USA > Wisconsin > The Wisconsin blue book 1889 > Part 45
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The democratic party welcome an exacting scrutiny of the administration of the execu tive power, which four years ago was committed to its trust in the election of Grover Cleve land, President of the United States, but it challenges the most searching inquiry concern- ing 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 condition of our currency, and a public debt unmatured. It has, by the adop- tion of a wise and conservative course, not only avoided disaster, but greatly promoted the prosperity of our people.
It has reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the republican party touching the public domain, and has reclaimed from corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and restored to the people, nearly one hundred millions of acres of land to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens.
While carefully guarding the interest of the people consistent with the principles of jus- tice 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. It has adopted and con- sistently pursued a firm and prudent foreign policy, preserving peace with all nations. while scrupulously maintaining all the rights and interests of our own government, and the people at home and abroad. The exclusion from our shores of Chinese laborers has been effectually secured under the provision of a treaty, the operation of which has been postponed by the action of a republican majority in the senate.
In every branch and department of the government under democratic control. the rights and 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 color, has been steadfastly maintained. Upon its record, thus exhibited, and upon the pledge of a continuance to the people of the benefits of democracy, it invokes a renewal of public trust by the re-election of a chief magistrate who has been faithful, able, and prudent, and invokes, in addition to that trust, the transfer also to the democracy of the entire legislative power.
The republican party controlling the senate and resisting in both houses of congress & reformation of unjust and unequal tax laws, which have outlasted the necessities of war. and are now undermining the abundance of a long peace, deny to the people equality before the law, and the fairness and the justice which are their right. Then the cry of American labor for a better share in the rewards of industry is stifled with false pretense, enterprise is fettered and bound down to home markets, capital is discouraged with doubt, and un- equal, unjust laws can nelther be properly amended or repealed,
The democratic party will continue with all the power confided to it the struggle to re- form these laws in accordance with the pledges of its last platform, indorsed at the ballot- box by the suffrages of the people. Of all the industrious freemen of our land, the 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 un- equal system of tax legislation. All unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation.
It is repugnant to the creed of democracy that by such taxation the cost of the neona. sarles 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 to exist, which, while unduly enriching the few that com.
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bine, rob 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 tara- tion 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 surplus 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 republican party is to meet and exhaust, by extravagant appropriations and expenses, whether constitutional or not, the accumulation of extravagant taxation.
The democratic policy is to enforce frugality in public expense, and abolish unnecessary 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 assurances of an extended market and steady and continuous operations in the interests of American labor, which should in no event be neglected. Revision of our tax laws, contemplated by the democratic party, should promote the advantage of such labor by cheapening the cost of necessaries of life in the home of every workingman, and at the same time securing to him steady remunera- tive employment. Upon this question of tariff reform, so closely concerning every phase of our national life, and upon every question involved in the problem of good government, the democratic party submits its principles and. professions to the intelligent suffrages of the American people.
ADDITIONAL RESOLUTIONS.
Resolved, That this convention hereby indorses and recommends the early passage of the bill for the reduction of the revenue now pending in the house of representatives.
Resolved, That we express our cordial sympathy with struggling 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 effort of those noble patriots who, led by Gladstone and Parnell, have conducted their grand and peaceful contest for home-rule in Ireland.
DEMOCRATIC STATE PLATFORM.
Adopted at Madison, May 1, 1888.
The democrats of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, heartily and fully endorse the wise, conservative and patriotic course of Grover Cleveland as president of the United States.
We take pride in the manly courage with which he has faced the hosts of protected mon- oply, and advocated the reduction of war tariff taxes, now retained only upon the every day necessities of the farmer, the artisan and the laborer, having long since been removed from the income, the bank capital and the bank checks of the rich.
We denounce a system of tariff taxes that, while it creates a dangerous annual surplus in the national treasury of $155,000,000, at the same time indirectly taxes the producers of the west, for the sole benefit of protected manufactures, $ for every one dollar that goes into the treasury.
We therefore declare -
That the burden of taxatiou should rest upon those who use the luxuries, rather than upon those who use only the necessaries of life.
That taxation should be limited to the requirements of the government.
That a greater tax is robbery, under form of law.
We therefore demand that taxation be limited to the needs of the government economi- cally administered and be levied on the luxuries rather than on the necessaries of life, and.
That taxation be reduced in strict confortnity to the principles laid down by President Cleveland in his message to the 50th congress
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POLITICAL PLATFORMS.
NATIONAL PROHIBITION PLATFORM.
[Adopted at Indianapolis, May 31, 1SS3.]
The prohibition party, in national convention assembled, acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all power in government, does hereby declare:
1. That the manufacture, importation, exportation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages shall be made public crimes, and prohibited and punished as such.
2. That such prohibition must be secured through amendments of our National and State Constitutions, enforced by adequate laws adequately supported by administrative authority, and to this end the organization of the prohibition party is imperatively de- manded in state and nation.
3. That any form of license taxation, or regulation of the liquor traffic, is contrary to good government; that any party which supports regulation by license or tax, enters into an alliance with such traffic and becomes the actual foe of the state's welfare, and that we arraign the republican and democratic parties for their persistent attitude in favor of the licensed inequity, whereby they oppose the demand of the people for prohibition, and through open complicity with the liquor cause defeat the enforcement of the law.
4. For the immediate abolition of the internal-revenue system, whereby our national . government is deriving support from our greatest national vice.
5. That an adequate public revenue being necessary, it may properly be raised by im- post duties, but import duties should be so reduced that no surplus should be accumulated in the treasury, and the burdens of taxation should be removed from foods, clothing and other comforts and necessaries of life, and imposed upon such articles of import as will give protection both to the manufacturer, employer and producing labor against the com- petition of the world.
6. That civil-service appointments for all civil offices, chiefly clerical in their duties, should be based upon moral, intellectual and physical qualifications, and not upon party service or party necessity.
7. That the right of suffrage rests on no mere circumstance of race, color or nationality, and that where, from any cause, it has been withheld from citizens who are of suitable age and mentally and morally qualified for the exercise of an intelligent ballot it should be re- stored by the people through the legislatures of the several states on such educational basis as they may deem wise.
8. For the abolition of polygamy and the establishment of uniform laws governing marriage and divorce.
9. For prohibiting all combination of capital to control and to increase the cost of pro- ducts for popular consumption.
10. For the preservation and defense of the Sabbath as a civil institution without op- pressing any who religiously observe the same on any other day than the first day of the week. .
11. That arbitration is the christian, wise and economic method of settling national dif- ferences, and the same method should by judicious legislation be applied to the settlement of disputes between large bodies of employes and employers; that the abolition af the sa- loon would remove the burdens, moral, physical, pecuniary and social, which now oppress labor and rob it of its earnings, and would prove to be the wise and successful way of pro- moting labor reform; and we invite labor and capital to unite with us for the accomplish- ment thereof.
12. That monopoly in the land is a wrong to the people, and public land should be re- served to actual settlers, and that men and women should receive equal wages for equal work.
13. That our immigration laws should be so enforced as to prevent the introduction into our country of all convicts, inmates of dependent institutions and others physically in- capacitated for self-support, and that no person shall have the ballot in any state who is not a citizen of the United States.
14. Recognizing and declaring that prohibition of the liquor traffic has become the domi- nant issue in national politics, we invite to full party fellowship all those who, on this one dominant issue, are with us agreed, in the full belief that this party can and will remove sectional differences, promote national unity and insure the best welfare of our native land.
Resolutions were adopted by the convention favoring the payment of pensions to ex. soldiers and sailors, indorsing the work of the prohibition army of the blue and gray; con 21
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demning the democratic and republican parties for denying the right of self-government to the 600,000 people of Dakota, and upon motion of a colored delegate from North Carolina, a resolution declaring " that we hold that all men are born free and equal and should be so- cured in their rights."
PROHIBITION STATE PLATFORM.
[Adopted at Madison, May 24, 1SS8.]
The prohibition party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, adopt the following plat- form:
1. Reverently recognizing the Divine Providence and guidance in human affairs, we in- voke the aid of Almighty God in securing righteous civil government.
2. We believe the traffic in intoxicating beverages is a great and constant source of crime, of immorality, of destruction of body and of imbecility of mind, of poverty and pau- perism, the arch-enemy of labor and the great fountain of social and political corruption.
3. We insist on state an national prohibition and the enforcemement thereof through a party whose officers are thoroughly in sympathy with the same as the only and immediate remedy for this great and most urgent evil.
4. We regard all forms of license, high or low, as a fresh acceptance of an insufferable traffic, and its readoption into our social life and civil policy; and we hold that all political parties which favor license, and all men who vote for such parties, or in other ways aid in the continuance of the liquor traffic, do make themselves accessory to the evils which flow from this traffic and equally responsible in effect with the man who carries it on.
5. We sincerely sympathize with all lawful efforts on the part of workingmen to im- prove their condition and to make themselves more equal partakers in the general pros- perity; but we declare that total abstinence for the individual and prohibition of the liquor traffic by the state lie at the threshold of labor reform.
6. In securing political and economic and social ends, we rely only upon sound reason and public assent, on free discussion and a conscientious use of our rights as citizens.
7. We favor thorough, liberal and complete public education; a more careful and just imposition of taxes; and a vigilant supervision of the uses to which the franchises en- trusted to corporations are put. In all public measures we insist on the common welfare as the only criterion of sound legislation and wise social policy.
8. We are opposed to the issuing of free passes by any and all railroads for use in this state, except to their employes, and we are in favor of the passage of a law making it a crime for any state officer or member of the legislature or any judge of any court in this state, to accept or use such pass.
9. We favor the enactment of a law which will render liable for damages any railroad corporation whose employes may suffer injuries resulting from negligence of a co- employe.
10. We recognize in the work of the members of the W. C. T. U, and in the work of all other temperance women an effective and powerful ally in temperance reform, and bid them God-speed in their efforts for the suppression of the liquor traffic ..
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POLITICAL PLATFORMS.
UNION LABOR.
Adopted at Cincinnati, May 16, 1SSS.
1. While we believe that the proper solution of the financial system will greatly relieve those now in danger of losing their homes by mortgage foreclosure and enable all industri- ous persons to secure a home as the highest result of civilization, we oppose land monoply in every form, demand the forfeiture of unearned grants, the limitation of land-ownership, and such other legislation as will stopspeculation in land and holding it unused from those whose necessities require it. We believe the earth was made for the people, and not to enable an idle aristocracy to subsist through rents upon the toil of the industrious, and that "corners " in land are as bad as "corners" in food, and that those who are not residents or citizens should not be allowed to own land in the United States. A homestead should be exempt to a limited extent from execution or taxation.
2. The means of communication and transportation should be owned by the people, as is the United States postal system.
3. The establishing of a national monetary system in the interest of the producers instead of the speculators and usurers, by which the circulating medium in necessary quantity and full legal tender should be issued directly to the people without the interven- tion of banks, or loaned to citizens upon land security at a low rate of interest. To relieve them from extortions of usury and enable them to control the money supply, postal savinge banks should be established. While we have free coinage of gold we should have free coin- age of silver. We demand the immediate application of all the idle money in the United States treasury to the payment of the bonded debt, and condemn the further issue of interest-bearing bonds either by the national government or by states, territories, or mu- nicipalities.
4. Arbitration should take the place of strikes and other injurious methods of settling labor disputes. The letting of convict labor to contractors should be prohibited, the con- tract system be abolished in public works, the hours of labor in industrial establishments reduced commensurate with the increased production by labor-saving machinery, em- ployes protected from bodily injury, equal pay given for equal work for both sexes, and labor, agricultural and co-operative associations be fostered and encouraged by law. The foundation of a republic is in the intelligence of its citizens, and children who are drawn Into workshops, mines and factories are deprived of the education which should be secured to all by proper legislation.
5. We demand the passage of a service pension bill to pension every honorably dis- charged soldier and sailor of the United States.
6. A graduated income tax is the most equitable system of taxation, placing the burden of government upon those who are best able to pay, instead of laying it on the farmers and exempting millionaire bondholders and corporations.
7. We demand a constitutional amendment making United States senators elective by a . . direct vote of the people.
8. We demand a strict enforcement of laws prohibiting the importation of subjects of foreign countries under contracts.
9. We demand the passage and enforcement of such legislation as will absolutely exclude the Chinese from the United States.
10. The right to vote is inherent in citizenship, irrespective of sex, and is properly within the province of state legislation.
11. The paramount issues to be solved in the interests of humanity are the abolition of usury, monopoly, and trusts; and we denounce the democratic and republican parties for creating and perpetuating these monstrous evils.
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STATE LABOR PLATFORM.
Adopted in State Convention at Oshkosh, July 23d, 1858.
PREAMBLE.
The state convention of the union labor party, representing the business men, farmers and workingmen of Wisconsin, heartily endorse the national platform of the union labor party as adopted in Cincinnati, May 16, 1SS8, and in addition demand the following laws and regulations for the state of Wisconsin:
1. The taxation of all notes and mortgages. No mortgage or note shall be collected by law unless taxes have been fully paid upon it by the owner at the place where the mort- gaged property is located or the party issuing the note resides.
2. All laws should be simplified, so that there is but one law on one subject, and that worded in plain language, which will enable the people to understand the law without pay- ing enormous fees to lawyers.
3. The one-man power has no place in a republic, hence all public officials, as far as practicable, should be elected by a direct vote of the people and the voters be allowed to recall all unfaithful, inefficient and dishonest officials.
4. The bureau of labor statistics should be conducted in the interest of the whole people and not serve to furnish sinecures for political hacks.
5. A bureau of agricultural statistics should be established.
6. Congress should revise the patent laws, giving inventors a premium for their inven- * tions and then giving the free use of such inventions to all the people, which will prevent the system of monoply now existing, and stop the robbery of both invento. s and the people by heartless and greedy capitalists.
CONCLUSION.
The politicians of the republican and democratic parties have proved by their action that they have no sympathies in common with the masses of the people, but are either monop- olists themselves or the tools of monopolists. The state conventions of both pledged them- selves to abolish the contractor's ring in convict labor, yet voted down every measure looking to that end in the state legislature.
The union labor party is progressive in its nature and will further any measure that will aid in the elevation of man and secure the universal co-operation in place of our present sysstem of competition.
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PART VI.
STATE INSTITUTIONS.
STATE INSTITUTIONS.
Wisconsin, though one of the youngest states in the Union, already ranks among the fore- most in its public institutions. Both in its educational advantages and in its reformatory and charitable institutions it is surpassed by few of the states, and especially so in the west.
For its educational advantages it is largely indebted to the munificence of Congress in donating lands for the support of public schools, a state university, normal schools and an agricultural college. There are now in successful operation in this State, a University, comprising several colleges, and five normal schools The general government, when the State was first organized, and since, bestowed large tracts of land to it for educational purposes. This liberality has enabled Wisconsin to adopt a system of district, graded and . high schools, normal schools and university which has placed the State in the front rank in the matter of education. The legislature has supplemented this wise liberality of the general government by more or less generous appropriations, until there are now over 6,000 common school districts and 150 free high schools in the State, the number of school houses being 6,000. There are 12,000 teachers employed. It is certainly not an exaggeration to say that the public schools of Wisconsin are, as a whole, in most excellent condition. Much good has resulted in the past from the enlightened views of our legislators as to edu- cation in general, and the common schools in particular. Besides, the people themselves are thoroughly imbued with the idea that popular education is the great safeguard of our liberties and the chief corner-stone of our advanced civilization.
Toward its unfortunate and criminal classes the State has pursued an even more liberal policy. By direct appropriations from the treasury, the people of Wisconsin have con- tributed for the upbuilding and support of penal and charitable institutions, the following sums: For the State Prison, $1,147,653.49; for the Industrial School for Boys, $1,248.003.73; for the Industrial School for Girls, $60,000.00; for the Institute for the Blind, $874,810.78; for the Deaf and Dumb, $1, 110,692.47; for the State Hospital for the Insane, ยง2,S38,568.02; for the Northern Hospital, 32,380,365.35; for the State Public School, $142,363.23; for the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, $367,256.47; - making a total of $10,240,651.66. Whether these appropria- tions were wise, or whether they have been judiciously applied, are not proper subjects for Inquiry and discussion in a work which aims only to furnish statistics. These expenditures for charitable and correctional purposes may not be too large, but they present a contrast to the amount expended by the State on its higher institutions of learning, and suggest a comparison between the number who have been directly benefited by these two classes of appropriations. The one is for a noble charity from which the State can expect but little return; the other is a prudent investment for which society receives a full equivalent in a more intelligent, virtuous and useful citizenship.
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THE STATE CAPITOL.
The site of the present State Capitol was selected by the Hon. James D. Doty, October 27, 1836, and in December of the same year the territorial legislature, in session at Belmont, passed an act to establish the Capital at Madison. Messrs. James D. Doty. A. A. Bird and John F. O'Neill were appointed by the general government commissioners for constructing the capitol, and work was commenced on the building in the month of June following, under the direction of Mr. Bird. On the 4th of July, 1837, the corner-stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies. The legislature met for the first time in Madison, November 26, 1838. The capitol building was not then in a suitable condition for the sessions of that body, so it assembled in the basement of the old American House, where Governor Dodge delivered his annual message. Here the Legislature met and adjourned from day to day, until temporary arrangements could be made for the reception of members in the Assembly Hall. During 1836 and 1837, the national government appropriated $40.000 for the capitol building, Dane county, $4,000, and the territorial legislature about $16.000; making the com- plete cost of the old capitol $60,000. The building, when finished, was a substantial struc- ture, which, in architectural design and convenience of arrangement, compared favorably with capitols of adjacent and older states.
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