designed to enable capital to secure more than its just share of the
joint product of capital and labor, a natural consequence of the
prohibitive taxes which prevent the free competition which is the life
of honest trade, but we believe their worst evils can be abated by
law; and we demand the rigid enforcement of the laws made to prevent
and control them, together with such further legislation in restraint
of their abuses as experience may show to be necessary.
SEC. 6. The Republican party, while professing a policy of reserving
the public land for small holdings by actual settlers, has given
away the people’s heritage, till now a few railroad and non-resident
aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area than that of
all our farms between the two seas. The last Democratic administration
reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the Republican party
touching the public domain, and reclaimed from corporations and
syndicates, alien and domestic, and restored to the people, nearly
100,000,000 acres of valuable land, to be sacredly held as homesteads
for our citizens, and we pledge ourselves to continue this policy
until every acre of land so unlawfully held shall be reclaimed and
restored to the people.
SEC. 7. We denounce the Republican legislation known as the Sherman
act of 1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught with possibilities of
danger in the future which should make all of its supporters, as well
as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of
both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and to
the coinage of both gold and silver without discrimination against
either metal or charge for mintage; but the dollar unit of coinage
of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value, or
be adjusted through international agreement, or by such safeguards
of legislation as shall insure the maintenance of the parity of the
two metals, and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the
markets and in the payment of debts; and we demand that all paper
currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We
insist upon this policy as especially necessary for the protection
of the farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenceless
victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency.
SEC. 8. We recommend that the prohibitory ten per cent. tax on State
bank issues be repealed.
SEC. 9. Public office is a public trust. We reaffirm the declaration
of the Democratic National Convention of 1876 for the reform of
the civil service, and we call for the honest enforcement of all
laws regulating the same. The nomination of a President, as in the
recent Republican convention, by delegations composed largely of his
appointees, holding office at his pleasure, is a scandalous satire
upon free popular institutions, and a startling illustration of the
methods by which a President may gratify his ambition. We denounce
a policy under which Federal office-holders usurp control of party
conventions in the States, and we pledge the Democratic party to the
reform of these and all other abuses which threaten individual liberty
and local self-government.
SEC. 10. The Democratic party is the only party that has ever given
the country a foreign policy consistent and vigorous, compelling
respect abroad and inspiring confidence at home. While avoiding
entangling alliances, it has aimed to cultivate friendly relations
with other nations, and especially with our American neighbors on the
American continent whose destiny is closely linked with our own, and
we view with alarm the tendency to a policy of irritation and bluster
which is liable at any time to confront us with the alternative of
humiliation or war. We favor the maintenance of a navy strong enough
for all purposes of national defence, and to properly maintain the
honor and dignity of the country abroad.
SEC. 11. This country has always been the refuge of the oppressed
from every land—exiles for conscience’ sake; and in the spirit of the
founders of our Government, we condemn the oppression practised by the
Russian Government upon its Lutheran and Jewish subjects, and we call
upon our National Government, in the interest of justice and humanity,
by all just and proper means, to use its prompt and best efforts to
bring about a cessation of these cruel persecutions in the dominions
of the Czar, and to secure to the oppressed equal rights. We tender
our profound and earnest sympathy to those lovers of freedom who are
struggling for home rule and the great cause of local self-government
in Ireland.
SEC. 12. We heartily approve all legitimate efforts to prevent the
United States from being used as the dumping-ground for the known
criminals and professional paupers of Europe; and we demand the
rigid enforcement of the laws against Chinese immigration, or the
importation of foreign workmen under contract, to degrade American
labor and lessen its wages; but we condemn and denounce any and all
attempts to restrict the immigration of the industrious and worthy of
foreign lands.
SEC. 13. This convention hereby renews the expression of appreciation
of the patriotism of the soldiers and sailors of the Union in the war
for its preservation, and we favor just and liberal pensions for all
disabled Union soldiers, their widows and dependents; but we demand
that the work of the Pension Office shall be done industriously,
impartially, and honestly. We denounce the present administration of
that office as incompetent, corrupt, disgraceful, and dishonest.
SEC. 14. The Federal Government should care for and improve the
Mississippi River and other great waterways of the Republic, so as
to secure for the interior States easy and cheap transportation to
the tidewater. When any waterway of the Republic is of sufficient
importance to demand the aid of the Government, such aid should be
extended for a definite plan of continuous work until permanent
improvement is secured.
SEC. 15. For purposes of national defence and the promotion of
commerce between the States, we recognize the early construction of
the Nicaragua Canal, and its protection against foreign control, as of
great importance to the United States.
SEC. 16. Recognizing the World’s Columbian Exposition as a national
undertaking of vast importance, in which the General Government
has invited the co-operation of all the powers of the world, and
appreciating the acceptance by many of such powers of the invitation
extended, and the broadest liberal efforts being made by them to
contribute to the grandeur of the undertaking, we are of the opinion
that Congress should make such necessary financial provision as shall
be requisite to the maintenance of the national honor and public faith.
SEC. 17. Popular education being the only safe basis of popular
suffrage, we recommend to the several States most liberal
appropriations for the public schools. Free common schools are
the nursery of good government, and they have always received the
fostering care of the Democratic party, which favors every means of
increasing intelligence. Freedom of education, being an essential
of civil and religious liberty, as well as a necessity for the
development of intelligence, must not be interfered with under any
pretext whatever. We are opposed to State interference with parental
rights and rights of conscience in the education of children, as an
infringement of the fundamental Democratic doctrine that the largest
individual liberty consistent with the rights of others insures the
highest type of American citizenship and the best government.
SEC. 18. We approve the action of the present House of Representatives
in passing bills for the admission into the Union as States of
the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, and we favor the early
admission of all the Territories having necessary population and
resources to admit them to Statehood; and, while they remain
Territories, we hold that the officials appointed to administer the
government of any Territory, together with the Districts of Columbia
and Alaska, should be _bonâ fide_ residents of the Territory or
district in which their duties are to be performed. The Democratic
party believes in home rule, and the control of their own affairs by
the people of the vicinage.
SEC. 19. We favor legislation by Congress and State Legislatures to
protect the lives and limbs of railway employees, and those of other
hazardous transportation companies, and denounce the inactivity of the
Republican party, and particularly the Republican Senate, for causing
the defeat of measures beneficial and protective to this class of
wageworkers.
SEC. 20. We are in favor of the enactment by the States of laws for
abolishing the notorious sweating system, for abolishing contract
convict labor, and for prohibiting the employment in factories of
children under fifteen years of age.
SEC. 21. We are opposed to all sumptuary laws as an interference with
the individual rights of the citizen.
SEC. 22. Upon this statement of principles and policies, the
Democratic party asks the intelligent judgment of the American people.
It asks a change of administration and a change of party in order that
there may be a change of system and a change of methods, thus assuring
the maintenance unimpaired of institutions under which the Republic
has grown great and powerful.
The platform, as originally reported, contained, instead of the first
paragraph of Section 3, the following:
We reiterate the oft-repeated doctrines of the Democratic party
that the necessity of the Government is the only justification for
taxation, and whenever a tax is unnecessary it is unjustifiable;
that when custom-house taxation is levied upon articles of any
kind produced in this country, the difference between the cost of
labor here and labor abroad, when such a difference exists, fully
measures any possible benefits to labor; and the enormous additional
impositions of the existing tariff fall with crushing force upon our
farmers and workingmen, and, for the mere advantage of the few whom
it enriches, exact from labor a grossly unjust share of the expenses
of the Government; and we demand such a revision of the tariff
laws as will remove their iniquitous inequalities, lighten their
oppressions, and put them on a constitutional and equitable basis.
But in making reduction in taxes, it is not proposed to injure any
domestic industries, but rather to promote their healthy growth. From
the foundation of this Government, taxes collected at the custom-house
have been the chief source of Federal revenue. Such they must continue
to be. Moreover, many industries have come to rely upon legislation
for successful continuance, so that any change of law must be at every
step regardful of the labor and capital thus involved. The process
of reform must be subject in the execution to this plain dictate of
justice.
The National Prohibition Convention was held at Cincinnati on the 29th
of June, with John P. St. John, of Kansas, as temporary chairman, and
Eli Ritter, of Indiana, as permanent chairman. The convention remained
in session two days. The following was the only ballot for President:
John Bidwell, Cal. 590
Gideon T. Stewart, Ohio 179
W. J. Demorest, N. Y. 139
Scattering 3
A single ballot was had for Vice-President, as follows:
J. P. Cranfill, Texas 417
Joshua Levering, Md. 351
W. W. Satterlee, Minn. 26
T. R. Carskoden, W. Va. 19
The nominations of Bidwell and Cranfill were made unanimous. The
following platform was adopted:
The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, acknowledging
Almighty God as the source of all true government, and His law as the
standard to which all human enactments must conform to secure the
blessings of peace and prosperity, presents the following declaration
of principles:
1. The liquor traffic is a foe to civilization, the arch enemy of
popular government, and a public nuisance. It is the citadel of the
forces that corrupt politics, promote poverty and crime, degrade the
nation’s home life, thwart the will of the people, and deliver our
country into the hands of rapacious class interests. All laws that,
under the guise of regulation, legalize and protect this traffic, or
make the Government share in its ill-gotten gains, are “vicious in
principle and powerless as a remedy.”
We declare anew for the entire suppression of the manufacture, sale,
importation, exportation, and transportation of alcoholic liquors as
a beverage, by Federal and State legislation; and the full powers of
the Government should be exerted to secure this result. Any party
that fails to recognize the dominant nature of this issue in American
politics is undeserving of the support of the people.
2. No citizen should be denied the right to vote on account of sex,
and equal labor should receive equal wages, without regard to sex.
3. The money of the country should be gold, silver, and paper, and be
issued by the General Government only, and in sufficient quantities
to meet the demands of business and give full opportunity for the
employment of labor. To this end an increase in the volume of money is
demanded, and no individual or corporation should be allowed to make
any profit through its issue. It should be made a legal tender for the
payment of all debts, public and private. Its volume should be fixed
at a definite sum per capita, and made to increase with our increase
in population.
4. We favor the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold.
(Rejected by the convention.)
5. Tariffs should be levied only as a defence against foreign
governments which put tariffs upon or bar our products from their
markets, revenue being incidental. The residue of means necessary to
an economical administration of the Government should be raised by
levying a burden on what the people possess instead of upon what we
consume.
6. Railroad, telegraph, and other public corporations should be
controlled by the Government in the interest of the people, and no
higher charges allowed than necessary to give fair interest on the
capital actually invested.
7. Foreign immigration has become a burden upon industry, one of the
factors in depressing wages and causing discontent; therefore our
immigration laws should be revised and strictly enforced. The time of
residence for naturalization should be extended, and no naturalized
person should be allowed to vote until one year after he becomes a
citizen.
8. Non-resident aliens should not be allowed to acquire land in this
country, and we favor the limitation of individual and corporate
ownership of land. All unearned grants of lands to railroad companies
or other corporations should be reclaimed.
9. Years of inaction and treachery on the part of the Republican and
Democratic parties have resulted in the present reign of mob law, and
we demand that every citizen be protected in the right of trial by
constitutional tribunals.
10. All men should be protected by law in their right to one day’s
rest in seven.
11. Arbitration is the wisest and most economical and humane method of
settling national differences.
12. Speculations in margins, the cornering of grain, money, and
products, and the formation of pools, trusts, and combinations for the
arbitrary advancement of prices, should be suppressed.
13. We pledge that the Prohibition party if elected to power will ever
grant just pensions to disabled veterans of the Union army and navy,
their widows and orphans.
14. We stand unequivocally for the American public school, and opposed
to any appropriation of public moneys for sectarian schools. We
declare that only by united support of such common schools, taught in
the English language, can we hope to become and remain an homogeneous
and harmonious people.
15. We arraign the Republican and Democratic parties as false to the
standards reared by their founders; as faithless to the principles
of the illustrious leaders of the past to whom they do homage with
the lips; as recreant to the “higher law,” which is as inflexible in
political affairs as in personal life; and as no longer embodying
the aspirations of the American people, or inviting the confidence
of enlightened progressive patriotism. Their protests against the
admission of “moral issues” into politics is a confession of their
own moral degeneracy. The declaration of an eminent authority,
that municipal misrule is “the one conspicuous failure of American
politics,” follows as a natural consequence of such degeneracy, and
is true alike of cities under Republican and Democratic control. Each
accuses the other of extravagance in Congressional appropriations,
and both are alike guilty; each protests when out of power against
the infraction of the civil service laws, and each when in power
violates those laws in letter and spirit; each professes fealty to
the interests of the toiling masses, but both covertly truckle to
the money power in their administration of public affairs. Even the
tariff issue, as represented in the Democratic Mills bill and the
Republican McKinley bill, is no longer treated by them as an issue
upon great and divergent principles of government, but is a mere
catering to different sectional and class interests. The attempt
in many States to wrest the Australian ballot system from its true
purpose, and to so deform it as to render it extremely difficult for
new parties to exercise the rights of suffrage, is an outrage upon
popular government. The competition of both the parties for the vote
of the slums, and their assiduous courting of the liquor power and
subserviency to the money power, have resulted in placing those powers
in the position of practical arbiters of the destinies of the nation.
We renew our protest against these perilous tendencies, and invite all
citizens to join us in the upbuilding of a party that, as shown in
five national campaigns, prefers temporary defeat to an abandonment of
the claims of justice, sobriety, personal rights, and the protection
of American homes.
The only opposition being to the fourth resolution declaring for the
free coinage of silver, that was defeated by a vote of 596 to 335.
The campaign of 1892 gave birth to the People’s party, that embraced
the old Greenbackers and most of the other odds and ends of former
side political organizations, and it proved to be an important factor
in the struggle. It held its national convention at Omaha on the 2d of
July, with C. H. Ellington, of Georgia, as temporary chairman and H.
L. Loucks, of South Dakota, as permanent president. The 1st and only
ballot for President resulted as follows:
James B. Weaver, Iowa 995
James H. Kyle, S. D. 265
Scattering 3
Only one ballot was had for Vice-President, as follows:
James G. Field, Virginia 733
Benj. S. Terrell, Texas 554
The nominations of Weaver and Field were made unanimous and the
following platform adopted:
Assembled upon the 116th anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence, the People’s party of America, in their 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 country,
the following preamble and declaration of principles:
The conditions which surround us best justify our co-operation;
we meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral,
political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the
Legislature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench.
The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled
to isolate the voters at the polling-places to prevent universal
intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or
muzzled; public opinion silenced; business prostrated; our homes
covered with mortgages; labor impoverished; and the land concentrating
in the hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen 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 boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few,
unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these,
in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty. From the same
prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes
of tramps and millionaires.
The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich
bondholders; a vast public debt, payable in legal tender currency, has
been funded into gold-bearing bonds, thereby adding millions to the
burdens of the people. Silver, which has been accepted as coin since
the dawn of history, has been demonetized to add to the purchasing
power of gold by decreasing 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 enslave industry. A vast
conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two continents,
and it is rapidly taking possession of the world. If not met and
overthrown at once, it forebodes terrible social convulsions, the
destruction of civilization, or the establishment of an absolute
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 inflicted upon the suffering people. We
charge that the controlling influences dominating both these parties
have permitted the existing dreadful condition to develop without
serious effort to prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now
promise us any substantial reform. They have agreed together to
ignore in the campaign every issue but one. They propose to drown
the outcries of a plundered people with the uproar of a sham battle
over the tariff, so that capitalists, corporations, national banks,
rings, trusts, watered stock, the demonetization of silver, and the
oppressions of the usurers may all be lost sight 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 the
millionaires.
Assembled on the anniversary of the birthday of the nation, and
filled with the spirit of the grand general chief who established our
independence, we seek to restore the government of the Republic to
the hands of “the plain people,” with whose class it originated. We
assert our purposes to be identical with the purposes of the national
Constitution, “to form a more perfect union and establish justice,
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves
and our posterity.” We declare that this Republic 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
bayonets; 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 be
in fact, as we are in name, one united brotherhood of freemen.