Conventions & Platforms, 1876 . 
 
 Republican National Convention, 1876. 
 
 This body met in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 
 14th of June, in pursuance of the following call: 
 
 The next Union Republican National Conven¬ 
 tion for the nomination of candidates for Presi¬ 
 dent and Vice-President of the United States 
 will be held in the city pf Cincinnati, on Wednes¬ 
 day, the fourteenth day of June, 187(5, at 12 
 o’clock noon, and will consist of delegates from 
 each State equal to twice the number of its 
 Senators and Representatives in Congress, and 
 of two delegates from each organized Territory 
 and the District of Columbia. 
 
 In calling the conventions for the election of 
 delegates, the committees of the several States 
 are recommended to invite all Republican elec¬ 
 tors, and all other voters, without regard to past 
 political differences or previous party affiliations, 
 who are opposed to reviving sectional issues, and 
 desire to promote friendly feeling and perma¬ 
 nent harmony throughout the country by main¬ 
 taining and enforcing all the constitutional 
 rights of every citizen, including the full and 
 free exercise of the right of suffrage without in¬ 
 timidation and without fraud; who are in favor 
 of the continued prosecution and punishment 
 of all official dishonesty, and of an economical 
 administration of the Government by honest, 
 faithful, and capable officers; who are in favor 
 of making such reforms in government as ex¬ 
 perience may from time to time suggest; who 
 are opposed to impairing the credit of the na¬ 
 tion by depreciating any of its obligations, and 
 in favor of sustaining in every way the national 
 faith and financial honor; who hold that the 
 common-school system is the nursery of Ameri¬ 
 can liberty, and should be maintained abso¬ 
 lutely free from sectarian control; who believe 
 that, for the promotion of these ends, the direc¬ 
 tion of the Government should continue to be 
 confided to those who adhere to the principles 
 of 177(5, and support them as incorporated in 
 the Constitution and the laws; and who are in 
 favor of recognizing and strengthening the fun¬ 
 damental principle of National Unity in this Cen¬ 
 tennial Anniversary of the birth of the Republic. 
 
 E. 1). Morgan, Chairman, 
 
 Wm. E. Chandler, Secretary. 
 Republican National Committee. 
 
 Washington, January 13, 187(5. 
 
 At 12 o’clock it was called to order by Edwin 
 D. Morgan, of New Y6rk, on whose motion, 
 after some remarks, Theodore M. Pomeroy, of 
 New York, was elected temporally President. 
 
 On motion, committees were appointed, con¬ 
 sisting of one from each State and Territory, 
 elected by the delegations respectively, on Per¬ 
 manent Organization; on Rules and Order of 
 Business; on Credentials ; and on Resolutions. 
 
 After some time, during which speeches were 
 made by John A. Logan, Joseph li. Hawley, 
 Edward F. Noyes, Henry Highland Garnet, 
 William A. Howard, and Frederick Doug¬ 
 lass, the Committee on Permanent Organiza¬ 
 tion, through Geo. B. Loring, of Massachu¬ 
 setts, reported a list of officers, who were elected 
 —Edward McPherson, of Pennsylvania, being 
 the permanent President. 
 
 June 15—After some preliminary business, 
 John Cessna, of Pennsylvania, from the Com¬ 
 mittee on Rules and Order of Business, reported 
 the following rules for the government of the 
 Convention : 
 
 RULES AND ORDER OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Rule 1. Upon all subjects before the Con¬ 
 vention the States shall be called in alphabetical 
 order, and next the Territories and the District 
 of Columbia. 
 
 Rule 2. Each State shall be entitled to double 
 the number of its Senators and Representatives 
 in Congress, according to the late apportion¬ 
 ment," and each Territory and the District of 
 Columbia shall be entitled to two votes. The 
 votes of each delegation shall be reported by its 
 chairman. 
 
 Rule 3. The report of the Committee on Cre¬ 
 dentials shall be disposed of before the report of 
 the Committee on Platform and Resolutions is 
 acted upon, and the report of the Committee of 
 Platform and Resolutions shall be disposed of 
 before the Convention proceeds to the nomina¬ 
 tion of candidates for President and Vice-Presi¬ 
 dent. 
 
 Rule 4. In making the nominations for Presi¬ 
 dent and Vice-President, in no case shall the 
 calling of the roll be dispensed with. When it 
 shall appear that any candidate has received the 
 majority of the votes cast, the President of the 
 Convention shall announce the question to be : 
 “ Shall the nomination of the candidate be made 
 unanimous ?” but if no candidate shall have re¬ 
 ceived a majority of the votes, the Chair shall 
 direct the vote to be again taken, which shall be 
 repeated until some candidate shall have re¬ 
 ceived a majority of the votes cast; and when 
 any State has announced its vote it shall so stand 
 until the ballot is announced, unless in case of 
 numerical error. 
 
 Rule 5. When a majority of the delegates of 
 any two States shall demand that a vote be re¬ 
 corded, the same shall be taken by States, Terri¬ 
 tories and the District of Columbia; the Secre¬ 
 tary calling the roll of the States and Territories 
 in the order heretofore stated, and the District 
 of Columbia. 
 
 Rule (I. In the record of the vote by States 
 
2 
 
 McPherson’s hand-book of politics. 
 
 / 
 
 the vote of each State, Territory and the Dis¬ 
 trict of Columbia, shall be announced by the t 
 Chairman, and in case the votes of any State, 
 Territory or the District of Columbia shall be j 
 divided, the Chairman shall announce the num¬ 
 ber of votes cast for any candidate or for or 
 against any proposition. 
 
 Rule 7. When the previous question shall be 
 demanded by the majority of the delegates from J 
 any State, and the demand seconded by two or ! 
 more States, and the call sustained by a ma- ’ 
 jority of the Convention, the question will then 
 be proceeded with and disposed of according to ! 
 the rules of the House of Representatives in j 
 similar cases. 
 
 Rule 8. No member shall speak more than 
 once upon the same question, nor longer than 
 five minutes, unless by leave of the Convention ; 
 except that delegates presenting the name of a 
 candidate shall be allowed ten minutes in pre- f 
 senting the name of such candidate. 
 
 Rule 9. The rules of the House of Repre- ' 
 sentatives shall be the rules of this Convention, j 
 so far as they are applicable, and not incon- j 
 sistent with the foregoing rules. 
 
 Rule 10. A Republican National Committee 
 shall be appointed, to consist of one member 
 from each State, Territory and District repi*e- 
 sented in this Convention. The roll shall be 
 called, and the delegation from each State, Ter¬ 
 ritory and District shall name, through their 
 chairman, a person to act as a member of such 
 committee. 
 
 Which were adopted. 
 
 The Committee on Credentials then made re¬ 
 port. The majority of the committee reported j 
 through John T. Ensor, of Maryland, in favor j 
 of admitting the Haralson delegation from Ala¬ 
 bama ; the minority, through Charles N. Har¬ 
 ris, of Nevada, in favor of the Spencer delega¬ 
 tion. The minority report was rejected—yeas j 
 354, nays 375, and the majority report then 
 adopted. The Bowen delegation from the Dis¬ 
 trict of Columbia were seated, and the Conover 
 delegation from Florida. 
 
 Resolutions. 
 
 Joseph R. Hawley, Chairman of the Com¬ 
 mittee,* reported the following: 
 
 When, in the economy of Providence, this 
 
 *The committee consisted of the following persons : 
 Arkansas —C. C. Waters ; Arizona —R. C. McCor- ; 
 mick ; California — Chas. F. Reed ; Connecticut —Jos. I 
 R. Hawley ; Colorado —James B. Belford ; Dakota —An- | 
 drew McHench ; Delaware —Eli R. Sharp ; Georgia — 
 Henry M Turner ; Illinois —C. B. Farwell; Indiana — j 
 R. W. Thompson ; Iowa —Hiram Price ; Idaho —Austin 
 Savage; Kansas —J. D. Thatcher; Kentucky —James 
 Speed ; Louisiana —Henry Demoss ; Maine —Nelson 
 Dingley jr.; Maryland —L. H. Steiner; Massachusetts 
 —Edward L. Pierce; Michigan —H. P. Baldwin; Min¬ 
 nesota —J. E. Wakefield; Mississippi —C. W. Clarke ; ! 
 Missouri —R T. Van Horn; Montana —W. F. Sanders; 
 New Mexico —S. B. Axtell; Nebraska —A. R. Pinney ; | 
 Nevada —J. P. Jones ; New Hampshire —Chas. Burns ; 
 New Jersey —Frederick A. Potts; New York —Chas. E. 
 Smith ; North Carolina —P. C. Badger ; Ohio —Edward 
 Cowles } Oregon —H. K. Hines; Pennsylvania —H. W. 
 Oliver; Rhode Island —Chas Nourse ; Sotith Carolina — 
 D. H. Chamberlain ; Texas —E. J. Davis ; Tennessee — 
 A. A. Freeman ; Utah —J. B. McKean ; Vermont —G. H. 
 Bigelow; Virginia —Wm. Miller; West Virginia —J. W. 
 Davis ; Wisconsin —Gen. Jas. H. Howe ; Washington— 
 Elwood Evans ; Wyoming — Wm. Hinton. 
 
 land was to be purged of human slavery, and 
 when the strength of government of the people, 
 by the people, and for the people, was to be 
 demonstrated, the Republican party came into 
 power. Its deeds have passed into history, and 
 we look back to them with pride. Incited by 
 their memories to high aims for the good of our 
 country and mankind, and looking to the future 
 with unfaltering courage, hope and purpose, 
 we, the representatives of the party in National 
 Convention assembled, make the following 
 declarations of principles: 
 
 1. The United States of America is a Nation, 
 not a league. By the combined workings of the 
 National and State Governments, under their 
 respective constitutions, the rights of every 
 citizen are secured, at home and abroad, and 
 the common welfare promoted. 
 
 2. The Republican party has preserved these 
 Governments to the hundredth anniversary of 
 the Nation’s birth, and they are now embodi¬ 
 ments of the great truths spoken at its cradle— 
 “ that all men are created equal; that they arc 
 endowed by their Creator with certain inaliena¬ 
 ble rights, among which are life, liberty and the 
 pursuit of happiness; that for the attainment 
 of these ends Governments have been instituted 
 among men, deriving their just powers from 
 the consent of the governed.” Until these 
 truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if need be, 
 vigorously enforced, the work of the Republican 
 party is unfinished. 
 
 3. The permanent pacification of the Southern 
 section of the Union and the complete protec¬ 
 tion of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of 
 all their rights, is a duty to which the Republi¬ 
 can party stands sacredly pledged. The power 
 to provide for the enforcement of the principles 
 embodied in the recent constitutional amend¬ 
 ments, is vested by those amendments in the 
 Congress of the United States, and we declare 
 it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative 
 and executive departments of the Government 
 to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all 
 their constitutional powers for removing any 
 just causes of discontent on the part of any 
 class, and for securing to every American citi¬ 
 zen complete liberty and exact equality in the 
 exei’cise of all civil, political and public rights. 
 To this end we imperatively demand a Congress 
 and a Chief Executive whose courage and 
 fidelity to these duties shall not falter until 
 these results are placed beyond dispute or recall. 
 
 4. In the first act of Congress signed by Presi¬ 
 dent Grant, the National Government assumed 
 to remove any doubts of its purpose to dis¬ 
 charge all just obligations to the public creditors, 
 and “ solemnly pledged its faith to make pro¬ 
 vision at the earliest practicable period for the 
 redemption of the United States notes in coin.” 
 Commercial prosperity, public morals and Na¬ 
 tional credit demand that this promise be ful¬ 
 filled by a continuous and steady progress to 
 specie payment. 
 
 5. 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 Representa¬ 
 tives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. 
 The best interest of the public service demands 
 
McPHERSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 v 
 
 / 
 
 3 
 
 that these distinctions be respected ; that Sena¬ 
 tors 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. 
 
 6. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of 
 the people concerning political affairs’, and will 
 hold all public officers to a rigid responsibility, 
 and engage that the prosecution and punishment 
 of all -who betray official trusts shall be swift, 
 thorough and unsparing. 
 
 7. The public school system of the several 
 States is the bulwark of the American Republic, 
 and with a view to its security and permanence 
 we recommend an amendment to the Constitu¬ 
 tion of the United States forbidding the appli¬ 
 cation of any public funds or property for the 
 benefit of any schools or institutions under sec¬ 
 tarian control. 
 
 8. The revenue necessary for current expend¬ 
 itures and the obligations of the public debt 
 must be largely derived from duties upon im¬ 
 portations, which, so far as possible, should be 
 adjusted to promote the interests of American 
 labor and advance the iirosperity of the whole 
 country. 
 
 1). We reaffirm our opposition to further grants 
 of the public lands to corporations and monop¬ 
 olies, and demand that the National domain be 
 devoted to free homes for the people. 
 
 10. It is the imperative duty of the Govern¬ 
 ment so to modify existing treaties with Euro¬ 
 pean Governments, that the same protection 
 shall be afforded to the adopted American citi¬ 
 zen 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. 
 
 11. It is the immediate duty of Congress to 
 fully investigate the effect of the immigration 
 and importation of Mongolians upon the moral 
 and material interests of the counti-y. 
 
 12. The Republican party recognizes with ap¬ 
 proval the substantial advances recently made 
 towards the establishment of equal rights for 
 women by the many important amendments ef¬ 
 fected by Republican Legislatures in the laws 
 which concern the personal and property rela¬ 
 tions of wives, mothers, and widows, and by the 
 appointment and election of women to the super¬ 
 intendence of education, charities and other 
 public trusts. The honest demands of this class 
 of citizens for additional rights, privileges and 
 immunities should be treated with respectful 
 consideration. 
 
 13. The Constitution confers upon Congress 
 sovereign power over the Territories of the 
 United States for their government, and in the 
 exercise of this power it is the right and duty of 
 Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the Ter¬ 
 ritories, that relic of barbarism — polygamy ; and 
 we demand such legislation as shall secure this 
 
 end and the supremacy of American institutions 
 in nil the Territories. 
 
 14. The pledges which the Nation has given 
 to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and 
 a grateful people will always hold those who im¬ 
 periled their lives for the country’s preservation, 
 in the kindest remembrance. 
 
 15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feel¬ 
 ing and tendencies. We therefore noto witli 
 deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts, 
 as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral 
 vote of a united South, secured through the ef¬ 
 forts of those who were recently arrayed against 
 the Nation ; and we invoke the earnest attention 
 of the country to the grave truth that a success 
 thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and 
 imperil National honor and human rights. 
 
 1G. We charge the Democratic party with be¬ 
 ing the same in character and spirit as when it 
 sympathized with treason ; with making its con¬ 
 trol of the House of Representatives the triumph 
 and opportunity of the Nation’s recent foes; 
 with reasserting and applauding in the National 
 Capitol the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; 
 w T ith sending Union soldiers to the rear, and 
 promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; 
 with deliberately proposing to repudiate the 
 plighted faith of the Government; with being 
 equally false and imbecile upon the overshadow¬ 
 ing financial questions; with thwarting the ends 
 of justice by its partisan mismanagements and 
 obstruction of investigation; with proving it¬ 
 self, through the period of its ascendency in the 
 Lower House of Congress, utterly incompetent 
 to administer the Government- and we warn 
 the country against trusting a party thus alike 
 unworthy, recreant and incapable.. 
 
 17. The National Administration merits com¬ 
 mendation for its honorable work in the man¬ 
 agement of domestic and foreign affairs, and 
 President Grant deserves the continued hearty 
 gratitude of the American people for his patri¬ 
 otism and his eminent services, in war and in 
 peace. 
 
 18. We present as our candidates for Presi¬ 
 dent and Vice-President of the United States two 
 distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and 
 character, and conspicuously fitted for those high 
 offices, and we confidently appeal to the Ameri¬ 
 can people to intrust the administration of their 
 public affairs to Rutherford B. Hayes and Wil¬ 
 liam A. Wheeler. 
 
 [The last resolution was adopted after the nom¬ 
 inations were made, on motion of Mr. Smith, 
 of New York.] 
 
 Upon the reading of the resolutions, 
 
 Edwaud L. Piekce, of Massachusetts, moved 
 to strike out the the eleventh resolution ; which, 
 after debate, was disagreed to—yeas 215, nays 
 532. 
 
 Edmund J. Davis, of Texas, moved to strike 
 out the fourth resolution and substitute for it 
 the following : 
 
 Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to 
 provide for carrying out the act known as the 
 Resumption Act of Congress, to the end that the 
 resumption of specie payments may not be lon¬ 
 ger delayed. 
 
 Which, after a brief debate, was disagreed to 
 on a viva voce vote. 
 
4 
 
 McPHERSON’S HAND BOOK OF POL [TICS. 
 
 The resolutions were then adopted without a 
 division. 
 
 NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 
 
 Nominations were then made for President of 
 the United States: 
 
 By Connecticut—Marshall Je-well. 
 
 By Indiana—Oliver P. Morton. 
 
 By Kentucky—Benjamin H. Bristow. 
 
 By Maine—James G. Blaine. 
 
 By New York—Roscoe Conkling. 
 
 By Ohio—Rutherford B. Hayes. 
 
 By Pennsylvania—John F. Hartranft. 
 
 After the speeches in favor of these nominees, 
 the Convention adjourned till to-morrow at 10 
 o’clock. 
 
 June 10—Seven ballots were then taken with 
 the following result • 
 
 ist 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 
 
 Hayes. 61 64 67 68 104 113 384 
 
 Blaine.285 296 293 292 286 308 351 
 
 Morton.125 120 113 108 95 85 
 
 Bristow.113 114 121 126 114 hi 21 
 
 CONKLING . 99 93 90 84 82 8l 
 
 Hartranft . 58 63 68 71 69 50 
 
 Jewell . 11 (withdrawn.) 
 
 Wm. A. Wheeler... 332222... 
 
 Elihu B. Washburne . 1 1 3 3 5 
 
 Whole No. of votes.754 754 755 754 755 755 756 
 
 Necessary to a choice.37S 378 378 378 378 378 379 
 
 On motion of Mr. Frye of Maine, Governor 
 Hayes was unanimously declared the nominee 
 of the Convention. 
 
 Messrs. William A. Wheeler of New York, 
 Stewart L. Woodford of New York, Marshall 
 Jewell of Connecticut, Frederick T. Freling- 
 huysen of New Jersey, and Joseph R. Hawley 
 of Connecticut, were nominated for Vice-Presi¬ 
 dent ; but before the roll-call was completed, it 
 being apparent that William A. Wheeler had 
 received a majority of the votes cast, other can¬ 
 didates were by consent withdrawn, and he was 
 unanimously declared the nominee of the Con¬ 
 vention. 
 
 After the transaction of some unimportant 
 business, the Convention adjourned sine die. 
 
 Note —On the second ballot for a candidate 
 for President, four delegates from Pennsylvania 
 rose to a question of privilege, and demanded 
 that under the rules of the Convention they had 
 the right to record their votes independently of 
 a majority of the delegation. The Chair held, 
 that under the Sixth Rule of the Convention, 
 w r hich was the paramount law on the subject, 
 they had this right. The ruling was appealed 
 from, and after discussion, sustained, on a vote 
 by States—yeas 395, nays 354. 
 
 Gov. Hayes’ Letter of Acceptance. 
 
 Columbus, O., July 8, 1870. 
 
 To the Hons. Edward McPherson, Wm. A. 
 
 How'ard, Jos. H. Rainey, and others , Com¬ 
 mittee of the National Republican Convention. 
 
 Gentlemen : In reply to your official commu 
 nication of June 17, by which I am informed of 
 my nomination for the office of President of the 
 United States by the Republican National Con¬ 
 vention at Cincinnati, I accept the nomination 
 with gratitude, hoping that, under Providence, 
 I shall be able, if elected, to execute the duties 
 
 I of the high office as a trust for the benefit of all the 
 people. I do not deem it necessary to enter upon 
 any extended examination of the declaration of 
 principles made by the Convention. The resolu¬ 
 tions are in accord with my views, and I heartily 
 concur in the principles they announce. In sev¬ 
 eral of the resolutions, however, questions are 
 considered which are of such importance that I 
 deem it proper to briefly express my convictions 
 in regard to them. The fifth resolution adopted 
 by the Convention is of paramount interest. 
 More than forty years ago a system of making 
 appointments to office grew up, based upon the 
 maxim “ to the victors belong the spoils.” The 
 old rule, the true rule, that honesty, capacity 
 and fidelity constitute the only l'eal qualification 
 for office, and that there is no other claim, gave 
 place to the idea that party services were to be 
 chiefly considered. All parties in practice have 
 adopted this system. It has been essentially 
 modified since its first introduction. It has not, 
 however, been improved. At first the President, 
 either directly or through the heads of depart¬ 
 ment, made all the appointments, but gradually 
 the appointing power, in many cases, passed 
 into the control of members of Congress. The 
 offices in these cases have become not merely 
 rewards for party services, but rewards for ser¬ 
 vices to party leaders. This system destroys 
 the independence of the separate departments 
 of the Government. “ It tends directly to ex¬ 
 travagance and official incapacity.” It is a temp¬ 
 tation to dishonesty; it hinders and impairs 
 that careful supervision and strict accountability 
 by which alone faithful and efficient public ser¬ 
 vice can be secured ; it obstructs the prompt re¬ 
 moval and sure punishment of the unworthy ; 
 in every way it degrades the civil service and 
 the character of the Government. It is felt, I 
 am confident, by a large majority of the mem¬ 
 bers of Congress, to be an intolerable burden 
 and an unwarrantable hindrance to the proper 
 discharge of their legitimate duties. It ought to 
 be abolished. The reform should be thorough, 
 radical, and complete. We should return to the 
 principles and practice of the founders of the 
 Government—supplying by legislation, when 
 needed, that which was formerly the established 
 custom. They neither expected nor desired 
 from the public officers any partisan service. 
 They meant that public officers should give their 
 whole service to the Government and to the peo¬ 
 ple. They meant that the officer should be se¬ 
 cure in his tenure as long as his personal char¬ 
 acter remained untarnished and the performance 
 of his duties satisfactory. If elected, I shall 
 conduct the administration of the Government 
 upon these principles, and all constitutional 
 powers vested in the Executive will be employed 
 to establish this reform. The declaration of 
 principles' by the Cincinnati Convention makes 
 no announcement in favor of a single Presiden- 
 | tial term. I do not assume to add to that decla¬ 
 ration, but believing that the restoration of the 
 civil service to the system established by Wash¬ 
 ington and followed by the early Presidents can 
 be best accomplished by an Executive who is 
 under no temptation to use the patronage of his 
 office to promote his own re-election, I desire to 
 perform what I regard as a duty in stating now 
 
McPIIBRSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 5 
 
 my inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be a 
 candidate for election to a second term. 
 
 On the currency question I have frequently 
 * expressed my views in public, and I stand by my 
 record on this subject. I regard all the laws of 
 the United States relating to the payment of the 
 public indebtedness, the legal tender notes in¬ 
 cluded, as constituting a pledge and moral obli¬ 
 gation of the Government, which must in good 
 faith be kept. It is my conviction that the feel¬ 
 ing of uncertainty inseparable from an irredeem¬ 
 able paper currency, with its fluctuations of 
 value, is one of the great obstacles to a revival 
 of confidence and business, and to a return of 
 prosperity. That uncertainty can be ended in 
 but one way—the resumption of specie pay¬ 
 ments. But the longer the instability of our 
 money system is permitted to continue, the 
 greater will be the injury inflicted upon our 
 economical interests and all classes of society. 
 If elected, I shall approve every appropriate 
 measure to accomplish the desired end ; and 
 shall oppose any step backward. The resolution 
 with respect to the public school system is one 
 which should receive the hearty support of the 
 American people. Agitation upon this subject 
 is to be apprehended, until, by constitutional 
 amendment the schools are placed beyond all 
 danger of sectarian control or interference. 
 The Republican party is pledged to secure such 
 an amendment. 
 
 The resolution of the Convention on the sub¬ 
 ject of the permanent pacification of the coun¬ 
 try, and the complete protection of all its 
 citizens in the free enjoyment of all their 
 constitutional rights, is timely and of great im¬ 
 portance. The condition of the Southern 
 States attracts the attention and commands the 
 sympathy of the people of the whole Union. 
 In their progressive recovery from the effects 
 of the war, their first necessity is an intelligent 
 and honest administration of government which 
 will protect all classes of citizens in their politi¬ 
 cal and private rights. What the South most 
 needs is “peace,” and peace depends upon the 
 supremacy of the law. There can be no endur¬ 
 ing peace if the constitutional rights of any 
 portion of the people are habitually disregarded. 
 A division of political parties resting merely 
 upon sectional lines is always unfortunate and 
 may be disastrous. The welfare of the South, 
 alike with that of every other part Of this 
 country, depends upon the attractions it can 
 offer to labor and immigration, and to capital. 
 But laborers will not go, and capital will not 
 be ventured where the Constitution and the 
 laws are set at defiauce, and distraction, appre¬ 
 hension, and alarm take the place of peace- 
 loving, and law-abiding social life All parts 
 of the Constitution are sacred and must be 
 sacredly observed—the parts that are new no 
 less than the parts that are old. The moral 
 and national prosperity of the Southern States 
 can be most effectually advanced by a hearty 
 and generous recognition of the rights of all, 
 by all—a recognition without reserve or excep¬ 
 tion. \\ ith such a recognition fully accorded it 
 will be practicable to promote, by the influence 
 of all legitimate agencies of the General Gov¬ 
 ernment, the efforts of the people of those! 
 
 States to obtain for themselves the blessings of 
 honest and capable local government. If 
 elected. I shall consider it not only my duty, 
 but it will be my ardent desire to labor for the 
 attainment of this end. 
 
 L«t mb assure my countrymen of the South¬ 
 ern States that if I shall be charged with the 
 duty of organizing an administration, it will be 
 one which will regard and cherish their truest 
 interests—the interests of the white and of the 
 colored people both, and equally; and which 
 will put forth its best efforts in behalf of a civil 
 policy which will wipe out forever the distinc¬ 
 tion betnveen North and South in our common 
 country. With a civil service organized upon 
 a system which will secure purity, experience, 
 efficiency, and economy, a strict regard for the 
 public welfare solely in appointments, and the 
 speedy, thorough, and unsparing prosecution 
 and punishment of all public officers who be¬ 
 tray official trusts; with a sound currency; 
 with education unsectarian and free to all; 
 with simplicity and frugality in public and 
 private affairs, and with a fraternal spirit of 
 harmony pervading the people of all sections 
 and classes, we may reasonably hope that the 
 second century of our existence as a nation 
 will, by the blessing of God, be preeminent as 
 an era of good feeling and a period of progress, 
 prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 Very respectfully, your fellow-citizen, 
 
 R. B. Hayes. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler’s Acceptance. 
 
 Malone, July 15, 187C>. 
 
 Hon. Edward McPherson , and others , of the 
 ( onimittee of the Republican National Con¬ 
 vention : 
 
 Gentle:men : —I received, on the f>th inst., 
 your communication advising me that I had 
 been unanimously nominated by the National 
 Convention of the Republican party, held at 
 Cincinnati on the 14th ult., for the office of 
 Vice-President of the United States; and re¬ 
 questing my acceptance of the same, and ask¬ 
 ing my attention to the summary of Republican 
 doctrines contained in the platform adopted by 
 the Convention. 
 
 A nomination made with such unanimity 
 implies a confidence on the part of the Conven¬ 
 tion which inspires my profound gratitude. It 
 is accepted with a sense of the responsibility 
 which may follow. If elected, I shall endeavor 
 to perform the duties of the office in the fear 
 of the Supreme Ruler, and in the interest of 
 the whole country. 
 
 To the summary of doctrines enunciated by 
 the Convention I give my cordial assent. The 
 Republican party has intrenched in the organic 
 law of our land the, doctrine that liberty is the 
 supreme, unchangeable law for every foot of 
 American soil. It is the mission of that party 
 to give full effect to this principle by “securing 
 to every American citizen complete liberty and 
 exact equality in the exercise of all civil, politi¬ 
 cal and public rights.” This will be accom¬ 
 plished only when the American citizen, with¬ 
 out regard to color, shall wear this panoply of 
 citizenship as fully and as securely in the cane- 
 
McPHEltSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 (J 
 
 brakes of Louisiana as on the banks of the St. 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Upon the question of our Southern relations, 
 my views were recently expressed as a member 
 of the Committee of the United States House of 
 Representatives upon Southern Affairs. Those 
 view's remain unchanged, and w r ere tlms ex¬ 
 pressed : 
 
 “ We of the North delude ourselves in expect¬ 
 ing that the masses of the South, so far behind 
 in many of the attributes of enlightened im¬ 
 provement and civilization, are, in the brief 
 period of ten or fifteen years, to be transformed 
 into our model Northern communities. That 
 can only come through a long course of patient 
 waiting, to which no one can now set certain 
 bounds. There will be a good deal of unavoid¬ 
 able friction, which will call for forbearance, 
 and w'hich will have to be relieved by the tem¬ 
 perate, fostering care of the government. One 
 of the most potent, if not indispensable agencies 
 in this direction, w r ill be the devising of some 
 system to aid in the education of the masses. 
 The fact that there are wffiole counties in 
 Louisiana in which there is not a solitary 
 school-house, is full of suggestion. We com¬ 
 pelled these people to remain in the Union, and 
 now duty and interest demand that we leave no 
 just means untried to make them good, loyal 
 citizens. How r to diminish the friction, how' to 
 stimulate the elevation of this portion of our 
 country, are problems addressing themselves to 
 our best and w'isest statesmanship. The founda¬ 
 tion for these efforts must be laid in satisfying 
 the Southern people that they are to have equal, 
 exact justice accorded to them. Give them, to 
 the fullest extent, every blessing which the 
 government confers upon the most favored— 
 give them no just cause for complaint, and then 
 hold them, by every necessary means, to an 
 exact, rigid observance of all their duties and 
 obligations under the Constitution and its 
 amendments to secure to all within their bor¬ 
 ders manhood and citizenship, with every right 
 thereto belonging. ” 
 
 The just obligations to public creditors, 
 created when the government w r as in the throes 
 of threatened dissolution, and as an indispensa¬ 
 ble condition of its salvation—guaranteed by 
 the lives and blood of thousands of its brave 
 defenders—are to be kept wdth religious faith, 
 as are all the pledges subsidiary thereto and 
 confirmatory thereof. 
 
 In my judgment the pledge of Congress of 
 January 14, 1875, for the redemption of the 
 
 notes of the United States in coin is the plighted 
 faith of the nation, and national honor, simple 
 honesty, and justice to the people w r hose per¬ 
 manent welfare and prosperity are dependent * 
 upon true money, as the basis of their pecuniary 
 transactions, all demand the scrupulous observ¬ 
 ance of this pledge, and it is the duty of Con¬ 
 gress to supplement it wdth such legislation as 
 shall be necessary for its strict fulfillment. 
 
 In our system of government intelligence 
 must give safety and value to the ballot. Hence 
 the common schools of the land should be pre¬ 
 served in all their vigor ; while, in accordance 
 wdth the spirit of the Constitution, they and all 
 their endowments should be secured by every 
 possible and proper guaranty against every form 
 of sectarian influence or control. 
 
 There should be the strictest economy in the 
 expenditures of the government consistent with 
 its effective administration, and all unnecessary 
 offices should be abolished. Offices should be 
 conferred only upon the basis of high character 
 and particular fitness, and should be adminis¬ 
 tered only as public trusts, and not for private 
 advantage. 
 
 The foregoing are chief among the cardinal 
 principles of the Republican party, and to carry 
 them into full, practical effect is the w'ork it now 
 has in hand. To the completion of its great 
 mission we address ourselves in hope and confi¬ 
 dence, cheered and stimulated by the recollec¬ 
 tion of its past achievements; remembering 
 that, under God, it is to that party w r e are in¬ 
 debted in this centennial year of our existence 
 for a preserved, unbroken Union; for the fact 
 that there is no master or slave throughout our 
 broad domains, and that emancipated millions 
 look upon the ensign of the Republic as the 
 symbol of the fulfilled declaration that all men 
 are created free and equal, and the guaranty of 
 their own equality, under the law, with the 
 most highly favored citizen of the land. 
 
 To £he intelligence and conscience of all who 
 desire good government, good will, good money 
 and universal prosperity, the Republican party, 
 not unmindful of the imperfection and short¬ 
 comings of human organizations, yet wdth the 
 honest purpose of its masses promptly to re¬ 
 trieve all errors and to summarily punish all 
 offenders against the laws of the country, con¬ 
 fidently submits its claims for the continued 
 support of the American people. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 William A. Wheeler. 
 
McPIfERSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 7 
 
 Democratic National Convention. 
 
 Call for I lie Convention. 
 
 The National Democratic Committee, to whom 
 is delegated the power of fixing the time and 
 place of holding the National Democratic Con¬ 
 vention of 1870, have appointed Tuesday, the 
 27tli day of June next, noon, as the time, and 
 selected" St. Louis as the place, of holding such 
 Convention. Each State will be entitled to a 
 representation equal to double the number of its 
 Senators and Representatives in the Congress of 
 the United States, and the Territory of Colo¬ 
 rado, whose admission in July as a State will 
 give it a vote in the next electoral college, is 
 also invited to send delegates to the Convention. 
 Democratic, Conservative and other citizens of 
 the United States, irrespective of past political 
 associations, desiring to cooperate with the 
 Democratic party in its present efforts and ob¬ 
 jects, are cordially invited to join in sending 
 delegates to the National Convention. Coop¬ 
 eration is desired from all persons who would 
 change an administration that has suffered the 
 public credit to become and remain inferior to 
 other and less-favored nations; has permitted 
 commerce to be taken away by foreign powers; 
 has stifled trade by unjust, unequal and perni¬ 
 cious legislation ; has imposed unusual taxation 
 and rendered it most troublesome ; has changed 
 growing prosperity to widespread suffering and 
 want; has squandered the public moneys reck¬ 
 lessly and defiantly, and shamefully used the 
 power that should have been swift to punish 
 crime, to protect it. 
 
 For these and other reasons the National 
 Democratic party deem the public danger im¬ 
 minent, and earnestly desirous of securing to 
 our country the blessing of an economical, 
 pure and free government, cordially invite the 
 cooperation of their fellow-citizens in the effort 
 to attain this object. 
 
 • Augustus Schell, Chairman . 
 
 The Convention met as per the call, and Mr. 
 Schell, after making some remarks, nominated 
 Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, as temporary 
 chairman, who was elected. 
 
 The rules of the last National Democratic 
 Convention were adopted. Committees on Cre¬ 
 dentials, Permanent Organization and on Reso¬ 
 lutions were appointed. 
 
 Adjourned till 5 o’clock, p. m. 
 
 The Territories and the District of Columbia 
 were given the right of representation as States, 
 but not the right to vote. 
 
 The Committee on Permanent Organization, 
 through Mr. Hanna, reported a list of officers, 
 with Gen. John A. McClernand, of Illinois, as 
 the permanent President. 
 
 Adjourned till to-morrow at 11 o’clock. 
 
 June 28 — The convention met, listened to 
 speeches from Col. Wm. P. Breckinridge, of 
 Kentucky, Hon. B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, 
 Hon. Wm. A. Wallace, of Pennsylvania, Hon. 
 James R. Dooltttle, of Wisconsin, and others. 
 
 At 2£ o’clock the convention re-assembled, and 
 the Committee on Resolutions made the follow¬ 
 ing report through Mr. Dorsheimeii, of New 
 York: 
 
 We, the delegates of the Democratic party of 
 the United States in National Convention as¬ 
 sembled, do hereby declare the administration 
 of the Federal Government to be in urgent need 
 of immediate reform; do hereby enjoin upon 
 the nominees of this Convention, and of the 
 Democratic party in each State, a zealous effort 
 and cooperation to this end; and do hereby 
 appeal to our fellow-citizens of every former 
 political connection to undertake with us this 
 first and most pressing patriotic duty. 
 
 For the Democracy of the whole country, we 
 do here re-affirm our faith in the permanence 
 of the Federal Union, our devotion to the Con¬ 
 stitution of the United States, with its amend¬ 
 ments universally accepted as a final settlement 
 of the controversies that engendered civil war, 
 and do here record our steadfast confidence in 
 the perpetuity of republican self-government. 
 
 In absolute acquiescence in the will of the 
 majoritj 7 —the vital principle of republics; in 
 the supremacy of the civil over the military au¬ 
 thority ; in the total separation of Church and 
 State, for the sake alike of civil and religious 
 freedom; in the equality of all citizens before 
 just laws of their own enactment; in the liberty 
 of individual conduct, unvexed by sumptuary 
 laws: in the faithful education of the rising 
 generation, that they may preserve, enjoy, and 
 transmit these best conditions of human happi¬ 
 ness and hope, we behold the noblest products 
 of a hundred years of changeful history; but 
 while upholding the bond of our Union and 
 great charter of these our rights, it behooves a 
 free people to practice also that eternal vigilance 
 which is the price of liberty. 
 
 Reform is necessary to rebuild and establish 
 in the hearts of the whole people, the Union, 
 
 I eleven years ago happily rescued from the dau- 
 j ger of a secession of States; but now to be 
 I saved from a corrupt centralism which, after 
 I inflicting upon ten States the rapacity of carpet - 
 | bag tyrannies, has honeycombed the offices of 
 ! the Federal Government itself with incapacity, 
 waste, and fraud; infected States and munici¬ 
 palities with the contagion of misrule, and 
 locked fast the prosperity of an industrious 
 people in the paralysis of “ hard times.” 
 
 Reform is necessarv to establish a sound cur- 
 
 # v 
 
 rency, restore the public credit, and maintain 
 | the national honor. 
 
 We denounce the failure, for all these eleven 
 years of peace, to make good the promise of the 
 j legal-tender notes, which are a changing stand¬ 
 ard of value in the hands of the people, and the 
 non-payment of which is a disregard of the 
 plighted faith of the nation. 
 
 We denounce the improvidence which, in 
 eleven years of peace, has taken from the peo¬ 
 ple in Federal taxes thirteen times the whole 
 
8 
 
 MoPHEESON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 am milt of the legal-tender notes, and squan¬ 
 dered four times their sum in useless expense 
 without accumulating any reserve for their re¬ 
 demption. 
 
 We denounce the financial imbecility and im¬ 
 morality of that party, which, during eleven years 
 of peace, has made no advance toward resump¬ 
 tion, no preparation for resumption, but instead 
 has obstructed resumption, by wasting our re¬ 
 sources and exhausting all our surplus income ; 
 and, while annually professing to intend a 
 speedy return to specie payments, has annually 
 enacted fresh hindrances thereto. As such hin¬ 
 drance we denounce the resumption clause of 
 the act of 1875 and we here demand its repeal. 
 
 We demand a judicious system of preparation 
 by public economies, by official retrenchments, 
 and by wise finance, which shall enable the na¬ 
 tion soon to assure the whole world of its perfect 
 ability and its perfect readiness to meet any of 
 its promises at the call of the creditor entitled 
 to payment. 
 
 We believe such a system, well devised, and, 
 above all, intrusted to competent hands for exe¬ 
 cution, creating at no time an artificial scarcity 
 of currency, and at no time alarming the public 
 mind into a withdrawal of that vaster machinery 
 of credit by which ninety-five per cent, of all 
 business transactions are performed—a system 
 open, public, and inspiring general confidence, 
 would from the day of its adoption bring heal¬ 
 ing on its wings to all our harassed industries, 
 set in motion the wheels of commerce, manu¬ 
 factures, and the mechanic arts, restore employ¬ 
 ment to labor, and renew 7 in all its natural 
 sources the prosperity of the people. 
 
 Beform is necessary in the sum and modes of 
 Federal taxation, to the end that capital may 
 be set free from distrust, and labor lightly bur¬ 
 dened. 
 
 We denounce the present Tariff, levied upon 
 nearly 4,000 articles, as a master-piece of injus¬ 
 tice, inequality and false pretence. It yields a 
 dwindling, no t a yearly rising revenue. It has 
 impoverished many industries to subsidize a few. 
 It prohibits imports that might purchase the 
 products of American labor. It has degraded 
 American commerce from the first to an inferior 
 rank on the high seas. It has cut down the 
 sales of American manufactures at home and 
 abroad and depleted the returns of American 
 agriculture—an industry followed by half our 
 people. It costs the people five times more 
 than it produces to the Treasury, obstructs the 
 processes of production, and w r astes the fruits of 
 labor. It promotes fraud, fosters smuggling, 
 enriches dishonest officials, and bankrupts hon¬ 
 est merchants. We demand that all Custom 
 House taxation shall be only for revenue. 
 
 Beform is necessary in the scale of public ex¬ 
 pense—Federal, State, and Municipal. Our 
 Federal taxation has sw'ollen from sixty millions 
 gold, in 18G0, to four hundred and fifty millions 
 currency, in 1870; our aggregate taxation from 
 one hundred and fifty-four millions gold, in 
 1SG0, to seven hundred and thirty millions cur¬ 
 rency, in 1870 ; or in one decade from less than 
 five dollars per head to more than eighteen dol¬ 
 lars per head. Since the peace, the people have 
 paid to their tax gatherers more than thrice the 
 
 sum of the national debt, and more than twice 
 that sum for the Federal Government alone. 
 We demand a rigorous frugality in every depart¬ 
 ment, and from every officer of the government. 
 
 Beform is necessary to put a stop to the profli¬ 
 gate waste of public lands, and their diversion 
 from actual settlers by the party in power, which 
 has squandered 200,000,000 of acres upon rail¬ 
 roads alone, and out of more than thrice that 
 aggregate has disposed of less than a sixth di¬ 
 rectly to tillers of the soil. 
 
 Beform is necessary to correct the omissions 
 of a Bepublican Congress, and the errors of our 
 treaties and our diplomacy which have stripped 
 our fellow citizens of foreign birth and kindred 
 race recrossing 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 citi¬ 
 zenship through naturalization as being neither 
 accustomed to the traditions of a progressive 
 civilization nor exercised in liberty under equal 
 laws. We denounce the policy which thus dis¬ 
 cards the liberty-loving German and tolerates 
 a revival of the coolie trade in Mongolian w 7 o- 
 men imported for immoral purposes and Mon¬ 
 golian men held to perform servile labor con¬ 
 tracts, aud demand such modification of the 
 treaty with the Chinese Empire or such legisla¬ 
 tion within constitutional limitations as shall 
 prevent further importation or immigration of 
 the Mongolian race. 
 
 Beform is necessary and can never be effected 
 but by making it the controlling issue of the 
 ! elections, and lifting it above the tw r o false 
 issues with wffiich the office-holding class and 
 the party in power seek to smother it: 
 
 1. The false issue with which they would en¬ 
 kindle sectarian strife in respect to the public 
 schools, of which the establishment and support 
 belong exclusively to the several States, and 
 which the Democratic party has cherished from 
 their foundation, and is resolved to maintain 
 without prejudice or preference for any class, 
 sect or creed, and without largesses from the 
 treasury to any. 
 
 2. The false issue by which they seek to light 
 anew the dying embers of sectional hate between 
 kindred peoples once estranged, but now re¬ 
 united in one indivisible republic and a common 
 
 ! destiny. 
 
 Beform is necessary in the Civil Service. Ex¬ 
 perience proves that efficient, economical con¬ 
 duct of the governmental business is not possible 
 if its 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 in¬ 
 strument of their ambition. Here again prom¬ 
 ises falsified in the performance, attest that the 
 party in pow r er can work out no practical or 
 salutary reform. 
 
 Beform is necessary even more in the higher 
 grades of the public service. President, Vice- 
 President, Judges, Senators, Bepresentatives, 
 Cabinet officers, these and all others in authority 
 
McPherson s hand-book of politics. 
 
 are the people's servants. Their offices are not 
 a private perquisite; they are a public trust. 
 
 When the annals of this Republic show the 
 disgrace and censure of a Vice-President; a late 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives mar¬ 
 keting liis ruling* as a presiding officer: three 
 Senators profiting secretly by their votes as law¬ 
 makers ; five chairmen of the leading commit¬ 
 tees of the late House of Representatives ex¬ 
 posed in jobbery ; a late Secretary of the Treas¬ 
 ury forcing balances in the public accounts; a 
 late Attorney-General misappropriating public 
 funds; a Secretary of the Navy enriched or en¬ 
 riching friends by percentages levied off the 
 profits of contractors with his department; an 
 Ambassador to England censured in a dishon¬ 
 orable speculation ; the President’s private sec¬ 
 retary barely escaping conviction upon trial for 
 guilty complicity in frauds upon the revenue; 
 a Secretary of War impeached for high crimes 
 and misdemeanors—the demonstration is com¬ 
 plete, that the first step in reform must be the 
 people’s choice of honest men from another 
 party, lest the disease of one political organiza¬ 
 tion infect the body politic, and lest by making 
 no change of men or parties we get no change 
 of measures and no real reform. 
 
 All these abuses, wrongs, and crimes, the 
 product of sixteen years’ ascendency of the Re¬ 
 publican party, create a necessity for reform 
 confessed by Republicans themselves; but their 
 reformers are voted down in convention and 
 displaced from the Cabinet. The party’s mass 
 of honest voters is powerless to resist the 
 80,000 office-holders, its leaders and guides. 
 
 Reform can only be had by a peaceful civic 
 revolution. We demand a change of system, a 
 change of administration, a change of parties, 
 that we may have a change of measures and of 
 men. 
 
 Resolved, That this Convention, representing 
 the Democratic party of the United States, do 
 cordially indorse the action of the present House 
 of Representatives in reducing and curtailing 
 the expenses of the Federal Government, in 
 cutting down salaries, extravagant appropria¬ 
 tions, and in abolishing useless offices and 
 places not required by the public necessities, 
 and we shall trust to the firmness of the Demo¬ 
 cratic members of the House that no committee 
 of conference and no misinterpretation of the 
 rules will be allowed to defeat these wholesome 
 measures of economy demanded by the country. 
 
 Resolved , That 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 fel¬ 
 low-citizens. 
 
 [The Committee consisted of the following 
 persons : Alabama , Leroy P. Walker; Arkan¬ 
 sas, L. V. Maguire; California, John 8. Hager; 
 Colorado, F. J. Marshall; Connecticut , R. D. 
 Hubbard ; J)elaware , George Gray ; Florida ., 
 John Westcott; Georgia , C. F. Howell; Illi¬ 
 nois, John A. McClernand; Indiana, D. W. 
 Voorhees ; Iowa, H. II. Trimble ; Kansas, 
 Thomas L. Davis; Kentucky, Alvin Duval; 
 Louisiana, R. H. Mann; Maine, D. R. Hast¬ 
 ings; Maryland, George Freaner; Massacliu- 
 setts, Edward Avery; Michigan , William L. 
 
 1) 
 
 I Bancroft; Minnesota, Daniel Bucks ; Missis¬ 
 sippi, A. M. Clayton; Missouri, C. H. Hardin ; 
 j Nebraska , George L. Emlen; Nevada, A. C. 
 Ellis ; New Hampshire, E. C. Barley ; New 
 Jersey, Joseph Gates ; New York, William 
 | Dorsheimer; North Carolina, Thomas L Cling- 
 ! man; Ohio, Thomas Ewing; Oregon, M. V. 
 Brown; Pennsylvania, Malcolm Hay; Rhode 
 Island, W. B. Beach : South Carolina, Ham. 
 McGowan ; Tennessee, John C. Brown ; Texas, 
 Aslibel Smith ; Veo'mont, James H. Williams ; 
 Virginia, John A. Meredith; West Virginia., 
 
 \ John J. Davis ; Wisconsin, Alex. Mitchell. 
 
 The above is believed to be a correct copy of 
 the Platform as adopted. For a time, some 
 1 confusion existed on this question, caused by 
 the publication in the N. Y. Sun , of July 7, 
 
 1 1878, (and probably other papers,) of a copy, 
 
 ! purporting to be “ official,” but which was no¬ 
 ticeably inaccurate and incomplete.—E ditor.] 
 
 Pending the report, 
 
 Mr. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, presented the 
 I following minority report : 
 
 The undersigned members of the Committee 
 recommend that the following clause in the 
 resolutions reported by the Committee be 
 stricken out: “ As such hindrance we denounce 
 the resumption clause of the act of 1875, and 
 we here demand its repeal.” And they recom¬ 
 mend that there be substituted for that clause 
 the following : “ The law for the resumption 
 of specie payments on the 1st of January, 1870, 
 having been enacted by the Republican party 
 without deliberation in Congress or discussion 
 before the people, and being both ineffective 
 to secure its objects and highly injurious to 
 the business of the country, ought to be forth¬ 
 with repealed.” T. Ewing, Ohio. 
 
 D. W. Voorhees, Indiana. 
 
 J. C. Brown, Tennessee. 
 
 Malcolm Hat, Penn. 
 
 H. H. Trimble, Iowa. 
 
 J. J. Davis, West Virginia. 
 
 T. L. Davis, Kansas. 
 
 E. H. Hardin, Missouri. 
 
 After debate, the Convention rejected the 
 
 minority report—yeas 211), nays 550. 
 
 The Platform, as reported, was then adopted 
 —yeas 651, nays 83. 
 
 nomination of candidates. 
 
 ! By Delaware—Thomas F. Bayard. 
 
 By Indiana—Thomas A. Hendricks. 
 
 By New Jersey—Joel Parker. 
 
 By New York —Samuel J. Tilden. 
 
 By Ohio—William Allen. 
 
 By Pennsylvania—Winfield S. Hancock. 
 
 I After speech making and seconding these 
 nominations, the Convention balloted, and 
 
 i with this result: 
 
 1st. 2d. 
 
 i Samuel J. Tilden. 417 535 
 
 Thomas A. Hendricks. 140 (50 
 
 1 Winfield S. Hancock. 75 50 
 
 William Allen. 5(5 54 
 
 Thomas F. Bayard. 33 11 
 
 Joel Parker. 18 18 
 
 Allen G. Thurman. 00 7 
 
 730 744 
 
10 
 
 McPIIEliSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 Mr. Tilden’s nomination was made unani¬ 
 mous, and the Convention adjourned till to¬ 
 morrow. 
 
 June 2G —Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, of 
 Indiana, was nominated by acclamation. 
 
 Mr. Webber, of Michigan, offered this reso¬ 
 lution : 
 
 Resolved , That it be recommended to future 
 National Democratic Conventions, as the sense 
 of the Democracy here in Convention assem¬ 
 bled, that the so-called two-thirds rule be abol¬ 
 ished as unwise and unnecessary ; and that the 
 States be requested to instruct their delegates 
 to the Democratic National Convention which 
 is to be held in 1880 whether it is desirable to 
 continue the two-thirds rule longer in force in 
 the National Conventions, and that the National 
 Committee insert such request in their call for 
 the Convention. 
 
 A division of the question was called, to end 
 with the word ‘ ‘ unnecessary. ” 
 
 The first division was disagreed to, and the 
 second agreed to. 
 
 After transacting some routine business the 
 Convention adjourned sine die. 
 
 Gov. Tilden’s tetter of Accept¬ 
 ance. 
 
 Albany, July 31, 187G. 
 
 Gentlemen : When I had the honor to re¬ 
 ceive a personal delivery of your letter on be¬ 
 half of the Democratic National Convention, 
 held on the 28th of June at St. Louis, advising 
 me of my nomination as the candidate of the 
 constituency represented by that body for the 
 office of President of the United States, I an¬ 
 swered that, at my earliest convenience, and in 
 conformity with usage, I would prepare and 
 transmit to you a formal acceptance. I now avail 
 myself of the first interval in unavoidable occu¬ 
 pations to fulfill that engagement. The conven¬ 
 tion, before making its nominations, adopted a 
 declaration of principles, which, as a whole, 
 seems to me a wise exposition of the necessities 
 of our country, and of the reforms needed to 
 bring back the Government to its true func¬ 
 tions, to restore purity of administration, and 
 to renew the prosperity of the people. But 
 some of these reforms are so urgent that they 
 claim more than a passing approval. 
 
 The necessity of a reform “in the scale of 
 public expense—Federal, State, and Munici¬ 
 pal,”—and “ in the modes of Federal taxa¬ 
 tion,” justifies all the prominence given to it 
 in the declaration of the St. Louis Convention. 
 The present depression in all the business and 
 industries of the people, which is depriving 
 labor of its employment, and carrying want 
 into so many homes, has its principal cause in 
 excessive Governmental consumption. Under 
 the illusions of a specious prosperity engen¬ 
 dered by the false policies of the Federal Gov- 
 vernment, a waste of capital has been going on 
 ever since the peace of 18G5, which could only 
 end in universal disaster. The Federal taxes 
 of the last eleven years reach the gigantic sum 
 of four thousand five hundred millions. Local 
 taxation has amounted to two-thirds as much 
 more. The vast aggregate is not less than 
 
 seven thousand five hundred millions. This 
 enormous taxation followed a civil conflict that 
 had greatly impaired our aggregate wealth, and 
 had made a prompt reduction of expenses in¬ 
 dispensable. It was aggravated by most un¬ 
 scientific and ill-adjusted methods of taxation 
 that increased the sacrificesnof the people far 
 beyond the receipts of the Treasury. It was 
 aggravated, moreover, by a financial policy 
 which tended to diminish the energy, skill and 
 economy of production, and the frugality of 
 private consumption, and induced miscalcula¬ 
 tion in business and an unremunerative use of 
 capital and labor. Even in prosperous times, 
 the daily wants of industrious communities 
 press closely upon their daily earnings. The 
 margin of possible national savings is at best a 
 small percentage of national earnings. Yet now 
 for these eleven years governmental consump¬ 
 tion has been a larger portion of the national 
 earnings than the whole people can possibly 
 save even in prosperous times for all new in¬ 
 vestments. The consequences of these errors 
 are now a present public calamity. But they 
 were never doubtful, never invisible. They 
 were necessary and inevitable, and were fore¬ 
 seen and depicted when the waves of that fic¬ 
 titious prosperity ran highest. In a speech 
 made by me on the 24th of September, 18G8, 
 it was said of these taxes : 
 
 “ They bear heavily upon every man’s in¬ 
 come, upon every industry and every business 
 in the country, and year by year they are des¬ 
 tined to press still more heavily, unless we 
 arrest the system that gives rise to them. It 
 was comparatively easy when values were 
 doubling under repeated issues of legal tender 
 paper money, to pay out of the froth of our 
 growing and apparent wealth these taxes, but 
 when values recede and sink toward their nat¬ 
 ural scale, the tax-gatherer takes from us not 
 only our income, not only our profits, but also 
 a portion of our capital. * * * I do not 
 
 wish to exaggerate or alarm ; I simply say that 
 we cannot afford the costly and ruinous policy 
 of the Radical majority of Congress. We can¬ 
 not afford that policy toward the South. We 
 cannot afford the magnificent and oppressive 
 centralism into which our Government is being 
 converted. We cannot afford the present mag¬ 
 nificent scale of taxation.” 
 
 To the Secretary of the Treasury I said, early 
 in 18G5: 
 
 “ There is no royal road for a government 
 more than for an individual or a corporation. 
 
 ! What you want to do now is to cut down your 
 expenses and live within your income. I would 
 give all the legerdemain of finance and finan¬ 
 ciering—I would give the whole of it for the 
 old, homely maxim, ‘ Live within your in¬ 
 come.’ ” 
 
 This reform will be resisted, at every step, 
 
 ! but it must be pressed persistently. We see 
 to-day the immediate representatives of the 
 people in one branch of Congress, while strug¬ 
 gling to reduce expenditures, compelled to con¬ 
 front the menace of the Senate and the Execu¬ 
 tive that unless the objectionable appropria¬ 
 tions be consented to, the operations of the 
 Government thereunder shall suffer detriment 
 
MoPHEKSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 1 1 
 
 or cease. In my judgment an amendment of 
 the Constitution ouglit to be devised separating 
 into distinct bills the appropriations for the 
 various departments of the public service, and 
 excluding from each bill all appropriations for 
 other objects and all independent legislation. 
 In that way alone can the revisory power of 
 each of the two houses and of the Executive be 
 preserved and exempted from the moral duress 
 which often compels assent to objectionable 
 appropriations rather than stop the wheels of 
 Government 
 
 An accessory cause enhancing the distress in 
 business is to be found in the systematic and 
 insupportable misgovernment imposed upon 
 the States of the South. Besides the ordinary 
 effects of ignorant and dishonest administra¬ 
 tion, it has inflicted upon them enormous issues 
 of fraudulent bonds, the scanty avails of which 
 were wasted or stolen, and the existence of 
 which is a public discredit, tending to bank¬ 
 ruptcy or repudiation. Taxes, generally op¬ 
 pressive, in some instances have confiscated the 
 entire income of property and totally destroyed 
 its marketable value. It is impossible that these 
 evils should not re-act upon the prosperity of 
 the whole country. The nobler motives of 
 humanity concur with the material interests of 
 all in requiring that every obstacle be removed, 
 to a complete and durable reconciliation between 
 kindred populations once unnaturally estranged, 
 on the basis recognized by the St. Louis plat¬ 
 form, of the “Constitution of the United States, 
 with its amendments universally accepted as a 
 final settlement of the controversies which en¬ 
 gendered civil war.” But. in aid of a result 
 so beneficent, the moral influence of every good 
 citizen, as well as every governmental authority, 
 ought to be exerted, not alone to maintain their 
 just equality before the law, but likewise to 
 establish a cordial fraternity and good will 
 among citizens, whatever their race or color, 
 who are now united in the one destiny of a 
 common self-government. If the duty shall be 
 assigned to me, I should not fail to exercise the 
 powers with which the laws and the Constitu¬ 
 tion of our country clothe its Chief Magistrate, 
 to protect all its citizens, whatever their former 
 condition, in every political and personal right.' 
 
 “ lteform is necessary,” declares the St. Louis 
 Convention, “to establish a sound currency, re¬ 
 store the public credit and maintain the national 
 honor;” and it goes on to “demand a judicious 
 system of preparation by public economies, by 
 official retrenchments, and by wise finance, 
 which shall enable the nation soon to assure 
 the whole world of its perfect ability and its 
 perfect readiness to meet any of its promises 
 at the call of the creditor entitled to payment.” 
 The object demanded by the Convention is a 
 resumption of specie payments on the legal- 
 tender notes of the United States. That would 
 not only “restore the public credit” and 
 “maintain the national honor,” but it would 
 “ establish a sound currency ” for the people 
 The methods by which this object is to be pur¬ 
 sued, and the moans by which it is to be at¬ 
 tained, are disclosed by what the Convention 
 demanded for the future, and by what it de¬ 
 nounced in the past. 
 
 Itesumptiou of specie payments by the Gov¬ 
 ernment of the United States on its legal-tender 
 notes would establish specie payments by all the 
 banks on all their notes. The official statement, 
 made on the 12th of May, shows that the 
 amount of the bank notes was three hundred 
 millions, less twenty millions held by themselves. 
 Against these two hundred and eighty millions 
 of notes the banks held one hundred and forty- 
 one millions of legal-tender notes, or a little more 
 than fifty per cent, of their amount. But they 
 also held on deposit in the Federal Treasury, as 
 security for these notes, bonds of the United 
 States worth in gold about three hundred and 
 
 sixtv millions, available and current in all the 
 « 
 
 foreign money markets. In resuming, the banks, 
 even if it were possible for all their notes to be 
 -presented for payment, would have five hun¬ 
 dred millions of specie funds to pay two hundred 
 and eighty millions of notes, without contracting 
 their loans to their customers, or calling on any 
 pxivate debtor for payment. Suspended banks 
 undertaking to resume have usually been obliged 
 to collect from needy borrowers the means to 
 redeem excessive issues and to provide reserves. 
 A vague idea of distress is, therefore, often as¬ 
 sociated with the process of resumption. But 
 the conditions which caused distress in those 
 former instances do not now exist. The Gov¬ 
 ernment has only to make good its own prom¬ 
 ises, and the banks can take care of themselves 
 without distressing anybody. The Government 
 is, therefore, the sole delinquent. 
 
 The amount of the legal-tender notes of the 
 United States now outstanding is less than three 
 hundred and seventy millions of dollars, besides 
 thirty-four millions of dollars of fractional cur¬ 
 rency. How shall the Government make these 
 notes at all times as good as specie ? It has to 
 provide, in reference to the mass which would 
 be kept in use by the wants of business, a cen¬ 
 tral reservoir of coin, adequate to the adjust¬ 
 ment of the temporary fluctuations of interna¬ 
 tional balances, and as a guaranty against tran¬ 
 sient drains artificially created by panic or by 
 speculation. It has also to provide for the pay¬ 
 ment in coin of such fractional currency as may 
 be presented for redemption, and such incon¬ 
 siderable portions of the legal tenders as indi¬ 
 viduals may from time to time desire to convert 
 for special use, or in order to lay by in coin 
 their little stores of money. 
 
 To make the coin now in the Treasury avail¬ 
 able for the objects of this reserve, to gradually 
 strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to pro¬ 
 vide for such other exceptional demands for coin 
 as may arise, does not Beem to me a work of dif¬ 
 ficulty. If wisely planned and discreetly pur¬ 
 sued, it ought not to cost any sacrifice to the 
 business of the country. It should tend, on the 
 Contrary, to a revival of hope and confidence. 
 The coin in the Treasury on the 80th of June, 
 including what is held against coin certificates, 
 amounted to nearly seventy-four millions. The 
 current of precious metals which has flow’ed out 
 of our country for the eleven years from July 1, 
 1805, to June JO, 1870, averaging nearly seventy- 
 six millions a year, was eight hundred and thirty- 
 two millions in the whole period, of which six 
 hundred and seventeen millions were the pro- 
 
VI 
 
 McPHEKSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 duct of our own mines. To amass the requisite 
 quantity, by intercepting from the current fiow- 
 i :g out of the country, and by acquiring from 
 the stocks which exist abroad without disturb¬ 
 ing the equilibrium of foreign money markets, 
 is a result to be easily worked out by practical 
 knowledge and judgment. With respect to 
 whatever surplus of legal-tenders the wants of 
 business may fail to keep in use, and which, in 
 order to save interest, will be returned for re¬ 
 demption, they can either be paid or they can 
 be funded. Whether they continue as currency, 
 or be absorbed into the vast mass of securities 
 held as investments, is merely a question of the 
 rate of interest they draw. Even if they were 
 to remain in their present form, and the Gov¬ 
 ernment were to agree to pay on them a rate of 
 interest making them desirable as investments, 
 they would cease to circulate and take their 
 place with Government, State, Municipal, and 
 other corporate and private bonds, of which 
 thousands of millions exist among us. In the 
 perfect ease with which they can be changed 
 from currency into investments lies the only 
 danger to be guarded against in the adoption of 
 general measures intended to remove a clearly 
 ascertained surplus ; that is, the withdrawal of 
 any which are not a permanent excess beyond 
 the wants of business. Even more mischievous 
 would be any measure which affects the public 
 imagination with the fear of an apprehended 
 scarcity. In a community where credit is so 
 much used, fluctuations of values and vicissi¬ 
 tudes in business are largely caused by the tem¬ 
 porary beliefs of men even before those beliefs I 
 can conform to ascertained realities. 
 
 The amount of the necessary currency at a 
 given time cannot be determined arbitrarily, 
 and should not be assumed on conjecture. That 
 amount is subject to both permanent and tem¬ 
 porary changes. An enlargement of it, which 
 seemed to be durable, happened at the begin¬ 
 ning of the civil war by a substituted use of 
 currency in place of individual credits. It 
 varies with certain states of business. It fluc¬ 
 tuates, with considerable regularity, at different 
 seasons of the year. In the autumn, for in¬ 
 stance, when buyers of grain and other agricul¬ 
 tural products begin their operations, they 
 usually need to borrow capital or circulating 
 credits by which to make their purchases, and 
 want these funds in currency capable of being 
 distributed in small sums among numerous 
 sellers. The additional need of currency at 
 such times is five or more per cent, of the 
 whole volume, and, if a surplus beyond what is 
 required for ordinary use does not happen to 
 have been on hand at the money centres, a 
 scarcity of currency ensues, and also a strin¬ 
 gency in the loan market. It was in reference 
 to such experiences that, in a discussion of this 
 subject in my annual Message to the New-York 
 Legislature of January 5, 1875, the suggestion 
 was made that: 
 
 “The Federal Government is bound to re¬ 
 deem every portion of its issues which the pub¬ 
 lic do not wish to use. Having assumed to 
 monopolize the supply of currency and enacted 
 exclusions against everybody else, it is bound to 
 furnish all which the wants of business require. ” 1 
 
 * * * “The system should passively allow 
 
 the volume of circulating credits to ebb and flow, 
 according to the ever-changing wants of busi¬ 
 ness. It should imitate, as closely as possible, 
 the natural laws of trade, which it has super¬ 
 seded by artificial contrivances.” And in a 
 similar discussion in my Message of January 4, 
 1870, it was said that resumption should be 
 effected “by such measures as would keep the 
 aggregate amount of the currency self-adjusting 
 during all the process, without creating, at any 
 time, an artificial scarcity, and without exciting 
 the public imagination with alarms which im¬ 
 pair confidence, contract the whole large ma¬ 
 chinery of credit, and disturb the natural oper¬ 
 ations of business.” 
 
 “ Public economies, official retrenchments, and 
 wise finance ” are the means which the St Louis 
 Convention indicates as provision for reserves 
 and redemptions. The best resource is a re¬ 
 duction of the expenses of the Government be¬ 
 low' its income ; for that imposes no new' charge 
 on the people. If, however, the improvidence 
 and w'aste which have conducted us to a period 
 of falling revenues, oblige us to supplement the 
 results of economies and retrenchments by some 
 resort to loans, we should not hesitate. The 
 Government ought not to speculate on its ow r n 
 dishonor, in order to save interest on its broken 
 promises, w r hich it still compels private dealers 
 to accept at a fictitious par. The highest na¬ 
 tional honor is not only right, but would prove 
 profitable. Of the public debt nine hundred 
 and eighty-five millions bear interest at six per 
 cent, in gold, and seven hundred and twelve 
 millions at five per cent, in gold. The average 
 interest is 5.58 per cent. A financial policy 
 w'hich should secure the highest credit, wisely 
 availed of, ought gradually to obtain a reduc¬ 
 tion of one per cent, in the interest on most of 
 the loans. A saving of one per cent, on the 
 average would be seventeen millions a year in 
 gold. That saving regularly invested at four 
 and a half per cent, would, in less than thirty- 
 eight years, extinguish the principal. The 
 whole seventeen hundred millions of funded 
 debt might be paid by this saving alone, with¬ 
 out cost to the people. 
 
 The proper time for resumption is the time 
 when wise preparations shall have ripened into 
 a perfect ability to accomplish the object with a 
 certainty and ease that will inspire confidence 
 and encourage the reviving of business. The 
 earliest time in which such a result can be 
 brought about is the best. Even w f hen the prep¬ 
 arations shall have been matured, the exact 
 date would have to be chosen with reference to 
 the then existing state of trade and credit 
 operations in our own country, the course of 
 foreign commerce, and the condition of the ex¬ 
 changes with other nations. The specific meas¬ 
 ures and the actual date are matters of detail 
 having reference to ever-changing conditions. 
 They belong to the domain of practical admin¬ 
 istrative statesmanship. The captain of a 
 steamer about starting from New York to Liv¬ 
 erpool does not assemble a council over his ocean 
 chart and fix an angle by which to lash the rud¬ 
 der for the whole voyage. A human intelligence 
 must be at the helm to discern the shifting forces 
 
McPHERSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 l:» 
 
 of the waters and the winds. A human hand 
 must be on the helm to feel the elements day by 
 day, and guide to a mastery over them. 
 
 Such preparations are everything. Without 
 them, a legislative command fixing a day, an of¬ 
 ficial promise fixing a day, are shams. They 
 are worse—they are a snare and a delusion to 
 all who trust them. They destroy all confidence 
 among thoughtful men whose judgment will at 
 last sway public opinion. An attempt to act on 
 such a command or such a promise, without prep¬ 
 aration, would end in a new suspension. It 
 would be a fresh calamity, prolific of confusion, 
 distrust, and distress. 
 
 The act of Congress of the 14th of January, 
 1875, enacted that, on and after the 1st of Janu¬ 
 ary, 1879, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
 redeem in coin the legal-tender notes of the 
 United States on presentation at the office of the 
 Assistant Treasurer in the City of New York. 
 It authorized the Secretary “to prepare and 
 provide for ” such resumption of specie pay¬ 
 ments by the use of any surplus revenues not 
 otherwise appropriated; and by issuing, in his 
 discretion, certain classes of bonds. More than 
 one and a half of the four years have passed. 
 Congress and the President have continued ever 
 since to unite in acts which have legislated out 
 of existence every possible surplus applicable to 
 this purpose. The coin in the Treasury claimed 
 to belong to the Government had, on the 80th 
 of June, fallen to less than forty-five millions of 
 dollars, as against fifty-nine millions on the first 
 of January, 1875, and the availability of a part 
 of that sum is said to be questionable. The rev¬ 
 enues are falling faster than appropriations and 
 expenditures are reduced, leaving the Treasury 
 with diminishing resources. The Secretary has 
 done nothing under his power to issue bonds. 
 The legislative command, the official promise 
 fixing a day for resumption, have thus far been 
 barren. No practical preparations tow’ard re¬ 
 sumption have been made. There has been no 
 progress. There have been steps backward. 
 There is no necromancy in the operations of 
 government. The homely maxims of every-day 
 life are the best standards of its conduct. A 
 debtor who should promise to pay a loan out of 
 surplus income, yet be seen every day spending 
 all he could lay his hands on in riotous living 
 would lose all character for honesty and verac¬ 
 ity. His offer of a new promise or his profes¬ 
 sion as to the value of the old promise would 
 alike provoke derision. 
 
 The St. Louis platform denounces the failure 
 for eleven years to make good the promise of 
 the legal tender notes. It denounces the omis¬ 
 sion to accumulate “any reserve for their re¬ 
 demption.” It donounces the conduct “which, 
 during eleven years of peace, has made no ad¬ 
 vances toward resumption, no preparation for 
 resumption, but instead has obstructed resump¬ 
 tion by wasting our resources and exhausting 
 all our surplus income ; and, while professing to 
 intend a speedy return to specie payments, has 
 annually enacted fresh hindrances thereto.” 
 And having first denounced the barrenness of 
 the promise of a day of resumption, it next de¬ 
 nounces that barren promise as “a hindrance” 
 to resumption. It then demands its repeal and 
 
 also demands the establishment of “ a judicious 
 system of preparation,” for resumption. It 
 cannot be doubted that the substitution of “a 
 system of preparation ” without the promise of 
 a day for the worthless promise of a day without 
 “ a system of preparation ” would be the gain 
 of the substance of resumption in exchange for 
 its shadow. Nor is the denunciation unmerited 
 of that improvidence which, in the eleven years 
 since the peace, has consumed four thousand 
 five hundred millions of dollars, and yet could 
 not afford to give the people a sound and stable 
 currency.. Two and a half per cent, on the ex- 
 ! peuditures of these eleven years, or even less, 
 would have provided all the additional coin 
 needful to resumption. 
 
 The distress now felt by the people in all 
 their business and industries, though it has its 
 principal cause in the enormous waste of capi¬ 
 tal occasioned by the false policies of our Gov- 
 ! emment, has been greatly aggravated by the 
 mismanagement of the currency. Uncertainty 
 is the prolific parent of mischiefs in all busi¬ 
 ness. Never were its evils more felt than now. 
 Men do nothing because they are unable to 
 make any calculations on which they can safely 
 rely. They undertake nothing because they 
 ' fear a loss in everything they would attempt. 
 
 I They stop and wait. The merchant dares not 
 buy for the future consumption of his custom- 
 ; ers. The manufacturer dares not make fabrics 
 which may not refund his outlay. He shuts 
 his factory and discharges his workmen. Cap¬ 
 italists cannot lend on security they consider 
 ! safe, and their funds lie almost without interest. 
 Men of enterprise who have credit, or securities 
 to pledge, will not borrow. Consumption has 
 fallen below the natural limits of a reasonable 
 economy. Prices of many things are under 
 their range in frugal, specie-paying times before 
 the civil war. Vast masses of currency lie in 
 the banks unused. A year and a half ago the 
 legal tenders were at their largest volume, and 
 the twelve millions since retired have been re¬ 
 placed by fresh issues of fifteen millions of bank 
 notes. In the meantime the banks have been 
 surrendering about four millions a month, be¬ 
 cause they cannot find a profitable use for so 
 ' many of their notes. The public mind wnll no 
 longer accept shams. It has suffered enough 
 from illusions. An insecure policy increases 
 distrust. An unstable policy increases uncer¬ 
 tainty. The people need to know that the 
 Government is moving in the direction of ulti¬ 
 mate safety and prosperity, and that it is doing 
 so through prudent, safe, and conservative 
 methods, which will be sure to inflict no new 
 sacrifice on the business of the country. Then 
 the inspiration of new hope and well founded 
 confidence will hasten the restoring processes of 
 nature, and prosperity will begin to return. 
 The St. Louis Convention concludes its ex¬ 
 pression in regard to the currency by a declara¬ 
 tion of its convictions as to the practical results 
 of the system of preparations it demands. It 
 says : “ We believe such a system, well devised, 
 and above all, intrusted to competent hands for 
 execution, creating at no time an artificial 
 scarcity of currency, and at no time alarming 
 the public mind into a withdrawal of that 
 
14 
 
 McPHERSON'S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 vaster machinery of credit by which ninety- 
 five per cent, of all business transactions are 
 performed—a system open, public, and inspir¬ 
 ing general confidence would, from the day of 
 its adoption, bring healing on its wings to 
 all our harassed industries, set in motion the 
 wheels of commerce, manufactures, and the 
 mechanic arts, restore employment to labor, 
 and renew in all its natural sources the pros¬ 
 perity of the people.” The Government of the 
 United States, in my opinion, can advance to a 
 resumption of specie payments on its legal 
 tender notes by gradual and safe processes 
 tending to relieve the present business distress. 
 If charged by the people with the administra¬ 
 tion of the Executive office, I should deem it a 
 duty so to exercise the powers with which it 
 has been or may be invested by Congress as 
 best and soonest to conduct the country to that 
 beneficent result. 
 
 The Convention justly affirms that reform is 
 necessary in the civil service, necessary to its 
 purification, necessary to its economy and its 
 efficiency, necessary in order that the ordinary 
 employment of the public business may not be 
 “ a prize fought for at the ballot-box, a brief 
 reward of party zeal instead of posts of honor 
 assigned for proved competency, and held for 
 fidelity in the public employ.” The Convention 
 wisely added that “ Reform is necessary even 
 more in the highest grades of the public service. 
 President, Vice-President, Judges, Senators, 
 Representatives, Cabinet officers, these and all 
 others in authority are the people’s servants. 
 Their offices are not a private perquisite, they 
 are a public trust. ” Two evils infest the official 
 service of the Federal Government. One is the 
 prevalent and demoralizing notion that the pub¬ 
 lic service exists not for the business and bene¬ 
 fit of the whole people, but for the interest of 
 the office-holders, who are in truth but the ser¬ 
 vants of the people. Under the influence of this 
 pernicious error public employments have been 
 multiplied; the numbers of those gathered into 
 the ranks of office-holders have been steadily in¬ 
 creased beyond any possible requirement of the 
 public business, while inefficiency, peculation, 
 fraud, and malversation of the public fmnds, 
 from the high places of power to the lowest, 
 have overspread the whole service like a leprosy. 
 The other evil is the organization of the official 
 class into a body of political mercenaries, gov¬ 
 erning the caucuses and dictating the nomina¬ 
 tions of their own party, and attempting to carry 
 the elections of the people by undue influence 
 and by immense corruption ftinds systematically 
 collected from the salaries or fees of office-hol¬ 
 ders. The official class in other countries, some¬ 
 times by its own weight, and sometimes in alli¬ 
 ance with the army, has been able to rule the 
 unorganized masses even under universal suf¬ 
 frage. Here, it has already grown into a gigan¬ 
 tic power, capable of stifling the inspirations of 
 a sound public opinion, and of resisting an easy 
 change of administration, until misgovemment 
 becomes intolerable and public spirit has been 
 stung to the pitch of a civic revolution. The 
 first step in reform is the elevation of the stand¬ 
 ard by which the appointing power selects agents 
 to execute official trusts. Next in importance 
 
 is a conscientious fidelity in the exercise of the 
 authority to hold to account and displace un¬ 
 trustworthy or incapable subordinates. The 
 public interest in an honest, skillful perform¬ 
 ance of official trust must not be sacrificed to the 
 usufruct of the incumbents. After these imme¬ 
 diate steps, which will insure the exhibition of 
 better examples, we may wisely go on to the 
 abolition of unnecessary offices, and finally to 
 the patient, careful organization of a better civil- 
 service system, under the tests, wherever prac¬ 
 ticable, of proved competency and fidelity. 
 While much may be accomplislied by these 
 methods, it might encourage delusive expecta¬ 
 tions if I withheld here the expression of my 
 conviction that no reform of the civil service in 
 this country will be complete and permanent 
 until its Chief Magistrate is constitutionally 
 disqualified for re-election, experience having 
 repeatedly exposed the futility of self-im¬ 
 posed restrictions by candidates or incumbents. 
 Through this solemnity only can he be effect¬ 
 ually delivered from his greatest temptation to 
 misuse the power and patronage with which the 
 Executive is necessarily charged. 
 
 Educated in the belief that it is the first duty 
 of a citizen of the Republic to take his fair allot¬ 
 ment of care and trouble in public affairs, I 
 have, for forty years, as a private citizen, ful¬ 
 filled that duty. Though occupied in an unu¬ 
 sual degree during all that period with the con¬ 
 cerns of Government, I have never acquired the 
 habit of official life. When, a year and a half 
 ago, I entered upon my present trust, it was in 
 order to consummate reforms to which I had al¬ 
 ready devoted several of the best years of my 
 life. Knowing as I do, therefore, from fresh 
 experience, how r great the difference is between 
 gliding through an official routine and working 
 out a reform of systems and policies, it is im¬ 
 possible for me to contemplate what needs to 
 be done in the Federal Administration without 
 an anxious sense of the difficulties of the under¬ 
 taking. If siimmoned by the suffrages of my 
 countrymen to attempt this work, I shall en¬ 
 deavor, w r ith God’s help, to be the efficient in¬ 
 strument of their will. 
 
 Samuel J. Tilden. 
 
 To Gen. John A. McClernand, Chairman ; Gen. 
 
 W. B. Franklin, Hon. J. G. Abbott, Hon. H. 
 
 J. Spannhorst, Hon. H. J. Redfield, Hon. F. 
 
 S. Lyon, and others, Committee, &c. 
 
 Gov. Hendricks’ Getter of Accept¬ 
 ance. 
 
 Indianapolis, July 24, 1876. 
 
 Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknowl¬ 
 edge the receipt of your communication, in 
 which you have formally notified me of my nom¬ 
 ination by the National Democratic Convention, 
 at St. Louis, as their candidate for the office of 
 Vice-President of the United States. It is a 
 nomination which I had neither expected nor 
 desired; and yet I recognize and appreciate the 
 high honor done me by the Convention. The 
 choice of such a body, pronounced with such 
 unusxial unanimity, and accompanied with so 
 generous an expression of esteem and confidence 
 ought to outweigh all merely personal desires 
 
McPHERSON'S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 15 
 
 and preferences of my own. It is with this feel¬ 
 ing, and I trust also from a deep sense of public 
 duty, that I now accept the nomination, and 
 shall abide the judgment of my countrymen. 
 
 It would have been impossible for me to ac¬ 
 cept the nomination if I could not heartily in¬ 
 dorse the platform of the Convention. I am 
 gratified, therefore, to be able unequivocally to 
 declare that I agree in the principles, approve 
 the policies, and sympathize with the purposes 
 enunciated in that platform. 
 
 The institutions of our country have been 
 sorely tried by the exigencies of civil war, and, 
 since the peace*by a selfish and coirupt man¬ 
 agement of public affairs, which has shamed us 
 before civilized mankind. By unwise and par¬ 
 tial legislation every industry and interest of the 
 people have been made to suffer, and in the 
 executive departments of the Government dis¬ 
 honesty, rapacity and venality have debauched 
 the public service. Men known to be unworthy 
 have been promoted, while others have been de¬ 
 graded for fidelity to official duty. Public office 
 has been made the means of private profit, and 
 the country has been offended to see a class of 
 men who boast the friendship of the sworn pro¬ 
 tectors of the State amassing fortunes by de¬ 
 frauding the public treasury and by corrupting 
 the servants of the people. In such a crisis of 
 the history of the country I rejoice that the 
 Convention at St. Louis has so nobly raised the 
 standard of reform. Nothing can be well with 
 us or with our affairs until the public con¬ 
 science, shocked by the enormous evils and 
 abuses which prevail, shall have demanded and 
 compelled an unsparing reformation of our 
 National Administration, “in its head and in 
 its members.” In such a reformation the re¬ 
 moval of a single officer, even the President, is 
 comparatively a trifling matter, if the system 
 which he represents, and which has fostered 
 him as he has fostered it, is suffered to remain. 
 The President alone must not be made the 
 scapegoat for the enormities of the system 
 which infects the public service, and threatens 
 the destruction of our institutions. In some 
 respects I hold that the present Executive has 
 been the victim rather than the author of that 
 vicious system. Congressional and party lead¬ 
 ers have been stronger than the President. No 
 one man could have created it, and the removal 
 of no one man can amend it. It is thoroughly 
 corrupt, and must be swept remorselessly away 
 by the selection of a Government composed of 
 elements entirely new, and pledged to radical 
 reform. 
 
 The first work of reform must evidently be 
 the restoration of the normal operation of the 
 Constitution of the United States, with all its 
 amendments. The necessities of war cannot 
 be pleaded in time of peace ; the right of local 
 self-government as guaranteed by the Constitu¬ 
 tion of the Union must be everywhere restored, 
 and the centralized (almost personal) imperial¬ 
 ism which has been practiced must be done 
 away or the first principles of the Republic will 
 be lost. 
 
 Our financial system of expedients must be 
 reformed. Gold and silver are the real stand¬ 
 ard of values, and our national currency will 
 
 not be a porfect medium of exchange until it 
 shall be convertible at the pleasure of the 
 holder. As I have heretofore said, no one de¬ 
 sires a return to specie payments more earn¬ 
 estly than I do ; but I do not believe that it will 
 or can be reached in harmony with the interests 
 of the people by artificial measures for the con¬ 
 traction of the currency, any more than I be¬ 
 lieve that wealth or permanent prosperity can 
 be created by an inflation of the currency. The 
 laws of finance cannot be disregarded with im¬ 
 punity. The financial policy of the Govern¬ 
 ment, if indeed, it deserves the name of policy 
 at all, has been in disregard of those laws, and 
 therefore has disturbed commercial and busi¬ 
 ness confidence, as well as hindered a return to 
 specie payments. One feature of that policy 
 was the resumption clause of the act of 1875, 
 which has embarrassed the country by the anti¬ 
 cipation of a compulsory resumption for which 
 no preparation has been made, and without any 
 assurance that it would be practicable. The 
 repeal of that clause is necessary that the natu¬ 
 ral operation of financial laws may be restored, 
 that the business of the country may be relieved 
 from its disturbing and depressing influence, 
 and that a return to specie payments may be 
 facilitated by the substitution of wiser and more 
 prudent legislation which shall mainly rely on 
 a judicious system of public economies and 
 official retrenchments, and above all on the pro¬ 
 motion of prosperity in all the industries of the 
 people. 
 
 I do not understand the repeal of the resump¬ 
 tion clause of the act of 1875 to be a backward 
 step in our return to specie payments, but the 
 recovery of a false step ; and, although the re¬ 
 peal may, for a time, be prevented, yet the 
 determination of the Democratic party on this 
 subject has now been distinctly declared. There 
 should be no hindrances put in the way of the 
 return to specie payments. “As such a hin¬ 
 drance,” says the platform of the St. Louis 
 Convention, “ we denounce the resumption 
 clause of the act of 1875, and demand its re¬ 
 peal. ” 
 
 I thoroughly believe that by public economy, 
 by official retrenchments, and by wise finance 
 enabling us to accumulate the precious metals, 
 resumption, at an early period, is possible with¬ 
 out producing an “artificial scarcity of cur¬ 
 rency,” or disturbing public or commercial 
 credit; and that these reforms, together with 
 the restoration of pure government, will restore 
 general confidence, encourage the useful invest¬ 
 ment of capital, furnish employment to labor, 
 and relieve the country from the “paralysis of 
 hard times.” 
 
 With the industries of the people there have 
 been frequent interferences. Our platform 
 truly says that many industries have been im¬ 
 poverished to subsidize a few. Our commerce 
 lias been degraded to an inferior position on 
 the high seas; manufactures have been dimin¬ 
 ished ; agriculture has been embarrassed, and 
 the distress of the industrial classes demands 
 that these things shall be reformed. 
 
 The burdens of the people must als6 be light¬ 
 ened by a great change in our system of public 
 expenses. The profligate expenditures which 
 
1C> 
 
 McPHEHSON’S HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS. 
 
 increased taxation from $5 per capita in 1800, 
 to $18 in 1870, tells its own story of our need 
 of fiscal reform. 
 
 Our treaties with foreign powers should also 
 be revised and amended, in so far as they leave 
 citizens of foreign birth in any particular less 
 secure in any country on earth than they would 
 be if they had been born upon our own soil; 
 and the iniquitous coolie system which, through 
 the agency of wealthy companies, imports Chi¬ 
 nese bondmen, and establishes a species of 
 slavery, and interferes with the just rewards of 
 labor on our Pacific coast should be utterly 
 abolished. 
 
 In the reform of our civil service I most 
 heartily indorse that section of the platform 
 which declares that the civil service ought not 
 to be “ subject to change at every election,” 
 and that it ought not to be made “ the brief 
 reward of party zeal, but ought to be awarded 
 for proved competency and held for fidelity in 
 the public employ.” I hope never again to see 
 the cruel and remorseless proscription for po¬ 
 litical opinions which has disgraced the Admin¬ 
 istration of the last eight years. Bad as the 
 civil service now is, as all know, it has some 
 men of tried integrity and proved ability. Such 
 men, and such men only, should be retained in 
 office ; but no man should be retained, on any 
 consideration, who has prostituted his office to 
 the purposes of partisan intimidation or com¬ 
 pulsion, or who has furnished money to cor¬ 
 rupt the elections. This is done, and has been 
 done in almost every county in the land. It is 
 a blight upon the morals of the country, and 
 ought to be reformed. 
 
 Of sectional contentions, and in respect to 
 our common schools, I have only this to say: 
 That in my judgment, the man or party that 
 would involve our schools in political or sec¬ 
 tarian controversy is an enemy to the schools. 
 The common schools are safer under the pro¬ 
 tecting care of all the people than under the 
 control of any party or sect. They must be 
 neither sectarian nor partisan, and there must 
 be neither division nor misappropriation of the 
 funds for their support. Likewise I regard the 
 man who would arouse or foster sectional ani¬ 
 mosities and antagonisms among his country¬ 
 
 men as a dangerous enemy to his country. All 
 the people must be made to feel and know' that 
 once more there is established a purpose and 
 policy under which all citizens of every con¬ 
 dition, race, and color, will be secure in the en¬ 
 joyment of whatever rights the Constitution and 
 law's declare or recognize; and that in contro¬ 
 versies that may arise the Government is not a 
 partisan, but within its constitutional authority 
 the just and powerful guardian of the rights 
 and safety of all. The strife between the sec¬ 
 tions and between races wall cease as soon as the 
 pow'er for evil is taken away from a party that 
 makes political gain out of scales of violence 
 and bloodshed, and the constitutional authority 
 is placed in the hands of men wdiose political 
 welfare requires that peace and good order 
 shall be preserved everywhere. 
 
 It will be seen, gentlemen, that I am in en¬ 
 tire accord with the platform of the Convention 
 by which I have been nominated as a candidate 
 for the office of Vice-President of the United 
 States. Permit me, in conclusion, to express 
 my satisfaction at being associated with a can¬ 
 didate for the Presidency who is first among 
 his equals as a representative of the spirit and 
 of the achievements of reform. In his official 
 career as the Executive of the great State of 
 New York, he has, in a comparatively short 
 period, reformed the public service and re¬ 
 duced the public burdens, so as to have 
 earned at once the gratitude of his State and 
 the admiration of the country. The people 
 know' him to be thoroughly in earnest; he has 
 show'll himself to be possessed of powers and 
 qualities which fit him, in an eminent degree, 
 for the great work of reformation which this 
 country now needs ; and if he shall be chosen 
 by the people to the high office of President of 
 the United States, I believe that the day of his 
 inauguration w'ill be the beginning of a new era 
 of peace, purity, and prosperity in all depart¬ 
 ments of our Government. I am, gentlemen, 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 Thomas A. Hendricks. 
 
 To Hon. John A. McClernand, Chairman, and 
 others of the Committee of the National 
 Democratic Convention.