FOR DIRECT VOTE OF THE PEOPLE.

We demand that United States Senators and all other officials, as far as practicable, be elected by direct vote of the people.

COERCION AND INTIMIDATION.

Believing that the elective franchise and untrammeled ballot are essential to a government of, for, and by the people, the People's party condemns the wholesale system of disfranchisement by coercion and intimidation adopted in some States as unrepublican and undemocratic, and we declare it to be the duty of the several State Legislatures to take such action as will secure a full, free, and fair ballot and an honest count.

HOME-RULE FOR TERRITORIES.

We favor home-rule in the Territories and the District of Columbia, and the early admission of the Territories as States.

PENSION ADMINISTRATION.

We denounce the expensive red-tape system, political favoritism, cruel and unnecessary delay, and criminal evasion of the statutes in the management of the pension office, and demand the simple and honest execution of the law, and the fulfillment by the nation of its pledges of service pension to all its honorably discharged veterans.

1904

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

Fifty years ago the Republican party came into existence dedicated among other purposes to the great task of arresting the extension of human slavery. In 1860 it elected its first President. During 24 of the 44 years which have elapsed since the election of Lincoln the Republican party has held complete control of the government. For 18 more of the 44 years it has held partial control through the possession of one or two branches of the government, while the Democratic party during the same period has had complete control for only two years. This long tenure of power by the Republican party is not due to chance. It is a demonstration that the Republican party has commanded the confidence of the American people for nearly two generations to a degree never equaled in our history, and has displayed a high capacity for rule and government which has been made even more conspicuous by the incapacity and infirmity of purpose shown by its opponents.

CONDITIONS IN 1897.

The Republican party entered upon its present period of complete supremacy in 1897. We have every right to congratulate ourselves upon the work since then accomplished for it has added luster even to the traditions of the party which carried the government through the storms of civil

war.

We then found the country after four years of Democratic rule in evil plight, oppressed with misfortune and doubtful of the future. Public credit had been lowered, the revenues were declining, the debt was growing, the administration's attitude toward Spain was feeble and mortifying, the standard of values was threatened and uncertain, labor was unemployed, business was sunk in the depression which had

succeeded the panic of 1893, hope was faint and confidence

gone.

We met these unhappy conditions vigorously, eeffctively, and at once.

THE TARIFF LAW.

We replaced a Democratic tariff law based on free trade principles and garnished with sectional protection by a consistent protective tariff, and industry, freed from oppression and stimulated by the encouragement of wise laws, has expanded to a degree never before known, has conquered new markets, and has created a volume of exports which has surpassed imagination. Under the Dingley tariff labor has been fully employed, wages have risen, and all industries have revived and prospered.

We firmly established the gold standard which was then menaced with destruction. Confidence returned to business, and with confidence an unexampled prosperity.

REVENUES.

For deficient revenues, supplemented by improvident issues of bonds, we gave the country an income which produced a large surplus and which enabled us only four years after the Spanish war had closed to remove over $100,000,000 of annual war taxes, reduce the public debt, and lower the interest charges of the government.

THE PUBLIC CREDIT RESTORED.

The public credit, which had been so lowered that in time of peace a Democratic administration made large loans at extravagant rates of interest in order to pay current expenditures, rose under Republican administration to its highest point and enabled us to borrow at 2 per cent. even in time of

war.

CUBA.

We refused to palter longer with the miseries of Cuba. We fought a quick and victorious war with Spain. We set

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Cuba free, governed the island for three years, and then gave it to the Cuban people with order restored, with ample revenues, with education and public health established, free from debt, and connected with the United States by wise provisions for our mutual interests.

PORTO RICO.

We have organized the government of Porto Rico, and its people now enjoy peace, freedom, order, and prosperity.

THE PHILIPPINES.

In the Philippines we have suppressed insurrection, established order, and given to life and property a security never known there before. We have organized civil government, made it effective and strong in administration, and have conferred upon the people of those islands the largest civil liberty they have ever enjoyed.

By our possession of the Philippines we were enabled to take prompt and effective action in the relief of the legations at Peking and a decisive part in preventing the partition and preserving the integrity of China.

THE ISTHMIAN CANAL.

The possession of a route for an isthmian canal, so long the dream of American statesmanship, is now an accomplished fact. The great work of connecting the Pacific and Atlantic by a canal is at last begun, and it is due to the Republican party.

THE ARID LANDS.

We have passed the laws which will bring the arid lands of the United States within the area of cultivation.

THE ARMY AND NAVY.

We have reorganized the army and put it in the highest state of efficiency.

We have passed laws for the improvement and support of the militia.

We have pushed forward the building of the navy, the defense and protection of our honor and our interests.

Our administration of the great departments of the government has been honest and efficient, and wherever wrongdoing has been discovered the Republican administration has not hesitated to probe the evil and bring offenders to justice without regard to party or political ties.

THE GREAT CORPORATIONS.

Laws enacted by the Republican party which the Democratic party failed to enforce and which were intended for the protection of the public against the unjust discrimination or the illegal encroachment of vast aggregations of capital, have been fearlessly enforced by a Republican President and new laws insuring reasonable publicity as to the operations of great corporations, and providing additional remedies for the prevention of discrimination in freight rates, have been passed by a Republican Congress.

In this record of achievement during the past eight years may be read the pledges which the Republican party has fulfilled. We promise to continue these policies, and we declare our constant adherence to the following principles:

PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRIES.

Protection which guards and develops our industries, is a cardinal policy of the Republican party. The measure of protection should always at least equal the difference in the cost of production at home and abroad. We insist upon the maintenance of the principle of protection, and, therefore, rates of duty should be readjusted only when conditions have so changed that the public interest demands their alteration, but this work cannot safely be committed to any other hands than those of the Republican party. To intrust it to the Democratic party is to invite disaster. Whether, as in 1892, the Democratic party declares the protective tariff unconstitu