*NOTE--"Cherished" amid conflagration and outrage-by outraging, violently expelling, or murdering school teachers and burning school houses. In the South, prior to the war, common schools for the education of the people were contemptuously styled "free" schools, and their pupils regarded as an inferior caste, on an equality with free "niggers"! PART XIV. Duty to Union Soldiers and Sailors. 1864-* That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and earnestly extended to the soldiery of our army and sailors of our navy, who are and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of our country, and, in the event of its attaining power, they will receive all the care, protection, and regard that the brave soldiers and sailors of the Republic so nobly earned. 1868-* * [Plank 6. *That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country to victory, against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution. 1872-* We remember with gratitude the heroism and sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and no act of ours shall ever detract from their justly earned fame for the full reward of their patriotism. [Plank 9. 1876* The soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in battle, have a just claim upon the care, protection, and gratitude of their fellow-citizens [Last resolution. 1880 Republican. 1864-That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy, who have periled their lives in defense of the country and in vindication of the honor of its flag: that the nation owes to them some permanent recog nition of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance. [Plank 4. 1872-We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved the Union. Their pensions are a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their country are entitled to the care of a generous and grateful people. We favor such additional legislation as will extend the bounty of the Government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged, and who in the line of duty became disabled, without regard to the length of service or the cause of such discharge. [Plank 8. 1876-The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives for the country's preservation, in the kindest remembrance. [Plank 14. 1880-That the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory. To do them honor is and shall forever be the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people. *NOTE.-See chapters on "Democratic Hatred of Union Soldiers," and "Bounties and Pensions." 1868-The doctrine of Great Britain and other Earopean Powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to protection in all their rights of citizenship as though they were native-born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf. [Plank 9. 1872-The doctrine of Great Britain and other European Powers concerning allegiance-"once a subject always a subject "-having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the individual's right to transfer allegiance having been accepted by European nations, it is the duty of our Government to guard with jealous care the rights of adopted citizens against the assumption of unauthorized claims by their former Governments, and we urge continued careful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration. [Plank 9. 1876-It is the imperative duty of the Government so to modify existing treaties with European governments, that the same protection shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the native born, and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of power in the States for that purpose. [Plank 10. 1880-** ** * Everywhere the protection accorded to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption. [Plank 5. PART XVI. The Chinese. 1876-Reform is necessary to correct the omissions of a Republican Congress, and the errors of our treaties and our diplomacy, which have stripped our fellowcitizens of foreign birth and kindred race re-crossing the Atlantic, of the shield of American citizenship, and have exposed our brethren of the Pacific coast to the incursions of a race not sprung from the same great parent stock, and in fact now by law denied Citizenship through naturalization as being neither customed to the traditions of a progressive civilizaon nor exercised in liberty under equal laws. We denounce the policy which thus discards the libertying German and tolerates a revival of the coolie trade in Mongolian women imported for immoral purposes, and Mongolian men held to perform servile abor contracts, and demand such modification of the eaty with the Chinese Empire, or such legislation ithin constitutional limitations, as shall prevent farther importation or immigration of the Mongolian nce. 1880-Amendment of the Burlingame Treaty. No more Chinese immigration, except for travel, educaton, and foreign commerce, and therein carefully [Plank 11. guarded. 1880-Since the authority to regulate immigra tion and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the United States and the treaty-making power, the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of Chinese as a matter of grave concernment under the exercise of both these powers, would limit and restrict that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane, and reasonable laws and treaties as will produce that result. [Plank 6. *NOTE.-The Republican was the first political party to recognize the Chinese question as one of national importance, by the declaration in its platform of 1876-the subsequently adopted Democratic plank on the subJect being simply a demagogical bid for votes. Democratic. sonal ambition and an object of selfish greed. It is a scandal and reproach upon free institutions and breeds a demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of Republican Government. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour; that the honesty capacity and fidelity constitute the only valid claim to public employment; that the offices of the Government cease to be a matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and public station become again a post of honor. To this end it is imperatively required that no President shall be a candidate for reelection. 1876-Reform is necessary in the civil service. Experience that proves efficient, economical conduct of Governmental business is not possible if the civil service be subject to change at every election, be a prize fought for at the ballot-box, be a brief reward of party zeal, instead of posts of honor assigned for proved competency, and held for fidelity in the public employ; that the dispensing of patronage should neither be a tax upon the time of all our public men, nor the instrument of their ambition. Republican. are considered rewards for 'mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the system by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and make honesty, efficiency and fidelity the essential qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a life tenure of office. [Plank 5. 1876-Under the Constitution the President and heads of Departments are to make nominations for office; the Senate is to advise and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the public service demands that these distinctions be respected; that Senators and Representatives who may be judges and accusers should not dictate appointments to office. The invariable rule in appointments should have reference to the honesty, fidelity and capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of administration require its policy to be represented, but permitting all others to be filled by persons selected with sole reference to the efficiency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to the country. [Plank 5. 1880-The Republican party, adhering to the principles affirmed by its last National Conventionof respect for the Constitutional rules governing appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes, that the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical and complete. To this end it demands the cooperation of the legislative with the executive departments of the Government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit to the public service. *To the victors belong the spoils," is the maxim which controlled the Democracy in all its past history in making appointments which now govern the rebel Brigadiers, in control of the Senate and House, and will govern them in control of the National Government. (See chapter on "Democratic Hatred of Union Soldiers.") CHAPTER XXII. Letters of Acceptance of Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential Nominees. PART I. Honorable James A. Garfield's Letter of Acceptance. "MENTOR, OHIO, July 12, 1880 "DEAR SIR: On the evening of the 8th of June last I had the honor to receive from you, in the presence of the committee of which you were chairman, the official announcement that the Republican National Convention at Chicago had that day nominated me as their candidate for President of the United States. I accept the nomination with gratitude for the confidence it implies, and with a deep sense of the responsibilities it imposes. I cordially endorse the principles set forth in the platform adopted by the Convention, on nearly all the subjects of which it treats, my opinions are on record among the published proceedings of Congress. I venture, however, to make special mention of some of the principal topics which are likely to become subjects of discussion. "Without reviewing the controversies which have been settled during the last twenty years, and with no purpose or wish to revive the passions of the late war, it should be said that while Republicans fully recognize and will strenuously defend all the rights retained by the people, and all the rights reserved to the States, they reject the pernicious doctrine of State supremacy which so long crippled the functions of Union very near to destruction. They insist that the the National Government, and at one time brought the United States is a nation with ample power of self-preservation; that its Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of the land; that the right of the nation to determine the method by which its own Legislature shall be created cannot be surrendered without abdicating one of the fundamental powers of Government; that the national laws relating to the election of Representatives in Congress shall neither be violated nor evaded; that every elector shall be permitted freely and without intimidation to cast his lawful ballot at such election and have it honestly counted, and that the potency of his vote shall not be destroyed by the fraudulent vote of any other person. "The best thoughts and energies of our people should be directed to those great questions of National wellbeing in which all have a common interest. Such efforts will soonest restore perfect peace to those who were lately in arms against each other; for justice and good-will will outlast passion. But it is certain that the wounds of the war cannot be completely healed, and the spirit of brotherhood cannot fully pervade the whole country, until every citizen, rich or poor, white or black, is secure in the free and equal enjoyment of every civil and political right guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws. Wherever the enjoyment of these rights is not assured, discontent will prevail, Emigration will cease, and the social and industrial bones will continue to be disturbed by the migration flaborers and the consequent diminution of prosperity. The National Government should exercise all its constitutional authority to put an end to these evils; for all the people and all the States are members of one body, and no member can suffer without injury to all. The most serious evils which now afflict the South arise from the fact that there is not such freedom and toleration of political opinion and action that the minority party can exercise an effective and wholesome restraint upon the party in power. Without such restraint party rule becomes tyrannical and corrupt. The prosperity which is made possible in the South by its great advantages of soil and climate will never be realized until every voter can freely and safely support any party he pleases. Popular education. "Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained. Its interests are intrusted to the States and to the voluntary action of the people. Whatever help the Nation can justly afford should be generously given to aid the States in supporting common schools: but it would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenues of the Nation, or of the States, to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of the Church and the State in everything relating to taxation should be absolute. The National finances. "On the subject of National finances my views have been so frequently and fully expressed that little is needed in the way of additional statement. The pubJe debt is now so well secured, and the rate of annual nterest has been so reduced by refunding, that rigid conomy in expenditures and the faithful application of our surplus revenues to the payment of the principal of the debt will gradually but certainly free the people from its burdens, and close with honor the financial chapter of the war. At the same time, the Government can provide for all its ordinary expenditures, and discharge its sacred obligations to the soldiers of the Union, and to the widows and orphans of those who fell in its defense. The resumption of specie payments, which the Republican party so courageously and successfully accomplished, has removed from the field of Controversy many questions that long and seriously disturbed the credit of the Government and the business of the country. Our paper currency is now as national as the flag, and resumption has not only made t everywhere equal to coin, but has brought into use our store of gold and silver. The circulating medium s more abundant than ever before; and we need only to maintain the equality of all our dollars to insure to abor and capital a measure of value from the use of which no one can suffer loss. The great prosperity which the country is now enjoying, should not be endangered by any violent changes or doubtful financial experiments. The tariff. "In reference to our custom laws, apolicy should be pursued which will bring revenues to the treasury, and will enable the labor and capital employed in our great industries to compete fairly in our own markets with the labor and capital of foreign producers. We egislate for the people of the United States, and not for the whole world; and it is our glory that the Amerlean laborer is more intelligent and better paid than his foreign competitor. Our country cannot be independent unless its people with their abundant natural resources possess the requisite skill at any time to clothe, arm and equip themselves for war, and in time of peace to produce all the necessary implements of labor. It was the manifest intention of the founders of the Government to provide for the common defense, not by standing armies alone, but by raising among the people a greater army of artisans, whose intelligence and skill should powerfully contribute to the safety and glory of the nation. for the improvement of our harbors and great navigable rivers, provided that the expenditures for that purpose are strictly limited to works of National importance. The Mississippi River, with its great tributaries, is of such vital importance to so many millions of people, that the safety of its navigation requires exceptional consideration. In order to secure to the nation the control of all its waters, President Jefferson negotiated the purchase of a vast territory, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. The wisdom of Congress should be invoked to devise some plan by which that great river shall cease to be a terror to those who dwell upon its banks, and by which its shipping may safely carry the industrial products of 25,000,000 of people. The interests of agriculture, which is the basis of all our material prosperity, and in which seven-twelfths of our population are engaged as well as the interests of manufacturers and commerce, demand that the facilities for cheap transportation shall be increased by the use of all our great water-courses. Chinese immigration. of its settlement, and the sentiment of our people, "The materialinter ests of this country, the traditions have led the Government to offer the widest hospitality to emigrants who seek our shores for new and happier homes, willing to share the burdens as well as the benefits of our society, and intending that their posterity shall become an undistinguishable part of our population. The recent movement of the Chinese to our Pacific Coast partakes but little of the qualities of such an immigration, either in its purposes or its result. It is too much like an importation to be welcomed without restriction; too much like an invasion to be looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any form of servile labor to be introduced among us under the guise of immigration. Recognizing the gravity of this subject, the present administration, supported by Congress, has sent to China a commission of distinguished citizens for the purpose of securing such a modification of the existing treaty as will prevent the evils likely to arise from the present situation. It is confidently believed that these diplomatic negotiations will be successful without the loss of commercial intercourse between the two powers, which promises a great increase of reciprocal trade and the enlargement of our markets. Should these efforts fail, it will be the duty of Congress to mitigate the evils already felt, and prevent their increase, by such restrictions as, without violence or injustice, will place upon a sure foundation the peace of our communities and the freedom and dignity of labor. The civil service. "The appointment of citizens to the various executive and judicial offices of the Government is, perhaps, the most difficult of all duties which the Constitution has imposed on the Executive. The convention wisely demands that Congress shall co-operate with the Executive department in placing the Civil Service on a better basis. Experience has proved that with our frequent changes of administration, no system of reform can be made effective and permanent without the aid of legislation. Appointments to the military and naval service are so regulated by law and custom as to leave but little ground for complaint. It may not be wise to make similiar regulations by law for the Civil Service. But, without invading the authority or necessary discretion of the Executive, Congress should devise a method that will determine the tenure of office, and greatly reduce the uncertainty which makes that service so unsatisfactory. Without depriving an officer of his rights as a citizen, the Government should require him to discharge all his official duties with intelligence, efficiency, and faithfulness. To select wisely, from our vast population, those who are best fitted for the many offices to be filled, requires an acquaintance far beyond the range of any one man. The Executive should, therefore, seek and receive the information and assistance of those whose knowledge of the communities in which the duties are to be performed best qualifies them to aid in making the wisest choice. "The doctrines announced by the Chicago convention are not the temporary devices of a party to attract votes and carry an election; they are deliberate convictions resulting from a careful study of the spirit of our institutions, the events of our history and the best impulses of our people. In my judgment, these principles should control the legislation and administration of the Government. In any event, they will guide my conduct until experience points out a better way. "If elected it will be my purpose to enforce strict obedience to the Constitution and the laws, and to promote, as best I may, the interest and honor of the whole country, relying for support upon the wisdom of Congress, the intelligence and patriotism of the people, and the favor of God. With great respect, I am truly yours. JAMES A. GARFIELD. PART II. sole reliance to defeat the party which represented the sovereignty and nationality of the Americar people in the greatest crisis in our history. Republi cans cherish none of the resentments which may have animated them during the actual conflict of arms "They long for a full and real reconciliation between the sections which were needlessly and lamentably a strife; they sincerely offer the hand of good will, bu they ask in return a pledge of good faith. They deeply feel that the party whose career is so illustrious in great and patriotic achievement, will not fulfill it: destiny until peace and prosperity are established in all the land, nor until liberty of thought, conscience and action, and equality of opportunity shall be not merely cold formalities of statute, but living birth rights, which the humble may confidently claim and the powerful dare not deny. "The resolution referring to the public service seems Hon. Chester A. Arthur's Letter to me deserving of approval. Surely no man should of Acceptance. "To the Hon. GEO. F. HOAR, Chairman, etc. be the incumbent of an office the duties of which he is for any cause unfit to perform, who is lacking in the ability, fidelity, or integrity which a proper administration of such office demands. This sentiment would doubtless meet with general acquiescence, but opinion has been widely divided upon the wisdom and practicability of the various reformatory schemes which have been suggested, and of certain proposed regulations governing appointments to public office. The efficiency of such regulations has been distrusted mainly because they have seemed to exalt mere educational and abstract tests above general business capacity, and even special fitness for the particular work in hand. It seems to me that the rules which should be applied to the management of the public service may properly conform, in the main, to such as regulate the conduct of successful private business. Original appointments should be based upon ascertained fitness. The tenure of office should be stable. Posi-l tions of responsibility should, so far as practicable, be filled by the promotion of worthy and efficient officers. The investigation of all complaints and the punishment of all official misconduct should be prompt and thorough. These views, which I have long held, repeatedly declared, and uniformly applied when called upon to act, I find embodied in the resolution, which. of course, I approve. I will add that by the acceptance of public office, whether high or low, one does not, in my judgment, escape any of his responsibilities as a citizen or lose or impair any of his rights as a citizen, and that he should enjoy absolute liberty to think and speak and act in political matters according to his own will and conscience, provided only that he honorably, faithfully and fully discharges all his official duties. "DEAR SIR: I'accept the position assigned me by the great party whose action you announce. This acceptance implies approval of the principles declared by the convention, but recent usage permits me to add some expression of my own views. The right and duty to secure honesty and order to popular elections is a matter so vital that it must stand in front. The authority of the National Government to preserve from fraud and force elections at which its own officers are chosen is a chief point on which the two parties are plainly and intensely opposed. Acts of Congress for ten years have, in New York and elsewhere, done much to curb the violence and wrong to which the ballot and the count have been again and again subjected-sometimes despoiling great cities, sometimes stifling the voice of a whole State, often seating, not only in Congress, but on the bench, and in legislatures, numbers of men never chosen by the people. The Democratic party, since gaining possession of the two Houses of Congress, has made these just laws the object of bitter, ceaseless assault, and, despite all resistance, has hedged them with restrictions cunningly contrived to baffle and paralyze them. This aggressive majority boldly attempted to extort from the Executive his approval of various enactments destructive of these election laws by revolutionary threats that a constitutional exercise of the veto power would be punished by withholding the appropriations necessary to carry on the Government. And these threats were actually carried out by refusing the needed appropriations, and by forcing an extra session of Congress, lasting for months, and resulting in concessions "The resumption of specie payments,one of the fruits to this usurping demand, which are likely, in many of Republican policy, has brought the return of aburStates, to subject the majority to the lawless will of dant prosperity and the settlement of many distracting a minority. Ominous signs of public disapproval questions. The restoration of sound money, the larg alone subdued this arrogant power into a sullen sur-reduction of our public debt and of the burden of render for the time being of a part of its demands. interest, the high advancement of the public credit, all The Republican party has strongly approved the stern attest the ability and courage of the Republican party refusal of its representatives to suffer the overthrow to deal with such financial problems as may hereafter of statutes believed to be salutary and just. It has demand solution. Our paper currency is now as good as always insisted, and now insists, that the Govern- gold, and silver is performing its legitimate function for ment of the United States of America is empowered the purpose of change. The principles which should and in duty bound to effectually protect the elections govern the relations of these elements, of the currency, denoted by the Constitution as national. More than are simple and clear. There must be no deteriorated this, the Republican party holds, as a cardinal coin, no depreciated paper. And every dollar, whether point in its creed, that the Government should, by of metal or paper, should stand the test of the world's every means known to the Constitution, protect all fixed standard. American citizens everywhere in the full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. As a great part of its work of reconstruction, the Republican party gave the ballot to the emancipated slave as his right and defense. A large increase in the number of members of Congress, and of the Electoral College, from the former slaveholding States, was the immediate result. The history of recent years abounds in evidence that in many ways and in many places-especially where their numbers have been great enough to endanger Democratic control-the very men by whose elevation to citizenship this increase of representation was effected have been debarred and robbed of their voice and their vote. It is true that no State statute or constitution in so many words denies or abridges the exercise of their political rights; but the modes employed to bar their way are no less effectual. It is a suggestive and startling thought that the increased power derived from the enfranchisement of a race now denied its share in governing the country-wielded by those who lately sought the overthrow of the Government-is now the "The value of popular education can hardly be overstated. Although its interests must of necessity be chiefly confided to voluntary effort and the individual action of the several States, they should be encouraged, so far as the Constitution permits, by the generous co-operation of the National Government. The interests of the whole country demand that the advantages of our common school system should be brought within the reach of every citizen, and that no revenues of the nation or of the States should be devoted to the support of sectarian schools. "Such changes should be made in the present tariff and system of taxation as will relieve any overburdened industry or class, and enable our manufacturers and artisans to compete successfully with those of other lands. "The Government should aid works of internal im provement national in their character, and should promote the development of our water-courses and harbors wherever the general interests of commerce require. |