People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-10-03
NATIONAL PLATFORM
Or the Peoples Party, Adopted at
Omaha. July 4, 1892.

--g - 'SI-
Assembled upon the one hundred and six
teenth anniversary Of the Declaration of In
depence, the Peoples party of America, in
their first national convention, invoking upon
their action the blessing of Almighty God
puts forth in the name and On behalf of the
people of this country. the following pream
bic and declaratiOn.Of principles:
The conditions which surround us best jus.
tify our cooperation. We meet in the midst
OF nation brought TO the verge Of moral,
political and material ruin. Corruption dom.
mates the ballot box, the legislatures, the
congress, and touches even the ermine Of the
bench. The people are demOralized Most
of the states are compelled to isolate the vo-
tiers at the polling places to prevent univer-
sal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers
are largely subsidized or muzzled public
opinion silenced, business Frustrated, our
homes covered with mortgages, labor impov
orished, and the land concentrating in the
hands Of the capitalists. The urban work
men are denied the right Of organization for
self protection; imported pquperized labor
beats down their wages; hireling standing
army, unrecognized by our laws. is estab-
Ished to shoot them down, and they are rap
idly degenerating into European conditions.
The fruits of the toll of millions are boldly
stolen to build up colossal fortunes for few.
unprecedented in the history of mankind.
and the pOssessors Of these. in turn. despise
the republic and endanger liberty. From the
same prolific womb of governmental injus
tice we breed the two great classes-tramps
and milliOnaires.
The national power to create money is ap-
Propriated to enrich bondholders. A vast
public debt payable in legal tender currency
has been funded into gold-bearing bonds
thereby adding millions to the burdens of the
people.
Silver, which has been accepted as coin
since the dawn of history, has been demone-
tlzed to add to the PURCHASING power of gold
by decreasing the value of all forms of prop.
erty, as well as human labor, and the supply
OF currency is purpOsely abridged, to fatten
usurers, bankrupt enterprise and enslave in
ouStry, A vast conspiracy against mankind
mas been organized on two continents, and is
rapidly taking possession of the world. Ii
not met and OverthrOwn at once, it forebOdes
terrible social commissions, the destruction Of
civilization, or the establishment of an abso
lutte Gespotism
We have witnessed for more than a century
the struggles Ct the two great political arties
1or power and plumber, while grievous wrongs
nave been inflicted upon the suffering people.
we charge that the controlling influence DOM
mating both these parties have permitted the
existing dreadful conditions to develop with
out serious effort to prevent or restrain them,
Neither do they now promise us any substau-
tial reform They have agreed together to
ignore in the coming campaign every issue
but one. They propose to drown the outcries
Of a plundered people with the uproar of
sham battle over the tariff, so that capitalists
corporations, national banks. rings, trusts
Watered stocks, the demonetzation of silver
and the expressions of the usurers may all be
iost sight of. They propose to sacrifice our
homes, lives and children on the altar of
MammOn; to destroy the multitude in order
TO secure corruption funds from the million.
aires.
Assembled on the anniversary of the birth
day of the nation, and filed with the shirt of
the grand generation which established our
Independence, we seek to restore the govern
ment of the republic to the hands of the
plain people," with which class it origi.
mated
we assert our purposes to be identical with
the purposes Of the national constitution
TO form more perfect union. establish JUS
tice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for
the common defence. promote the general
welfare. and secure the blessings of liberty
1or ourselves and our posterity." We declare
mat this republic can Only endure as free
government while built upon the love of the
whole people for each one and for the nation:
thatit cannot be pinned together by bayonets;
that the civil war is over and that every pss-
sion and resentment which grew out Of it
must die with 1t; and that we must be In fact
as we are In name, one united brotherhood Of
freemen.
Our country finds itself confronted by con-
ditions for which there Is no precedent In the
history OF the world-our annual agricultural
productions amount 10 billions Of dollars in
Vs'ue, which must in q few weeks or months
DO exchanged for billionsof dollars of com.
nodities, consumed in their production; the
existing currency is wholly inadequate to
make tais exchange; the results are falling
prices, the formation Of combines and
rings and the impoverishment Of the produc.
ing class. We pledge ourselves that If given
power we will labor to correct these evils BY
wise and reasonable legislation in accordance
with the terms of our platform.
We believe that the powers Of government
in other words, Of the people-should be er.
banded las in the case Of the postal service,
As rapidly and as far as the good sense of an
iutelligentpeople and the teachings Of exper-
isnce shall justify to the end that oppression,
injustice and poverty shall eventually cease
In the land.
While our sympathies as party Of reform
are naturally upon the side Of every position
which will tend 10 make men intelligent. viz.
Iuous and temperate, we nevertheless regard
these questions, important as they are, as sec.
)ndary to the great interests now pressing
.or solution and upon which not only our in.
iividual prosperity, but the very existence Of
rec institutions depend; and we ask al, l-n
% first help us to determine. whether we are
10 have republic to administer before We
iiner as to the conditions upon which 1t Is to
Do administered. Believing that the forces
If reform this day organized will never cease
o move forward until every wrong is rem.
died and equal rights and equal privileges
securely established for all the men and
women of the country,
We declare, therefore
LIST That tho tsofOY % I,k.