PENNSYLVANIA. 



633 



the year, $125,789,841.57. The entire number 

 of accidents, resulting in death or serious bodi- 

 ly injury, which occurred on all the said roads 

 during the year 1876, was 1,790, made up as 

 follows : Killed passengers, 32 ; employes, 

 195; others, 362; in all, 589. Injured pas- 

 sengers, 120 ; employe's, 685 ; others, 896 ; in 

 all, 1,201. 



The annual State election was for the choice 

 of a State Treasurer, Auditor- General, and an 

 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. 



The Democrats met at Harrisburg on August 

 22d. After repeated ballots, the nominations 

 resulted as follows : For State Treasurer, Amos 

 C. Noyes, of Clinton County; for Auditor-Gen- 

 eral, William P. Schell, of Bedford County ; 

 for Judge of the Supreme Court, John Trunkey, 

 of Venango County. The following platform 

 was read to the Convention by the chairman 

 of the Committee on Eesolutions : 



The Democratic party of Pennsylvania, by its del- 

 egates in convention assembled, does declare : 



1. That the induction of Rutherford B. Hayes into 

 the office of President, notwithstanding the election 

 of Samuel J. Tilden thereto, was a high crime against 

 free government, which has not been condoned and 

 will not be forgotten. The same spirit of patriotism 

 which forbore contest upon the first offense, will re- 

 gist and punish any attempt at a second. 



2. That the immediate happy effect of the applica- 

 tion by the Federal Administration of the Democratic 

 policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of 

 the Southern States amply vindicates our frequent 

 protests against previous violations of the reserved 

 rights of the several States to exercise all power not 

 delegated to the General Government by express 

 constitutional provision. 



8. That the purpose to reform the civil service 

 which has been proclaimed by the present Adminis- 

 tration is, like its adopted "Southern policy," a 

 confession of the failure of radicalism, and a just 

 tribute to the Democracy, which has long and ear- 

 nestly demanded the overthrow and punishment of 

 corrupt officials. 



4. That capital combined in corporations has been 

 too highly favored by both State and Federal legis- 

 lation, and its demands for largo returns are incon- 

 sistent with the depressed condition of the laboring 

 and business interests of the country. We oppose 

 further enactments for its special benefit at the ex- 

 pense of other interests. Labor and capital should 

 have no cause of antagonism, and they should be 

 left free to adjust their own relations. The right to 

 contract freely exists for both parties. That the dep- 

 rivation of employment of many thousands of in- 

 dustrious citizens and laborers, and the deep distress 

 of themselves and their families, enlist our hearty 

 sympathies, and we declare in the language of Jef- 

 ferson, the founder of our party, that ''a wise and 

 frugal government which snail restrain men from 

 injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free 

 to regulate their own pursuits of industry and im- 

 provement, and shall not take from the mouth of 

 labor the bread it has earned, is the hope of the 

 people in adversity and their security in prosperity ; 

 and that under such a government, which it is the 

 mission of the Democracy to maintain and perpetu- 

 ate, any resort to force or to violation of law, or in- 

 vasion of the rights of persons or of property, to re- 

 dress grievances, is needless and at war with free 

 institutions, under which the only rightful remedy 

 is by frequently recurring elections of representa- 

 tives of the people in State Legislatures and in the 

 Federal Congress, to accomplish the will of the ma- 

 jority, which should be accepted as the voice of all. 



6. That we accept the admonition of Jackson, in 

 saying, " Considering standing armies as dangerous 

 to free governments ID time of peace. I shall not seek 

 to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard 

 the salutary lesson of political experience which 

 teaches that the military should be held subordinate 

 to the civil power," and accordingly the increase of 

 the iederul army, and any attempt to employ it u a 

 partisan agent of Federal authority, or for inter- 

 ference with the sovereign rights of the State*, will 

 receive the continued earnest opposition of the De- 

 mocracy of Pennsylvania. 



6. That " many of our rich men have not been 

 content with equal protection and equal benefits but 

 have besought us to make them richer by act of 

 Congress," and " by attempting to gratify their de- 

 Hires, we have, in the results of our legislation, ar- 

 rayed section against section, interest against inter- 

 est, and man against man in fearful commotion," 

 and, therefore, the grant, by the Legislatures of the 

 States or by Congress, of exclusive privileges, and 

 the establishment of odious monopolies under the 

 pretext of public benefit, or of justice to sections of 

 the country, are direct assaults upon the equal rights 

 of the people ; and as these monopolies have been 

 contrived to enrich the few while a large number of 

 the people are reduced to want, the Democracy of 

 Pennsylvania protests against subsidies, land grants, 

 loans of the public credit, and appropriations of 

 the people's money to any corporation, as legaliied 

 plunder of the tax-producing industries of the coun- 

 try. 



7. That we look with alarm and apprehension 

 upon the pretensions of the great transportation 

 companies to be above the fundamental law of this 

 Commonwealth, which governs all else within our 

 borders ; and until they accept the Constitution of 

 1878 in good faith, they should remain objects of 

 the utmost vigilance and jealousy by both Legis- 

 lature and people. 



Jfaolved, That we hereby reaffirm and adopt the 

 financial resolutions of the National Democratic 

 platform, adopted at St. Louis in Ib76. 



Upon the conclusion of the reading of this 

 platform, a delegate offered, as an amendment 

 to it, two resolutions favoring silver coin and 

 greenbacks being made legal tenders fully 

 equal with gold, and paying the redeemable 

 United States bonds in legal-tender money, 

 with other details. The offer of these resolu- 

 tions was opposed, and the president ruled it 

 out of order. The report of the Committee on 

 Resolutions was then agreed to. 



The Republicans assembled at Ilarmbnrg on 

 the 5th of September, when the nomination of 

 candidates for the several offices resulted as 

 follows: For Judge of the Supreme Court, 

 James B. Sterrett; for State Treasurer, William 

 B. Hart ; for Auditor-General, John A. M. 

 Passroore. 



The platform adopted by the Convention 

 was a* follows : 



1. While we recognize and respect the differeneei 

 of opinion existing among us as to the course pur- 

 sued! by President Hayes toward the South, we are 

 in hearty accord in honoring the patriotic motives 

 which have guided him. and in hoping that tdc re- 

 sults of his policy will be peace, good-will, ind the 

 complete recognition of the equaf rights or all men 

 hi every section of the country; and to the efforts 

 of his administration to carry into pflVct the prin- 

 ciples of the platform upon which he WM elected, 

 we pledge our hearty and cordial support. 



2. The Electoral Commission having been crestfd 

 at the urgent solicitation of the Democratic put}-, 



