Middletown transcript., 1892-10-06
7us peopLE,s PLATFORM.
r.. n..,.r.tIons Tend to Governmental In.
terualisn4 and state Socialism.

x.rraIisns and state Socialism.
Prominent in the Peoples Party
platform is the proposition that the
Goyernment establish produce pawn.
ahons and make loans on farm products
a. Der cent interest, that provision be
made BY the Government for loans on
farm lands at similar rate Of interest
and that the Government assume con-
troll of railroad and telegraph lines.
These propositions embody the princi-
nal features Of what is better known as
tbe Sub-treasury and land loan schemes
and proposed Government ownership
of railroads and telegraph lines put for
ward by the Farmers Alliance ct ocaiA,
Florida. and more latterly christened
Inv the Omaha council THE Reform
Trinity Of Land, Finance and Transpor.
tation." :.
An examination Of these propositions
show that they involve principles and
procedures antagonistic to the Federal
Constitution, inharmonious with the
American idea of government, In con.
fiict with the spirit and constitution OF
the Farmers Alliance, whose funda-
mental maxim is equal rights OF all and
special privileges to none, revolutionary
in proposition and tendency. imprac-
ticable in method, subversive OF good
government and tending in an alarm
ing degree to governmental paternalisnl
and State socialism.
The farming class above all others
should never consent to the theory that
it is the province Of government, either
directly or indirectly, to provide for the
sustentation Of the citizen. Govern
ment is nothing more than society po-
litically organized for special purposes
and is neither omnipotent nor omnific.
The Government must look to the
citizen rather than the citizen to the
Government and when this order Of de-
pendence is inverted, government at
once becomes an engine Of oppression,
gigantic in the scope Of It's evil and ma
tional in the range Of its desolation, un-
der which the sovereign citizen is de-
graded to condition Of abiect help
iessness and servility. The progress
and prosperity Of the individual, as
also the fidelity of free institutions
must be left to individual thought, eff
fort and enterprise. ANY other system
must dwarf the system, abnormally
magnify the government, thereby be-
coming menace in principle that gov
ernment is Of the people, for the people,
and by the people.
The sub-treasury scheme must by its
own provisions be limited and partial
in its operation, thus constituting that
species Of class legislation against which
the farming class has always waged war
and which has been their bane and
curse. Then it involves complica-
tion and intricacy of business detail
with which the average farmer has no
acquaintance or experience. Then it
requires o series and system of charges
upon warehouse deposits of farm pro.
ducts which together with the time and
labor OF necessary attention to details
would equal o sum Of money as great If
not greater than the rate of interest at
which money can be borrowed through
the ordinary financial methods of the
period; it would place the market
price Of the deposited farm products
beyond the control of the producer and
at the dictum Of political inexperts,
thus opening wide the gates of COM
merce to sharpers and sharks, who
would mercilessly traffic to their own
profit in the hard earnings of the farm
ers. It would furnish substitute for
money, which must be degraded to q
deprecated and uncertain standard OF
value, and subjected to ruinous dis
counts in all business transactions the
price to be paid for necessaries in the
currency provided for by the proposed
scheme would be increased by just so
far as there may be uncertainty as to
the final disposition Of the commodity,
upon the deposit of which the proposed
certificates would be issued. The
throwing of q great mass of produce
npon the market at one and the same
time would depreciate prices and thus
bring loss to the government, which
must be made good by increased tax
alton of the farmer in common witt
other tax paying citizens. To those
who see these promised evils the out
look presents only confusion made
calamitous by bankruptcy and ruin
Some local history confrmatory Of thest
objections could be furnished by
the States of Alabama, Missouri ant
Mississippi, each of which to its owl
sorrow has tried schemes of relief no
dissimilar to the proposed sub-treasur.
bill.
The land loan scheme is even NOR,
Objectionable, if possible, than the sub
treasury and warehouse proposition
Its only possible commendation to ia
vorable consideration is the extremel,
low rate Of interest proposed. But j
is questionable whether this seeming
advantage could compensate for tn
many disadvantages that may resul
from the scheme should it become
law. The expense Of the system-pay
ment Of Government agents, fees fo
applications for loans, examination 9
land titles, expenses Of collections an
foreclosures Of mortgages would, wLe
added to the two per cent interest swe
the amount of the loan to an amour
equal if not greater than the ordinar
rate OF interest on money secured b
real estate; it would rring upon IL
present borrower who should resol
to the scheme the odium of those VII
have favored and indulged him in tin
of his financial straits it would in ca:
OF nonpayment at maturity Of the SUI
borrowed Of the Government make I'll
borrower helpless victim of land p
rates operating in collusion with Il
Government agents, for unless the del
is paid the land mortgaged must
sold. for the Government must be ris
in its methods. But the great evil
the scheme is in the damaging and ia
reachi ing concession the borrowing ell
zen makes to the lending Goyernmen
There can be no greater menace to fir
institutions than the assumption
government OF affairs that natural
pertain to the individual. The tran
ition from dependence of Governme
apon the people, to debtorship Of 4
reupel 70 che Government, is step
the direction of sanctioning cover
mental interference with the rights
N