fore demanded that the power to issue notes to circulate as money be taken from the national banks, and all paper money shall be issued directly by the Treasury Department redeemable in coin, and receivable for all debts, pub ̄ lic and private.

On the subject of tariff they said: "We hold that tariff duties should be levied for purposes of revenue, such duties to be so adjusted as to operate equally throughout the country, and not discriminate between class or section. And that taxation should be limited by the needs of the government honestly and economically administered. They denounced as disturbing to business, the Republican threat, to restore the McKinley law, which had been twice condemned by the people in national elections, and which, enacted under a false plea of protection to home industry proved a prolific breeder of trusts and monopolies, enriched the few at the expense of the many, restricted trade, and deprived producrs of the great American staples of access to their natural markets.

They said that, until the money question is setteld, they are opposed to any agitation for further changes in tariff laws, except such as are necessary to make up the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse decision of the Supreme Court on the income tax. But for that decision there would have been no deficit in the revenue under the law passed by a Democratic Congress in strict pursuance of the untiform decision of that court for nearly one hundred years, it having sustained Constitutional objections to its enactment, which had been overruled by the ablest judges who had ever sat on that bench. They declared it the duty of Congress to use all Constitutional power which remained after that decision, or which might come from

its reversal, by the court as it might hereafter be constituted so that the burdens of taxation might be equally and impartially laid, to the end, that wealth might bear its due proportion of the expenses of government.

On the subject of labor they held "that the most efficient way to protect American labor was to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to compete with it in the home market, and that the home market to our American farmers and artisans, is greatly reduced below the cost of production, and thus deprived them of the means of purchasing the products of our home manufactures. The absorption of wealth by the few, it said, and the consolidation of our leading railroad systems, and the formation of trusts and pools, required a stricter control by the Federal Government of those arteries of commerce; they therefore demanded the enlargement of the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and such restrictions and guarantees in the control of railroads as will protect the people from robbery and oppression.

They denounced the profligate waste of the money wrung from the people by oppressive taxation, and the lavish appropriations of recent Republican Congresses, which had kept taxes high, while labor, which paid them, was unemployed, and the products of the people's toil was depressed in price, till they no longer repaid the cost of production; they therefore demanded a return to that simplicity and economy, which befits a Democratic Government, and a reduction of useless offices, the salaries of which drain the substance of the people. They also denounced arbitrary interference by Federal authorities in local affairs as a violation of the Constitution, and a crime against free institutions; and especially objected

to government by injunctions as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression by which Federal Judges, in contempt of the laws of the States and the rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges, and executioners; and they approved the bill passed at the preceding session of the United States Senate, pending in the House relative to contempts in Federal Courts, and providing for trials by jury in certain cases of contempt (which bill has since become a law.)

They further declared, that no discrimination should be indulged by the government of the United States in favor of any of its debtors; approved of the refusal of the Fifty-third Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad Funding Bill, and denounced the effort of the then existing Republican Congress to enact a similar measure.

Recognizing the just claims of deserving Union soldiers, they heartily endorsed the rule of the Commissioner of Pensions, that no names should be arbitrarily dropped from the pension roll; and that the fact of enlistment and service should be deemed conclusive evidence against, or disability before enlistment.

They also favored the admission of the Territories of New Mexico, and Arizona into the Union as States, and the early admission of all the Territories having the necessary population and resources to entitle them to Statehood, and while they remained Territories, they held, that the officials appointed to administer the government of any Territory, together with the District of Columbia, and Alaska, should be bona fide residents of the Territory or district in which their duties are to be performed.

They declared that, they believed in home rule, and that all public lands of the United States should be ap

propriated to the establishment of free homes for American citizens. They also recommended that Alaska be granted a delegate in Congress, and that the general land and timber laws of the United States should be extended to that Territory.

They extended their sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence.

They opposed life tenure in the public service; and favored appointments based upon merit, fixed terms of office, and such an administration of the civil service laws, as would afford equal opportunities to all citizens of ascertained fitness.

They also declared, that the Federal Government should care for and improve the Mississippi River, and other great waterways of the Republic, so as to secure for the interior states easy and cheap transportation to tide water; and that when any waterway of the Republic is of sufficient importance to demand aid of the Government, such aid should be extended upon a definite plan of continuous work until permanent improvement is secured.

They also declared as a new plank in a Democratic platform, that, it was the unwritten law of the Republic, established by the customs and usages of a hundred years, sanctioned by the examples of the greatest and wisest of those who founded, and maintained our Govcrnment, that no man should be eligible for a third term of the Presidential office.

Finally, confiding in the justice of their cause, and the necessity of its success at the polls, they submitted the foregoing declaration of principles and purposes to the considerate judgment of the American people. They

invited the support of all citizens who approved them, and who desired to have them made effective through legislation for the relief of the people, and the restoration of the country's prosperity.

Of this platform it may be said, that upon the coinage question at the ratio of 16 to 1, a difference of opinion. arose. There were other matters of disagreement but that was evidently the principal one. There was another Convention subsequently held, and Palmer, of Illinois, and Buckner, of Kentucky, nominated for President and Vice President, for whom 132,056 votes were cast throughout the Union. This difference of opinion still exists, at this writing. What the result will be, must be recorded, after the next National Democratic Convention to meet on July 4, 1900, at Kansas City has been held.

For an explanation of the money question, manıfested as a second difference of opinion (the slavery question was the other) in the period of one hundred years, reference may be had to another chapter.