The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-06
HAMLIN v. POORE.
A STRONG LETTER.

Senator Dodge Discusses the Failure
of the LabOrinE Men to Stand by
the Peoples Party-Why Do the
TOilers Hesitate:
To the Editor:
The first declaration of principles in the
Peoples platform, adopted by the conven--
ton at Omaha, reads as follows:
First That the union of the labor forces
of the United States this day consummated,
shall be permanent and perpetual; may it's
spirit enter into all hearts for the salvation
of the republic and the uplifting of man.
kind"
Now, it seems to us. that, with the ex-
ception of the Farmers Alliance, the labor
forces embodied in the great labor organiza-
tions of the United States have not done
what they should have done, or what they
might have done, to help carry out the prin-
ciple set forth in the above quotation. The
Farmers Alliance was the main labor force
that brought into being the Peoples party,
and it was for the uplifting of downtrodden
labor that prompted that tried and true
friend Of labor, Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, to
to write that ever memorable preamble to
the Peoples party platform adopted at
Omaha in 1892 The platform was a sting
ing declaration of war on every form of
wrong that is being used by plutocracy to
storm and Cypress labor. and when the Peo-
pies party was brought into existence and
the platform adopted the Farmers Alliance
hailed it with shout which went up from
every alliance which then dotted every
state in the Union. and the farmers had
every reason to believe that the shout
would be taken up and re-echoed along the
lines of every great labor organization until
1T had reached the most distant shores of
the continent, but in this they were sorely
disappointed, for, Notwithstanding po-
litical party had been born whose platform
was broad enough for every laborer in the
land to stand upon, there was only a faint
whisper of approval that came up from
these great cohorts of labor. Why were
they so silent and why do they hesitate to
freely enlist in the Peoples party-the only
party that has ever demanded fair deal as
between labor and capital and the only po-
lltlcal party whose press and orators have
come to the help of labor in it's darkest
hour Of adversely, and have dealt fearful
blows on the heads of the Carnegies, the
Pullmans. the railroad combines and all
tinue the fight. With the farmers as the
main labor force behind them, the struggle
goes on, and yet these labor organizations
which were supposed to be the natural
allies of the Alliance and the PEOPLES
party, are holding conventions and if their
speakers allude to the war that the Peoples
party has waged against the common
enemy of labor the aluson is so faint and
lukeWarm that it does the party and the
cause of labor more harm than good
The convention of Federated Labor, which
recently convened at Denver, decided to act
independently in politics. Probably this
means if we judge the future by the past,
that every member of the Federation shall
have perfect liberty to vote with whichever
one of the old political parties that would
be most likely to help win their next strike,
help which these old parties have usually
proffered at the muZzle of the Gatling gun
III independence in politics means that
each labor organization is to have a DO
lltlcal party Of it's own then it is a clear
case of divided house, and it must fall
and the fall means the enslavement of
labor The farmers, a class, are now
organizing Peoples party leagues and in
otner ways preparing to grapple with their
powerful political foe in 1885, and this foe is
the common foe of labor. Then will the
labor organizations, working under different
names, assert their independence in poll
Tics, and stand inactive, while the farmers
as single division of the labor army fight
the battle in 1896, single-handed and alone9
If they do the day is lost, and then plu-
tocracy, flushed with victory, will ride
rough-shod over the disorganized labor fac
TONS and many a dark and gloomy day will
pass ere another organized army of 1900. 900
toner's, armed with the ballot, go forth to
battle Tor the salvation of the republic and
the uplifting of mankind.