USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. VI > Part 24
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NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS
1896]
This was laid on the table by a vote of 81812 to 1051/2, and the financial plank as reported was adopted, 8121/2 to 11012. The pro-silver delegates, under the leadership of Senator Teller, thereupon withdrew from the convention.
Other Parties
People's Party .- Convention met in St. Louis, July 22, 1896. For President, William J. Bryan; for Vice- President, Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia. The plat- form declared for free silver, a graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads and telegraphs, direct legislation through the initiative and referendum, and other advanced measures.
National Silver Party .- Convention met in St. Louis, July 22, 1896. For President, William J. Bryan; for Vice-President, Arthur Sewall. The platform was con- fined to an exposition of the financial question from the pro-silver point of view.
National Democratic Party (Gold Democrats) .- Convention met in Indianapolis, September 2, 1896. Temporary chairman, Roswell P. Flower, of New York; permanent chairman, Donelson Caffery, of Louisiana. For President, John M. Palmer, of Illi- nois; for Vice-President, Simon B. Buckner, of Ken- tucky. The platform repudiated the acts of the regular convention of the Democratic party at Chicago. On the financial question it declared for gold "as a stand- ard of monetary measure, and the maintenance of silver at a parity with gold by its limited coinage under suit- able safeguards of law."
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[1896
Prohibition Party .- Convention met in Pittsburgh, May 27, 1896. For President, Joshua Levering, of Maryland; for Vice-President, Hale Johnson, of Illi- nois.
National Party (Bolting Prohibitionists) .- For President, Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska; for Vice- President, James H. Southgate, of North Carolina. The platform demanded prohibition of the liquor traffic and various other radical measures, and favored free silver coinage.
Socialist Labor Party .- Convention met in New York, July 6, 1896. For President, Charles H. Match- ett, of New York; for Vice-President, Matthew Ma- guire, of New Jersey.
The Election
Electoral vote for President:
William McKinley, Republican :- California, 8; Connecticut, 6; Delaware, 3; Illinois, 24; Indiana, 15; Iowa, 13; Kentucky, 12; Maine, 6; Maryland, 8; Massachusetts, 15; Michigan, 14; Minne- sota, 9; New Hampshire, 4; New Jersey, 10; New York, 36; North Dakota, 3; Ohio, 23; Oregon, 4; Pennsylvania, 32; Rhode Island, 4; Vermont, 4; West Virginia, 6; Wisconsin, 12. Total, 271. Elected.
William J. Bryan, Democrat :- Alabama, 11; Arkansas, 8; Cali- fornia, 1; Colorado, 4; Florida, 4; Georgia, 13; Idaho, 3; Kansas, 10; Kentucky, 1; Louisiana, 8; Mississippi, 9; Missouri, 17; Mon- tana, 3; Nebraska, 8; Nevada, 3; North Carolina, 11; South Caro- lina, 9; South Dakota, 4; Tennessee, 12; Texas, 15; Utah, 3; Vir- ginia, 12; Washington, 4; Wyoming, 3. Total, 176.
JAMES A. GARFIELD
James A. Garfield, 20th president; born at Orange, Ohio, November 19, 1831; lawyer; college president at 26; served in war of the rebellion; elected to Ohio state senate, 1859; mem- ber of congress from March 4, 1863 to November 8, 1880; elected president and served from March 4, 1881 until July 2, 1881, when he was shot in the Pennsylvania railroad station at Washington by an assassin; died at Elberon, N. J. from effects of wound, September 19, 1881.
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NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS
1896]
Electoral vote for Vice-President :
Garrett A. Hobart, Republican :- Same as Mckinley, 271. Elected.
Arthur Sewall, Democrat :- Alabama, 11; Arkansas, 5; Califor- nia, 1; Colorado, 4; Florida, 4; Georgia, 13; Idaho, 3; Kansas, 10; Kentucky, 1; Louisiana, 4; Mississippi, 9; Missouri, 13; Montana, 2; Nebraska, 4; Nevada, 3; North Carolina, 6; South Carolina, 9; South Dakota, 2; Tennessee, 12; Texas, 15; Utah, 2; Virginia, 12; Washington, 2; Wyoming, 2. Total, 149.
Thomas E. Watson, People's :- Arkansas, 3; Louisiana, 4; Mis- souri, 4; Montana, 1; Nebraska, 4; North Carolina, 5; South Da- kota, 2; Utah, 1; Washington, 2; Wyoming, 1. Total, 27.
Popular vote :
Mckinley, 7,035,638; Bryan, 6,467,9461; Palmer, 131,529; Levering, 141,676; Matchett, 36,454; Bentley, 13,968.
1Combined vote on the Bryan and Sewall (Democratic) and Bryan and Watson (Populist) tickets.
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1900
Republican Party
Convention held in Philadelphia, June 19-21, 1900. Temporary chairman, Edward O. Wolcott, of Colo- rado; permanent chairman, Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts.
President Mckinley was renominated by the unani- mous vote of the convention.
For the Vice-Presidency Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, was unanimously nominated.
Platform :
"The Republicans of the United States, through their chosen rep- resentatives met in national convention, looking back upon an unsur- passed record of achievement and looking forward into a great field of duty and opportunity, and appealing to the judgment of their countrymen, make these declarations :
"The expectation in which the American people, turning from the Democratic party, entrusted power four years ago to a Republican Chief-Magistrate and a Republican Congress has been met and satis- fied. When the people then assembled at the polls after a term of Democratic legislation and administration business was dead, indus- try paralyzed, and the national credit disastrously impaired. The country's capital was hidden away and its labor distressed and unem- ployed. The Democrats had no other plan with which to improve the ruinous conditions which they had themselves produced than to coin silver at the ratio of 16 to 1.
"The Republican party, denouncing this plan as sure to produce
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1900]
conditions even worse than those from which relief was sought, prom- ised to restore prosperity by means of two legislative measures : a pro- tective tariff and a law making gold the standard of value. The people by great majorities issued to the Republican party a commission to enact these laws. The commission has been executed, and the Republican promise is redeemed.
"Prosperity more general and more abundant than we have ever known has followed these enactments. There is no longer contro- versy as to the value of any government obligation. Every Ameri- can dollar is a gold dollar or its assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than that of any other nation. Capital is fully employed, and labor everywhere is profitably occupied.
"No single fact can more strikingly tell the story of what Repub- lican government means to the country than this, that while during the whole period of one hundred and seven years from 1790 to 1897 there was an excess of exports over imports of only $383,028,497, there has been in the short three years of the present Republican ad- ministration an excess of exports over imports in the enormous sum of $1,483,537,094.
"And while the American people, sustained by this Republican legislation, have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their busi- ness and commerce, they have conducted and in victory concluded a war for liberty and human rights. No thought of national aggran- dizement tarnished the high purpose with which American standards were unfurled. It was a war unsought and patiently resisted, but when it came the American government was ready. Its fleets were cleared for action, its armies were in the field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on land and sea bore equal tribute to the cour- age of American soldiers and sailors and to the skill and foresight of Republican statesmanship. To ten millions of the human race there was given 'a new birth of freedom,' and to the American people a new and noble responsibility.
"We endorse the administration of William Mckinley. Its acts have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the American nation. Walking untried paths and facing unforeseen
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responsibilities, President Mckinley has been in every situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman, clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action, always inspiring and deserving the confidence of his countrymen.
"In asking the American people to endorse this Republican record and to renew their commission to the Republican party, we remind them of the fact that the menace to their prosperity has always re- sided in Democratic principles, and no less in the general incapacity of the Democratic party to conduct public affairs. The prime essen- tial of business prosperity is public confidence in the good sense of the government and in its ability to deal intelligently with each new problem of administration and legislation. That confidence the Democratic party has never earned. It is hopelessly inadequate, and the country's prosperity, when Democratic success at the polls is announced, halts and ceases in mere anticipation of Democratic blunders and failures.
"We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard and declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the Fifty-sixth Congress, by which the parity of all our money and the stability of our currency upon a gold basis has been secured. We recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of further lowering the rates of interest we favor such monetary legisla- tion as will enable the varying needs of the season and of all sections to be promptly met, in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor steadily employed, and commerce enlarged. The volume of money in circulation was never so great per capita as it is to-day.
"We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and unlimited coinage of silver. No measure to that end could be considered which was without the support of the leading commercial countries of the world. However firmly Republican legislation may seem to have secured the country against the peril of base and discredited currency, the election of a Democratic President could not fail to impair the country's credit and to bring once more into question the intention of the American people to maintain upon the gold standard the parity of their money circulation. The Democratic party must be
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1900]
convinced that the American people will never tolerate the Chicago platform.
"We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest coopera- tion of capital to meet new business conditions, and especially to extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade; but we condemn all con- spiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, to create monopolies, to limit production, or to control prices, and favor such legislation as will effectively restrain and prevent all such abuses, protect and promote competition, and secure the rights of producers, laborers, and all who are engaged in industry and commerce.
"We renew our faith in the policy of protection to American labor. In that policy our industries have been established, diversified, and maintained. By protecting the home market competition has been stimulated and production cheapened. Opportunity to the in- ventive genius of our people has been secured and wages in every department of labor maintained at high rates-higher now than ever before, and always distinguishing our working-people in their better conditions of life from those of any competing country. Enjoying the blessings of the American common school, secure in the right of self-government, and protected in the occupancy of their own mar- kets, their constantly increasing knowledge and skill have enabled them to finally enter the markets of the world.
"We favor the associated policy of reciprocity, so directed as to open our markets on favorable terms for what we do not ourselves produce in return for free foreign markets.
"In the further interest of American workmen we favor a more effective restriction of the immigration of cheap labor from foreign lands, the extension of opportunities of education for working chil- dren, the raising of the age limit for child labor, the protection of free labor as against contract convict labor, and an effective system of labor insurance.
"Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for nine-tenths of our foreign carrying trade is a great loss to the industry of this country. It is also a serious danger to our trade, for its sudden withdrawal in the event of European war would seriously cripple our expanding foreign commerce. The national defense and naval effi-
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[1900
ciency of this country, moreover, supply a compelling reason for legis- lation which will enable us to recover our former place among the trade-carrying fleets of the world.
"The nation owes a debt of profound gratitude to the soldiers and sailors who have fought its battles, and it is the government's duty to provide for the survivors and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the country's wars. The Pension laws, founded in this just sentiment, should be liberal and should be liber- ally administered, and preference should be given, wherever practicable with respect to employment in the public service, to soldiers and sail- ors and to their widows and orphans.
"We commend the policy of the Republican party in the effi- ciency of the civil service. The administration has acted wisely in its efforts to secure for public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands only those whose fitness has been deter- mined by training and experience. We believe that employment in the public service in these Territories should be confined, as far as practicable, to their inhabitants.
"It was the plain purpose of the Fifteenth amendment to the Con- stitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or color in regulating the elective franchise. Devices of State governments, whether by statutory or constitutional enactment, to avoid the pur- pose of this amendment, are revolutionary and should be condemned.
"Public movements looking to a permanent improvement of the roads and highways of the country meet with our cordial approval, and we recommend this subject to the earnest consideration of the people and of the Legislatures of the several States.
"We favor the extension of the rural free-delivery service wherever its extension may be justified.
"In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican party to provide free homes on the public domain, we recommend adequate national legislation to reclaim the arid lands of the United States, reserving control of the distribution of water for irrigation to the respective States and Territories.
"We favor home rule for, and the early admission to statehood of, the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma.
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1900]
"The Dingley act, amended to provide sufficient revenue for the conduct of the war, has so well performed its work that it has been possible to reduce the war debt in the sum of $40,000,000. So ample are the government's revenues and so great is the public confi- dence in the integrity of its obligations, that its newly funded 2 per cent. bonds sell at a premium. The country is now justified in ex- pecting, and it will be the policy of the Republican party to bring about, a reduction of the war taxes.
"We favor the construction, ownership, control, and protection of an Isthmian canal by the government of the United States. New markets are necessary for the increasing surplus of our farm products. Every effort should be made to open and obtain new markets, espe- cially in the Orient, and the administration is warmly to be com- mended for its successful efforts to commit all trading and coloniz- ing nations to the policy of the open door in China.
"In the interest of our expanding commerce we recommend that Congress create a Department of Commerce and Industries, in the charge of a Secretary with a seat in the cabinet. The United States consular system should be reorganized under the supervision of this new department, upon such a basis of appointment and tenure as will render it still more serviceable to the nation's increasing trade.
"The American government must protect the person and property of every citizen wherever they are wrongfully violated or placed in peril.
"We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid record of public service in the Volunteer Aid Association and as nurses in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faithful cooperation in all works of education and industry.
"President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of the United States with distinguished credit to the American people. In releasing us from the vexatious conditions of a European alliance for the government of Samoa, his course is especially to be commended. By securing to our individual control the most important island of the Samoan group and the best harbor in the southern Pacific, every American interest has been safeguarded.
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[1900
"We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.
"We commend the part taken by our government in the Peace conference at The Hague. We assert our steadfast adherence to the policy announced in the Monroe doctrine. The provisions of The Hague convention were wisely regarded when President Mckinley tendered his friendly offices in the interest of peace between Great Britain and the South African Republic. While the Ameri- can government must continue the policy prescribed by Washington, affirmed by every succeeding President, and imposed upon us by The Hague treaty, of non-intervention in European controversies, the American people earnestly hope that a way may soon be found, hon- orable alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between them.
"In accepting, by the treaty of Paris, the just responsibility of our victories in the Spanish War, the President and the Senate won the undoubted approval of the American people. No other course was possible than to destroy Spain's sovereignty throughout the West Indies and in the Philippine Islands. That course created our re- sponsibility before the world; and, with the unorganized population whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to provide for the maintenance of law and order and for the establishment of good government and for the performance of international obligations, our authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the gov- ernment to maintain its authority, to put down armed insurrection, and to confer the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued peoples. The largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and our duties shall be secured to them by law.
"To Cuba, independence and self-government were assured in the same voice by which war was declared, and to the letter this pledge shall be performed.
"The Republican party, upon its history and upon this declaration of its principles and policies, confidently invokes the considerate and approving judgment of the American people."
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NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS
1900]
Democratic Party
Convention held in Kansas City, July 4-6, 1900. Temporary chairman, Charles S. Thomas, of Colorado; permanent chairman, James D. Richardson, of Ten- nessee.
William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, were nominated for President and Vice-President. Both nominations were unani- mous.
Platform :
"We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United States, assembled in national convention on the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, do reaffirm our faith in that immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of man, and our allegiance to the Constitution framed in harmony therewith by the fathers of the republic. We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the Declaration of Independence is the spirit of our gov- ernment, of which the Constitution is the form and letter. We de- clare again that all governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny; and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. We hold that the Constitution follows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that an Executive or Congress deriving their existence and their powers from the Constitution can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in viola- tion of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home.
"Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the Porto Rico law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold and open violation of the nation's organic law and a flagrant breach of the national good faith. It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government with-
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out their consent and taxation without representation. It dishonors the American people by repudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by the commanding general of our army, which the Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted occupation of their land. It dooms to poverty and distress a people whose helplessness appeals with peculiar force to our justice and magnanimity. In this, the first act of its imperialistic program, the Republican party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy inconsistent with republican institutions and condemned by the Supreme Court in numerous decisions.
"We demand the prompt and honest fulfillment of our pledge to the Cuban people and the world that the United States has no dis- position nor intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over the island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The war ended nearly two years ago, profound peace reigns over all the island, and still the administration keeps the government of the island from its people, while Republican carpetbag officials plunder its revenues and exploit the colonial theory to the disgrace of the American people.
"We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present administration. It has embroiled the republic in an unnecessary war, sacrificed the lives of many of its noblest sons, and placed the United States, previously known and applauded throughout the world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American position of crushing with military force the efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty and self-government. The Filipinos cannot be citizens with- out endangering our civilization; they cannot be subjects without imperiling our form of government; and as we are not willing to surrender our civilization or to convert the republic into an empire, we favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to give to the Philippines first, a stable form of government; second, independ- ence; and third, protection from outside interference such as has been given for nearly a century to the republics of Central and South America.
"The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy of the Republican administration attempts to justify it with the plea that it will pay; but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails when
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1900]
brought to the test of facts. The war of 'criminal aggression' against the Filipinos, entailing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more than any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended at the expense of liberty the price is always too high.
"We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to the seizing or purchasing of dis- tant islands to be governed outside the Constitution and whose people can never become citizens.
"We are in favor of extending the republic's influence among the nations, but we believe that influence should be extended not by force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and honorable example.
"The importance of other questions now pending before the American people is in no wise diminished, and the Democratic party takes no backward step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Spanish War involves the very existence of the republic and the destruction of our free institu- tions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign.
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