The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28

asked today by many thousands and
the numbers are growing larger year
by year For flesh and blood to COM
pete with the nerveless rlachine is out
of the question. The result is before
US. We can all see 1t who will but
look. We find two classes of people
have grown UP under the system, the
millionaire and the tramp. Offspring
from the same parent. Brothers if you
please. The one as worthless as the
other is helpless.
This appalling condition IS seen by
the leaders of both the old parties.
One proposes TO cure it by high
tariff, the other by a low tariff
The one is alopathic, the other
homeopathic, but the patient has been
getting worse all the while, and at
the present writing there is no signs
Of Improvement.
SoCsthing must be done that
wealth produced should belong to
him who produces it, Populists have
no disposition 10 belittle the tariff
question. only IN a. comparative sense
They contend, and I think correctly,
too, that as compared with the great
questions of land, transportation and
finance, that it is of little Importance.
I think the oopuIist platform on 1hese
questions offers the only solution to
the labor problem. and therefore be-
lieve that every wage Garner should
vote that ticket.
Another reason why wage e1rners
should vote the PopuliSa ticket, e.
pecially in Utah, IS is position on the
silver question. AS party it has al
ways and on all occasions demanded
the free and unlimited coinage OF gold
and silver at the pTese /. ratio Of IS
to l. Such is not TIE case with
either the Democratic or Republican
parties. Their national platforms, if
they mean anything, mean ne same
thing. Either can be made 10 mean
anything. everything or nothing, just
as the occasion may reqIire. The
easiest way to say 4 thing is to say
it. The easiest way 70 say free COIN
silverLbut neither OF their platforms
say it. Why? because they 90 not
mean it. All Of the financial lesisla-
ton Of the old parties has been in the
interest of the moneyed classes and
against the comon people. Money that
is legislated in the bankers pocket is
legisiated out of the pockets Of the
laboring classes.
Every demand of the Populist
platform on finance. is made in the di-
rection Of justice to the producing
CldSoSo- @dbo1 llS4fIS ~ eD44 dltO
special privileges to none" has ever
been its motto. Right, wrong nobody.
Space preciudes me from going more
into detail along this line. 1 will only
mention that the income tax is a
Populist demand and is in existence
today through the Populist members
Of Congress.
I should also mention the postal
saving's bank demand which means
nothing more nor less than
an absolutely safe place to deposit
your earnings, where no defauitlng
cashier can steal it from you, as is the
case so often now with the so-called
national bank which are national in
name only.
The Populist platform on finance is
prominently in the interest of the
wage Garner and the party should have
his undivided support.
Another point in favor of the Popu-
list platform that should meet the ap-
prevail of laboring men, especially rail-
road employees is its position on the
railroad question. In the very nature
of things railroads are a public utility.
They are public highways. They can
not be private property in the comm on
acoeptation OF the term. Being a
public utility they procure their right
of way over and across private pro
perty. The laws of the country give
this power under the spacious plea that
they are public property, but no sooner
are they put into active operation than
they become private property. Per-
sonal gain is the only motive that
govern their actions. The freight
rates. the train service and accommo-
dations are limited to the bounds of
private gain for the owners. The
public's convenience is never taken
into account. The rate is always
placed as high as the traffic will bear.
Instead of railroads being the servants
of the people they have become their
unrelenting masters. In the matter of
wages paid employees, while 1t Is
nominally fair in most cases, for the
with other work. but no consideration
OF the extra hazzardiness Of the work
is taken into account. The average
life of railroad employee is very
short. And .furtherm ore, no RESPONSE
bility attending unless 1t can be proven
beyond doubt that the death Of an
employee is due TO some wonton defect
in eauipage of the road. And no mat
ter how plain the case may be, the
plaintiff in the case must be able
financially to prosecute the case
through all the higher courts, for rail-
road corporations pay nothing except
upon an order from the court of last
resort.
Populists believe that rail roads
should belong to the public and that
Its employees be servants of
the public. Compare the treatment
that railroad employees get in case of
loss of life or limb with those in the
employ of. the general government.
The same can be said with equal force
Of the telegraph and telephone COM
panies. II would certainly be ito the
interest of all laboring people to have
these public utilities operated in the
interest of the whole people. Upon