St. Paul daily globe., 1892-07-01
Peoples Party Leaders Have
a Platform Ready Drawn
for Adoption.
Main Planks Of the st. Louis
Pronouncement Are All
Given Place.
An Emphatic Protest Against
the Force Bill to Catch
the South.
Gresham Is Still the Longed-
For Moses, but Persists
in Declining.

OMAHA, Neb., June 30.-Three of
the rival political organizations who
have hoped that the Peoples party
would divide over questions of prin-
ciple and not be able to agree upon
common platform of declarations will
be surprised to know that the Peoples
party platform is already practically
agreed upon. The leaders have been in
constant correspondence for months
past, and it is tacidly agreed that the
st. Louis platform of February % shall
be taken as basis, and that
the only extraneous matter to
receive consideration will be the
denunciation of the force bill, the de-
mand for broader reciprocity than is
now offered, and the conde mnatlon of
the recent state bank plank adopted at
the national Democratic convention.
The platform, which Chairman Tau
beneck, of the national executive COM
mittee, has in his pocket this evening,
and which Gen. Weaver. Ignatils DON
nelly, Congressman Watson, Jerry
Simpson and the other leading spirits
of the party agree shall be adopted as
the war cry of the coming campaign, is
as follows:
Peoples Party Platform.
Flrst-We demand q national currency,
safe, sound and flexible, issued By the gen.
eral government only, full legal tender for
all debts, public and private: and that with
out the use of banking corporations; just,
equitable and efficient means of distribution
direct to the people, at a tax not exceeding 2
per cent, be provided. as set forth in the sub
treasury plan of the Farmers Alliance, or
some better system; also by payments III dis
charge of its obligations for public improve
ments.
We demand tree and unimlited coinage of
silver. "
We demand that the amount of circulating
medium be speedily Increased to not less
than $50 per capita.
We demand graduated income tax.
We believe that the money of the country
should be kept as much as possible i'll the
hands of the people, and hence we demand
that all state and national revenue shall be
limited to the necessary expenses of the gov
erpment, economically and honestly admin
istered,
established by the government for the safe
deposit of the earnings of the people and to
facilitate exchange.
Land and Transportation.
Second-The land, including the natural
resources of wealth, is the heritage of all the
speculative purposes; and alien ownership
of land should be prohibited. All land now
held by railroads and other corporations in
excess of their actual needs, and all lands
now owned by aliens should De claimed by
the government and held for actual sett ler5
only.
neutrality-suspicious. being means of
exchange and public necessity, the govern
ment should own and operate the railroads
in the interests of the people.
The telegraph ana telephOQe. like the DOSt-
Office system, being a necessity for trans
mission of news, should be owned and op-
Grated by the government in the interests of
the people.
Against the Force Bill.
In addition to the above there will be
plank which is expected to frustrate
the herculean efforts that are being eX-
erted by the Democratic leaders of the
South to reclaim their fellows from the
Peoples party ranks. This plank will
be denunciation of the Republican
force bill, and it will be as ringing and
as emphatic as the arraignment by the
Democratic national convention week
ago.
The leaders of the Independent party
have given this subject most careful
consideration. have weighed its effect
in all its details; and they announce to-
night that the die is cast, that the force
bill of the Republican party will be de-
nounced as an unwarranted, dangerous
and unconstitutional interference in
state elections.
The announcement of Chairman Tau
beneck, Of the national committee, that
he favors such plank is regarded as
practically settling the matter, as Tau
beneck. being Northern man of past
Republican affiliations, would be nat
urally expected to oppose the declara-
ton, if opposition were to be encoun-
tered. But Mr.. Taubeneck is one of the
warmest advocates of the plank and
says it means the electoral votes of five
Southern states for the Peoples party
presidential candidates this fall. Taube-
neck does not fear any injurious effect
in the North from an arraignment of the
force bill, because he says the Western
states, where the Peoples party are
strongest in the North, have always
been opposed to the force bill. In ad-
ditIo1 to condemning the force bill, the
platform will indorse the Australian
ballot law as needed reform in all the
states.
The Man Must be Sought.
The man who receives from the ma
tional Peoples party convention the
nomination for the presidency of the
United States will receive it unSought,
and it must come to him unbeckoned.
The nomination must seek the man and
not the man the nomination. Half a
dozen prominent leaders of the great
independent movement are freely dis
cusSed, but not one has yet arrived
upon the ground. and none is making
the slightest effort for that great honor
which any one might cOvet.
The selection of candidate is to be
the last work of the convention. and
the choice is to be made after calm and
mature meditation. The magic of but
one name is sufficient to take this con-
ventlOn by storm, and that name will
never be mentioned within the pre-
clncts of the Coliseum, If the wishes of
this great popular American are 70 be
respected. Walter q. Gresham. of In
diana, could have the nomination by
acclamatiOn by the merest signal of as
sent, but he has forbidden his friends
to allow his name to be mentioned in
this connection, and his friends are so
loyal that they are disposed to accept
his wishes as their law.
List Of the PossfbIes.
The other gentlemen who are promi-
nently mentioned in connection with
the presidential nomination are Gen.
James b. Weaver, eX-congresSman from
Iowa, and formerly the Greenback can
didate for the presidency; Hon. Marion
Cannon, president of the California
Farmers Alliance, and a prominent
writer and worker in the resOrm move
ment; Hon. Ignatius Donneily, of Min
nesota: Hon. John Wiilitts, of Kansas,
the Farmers Alliance candidate, who
was defeated for governor of that state