The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-10-12
POLITICAL CHAOS.


The American says that ''the issue
raised by the abuse Of our transporta
ton system must be equally met"
Concerning the transportation ana
communication" system the Omaha
platform afirms that both, being a
s'means of exchange and necessity for
the transmission Of news, should De
owned and operated by the Govern
ment in the interests Of the people"
The st. Louis platform goes a little
further and demands that they be
operated Sin the interest Of the peo-
ole and on q non partisan basis, ="
which of course means the applica-
ton of civil service rules and that
s'such ownership be accomplished
gradually in @ manner consistent with
sound public policy" What stronger
grounds can be taken unless it be
government confiscation Of these
private properties, and neither the
Peoples party nor the American people
will ever agree to that way OF getting
them. But the American may say
that the st. Louis planks are too long
and perhaps ambiguous and it would
be a Just criticism. To correct this l
will quote here from the same paper
as used by me last week, two sections
covering this ground, to wit:
1. "All means of public t~ransporta
tion and communication and other pub
lie utilities, ehall be owned and opera
ted by the Government at cost as soon
as possible when aided by the none
tary system as hereinbetore provided.
2. THE civil service Of the Govern.
ment. including all domestic appoint
ives officers and employees, in trans
~portation, communication and other
Government utilities, shall be under a
civil service commission, controlled
by Just and equitable laws so admins
tered as to absolve all domestic ap.
pointments and service from partisan
political
This is, from the first organization of
the the party until now, purely popo-
Iistic doctrine and policy.
There is no need of a great leader"
set forward to advocate this, for it has
been prominently placed in the plat
form from the beginning.
Neither is there any necessity, o is
it good policy to foist the transporta,
ton question up into great prominence
before the people, giving the impress
sion that it Ia q universal cure all"
for the political ills they are suffering 1;
becaese it is false. The last campaign
was run on a lie. Everybody knows it
now and it has made tens Of thousands
lose confidence in the Peoples party.
Free silver" is only a small part Of
the contention OF the Peoples party on
the financial question. Those who do
not know this are ignorant Of the
broad issue. Those who do know it
and play false to it are acting the by
pocrite, and a hypocrite is the most
contemptibly damnable object on
earth.
The American refers to the tissue
raised by the abuse of our protective
tariff system and by our system of
national taxation, which throws an
undue share of the burdens of govern
ment on the poor" / do not believe
that the Peoples party could be had
to take up the tariff and maka a prom
inent issue of it pro and con, but it has
been thought that it should receive the
attention it deserves as an economic
question because of its relation to tax
alton, of which it constitutes so large a
factor.
Il has been proven that large MAORI
ty of the American people of all par
ties are now in favor of tariff duties
that will protect the great body of our
industrial people in the products of
their labor. The Peoples party so re.
garded it and refused to make it a
dominant issue, because several other
questions are of far more pressing i'm
portance TO the people, which is emf
nently true. They want true protec-
ton as q settled policy and the revenue
derived from it expended where it will
not be a bone of contention in partisan
politics.
In the Omaha platform they declared
that the old parties propose to down
the Outcries of a plundered people with
the uproar of a sham battle over the
tariff, so that the capitalists, corpora
tions, national banks, rings, trusts,
watered stock, the characterization of
silver and the expressions of the usur
pers may all be lost sight Of" The par
ty has not yet, nor will it change it's
position on that issue. It sno wonder