776 



UNITED STATES. 



delegate-at-large for every 12,000 votes cast 

 for Republican electors in 1880. That submit- 

 ted by Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire, gave 

 to each State four delegates-at-large, with one 

 additional for every Republican senator, and 

 two delegates from each congressional district, 

 with one additional for each Republican repre- 

 sentative in Congress. These plans were an- 

 tagonized with the proposition that the old 

 basis of four delegates-at-large for each State, 

 two delegates for each congressional district, 

 and two tor each Territory and the District of 

 Columbia, be retained. This was adopted by 

 a vote of 21 to 17. The following resolution 

 was adopted after some debate : 



Resolved, That the Eepublicans of the various 

 congressional districts shall have the option of choos- 

 ing their delegates at separate conventions held 

 within the districts, or by subdivision of State con- 

 ventions, but all district delegates selected shall be 

 accredited by the officers of such district conventions. 



It was decided that State conventions 

 should be held not less than thirty nor more 

 than sixty days before the National Conven- 

 tion, and that separate district conventions, 

 when held, should be within fifteen days prior 

 to the State Convention. The question of hold- 

 ing the next National Convention was decided 

 in favor of Chicago, and Tuesday, June 3, 1884, 

 was fixed as the date. The Democratic Na- 

 tional Committee made no preparation during 

 the year for the convention of the party. 



There was a convention of delegates of the 

 colored race from various parts of the country 

 at Louisville, Ky., in September. It was char- 

 acterized by a good deal of excitement, arising 

 out of antagonistic feeling in regard to declar- 

 ing in favor of the adhesion of the race to the 

 Republican party. On the last day, September 

 27th, an address to the people of the country 

 was adopted, of which the following are the 

 most significant passages : 



We do not ask for any more class-legislation. 

 We have had enough of this. But we do believe 

 that many of the laws intended to secure to us our 

 rights as citizens are nothing more than dead letters. 

 In the Southern States, almost without exception, the 

 colored people are denied justice in the courts, denied 

 the fruit of their honest labor, defrauded of their po- 

 litical rights at the ballot- box ? shut out from learning 

 trades, cheated out of their civil rights by innkeep- 

 ers and common-carrier companies, and left by the 

 States tr> an inadequate opportunity for education and 

 general improvement. 



We regard the labor question, education, and 

 sound moral training paramount to all other ques- 

 tions. We believe that these questions, especially in 

 the South, need recasting, and that the plantation 

 credits and mortgage system should be abolished; 

 that honest labor should be remunerated ; that the 

 landholders of the South should recognize that this 

 question is to be solved by encouraging the negroes 

 to industry, to frugality, and to business habits by 

 inciting them to habits ot thrift, by assisting them to 

 acquire an interest in the soil, by paying them honest 

 wages for honest work, and by making them con- 

 tented and happy in the land of their nativity. 



A National Free-Trade Conference was held 

 at Detroit. On the last day, June 1st, an ad- 

 dress was adopted setting forth the demands 



of those taking part in the conference, and 

 officers were chosen, David A. Wells, of Con- 

 necticut, being president. The following are 

 the material passages of the address : 



American manufacturers need cheaper materials 

 in order to contend successfully in the markets of the 

 world against foreign competitors. The protected 

 manufacturers are few among the many, and even 

 these have generally been hindered rather than helped 

 by so-called protection. American labor, even in 

 protected industries, is discovering that it gets no 

 higher wages by protection ; that it can buy less with 

 its money and can save less. The poorer a man is the 

 more the tariff hurts him. The higher wages which 

 generally prevail in America are due to superior ad- 

 vantages which would be increased by the removal of 

 the tariff restrictions. While there is absolute free 

 trade in labor, and manufacturers can import the 

 cheap labor of Europe, the laborer is denied the right 

 to buy goods in the cheapest market. The Govern- 

 ment of the United States has no constitutional or 

 other right to impose taxes on the people except with 

 the intent and result of getting sufficient money in 

 the public treasury to pay the public debt, provide for 

 the common defense, and provide for the general 

 welfare: and all tariff taxes called protective, laid 

 with different intent and result^ ought to be abolished. 

 We favor the promotion of reciprocity and the repeal 

 of the navigation laws which have destroyed pur 

 merchant marine. We do not counsel the immediate 

 formation of a new party, though we recognize that 

 many Eepublicans and many Democrats are losing 

 faith in their own parties and desire to unite politi- 

 cally for genuine revenue reform. But in case the 

 existing parties, in their utterances, in their candi- 

 dates, or in designating their leaders in Congress, per- 

 sistently oppose or evade reform, we advise revenue 

 reformers to prepare for independent political action. 



Some time before the meeting of Congress in 

 December, an unusual contest was developed 

 over the speakership of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, owing to different tendencies in the 

 Democratic party on the tariff question. Sam- 

 uel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, was known to 

 be an advocate of the policy of protection for 

 American industry, and was supported for the 

 speakership on the ground that he Would be 

 opposed to reopening the question of tariff re- 

 vision. He was also understood to favor the 

 abolition of all internal revenue taxes. John 

 Gr. Carlisle, of Kentucky, was a prominent ad- 

 vocate of a further revision of the tariff and 

 of the principle of a tariff for revenue, with 

 only such incidental protection as might accrue 

 from duties arranged primarily with a view to 

 meeting the finRncial needs of the Government. 

 He was not favorable to an immediate repeal 

 of the internal revenue taxes. Samuel S. Cox, 

 of New York, whose views on the tariff ques- 

 tion were not materially different from those 

 of Mr. Carlisle, was also a candidate for Speaker, 

 but his support rested largely on considerations 

 of locality and long service in the House of 

 Representatives. A caucus of Democratic 

 members of the House was held on the eve of 

 the session of Congress, when on the first bal- 

 lot Mr. Carlisle received 106 votes, to 52 for 

 Randall, and ,30 for Cox. He was thereby 

 made the Democratic candidate for Speaker, 

 and received the full support of the members 

 of his party, being elected over J. W. Keifer, 





