The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-15
nasnded New Party Organization.

Washington, Sept. 14-The following
is the letter sent by Senator Butler of
North Carolina, the chairman of the Pop
ulist national committee, to Hon. Thomas
e. Watson, of Georgia, notifying him of
his nomination as candidate for Vice
President by the Populist national COM
mittee:
Headquarters Peoples Party national ex,
ecutive committee, Washington, d. c.,
Sept. IS, 1896.
Hon. Thomas f. Watson Thomson. Ga
Dear Sir:-Such is our form of Govern
ment that the citizens of the United
States must shape it's couI Sc for good or
evil through the agency of political par
ties. When there is no political party
that represents the principles of good gov
eminent, no party that stands for right
and the interests of the laborcr, wealth pro-
ducer and all who strive to make an hon
est living by fair and legitimate means,
then it is impossible for the majority of
the voters to express their will at the bal
lot box
When all the political parties stand for
the selfish interest and personal greed of
money changers, corporations, trusts
monopolies, as does the Republican party
under the leadership of John Sherman and
the Democratic party under the leader
ship of Grover Cleveland, then the pro-
ducing masses are victims without an
alternative To withhold votes will fur.
nish them no relief, while to cast their
votes for either party is to sanction their
own spoliation and to strengthen tie
power that Expresses them.
This was the political situation in 1892
when stern necessity forced organized
labor, the organized wealth producers,
and others who believe in good govern
ment and were engaged in legitimate bus
mess interests, to meet and form new
political organization known as the Peo-
pies party. This new political party,
representing the principles of true Repub-
licanism as taught by Abraham Lincoln,
and of true Democracy as taught by
Jefferson and jackson, as if springing
full grown from the ioins of the people,
cast over million votes, winning in five
States within four months from the date
| Of Us birth.
The Democratic and Republican parties
no longer represent the principles upon
which they were founded. They have
long since deserted the principles for
which our ancestors left the Old World,
and which made our inheritance through
the blood and sacrifice of our fathers in
the Revolutionary war, and had embraced
the odious and oppressive methods so long
practced by monarchies and despotisms of
| the Old World. The enemies of good gov
eminent, the enemies of the peoples pros
| perity, and the enemies of struggling
humanity had dominated and controlled
| both Of the parties for twenty years.
Both of these parties had long since
ceased TO regard the interests of the
! masses, and became the agents through
which corporations and trusts exploit the
| people; both of these parties have be-
| trayed the people and have legislated in
| the interests of bankers, spectators,
bond holders and monopolsts, thus en-
| abling the favored few to absorb the mil
| lions of property reared and created by
the toiling masses They have been the
agencies for robbing the millions to make
the few millionaires, and worse than this
| they have placed the welfare and happi-
ness of the whole nation in the hands of,
and subject to the confederated money
| powers of the world The candidates of
both of these parties for the past twenty
years have been pledged to the gold stand
ard, and have used the power of the Gov.
eminent on the side of gold. No matter
for which party the people voted for, their
votes were cast for their enemies and to
enslave themselves. No matter which
| party went into power times grew harder
and the wealth of the many concentrated
| into the hands of the few.
| Another party, the American party,
| was wanted. There was need for such n
| party to keep alive the spirit of 1776, to
advocate and enforce the principles of the
| Declaration Of Independence, to advocate
the rights of American labor and Ameri-
can manhood, to restore prosperity to a
| suffering people, and to rescue a great
and rich nation from the quicksands of
bankruptcy and ruin. Thus the Peoples
party stands for the great principles of a
republican form of government as repre-
sented by the forefathers, and came into
| existence to restore the government to
the people.
The Peoples party was the first polti-
cal organization in twenty three years
that made an honest demand folpthe free
and unrestricted coinage of silver. Until
the present year both old parties put into
their platforms demand for the restora-
ton of silver, but coupled with it qualify
ing and ambiguous phrases that mega
tived the demand, and then rallied the
voters of the, West and South for silver
and the MOI theast for the gold standard
| on the same platform The Peoples
party was the first political organization
that declared against the suwendering Of
the Government functions of issuing
paper money to national, State or private
banks. The Peoples party was the first
| political organization to make definite
and specific what is meant by opposition
to monopolies instead of indulging in
| glittering generalites. The Peoples
| party was the first political party to nom
| mate candidates for President and Vice
President that were not gold-bugs and