People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-11-05


issued by the National Conference of
the Peoples Party which was held at
Nashville, Tenn, July 4, 1897,
ADDRESS.
TO THE PEOPLES PARTY OF THE UNITED
STATES:
Disclaiming any intention to dictate
to the Populist voters of the United
States, or any feeling of bitterness
towards 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 ia 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.
einnati 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 1870,
The latter proclaimed the legal
equality of all men, and their right TO
liberty and happinessi the former do.
olnred that government Ia Il mere in
strumentality, formed by all for the
enforcement of the welfare of all; that
labor of brain and Drawn is the solo
parent of prosperity, society and eivili-
zation, That wealth belongs to him
who creates 1t, and that every dollar
taken from industry, without an equiv
alent, is robbery, that If any man will
not work, neither shall he eat; that the
interests of rural and civic labor are
the same, while their enemies IRE iden-
teal"
These ideas are the natural sequence
and supplement to the Declaration of
Independence. Without them the words
of Jefferson are mere "brutum full
men" The right to pursue happi-
ness is of no avail If men are prevented
by misgoverument from attaining it.
Liberty is but an idle word If the
human family are to be swept through
poverty and suffering in bondage. Life
itself is not worth having It the price
of shame and degrade IN, The New
World is no better tb the Old World
If the condition of people is the
same.
We escaped from England in 1776
We are again her subjects in 1897 We
are not permitted TO pass laws neoes-
sary for our own welfare, without her
consent; and that consent cannot be
had since she thrives by plundering us.
Cheap production in the United States
means cheap supplies for her citizens
Instead of a sovereign people, leading
the world to higher levels of state
craft and development as the greatest,
most powerful and most thoroughly
educated Commonwealth on earth, we
are dwarfed into mere provincials, toll
ing to enrich our cunning masters,
side by side with the starving Hindoo,
the wretched Egyptian and the inn
poverished Irishman.
The peoples party was born to live
and not to die. 1t was created not to
put 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
ganization, insist today, with ten-fold
force, that it shall live as long as
single wrong exists anrighted on the
face of the earth.
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 lets us live.
While we have the largest liberation
for all honest differences of opinion,
and will welcome TO our ranks all pa
triots, we declare that those who think
the party ought to die have no more
place in its ranks than Benedict Arnold
had in the Continental army or Judas
Iscariot in the Christian Church. FL
deity to principle is above all other
Id al at on al