The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-07-23
"CYCLONE" DAVIS HAS SUBMIT
TED TO THE POPULISTS A
LENGTHY DOCUMENT.
MONOPOL|ES MUST GET UP and DUST
Land and Highway Corporations Must
Surrender to Government Owner
Contributions of the United
States Freely Quoted From.

st. Louis, July 20.-The following
platform was submitted by "Cyclone"
Davis of Texas. 1t has been submitted
to the executive committee, of which
Mr.. Davis is q member, and approved
by them.
Mr.. Davis remarked in submitting it:
sit represents humanity. The Peo-
pies party of the United States, in con-
vention assembled, proclaim the follow
ing paramount creeds and principles of
votes and cooperation of the Ameri-
can people. The declaration of Ameri-
can independence, the corner stone of our
republic, provides the sole truth; all men
are created equal; they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; among those are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness; to secure these
rights governments are instituted among
them
"We, therefore. declare that life, lib
erty and happiness are not secure when
land monOpolies hold millions of acres
for speculative greed, while millions of
Americans are forced to live and die
without homes. We declare that life,
liberty and happiness are not secure
when highway mOnOpolieS, by charter,
are allowed great and vested privileges,
limited only by the merciless greed of
soulless corporations. We declare that
life, liberty and happiness are not secure
when the government refuses to coin
money for the people and prosecutes the
money for themselves, and then, in the
name of the law, binds the homeless
and moneyless millions for generations
TO come in serfdOm and death by issuing
bonds to borrow money.
I'VE declare that life, liberty and hap
piness can be secured by a system of
land laws preventing land mOnOpolies;
a just system of highway laws prevent
ing highway monopoly, and a just sys-
TEN of money laws preventing money
monopoly. Our patriotic fathers who
framed the constitution declared that
it was framed and adopted in order to
establish a more perfect union, establish
domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings of lib
.erty to themselves and our posterity, and
we affirm that all laws passed and all
policies adopted by our government must
have for their object one or more of
these results; otherwise they are void
the spirit of the republic. Standing de-
votedly by the foregoing principles as
fundamental, we declare:
sour lawmakers, in allowing eliens,
corporations and monopolies to absorb
our lands by law. have not established
justice, but injustice; have not promoted
the general welfare and secured to us
and our posterty the blessings of llber-
ty, but have produced homeless millions,
unhappiness and poverty, and the, prop
erty which God gave the people domln-
ion over has been taken from them by
the law of the land.
1--WE declare that a few trafhc asso-
Citations and corporations owning our
railways. holding power to set the
salaries of the officers of the government
which created them, scale down the
wages of the enjoyed to starvation mar
gins, issue bonds into multiplied millions
of dollars at their own discretion ana
override that provision of the constltu-
ton which says: No preference shall be
given by any regulation of commerce to
parts of one state over those of another,
and compel the south and west to pay
millions annually in upholding their
tiic centers and ports of the east.
They break down every principle or re-
publican government, tax us without re-
presentation: produce poverty, engender
strife and dominate strikes, which de-
stroy instead of 'insuring domestic tran
quality and to protect the rights of these
corporations and adjust the differences
between them and the people: they have
filled our country with federal courts
over which the people have 70 jurisdic-
tion. and which in turn eie out the sub
stance of the people, all of which can be
corrected by government ownership of
these highways.
"We declare that no alien shall be al
lowed to own lands in our country with
out first becoming an American citizen.