Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-11-03
TWO GOOD LETTERS
OUR CANDIDATES FOR GOV
ERNOR AND MAYORACCEPT
1.-The Future is Ours''-At the Service
of the Socialist Labor Party
Not Men, but II PerniciOus
System opposed to
the RefOrmers.

the RefOrmers.
When the nominees of the Social
ist Labor Party were first named in
the City Committee, they were not
Informed for what office they were
to stand as candidates. So that, on
the date of Edward Halls acceptance
of a nomination, he simply accepted
q nomination as a matter of duty,
and sent the following letter to the
City Committee. Later on it was
read and accepted at a joint meeting
OF the Sections After excusing his
absence from the meeting, owing to
previous engagement in the inter
est of our cause, Mr.. Hall said:
''ln the first place am heartily in ac-
cord with the stand taken by the S. l..
P. of New York City upon the question
of entering upon Independent political
action. AS matter of fact, | advo-
Gated that plan of action to be kept up
at every election, as long ago as 1879
and even at the last election Nov. 1887,
| was in favor of dropping the name of
Progressive Party and sailing under the
flag of Socialism only.
81 believe, by preserving the integrity
of our organization intact and free from
any compromises or entangling political
allowances, we shall, in the course of
the next ten years. become power in
the land; for we have all the tendencies
OF the times in our favor, even including
the corruption and dickering of all the
other political movements. AS Social
lists, we must see that the future is ours
We may, and probably shall, gain very
slowly, but we shall be able TO retain
every foot we do gain. We cannot hope
for "bOom," nor is it desirable; but we
need fear no great reaction in our move
ment; and finally the people will come
to recognize us by the very steadiness
with which we advance, and the purity
of our political administration.
AS to the question of selecting candi-
dates, | can only say that | believe all
that is required is, that the persons so
nominated should have fair amount of
intelligence and should have proved their
devotion to the cause by a membership
extending over two or three years in the
Socialist Labor Party, or if candidate
has spent one-half or more of that time
In trade union to count that favorable
as well. By this | mean to convey the
idea that whoever the Socialist Labor
Party may nominate for candidates, let
us be reasonably sure that they are men
who are Socialists, and not those who
think they may be such and then find
out their mistake and become bdcksiiders,
for such candidates will do our cause
more harm than ten thousand defeats at
the polls.
'As to using my name for candidacy,
| can only say that am at the service of
the Socialist Labor Party in whatever
plan of action they may adopt, and in so
far as lies within my power.
'Gours fraternally,
81. EDWARD HALL.
''NEw YORK, Oct. 8, 1888"
ALEXANDER JONAS LETTER.
Our candidate for Mayor of New
York, Alexander Jonas, accepts the
nomination in the following strong
and argumentative letter which, by
the way, net one of our daily capi-
talistic papers had the courage or
enterprise to reproduce or correctly
quote from:
COMRADES OF THE SOCIALIST LABOR
PARTY:
The nomination for the office of Mayor of
the City of New York this year is considered
a very important one by the different parties,
and the so-called flag y have been
nominated.
The humblest wage worker, If imbued
with the correctness of the principles of
socialism, and determined to do all in his
power to assist in carrying them into prac-
tice, would have been deserving to receive
our nomination. If | have been selected it
was probably because my daily occupation
suggested that | possessed the necessary
amount of routine to expound our principles
and views, orally as well as in writing, to
the masses of the people.
\ Fortunately | am not expected, like the
candidates of the other parties, to make any
promises. | am not expected to take a
solemn oath that | am to accomplish all
sorts of wonders during my term of Office
nor that | am willing to leave undone all
sorts of terrible misdeeds. The number of
votes to be cast for our party will probably
not be as large as the vote p lied by the
abolitionists throughout the Union when
they first appeared in the political arena
more than generation ago.