The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], July 27, 1892, Page 11, Image 11

About The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1894

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
TBOE ADVOOATffi
11
PEOPLE'S PARTY NATIONAL PLAT
FORM.
Assembled upon the one hundred and
sixteenth anniversary of the declaration
of Independence, the People's party of
America, in its first national convention,
invoking upon their action the blessing
of Almighty God, puts forth, in the name
and on behalf of the people of this coun
try, the following preamble and declara
tion of principles: The conditions which
surround us best justify our coopera
tion; we meet in the midst of a nation
brought to the verge of moral, political
and material ruin; corruption dominates
the ballot box, legislatures, congress, and
touches even the ermine of the bench.
The people are demoralized; most of the
states have been compelled to isolate
voters at polling places to prevent uni
versal intimidation or bribery. News
papers are largely subsidized or muzzled;
public opinion silenced; business pros
trated; our homes covered with mort
gages; labor Impoverished and land con
centrating in the hands of capitalists.
Urban workman are denied the right of
organization for self-protection; Imported,
pauperized labor beats down their wages;
a hireling, standing army, unrecognized
by our laws, is established to shoot them
down and they are rapidly degenerating
into European conditions; the fruits of
the toil of millions are bodily stolen to
build up colossal fortunes for the few, un
precedented in the history of mankind,
and the possessors of these in turn de
spise the republic and endanger liberty;
from the same proliflo womt of govern
mental injustice, we breed two great
classes tramps and millionaires; the na
tional power to create money is appro
priated to enrich bond-holders; the vast
public debt, payable In legal-tender cur
rency, has been funded into gold bearin
bonds, thereby adding millions to the bur
dens of the people; silver, which has been
accepted as coin since the dawn of his
tory, has been demonetized to add to the
purchasing power of gold by decreas
ing the value of all forms of property as
well as human labor, and the supply of
currency is purposely abridged to fatten
usurers, bankrupt enterprise and en
slave industry; a vast conspiracy against
mankind has been organized on the two
continents and is rapidly taking posses
sion of the world; if not met and over
thrown at once It forbodes a terrible
social convulsion, the destruction of
capitalization or the establishment of ab
solute despotism; 'we have witnessed for
more than a quarter of a century the
struggles of the two great political
parties for power and plunder, while
grievous wrongs have been'lnfilcted upon
the suffering people; we charge that the
controlling Influences dominating both
these parties have permitted the existing
dreadful conditions to develope without
Berious effort to prevent or restrain them;
neither do they now promise us any sub
stantial reform; they have agreed to
gether to ignore in the coming campaign
every Issue but one; they propose to
drown the outcries of the plundered peo
ple with the uproar of a sham battle over
tariff, so that capital, corporations, na
tional banks, trusts, watered stock, de
monetization of silver and the oppression
of usurers may be all lost light of; they
propose to sacrifice our homes, lives and
children on the altar of mammon; to
destroy the multitude In order to secure
corruption funds from millionaires. As
sembled on the anniversary of the birth
day of the nation, and filled' with the
spirit of the grand generation who gstab
llshed our independence, we seek to re
store the government of the republic to
the hands of the "plain people," with
which class it originated; we assert our
purposes to be Lio-cal irith ths pur
poses of the national constitution ; to form
a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for
common 'defense, promote general wel
fare and secure the blessings of liberty
for ourselves and our posterity; we de
clare that this republio can only endure
as a free government while built upon
the love of the whole people for each
other and for the nation; that it cannot be
pinned together by the bayonet; that the
civil war is over and that every passion
and resentment which grew out of it
must die with It, and that we must in
fact, as we are In name, become a united
brotherhood of free men; our country
finds Itself confronted by conditions for
which there is no'precedentin the world;
our annual agricultural productions
amount to billions of dollars in value,
which must in a few weeks or months be
exchanged for billions of dollars worth
of commodities of. other productions;
the currency supply is wholly in
adequate to make this exchange, and the
results are falling of prices,' the forma
tion of combines and rings and the Im
poverishment of the producing class; we
pledge ourselves that, If given the power,
we will labor to correct these evils
by wise and reasonable legislation,
in accordance with the terms of our
platform; we believe that the powers of
government, in other words, of the peo
ple, should be expanded (as in case of
the postal service) as rapidly and as far
as the good Bense of an intelligent
people and the teachings of experience
shall justify, to the end that oppression,
injustice and poverty shall eventually
cease in this land. While our sympathies,
as the party of reform, are naturally
upon the side of every proposition which
will tend to make men Intelligent, virtu
ous and temperate, we nevertheless re
gard these questions, Important as they
are, as secondary to the great issues now
pressing for solution, and upon which
not only our individual prosperity, but
the very existence of our free institutions
depend; and we ask all men to help
us first to determine whether we are to
have the republic to administer before
we differ as to the conditions upon which
it is to be administered; believing that
the forces of reform this day organized
will never cease to move forward until
every wrong Is remedied and lawful rights
and equal privileges securely established
for all men and women in this country;
we declare therefore:
First That trie union of the labor
forces of the United States, this day con
summated, shall be permanent and per
petual; may Its spirit come into all hearts
for the salvation of mankind.
Second Wealth belongs to him who
creates it, and every dollar taken from
industry without equivalent Is robbery.
"If any will not work, neither shall he
eat." The interests of rural and civic
laborers are the same; their enemies are
Identical
Third We believe that the time has
come when railroad corporations will
either own the people or the people must
own the railroads, and should the gov
ernment enter upon the work of owning
and managing any and all railroads, we
should favor an amendment to the con
stitution by which all persons engaged In
government service shall be place under
civiLservlce regulations so as to provent
an Increase of the power of the national
administration by the use of such addi
tional government employes.
Fourth We demand a national cur
rency, safe, sound and flexible, Issued by
the general, government only, a legal
tender for all debts, public and private,
and that without the use of banking cor
porations; a just, equitable, efficient
means of distribution direct to the peo
ple at a tax not to exceed 2 per cent, per
annum to be provided as set forth In the
sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' Alli
ance, or some better system; also by pay
ments in the discharge of Its obligations
for publio Improvements.
We demand the free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold at the legal
raio of 16 to 1.
We demand that the amount of emulat
ing medium be speedily Increased to not
less than $50 per capita.
We demand a graduated income tax.
We believe that the money of the
country should be kept as much as possi
ble In the hands of the people, and hence
we demand that all state andnational
revenues shall be limited to the necessary
expenses of the government, economically
and honestly administered. . .,
We demand that postal savings backs
be established by the government for
the safe deposit of the earnings of the
people and to facilitate exchange.
Transportation Transportation being
a method of exchange and a publio ne
cessity, the government should own and
operate the railroads In the Interest of
the people.
The telegraph and telephone, like the
postoflice system, being a necessity for
the transportation of news, should be
owned and operated be the government
in the interest of the people.
Land Land, including all natural
sources of wealth, is the heritage of the
people, and should not be monopolized
for speculative purposes, and the alien
ownership of land should be prohibited.
All land now held by railroad and other
corporations, in excess of their actual
needs, should be reclaimed by the gov
ernment and held for actual settlers only.
SUPPLEMENTARY BI80LUTI0N8.
Whereas, Other questions haying been
presented for our consideration, we hereby
suomit the following, not as a part of the
platform of the People's party but as res
olutions expressive of the sentiment of this
convention:
Resolved, That we demand a free ballot
and a fair count in all elections, and pledge
ourselves to secure it to every legal voter,
without federal intervention, through the
adoption by the states of the un pervert ad
Australian or seoret ballot system.
Rasolved, That the revenue received from
a graduated inoome tax should be applied
to the reduction of the burden of taxation
now resting upon the domestio industries of
the country.
Resolved, That we pledge our support to
fair and liberal pensions to ex-Union sol
diers and sailors.
Resolved, That we condemn the fallacy
of protecting American labor under the
present system, which opens our ports to
the pauper and criminal classes of the world
and crowds out our wags earners, and we
denounce the prosent ineffective laws in re
gard to contract labor, and demand the
further restriction of undesirable imme
gration. Resolved, That we cordially sympathize
with the efforts of organized workingmen
to shorten the hours of labor, and demand
a rigid enforcement of the existing eight
hour law on government work, and ask that
a penalty clause be added to the said law.
Resolved, That we regard the mainte
nance of the large standing army of mer
cenaries known as the Pinkerton system, as
a menace to our liberties, and we demand
its abolition, and we condemn the recent
invasion of the territory of Wyoming by the
hired assassins of plutocracy, assisted by
federal officials.
Resolved, That we commend to the favor
able consideration of the people and the re
form press the legislative system known as
the initiative and referendum.
Resolved. Thai we favor a constitutional
provision limiting the tenure of offloe of
president and vice president to one term,
and providing for the election of senators
of the United States by direct vote of the
people.
Resolved, That we oppose any subsidy or
national aid to any private corporation, for
any purpose
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