican 

 Senator as " the most infamous bill that ever crossed 

 the threshold of the Senate." Such a policy, if 

 sanctioned by law, would mean the dominance of a 

 self-perpetuating oligarchy of office-holders, and 

 the party first intrusted with its machinery could 

 be dislodged from power only by an appeal to the 

 reserved rights of the people to resist oppression 

 which is inherent in all self-governing communities. 



