The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-11-20
THEPOPULIST PARTY
WHAT IT is AND or WHAT slE-
I MsNTs COMPOSED.

| Omaha, st. Louis and 0cala-Ohiectionn
to This Organisation One Glass Of Ci;i-
zens Arrnyed Against Another.
The fact that this party has been able
to elect governors and Legislatures in
several states and to secure several sem
htors and members of the house Of rep.
resentatives in congress gives it right
TO be considered as o factor in politics
which must be taken into account by
the old and dominant parties.
So far as 1t has Conference, this new
party is composed of the Farmers ALI
hnoe, Knights of Labor and other bodies
supposed to be organized topromote the
interests of the Industrial classes" in
opposition to the capitalist and en-
ploying classes" together with the dis
satisfied elements of all classes.
The principles of this party, as for
mulated by its national convention at
Omaha July 4, 1892, at the st. Louis
and Ocala conventions and other author
lied utterances, seems to be these:
First-That the nation is on the verge
of moral, political and material ruin be.
cause of corruption at the ballot box, in
the Legislatures and congress and on the
bench, all resulting from legislation by
the two old parties in the interest Of
the rich and reducing the masses to pow
erty and suffering. The remedy pro-
posed for this is:
Second-The permanent and perpet-
ual union of the labor forces of the
United States in q political party for the
purpose of electing public officers of all
grades who hold to and will carry out
their principles.
Third-Governmental ownership and
control Of the means for the creation,
conservation and distribution of wealth.
How far this is to 90 is not yet fully
determined. The nationalists would in
clude lands, houses, factories, stores and
everything else, abolishing money and
having all things in common. But the
general mass seem to be content with
governmental ownership of railroads,
telegraphs and such like means of COM
munication and the establishment of
governmental savings banks, loan offices
and other means of taking care of and
distributing money. Many of the utter
anees under this head are so crude and
contradictory that exact statement is i'm
possible.
Fourth-Demand is made for the free
and unlimited coinage of gold and sill
vei at the ratio of to 1G; of circulat-
ing medium of not less than $50 per
head OF population; of the issue of gov
eminent notes, to be full legal tender
for all debts and demands, public and
private, to BIO loaned by the government
to the people on land or other security
at per cent interest per annum.
Fifth-Like other platforms, there
are declarations concerning current
questions, temporary, and which cannot
DO held as permanent principles, and
many declarations which are simply the
common utterances of all parties. No
attempt will be made to state these.
The three fundamental principles of
the party seem to be "a the political
Organization of the industrial classes to
control elections; (2) q large extension
of governmental ownership and control
of industrial forces; (3) large supply
of government money, with direct Issue
to the people who want it.
Objections to This Party.
| The objections which present them
selves to this party and its demands are:
First-That, being based ON an as
sumption of the poverty and restitution
of the masses, it is in danger of becom-
ing an organized attack on all rights of
private property and must end in an
archy or communism. No one should
enter the party who is not prepared to
follow it to one or the other of these
conclusions.
Second-That, being an attempt to
organize one class of citizens against
another class, laborers against capital
lists, it must lead to more pronounced
conflicts, aggravate all tho evils of or
ganized lockouts and strikes and tends
to civil war-not to peace.
Third-That, being based on charges
of universal corruption and fraud, ii
tends to break down all confidence of
man in man and begets the very corrup-
ton it charges i'll its own followers as
well as Others Evil grows in him who
evil thinks. The short experience of
this party already demonstrates its de-
moralizing influence.
Fourth-That, while charging uni
versal corruption upon all branches of
the government, national and state, it
proposes to infinitely multiply the
means and rewards of corruption by
multiplying the governmental control of
the production and distribution of
wealth. When public officers are
charged with the creation, loaning and
collecting of almost unlimited amounts
of money, with the owning and manager
ment of enterprises requiring the en-
ployment and discharge of hundreds of
thousands of men, where will be the
limit of population and fraud? If we
cannot have honest officers with the
present very limited temptations and
means of stealing, what can we expect
with the unlimited opportunities pro-
posed? Human nature will be the same,
and results must be in proportion to the
means offered.
j Fifth-The scheme of governmental
ownership of the means of intercourse
and transportation seems impraeticable
from the financial standpoint. These are
now property of private owners, and
there seems to be but two ways in which
the government can acquire them. One
is to purchase them. But the govern
ment has no money to buy with and can
get none except by some form of taxa
ton. If it should buy them ON credit,
it would create a national debt many
times greater than the war debt, and
that debt would have to be represented
by promises to pay, and to pay both
principal and interest onerous taxes
must be levied. This property, then,
cannot be honestly acquired but by ere.