REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS 
 The First 50 Years

FORT WORTH, August 23

The convention was well attended, and its proceedings harmonious. Like the March convention, it was composed prin cipally of white delegates.

Officers: Chairman, C. A. Boynton, of McLennan. Secretary, Nat Q. Henderson, of Galveston.

Presidential Electors: State at large, Charles A. Boynton, of McLennan, and J. H. Kurth, of Angelina; 1st Congressional district, J. J. Dickerson, of Lamar; 2. W. C. Averill, of Marion; 3. G. L. Palmer, of Kaufman; 4. W. G. McGinnis, of Grayson; 5. F. W. Bartlett, of Dallas; 6. Tyler Haswell, of Brazos; 7. Dr. Wm. R. Roberts, of Anderson; 8. George W. Jones, of Grimes; 9. J. G. Schermack, of Fayette; 10. Paul Fricke, of Washington; 11. Wm. Suhler, of McLennan; 12. John R. Stanley, of Tarrant; 13. J. L. Gaston, of Montague; 14. John Marbach, of Comal; 15. Dr. T. W. Moore, of Guadalupe; 16. J. S. Blankenbeckler, of Jones.

Nominees for State Offices: Governor, J. G. Lowden. of Taylor; Lieutenant-Governor, Sam Davidson, of Tarraiit; Attorney- General, Charles W. Ogden, of Bexar; Comptroller, John M. Claiborne, of Cherokee ; Treasurer, C. B. Dorchester, of Grayson ; Commissioner of the General Land Office, A. H. O'Neal, of Lamar; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Albert Ernst, of Victoria; Railroad Commissioner, Carl F. Drake, of Travis; Supreme Court, J. M. McCormick, of Dallas; Court of Criminal Appeals, Lock McDaniel, of Harris.

Committee on Platform and Resolutions: 1st Congressional district, H. G. Goree, 2. A. L. Nelson, 3. C. G. White, 4. J. M. Gurley, 5. W. H. Atwell, 6. Henry Dellums, 7. A. J. Rosenthal, 8. Lock McDaniel, 9. 0. S. York, 10. W. H. Firebaugh, 11. D. R. Emerson, 12. John R. Stanley, 13. Bob Hansell, 14. G. G. Clif ford, 15. Dr. A. M. Headley, 16. W. B. Green.

PLATFORM 

[1] The Republicans of Texas, in convention assembled, believe that political platforms are promises to pay, issued by the party that writes them. This belief is the faith of the Republican party in every State in the Union, hence it is that when the party meets in National convention it announces policies and beliefs for the government of the Nation. When the people read these announcements they believe them, and they have never yet been disappointed in their faith. The party announced in favor of the gold standard, and in due time this belief became a law. The party announced for the digging of the Panama Canal, and in due time the necessary legislation was passed and they are now working on the waterway. The party announced for the regulation of great combinations of capital, anti-trust laws were passed and the courts have been busy enforcing these statutes. The party announced for a protective tariff, and since that announce ment became a law the people have been busy and the country prosperous. The party announced for National honor and prestige, and Republican administrators of Federal affairs have so faithfully followed this tenet that the United States ranks first in commerce and is the cited example of other nations of the world.

[2] We renew our allegiance to a party that has been faithful; we commend the National platform of 1904 and, in doing so, need not turn our backs upon the utterance of 1900, or 1896, or 1892. We commend the standard bearers of the Republican party. They are faithful servants of the people, imbued with that high patriotism which is necessary to make fit governors for the greatest people in the world. We commend the administration of President Roosevelt, and point to it as a living refutation of the campaign assertion that he is either unsafe or unpatriotic. His conduct of National affairs, since the death of our beloved McKinley, has been in line with the time- honored policies of the party, with the proven doctrines of his predecessors, and with his efficient management of the other great offices and positions he has filled. We believe in him as a safe, competent, and learned pilot and a sure counselor.

[3] We call the attention of the people to the fact that a political party, that makes promises in its State platform and fails to keep them, is unfit to be retained in power, and we call attention to the fact that, though Texas Democracy denounced the practice of nepotism in 1902 and demanded the passage of a law to prevent its practice, it failed to redeem that promise, even though it had a working majority in both houses of the State government.

[4] We believe in the economical administration of State affairs, and protest against the multiplication of offices for the purpose of making berths for political pets.

[5] We believe that the home for the old soldiers, that the asylums for orphans, and our penitentiaries should be presided over by competent, honest, and faithful servants; that our eleemosynary institu tions should be sanitary and the insane removed from our jails to proper quarters. In trials for insanity there should be neither ac quittal nor conviction without the interposition of a medical board.

[6] We are against and denounce the practice of hiring State con victs upon farms and plantations and in other industries, to come in contact and competition with the farmers of this State, and suggest that, if convicts cannot be successfully worked within the walls of the penitentiaries, they could be profitably used upon the roads, water ways, and highways of the State, and we favor such legislation as will insure good roads.

[7] We believe and demand that there should be a nonp artisan board of expert examiners to be commissioned and appointed for the purpose of examining the books and accounts and departments of the State government.

[8] We denounce the present occupation tax law against mer chants and professional men as iniquitous because it results in double taxation.

[9] We demand the passage of a statute prohibiting the organiza tion of wild cat insurance companies, both life and fire.

[10] We believe our laws should be so amended as to do away with the cumbersome court system, to the end that there may be unanimity in the decisions of our appellate courts.

[11] We believe in the passage and vigorous enforcement of an adequate usury law, which will drive the usurer from our State, and we oppose any such change in the garnishment statutes as would jeopardize the wage earner's salary.

[12] We denounce the proposed constitutional amendments for the imposition of additional taxation and the creation of State banks as an attempt to saddle a wild cat currency upon our people.

[13] We favor a constitutional amendment providing for such work on our waterways as will favor irrigation and prevent overflows.

[14] We indorse in the fullest sense reform in our State election laws, and endeavors for the purification and protection of the ballot, and for the securing of an honest count, and such laws should be so framed as to encourage freedom of thought and the expression of the same at the ballot box. We indorse such features of the Terrell elec tion law as have this tendency, but denounce said law as illegal and unjust in failing to allow the name of an independent candidate to appear on the official ballot, and wherein it seeks to perpetuate the Democratic party in office by placing in its hands sole control of the election machinery, making no provision for the judges of the election, or of the count, representing different political parties. And we hereby declare in favor of an official blanket ballot on which shall appear the names of all candidates, indicating the party to which they belong, and providing for independent candidates.

[15] We favor an economical administration of bur State affairs, and deplore such mismanagement as multiplies offices and depletes the treasury.

To this end we demand the publication of lists of all investments of the permanent school fund, giving detailed accounts of all bonds owned by the State and the circumstances under which such bonds were acquired, whether from the counties direct or from some favored banking institution, and at what premium or discounts such bonds were purchased.

We further demand the publication of all the names of State officials who were indebted to the First National Bank of Austin, Texas, at the time when said bank went into the hands of the National bank exam iner in the year 1902, at which time there was tied up in said bank some $350,000 of the State's funds.

State Executive Committee: Cecil A. Lyon, of Grayson, chair man; 1st Senatorial district, H. G. Goree, of Cass; 2. W. P. Harris, of Hopkins ; 3. C. A. Gray, of Fannin ; 4. 0. F. Johnson, of Grayson ; 5. W. S. Smith, of Hunt ; 6. George H. Green, of Dallas; 7. S. D. Waldrip, of Van Zandt; 8. H. 0. Wilson, of Harrison; 9. Henry Dellums, of Navarro; 10. J. J. Cypert, of Hill; 11. C. A. Boynton, of McLennan; 12. J. A. Myers, of Brazos; 13. Theo. Miller, of Cherokee; 14. C. R. Bone, of Jeffer son; 15. U. W. Allen, of Walker; 16. Spencer Graves, of Fort Bend; 17. B. A. Trowell, of Galveston; 18. M. M. Rodgers, of Fayette; 19. Paul Fricke, of Washington; 20. T. L. Wren, of Travis; 21. Eugene Nolte, of Guadalupe; 22. Theo. Baughman, of Victoria; 23. J. 0. Luby, of Duval; 24. C. C. Clifford, of Bexar; 25. J. A. Smith, of El Paso; 26. Marshall Smith, of Brown; 27. Joe E. Williams, of Hamilton; 28. John B. Baker, of Haskell; 29. J. E. Lutz, of Wilbarger; 30. J. I. Carter, of Tarrant; 31. George A. Knight, of Montague.