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JTHE
PLATFORM ON
WHICH THE
MARCH TO VICTORY
I PARTY WILX,
THE SCRANTON TRIBUNE-THURSDAY, .TUNE 21', 1900.
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I HE REPUBLICANS of the United States,
I through their chosen representatives, met in
I national convention, looking back upon an un-
surpassed record of achievement and looking
forward into a great field of duty and oppor
tunity, and appealing to the judgment of their countrymen,
make these declarations:
The expectation in which the American people, turn
ing from the Democratic party, entrusted power four years
ago to a Republican chief magistrate and a Republican
congress, has been met and satisfied. When the people
then assembled at the polls, after a term of Democratic
legislation and administration, business was dead, industry
paralyzed and the national credit disastrously impaired.
The country's capital was hidden away and its labor dis
tressed and unemployed. The Democrats had no other
plan with which to improve the ruinous conditions which
they had themselves produced than to coin silver at the
ratio of 1(5 to 1. The Republican party, denouncing this
plan as sure to produce conditions even worse than those
from which relief was sought, promised to restore pros
perity by means of two legislative measures a protective
tariff and a law making gold the standard of value.
The people, by great majoiities, issued to the Republi
can party a commission to enact these laws. This com
mission has been executed, and the Republican promise is
redeemed. Prosperity, more general and more abundant
than we have ever known, has followed those enactments.
There is no longer controversy as to the value of any gov
ernment obligation. Every American dollar is a gold dol
lar or its assured equivalent, and American credit stands
higher than that of any other nation. Capital is fully cm
ployed and labor everywhere is profitably occupied.
No single fact can more strikingly tell the story of
what Republican government means to the country than
this that while during the whole period of 107 years, from
17'.)0 to 181)7, there was an excess of exports over imports
of only J-!8;$,0i28,'197, there has been in the short three years
of the present Republican administration an excess of ex
ports over imports in the enormous sum of l,lS:!,rii7.0!)l.
And while the American people, sustained by this Repub
lican legislation, have been achieving these splendid
triumphs in their business and commerce, they have con
ducted and in victory concluded a war for liberty and
human rights. No thought of national aggrandizement
tarnished the high purpose with which American standards
were unfurled. Its armies in the field and the quick and
signal triumphs of its forces on land and sea bore equal
tribute to the courage of American soldiers and sailors and
to the skill and foresight of Republican statesmanship. To
ten millions of the human race there was given "a new
birth of freedom," and to the American people a new and
noble responsibility.
We endorse the administration of William McKinley.
Its acts have been established in wisdom and in patiiotism,
and at home and abroad it has distinctly elevated and ex
tended the influence of the American nation. Walking
untried paths and facing unforeseen responsibilities, Presi
dent McKinley has been in every situation the true Ameri
can patriot and the upright statesman, clear in vision,
strong in judgment, firm in action, always inspiring and
deserving the confidence of his countrjnicn.
In asking the American people to indorse this Repub
lican record and to renew their commission to the Repub
lican party, we remind them of the fact that the menace to
f f ij ft ti t ? ? ?? " ' ' r i ' '
ff! -JS T. JO T f3 M T C-p "JSJJ fd 7 ' j f (' i' f,ta j-'
their prosperity has always resided in Democratic principles
and no less in the general incapacity of the Democratic
party to conduct affairs. The prime essential of business
prosperity is public confidence in the good sense of the
government and in its ability to deal intelligently with each
new problem of administration and legislation. That con
fidence the Democratic party has never earned. It is hope
lessly inadequate and the country's prosperity, when Dem
ocratic success at the polls is announced, halts and ceases
in mere anticipation of Democratic blunders and failures.
We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold
standard and declare our confidence in the wisdom of the
legislation of the Fifty-sixth congress by which the parity
of all our money and the stability of our currency upon a
gold basis has been secured.
We recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in
production and business activity, and for the purpose of
equalizing and of further lowering the rates of interest, we
favor such monetary legislation as will enable the varying
needs of the season and of all sections to be promptly met
in order that trade may be evenly sustained, labor steadily
employed and commerce enlarged. The volume of money
in circulation was never so great per capita as it is today.
We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and un
limited coinage of silver No measure to that end could
be considered which was without the support of the leading
commercial countries of the world. However firmly Re
publican legislation may seem to have secured the country
against the perils of a base and discredited currency, the
election of a Democratic president could not fail to impair
the country's credit and to bring once more into question
the intention of the American people to maintain upon the
gold standard the parity of their money circulation. The
Democratic party must be convinced that the American
people will never tolerate the Chicago platform.
We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest
co-operation of capital to meet new business conditions and
especially to extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade,
but we condemn all conspiracies and combinations intended
to restrict business and to create monopolies, to limit pro
duction, or to control prices, and favor such legislation as
will effectively restrain and prevent all such abuses, protect
and promote competition and secure the rights of produc
ers, laborers and all who are engaged in industry and
commerce.
We renew our faith in the policy of protection to
American labor. In that policy our industries have been
established, diversified and maintained. By protecting the
home markets competition has been stimulated and produc
tion cheapened." Opportunity to the inventive genius of
our people has been secured and wages in every depart
ment of labor maintained at high rates, higher now than
ever before and always distinguishing our working people
in their better conditions of life from those of any compet
ing country. Enjo) ing the blessings of the American com
mon school, secure in the right of self-government and
protected in the occupancy of their own markets, their
constantly increasing knowledge and skill have enabled
them finally to enter the maikets of the world.
We favor the associated policy of reciprocity so di
rected as to open our markets on favorable terms for
articles which we do not ourselves produce in return for1
free foreign markets.
In the further interest of American workmen we favor
a more effective restriction of the immigration of cheap
labor from foreign lands, the extension of opportunities of
education for working children, the raising of the age limit
- J J( p JO fy o , -$5 o o - - -p o, - .fj
for child labor, the protection of free labor as against con
tract, convict labor and an effective system of labor insur
ance. Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for
nine-tenths of our foreign carrying is a great loss to the
industry of this country. It is also a serious danger to our
trade, for its sudden withdrawal in the event of European
war would seriously cripple our expanding foreign com
merce. The national defense and naval efficiency of this
country, moreover, supply a compelling reason for legisla
tion which will enable us to recover our former place among
the trade carrying fleets of the world.
The nation owes a debt of profound gratitude to the
soldiers and sailors who have fought its battles, and it is
the government's duty to provide for the survivors and for
the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in the
country's wars.
The pension laws founded in this just sentiment,
should be liberal and should be liberally administered and
preference should be given wherever practicable with re
spect to employment in the public set vice to soldiers and
sailors and to their widows and orphans.
We commend the policy of the Republican patty in
maintaining the efficiency of the civil service. The ad
ministration has acted wisely in its efforts to secure for
public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philip
pine islands only those whose fitness has been determined
by training and experience. Wc believe that employment
in public service in these territories should be confined as
far as practicable to their inhabitants.
It was the plain purpose of the fifteenth amendment
to the constitution to prevent disci iininations on account
of race or color in regulating the elective franchise. De
vices of state governments, whether by statutory or con
stitutional enactment, to avoid the purpose of this amend
ment, are revolutionary and should be condemned.
Public movements looking to a permanent improve
ment of the loads and highways of the country meet with
our cordial approval and wc recommend this subject to the
earnest consideration of the people and of the legislatures
of the several states.
We favor the extension of the rural free delivery ser
vice wherever its extension may be ratified.
In further pursuance of the constant policy of the
Republican party to provide free homes on the public do
main, wc recommend adequate national legislation to re
claim the arid lands of the United States, reserving control
of the distribution of water for irrigation to the respective
states and territories.
We favor home rule for, and the early admission to
statehood, of the territories of New Mexico, Arizona and
Oklahoma.
The Dingley act, amended to provide sufficient revenue
for the conduct of the war, has so well performed its work
that it has been possible to reduce the war debt in the
sum of ? 10,000,000. So ample arc the government's rev
enues and so great is the public confidence in the integrity
of its obligations that its newly-funded - per cent, bonds
sell at a premium. The country is now justified in ex
pecting, and it will be the policy of the Republican party
to bring about, a reduction of the war taxes.
Wc favor the construction, ownership, control and
protection of an Isthmian canal by the government of the
United States.
New markets arc necessary for the increasing surplus
of our farm products. Every effort should be made to
open and obtain new markets, especially in the Orient, and
the administration is warmly to be commended for Us
successful effort to commit all trading and colonizing na
tions to the policy of the open door in China.
In the interest of our expanding commerce wc rec
ommend that congress create a department of commerce
and industries in the charge of a secretary with a scat in
the cabinet. The United States consular system should
be re-organized under the supervision of this new depart
ment upon such a basis of appointtjicnt and tenure as will
render it still more serviceable to the nation's increasing
trade.
The American government must protect the person
and property of every citizen wherever they arc wrong
fully violated or placed in peril.
We congratulate the women of America upon thcic
splendid record of public service in the volunteer aid asso
ciation and as nurses in camp and hospital during the
recent campaigns of our armies in the eastern and western
Indies, and wc appreciate their faithul co-operation in all
works of education and industry.
President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs
of the United States with distinct credit to the American
people. In releasing us from the vexatious conditions of a
European alliance for the government of Samoa his course
is especially to be commended. By securing to our un
divided control the most important island of the Satnoan
group and the best harbor in the Southern Pacific every
American interest has been safeguarded.
We commend the part taken by our government in
the peace conference at The Hague. Wc assert our stead
fast adherence to the policy announced in the Monroe doc
trine. The provisions of The Hague convention were
wisely guarded when President McKinley tendered his
friendly offices in the interest of peace between Great
Britain and the South African republics. While the Ameri
can government must continue the policy, prescribed by
Washington, affirmed by every succeeding president and
imposed upon us by The Hague treaty, of non-intervention
in European controversies, the American people earnestly
hope that a way may soon be found, honorable alike to
both contending parties, to terminate the strife between
them. '
In accepting by the treaty of Paris the just responsi
bility of our vicl rics in the Spanish war, the president
and the senate wot the undoubted approval of the Ameri
can people. No other course was possible than to destroy
Spain's sovereignty throughout the Western Indies and
in the Philippines. That course created our responsibility,
before the world and toward the unorganized population
whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to provide
for the maintenance of law and for the establishment of
good government and for the performance of international
obligations. Our authority could not be less than our
responsibility and wherever sovereignty rights were ex
tended it became the high duty of the government to main
tain its authority to put down armed insurrection and to
confer the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the
rescued peoples. The largest measure of self-government
consistent with their welfare and our duties shall be se
cured to them by law.
Cuban independence and self-government were as
sured in the same voice by which war was declared, and
to the letter this pledge shall be performed.
The Republican party upon its history and upon this
declaration of its principles and policies confidently Invokes
the considerate and approving judgment of the American
people.
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HOW THE SPANISH
TAXED PORTO RICO
EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING
WAS LEVIED UPON.
If It Had Not Been for the Ease
with Which Many of These Taxes
Could Be Evnded by Bribery of
the .Spanish Officials Life Would
Not Have Been Endurable.
The present diBcussIon resaullnp
methods of t.Usliif? tevenucs for I'oito
Rico lends eHpeclal lnteifst to a Btato
ment regaidlnt? the sstim of taxation
enforced under Spanish rule mado by
Dr. Henry K. Can oil, special com
missioner, who was bent to I'orto ltlco
la?t yen1. The statement is as fol
lows: "Customs duties wete leled both on
lmportH and cxpotK There was also
a spsclil tax on the loading and un
loading of ft eight, the embarkation
and dlsembailsatlon of passengers and
transitory dues of 10 per cet. on Im
ports. The jevenucs from these
sources, as has already appeared, con
stituted by far the laigest item of
the roclpts of the insular treasury.
"There was a system of direct taxa
tion, resting on t' e basis of incomo
and not on valuation. The tenltorlat
tax, yielding $410,000 to tho insular
treasury, affected urban and suburban
property; tho industiial and commer
cial, yielding $210,000 to tho insular
treasury, included all kinds of manu
factures and industries, all branches
of tho mercantile and banking business
and all occupations.
TAX ON COMMIinCn AND INDUS
TRY. "The Industrial and commercial tax
was divided according to the popula
tion of cities and towns, classified ac
cording to the character of business
and giaded according to the amount
of business. Thete were six divisions
on the basis of population. San Juan,
Ponce and Mayaguez constituted the
first division, towns with custom
houses of tho first class the second,
towns with more than 12,000 inhabi
tants the third, the other three divi
sions being graded down from 12,000
to 4,000 and less.
"Then there were five classes of tar
iff. Tho first, with eight grades, in
cluded merchants, wholesale and re
tail; tho second, importers and export
ers, monoy lenders, transportation,
salaries of ofilcials of banks, lallroads
and other companies; the third, the
manufactuie of sugar, mm, machin
ery, chemicals, chocolate, ice, etc.; the
fourth, the profrsslons and occupa
tions, and the iiftli, patents or new
bhops, factories, etc., which had to pay
a pec;".l installation tax. Merchants
In the first class of the llrst tariff
would pay 130 pesos In San Juan,
l'unce or Atayaguez, 10 i in Aguadilla,
llumarno, ete ; 72 In Adjuntas, Uay
nmon, etc.; 52 in Ceamo, Camuy, etc.;
2ft In .Mbonlta, Uairanqultas, etc., and
U in Do'.ido, J-'anta Isabella, etc. Mer
chant", wholesale or wholesale and re
tall donicis In vailous lines of wares,
on eomm'sslon or on their own nc
t'oiint, paid according to the ilrst
grade; i tU shops, hotels and restau
rants., ntcoidlng to the hecond; phar
macies, Ehoe, pioUslon and other te
1'iil stoies were In the third; statlon
eiy shops In the fourth; wholesale and
retail tol acco bhops in the fifth; cafes
for the bale of soda waters, otf, in tho
sixth: boardlnjr nouses in the seventh,
and shops for tho sale of native llow
pis in the oightli.
TAX OK SALARIES.
"Tho second tariff einbiaced salaries,
wages, commissions and the like. Gov
ernors or directors of banks, railroad
companies, etc., paid C per cent of
their wages or salaries, contractors C
per cent of the amount of their con
tracts, banks 10 per cent, of their
piotlts, Importers and exporters, re
ceiving and remitting, buying and sell
ing, shipping and conducting banking
operations, paid $700 in cities of tho
lb st division. Provincial and munici
pal officers were not required to pay
tax on their balarles. Hut no kind of
business seems to have escaped the
sharp eye of the state experts. Public
baths, talis and concerts, periodicals,
Including dally papers, laundries, fu
neral agencies, gymnasiums, livery
stables, all kinds of industries, even
the manufacture of artificial feet, wero
taxed. Blacksmiths paid, according to
the town in which their business was
conducted, from 12 to 3 pesos; archi
tects, from 3i to 6; dentists and phar
macists, the samo; physicians and sur
geons, 4 to 12; nurses and mldwlves,
18 to B; vetorlnatians, 1C to B; barbers,
8 to 2; lawyers, registers of property
and notaiJcs, 4S to 16; whllo carpen
ters, cabinet makers, bookbinders, pro
fessors of music, languages, painters,
etc., paid according! to their class and
grade. Among tho exceptions may be
noted washerwomen, barbers without
shops, cliks in commercial houses and
similar classes. Day lnl'orets wero as
sessed on the basis of one-third the
value cf half a. year's vva&es.
"Acroidlug to the law, some classes
of bublncss and occupations are agrom
lable and some are not. A paitleular
class Is called a gremlo. The lawyers,
for example, would foim one (class),
the doctors another, the mechinlcs an
other and so on. The custom was for
the state to announce the amount it
needed, rnd those composing tho var
ious gremlos (classes) would meet
eaeh gtemiu (class) by itself, and ap
portion the amount among Its mem
bers on the basis of the tariff.
TAX ON LAND.
"Tiie teirltorial tax was levied on
the Income of real estate, both urban
and ruial. It yielded nearly twice as
much as the tax or. commerce and In
dustry. The valuation was made in
each municipal ulstrlct by a commis
sion of thiee, with throe sub-commls-bloncrs
tor eioh class of wealth, tho
thioe su'i-oommlbsIoneiH representing,
jeapoctlvely, the largest, medium and
the bmallest class of taxpayers. Theso
commissioners wore appointed at a
Joint meeting of tho councllmen, with
tluee times as many taxpayers, elect
ed In equal parts by the threo classes
of taxpayers. In valuing the incomo
of a farm the commissioners would fix
n certain price for the respective pro
ducts. Sugar, for example, was esti
mated nt $3 a quintal (220'4 pounds),
and 7j per cent, was deducted for ex
penses; coffee, at $12, and $8 was al
lowed for expenses. On urban prop
city 5 per cent, discount was allowed;
on pasture lands, 10 per cent.
"All taxes were payable quarterly.
The amount assessed for the benefit
of the state waa 5 per cent., both on
urban and suburban property. Tho
rate for the municipality varied ac
cording to Its needs, but was generally
7 or $ per cent. The complaint was
quite general that those who had much
property, and ought to have paid large
sums, escaped with small payments.
BRIBERY OP OFFICIALS.
"MethodH of evasion not unknown
In other countries seem to hnvo been
practiced in Porto Rico, Including
bribery of ofilcials. A German resident
of an interior district told tho com
missioner how ho got his annual tax
reduced by bribery, learning the trick
from older residents. It Is charged
that Spaniards were favored by tho
state at the expense of tho natives,
"Mr. Andres Crosas, a met chant of
many years' standing in San Juan, but
an American citizen, Informed the com
missioner that a Spaniard who rented
a farm had agreed to pay tho tax on
It, which, while he had it, was only
$80 a year. The farm nfterward came
into Crosas' possession, and the tax
was raised from $80 to $400, As to the
tax on commerce, he said that former
ly he paid $700 a ear to the state as
an Importer of the first class, and
$1,030 to tho municipality, making
$l,7."i0 a year. He then placed himself
In tho second class and paid $121 to tho
state, refusing the municipality de
mand for Its 7,. per cent.
EVERY ONE AND EVERYTHING
TAXED.
"From this In let review of the sys
tems of taxation It will bo seen that
If the laws had been faithfully admin
Isteied no person and no nrtlclo or
foim of propei ty could hae escaped
his oi Its bhare of the public buulen.
The dliect ta:.es would seem to have
boon extremely oneious. The earnings
of merchants, manufnctuiers and other
piodueers wero subject to a tax of 12Vi
per cent, or moie, accoullng to the
financial exigencies of the tieasmles,
provincial and municipal. For exam
ple, If a merchant's Income wns valued
at $10,000 a ear he would pay In direct
taxes $1.S30. Ho would also pay for
his cedula or peisonal pissport, tho
amount of which was graduated, ac
cording to pcisonal means fiom 12
cents up to $2.ri oi mote. He would pay
direct taxes on his residence and furni
ture, and on his horses and other live
stock, If not used for labor. If ho wore
Just btartlng In business he would pay
a patente or tax for pil liege; yet the
gcncial testimony, as will appear else
wheie In this report, was to the effect
that taxation was not really oppres
sive, or would not hao been, If It had
been lmpaitlally assessed and collect
ed. Hut tho fact that It was so heavy
doubtless had on lnlluenee on people
to conceal their pioporty as much as
possible and under value their annual
income. Articles of common use, such
ns rice, flour, corn, charcoal, wines,
etc., not only paid he.u y Import duties,
but wero subject, together with fresh
beef, milk and sugar, produced on the
Island to a consumo tax at the gates of
the municipalities. For example, flour,
which had paid a duty of 400 kilos at
tho custom house, paid at the city
gates $2 CO consumen tax, or a total of
$6 B0. which was at the rate of $3 a
hundredweight; rice, tho common arti
cle of diet, paid $2 70 import duty and
$1 consumo tax; fresh beef paid a con
sumo tax of $5 a hundred kilos, or 220
pounds. This was in addition to tho
head tax paid tho city by tho slaugh
terer." THE OCEAN HOTEL,
his father or grandfather looked for
ward In tenor to the necessity of a
trans-Atlantic trip. In those days the
best of ocean steamships was an ill
smelling and uncomfortable place. The
berths, rough wooden cots, were un-
From Alniloe's Magazine.
It Is difficult to make the ocean voy
ager of tho present day understand
how great haB been tho improvement in
the lot of his kind elnco tho days when
j Tf""" m i iii -
' ' I - i
r : V ' I r tfa " n
A GREAT SHOT PUTTER.
S, G, Hills, of whom this Is a new portrait, Is one of thsbsst shot putters In Harvard
University. He has developed wonderfully under the gufdince of Trainer "Mike" Murphy.
His work is expected to create surprise during the coming seasor
lighted and generally so uncomfortable
that only the necessity of illness kept
tho passenger in them. Such a thins
as a smoking room was unknown, and
the passengers indulged their fondness
for tobacco sitting in the companion
ways. Tho suggestion of tiled bath
rooms on shipboard would have made!
a skipper of that day laugh In derision.
Tho food consisted of salt meats, and
was generally unpalatable. The vessels
themselves, being much smaller than
those of tho present day, and none on
them with the modern advantages ofi
construction, rolled and pitched fright'
fully, and the passengeis generally;
were kest In such a stato that they,
would have welcomed land even if the!
only way of reaching it had been by
going to the bottom.
Compare this picture with that of thd
modern ocean liner. In tho latter for"
tunc3 are lavished in costly furnish
ings, carvings, decorations, carpets and
general equipment. There aro libraries
well stocked with books.smoklng rooms
luxuriously furnished for tho comfort of;
all who caie to use them; barber shops,
numerous baths, and. In fact, all tha
conveniences of tho best-equipped es
tablishment on land. If the passengen
is willing to pay for it. he may have a'
suite of apartments, in which ho will
find real beds instead of berths, pri
vate bath-rooms, and all tho comforts
and luxuries to which ho Is accustomed
In his dally life. t
In the dlnlng-ioom perhaps tho
chango Is the most marked of all. Tho
development of modern refrigeration
makes it possible for tho table that la
spread In the mld-Atlantlc to bo
equipped with all the delicacies of tha
season, flume, fruit, Ices everything?
li to be had, and the dendly monotony;
palatable and tempting to the appetlto
of sa fare Is no longer tho scourge of
I the hapless passenger. On many ol
tho largest liners the music of an or
chestra is now provided ns an accom
panlmont to the dally dinner.
The vast scale on which travel Is
carried on at the present day and tho
giant stcmshlps which It has developed!
make tho organization of a modern
ocean liner cntltoly different from that
of its early pimotype. Tho sailor la
no longer the supremo factor in tho
management of an ocean steamship,
In fact, the sailor as ho existed in tho
old day has practically disappeared.
The modern steamship of the large slzo
carries n crew of BOO men. Of theso,
perhaps seventy-live aro classed an
sailors, but their duties relate chiefly)
to cleaning decks, operating the auxil
iary machinery and carrying on such!
menial tasks. Tho old glory of Jack;
Tar has departed since the days of)
steam.