490 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



and previous Legislatures, and the pronounced opin- 

 ions of most of its leaders, has proved itself false to 

 those principles of true Democracy upon which the 

 party professes to he founded. 



Resolved, That the Republican party is now rec- 

 reant to its former avowed principles and promises, 

 and has proved its degeneracy by acting in direct 

 opposition to its professed principles, and by break- 

 ing its solemn promises as made in its previous plat- 

 forms. 



Resolved, That while thus the Democratic and Re- 

 publican parties have ignored the woman-suffrage 

 issue, and have nominated candidates hostile to the 

 suffrage movement, the Prohibitory party has une- 

 quivocally adopted "woman-suffrage as one of the 

 leading issues, has invited women to participate in 

 its caucuses and conventions on equal terms with 

 men, and nominated avowed suffragists for its can- 

 didates ; by this action it has irrevocably made itself 

 a woman-suffrage party. 



MEMORIAL HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 



The Democratic Convention was held at 

 Worcester, on the 13th of September. The 

 ticket put in nomination was as follows : For 

 Governor, William Gaston, of Boston ; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, William K. Plunkett, of 

 Pittsfield ; for Secretary of State, Weston How- 

 land, of Fairfield ; for Treasurer and Eeceiver- 

 General, David N". Skillings, of Winchester ; 

 for Auditor, John E. Fitzgerald, of Boston; 

 for Attorney -General, Charles P. Thompson, 

 of Gloucester. The following platform was 

 adopted : 



We reaffirm and announce tlie National Democratic 

 platform of 1876 as the authoritative exposition of 

 the principles of our party, and we congratulate our 

 political brethren of the whole country that these 

 principles were indorsed in the national canvass by 

 the suffrages of a decided majority of the American 

 people. 



We believe the people fairly elected a majority of 

 the Electoral College in favor of the Democratic can- 

 didates. And while in the high interest of the public 

 tranquillity we submit to the authority of the con- 

 stituted Federal Administration, we denounce upon 

 the guilty Republican partv stern retribution for the 

 great public crime by which the public were de- 

 frauded of their right to be governed by rulers of 



their choice and the elective principle was wounded 

 in its most vital part. We challenge for it the op- 

 probrium of history and the indignant judgment of 

 all honest men. 



We congratulate the country and the supporters 

 of free government everywhere upon the happy re- 

 sults of restored public order and reviving industrial 

 prosperity, in inaugurating the new reign of domes- 

 tic peace and liberty regulated by law in the South- 

 ern section of the Union, that have ensued upon the 

 adoption of Democratic principles and measures of 

 administration by the Executive Department of the 

 Federal Government in reference to the Southern 

 States. 



We recognize in these auspicious results the signal 

 vindication and practical triumph of the constitu- 

 tional doctrines so faithfully contended for by the 

 Democracy in late political contests, and the states- 

 manship of the wise fathers which seeks the welfare 

 of the public by the support of the coequal rights and 

 dignities of all the States in 



,--^ the Federal Dnion. ^ye trust 



that hereafter there will be no 

 Southern policy, no Northern 



Eolicy, but one common pol- 

 ;y for the whole Union in 

 the equality of the rights and 

 duties of all men before the 

 law. 



Resolved, That the present 

 depression of industrial, 

 commercial, and financial in- 

 terests of the country is 

 largely due to our inability 

 under present laws to dis- 

 pose of the surplus products 

 of our industry products 

 which the other countries 

 want,_ and which, but for re- 

 strictions and injurious leg- 

 islation, the United State* 

 would to a great extent pro- 

 duce and sell cheaper than 

 any other nation. 



"Resolved, That the inter- 

 ests of the Commonwealth 

 require the removal of the 

 obstacles to our extended 

 reciprocal trade with foreign 

 countries. The opening of 



the liberal reciprocity with Canada and Mexico 

 would promote our productive energies and stimu- 

 late our carrying trade by land and sea. enlarge the 

 markets of all the varied industries of the Common- 

 wealth, and give to her merchants, mariners, and la- 

 borers a valuable accession of employment. 



Resolved, That we are in favor of the honest pay- 

 ment of the public debt, and of a currency on a gold 

 basis. 



Resolved, That the practice of borrowing money 

 for other objects than those of strict public necessity 

 has generated schemes of extravagant expenditure, 

 until taxation has become wellnigh an intolerable 

 burden. Honesty, economy, and "pay as we go" 

 should be the rules in all appropriations of the peo- 

 ple's money. The power of the State, counties, 

 cities, and towns to borrow money ought to be rigid- 

 ly limited, so that an end may be put to the system 

 which "anticipates the labor of coming ages and ap- 

 propriates the fruits of it in advance ; which coins 

 the industry of future generations into cash, and 

 snatches the inheritance from children yet unborn." 

 Resolved, That the present system of taxation in 

 Massachusetts is unequal, unjust, and oppressive, and 

 manifestly inconsistent with principles of political 

 economy, and the time has come for a thorough 

 reformation of the laws regulating the levying of 

 taxes. 



Resolved, That we are opposed to the reenactment 

 of the prohibitory law. 



