St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-03
THE ALLIANCE PLATFORM.

The platform of the Minnesota Farm
ers' Alliance, as adopted at its conyen-
ton day before yesterday. is. in most
regards. an exceedingly moderate docn-
ment to emanate from an organization
which is popularity supposed to live for
the eXtirpation OF the existing order OF
things. 1t is practically III accord with
the views of all the most intelligent
men in the state on the subject of the
tariff. the public lands, voting, child
labor, arbitration. franchises, pensions,
convict labor and the force bill. The
principles which it advocates on all OF
these questions are the principles for
which the Democracy has been most
faithfully contending, and with which
the rank and file of Minnesota Republi-
cans are IN open OF secret sympathy.
On one or two points 1t takes positions
which a great many people would gladly
see held if it were practicable, but legis-
lation in reference to which would be
likely to prove futile. The business
decentralization which attends option
gambling constitutes a serious evil on
contemporary society. and if legal enact
ments could accomplish anything III
this direction, they ought to be made.
o If the Alliance has discovered any
way of curing the disease, the general
public would probably be glad to see it
applied A very large majority OF our
people would probably be glad also if
they could borrow money at low rates
of interest, and without paying COM
missions, but usury laws have seldom if
ever proved very effective. Money is
only commodity. like everything else,
and those who have it to sell claim the
right to exact such price for it as they
can get in the open market. We should
all be glad to buy our hats cheaper, and
probably everybody except the hatters
would be benefited if the legislature
should regulate the price of hats in
keeping with the pocketbookS of the
poor. The trouble would be that. while
we could forbid the sale Of hats at more
than maximum price, we could not
compel men to furnish us hats at that
figure unless it were going to prove
profitable for them to do so. And if it
did not, and the supply of hats should
stop Oh the laws account, men Wo uld
probably devise some way of evading
any such law as might be enacted rath-
er than ruin their health by going bare
headed. In the same way we may for bid
men who have money to sell from asking
more than l or 2 per cent year for
it if we want to; and it surely would
result in a very comfortable state OF
affairs for a great many of us if it could
be brought about. But the trouble
would be that we could not compel
them to let US have it at this figure UNI
less they wanted to. and there are very
few men who would not at some time or
other be much better off, even if they
had to pay a much higher rate OF inter
est, than to go without the money alto
gether. For such the law would be no
barrier against making any bargain
which would relieve their necessities.
There is another side, to be sure, to the
question of passing laws which can not
be enforced; but. in general, we think
it is not wise.
OF the rest of the Alliance platform,
some planks are platitudes with which
no one could quarrel because they make
no difference one way or the other. On
the question of railroad regulation, the
currency and taxation, the grangers
speak with force and intelligence.
Whether their ideas are wise and likely
to be productive we propose to disc uss
at some future time.