The representative., 1900-05-03

80
more pood than his Zone step It i
time 6pportnuists. Il ass
-s ADOPT THE aoLDEN jInAN.
But what shall We q At oinolnlati!
The convention is already an assured
II In It's own wisdom t4lready
such states ~ Iowa ana SouthaD aDakota;
farmer states, too, singular to tell, have
shown their preference for Debs' Social
isml, - sAys am wrong, shall not
hesitate to abide by the sresult of the
action. of. the convention. II all they
want Is simply agitation in the right
direction, am with them heart and
soul. But IL they want any tangible re-
suits, also, they must, without yielding
one iota Of the ideal goal. fight now at
the polls only for Immediate demands. %
They must find the golden mean between
opportunists and radicals. In the pre-
amble to our platform we can safely
dwell on the great principle, to be agita-
ted, which is that some day in the far
distance all private capital must be pub
lie capital, when all people. In heaven
on earth, must live by doing some
economically useful work, and when the
few shall no longer sail in luxury
through the sweat and blood of those
who toll. The details, however, Of how
these things may be, or when, must be
left for the future to settle. 1t is rash
to predict them, to force a revolution
Of steam in injecting the red hot iron OF
complete Socialism into the water. 1t
must and will come as growth by the
natural laws of evolution. Competition
Is itself fortunately fast accelerating its
oncoming. No man can tell just when
the people will be fitted for it.
I agree with Mr.. Twitchell and Paul
Dixon in their CONCLUSION in last
Representative, but I abhor some of
their reasoning. What has made Messrs.
Twitchell and Dixon so superior to the
dead beats, shirkers and lazy drones''
that they claim would under Socialism
live on the labor of others? Their su-
PNAAOA az AVoASeA6C0. IL IAO uOllCdLC
daughters Of the rich are admired for
whatever they may be worth on account
OF their special advantages, the inference
is plain to give those same advantages
now to the poor girl compelled to walk
the street, Cod knows not for the fun
of the thing. Instead of ridiculing CO.
operation or trying to disparge ''goody-
goody, saint-like individuals" or saying
that "the golden rule is impracticable, !"
let us rather hasten it's advent by trying
to reconstruct our present society on
such basis of equality of advantages
that these things will be come realized
in time to prevent another bloody COM
mune. Let us not depict false Social
ism, as Messrs. Dixon and Twitchell
have, and then proceed to tear down the
Socialism of their own imaginations.
No Socialist claims 'if a healthy man
will not work he can eat
SUGGESTIONS. So
l will now suggest in rough, a plat
form that ought to consist of two parts:
First-The policy of our party and it's
general intent, for agitation only. Sec
ond-The least possible number of i'm
mediate demands we believe the people
are ready for, but enough to prove effec-
tive, to be fought for this fall at the
polls.
1t Is better to strive for at least these
Immediate demands mentioned below.
or else hope to see the oppression of the
two plutocratic parties continue until
the people are forced to revolution. Any
smaller demands than these would only
disappoint the people, and for decade
delay decent government.
The second part of the platform should
not be numbered with details or reaction
ary reforms, that strive merely to palli-
ate or delay the irresistible expanding,
eternal laws of evolution. Greater radi-
cal reform than any yet obtained in
England must be inserted, even should
1T preclude any success at the polls. I
do not better know what this may be
than the issue-of an exclusive Greenback
Still, 1t would seem to be the part of
practical politics to stop short, in the
second parf of our platform with what
the majority Of our people ARE agree to,
viz: that all private banks be super
ceded by the government, conducting
their functions, as it now does the post
oh1ce: As to whether the money itself
should be coin or paper or both, and
how issued, decide through a referen-
dunn. Do this and yours is the next
party. Refuse, and by insisting on fur
ther details in the platform, your party
is dead before it is born, because It will
become merely party of agitation,
which the zeal of the new Debs' tad will
absorb. For, to their credit be it said,
extreme Socialists agitators do not ac-
cept nominations as immovable dead
speechless images, but to work
like fanatics.
l have no doubt but what before the
could be consummated we
could prove the superiority of our green
back scheme over either coin money. or
Socialist labor checks.
These thoughts might be embodied in
something like the following hastily and
drafted platform:
THE SUGGESTED PLATFORM.