THE ALL IANCE-IN D B P B IT D E IT T.
land "concentrated" ia t&o Land' of the
capitalists. The urban workmen art de
nied the right of organization for ,'self
protection, imported pauperized flaibot
beats down their wages, ahiielingstand
ing army, unrecognized tj our laws, u
established to shoot them down, and
,thej are rapidly degenerating into
European conditions. -
Tfce frusta of the toiling millions are
mhui oiwoa vu uuiiu up coiossai ior
tunes for a few, unprecedented in the
history of mankind, and the possesion
of these, in turn, despise the republic
and endanger liberty. From the same
prolific womb of governmental injustice
we breed the two great classes 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 bauds, thereby adding millions
to the burdens of the people. Silver,
which has been acoepted as coin since
ae dawn of history, has been demone
tized to add to the purchasing power of
jcoM by decreasing to value of all forms
of property as well as human labor,
and the supply or currency is purposely
abridged to fatten usurers, bankrupt en
terprise and enslave industry. A vast
conspiracy against mankind has been or
ganized on two continents and it is rap
idly taking possession of the world. If
not met and overthrown at once it fore
bedes terrible social convulsions, the de
struction of civilization or the establish
ment of an absolute despotism.
We have witnessed for more than a
quarter of a century the struggle of the
twe great-political parties for power and
Blunder, . while grievous wrongs have
een inflicted upon a suffering people,
we charge that the controlling influ
ences dominating both these parties have
permitted the existing dreadful condi
tions to develop without serious efforts
to prevent or restrain them. Neither do
they now promise us any substantial re
form. They have agreed together to
ignore, in the coming campaign,
every issue but one. They pro
pose to drown the outcries of
a plundered people with the tip
roar of a sham battle over the tariff, so
that capitalists, corporations, national
banks, rings, trusts, watered stock, the
demonetization of silver and the oppres
sions of tho usureis may all be lost sight
of. They propose to sacrifice our homes,
lives and children on tlie altar of mam
mon, to destroy the multitude in order
to ssoure corruption funds from the mil
lionaires. Assembled on the anniversary of the
birthday of the nation, and filled with
the spirit of the grand generation who
established our independence, we seek to
restore the government of the republio
to the hands of "tha plain people,"
with whose class it originated.
We assort our purposes to be
identical with the purposes of the na
tional constitution to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestio tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general
'welfare and secure the blessings of liber
ty for ourselves and our posterity. We
declare that this republio can only en
dure as a free government while built
upon the love of the whole people for
each other and for the ration, 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.
Our country finds itself confronted by
conditions for which there is no prece
dent 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 produc
tion. The existing currency supply is
wholly inadequate to make this ex
change. The results are falling prices,
tiie formation of combines and ring and
the impoverishment of the producing
class. We pledge ourselves that if given
power we Will labor to correct these
evils by wise and reasonable legislation,
in accerdanee with the terms of our
platform. We believe that tho powers
bf the government in other words, of
the people should be exDanded (as in
the case of the postal service) as rapidly
and as far as the good sense of an intelli
gent people and the teachings of ex
perience shall justify, to the end that
oppression, iojttifioe and poverty shall
mutually cease in the land.
Vfcila tur iXGtptthiif as naitr of sa
form are naturally on 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 subordinate
to the great issues now pressing for so
lution, and upon whioh not only our in
dividual prosperity, but the very exist
ence of free institutions depend, and we
ask all men to first help us to determine
whether we are to have a republio to
administer before we differ as to the
conditions upeq which it is to be ad
ministered, believing that the forces of
reform this day set in motion will never
cease to move forward until every
wrong is remedied, tqual lights and
equalprivlleges securely established for
all the men xul women of the country.
We declare, fcawefot:
First That the union of the laber
forces of tho United States tsJi day co
cumm&ted shall be permanent and per
petual. If ay its spirit eater into all
hearts for te salvation ol the republio
and tho uplifting of mankind.
Second "Wealth rjejoajra to him whe,
icreated it, and every dollar taken from
'Industry without an equivalent is rob
bery. "If any will not work, neither
shall he eat." The interests of rural and
civio labor. are the same; their enemies
are identical. -
Third We believe that the . time has
come when the railroad corporations
must either own the people or the people
the corporations, and should the govern
ment 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 gov
ernment 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 administra
tion by the use of such additional gov
ernment employes.
THE PLATFORM.
First We demand a national cur
rency, 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, equita
ble and efficient means of distribution
direct to the people, at a tax not ex
ceeding 2 per cent, be provided, as set
forth in the subtreasury plan of the
farmers alliance, or some better sys
tem; also by payments in discharge Of
its obligations for public improve
ments. (a) We demand free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of 16 to 1.
(b) We demand that tho amount of
circulating medium be speedily in
creased to not less than $50 per capita.
(c) We demand a graduated income
tax.
(d) We believe that the money of
the country should bo kept as much as
possible in the hands of the people,
and hence we demand that all state
and national revenue shall be limited
to the necessary expense of the gov
ernment economically and honestly
administered.
(e) We demand that postal savings
banks bo established by the govern
ment for the safo deposit of the earn
ings of the people and to facilitate ex
change. Second Transportation being a
means of exchange and a public neces
sity, the government should own and
operate tue railroads in the interest of
the people.
(a) The telegraph and telephone, like
the postoffice system, being a necessity
for transmission of news, should be
owned and operated by the government
in the interest of the people
Thikd Tho land, including all the
natural resources of wealth, is the
heritage of all 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 corpora
tions in excess of their actual needs,
and all lands now owned by aliens
should be reclaimed by the govern
ment and held for actual settlers only.
Branch, of Georgia, read the plat
form proper, which was warWy
greeted.
itadpQn.yft ipjftflr acred, j
ana was put Through 1y unanimous
consent, the whole convention rising
in advance of the chair and adopting
the platform almost before ho could
move its adoption.
At once, on the adoption of the
platform, the , convention broke over
all restraint and went wild in one
grand demonstration. The whole con
vention, audience and delegates, rose
to their feet and the first platform of
tho people's party was ushered into
tho world with a scene of enthusiasm
that in intensity and earnestness ex
ceeded anything ever before witnessed
in a national convention. The scene
lasted between twenty and twenty-five
minutes.. It began by the convention
rising to their chairs, cheering, swing
ing coats, which had been taken off on
account of tho heat, waving hats and
fans and thro wing, things into the air.
All the delegates were on their -feet
and the stage was crowded with mem
bers of the committee on resolutions.
As if by a flash a number of delegates
seized the uprights used to hold pla
cards designating the place of state
delegations in the hall and rushed with
them to the platform, forming a cordon
about the whole platform. Banners
were also borne there. The New
Yorkers seized Lloyd of New York,
and bearing him on their shoulders
placed him in the very front of the
phalanx on tho stage, where he was
handed a baton . and enthusiastically
beat time to the wild cheering of the
crowd. The enthusiasm continued as
great as ever and each new banner was
warmly greeted.
After order had been restored the
convention adjourned until 8p.m.
. EVENING SESSION.
The delegates were Prompt in arriving
for the night session and all were nervous
and expectant, owing to alack of knowl
edge of his position and fiaal informa
tion as ts the possibility of the acceptance
-of the nomination by Judge Gresbam.
The first aotual business was the reading
by Chairman Brsnoh, of the resolutions
committee, of a supplement to tho plat
form, ae follows:
Whereas, Other questions liavsng
been presented for our consideration, we
hereby submit the following, not us a
part of the platform of the people' pany,
but as resolutions expressive of the sen
timent of this convention:
Resolved, That we demand a free bal
lot and a fair count in all elections and
pledge ourselves to secure it to every
legal voter, without federal intervention,
through the adoption by tho states of
the unperverted Australian or secret
ballot system.
Resolved, That the revenue received
from a graduated income tax should be
applied to the reduction of the burden of
taxation now resting upon the domestic
ndustries of the country.
Resolved, That we pledge our support
to fair and liberal pensions to ex-union
soldiers and sailor
Resolved, That we regard the mainte
nance of the large standing army of
mercenaries known as the Pinkerton
system as a menaoe to our liberties, and
we demand its abolition, and we con
demn the recent Invasion of the territory
of Wyoming by the hired assassins of
plutocracy, assisted by federal officials.
Resolved, That we oommeni to the
favorable consideration of the people
and the reform press the legislative sys
tem known as the initiative and refer
endum. Resolved, That we favor a constitu
tion j?rgvisipn Jimitia? the tenure of
orrice ot 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 corpora
tion, for any purpose.
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 in regard to contract labor ana de
mand the further restriction of undesira
ble immigration.
Resolved, That we cordially sympa
thize with the efforts of organized work
logmen to shorten the hours of labor,
and demand a rigid enforcement of the
firtf
mrri ft
vr2
work, &a ask that a penalty '
added to the said law.
Tho following telegram was then
read:
Chicago, July 4 J. B. Weaver,
Ignatius Donnelly, Ben Terrell, John
W.Hayes: I have just returned and
find your dispatch of the 1st I must
stand by my dispatch to Mr. Orr of
the 2d. Accept mp grateful acknowl
edgements. Signed. W. Q. Greshajl"
This putting Gresham out of the
question all interests seemed to com
bine on Weaver.
The roll of states
was called 'or the
presentation of can
didates for the
presidency. When
Alabama was called
delegate Manning
nominated uen.
Jas. B. Weaver of I
Iowa, saying: "Ho
is a man the men-!
tion of whose narao ,
creates such en
thusiasm as was
never hear in our jas. b. weaver,
state."
Colorado yielded to S. F. Norton, of
Illinois, who placed Senator Kyle of
South Dakota in nomination, saying
the man he should name had already
won the spurs in the brainiest assem
bly in the United States. The man ho
would speak of stood there as a giant.
One part of his strength consisted
in the fact that he was a member of no
faction. TTo was a man so great thkt
no big white ha
of an ancestor
could ' hid him
from the publio
gaze. He pledged
hl9 support , to
whomever the can
didate might be,
for no man could
be so great as the
platform and prin-
tvlLJIUD VI 447 J '41 KJT
ins candidate was
a broad and liberal-minded man, who
gave to every one the right to . speak
and write for himself and follow his
own conscience in all things. It was
not impossible or improbable that they
might place the man he would name
into the .White house.' That grand,
magnificent man was James II. Kyle
of South Dakota.
Stephen II. Basher of Illinois, pastor
of a progressive church, said: "As
armies follow interpid leaders to con
quest and victory, so should political
parties crown with honor the genius of
the leaders which gave it birth. The
people's party was founded on princi
ples, not men, and it demands as a
leader the biggest, grainiest and best
man in the party. The party should
keep in. the middle of the road and
choose a man who is old enough in tho
party to know where the middle of the
road is. That man was Senator Van
Wyck of Nebraska .
The mention of Van Wyck's name
aroused 6ome of the liveliest cheering
of the evening.
Vandervoort of Nebraska, said that
Senator Van Wyck wished his name
withdrawn. ,
The convention then proceeded to
ballot upon the different candidates.
The first ballot resulted as follows:
Weaver, 995; Kyle, 265; scattering,
8. The nomination of Weaver was
then made unanimous.
The roll of states was immediately
called for nominations for the vice
of Texas, and J. C. Field of Virginia.
Field was nominated on the first bal
lat. '
The convention then, at 3 a. m., ad
journed sine die.
m i
No ISoom to (irnv.
"I wonder why there is a rule
against children in so many flats?11
' Probably because there isn't room
for them to grow." Harper's Bazar.
JAMES H. KYLE,
