USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. VI > Part 20
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"With profound regret we have been apprised by the venerable statesman through whose person was struck that blow at the vital principle of republics-acquiescence in the will of the majority- that he cannot permit us again to place in his hands the leadership
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of the Democratic hosts, for the reason that the achievement of reform in the administration of the Federal government is an under- taking now too heavy for his age and failing strength. Rejoicing that his life has been prolonged until the general judgment of our fellow-countrymen is united in the wish that that wrong were righted in his person, for the Democracy of the United States we offer to him, in his withdrawal from public cares, not only our respectful sympathy and esteem, but also that best homage of freedom-the pledge of our devotion to the principles and the cause now insepa- rable in the history of this republic from the labors and the name of Samuel J. Tilden.
"With this statement of the hopes, principles, and purposes of the Democratic party, the great issue of reform and change in adminis- tration is submitted to the people in calm confidence that the popular voice will pronounce in favor of new men and new and more favor- able conditions for the growth of industry, the extension of trade, the employment and due reward of labor and of capital, and the general welfare of the whole country."
The portion of the platform relating to the tariff was opposed by General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massa- chusetts, who offered a substitute resolution which was intended to favor the protective policy; defeated by 7211/2 to 961/2.
Other Parties
Greenback Party .- Convention held in Indianapolis, May 28-29, 1884. For President, Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts; for Vice-President, Alanson M. West, of Mississippi. The same candidates had previ- ously been nominated by an Anti-Monopoly convention held in Chicago May 14.
Prohibition Party .- Convention held in Pittsburgh, July 23, 1884. For President, John P. St. John, of
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Kansas; for Vice-President, William Daniel, of Mary- land.
An "American Prohibition national convention" was held in Chicago June 19, 1884, which nominated Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for President, and John A. Conant, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. This convention represented the American Alliance (see 1876).
Equal Rights Convention .- Held in San Francisco, September 20, 1884. For President, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, of the District of Columbia ; for Vice-Presi- dent, Mrs. Marietta L. Stow, of California.
The Election
Electoral vote for President and Vice-President :
Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks, Democrats :- Ala- bama, 10; Arkansas, 7; Connecticut, 6; Delaware, 3; Florida, 4; Georgia, 12; Indiana, 15; Kentucky, 13; Louisiana, 8; Maryland, 8; Mississippi, 9; Missouri, 16; New Jersey, 9; New York, 36; North Carolina, 11; South Carolina, 9; Tennessee, 12; Texas, 13; Virginia, 12; West Virginia, 6. Total, 219. Elected.
James G. Blaine and John A. Logan, Republicans :- California, 8; Colorado, 3; Illinois, 22; Iowa, 13; Kansas, 9; Maine, 6; Massa- chusetts, 14; Michigan, 13; Minnesota, 7; Nebraska, 5; Nevada, 3; New Hampshire, 4; Ohio, 23; Oregon, 3; Pennsylvania, 30; Rhode Island, 4; Vermont, 4; Wisconsin, 11. Total, 182.
Popular vote :
Cleveland, 4,912,696; Blaine, 4,849,680; St. John, 151,830; Butler, 133,824; scattering, 10,360.
ANDREW JOHNSON
Andrew Johnson, 17th president; born at Raleigh, N. C., December 29, 1808; tailor; alderman, Greenville, Tenn. for three years; mayor, 1830-33; member state legislature, 1835-39; state senator, 1841; member of congress, 1843-1853; governor of Tennessee, 1853-1857; United States senator, 1857-1862; elected vice president, 1864; became president on death of Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1865; had trouble with congress and resolution for his impeachment was passed by house of representatives, February 24, 1868; tried and acquitted; de- feated as candidate for United States senator, 1870; reelected to U. S. senate and served from March 4, 1875 until his death at Carters Station, Tenn., July 31, 1875.
1888
Democratic Party
Convention held in St. Louis, June 5-7; temporary chairman, Stephen M. White, of California; perma- nent chairman, Patrick A. Collins, of Massachusetts.
President Cleveland was renominated by acclama- tion.
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, received the Vice-Presi- dential nomination on the first ballot by a vote of 684 out of a total of 822.
Platform :
"The Democratic party of the United States, in convention as- sembled, renews the pledge of its fidelity to Democratic faith, and reaffirms the platform adopted by its representatives at the conven- tion of 1884, and endorses the views expressed by President Cleve- land in his last earnest message to Congress as the correct interpreta- tion of that platform upon the question of tariff reduction; and also endorses the efforts of our Democratic Representatives in Congress to secure a reduction of excessive taxation.
"Chief among its principles of party faith are the maintenance of an indissoluble Union of free and indestructible States, now about to enter upon its second century of unexampled progress and renown ; devotion to a plan of government regulated by a written Constitu- tion strictly specifying every granted power and expressly reserving to the States or people the entire ungranted residue of power; the encouragement of a jealous popular vigilance directed to all who have been chosen for brief terms to enact and execute the law and
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are charged with the duty of preserving peace, insuring equality, and establishing justice.
"The Democratic party welcomes an exacting scrutiny of the administration of the executive power, which four years ago was com- mitted to its trust in the election of Grover Cleveland as President of the United States; and it challenges the most searching inquiry concerning its fidelity and devotion to the pledges which then invited the suffrages of the people. During a most critical period of our financial affairs, resulting from over-taxation, the anomalous condi- tion of our currency, and a public debt unmatured, it has, by the adoption of a wise and conservative course, not only averted disaster but greatly promoted the prosperity of the people.
"It has reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the Repub- lican party touching the public domain, and has reclaimed from cor- porations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and restored to the people, nearly 100,000,000 acres of valuable land, to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens.
"While carefully guarding the interests of the taxpayers and con- forming strictly to the principles of justice and equity, it has paid out more for pensions and bounties to the soldiers and sailors of the republic than was ever paid before during an equal period.
"By intelligent management and judicious and economical expen- diture of the public money it has set on foot the reconstruction of the American navy upon a system which forbids the recurrence of scandal and insures successful results.
"It has adopted and consistently pursued a firm and prudent foreign policy, preserving peace with all nations while scrupulously maintaining all the rights and interests of our government and peo- ple, at home and abroad. The exclusion from our shores of Chinese laborers has been effectually secured under the provisions of a treaty the operation of which has been postponed by the action of a Repub- lican majority in the Senate.
"Honest reform in the civil service has been inaugurated and maintained by President Cleveland, and he has brought the public service to the highest standard of efficiency, not only by rule and
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precept but by the example of his own untiring and unselfish admin- istration of public affairs.
"In every branch and department of the government under Demo- cratic control, the rights and the welfare of all the people have been guarded and defended; every public interest has been protected, and the equality of all our citizens before the law, without regard to race or section, has been steadfastly maintained. Upon its record thus exhibited, and upon the pledge of a continuance to the people of the benefits of good government, the national Democracy invoke a renewal of popular trust by the reelection of a Chief-Magistrate who has been faithful, able, and prudent. They invoke an addition to that trust by the transfer also to the Democracy of the entire legislative power.
"The Republican party, controlling the Senate and resisting in both houses of Congress a reformation of unjust and unequal tax laws which have outlasted the necessities of war and are now under- mining the abundance of a long peace, deny to the people equality before the law and the fairness and justice which are their right. Thus the cry of American labor for a better share in the rewards of industry is stifled with false pretenses, enterprise is fettered and bound down to home markets, capital is discouraged with doubt, and unequal, unjust laws can neither be properly amended nor re- pealed. The Democratic party will continue, with all the power confided to it, the struggle to reform these laws in accordance with the pledges of its last platform, endorsed at the ballot-box by the suffrages of the people.
"Of all the industrious freemen of our land, an immense majority, including every tiller of the soil, gain no advantage from excessive tax laws, but the price of nearly everything they buy is increased by the favoritism of an unequal system of tax legislation. All unneces- sary taxation is unjust taxation. It is repugnant to the creed of Democracy that by such taxation the cost of the necessaries of life should be unjustifiably increased to all our people. Judged by Democratic principles, the interests of the people are betrayed when, by unnecessary taxation, trusts and combinations are permitted and fostered, which, while unduly enriching the few that combine, rob
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the body of our citizens by depriving them of the benefits of natural competition.
"Every democratic rule of governmental action is violated when, through unnecessary taxation, a vast sum of money, far beyond the needs of an economical administration, is drawn from the people and the channels of trade and accumulated as a demoralizing sur- plus in the national treasury. The money now lying idle in the Federal treasury, resulting from superfluous taxation, amounts to more than one hundred and twenty-five millions, and the surplus collected is reaching the sum of more than sixty millions annually. Debauched by this immense temptation, the remedy of the Republi- can party is to meet and exhaust, by extravagant appropriations and expenditures, whether constitutional or not, the accumulation of extravagant taxation. The Democratic remedy is to enforce fru- gality in public expenses and to abolish needless taxation.
"Our established domestic industries and enterprises should not and need not be endangered by the reduction and correction of the burdens of taxation. On the contrary, a fair and careful revision of our tax laws, with due allowance for the difference between the wages of American and foreign labor, must promote and encourage every branch of such industries and enterprises by giving them assurance of an extended market and steady and continuous opera- tions. In the interests of American labor, which should in no event be neglected, the revision of our tax laws contemplated by the Demo- cratic party would promote the advantage of such labor by cheapen- ing the cost of necessaries of life in the home of every workingman, and at the same time securing to him steady and remunerative em- ployment. Upon this great issue of tariff reform, so closely concern- ing every phase of our national life, and upon every question in- volved in the problem of good government, the Democratic party submits its principles and professions to the intelligent suffrages of the American people.
"Resolved, That this convention hereby endorses and recommends the early passage of the bill for the reduction of the revenue now pending in the House of Representatives.
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"Resolved, That a just and liberal policy should be pursued in reference to the Territories; that the right of self-government is in- herent in the people and guaranteed under the Constitution; that the Territories of Washington, Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico are, by virtue of population and development, entitled to admission into the Union as States, and we unqualifiedly condemn the course of the Republican party in refusing statehood and self-government to their people.
"Resolved, That we express our cordial sympathy with the strug- gling people of all nations in their efforts to secure for themselves the inestimable blessings of self-government and civil and religious liberty, and we especially declare our sympathy with the efforts of those noble patriots who, led by Gladstone and Parnell, have con- ducted their grand and peaceful contest for home rule in Ireland."
Republican Party
Convention held in Chicago, June 19-25, 1888; temporary chairman, John M. Thurston, of Nebraska ; permanent chairman, Morris M. Estee, of California.
Nine candidates for the Presidential nomination were formally presented to the convention, as follows: Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut; Walter Q. Gres- ham, of Indiana; Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana; William B. Allison, of Iowa; Russell A. Alger, of Michigan; Chauncey M. Depew, of New York; John Sherman, of Ohio; Edwin H. Fitler, of Pennsylvania ; and Jeremiah M. Rusk, of Wisconsin. On the first ballot Sherman showed by far the greatest strength, and he retained the lead for six ballots; on the seventh he was passed by Harrison, who was nominated on the eighth by the following vote: Harrison, 544; Sher- man, 118; Alger, 100; Gresham, 59; James G. Blaine, 5; William McKinley, 4.
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The first ballot for Vice-President resulted in the choice of Levi P. Morton, of New York, who had 592 votes to 234 for four others.
Platform :
"The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their dele- gates in national convention, pause on the threshold of their pro- ceedings to honor the memory of their first great leader, the im- mortal champion of liberty and the rights of the people, Abraham Lincoln; and to cover also with wreaths of imperishable remem- brance and gratitude the heroic names of our later leaders, who have been more recently called away from our councils-Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Logan, Conkling. May their memories be faithfully cher- ished. We also recall, with our greetings and with prayer for his recovery, the name of one of our living heroes, whose memory will be treasured in the history both of Republicans and of the republic- the name of that noble soldier and favorite child of victory, Philip H. Sheridan.
"In the spirit of those great leaders, and of our own devotion to human liberty, and with that hostility to all forms of despotism and oppression which is the fundamental idea of the Republican party, we send fraternal congratulations to our fellow-Americans of Brazil upon their great act of emancipation, which completed the abolition of slavery throughout the two American continents. We earnestly hope that we may soon congratulate our fellow-citizens of Irish birth upon the peaceful recovery of home rule for Ireland.
"We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitu- tion and to the indissoluble Union of the States; to the autonomy reserved to the States under the Constitution; to the personal rights and liberties of citizens in all the States and Territories in the Union, and especially to the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign-born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in public elections and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the free and honest popular ballot and the just and equal representation of all the people to be the foundation of our republican government, and demand effective legislation to
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secure the integrity and purity of elections, which are the fountains of all public authority. We charge that the present administration and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their existence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of the Constitu- tion and laws of the United States.
"We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection ; we protest against its destruction as proposed by the Presi- dent and his party. They serve the interests of Europe; we will sup- port the interests of America. We accept the issue and confidently appeal to the people for their judgment. The protective system must be maintained. Its abandonment has always been followed by gen- eral disaster to all interests except those of the usurer and the sheriff. We denounce the Mills bill as destructive to the general business, the labor, and the farming interests of the country, and we heartily en- dorse the consistent and patriotic action of the Republican Representa- tives in Congress in opposing its passage.
"We condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to place wool on the free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and maintained so as to furnish full and adequate protec- tion to that industry throughout the United States.
"The Republican party would effect all needed reduction of the national revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, which are an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the tax upon spirits used in the arts and for mechanical purposes, and by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check imports of such articles as are pro- duced by our people, the production of which gives employment to our labor and releases from import duties those articles of foreign produc- tion (except luxuries) the like of which cannot be produced at home. If there shall remain a larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the government, we favor the entire repeal of internal revenue taxes rather than the surrender of any part of our protective system at the joint behests of the whiskey trusts and the agents of foreign manufacturers.
"We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of foreign contract labor and of Chinese labor, alien to our civilization and Constitution, and we demand the rigid enforcement of the exist-
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ing laws against it, and favor such immediate legislation as will ex- clude such labor from our shores.
"We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital, organ- ized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens; and we recommend to Congress and the State Legislatures, in their respective jurisdictions, such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the transportation of their products to market. We approve the legislation by Congress to prevent alike unjust burdens and unfair discriminations between the States.
"We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of the United States to be homesteads for American citizens and settlers, not aliens, which the Republican party established in 1862 against the persistent opposition of the Democrats in Congress, and which has brought our great western domain into such magnificent develop- ment. The restoration of unearned railroad land grants to the public domain for the use of actual settlers, which was begun under the administration of President Arthur, should be continued. We deny that the Democratic party has ever restored one acre to the people, but declare that by the joint action of the Republicans and Democrats in Congress about 60,000,000 acres of unearned lands originally granted for the construction of railroads have been restored to the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted by the Republican party in the original grants. We charge the Democratic administration with failure to execute the laws securing to settlers title to their homesteads, and with using appropriations made for that purpose to harass innocent settlers with spies and prosecutions under the false pretense of exposing frauds and vindicating the law.
"The government by Congress of the Territories is based upon necessity only, to the end that they may become States in the Union; therefore, whenever the conditions of population, material resources, public intelligence, and morality are such as to insure a stable local government therein, the people of such Territories should be per- mitted, as a right inherent in them, to form for themselves Constitu- tions and State governments and be admitted into the Union. Pend-
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ing the preparation for statehood, all officers thereof should be selected from the bona fide residents and citizens of the Territory wherein they are to serve.
"South Dakota should of right be immediately admitted as a State in the Union, under the Constitution framed and adopted by her people, and we heartily endorse the action of the Republican Senate in twice passing bills for her admission. The refusal of the Democratic House of Representatives, for partisan purposes, to favor- ably consider these bills is a willful violation of the sacred American principle of local self-government, and merits the condemnation of all just men. The pending bills in the Senate to enable the people of Washington, North Dakota, and Montana Territories to form Con- stitutions and establish State governments should be passed without unnecessary delay. The Republican party pledges itself to do all in its power to facilitate the admission of the Territories of New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, and Arizona to the enjoyment of self- government as States, such of them as are now qualified as soon as possible, and the others as soon as they may become so.
"The political power of the Mormon church in the Territories as exercised in the past is a menace to free institutions too dangerous to be longer suffered. Therefore we pledge the Republican party to appropriate legislation asserting the sovereignty of the nation in all Territories where the same is questioned, and in furtherance of that end to place upon the statute-books legislation stringent enough to divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power and thus stamp out the attendant wickedness of polygamy.
"The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic adminis- tration in its efforts to demonetize silver.
"We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per ounce.
"In a republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign-the people- should possess intelligence. The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us a free nation; therefore the State or nation, or both combined, should support free institutions of learn-
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ing sufficient to afford every child growing in the land the oppor- tunity of a good common-school education.
"The first concern of all good government is the virtue and sobriety of the people, and the purity of their homes. The Repub- lican party cordially sympathizes with all wise and well-directed efforts for the promotion of temperance and morality.
"We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by Con- gress in the enactment of such legislation as will best secure the rehabilitation of our American merchant marine, and we protest against the passage by Congress of a free-ship bill as calculated to work injustice to labor by lessening the wages of those engaged in preparing materials, as well as those directly employed in our ship- yards. We demand appropriations for the early rebuilding of our navy; for the construction of coast fortifications and modern ord- nance, and other approved modern means of defense for the pro- tection of our defenseless harbors and cities ; for the payment of just pensions to our soldiers; for the necessary works of national im- portance in the improvement of harbors and the channels of internal, coastwise, and foreign commerce; for the encouragement of the shipping interests of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific States, as well as for the payment of the maturing public debt. This policy will give employment to our labor, activity to our various industries, increase the security of our country, promote trade, open new and direct markets for our produce, and cheapen the cost of transporta- tion. We affirm this to be far better for our country than the Democratic policy of loaning the government's money, without inter- est, to 'pet banks.'
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