People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1895 — People's Party Platform. [ARTICLE]

People's Party Platform.

FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES. i-Tjts’r.—That the union of the labor forces of the United States this day consummated shall be permanent and perpetual: may its spirit enter into all hearts for 1 lie 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. ‘‘lf any will not work, neither shall lie eat.” The interests of civic and rural labor are the same; their interests 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 any or all railroads, we should favor an amendment to the constitution by which all persons engaged in the government service shall I e placed under a civil service regulation of tin- mo t rigid character, so as to prevent an increase of the power of the national administration by the. use of such additional government employes. FINANCE First—We demand a national currency, safe, sound and iiexible. 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 amiefficient means of distribution direct to the people at a tax not to exceed 2 per cent, per annum to be provided as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of tlie Farmers'Alliance or a better system; also by payments in discharge of its obligations for public improvements. We demand free ami unlimited coinage of silver at the present legal ratio of Hi to 1. We demand that t lie amount of circulating medium be speedily increased to not less than SSO per capita. We demand a graduated income tax. 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. We demand that postal savings bank lie established by the government for the safe deposit of the of the people and to facilitate exchange.

TRANSPORTATION Seconh- Transportalkm bciuK a moans of exchange anti a public necessity, the government should own and operate the railroads in the interests of the people. The telegraph and telephone, like the postotlice system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and operated by (lie Government in the interest of the people. LANDS. Third—The land, including all the nut oral sources of wealth, is t lie heritage of the people, and should .not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should lie prohibited. All lands now held by railroads and other corporations in ••xccssof their actual needs and all lands now ow ned by aliens -diould be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only. si;itlkmkntauy resolutions. 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 thirty, but ns resolutions expressive of the convention. Uesolvku, 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 unpervert td Australian or secret ballot system. Resolved. That the revenue derived from a graduated income t ax should he applied to the reduction of the burden of taxation, now levied upon the domestic industries of this Country. Resolved, That we pledge our support .to fair and liberal pensions toex-Union soldiers 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 wage earners; and we denounce the present ineffective'laws against contract labor and demand the further restriction of undesirable immigration. Resolved. That we cordially sympathize with the efforts of organized workmen 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 maintenance of a large standing army of mercenaries. known as the Pinkerton system, asa menace to out 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 officers. Resolved. That we commend to the thoughtful consideration of the people and tiie reform press the legislative system known as the initiative and referendum. Resolved. That we favor a Constitutional provision limiting t he 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. Resolved. That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any private corporation for any purpose.