The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-08-10
ADDRESS.
To the Peoples Party of the United
States.JGi

to the Populist voters of the United
States, or any feeling of bitterness to
wards those who may have honestly
differed from us in the past on matters
of party policy, in the words of the i'm.
mortal Lincoln, with malice toward
none, with charity for all, with firm
ness in the right as God gives us to see
the right; we submit to every patriotic
citizen the following address:
In 1891 there was organized at Gin
cinnati a great political party, whose
principles were as vast an innovation
upon existing beliefs, as were the grand
generalization Of Thomas Jefferson in
the Declaration of Independence an ad-
vance upon the ideas commonly held
by the world in 1776 ,
The latter proclaimed the legal equal
ity of all men, and their right to lib
erty and happiness; the former declared
that government is a mere instrumen-
tally, formed by all for the enforce
ment of the welfare oto all; that labor
of brain and Drawn is the sole parent
Of prosperity, soci, ty and civilization.
That wealth belongs to him who
creates it, and that every dollar taken
from industry, without an equivalent,
is robbery, that if any man will not
work, neither shall he eat; that the in
terests of rural and civic labor are the
same, while their enemies are iden
tical." -
These ideas are the natural sequence
and supplement to the Declaration of
independence. Without them the
words of Jtff5rson are q mere ''brutum
fulmep." The right to pursue happi-
ness is Of no avail if men are prevented
by misgovernment from attaining it.
Liberty is but an idle word if the hu
man family are to be swept through
poverty and suffering in bondage. Life
itself is not worth having at the price
Of shame and degradation. The New
World is no better than the Old World
If the condition of the people is the
same. -.s
We escaped from England in 1776.
We are again her subjects in 1897. We
are not permitted to, pass laws neces-
sary for our own welfare, without her
consent; and that consent cannot be
had since she thrives by plundering up.
Cheap production in the United
States means cheap supplies for her
citizens. Instead of a sovereign people,
leading the world to higher levels of
statecratt and development, as the
greatest, most powerful and most thor
oughly educated Commonwealth on
earth, we are dWarfed into mere pro
vincials, toiling to enrich our cunning
masters, side by side with the starving
Hindoo, the wretched Egyptian and
the impoverished II ishman.
The Peoples party was born to live
and not to die. 1t was created not to
put a few men in Office, but to give to
all men that happiness guaranteed by
the Constitution OF the United States.
The conditions which five years ago
demanded the establishment Of our or
ganjzation, exsist today, with ten fold
force, that it shall live as long as q
single wrong exists unrighted on the
face of the earth. 'S.
To resist these evils, we organized in
1891. We meet in 1897 to renew the
faith; to proclaim that the battle is not
yet over; that it is just beginning, and
that we will continue the good fight as
long as God let's us live,
While we have the largest federation
for all honest differences OF opinion,
and will welcome to, our ranks all
patriots, we declare that those who
think the party ought to die have no
more place in it's ranks than Benedict
Arnold had in the Continental army or
Judas Iscariot in the Christian Church.
Fidelity to principle Is above all other
considerations, since >, such fidelity
means the greatness and happiness of
the human race. se,.
While we have nothing but kindly
feelings towards the rank and file of
our late allies, we do,not believe that
the question OF free silver is in itself q
broad enough platform for g national
party. The remonetizaGion of silver
would, we believe, increase the price Of
labor and it's productions by increasing
the supply OF money, and it is there
fore q matter of the utmost c 2nsequence
to all the people of the, United Statee;
but it must not be forgotten that the
opening of the minis TO- silver wou d
not decrease n iota the robberies Of
the corporations, the usurers, the rings
and the trusts. It will avail nothing