Show democratic PLATFORM the democratic party of the united states in national convention declares its devotion to the essential principles of the democratic faith which brings us together in party communion under them local self government ana national unity and prosperity were alike estabi shed tl ey our In depend ence the structure of our free republic and every democratic extension from louisiana to california and texas to ore gon which preserved faithfully in all the states the tie betwee taxation and rep resent atlon they et re the masses ot our people guarding jealously their rights and 1 bertles and cherishing their fraternity peace and orderly develop ment ahey remind us of our duties and responsibilities as eizens and 1 upon us particularly at this time the ne of reform the application of these fundamental principles to the eving issues of the day Is the first step toward the as aured peace safety and progress of our nation freedom of the press of con and of speech equality before the law of all citizens the right of trial by jury freedom of the person defended b the avrit of habeas corpus liberty of per onal contract untrammeled by sumpta iry laws the supremacy of the civil over military authority a well disciplined ml alltia the separation of church and fhate economy in expenditures low taxes that labor may be lightly bur bened the prompt and sacred of public and pr vate obliga alons fidelity to treaties peace and friendship with all nations entangling al clances with none absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority the vital prin ciple of republics these are doctrines which democracy has established as proverbs of the nation and they should be constantly enforced we favor the enactment and administration of laws giving labor and capital impartially their just rights capital and labor ought not to be enemies each is necessary to the other each has iti fights but the rights of labor are no less vested i less sacred and on less inalienable than the rights of capital constitutional guarantees are violated whenever any citizen is denied the right to labor acquire and enjoy property or reside where interest or inclination may determine any denial thereof by ind visuals or organizations of government should be summarily rebuked and pun dished we deny the right of any executive to disregard or suspend any constitutional privilege or limitation obedience to the laws and respect for their requirements are alike the supreme duty of the catl zen and the official the military should be used only to support and maintain the law we un condemn its employment tor the summary banishment of citizens w phout trial or for the control of elec alons we approve the meas re which passed the united states senate in 1896 but which a republican congress has ever since refused to enact relating to con tempts in federal courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect con tempt we favor liberal appropriations for the care and improvement of the waterways of the country when any waterway like the mississippi river Is of importance to demand special aid of the government such aid should be extended with a definite plan of continuous work until permanent improvement Is secured we oppose the republican policy of starving home development in order to teed the greed for cinq est and the ap petite for national prestige and dis play of strength large reductions can read ly be eade in the annual expenditures of the government without impairing the ency of any branch of the service and we shall insist upon the strictest economy and frugality compatible with vigorous and effective civil military and administration as a right of the people too clear to be denied or withheld we favor honesty in the public ce the enforcement of honesty in the bervice and to that and a thorough ex investigation of those depart bienas of the government already known teem with corruption as well as other departments suspected of harboring cor and punishment of ned without tear or favor or regard to persons the persistent and de liberate refusal of both the senate and house of representatives to permit such suggestion to be made demonstrates that only by a change in the executive and in the legislative departments can corn exposure punishment condic alon be obtained we condemn the action of the alcan party in congress in refusing to t its executive departments from entering into contracts with convicted trusts or unlawful combinations in re of interstate trade we have one ot the best methods of procuring econ omy and honesty in the service and that la to have public officials from the occupant of the white house down to the lowest of them return as nearly as may be to simplicity of living we favor the nomination and election of a president imbued with the principles of the constitution who will set his face against executive usurpation of legislative and judicial functions whether that usurpation be veiled under the guise of executive construction of existing laws or whether it takes refuge in the tyrant s plans of necessity or su perlor wisdom we favor the preservation so far as we can of an open door tor the world s corn merce in the orient without unnecessary entanglement in oriental and european affairs and without arbitrary unlimited irresponsible and absolute government anywhere within our atlon we op as fervently as d d george wash ington himself an indefinite irresponsible discretionary and vague absolutism and policy of colonial exploitation no matter where or by whom exercised we believe with thomas jefferson and john adams that no government has a right to make one set of laws tor those at home and another and a different set of laws absolute in the r character for those in the colonies all men un der the american flag are entitled to the protection of the institutions whose em blem the flag Is it they are inherently fit to be members of the amer lean body politic wherever there may exist a people incapable of being governed upon american laws under the american constitution the territory or people ought not to be part of the amer lean domain we insist that we ought to do for the F what we have done already for the cubans and it Is our duty to make that promise now and upon sut lable guarantees of protection to citizens of our own and other countr es resident there at the time of our w th drapal set the pil pino people upon their feet free and independent to work out their own destiny the endeavor of the secretary of war by pledging the government s indorse ment tor promoters in the phil islands to n ake the united states a partner in speculative legislation of the archipelago which was only temporarily held by the appos alon of democratic sen acors in the last session will if success ful lead to entanglements from which it will be d to escape the democratic party has been and will continue to be the consistent coni stent appo nent ot that class of tar legislation by wh ch certain interests have been permitted gh congressional favor to draw a heavy tr bute from the american peel la monstrous perversion of those equal opportunities which our po institutions were established to se cure has caused what may ence have been infant industries to become the greatest comb nations of capital that the world has eer known these especial favorites of tha government have through trust methods been converted into monopolies thus bringing to an end domestic competition which was the only check upon the extravagant profits made possible by the protective system these industrial comb nations by the financial as istance they can give now control the of the can party we denounce protection as a robbery of the many to enrich the few and we favor a tariff limited to the necessities of the government economically adminis and so levied as not to d nate against any industry class or sec alon to the ena that the burdens of tax atlon shall be d as equally as possible we favor a revision and a gradual deduc alon of the tariff by the friends of the masses and for the commonwealth and not by the friends of its abbes its ex tort lons and its c keeping in view the ultimate end of equality of burdens and equality of opportunities and the purpose of raising a revenue by taxation to wit the support of the federal government in all its in and mirll ty but in we recognize that the gigantic trusts and combinations designed to enable cap ital to secure more them its just share of the joint products of capital and labor and which ha e been fostered and pro rooted under republican rule are a men ace to beneficial competition and an ob stacle to permanent business prosperity A private monopoly 1 indefensible and intolerable individual equality of opportunity and free competition are essential to a healthy and permanent commercial and any trust combination or monopoly tending to destroy these by controlling production restricting corn petition or fixing prices should be pro habited and punished by law we espell ally denounce rebates and discrimination by the transportation companies the most potent agency in promoting and strengthening these unlawful conspire con spira 1 against trade we demand an enlargement of the pow era of the interstate commerce commis lon to the end that the traveling public and shippers of this country may have prompt and adequate relief tor the abuses to which they are subjected to in the matter of we demand a strict enforcement of ex civil and criminal statutes against all such trusts comb nations and mo no and we demand the enactment of such further legislation may be necessary to effectually suppress them any trust or unlawful combination en in interstate commerce which Is monopolizing any branch of business or production should not be permitted to transact business outside of the state of its origin whenever it shall be dished in any court of competent juristic juris dic alon that such monopolization exists such prohibition should be enforced through comprehensive laws to be enacted on the subject we congratulate our western citizens upon the passage of the measure known as the newlands irrigation act for the lr ri gatlon and reclamation of arid lands of the west a measure framed by a demo crat passed in the senate by a non parti ian ote and passed in the house against the opposition of almost all the can leaders by a vote the majority of which was democratic we call attention to this great democratic measure broad and comprehensive as it is working auto matl cally throughout all time without further action of congress until the re cla matlon of all the lands in the arid west capable of reclamation Is accod reserving the lands reclaimed for home seekers in sn all tracts and rigidly guarding against land monopoly as an evidence of the policy of domestic development contemplated by the demo cratic party should it be placed in power the democracy when entrusted with power will conier ct the panama canal peed ly honestly and economically thereby giving to our pe pie what dem have always contended for a great inter oceanic canal furnishing shorter and cheaper lines of transports tran tion and broader and less trammeled trade relations with the other peoples of the world we pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection of our citizens at home and abroad and to use all prop er measures to secure for them whether native born or naturalized and without d of race or creed the equal of laws and the enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them un der the 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 recognition Is withheld from american passports by any countries on the ground of race or creed to favor the beginning of negotiations with the governments of such countries to sec re by treaty the re boval moval of these unjust discriminations we demand that all over the world a duly authenticated passport issued by the government of the united state to an american citizen shall be proof of the tact that he Is an american citizen and shall entitle him to the treatment due him as such we favor the election of united states senators by the direct vote of the people we favor the admission of the terri of oklahoma and the indian terri tory we also favor the immediate ad mission of arizona and bew mexico as separate states and a territorial govern mant tor alaska and porto rico we hold that the officials appointed to administer the government of any terri tory aa well as with the district of alaska should be bona fide residents of the territory or the d strict in which the duties are to be performed at the time of their appointment we demand the extermination of poleg amy within the jurisdiction of the united tates and the complete separation of ch ach and state in political affairs we denounce the ship subsidy bill re bently passed by the united states senate as an iniquitous appropriation of public ands for private p reposes and a waste ul illogical and useless attempt to over come by subs dy obstructions raised by republican legislation to the growth ani development of american con merce on he sea we or the ng of q merchant marine without new or adal burdens upon the people and with out bounties fron the treasury we favor 1 beral trade arrangements arrange menti with canada and w th the peoples of ather countries where they can be en ered into with benefit to american agri culture manufactures mining or corn merce we favor the maln of the mon roe doctrine in its full entirety we favor the reduction of the army and of army expenditure to the point history cally demonstrated to be sate and sut the democracy would secure to the sur biving soldiers and sailors and their de pen dents generous pensions not by an arbitrary executive order but by legis wh ch a grateful people stand ready to enact soldiers and sailors who defend with their lives the cons titu alon and the laws have a sacred interest n their just administration they must therefore share with us the humiliation nith which we have the exal lation of court favor tes without distin dished service over the scarred heroes 1 many battles or aggrandized by ex appropriations out of the treas ires of a prosperous people in violation ot the act at congress which fixes the and allowances ot mill tary officers the democratic party stands committed to the of civil service reform and we demand their honest lust an 1 impartial enforcement e denounce the republican party tor its continuous en I 1 croach ment upon the spirit and operation of civil service rules whereby it has abbl dispensed with examinations for office in the interest of favorites and em aloyed all manner of devices to over reach and set aside the caples upon which the civil service was established the race question has brought count les woes to this country the calm wis dom of the american people should see to it that it brings no more to revive the dead and hateful race and sectional animosities in any part of our common country means confusion distraction of business and the reopening of wounds now happily healed north south past and west have recently stood together in line of battle from the walls of pekin to the hills of santiago and sharers of a comman glory and a common des tiny we should share fraternally the common burdens we therefore depre cate and condemn the Bourbon like sel fish and narrow spirit of the recent he publican convention at chicago which so to kindle anew racial and fac strife and we appeal to the sober common sense and patriotic spirit of the american people rhe existing republican administration has been spasmodic spectacular and ar it has made itself a satire upon the congress the courts and upon the settled practices and usages of national ind international law it e the congress into hasty and futile extra ses elon and virtually adjourned it leaving ephird lt filgut from washington un |