rency, and to crush the pernicious financial heresy of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1."

Michigan, June 28, 1894-"We demand that, henceforth, the issuing of all circulating medium be made under the acts of Congress, through the National Treasury in such amounts as the business wants of the country may require, and it shall be full legal-tender."

Minnesota, September 6, 1894-Commends President Cleveland's Administration.

Mississippi, June 8, 1892—Indorses the Administration of Grover Cleveland.

Missouri, May 16, 1894-"We therefore demand the free bimetallic coinage of both gold and silver, and the restoration of the bimetallic standard as it existed under our laws for over eighty years prior to the demonetization of standard silver dollars in 1873, and should it become necessary in order to maintain the two metals in circulation, to readjust the ratio, it should be determined whether gold has risen or silver has fallen, and whether there should be a change of the gold dollar or the silver dollar, or both, to the end that whatever ratio is adopted the rights of both creditor and debtor shall be preserved alike, having in view the demand of the people for an adequate circulating medium. We declare that we are not in favor of gold monometallism or silver monometallism, but that both should be coined at such ratio as will maintain the two metals in circulation."

Nebraska, September 6, 1894-"We indorse the principles of faith as set forth in the National Democratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1892, including the money plank, and we accept the construction placed upon that plank by Grover Cleveland as a sound interpretation, and insist that every dollar issued or coined by the Government shall be as good as every other dollar."

New Jersey, May 25, 1892—“We condemn the policy of free coinage of depreciated legal-tender silver and also further purchases of silver bullion under the Republican legislation of 1890, and we believe that the whole matter of the use of silver as a money metal should be relegated to the further concerted action of the commercial nations."

New York, September 26, 1894-"We therefore rejoice that by the repeal of the Sherman law for the purchase and storage of silver bullion all fear of a depreciated currency has been allayed and faith has been restored in the ability of the Government to maintain a constant parity between its gold and silver coinage."

New York Independent Democrats, October 9, 1894-"We favor a sound currency and a safe banking system, which will extend throughout the country the money advantages of the cities, and

which can be based only on an honest dollar of a single standard of value."

North Dakota-Same as Missouri.

Oregon, April 18, 1894-Opposes all measures of discrimination against silver; and demands free coinage to supply the demands of business and that all money issued by the Government be made a legal tender for all debts, both public and private.

Pennsylvania, June 27, 1894-"We declare that the consistent, courageous, and inflexible determination of a Democratic President to maintain the credit of the Government terminated a financial panic, restored confidence, and composed disturbed values. We are opposed to the reckless inflation of the currency to $40 per capita demanded by the Republican State conventions of 1893 and 1894; and while we favor the circulation of constitutional money, gold and silver at a parity, we are unalterably opposed to any debasement of the currency or to the depreciation of any dollar issued by the Government to the people."

Rhode Island, March 20, 1894-"The repeal of the Sherman coinage act, to which the Democratic party was pledged by its last nation platform, has already restored public confidence that debasement of currency will not be permitted, and the near approach of tariff reform is stimulating industrial activity in every direction."

South Dakota, September 5, 1894-"We demand the coinage of both silver and gold under such conditions and at such a ratio as will maintain the parity of the two metals."

Tennessee, August 15, 1894-Favors the bi-metallic standard, the coinage, without reference to the policy of other nations, of both gold and silver in such manner as will maintain both metals in circulation at parity.

Texas, August 16, 1894-"We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and the equal coinage of both metals without discrimination against either metal or charge for mintage; but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value or be adjusted through international agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as shall insure the maintenance of parity of the two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in payment of debts, and we demand that all paper money shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially necessary for the protection of farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenseless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency."

Vermont, June 28, 1894-"We recognize the fact that the progress of civilization has made the large nations of the world dependent

upon each other financially, and we demand a currency that shall be of its face value in every part of the globe. We believe in gold and silver as a circulating medium, and that they shall be made of equal value, as demanded in the National Democratic platform of 1892."

Wisconsin, September 6, 1894-"By the repeal of the Republican measure known as the Sherman silver law, the money of the country is restored to a sound basis, and no proposed legislation should be entertained which does not provide that every dollar issued by the Government should be of equal intrinsic and interchangeable value."

Nothing better illustrates the utter instability of Democratic principles and professions than their repudiation of the doctrines enunciated in 1894 and their adoption of the 16 to 1 doctrine on which they entered the campaign of 1896.

PLATFORM DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[Adopted by the Democratic convention at Chicago, July 8, 1893.]

We, the Democrats of the United States, in national convention assembled, do reaffirm our allegiance to those great essential principles of justice and liberty upon which our institutions are founded, and which the Democratic party has advocated from Jefferson's time to our own-freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, the preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens before the law, and the faithful observance of constitutional limitations.

STATE RIGHTS.

During all these years the Democratic party has resisted the tendency of selfish interests to the centralization of governmental power, and steadfastly maintained the integrity of the dual scheme of government established by the founders of this Republic of republics. Under its guidance and teachings the great principle of local self-government has found its best expression in the maintenance of the rights of the States and in its assertion of the necessity of confining the General Government to the exercise of the powers granted by the Constitution of the United States.

THE MONEY QUESTION.

Recognizing that the money system is paramount to all others at this time, we invite attention to the fact that the Federal Consitution names silver and gold together as the money metals of the United States, and that the first coinage law passed by Congress under the Constitution made the silver dollar the monetary unit, and admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver-dollar unit.

We declare that the act of 1873 demonetizing silver without the knowledge or approval of the American people has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in the prices of commodities produced by the people; a heavy increase in the burden of taxation and of all debts, public and private; the enrichment of the money-lending class at home and abroad; prostration of industry and impoverishment of the people.

We are unalterably opposed to gold monometallism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold monometallism is a British policy, and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American but anti-American, and it can he fastened on the United States only by the stifling of that spirit and love of liberty which proclaimed our political independence in 1776 and won it in the war of the Revolution.

FREE SILVER.

We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legaltender money by private contract.

We are opposed to the policy and practice of surrendering to the holders of the obligations of the United States the option reserved by law to the Government of redeeming such obligations in either silver coin or gold coin.

BOND ISSUES.

We are opposed to the issuing of interest-bearing bonds of the United States in time of peace, and condemn the trafficking with banking syndicates which, in exchange for bonds and at an enormous profit to themselves, supply the Federal Treasury with gold to maintain the policy of gold monometallism.

Congress alone has the power to coin and issue money, and President Jackson declared that this power could not be delegated to corporations or individuals. We therefore demand that the power to issue notes to circulate as money be taken from the national banks, and that all paper money shall be issued directly by the Treasury Department, be redeemable in coin, and receivable for all debts, public and private.

TARIFF FOR REVENUE.

We hold that the 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. We denounce, as disturbing to business, the Republican threat to restore the McKinley law, which has been twice condemned by the people in national elections, and which, enacted under the 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 the producers of the great American staples of access to their natural markets. Until the money question is settled we are opposed to any agitation for further changes in our tariff laws, except such as are necessary to make the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse decision of the Supreme Court on the income tax.

THE INCOME TAX.

There would be no deficit in the revenue but for the annulment by the Supreme Court of a law passed by a Democratic Congress in strict pursuance of the uniform decisions of that Court for nearly one hundred years, that Court having sustained constitutional objections to its enactment which had been overruled by the ablest judges who have ever sat on that bench. We declare that it is the duty of Congress to use all the constitutional power which remains after that decision, or which may come by its reversal by the Court, as it may hereafter be constituted, so that the burdens of taxation may be equally and impartially laid, to the end that wealth may bear its due proportion of the expenses of the Government.

IMMIGRATION.

We hold that the most efficient way to protect American labor is to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to compete with it in the home market, and that the value of the home market to our American farmers and artisans is greatly reduced by a vicious monetary system, which depresses the prices of their products below the cost of production, and thus deprives them of the means of purchasing the products of our home manufacture.

CONGRESSIONAL APPROPRIATIONS.

We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the people by oppressive taxation and the lavish appropriations of recent Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high, while the labor that pays them is unemployed, and the products of the