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THE
REFORMER
ITbuhhbd Every Friday Evening at
FORT GAINES, GA.
FORT GAINES, GA., AUGUST 24. 18944
POPULIST TICKET.
For Governor;
4. K. III NFS.
For Secretary of State:
Dr. A. L. NANCE.
For Treasurer:
C. M. JONES.
For Comi tr oiler,General:
W. It. KEMP.
For Attorney General:
.T. A. B. M’flAFFY
For Commissioner Agriculture:
J. B. B Mi RETT.
For Representative Clay County
HON. 11. M. BROWN.
The High Water Mark o* Endorsements.
We clip tho following from tho
Atlanta Constitution in order that
tho facts may not bo disputed by
our rock-ribbed democratic friends:
DKMOCRATH ENDORSE WEAVER.
The Omaha, Neb., Aug. B. —[Special.]—
democratic congressional conven¬
tion of tho Ninth Imva district, met to¬
day at, Council Bluffs to nominate a can¬
didate. About two months ago Gen.
James B. Weaver, Into populist candi¬
date for president, was nominated for
T*>r,gresN convention by the populists. d today Tho demo¬
crat ie cub'd to make
no nomination, but endorsed General
Weaver l>y a vote of 72 to 20. Every
county voted for Weaver except Ca s.
Our esteemed rock-ribbed breth¬
ren will pleaso note this is tho prob
nble high water in tho 1894 freshet
of dorsement endorsements. Weaver, Beyond tho en¬
of the unspeak¬
able ntul unmitigated Wenver, it is
hardly possible for even tho demo¬
crats to go.
Up advanced, to this climax they have stead¬
ily reached ami now, from tho pin
Hein by political climbing,
they can take a calm survey of tho
progress they have made sineo 1892.
Thoy have endorsed everything in
sight, from Lilioukalani, tho festive
queen Breckinridge, of t ho tho dusky festive 11:\waians, king to
of tho
Warding schools*
They have endorsed Gresham, tho
republican, ami MoVeagh, tho mug¬
wump. They have cloaked
tho crimo of
Senator Roach, of North Dakota,
who is shown by the official record
to Washington have plundered a national bank in
*58,000 to tho gentle melody of
They have been sweet on Carne¬
gie when tho report of Comodoro
Sampson proved turn to bo a whole¬
sale suinnlor of tho navy depart¬
ment.
Sherman They have endorsed all that John
ever did and have gone
further than that astute hireling of
foreign bondholders ever could go
till ho got democratic help.
and They have also endorsed Mr. Cleveland
have endorsed those - who
denounced him. They have endorsed
Free Silver, ami also thoso who voted
against it.
and They have denounced them corporations
have voted just what laws
they wanted.
They have endorsed those who de¬
manded more money, and also those
who demand less.
They have endorsed the policy of
contraction as well as tho policy of
inflation.
They endorsed those who favor
trade. high tariffs and thoso who favor free
ferson They have those endorsed Thomas Jef¬
and who combat bis
doctrines; have endorsed Andrew
Jackson who shattered the national
bank of 1832, and have endorsed na¬
tional bankers who are shattering
tho democratic party of 1894: have
endorsed thoso who denounce the
Pons 1, for prouiisimr the necr oes a reo
M and a fair count, am — on
dorsed those who, on the behalf of
the democrats, pretended to promise
tho same thing.
They toward have military endorsed the radical
step rulo taken by
the President when at the yelp of a
postmaster he sent the Federal array
to quell a loent riot which tho demo¬
cratic governor of Illinois said he
COi'i.D quell, and which, as a matter
of fact, did quell.
democratic They endorsed platform, tho promises in t e
endorsed the
congressmen who broke them, en¬
dorsed the leadets who say the prem¬
isses are wrong and ought not to be
carried out, and also endorse the men
carried who say thoy aie right and must be
out.
But Weaver !! ?
Wo did think the lino would be
drawn somewhere.
We did think that to ondorso the
despised Weaver was something
which even democratic cheek could
not accomplish. it—the
Think of man who was
rotten approval egged in of Macon, democratic with the
real every
newspaper in Hoke Georgia; the man at
whoso heels Smith sot Thnd
Horton to bark and yelp, and to hold
out affidavits of tho stealage of
chickens, pigs, ham and eggs, by the
% * i Weaver at Pulaski, Tennessee;
««<»« who could not address the
citizens of Atlanta in the face of the
riotous made preparations which had been
by ward-heelers and political
bosses to rotten egg him and other¬
wise subject him to personal outrage!
This is the Weaver, the James B.
Weaver, whom the democrats of
Iowa have endorsed for congress.
In 1892 he was a black-hearted in
cendiary and the apostle of hate. In
1894 he is good enough to deserve
democratic support for congress. lie
is the same man now that he was
then. His record was all made prior
to 1892. He has added nothing to
it siuce. By endorsing him for con¬
gress in 1894, tho democratic bosses
do ono of two things: They either
confess that thoy arc willing to put
into congress a man whom they
know to ho utterly unworthy of the
place, or they confess that they villi
tied and fully belied an honorable
man to aid in the election of the
bombastic humbug wjio now blights
tho prosperity of this country with
his autocratic sway.—Daily Press.
A LETTER FROM TEXAS. ’
SillVE, T.-x., Aug. 1*5,
Guay County Hkkormeu.
Today is one of those measly,drizzly.moan
feeling days, that naturally makes a
fellow look back overt he past and harvard to
the future, and of course ho feels bad, and
is made to exclaim as the prophet of old,
"Behold. I have no pleasure in them.” I
looked through an unabridged Bible and
two coneonlances to find that scripture, for
I knew it ought to )u* there. nn<l so it was
Well, we have had u fine rain ami it has
been general ail over the state. Texas will
rattle up with ovei two and a half mdlion
l>al(‘S of cotton. Then* will bo an over sup
ply but still not enough to make buckle and
tongue meet.
J have been studying about politics, good
times, and democratic professions of faith,
and it makes my head sore. My mind runs
hack to a certain letter, that I received from
a prominent banker of your town; it was in
reply to one Iliad written him soon after
i ................ t
kunbasted the d-un-cratic purty-pre-ficted
haul turns generally, ruin to the laboring
CUSMS an. a nunm am ' 1!1 ‘ s ° anu
(’lev.dan.l took tholndm"md silver wa” iT
monetized, ‘ ’ and the tariff was reformed, that
everything would ,,, be prosperous, and bus:
n.'ss would be good again.
' ' ” 81 ‘ * ho c onocta i< pm i ias
had supreme control of the government for
seventeen months, and about eleven months
they have been in session, and what has
been done towards redeeming their profes
sions of faith 1 Nothing!
Sdver, (tho money that Abrauam pur
chased the cave of Machpelah with, in winch
to bury his wife, Sarah), has been destroyed
as a money metal. $50,000,000 of interest
bearing debt has been laid on the shoulders
of a tax-ridden people during a time of
peace.
Now comes ihe time honored tariff bill,
after months of d’senssion. with corruption
written on its face in big letters. Specula
tion in sugar stock by prominent senators
through their maid servants a heavy duty
put on sugar to advance the interest of the
the sugar trust thiry or forty millins, at the
e\p n* of the people, just to pay back that
half million dollars that was reputed to have
been given the democratic campaign fund,
with which to debauch our republican form
of government.
Cleveland fighting for free coal, tooth and
toe nail, when he is said to be the head of a
coat trust, owning extensive mines in Nova
Scotia. Cleveland berating the senators for
not sticking to the platform in their tariff
bill, when he bad vetoed the seignorage sil¬
ver bill, forced congress to kill silver, and
openly opposed the issue of tho repeal of the
tax on state banks.
One year and a half gone, and the tariff
still robbing the people, so they say, at the
rate of thirteen millions a week. Eighteen
months that they nave had a chance, and
during that time, there has raged one of the
greatest money panics of the Nineteenth
Century.
Strikes and riots have followed each other
in quick succession; each one more severe
than the former, until it seems as if revolu
tion had actually begun, Coxey’s army en
camped in the Shadow of the Capitol: * Ver
ily the chickens have come home to roost.”
The old democratic idea of State rights
knocked into a cocked hat by a democratic
president ordering Federal troops into a
state, over the protest of her Governor. I
believe it was Governor Brown, of Georgia,
who refused to let President Davis have
troops for the Confederate army unless or¬
dered through him.
Wlmr© is southern democracy anyway 1
But ain’t we happy; contented and prosper¬
ous! I know the average cotton farmer
must begin to feel like a bloated bond
holder—with six-cent cotton in full view.
Yours truly,
Nick Coxxegy.
FROM FLORIDA.
Wewahitchka, Fla., Aug. 17.
Editor Reformer:
Dear Sir—Your worthy issue of the 3rd,
»t., was handed me yesterday, and as poli
tics are so mixed up here, it is puzzling to
me to know who I am.
There is one conclusion i have arrived at
aml that is the farmer is the producer and
the laborer is the consumer. Look—the far
mer can produce, produce, and reproduce,
then have the chance to see his production
rot. if it wasn’t for the laborer consuming
it. On the other hand, the laborer would
got very hungry if it wasn’t for the farmer.
ami the interest of the one should be the in
tercet of the other.
A little space in each Reform paper should
be given for the definition of democrat
and republican. By this means the plain
people would see why the Populists are here,
and the necessity of equal rights to all and
special favors to none, Wliy f Because I
asked a certain young man his politics, he
said he was a democrat, I asked why he was
a democrat. He said, "1 don’t know uuless
it is because my father was one before me. ’’
See T Yours in the cause of right.
Old Rube.
NOTICE !
J. R. McLeudon desires to inform the
public that he j8 prepared to furnish
™c^ E £ii
tooeebim. im
THE SO-CALLED DEMOCRATIC RALLY.
Mr. EDITOR:
On August I5th, after two weeks
or more notice that two of the big
guns of the party of “promises”
would annihilate the Peoples’ party
of Oiay, about two hundred of the
voters of the county met to hear the
distinguisned . , gentlemen, _ Maj. . O, - A. ,
Bacon aud Col. L. F. Garrard, both
pie hunters in the dear old party.
Major Bacon appeared on the
stage about . . 10 o’clock , , , r The V \
a. m.
first part of hs speech was simon
pure Populism. lie showed how,
after the war, the masses had emerg
ed i into • a indifference • V( r so far n as
nomic government was concerned.
on account of sectional and social is
sues, all of which were facts as have
been claimed bv tho populists 1 1 as the
bod rock of tho corruption of the
two old parties.
The cry of sectional hatred and
social equality has been the veil in
the hands of the politicians to blind
the people as to government affairs.
They have kept the South solid, and
a few demagogues have fattened,
while the people suffer, and the
south mado i 4 tool i oi ,• •, by the ,i eastern ,
a
V ft
also* in a forenue manner iilus- ^
trated the evil effects of a contracted
currency and while he did not *?o
into f ul j detail as to the remedy, vet
he [ proved conclusively that gold bug
ism means robbery to too masses of
the people, as claimed by the popu
list. So far we agree with the maj or.
But when bo says that there is r.o
hope to remedy those evils through
the I eoples paity, uouio toiced to
kUkinn «itb Mntlpman m.l
say that there is certainly no hope
through his modern democracy.
Why so ? Ho says when we lure a
servant to do a thing and he fails.
we should tain him off and tre oth r
labor; ,, in ... this we agree. fr) I he l 1Vl itty .
Second congress was largely demo
cratic—148 majority ’ — under pledges
1 > 1 1 S /
free silver. A republican
aided by our two populist votes,
passed a free coinage bill.
These hired servants of democracy,
‘
^ 1 ' lJ 3 , v : th 7 M r '
Crisp as Speaker, suffered the lull to
a sleep of death. In 1892 the people
hired Mr. Cleveland. The Senate
•ltwl ,l IToutie all el-iimino-lo ‘ ” be demo
erats promised to eive US free „ silver.
inow, xr rt ... uj.ijoi, u.u iney (.uiiipiy o-;,h 11
their promises ? No; they ‘ have
proven +t tnemsetves - i minors , to , me . i
people, and you, major, nor no one
else can deny the fact. Huve not
your party been an unfaithful serv
ant ? Then why not turn it off and
employe party with principles. You
say the Peoples’ party is hopeless;
has it been proven ? But your case
is hopeless, as the action of your
party has demonstrated. You make
a strong plea tor us to come back to
the house of our fathers. Poor old
house ! it has stood the tempest of
many a Hamiltonian storm—but
alas! the decaying influences of the
money kings have penetrated the
,, . . me, an< , , ot , at ., it s . am i s a
o i s me
wreck, the result of traitors who dis
regarded the principles of their fa¬
ther, Thomas Jefferson.
The malaria of Wall street creeps
’ to of a scattering honest
few, whom ere long will join the
Peoples’party. Then major, you will
realize that its the democratic party
instead of the Peoples’ party that is
the hopeless party.
At two o’clock Col. L. F. Garrard
was introduced by Col. J. D. JRambo,
and for about two and a half hours
he also attempted to defend the
democratic party, after a little tirade
on Major Bacon’s standing candi¬
dacy, and to sum up his talk as a
whole, I was made to believe that
he claims all the honor of • Ctii
cago platform, especially flown the planks the
which his party sat on
hardest. But. of course the colonel
is uot hunting office, be only came
to tell the people that the momey we
needed were lulls issued, redeemable
in merchandise. But colonel, we
can ^ p a y our debts with merchan
Jj se . W e caret pay OUT taxes ill mer
c handise either. These come first,
colonel, and with the present prices
ot cot t 0 n we will be more than for
tunate if we can satisfy these claims,
where is the ueefl of bill re-.Dem
a ^i e j n merchandise ?
You say in one breath, what the
people want is good money; in the
oext, you adyoeate wildcat money,
R u t colonel, we are not surprised,
You are about as consistent as your
party. Your party has repudiated
jfs pledges on silver, on repeal tax
ou state banks, Oil economy, etc.
But you say ’rah for tho tariff, that
your party has saved Georgia alone
$10,000,000 on the tariff. Please re
fer to Mr. Carlisle’s statemeut and
you will find that only about $11
000,000 have been saved the
entire United States on imports,
whi.e they have increased the inter¬
nal revenue tax $33,000,000. Is this
the tariff reform your party has been
praying for the past thirty years f
Tm reform by exacting from the
5E le $40 000,000 more in taxes
that much abused McKiulybiU.
maybe reform, but it’s for
combines, trusts, monopolies, such
as the whisky, bankers’ sugar, etc.,
tt^te^f'aril
| ]evied> according to Mr. Carlisle, j
amounted to $434,000,000. From
Mr. Carlisle under the Cleveland ;
I W1! - «>,« ame “o™ S,?’ 000 ’'
j 000. Here we have $42,000,000 more
exacted in taxes from the people bv by
the Cleveland-Wilson bill than J
! the MeKinle * bill. $48,000.0001
=They have squandered $o0,
of tr^ reserved told, and issued
000.000 in interest bearing, non-tax
ahle bonds Thpv have votP(3 them
selves on extra pay of $100 per
month, which amounts to $1.230,000.;
* ' ilc v °tod for themselves mileage on
, the extra session, (something the re
| publicans , nave never clone), while ,
each of them were t iding on a free
j pass, Here which amounted sample of to $141,325,- $73,000.
J we have a
| 1 000 omv, ;us while » sample Mr of Garrard democratic boasts econ- of
their saving of $104,000 in pensions.
This is economy with a rush, in fa
vor of the different combines and
| trusts, but in the language of Jay
, Uould, the people be d—m.
L oemed to have been the hobby of
] both speeches, we will say that we
have no special complaint as to the
! lav.s. when but. positive the laok of enforsement, find
! evidence fails to
true , . bills, u and . election , . , laws al .
| our *
ne > ’ asiilc. ihe penalty of law
; being set aside, tor the Spoils of of
i fiv, as in the Atkinson outrage in
Fannin county. With these facts
we need reform as to tho
tration of our state laws. C,
j
STATE PLATFORM
j
Of the Peoples* Party—Read and
Reflect.
We hereby renew our unqualified
1
| i„ tho Slate of Georgia the following
reform:
U I lie abolition of the present
_ ^ hl f prosti
;' ,, " vu ; 1 lse 'Y
I urns to the greed of pvivate avarice
tho State’s sovereign right to punish
her citizens for violation of law. We
j believe the State herself should keep
possession of her prisone-s and should
1 employ ^ them upon the public roads
an<l n t .,l| ow them brought in corn
< j p ( .Bpon with honest free labor,
2. We favor the furnishing of pri
mary school books by the State to
I avoid the burdens put upon our
j j pie by the We frequent changes of text
^oks. also favor the payment
of 1 he teachers monthly,
3. We favor the enactment of an
un perverted Australian ballot law to
b 0 o,. f.i a ... to 10 ilHtevitP or l
I ", *’ 1
Min<1 . .. . t:K .
VO P rs .
1,1 ‘
preparation their ballots, when ,
; or
thev so desire, from the managers ° oi
| ■
•
.
I 4. ue emphatically eomiemn me
j practice, of late becoming so preva
j lent, of public officers accepting free
0 / from a: ilroad -‘ corporations. ‘ ‘'
\ . O ■ ap¬
ply to the executive, legislative and
judicial branches of our national and
state ^o\ ei nm^ i. ..
5. Be do, that .lieso .
levin g, as we
eternal principles are necessary to
good government and to the preser
ration of our republican institutions:
and, believing that a supreme neces
sity now exists for a determined and
, organized struggle against the cor
j i nipt despotism of centralized
we hereby pledge ourselver anew to
; sacred task, and \vo invite uu:
1 earnest co-operation ot all good citi
j zens? irrespective of party; and upon
! these united efforts in behalf of the
cause of constitutional liberty we
i reverently invoke the blessings of
i Almighty God. Ellington,
C. II.
Chairman P.atform Committee.
Q
.G x
V -—
J. L. HURST.
Hancock St., FORT GAINES, GA.
Encouraged by the prospects of good
crops, the Proprietor of this well
known and populai ordered, estab¬
lishment, has
and has on hand,
a large stock of
3YILD-CAT CORN, *
CHA3IPAGNE RYE,
3VINES OF ALL KINDS
ICE-COLD BEER.
TOBACCO & CIGARS,
His friends and patrons are
to call. aug 3
JURY LIST
List of Grand Jurors drawn to serve for
Tc “^ ^^ A S Mills,
JCNeayes, fvii P J Tinsley. T Jones,
MSeville. J E Womack,
jlh m l Burney. JfcuLn J S R Belcher, IJadford
A
J j^tchett */ G II Ouattlebaum.
^ »Y L Beard,
wpWoHhv, M Speight. T C Sutton,
w W F Davis.
E N MeKeithau, J C McLendon,
J£'™i"6 8 ' rorth ’ ^VortT' Morrii
B F C V
L J Dav. B F Grimslev.
Traverse Jurors for first week:
Griffith, J II Hamilton,
! t 1 ."rf’ J C T Humphries,
} ^ ’ W Foster,
>i Ju , Hurst, J ,T Johnson,
1 Flowers J A Shaw,
*
f P Garrett. J A Gasset t,
Lewis Hartley, J Iv Askt*w,
J H Harris, II \Y Moore,
'J ^‘“Lay, UP 1 ?#’. S J Sternberg, L Ward,
y^M ’ A J Womack,
Heitou J S Watson
\ $ Brown, Jos Forrest,
BF McKinnon, W II I’ate.
l Creddelle, 11 31 Brown,
rnwr’ E P La Prude,
E L Ingram.
Irank La n<lon. It L McLendon,
Traverse Jurors for second week:
H II Hart, J 31 Sanders,
Amos .McLendon,
N Q J GFlnllips, Lewis, A W W P Parker, Smith,
q j Farmer, ir., 31 II Crawford.
j> j Dawson. J F Creel,
j j] Mitchell, J W Saveli,
W J Perkins, J G Hartley,
J A Harris, W E Lightfoot,
G A Hancock,
II A McKinnon, 31 It Watson;
\\ F Morris, E E Boyal.
J I Ingram, Jno McKinuon,
W H Jackson, Bela Jenkins,
D B Jernigan, E S Jones,
Thad Fordham, A 31 Holmes,
JJ Fulton, Jno Fain,
Harrison, S P Creel.
NOTICE!
The delegates to the . nominating .
nomhiate a camlidamlorlhe'Second
Congressional District, will please
remember that the convention meets
in Albany on August 29th, and not
tlie 2otL, as reported in The Daily
Press bv n correspondent from
Worth county. It Is important that
we have a full delegation. Let each
delegate be present,
N. T. Crozier, Chr’m.
I J . P. Com. 2nd, Con. District.
A N N 0 U N C E M E N T 8.
\\ 7E are authorized to announce J, B.
>> gia B\:ssey’s as a candidate for the Geor¬
[Senate, subject to the action of the
Democratic party, of Eleventh District.
For Tax Collector.
placing Thanking my friends for past support and
myself before you with a guarantee
10 be as faithful in the fut ure as in the past,
in the discharge of my duties of Tax Col
lector, i again offer my service, and respeet
fully ask the support of the HARRISON. voters of my
county. W T . R.
I hereby announce myself for Tax Col
lector of Clay county. I inn physically un
able to do manual labor, and should the
good people of Clay county see fit to honor
me 'be P - isition, 1 v. iil discharge the
Un*;..* nf «f.;a c -in «}j e best of my ability,
H I). IIAISTEN.
For Tax Assessor
I hereby annuonce myself for Tax Asses
sor of clay county, and if re-elected, prom
ise a faithful discharge of tho-duties of my
their Thanking the voters of Clay for
past support, I respectfully ask to
be remembered again. T, R. DAVIS.
MELON CARDS.
—
GEO. E, MARKS, JOS. RITTINER.
MARKS & RITTIXEiJ,
prNx (-AAliensiUx3 I YIT^QTOTsT
. •
• • MERCHANTS.
Whosale Fruits & Produce,
53 Poydras Street, NE3V ORLEANS, LA.
References:
Whitney Nat’l Bank of New Orleans, La.
Chas. Metropolitan J. Church Bank of New Orleans, La.
& Co,. Bankers, Green¬
ville. 3Iich.
N. 3V. Mather, Banker, Howard Citv,
Mich.
Bradstreet’s Mercantile Agency.
— EDWARD UEILSTEIN, —
(Successor to Beilstem & Spangler,)
WHOLESALE PRODUCE
Commission Merchant,
531 Liberty St. Pittsburg, Pa.
PHYSICIA3MS
D. F. GUNN
PRACTICING PHYSICIAN,
Office next to Wallenstein's.
W. S3 L. Douglas
SHOE NO IS SQUEAKING. THE BEST.
And other specialties for
Gentlemen, Ladies, Boys
and Misses are the
Best in the World.
See descriptive advertise
ment which appears in this
paper.
Take no Sntwtitute.
A L. Insist on having W. L.
t DOUGLAS’ SHOES,
f with name and price
v v stamped on bottom. Sold by
A. M. WALLERSTEIN.
SUBSCRIBE FOR THE
REFORMER!
PEOPLES’ PARTY PLATFORM.
ADOPTED BV TIIE OMAHA C'OM’EKESCE OF LABORING
PEOPLE, JULY +, IS93,
A :: w o ~ one Peoples’ anniversary in their first of national the declaration conven
invoking . ,. - .
turn, upon their . action thi ' blessing of Almighty God, imts forth ill
the name and behalf of tho people of this country, the following preamble and decla¬
ration of principles:
The conditions which surround us best justify our e< -operation. Wo moot in tho
midst of a nation brought to tho votgo of moral, political and material ruin. Cor
iuption dominates the ballot box, the legislatures, tho congress, and touches even
the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized. Most of tho Slates have
been compelled to isolate the voters at the polling places to prevent universal intim¬
idation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion
silenced, business prostrated, our homes covered with mortgages, labor impover¬
ished. and the lands concentrating in tho hands of the capitalists. The urban wotk
nmn are denied the right of organization for self-protection; imported pauperized
labor beats (.own 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 boldly stolen to build up colossal
Uu'so, roitulips turn, ioi a despiso it*\y, mipnx’odui tlu> tud in tho history of mankind, and iho possessors of
mode of in republic and ondangor liberty. From tho san:e prolific
governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and million¬
aires.
1 *io national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders. A
vas, 4 public debt payable in legal tender currency lias boon funded into gold-bearing
bonds, thereby adding millions to the burdens of the people,
iliL OLI) PAH 1ILS ARRAIGNED.—Silver, which has been accepted as coin
binco tho dawn of history, has boon demonetized to add to the purchasing power of
gold bj^decreasing the value of all forms of property, as well as human labor, and
the supply of currency ispurposedly abridged to fatten usurers, bankrupt enterprise
and enslave industry. A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized o i two
continents and is rapidly taking possession of the world. If not met and overthrown
at onco.it forebodes terrible social convulsions, the destruction of civilization, or tho
establishment of an absolute despotism.
We have witnessed for more than a century the struggles of tho two great; polit¬
ical parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon
the people. W o charge that the controlling influences dominating both three par¬
ties have permitted the existing dreadful conditions to develop without serious offort
to prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now promise us any substantial re
lonn. I hey have agreed togethoi to ignore in the comi tig campaign, every issue but
one sham • They propose to drown tho outcries of plundered people with the uproar of a
battle over the tariff, so that capitalists, corporations, national barks, rings,
trusts, watered stock, the demonetization of silver and the oppressions of the usurers
may be all be lost sight of. Thoy propose to sacrifice our home 3 wires and children
the altai of Mammon; to destroy tho multitude ,
on in order to secure corruption funds
from the millionaires.
Assembled on the anniversary of the birthday of tho nation, and filled with tho
spirit of the grand generation who established our independence, we seek to restore
the government of the republic to the hands of "the plain people,” with which c’ass
it originated. /
THE W AR IS OVER.—We assert our purposes to be identical With the purposes
of the national constitution—"To form a more perfect union, establish justice, in¬
sure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general wel¬
fare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posteiity.” Wo declare
that this republic cauamly endure as a free government while built upon tho love of
the whole people for each other and for the nation; that it cannot bo pinned together
by bayonets; that the c-ivil war is over, and that every passion and resentment which
grew out of it must die with it, and that we must be in fact, as we are in name, ono
united brotherhood of freemen.
Our country finds itself confronted by conditions for which there is no precedent jn
the history of the world—our annual agricultural productions amount to billions of
dollars, in value, which must within a few weeks or months be exchanged for billions
of dollars of commodities cotnsumod in their production; the existing currency sup¬
ply is wholly inadequate to make this exchange; the results are falling prices, tho for¬
mation of combines and rings and the impoverishment of tho producing classes. Wo
pledge ourselves that if given power we will labor to correct these evils by wiso and
reasonable legislation in accordance with the terms of our platform.
'Vo believe that the powers of tho government—in other words, of tho people
should be expanded (us in the ease of the postal service) as rapidly and as far as
the good sense of an intelligent people and tho teachings of experience shall justify,
to the end that oppression, injustice and poverty shall eventually cease in the land,
THREEFOLD DECLARATION.—W hile our sympathies as a party of reform
are naturally upon the side of every proposition which will tend,to make men intelli¬
gent, virtuous and temperate, we nevertheless regard these questions, important ns
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 free institutions depend;
and wo ask all men first help us to determine whether wo are to have a republic to
adrninister before v»e differ as to the conditions upon which it is to bo administered,
believing'that the iorecs of reform this day organized will never cease to move for
ward until eveiy wrong is remedied and equal rights and equal privileges securely
established for all the men and women of tho country. We declare therefore:
1. That the union of tho labor forces of the United States this day consumated,
*haii be permanent and perpetual. May its spirit enter into all hearts for tho salva
tion of the republic and the uplifting of mankind.
Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken from industry
without an cquivoicut is.robbery. "If any will not work, neither shall he oat.” The
interests of rural and civic labor are the same; their enemies are identical,
J- VVe believe that the time has come when tho railroad corporations will either
own the people or the people must own them, and should the government outer upon
the work of owning arid contioiling any or all railroads we should favor an amend
meut to the constitution by which all persons engaged in the government service
shall be placed under a civil service regulation of the most rigid character, so as to
prevent tho increase of the power of national' administration by tho use of such addi¬
tional government employes.
The Pianks of the Platform.
1. 33 o demand a national currency, safe, sound, and flexible, issued by tho gen¬
eral government only, a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and that
without the use of banking corporations; a just, equitable and efficient means of dis¬
tribution. direct to the people, at a tax not exceeding 2 percent., be provided, as set
forth in thelsubtreasury plan of the Farmers’ Alliance, or some better system; also by
payments in discharge of its obligations for public improvements,
a. \Ve demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present ratio
of 10 to 1.
b. 3Ve demand that the amount of circulating medium be speedily increased to
not less than $o0 capita.
e. \\’o demand a graduated income tax. .
d. 3Yo believe the money, of the country should bo kept as much as possible in
tho hands of the people, and hence we demand that all State and national revenue
shall be limited to the necessary expenses of the government, economically and
honestly administered.
c. 3Ve demand that postal savings banks be established by the government for
safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange. -
2. Transportation being a means of change and a public necessity, tho govern¬
ment should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people.
a. The telegraph and telephone, like the postofficc* system, being a necessity for
the transportation of news should bo owned aud operated by the government in tho
interest of the people.
3. The land, including ail the national resources of wealth, is the heritage of all
the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien own¬
ership of land should be prohibited. Ail land now held by railroads and other cor¬
porations in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens, should
be reclaimed by the government arid held for actual settlers only.
SUPPLE3IENT TO THE PLATFORM.—3Vhereas other questions have been
presented for our consideration, we hereby submit the following, not as a part of tho
platform of the Peoples’ party, but as resolutions expressive ot the sentiment of this
convention:
1. 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 Secret intervention
through the adoption by the States of the unperverted Australian or ballot
system. derived graduated income tax should bo
2. Resolved, That the revenue from a
applied to a reduction of the burden of taxation now resting upon the domestic indus¬
tries of the country.
3. Resolved, That we pledge our support to fair and liberal pensions to ex-Union
soldiers and sailors.
4. 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 tho
world, and crowds out our wage earners; and we denounce the present ineffective
laws against contract labor, and demand the further restriction of undesirable immi¬
gration. of organized
5. Resolved, That we cordially sympathize with the efforts working¬
men 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 tho
said law.
6. Resolved, That we regard the maintenance of a large standing army of merce¬
naries, 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 hiered assassins of plutocracy, assisted by Federal officials.
7. Resolved, That we commend to the favorable consideration of the people aud
the reform press the legislative system known as the initiative and referendum.
8. Resolved, That we favor a constitutional provision limiting the office of Pres¬
ident and Vice-President to one term, and providing for the election of Senators of
the U nited States by a direct vote of the people. national aid
9. Resolved, That we oppose any sudsidy or to any private corpora¬
tion for any purpose.
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