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Vol. XVI. . LINCOLN, NEB., NOVEMBER 24, 1904. - No. 27
For a New Party
Favors & New Party
." '-' Editor Independent: I am in re
ceipt of your recent letter inviting an
expression of my Jews on the ques
tion of "What populists should do?"
It is my belief -that, there should be
a free expression of opinion by all who
have taken an interest" in the move
ment, and that along in the winter
v there should be a national conference
called of all who are interested in axe
reforms, and then a determination as
to what should be done. I do not think
it best to assume any hard or fast at
titude until we have fully discussed
the question; and it is only for the pur
pose of contributing my views for the
consideration of others, the same as I
Bhall consider theirs, that this letter is
written.
It is certain that an increasingly
large number of the American people
are at this time in favor of the follow
ing progressive reforms: V
1. The national ownership and op
eration of the railroads and telegraph
lines of the country. .
2. The national ownership of enough
coal and other mines, to prevent mo
nopoly, and to accord independent citi
zens an opportunity to acquire the raw
material as advantageously as the
trust acquires them. Y-' ;
3. Postal savings " banks.
4. A graduated income tax.
5. A graduated inheritance tax.
6. Local application in the states of
the principles of initiative and refer
endum, with a subsequent application
to our national affairs should experi
ence in the states prove such extension
desirable. . ,
7. The issue of all money by the fed
eral government without the interven
tion ofany bank. - , ,
8. Compulsory primaries. - '-r
The most important of these reforms
and the one vhich is , securing , the
greatest number of converts, is the na
tional ownership and operation of the
railroads and telegraph lines. Stu
dents of our industrial system, includ
ing business men of all classes, now
understand that the very backbone of
the trust system is the favoritism of
the' private owners of the railroads
This favoritism is exercised in many
ways, such as securing rebates on
freight; a delay in furnishing cars to
the ordinary business man, while they
are furnished the trusts promptly; a
delay in forwarding the product of the
ordinary business man, while sending
the trust-made product to its destina
tion speedily; the use of the right-of-way
of the railroad company by fav
ored interests for grain elevators and
coal yards and other purposes, while
to the , ordinary business man these
privileges are denied. In my judgment
this transportation question should be
placed at the very forefront in the re
form' movement; first, because it is
right; and secondly, because it is con
stantly gaining new adherents from -all
' classes of people. With a suflicient
ownership of coal and other mines, the
citizen who desired to engage in a new
manufacturing enterprise would be as
sured of being on an equal footing
with the trust in the matter of secur
ing raw material and transportation to
his factory; and then through the na
tional ownership of the' railroads he
would be secure in getting equal terms
In the distribution of his manufactured
goods. .
The question is, how to bring about
these desired reforms, r and how best
to unite the people who are in favor of
them. My own judgment Is, that we
can make the greatest progress through
a new political party.- We need no
party that is founded on mere wail of
calamity, but the nation does need a
party which stands for industrial prog
ress without poverty. The present sys
tem leads to progress r.nd poverty; it
furnishes the multimillionaire and tie
pauper. The aim of the new move
ment should be to furnish all an equal
opportunity, and make this a country
where we have neither the plutocrat
nor the pauper. In a new political par
ty, men who have been populists, dem
ocrats or republicans, could all unite
The referendum taken by The
Independent, at 12 o'clock noon, on
Wednesday stood:
For People's Party organization 1,872
For co-operation with Democrats
151
L
on common ground. They could bury
all past dinerences and join together
in favor of those reforms on which
they all agree. They would have no
past political hatreds or. bitterness in
their way. They would not only be
on an equal footing, but what is just
as important, they would all feel that
they were on an equal footing. To
those who are ambitious and desire to
serve the . public in office, there is
nothing deterrent in a riew party. In
a new party, all would enter with an
equal chance for political preferment
The new party would be under no ob
ligations, to- any man for past political
services; there would be no party debts
to pay; there would be no factions as
a result of past party differences.
Without this new party movement
we will not get the full benefit of the
support of those who believe alike in
reforms. ... A new party would secure
the active support of all reformers cur
ing the next four years. But if no
new movement is started, some will go
into the democratic party, some into
the socialist party and some into ihe
prohibition party.
Why any democrat should object to
thus forming a new party, I can not
understand. The democrats are prac
tically without any national organi
zation or standing. They retain con
trbTof rTeVWIthiBTirstates wherenhe
negro question is the controlling one
in politics. But in the territory north
of the Mason and Dixon line, which
comprises the great bulk of industrial
America, there is practically no demo
cratic organization. True, there are
many democratic voters, but they are
a disorganized body. It seems to me
that even under the leadership of Bry
an and Hearst, republicans will not en
ter the democratic party as they would
enter a nev party that stood for re
forms in which they believed. I be
lieve that more than two-thirds of the
republicans rf Nebraska believe in the
government ownership of the rail
roads, and a very large number of
them would enter a new party. But
it is quite plain that they have no J
present intention of entering the dem
ocratic party. They remember the
fights of the past. In aeir own com
munities they have been lined up in
political battles on the republican side,
and the way that their assistance can
be most effectively secured for these
reforms is in a new party where all
meet on common ground.
The people are all right. The vote
for George W. Berge in Nebraska
shows this. Except for the Roosevelt
landslide, which ; was occasioned by
disgust of Parker and the vcrowd
around him, Berge would have re
ceived an overwhelming, plurality.
In saying what I have said here, it
is not through any prejudice against
the mere word "democrat." If the is
sues were finally made up in the next
presidential election solely between a
democrat of the Bryan or Hearst kind
and a rpublican, my vote would be
cast for the democratic candidate. But
the trouble is, that there is in the
democratic party today, auite an ele
ment which is justthe same as the
crowd that controls the republican
party in the nation and state. The
republican party in both state and na
tion is owned bodv, soul and pataloo-,3
by predatory wealth, and there is quite
an element in the democratic party
that belongs in the same class. In Ne
braska, Jame? E. Boyd, Lee Herdman,
James E. Kelly, Lee Spratlin and
George L. Miller, still claim to be
democrats, and I would no more think
of co-oparating with .these ,men in
politics than of co-operating with John
H. Mickey, John Baldwin, Charles F.
Manderson, B. T. White and J. H.
Ager. .
And, as it is in the state, so it is
in the nation. For myself, I could
never see : uch difference between
Theodore Roosevelt and Alton B. bar
ker. No doubt Judge Panter is still
a democrat, and will be a democrat
four years from now.. Then take the
leaders: John D. Rockefeller, Henry
H. Rogers and Jas. Stillmar of the
Standard Oil trust; J. P. Morgan, An
drew, Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt,
George Gould and E. H. Harriman, are
all republicans and supported Roose
velt. So did Armour and Swift and
Morris of tto beef trust; so did Schnei
der of the grain trust. On the other
hand, August Belmont, Jas. J. Hill of
the Great Northern, Ingalls of the Big
Four railroad, Arthur Pue Gorman,
David B. Hill and Grover Cleveland
are still democrats and supported Par
ker, and no doubt they expect to be
democrats four years from now and
will use their influence to nominate a
corporation democrat tor president,
and if they fail in that a genuine Jef
ferson democrat is nominated, those
corporation democrats will knife the
ticket as they did in 1896 and 1900.
The corporation democrats keep anti
monopoly republicans out of the demo
cratic party, and,, at the same time
these corporation democrats always
have and always will knife any presi
dential nominee who stands for ihe
great principles of government typified
in the person of Thomas Jefferson.
If these reforms are to be brought
about, they will only be accomplished
by a union cf the west and south. It
is in the west and south that the real
Jefferson sentiment exists. As a result
of war prejudices, the west has not
been voting its true sentiments. As a
matter of fact, it has had no oppor
tunity to vote its sentiments in a na
tional election except in 189G and 1900.
But the west, in sentiment, believes in
the principles of Jefferson and not
those of Alexander Hamilton. The vote
for Berge in Nebraska', for Adams in
Colorado and Toole in Montana shows
that there is plenty of Jeffersonian
sentiment 4n the west whenever it is
aroused and united.
Unless advantage is taken of this
condition, the democrats will find an
increased socialist vote. It is probably
true that a large majority of those
who voted for Debs are not socialists.
They were protesting democrats or
populists. In South Omaha, the dem
ocratic stronghold In Nebraska, Debs
was as strong as Parker. In Milwau
kee, Debs received two thousand more
votes than Parker. In the democratic
strongholds in Chicago, the vote lor
Debs took the breath from the demo
cratic leaders. It all shows that you
can't fool the people. The vote for
Roosevelt was not a republican vote.
Of cour-e all republicans voted for
him, but democrats and populists by
the tens of thousands all over the
country voted for him as a protest
against the political domination of the
Belmonts, Germans and Clevelands.
I fully recognize that it is hard work
to build up a new organization with
out the assistance , of Mr. Bryan and
Mr. Hearst; and my hope is that those
gentlemen may finally realize that re
form can best be accomplished through
a new organization. . If we had in this
new movement, Bryan, Hearst, Folk
and LaFollette., its ultimate success
would not be in doubt. LaFollette .ias
accomplished a great work In Wiscon
sin In the matter of railroad taxes and
a primary election law. Ho has now
probably secured the necessary power
In the legislature to secure a reduction
in freight rates. This la the end of
the state reforms for which ta
been contending,, and when these are
secured the agitation will cease very
largely. Mr. LaFollette will find that
his freight rate law will be fought and
largely defied by the railroads and that
tue railroads will be protected by the
republican courts; and he will further
find that the only .solution of the great
transportation problem is the public
ownership and operation of the rail
roads, and to secure this, he will hV2
to leave the republican party. Lal
lette will finally have to leave the t
publicans or abandon Ills fight for re
forms, and ' surrender to the vicious
and organized garrison that he has
fought so well. v -
In a new party, such as I have out
lined, LaFollette and all men like him
would find a congenial home.
M. F. HARRINGTON.
O'Neill, Neb.
A New Petrty .
Editor Independent: It seems evi
dent to me that the followers of Bryan
as well as -of Watson can never win
single handed and alone. The trusts
and banking power with their hirelings
of the press as well as those of the
pulpit whose large salaried ministers
are but satellites that revolve around
the Rockefeller, Cleveland, Hill and
Belmont gang. S'uch animals with
woolly back as with sanctimous mien
kneel before their altars and with pa
thetic words plead with their God to
bless the widows and the orphans, the
poor and oppressed, while at any mo
ment they are eager to grasp their ex
orbitant salaries and huge donatioa.:;
blood money that has been wrung from
the oppresed and illy fed poor. With
such a united nolitica.1 fiihraltar to
combat I see no hope for the leaders of
Jeffersonian democracy, marshalled
under Bryan and Watson to conquer
Uwt-jcommflji enemies whilgL
divided. Why can not. our two giants
in oratory, whose pathetic and burning
words have rang like the clarion of
immortality through jthe hearts of vast
assemblies and awakened new life and.
hope of millions of deceived and wan
dering toilers. The political enemies
ot Bryan or Watson can Ld no tar
nish or filth upon their escutcheons.
They stand as torchlights high in the
political heavens to beckon mankind
to a higher sense of justice. Crushing
defeat that would sink the most of
men to oblivion, has only made them
stronger. The words of the slander
ers the filth thrown upon their gar
ments has left them unsullied. Why
can not those two grand agents of re
form together with that grand old vet
eran, Tibbies, whose able pen and
ringing voice inspired by the love of
justice for e enslaved toilers, togeth
er with Hearst, whose . millions have
not created within him . that fire cf
greed which has consumed the con
sciences of many, and with many oth
ers devoted to the same reform, why,
I ask, can iney not, why will they
not unite their forces in one grand
army, discarding old party names,
form a new party with a new name
agreeable to them all and under the
banner of Jackson and Jefferson em
blazoned with- the motto "United we
stand, divided we fall," attempt to col
lect the scattered and wandering c e
ments of reform with the slogan,
"Principle before party." Let aU true
patriots lend their united efforts to all
those who believe in the reforms advo
cated by Bryan and Watson and join
them in one solid phalanx to combat
their common enemy. With such a
union and' with such choice spirits z
Bryan and Watson we can see in ir
the flag of liberty. unfurled over a i--deemed
nation above tne dome of cur
national capital when a universal jubi
lee of rejoicing arising from the toiling
millions over their emancipation from
the shackles of cunning greed and ab
ject slavery, would ascend a volume o?
grateful incense to le God of Liberty
. J; S. G.
"Th Jffetsonlan"
Editor Independent: Apropos of your
referendum ballot question, I can not
answer fully on the form of ballot sub
mitted. Ever since our Denver rc
