American Politics American Almanac, 1881-82................... ........Cooper. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF GARFIELD'S AND ARTHUR'S AD- MINISTRATION. James A. Garfield.............. President ......... .....1881-1881 ....1881-1881 ....1881 CABINET. James G. Blaine ...............Secretary of State.......................... William Windom............ 66 .....1881-1881 .Secretary of the Treasury.......................... ...1881-1881 ...1881 Charles J. Folger....................... William H. Hunt...Secretary of the Navy. William E. Chandler......... Robert T. Lincoln.............. Secretary of War..... Thomas L. James ...... Timothy O. Howe....... N. M. Teller............ ........1881-1881 ......1881 Samuel J. Kirkwood .........Secretary of the Interior................1881-1882 Wayne McVeagh ..........................................Attorney-General...... .......... 66 JUDICIAL OFFICERS. Appointed Date of .... Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite...Ohio............Jan. 21, 1874-.....$10,500 LEGISLATIVE OFFICERS. Chester A. Arthur.......... President of the Senate pro tempore.........1881-1881 1881.-VIRGINIA READJUSTER PLATFORM. [Adopted June 2.] 1. We recognize our obligation to support the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind, the lunatic asylum, the public free schools and the government out of the revenues of the state; and we deprecate and denounce that policy of ring rule and subordinated sovereignty which for years borrowed money out of banks at high rates of interest for the discharge of these paramount trusts, while our revenues were left the prey of commercial exchanges, available to the state only at the option of speculators and syndicates. 2. We reassert our purpose to settle and adjust our state obligations on the principles of the "Bill to re-establish public credit," known as the 'Riddleberger bill," passed by the last general assembly and vetoed by the Governor. We maintain that this measure recognizes the just debt of Virginia, in this, that it assumes two-thirds of all the money Virginia borrowed, and sets aside the other third to West Virginia to be dealt with by her in her own way and at her own pleasure; that it places those of her creditors who have received but six per cent. instalments of interest in nine years upon an exact equality with those who by corrupt agencies were enabled to absorb and monopolize our means of payment; that it agrees to pay such rate of interest on our securities as can with certainty be met out of the revenues of the state, and that it contains all the essential features of finality. 3. We reassert our adherence to the constitutional requirements for the "equal and uniform" taxation of property, exempting none except that specified by the constitution and used exclusively for "religious, charitable and educational purposes." 4. We reassert that the paramount obligation of the various works of internal improvement is to the people of the state, by whose authority they were created, by whose money they were constructed, and by whose grace they live; and it is enjoined upon our representative and executive officers to enforce the discharge of that duty; to insure to our people such rates, facilities and connections as will protect every industry and interest against discrimination, tend to the development of our agricultural and mineral resources, encourage the investment of active capital in manufactures, and the profitable employment of labor in industrial enterprises, grasp for our city and our whole state those advantages to which by their geographical position they are entitled, and fulfill all the great public ends for which they were designed. 5. The readjusters hold the right to a free ballot to be the right preserv ative of all rights, and that it should be maintained in every state in the Union. We believe the capitation tax restriction upon the suffrage in Virginia to be in conflict with the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States. We believe that it is a violation of that condition of reconstruction wherein the pledge was given not so to amend our state constitution as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of a right to vote, except as punishment for such crimes as are felony at common law. We believe such a prerequisite to voting to be contrary to the genius of our institutions, the very foundation of which is representation as antecedent to taxation. We know that it has been a failure as a measure for the collection of revenue, the pretended reason for its invention in 1876, and we know the base, demoralizing and dangerous uses to which it has been prostituted. We know it contributes to the increase of monopoly power, and to corrupting the voter. For these and other reasons we adhere to the purpose hitherto expressed to provide more effectual legislation for the collection of this tax, dedicated by the constitution to the public free schools, and to abolish it as a qualification for and restriction upon suffrage. 6. The readjusters congratulate the whole people of Virginia on the progress of the last few years in developing mineral resources and promoting manufacturing enterprises in the state, and they declare their purpose to aid these great and growing industries by all proper and essential legislation, state and federal. To this end they will continue their efforts in behalf of more cordial and fraternal relations between the sections and states, and especially for that concord and harmony which will make the country to know how earnestly and sincerely Virginia invites all men into her borders as visitors or to become citizens without fear of social or political ostracism; that every man, from whatever section of country, shall enjoy the fullest freedom of thought, speech, politics, and religion, and that the state which first formulated these principles as fundamental in free government is yet the citadel for their exercise and protection. 1881.-VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, The conservative democratic party of Virginia-democratic in its federal relations and conservative in its state policy-assembled in convention, in view of the present condition of the Union and of this commonwealth, for the clear and distinct assertion of its political principles, doth declare that we adopt the following articles of political faith: 1. Equality of right and exact justice to all men, special privileges to none; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person under the protection of the habeas corpus; of trial by juries impartially selected, and of a pure, upright and non-partisan judiciary; elections by the people, free from force or fraud of citizens or of the military and civil officers of government; and the selection for public offices of those who are honest and best fitted to fill them; the support of the state governments in all their rights as the most competent administrations of our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; and the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor as the best sheet-anchor of our peace at home and our safety abroad. 2. That the maintenance of the public credit of Virginia is an essential means to the promotion of her prosperity. We condemn repudiation in every shape and form as a blot upon her honor, a blow at her permanent welfare, and an obstacle to her progress in wealth, influence and power; and that we will make every effort to secure a settlement of the public debt, with the consent of her creditors, which is consistent with her honor and dictated by justice and sound public policy; that it is eminently desirable and proper that the several classes of the debt now existing should be unified, so that equality, which is equity, may control in the annual payment of interest and the ultimate redemption of principal; that, with a view of securing sach equality, we pledge our party to use all lawful authority to secure a settlement of the state debt so that there shall be but one class of the public debt; that we will use all lawful and constitutional means in our power to secure a settlement of the state debt upon the basis of a three per cent. bond, and that the conservative democratic party pledges itself, as a part of its policy, not to increase the present rate of taxation. 3. That we will uphold, in its full constitutional integrity and efficiency, our public school system for the education of both white and colored children—a system inaugurated by the constitution of the state and established by the action of the conservative party years before it was required by the constitution; and will take the most effectual means for the faithful execution of the same by applying to its support all the revenues set apart for that object by the constitution or otherwise. 4. Upon this declaration of principles we cordially invite the co-operation of all conservative democrats, whatever may have been or now are their views upon the public debt, in the election of the nominees of this convention and in the maintenance of the supremacy of the democratic party in this state. Resolved, further, That any intimation, coming from any quarter, that the conservative-democratic party of Virginia has been, is now, or proposes to be, opposed to an honest ballot and a fair count, is a calumny upon the state of Virginia as unfounded in fact as it is dishonorable to its authors. That special efforts be made to foster and encourage the agricultural, mechanical, mining, manufacturing, and other industrial interests of the state. That, in common with all good citizens of the Union, we reflect with deep abhorrence upon the crime of the man who aimed a blow at the life of the eminent citizen who was called by the constitutional voice of fifty millions of people to be the President of the United States; and we tender to him and to his friends the sympathy and respect of this convention and of those we represent, in this great calamity, and our hearty desire for his complete restoration to health and return to the discharge of his important duties, for the welfare and honor of our common country. 1881.-VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. WHEREAS, It is proper that when the people assemble in convention they should avow distinctly the principles of government on which they stand; now, therefore, be it, Resolved, That we, the republicans of Virginia, hereby make a declaration of our allegiance and adhesion to the principles of the republican party of the country, and our determination to stand squarely by the organization of the republican party of Virginia, always defending it against the assaults of all persons or parties whatsoever. 2. That amongst the principles of the republican party none is of more vital importance to the welfare and interest of the country in all its parts than that which pertains to the sanctity of government contracts. It therefore becomes the special duty and province of the republican party of Virginia to guard and protect the credit of our time-honored state, which has been besmirched with repudiation, or received with distrust, by the gross mismanagement of various factions of the democratic party, which have controlled the legislation of the state. 3. That the republican party of Virginia hereby pledges itself to redeem the state from the discredit that now hangs over her in regard to her just obligations for moneys loaned her for constructing her internal improvements and charitable institutions, which permeating every quarter of the state, bring benefits of far greater value than their cost to our whole people, and we in the most solemn form pledge the republican party of the state to the full payment of the whole debt of the state, less the one-third |