no precedent in 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 consumed in their production; the existing currency supply
is wholly inadequate to make this exchange; the results are falling
prices, the formation of combines and rings, the impoverishment of the
producing class. We pledge ourselves, if given 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 people—should be expanded (as in the
case of the postal service) as rapidly and as far as the good sense of
an intelligent people and the teachings of experience shall justify,
to the end that oppression, injustice, and poverty shall eventually
cease in the land.
While our sympathies as a party of reform are naturally upon
the side of every proposition which will tend to make men
intelligent, virtuous, and temperate, we nevertheless regard 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 free institutions depends; and
we ask all men to first help us to determine whether we are to have
a 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 equal rights and equal privileges securely
established for all the men and women of this country.
We declare, therefore—
First. That the union of the labor forces of the United States this
day consummated shall be permanent and perpetual; may its spirit enter
all hearts for the salvation of the Republic and the uplifting of
mankind!
Second. Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken
from industry without an equivalent is robbery. “If any will not work,
neither shall he eat.” The interests of rural and civic labor are the
same; their enemies are identical.
Third. We believe that the time has come when the railroad
corporations will either own the people or the people must own the
railroads; and, should the Government enter upon the work of owning
and managing all railroads, we should favor an amendment 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 the increase of the power of the national
administration by the use of such additional Government employés.
We demand—
First, A national currency, safe, sound, and flexible, issued by the
General 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 distribution direct to the people,
at a tax not to exceed two per cent. per annum, to be provided as set
forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers’ Alliance, or a better
system; also, by payments in discharge of its obligations for public
improvements.
(_a_) We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of sixteen to one.
(_b_) We demand that the amount of circulating medium be speedily
increased to not less than fifty dollars per capita.
(_c_) We demand a graduated income tax.
(_d_) We believe that the money of the country should be kept as much
as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand that all
State and national revenues shall be limited to the necessary expenses
of the Government economically and honestly administered.
(_e_) We demand that postal savings banks be established by the
Government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to
facilitate exchange.
Second, Transportation. Transportation being a means of exchange and a
public necessity, the Government should own and operate the railroads
in the interest of the people.
(_a_) The telegraph and telephone, like the post-office system, being
a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and operated
by the Government in the interest of the people.
Third, Land. The land, including all the natural sources of wealth,
is the heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized
for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be
prohibited. All land now held by railroads and other corporations
in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens,
should be reclaimed by the Government and held for actual settlers
only.
The following supplemental report was made, not to be regarded as a
part of the party platform, but as expressive of the opinion of the
party, as follows:
_Whereas_, Other questions have been presented for our consideration,
we hereby submit the following, not as a part of the platform of the
People’s party, but as resolutions expressive of 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 intervention, through the adoption by the States of
the unperverted Australian or secret ballot system.
2. _Resolved_, That the revenue derived from a graduated income tax
should be applied to the reduction of the burden of taxation now
resting upon the domestic industries of this 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 the world, and crowds out our wage-earners;
and we denounce the present ineffective laws against contract labor,
and demand the further restriction of undesirable immigration.
5. _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.
6. _Resolved_, That we regard the maintenance of a large standing
army of mercenaries, 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.
7. _Resolved_, That we commend to the favorable consideration of
the people and the reform press the legislative system known as the
initiative and referendum.
8. _Resolved_, That we favor a constitutional provision limiting the
office of President and Vice-President to one term, and providing for
the election of Senators of the United States by a direct vote of the
people.
9. _Resolved_, That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any
private corporation for any purpose.
The convention was a mass assembly, as Texas cast more votes than New
York and nearly thrice the vote of Pennsylvania.
The Socialists’ Labor Convention met at New York on the 28th of August,
and nominated Simon Wing, of Massachusetts, for President and Charles
H. Machett, of New York, for Vice-President, and adopted the following
platform:
_Social Demands_: 1. Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to
the progress of production.
2. The United States shall obtain possession of the railroads, canals,
telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public transportation
and communication.
3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads,
ferries, water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and all industries
requiring municipal franchises.
4. The public lands to be declared inalienable. Revocation of all land
grants to corporations or individuals, the conditions of which have
not been complied with.
5. Legal incorporation by the States of local trade unions which have
no national organization.
6. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money.
7. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific management
of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the natural
resources of the country.
8. Inventions to be free to all; the inventors to be remunerated by
the nation.
9. Progressive income tax and tax on inheritances; the smaller incomes
to be exempt.
10. School education of all children under fourteen years of age to be
compulsory, gratuitous, and accessible to all by public assistance in
meals, clothing, books, etc., where necessary.
11. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and sumptuary laws.
Unabridged right of combination.
12. Official statistics concerning the condition of labor. Prohibition
of the employment of children of school age, and of the employment
of female labor in occupations detrimental to health or morality.
Abolition of the convict labor contract system.
13. All wages to be paid in lawful money of the United States.
Equalization of women’s wages with those of men where equal service is
performed.
14. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all occupations, and
an efficient employers’ liability law.
_Political Demands_: 1. The people to have the right to propose
laws and to vote upon all measures of importance, according to the
referendum principle.
2. Abolition of the Presidency, Vice-Presidency, and Senate of
the United States. An Executive Board to be established, whose
members are to be elected, and may at any time be recalled, by the
House of Representatives, as the only legislative body. The States
and municipalities to adopt corresponding amendments to their
constitutions and statutes.
3. Municipal self-government.
4. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Universal and
equal right of suffrage, without regard to color, creed, or sex.
Election days to be legal holidays. The principle of minority
representation to be introduced.
5. All public officers to be subject to recall by their respective
constituencies.
6. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout the United States.
Administration of justice to be free of charge. Abolition of capital
punishment.
The battle between Cleveland and Harrison was very earnestly contested,
and it will be remembered as the only instance in which the party of
power was defeated when the country was prosperous. The McKinley Tariff
bill had largely increased protection to our manufactures, but without
materially increasing wages. The result was an unusual number of
labor strikes, the most notable of which was that of Homestead at the
Carnegie works, and the Republicans suffered very generally throughout
the country by the loss of industrial votes.
The following table presents the popular and electoral vote of 1892:
══════════════╤═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════════════
│ POPULAR VOTE. ║ ELECTORAL VOTE.
├──────────┬─────────┬─────────┬───────────┬──────────────╫──────────┬────────┬───────
STATES. │ Grover │Benjamin │James B. │ John │ Simon ║Cleveland │Harrison│Weaver
│Cleveland,│Harrison,│ Weaver, │ Bidwell, │ Wing, ║ and │ and │ and
│New York. │Indiana. │ Iowa. │California.│Massachusetts.║Stevenson.│ Reid. │Field.
──────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────────╫──────────┼────────┼───────
Alabama │ 138,138 │ 9,197│ 85,181│ 239 │ ―――― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ――
Arkansas │ 87,834 │ 46,884│ 11,831│ 113 │ ―――― ║ 8 │ ―― │ ――
California │ 117,908 │ 117,618│ 25,226│ 8,056 │ ―――― ║ 8 │ 1 │ ――
Colorado │ ―――――― │ 38,620│ 53,584│ 1,638 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 4
Connecticut │ 82,395 │ 77,025│ 806│ 4,025 │ 329 ║ 6 │ ―― │ ――
Delaware │ 18,581 │ 18,083│ 13│ 565 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ――
Florida │ 30,143 │ ―――――― │ 4,843│ 475 │ ―――― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ――
Georgia │ 129,361 │ 48,305│ 42,937│ 988 │ ―――― ║ 13 │ ―― │ ――
Idaho │ ―――――― │ 8,599│ 10,520│ 288 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 3
Illinois │ 426,281 │ 399,288│ 22,207│ 25,870 │ ―――― ║ 24 │ ―― │ ――
Indiana │ 262,740 │ 255,615│ 22,208│ 13,050 │ ―――― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ――
Iowa │ 196,367 │ 219,795│ 20,595│ 6,402 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 13 │ ――
Kansas │ ―――――― │ 157,237│ 163,111│ 4,539 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 10
Kentucky │ 175,461 │ 135,441│ 23,500│ 6,442 │ ―――― ║ 13 │ ―― │ ――
Louisiana │ 87,922 │ 13,281│ 13,282│ ―――― │ ―――― ║ 8 │ ―― │ ――
Maine │ 48,044 │ 62,931│ 2,381│ 3,062 │ 336 ║ ―― │ 6 │ ――
Maryland │ 113,866 │ 92,736│ 796│ 5,877 │ 27 ║ 8 │ ―― │ ――
Massachusetts │ 176,813 │ 202,814│ 3,210│ 1,539 │ 649 ║ ―― │ 15 │ ――
Michigan │ 202,296 │ 222,708│ 19,892│ 14,069 │ ―――― ║ 5 │ 9 │ ――
Minnesota │ 100,920 │ 122,823│ 29,313│ 12,182 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 9 │ ――
Mississippi │ 40,237 │ 1,406│ 10,256│ 910 │ ―――― ║ 9 │ ―― │ ――
Missouri │ 268,398 │ 226,918│ 41,213│ 4,331 │ ―――― ║ 17 │ ―― │ ――
Montana │ 17,581 │ 18,851│ 7,334│ 549 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3 │ ――
Nebraska │ 24,943 │ 87,227│ 83,134│ 4,902 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8 │ ――
Nevada │ 714 │ 2,811│ 7,204│ 89 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 3
New Hampshire │ 42,081 │ 45,658│ 292│ 1,297 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ――
New Jersey │ 171,042 │ 156,068│ 969│ 8,131 │ 1,337 ║ 10 │ ―― │ ――
New York │ 654,868 │ 609,350│ 16,429│ 38,190 │ 17,956 ║ 36 │ ―― │ ――
North Carolina│ 132,951 │ 100,342│ 44,736│ 2,636 │ ―――― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ――
North Dakota │ ―――――― │ 17,519│ 17,700│ 899 │ ―――― ║ 1 │ 1 │ 1
Ohio │ 404,115 │ 405,187│ 14,850│ 26,012 │ ―――― ║ 1 │ 22 │ ――
Oregon │ 14,243 │ 35,002│ 26,965│ 2,281 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3 │ 1
Pennsylvania │ 452,264 │ 516,011│ 8,714│ 25,123 │ 898 ║ ―― │ 32 │ ――
Rhode Island │ 24,335 │ 26,972│ 228│ 1,654 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ――
South Carolina│ 54,692 │ 13,345│ 2,407│ ―――― │ ―――― ║ 9 │ ―― │ ――
South Dakota │ 9,081 │ 34,888│ 26,544│ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ――
Tennessee │ 138,874 │ 100,331│ 23,447│ 4,851 │ ―――― ║ 12 │ ―― │ ――
Texas │ 239,148 │ 81,444│ 99,688│ 2,165 │ ―――― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ――
Vermont │ 16,325 │ 37,992│ 43│ 1,415 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ――
Virginia │ 163,977 │ 113,262│ 12,275│ 2,738 │ ―――― ║ 12 │ ―― │ ――
Washington │ 29,802 │ 36,460│ 19,165│ 2,542 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ――
West Virginia │ 84,467 │ 80,293│ 4,166│ 2,145 │ ―――― ║ 6 │ ―― │ ――
Wisconsin │ 177,335 │ 170,791│ 9,909│ 13,132 │ ―――― ║ 12 │ ―― │ ――
Wyoming │ ―――――― │ 8,454│ 7,722│ 530 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3 │ ――
├──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────────╫──────────┼────────┼───────
Totals │5,556,543 │5,175,582│1,040,886│ 255,841 │ 21,532 ║ 277 │ 145 │ 22
══════════════╧══════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═══════════╧══════════════╩══════════╧════════╧═══════
One of the notable features of the foregoing table is in the fact that
both Republicans and Democrats fused with the Weaver or People’s party
in different States. No votes were cast for Cleveland in Colorado,
Kansas, North Dakota, and Wyoming, and none were cast for Harrison in
Florida, and only a nominal vote given him in Alabama and Mississippi.
The general political disturbance of the country may be understood
when it is remembered that Weaver received near a million votes for
President, while the Prohibition candidate kept the vote of that party
up to its highest point.
Cleveland and Jackson are the only Presidential candidates in the
history of the Republic who made three consecutive contests for
the place, carried a popular plurality or majority each time, and
increased it at each successive contest, and both were defeated in one
battle, although receiving a larger popular vote than the successful
competitor.
THE McKINLEY-BRYAN CONTEST
1896
Cleveland and Harrison were cast in the same mould of statesmanship,
differing only in degree, and they had some important qualities in
common. Both stood for a better political system than was acceptable to
their respective parties, and both regarded public duty as paramount
to political or individual interests. They are the only two men of
the nation each of whom retired from the Presidency defeated by the
other. Both were vastly in advance of the dominant sentiment of their
followers in the support of civil service reform. Neither of them was
accomplished as a national politician. They never could have nominated
themselves for President by political manipulation, nor could they
have mastered the intricacies inevitable in the management of a great
national contest. They employed none of the arts which have been common
among public men to popularize themselves, and both were called to the
leadership of their respective parties in Presidential battles because
they were wanted rather than because they wanted the place. Both were
regarded as unsympathetic by the ardent political leaders of their
parties when it came to the distribution of administration patronage,
and yet no two Presidents were ever more pronounced in their devotion
to their party faith.
[Illustration: WILLIAM McKINLEY]
Cleveland was a Democrat all through from hat to boots; Harrison
was equally positive as a Republican, and both held to the better
teachings of their parties in the better days. Cleveland was a Jackson
Democrat, Harrison a Lincoln Republican, and neither took to the
modern political frills which sacrifice the substance of conviction to
glittering shadows to protect political degeneracy. Cleveland was the
more positive in purpose and bolder in action; Harrison was probably
the stronger intellectual force, with greater aptness in adaptability
to political movements, and both were thoroughly honest, tireless in
devotion to duty, and sincerely patriotic. Both were exemplars of
public and private purity, alike in home and trust, and the prattle
of “Baby McKee” and of “Little Ruth” would at any time call either to
forgetfulness of the honors and cares of State. Both finally retired
from the Presidency, leaving records as Chief Magistrates which will
ever shed rich lustre upon the annals of the Republic.
Cleveland’s second administration fell upon troublous times. The
country was about to enter upon a severe season of industrial and
business depression, that no political power nor the wisest legislation
could have prevented. The products of our farms had reached the minimum
of value. Debts were steadily increasing, labor was largely unemployed,
and consumption of the necessaries of life was reduced to the lowest
standard. The McKinley tariff of 1890 had given excessive protection to
our industries, but that only stimulated production while it narrowed
the markets for our products, and it was not surprising when silver
reached the point that made a dollar worth only 50 cents, that the free
silver theory should attract the hopeless debtor class by the promise
of paying their obligations practically with one-half the money they
had borrowed.
Both parties were severely honeycombed with the cheap-money theory, and
although Cleveland had a Democratic Congress and was able, after the
most exhaustive effort, to halt the continued purchase of silver for
coinage, it was the last and only achievement he attained with the aid
of Congress to better our financial system. It was most fortunate for
the country that in this fearful peril to our national credit Grover
Cleveland was President of the United States. He stood impregnable
as the rock of Gibraltar when the fierce waves of repudiation surged
against him from both parties, and when the West and South appeared
to be practically unanimous in demanding cheap money, while even the
more stable business and financial States of the North were greatly
divided on the issue. Just as the peril to our national honor increased
Cleveland’s determination and courage to maintain the right increased
with it, and he finally braved a howling repudiation Congress by a
demand for gold bonds to sustain Government credit with notice that, if
refused by Congress, whereby a loss of many millions would be forced
upon the country, he would sell bonds, as then authorized by law, to
any extent necessary to maintain the most scrupulous faith of the
nation.
Congress refused and Cleveland stood grandly alone with Congress
against him, and saved the Republic from a stain of dishonor that
would have been ineffaceable. This was a vastly more heroic act than
Jackson’s throttling of nullification, as Jackson was sustained by the
patriotic devotion to the Union. Another record of his administration
that stands out among the heroic of Presidential actions was his
promptness and courage in meeting the Chicago riots when the commerce
of the nation was interrupted by lawlessness. In a single order issued
by Cleveland directing public peace to be maintained and commerce
permitted to go on uninterrupted by the strong arm of national power he
effaced forever the last lingering dregs of States’ rights that would
make a great Commonwealth the prey of the lawless with the National
Government powerless to interfere. The Governor of Illinois was in
hearty and open sympathy with the lawless, and refused the protection
to public peace and to commerce that was his sworn duty to give, and
the civil authorities of Chicago were the mere plaything of the mob.
These two acts of Grover Cleveland will go into history as among the
most heroic and self-sacrificing acts of any of our long line of
Presidents. Harrison would doubtless have met both of these emergencies
as Cleveland did, but Cleveland had to brave the overwhelming
prejudices of his own party to discharge the duty, while Harrison would
have been heartily and unitedly sustained by his party in meeting the
Chicago issue, and would have had the majority of his party followers
in sympathy with him in maintaining the national credit. Cleveland
retired from his second term of the Presidency with his party very
generally alienated from him, and yet he had not in any material degree
departed from the Democratic platform on which he was re-elected. He
was not in any measure an apostate, but he stood resolutely where his
party had planted him, while his party apostatized and became his
bitterest foe.
No administration can command the support of the country when industry
and trade are severely depressed. It matters not what may be the true
cause of financial, commercial, and industrial revulsion; it is always
charged to the policy of the party in power, and Cleveland could not
escape political disaster because of conditions which he had no more
part in producing than he had in creating the stars when they first
sang together. The mid-administration elections of 1894 resulted in
the most disastrous defeat the Democracy had ever suffered, and the
cheap-money heresy rapidly grew in strength, disintegrating both the
old parties until the question of maintaining national credit became
one of the gravest ever presented to the people, with the single
exception of the secession that caused our civil war.
The Wilson Tariff bill was passed with protective features sufficiently
liberal to maintain our industries with the enlarged markets it would
have produced for American products, but it was assailed as one of the
chief causes of our industrial depression, and it became an important
factor in the election of McKinley in 1896. It is now demonstrated
before the close of the McKinley administration, that the protective
features of the Wilson bill were more than equal to the necessities
of the present. New and unexpected conditions brought this country
suddenly to a policy of expansion in territory and trade, and to-day
we have hardly an industry that really needs protection if it can have
free markets for its products.
Cleveland was bitterly assailed as unfriendly to a liberal pension
policy for our soldiers. He came into his second term in the midst of
a tidal wave of pension profligacy. Private pensions were passed by
the hundreds in Congress usually without debate, and often with only a
small fraction of a quorum present. Cleveland vetoed a number of these
bills, and I cannot recall one vetoed private pension bill that was
passed over his veto, although there may have been a very few.