Th Commoner.
JULY 15, 1904.
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The democratic party of the United
States in national convention assem
bled, declares Its devotion to the es
sential principles of the democratic
faith -which bring us together in a
party communion. Under them local
self-government and national unity
and prosperity were established.
They underlaid our indepen
dence, the structure of our republic
and every democratic extension from
Louisiana to California, and Texas to
Oregon, -which preserved faithfully in
all the states the time between taxa
tion and representation. They yet in
spire the masses of our people, guard
ing jealously their rights and liber
ties and cherishing their fraternity,
peace and development. They remind
us of our duties and responsibilities
as citizens and impress upon us, par
ticularly at this time, the necessity
of reform and the rescue of the ad
ministration of government from the
headstrong, arbitrary and spasmodic
methods which distract business by
uncertainty, and prevade, the public
mind with dread, distrust and pertur
bation. " The application of these fundamen
tal principles to the living issues of
the day is the first step toward the
assured peace, safety and progress of
our nation. Freedom of the press, of
conscience and of speech, equality be
fore the law of all citizens; the right
of trial by jury freedom of the per
sons defended by the writ of habeas
corpus; liberty of personal contract
untrammeled by sumptuary laws; su
premacy of the civil over the military
authorities; a well disciplined militia;
the separation of church and state;
economy; in expendituies, low taxa
tion, that labor may be lightly bur
dened; prompt and sacred fulfillment
of 'public arid private obligations; fi
delity to treaties; peace and friend
ship with all nations; entangling al
liances with none; absolute acquiesc
ence to the will of the majority, the
vital principle of republics these are
the doctrines which democracy has
established as proverbs of the nation
and they should be constantly invoked
and enforced.
We favor the- adjustment and ad
ministration of laws giving labor and
capital impartially their just rights.
Capital and labor ought not be envi
ous. Each is necessary to the other.
Each has its right, but the rights of
labor are certainly no less "vested"
no less "sacred" and no less "unalien
able" than the rights of capital.
Constitutional guarantees are vio
lated whenever any citizen Is denied
the right of labor, to acquire and en
joy property or reside where Interest
or inclination may determine. Any
denial thereof by individuals or or
ganizations of government should be
summarily rebuked and punished.
We deny the right of any executive
to disregard or suspend any consti
tutional privilege or limitation. Obed
ience to the laws and respect for their
requirements are alike the supreme
duty of the citizens and the officials.
The military should be used only to
support and maintain the law. We un
qualifiedly condemn its employment
in the summary banishment of citi
zens without trial or for the control
Oi elections.
We approve the measure which
passed the United States senate' In
1806, but which a republican congress
has ever since refused to enact, relat
ing to contempts in federal courts, and
providing for trial by jury in cases
on indirect contempt.
We are in favor of the arbitration
of differences between corporate em
ployers and their employes, and we
favor a strict enforcement of the
eight-hour day law on all government
work.
We favor liberal appropriations for
the dredging and improvement of the
water ways of the country. When any
water way like the Mississippi rivor is
of sufficient importance to demand spe
cial aid of the government, such aid
should be extended with a definite
plan of continuous work until perma
nent improvement is secured.
We oppose the-republican policy of
starving home development in order
to feed the greed for conquest and ap
petite for national "prestige" and dis
play of national strength.
Large reductions can easily be made
in the annual expenditures of the gov
ernment without impairing the ef
ficiency of any branch of the public
service, and wo shall insist upon the
strictest economy and frugality com
patible with vigorous and efficient civ
il, military and naval administration
as a right of the people too clear to bo
denied or withheld.
We favor the enforcement of hon
esty in the public service, and to that
end a thorough legislative investiga
tion of those executive departments of
the government already known to
teem with corruption as well as other
departments suspected of harboring
corruption, and the punishment of as
certained corruptlonlsts withput fear
or favor in regard to persons. The
persistent and deliberate refusal of
both the senate and house of repre
sentatives to permit such investigation
to be made demonstrates that only by
a change in the executive and in the
legislative departments can complete
exposure, punishment and correction
be obtained.
We condemn the action of the re
publican party in congress in refusing
to prohibit an executive department
from entering into contracts with con
victed trusts or unlawful combina
tions in restraint of Interstate trade.
We believe that one of the best meth
ods of procuring economy and hon
esty in the public service Is to have
public officials from the occupant of
the White house down to the lowest of
them, return as nearly as may be to.
Jofferspnian simplicity or living.
We favor the nomination and elec
tion of a president imbued with the
principles of the constitution who will
set his face strongly against execu
tive usurpation of legislative and ju
dicial functions, whether that usurpa
tion be veiled under the guise of exe
cutive construction of existing laws,
or whether it take refuge in the ty
rant plea of necessity and superior
wisdom.
We favor the preservation, so far as
we can, of an open door for the world's
commerce In the Orient without un
necessary entanglement in Oriental
and European affairs, and without ar
bitrary, unlimited, irresponsible and
absolute government anywhere within
our jurisdiction. We oppose fervently
as did Washington himself an indefi
nite, irresponsible, discretionary and
vague absolution and a policy of col
onial exploitation, no matter where or
by whom invoked or exercised; we be
lieve with Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams, that no government has a right
to make one set of laws for those at
"home" and another and a different set
of laws, absolute in their character,
loi those unfortunates in the colon
ies All men under the American flag are
entitled to the protection of the in
stitutions, whose emblem the flag is.
If they are inherently unfit for those
institutions, then they are inherently
unfit to be members of the American
body politic Wherever there may
exist a people incapable of being gov
erned under American laws, in con
sonance with the American constitu
tion the territory of that people ought
not to be a part of the American domain.
We insist that we ought to do fori
the Filipinos what we have done al
ready lor tho Cubans and it is our duty
to n-.aUo that promise now, and upon
ai'llublp guarantees of protection to
citizens oi our own and other coun
tries resident thcro at tho tlmo of our
Milti'lt?twal, sot tho Filipino people
upon their foot and free and indopon
.lont to work out their own destiny.
The endeavor of tho secretary of war
by pledging the government's indorse
ment for "promoters" in tho Philippine
islands to mako tho United States a
partner In speculative legislation for
the archipelago, which was only tem
porarily held up by tho opposition of
the democratic senators in tho last
session will, If successful, load to en
tanglements from which it would be
difficult to escape.
Tho democratic party has been and
will continue to bo the consistent op
ponent of tho class of tariff legisla
tion by which certain Interests havo
been permitted, through congressional
favor, to draw a heavy tribute from
the American people
This monstrous perversion of those
equal opportunities, which our politi
cal institutions woro established to se
cure, has caused what may onco havo
been Infant Industries to become tho
greatest combinations of capital that
tho world has ever known. These
especial favorites of tho government
have, through trust methods, been
convorted Into monopolies, thus bring
ing to an end domestic competition,
which was tho only alleged character.
Upon tho extravagant profits made
possible by tho protective system this
industrial combination, by the finan
cial assistance they can give now con
trol the policy of tho republican party.
Wo denounce protectionism as robbery
of the many to enrich tho few and vo
favor a tariff limited to the needs of
tho government, economically admin
istered and so levied as not to dis
criminate against any industry, class
or section, to the end that tho burdens
of taxation shall be distributed as
equally as possible.
Wo favor a rovlslon and a gradual
reduction of the tariff by tho friends of
the masses and for the commonweal,
and not by the friends of its abuses,
Its extortions and Its discriminations,
keeping in view the ultimate ends of
"equality of burdens and equality of
opportunities," and the constitutional
purpose of raising a revenue by taxa
tion, to-wit, the support of tho federal
government in all its integrity and
virility, but In simplicity.
We recognize that the gigantic trusts
and combinations designed to enable
capital to secure more than its just
share of tho joint products of capital
and labor, and which havo been fos
tered and promoted under republican
rule, are a menace to beneficial com
petition and an obstacle to permanent
business propriety.
A private monopoly is indefensible
and Intolerable.
Individual equality of opportunity
and free competition are essential to
a healthy and permanent commercial
prosperity; and any trust, combination
or monopoly tending to destroy these
by controlling production, restricting
competition or fixing prices, should be
prohibited and punished by law. We
especially denounce rebates and dis
crimination by transportation compa
nies as the most potent agency in pro
moting and strengthening these un
lawful conspiracies against trade.
We demand an enlargement of the
powers of the interstate commerce
commission, to the end that the trav
eling public and shippers of this, coun
try may have prompt and adequate
relief from abuses to which they ar,e
subjected ia the matter of transporta
tion We demand a "strict enforcement of
existing civil and criminal statutes
against all such trusts, combinations
and monopolies, and we demand the
enactment of such further legislation
as may be nec6ssary to effectually
suppress them.
Any trust or unlawful combination
ongaged lu Intorstato commerce which
Is monopolizing any branch of busi
ness or production should not be ner-
mitted to transact business otiUido of
tho stato of its origin. Whonovor it
shall bo established In any court of
competent jurisdiction that such mo
nopolization cxista such prohibition
sliould bo enforced through comprc-
honBlvo laws to bo enacted on tho
subject.
Wo congratulate our western citizens
upon tho passaKo of tlio law known as
tho Nowlands irrigation act for the
irrigation and reclamation of tho arid
lands of thonvest, a measuro framed
by a democrat, passed In tho senato
by the nonpartisan voto and passed
in tho iioiiBo against tho opposition of
almost all tho republican loaders, tho
voto. the majority of which was dem
ocratic.
Wo call attention to tho crcat demo
cratic measuro, brood and comprehen
sive as It Is, working automatically
throughout all tlmo without further
action of congress until tho reclama
tion of all tho lands In tho arid west
capablo of reclamation is accom
plished, reserving tho lands reclaimed
for homescoUors in small tracts, and
rigidly guarding acalnst tho land mo
nopoly as an evidence of the policy
ot domestic development contemplated
by tho democratic party should It bo
placed in power.
Tho democracy when entrusted with
power will construct tho Panama ca
nai speedily, honestly and economical
ly, thereby kIvIiik to our neonlo what
democrats have always contended for,
a great Intoroceanic canal, furnishing
shorter and choaper lines of transpor
tation and broader and les3 tram
melled trado relations with tho othor
people of tho world.
Wo pledge ourselves to insist upon
tho just and lawful protection of our
citizens at homo and abroad and to
use all proper measures to secure for
them, whether native born or natur
alized, and without distinction of raco
or creed, tho equal protection of laws
and tho enjoyment of all rights and
privileges opon to them, under tho
covenants of our treaties of friendship
and commerce and if under existing
treaties the right of travel and sojourn
Is denied to American citizens or rec
ognition is withheld from American
passports by any countries on tho
ground of creed wo favor tho begin
ning of negotiations with tho govern
ments of such countries to secure by
treaties tho removal of these unjust
discriminations.
We demand that all over the world
a duly authenticated passport issued
by tho government of the United Statcg
to an American citizen shall be proof
of the fact that he is an American
citizen and shall entitle him to tho
treatment due him as such.
Wo favor tho election of United
States senators by the direct vote of
the people.
Wo favor the admission of the terri
tories of Oklahoma and Indian terri
tory. We also favor tho Immediate
admission of Arizona and New Mexi
co as separate states and a territorial
government for Alaska and Porto
lllco.
Wo hold that the officials appointed
to administer the government of any
territory as well as tho district of
Alaska should bo bona fide residents
at the tlmo of their appointment of
the territory or district in which their
duties are to bo performed.
We demand the extermination of
polygamy within the jurisdiction of
the United States and the complete
separation of church and state in po
litical affairs.
We denounce the ship subsidy bill
recently passed by the United States
senate as an iniquitous appropriation
of public funds for private purposes
and a wasteful, illogical and useless
attempt to overcome by subsidy th'e
obstruction' raised by republican leg
islation to the growth and deveion
-i