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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1903)
AY II U XT Vol. XV.- LINCOLN NEB., NOVEMBER 12, 1903. No.25. INDIANA POPULISTS ADDRESS BY TBI FEOPLE' PARTY OF INDIANA. In accordance with the call issued fcy Hon. J. A. Edgerton, chairman of the committee of the Denver confer ence, a " conference was held in the city of Indianapolis September 28, 1903, and in pursuance to the action of said conference the following address is issued " To the Citizens of Indiana: Tfie'fl nancial system and financial affairs of the country are so intimately, essen tially and inseperably related to every 'important question in American poli tics that no party which attempts to exclude the financial' question from the political issues is worthy of con fidence, and no man who is wrong on that question ought to be trusted as a leader. There is something inherent ly and fundamentally at fault in eith er the education or he purposes of men who profess opposition to im perialism, colonialism and trusts and are willing that a bimetallic standard , for the payment of debts may be aban doned, and that the t sovereign prero gative of government to issue money may be surrendered to banks. : The man has very little knowledge of fi nancial history and, economic exper ience, who is unable to see a causa tive relation between financial legis lation during the last forty years and the development of t commercial and industrial trusts, the growth of im perialistic tendencies that have per meated our entire business organiza tion with powers that govern .with out the consent of the governed and the inauguration of a colonial policy contrary to principles declared to be self-evident and upon which was founded our claim to , freedom from 'foreign rule. ' The people's party- was the out , growth of; opposition to this legisla tion and was a protest 'against its consequent evils. The most explicit, .the meet courageous and the best ex pression of its principles and pro posed policies are found in the . plat form of its national convention at Omaha. ' , Its members saw, with Jeerson, in debt, and, with Lincoln, in combined wealth, dangers threatening individ ual liberty and political freedom. It was an organized opposition to finan cial combinations that, for years, have been endeavoring, for the benefit of creditors, to increase the value of public debts by the destruction of the "greenback" legal tender notes, and a complete abandonment of silver as a standard of payment. It is a matter of common knowledge that, prior to 189G, both the dominant parties wei under the influence of these combinations. In that year the republican convention, under cover of the insincere, impossible and absurd declaration for international agree ment, abandoned bimetallism- and made an "unconditional surrender to Wall street influences and to the na tional banks. This action alienated many of its voters. The democratic convention, by its efforts to free it H'tf from such influences, by its at tempt to return to the principles of Jefferson, and by the incorporation in Its platform of principles and policies for which the people's party had been contending, .invited to its support those republicans and the populists of the state. It was disclosed in the ram pal go that followed that there was little difference In political sentiments be tween the populists and republicans whj Abandoned the party after the convention In which It had discarded thi teahlngs of Lincoln. It wan dem onstrated that ther were hundreds of thousands of democrat who null b IJewd Washington's "Farewell" to he the vxprrselem of patriotic wisdom, and Mho hint not erased to treasure the worde of Jefferson as priceless jMiruf American statesmanship. There was never any tl iff err tin of opinion among the members of the people's jv rty lMut the principle end polities of th Omihii p'atform. tr hUml the t hinus ef Jt ffr!m ami Lincoln. M-iny, however, believed that a duty rested iiion thrm to Klve their assistance to the democratic farty. where the form number rf vote gave promle ef an opportunity tn Jvu' thee principle. Other had lr confident lit the. riemot ratio leader hi, i, And le- hoe that throish the i democratic party the country would be benefited. They beiieved that1 better results would ultimately be attained by an attitude of antag onism ; to both it and ' the republican party. " - - ' ' ' " After four campaigns in this state, with the knowledge gained by this experience, looking backward, we see that both "builded better than they knew." . In no other way would the discussion of principles and policies the same as embodied in the Omaha platform have been listened to with open minds. In no other way could the prejudices engendered by a de signing leadership have been so well circumvented and so completely dis armed. In no other way could the in competency, the insincerity, and want of courage of men in control of the democratic organization, in this state have been bo completely exposed. These associations and discussions were in the highest degree educa tional. It is now no longer possible except in the minds of the stupidly Ignorant, to create a prejudice against any declaration by calling it popul ism. Whatever opinions we may have about the wisdom of past political actions and affiliations, those who gave support to the democratic party, because of principles declared in its platforms, are,-by the actions of men m control of its organization in this state and by present political condi tions, compelled to recognize the fu tility of any further efforts to assist it. The greater part of the democratic voters belief e in every principle and policy of the Kansas City platform, but they haVe not within the party, and' there is no reasonable probability that they ever will have, any organi zation that will enable them to con trol its conventions. Time after time have the desires and intentions of the voters been expressed - in township and county primaries, and as often have they been thwarted in district and state conventions by an insincere and cowardly leadership. The victory of Jeffersonian democracy in the con vention of 1896 was a surprise to the representatives of combined wealth within the party. In 1900 they in duced the convention to mislead the people by declaring an imperialistic effect to be paramount to a pluto cratic cause. It is highly improbable they will permit the wishes of the honest voters to control the conven tion of 1904. There is now no democratic organi zation in the state,, except an organi zation of self-constituted leaders, who are servants of qorporations, trusts and national banks. This organiza tion has no purpose except to advance the pecuniary interests of the men interested in it, and to induce the con vention of 1904 to repudiate the most important declarations of the conven tions of 1896 and 1900. The present situation makes it op portune and Important that the mem bers of the people's party, united as they are in principle, should cease to be divided in political action. In such event,. we believe it equally op portune and appropriate that they should be assisted and strengthened by all those who, with them, believe the principles of the Declaration of Independence to be fundamental jind everlastingly true; who believe with Lincoln that "the principles of Jef ferson are the axioms of free society;" that the rights of men and not prop erty rights are the prime objects of government; who believe with Jack son that laws giving to banks special privileges and powers are especially wrong in principle and dangerous in tendency; who believe that railroad, telegraph and telephone lines, ; and all other natural monopolies should be owned and operated by the govern ment; who believe that the sovereign prerogative of government to issue money ought never to be subject to the control of private interests; that a metallic currency ought to be -bimetallic, of silver and gold, coined free, without limit and at the present legal ratio; that all paper money should be issued by the government directly; that all money should be full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, and never be permitted to be limited by con tract; who believe in the principles of direct legislation and desire every DEL MAR EDITION Next Issue Devoted to Review of Mr. Del flar'a Books. As was previously announced, the issue next week (November 19) will be devoted principally to a review of Hon. Alexander Del Mar's books on the precious metals, monetary sys tems, the science of money, etc., a work which has engaged his attention since 1857 when he first formed the design of -writing a history of the precious metals. This led to his study of money. In 1862 he published "Gold Money and Paper Money' and in 1865 "Essays on the Treasury" For the past twenty years Mr. Del Mar has given practically his whole time to original research in the great libraries and coin collections of Eu rope on the subject of the history of money and finance, and the result of these investigations is embodied in a number of volumes of rare value. Mr. Del Mar is the one political economist "upon whom populists may rely for authority In support of tlwdr position on the question of money and finance. Portions of Kh-ardo, Mill, Walker, may be cited, but the care less use of English by Klrardo gives mm the unique distinction of being referred to as authority by widely di vergent miiools of economists. By him the populists prove the quantita tive theory of numey; hy him the so i la! lata prove the "Intrinsic valti" or "lalKr crystals' Idea; to him for In spiration K monornetrllist, bimetal lism, and m-ru tall 1st. Hut ther I no mistaking what Mr. Del Mar mean. Ills English U unsurpassed not only for elegance of stI and purity of dUtton, but for strength as well. Il dov henltste; to ( Alt a ftpuil A spade. Notvftthsundtui! th fait that Mr. Del Mar" rccar he led him unheal tmliiKty to the coin lusloit that no "fie coinage" of any metal ought ever to b permitted, yet he gave gal Ut support to the propicamU for the restoration r.f silver to th plan tt held prior to I $73 not betauMS that was theoretically the correct solution, but because it seemed more expedient ana lessened the evils existing by ex tending the privilege to more than one metal. Besides, he saw that it was easier to make the mass of the people understand "free coin age" of both gold and silver than it would be to teach them the necessity for abolition of free coinage alto gether. But the elections of 189(5 and 1900 decided the fate of free coinage of silver. The next step is to abolish the privilege for owners of gold .bul lion and require government to buy whatever metal or other material It may need for coinage and coin only "on government account." In no oth er way can congress exercise its con stitutional prerogative to v "Coin money and regulate the value thereof." The Independent expects to send a marked copy of the Del Mar Edition to the oilkers of every grange in America. No other claa of citizens have greater reason for desiring a just system of money than the farm ers. Every grange should have a net ef Mr. Del Mar's books and a reg ulir courne of reading should he In stituted for this omlnic winter. Co lie of the edition will be seut in bundles to on nd lres at the rate of ou cent e:ech. If to be sent to Hats of tunes fcrulsihed by the purchaser, Kdd Hiiollur cent for postage the Madden rule require uh papers to be stamped. The Del Mir Edition wilt present a fund f Information em th quest ton of money, waking It a vaHabl paper for future reference. Th prlnelpal re view will t of Mr. Del Mr's "lln lory of Monetary iSyetem," but small er notices wlil W mad of his "HU lory of th Pretlotis Metals." "An emit Urltatn," "Nrbra Ylllbrs.w Science of Money," etc. practicable application of them to be made. We, therefore, advise, in harmony with the spirit and purpose of the Denver conference, that, in every county in this- state," appropriate steps be taken to bring about united ac tion to the end that there may, at the proper time, be held a state con vention of all . those who believe the principles and are in accord with that which is herein specifically expressed or by mention approved. Without any desire to dictate the action of such convention when as sembled,' we suggest that it will be in harmony with our feelings if the name "people's party" is continued and if candidates nominated shall ap- -pear on the official bauot under the emblem 'of the plow and hammer. Indianapolis, Sept. 28, 1903. ADAM P. HANNA, FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS, SAMUEL W. WILLIAMS, Committee. THOS. MARSHALL. F. J, S. ROBINSON. ' " HARRISON OGBORN. J. C. SMITH. JOHN W. GEORGE. - W. E. H URLEY. - - - DAVID ANDERSON. FRANCIS D. CRAIG. DR, A. T. KEIGHTLEY. W. B. GILL. WILLIAM SMITH. F. YERKES. HIRAM MAINE. J. F. CALLEN. MATTHEW B. STILLWELL. JOHN MEDERT. MISSOURI POPULISTS DavUts Counly Conference Sucei Denver Conference -and Omshs rii form Endorsed From the Missouri World we learn that at a meeting of the mid-road and fusion populists at Gallatin, October 17, all agreed to join, hands in har mony and present a solid front to boodlers and tricKsters,"T)Osslsm ana corruption, and ?tand true to the Omaha platform, and bid adieu to fu sion with either the democratic or re publican party. A ringing .address by Hon. I. J. Tea garden elicited, good attention by HI present, and no doubt some went away with facts about the Missouri legisla ture and legislation presented to them that will cause them to think before casting .their next ballot. A few well directed shots from Hon. D. H. Bashford, the oldest apostle of populism in . Daviess county (the name that Governor Dockery gave him) were applauded by the conven tion. ' The following resolutions were adopted: First We indorse the Denver con ference and the Omaha platform, and are determined to fight to the last ditch or win. Second We believe that it Is the duty of everyone who is interested in the welfare of the present and tn- ' generations, the uplifting of human ity, our constitutional rights, and an honest ballot and honestly counted, to 'use every honorable "means to awaken the 'Slumbering thoughts of the people of impending danger W. R. Tribby waa re-elected county chairman and J. A. Smith, secretary. Township committeemen were ap pointed to act until such could be elected by pejpular. vote. A contribution of ?3.r.O was col lected for state fund, a.id $3.73 to be applied to purchasing literature to distribute In the county. Followlug.are the township com mitteemen appointed: Washington township, A. U Neth er ton; Benton. Thomas Jamca; Mar lon, T. J. Fleming; Jefforsem. James Foxworthy; Liberty, KHsha Brown; Jamesport, J. A. Smith; Grand Uiver, Sainl Doty; Harrison, I T. Dale. J. A. SMITH. County Secretary. Editor Independent: As for my self. I am willing to "stand pit' on the address Issued by the committee U the Denver conference, until thft government Issues all the money and the transportation Is for the benefit of the jeopl and not for the benefit of a few Wall strret manipulators, wilt the "blesnlnKs of liberty" W Insured to emrseives ard our peterllv. n. a. t'Kumcte. Bridgeport. N. J,