Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-08-03

Wv ul6 tlltlDNtu Win lItlitldDlt Tights.
We aim at the abolition of the system which
compels men to pay their fellow creatures
Tor the use of the common bounties of ma
ture, and permits monopolizers to deprive
labor of natural opportunities for employ
ment.
We see access to farming LAND denied to la
Dor except on payment of exorbitant rent
or the acceptance Of mortgage burdens. and
labor, thus forbidden to employ itself, driven
into the cities. We see the wage workers of
the cities subjected to this unnatural compe-
tition and forced to pay an exorbitant share
of their scanty earnings for cramped and un-
healthful lodgings. We see the same intense
competition condemning the great majority
of business and professional men to a bitter
and often unavailing struggle to avoid bank
ruptcy, and that while the price of all that
labor produces ever falls the price of land
ever rises.
We trace these evils to a fundamental
w~rong-the making of the land on which all
must live the exclusive property of but a por-
ton Of the community. To this denial of
natural rights are due want Of employment,
low wages. business depressions, that intense
competition which makes it SO difficult for
the majority of men to get a comfortable
living, and the wrongful distribution of
wealth, which is producing the millionaire
on one side and the tramp on the other.
To give all men an interest in the land of
their country: to enable all to share in the
benefits of social growth and improvement;
to prevent the shutting out of labor from
employment by the monopolization of natu-
raj opportunities; to do away with the one
sided competition which cuts down wages to
starvation rates: to restore life to business
and prevent periodical depressions; to do
away with that monstrous injustice which
deprives producers of the fruit of their toll
while idlers grow rich; to prevent the con-
ficts which are arraying class against class,
and which are fraught with menacing dan
gers to society, we propose so to change the
existing system of taxation that no one shall
be taxed on the wealth he produces, nor any
one suffered to appropriate wealth he does
not produce by taking to himself the in
c~reasing values which the growth Of society
adds to land.
What we propose is not the disturbing Of
any man in his holding or title; but, by tax
alton of land according to its value and not
according to its area, to devote to common
use and benefit those values which arise not
from the exertion Of the individual but from
the growth Of society, and to abolish all
taxes OF industry and its products, This in
creased taxation of land values must, while
relieving the working farmer and small
homestead owner OF the undue burdens now
imposed upon them, make it Improbable to
hold land for speculation, and thus throw
open abundant opportunities for the employ
ment of labor and the building up of homes.
We would do away with the present I'M
just and wasteful system of finance which
piles up hundreds of millions of dollars in
treasury vaults while we are paying interest
on an enormous debt; and we would estab-
lish in its stead a monetary system in which
a legal tender circulating medium should be
issued by the government without the inter-
vention of banks.
We wish to abolish the present unjust and
wasteful system of ownership of railroads
and telegraphs by private corporations-a
system which, while failing to supply ade-
quately public needs, impoverishes the
farmer. Expresses the manufacturer, hampers
the merchant, impedes ravel and commune
cation, and builds up enormous fortunes and
%corrupting monopolies that are becoming
more powerful than the government itself.
For this system we would substitute govern
ment ownership and control for the benefit
of the whole people instead of private profit.
While declaring the foregoing to be the
fundamental principles and aims of the
United Labor party, and while conscious
that no reform can give e~ffectual and per-
manent relief to labor that does not involve
the legal recognition of equal rights to ma
tural opportunities, we, nevertheless, as
measures of relief from some of the evil
effects of ignoring those rights, favor such
legislation as may tend to reduce the hours
labor, to prevent the employment of children
of tender Years, to avoid the competition of
convict labor with honest industry, to secure
the sanitary inspection of tenements, fac
tories and mines, and to put an end to the
abuse of conspiracy laws.
We desire also to so simplify the proceed
ure of our courts and diminish the expense
of legal proceedings that the poor may there
in be placed on an equality with the rich,
and the long delays which now result in the
scandalous miscarriages Of justice may be
prevented.
Since the ballot is the only means by which
in our republic the redress of political and
social grievances is to be sought, we espe-
cially and emphatically declare for the adop-
ton of what is known as the Australian sys-
TEN of voting, in order that the ~effectual
secrecy of the ballot. and the relief of candi-
dates for public office from the heavy ex-
penses now imposed upon them may prevent
bribery and intimidation, do away with
practical discrimination in favor Of the rich
and INSCRIPTIONS, and lessen the pernicious
influence of money in politics.
We denounce the Democratic and Repub.
lican parties as hopelessly and shamelessly
corrupt, and, by reason of their utilization
with monopolies, equally unworthy of the
suffrages of those who do not live upon pub
lie plumber; we therefore require Of those
who would act with US that they sever all
connection with both.
In support of these aims, we solicit the CO.
operation of all patriotic citizens who, sick
of the degradation of politics, desire by con-
stitutional methods to establish justice, TO
preserve liberty, to extend the spirit of fra
ternity, and to elevate humanity.
IIAIIAA IAnAH -rAH