Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-10-08
Peoples Party Platform.


First-We reatfirm the principles OF the PEG,
pies party as declared in our last national
platform.
second-We demand the initiative and ref
erendum as necessary to secure needed legiS-
| lauion in the Interests of the Iaborer and pro
Queer and to reform existing abuses.
Thlrd-We demand the enactment Of a pri-
mary election law. which will secure a fair eX-
preston by the voters of ali political parties
| in the selection of candidates for county and
/ other Offices
F'ourth-We approve and endorse the dec
| laratiOnS Of the democratic state platform up-
on the subjects of trusts, railway commission,
| taxation OF corporations, ownership by the cit
les of their public utilities. discriminating
freight rates and free transportation of per-
sons. government ownership OF railroads, d.
rect legislation, minority representation, also
its declaration With respect TO Cuba and the
Philippine islands.
tifth-Te rejoice over the practically unani-
nous adoption of the initiative and referen-
dunn amendment to the constitution of the
state Of Oregon, which was endorsed by
all parties, at the recent election there.
SiXth-We denounce the republican party
for its SuDServiency to trusts and combines,
its maintenance of an unnecessary and bur-
densome tariff on trust-made goods and for it's
refusal to afford promised relief to Cuba, by
reducing the enormous duty charges on sugar
the chief product Of that island.
Seventh-We denounce the election law en-
acted by the republicans as masterpiece Of
injustice and an abuse Of power for partisan
purposes unparalleled in our history.
1t deprives any party of the right to nOmI-
nate the candidates Of its choice, where such
candidates have been previously nominated
by any other party. 1t puts premium on ig-
norance and blind devotion to party, and in
every way hara ;ses the independent voter in
the exercise of his franchise. 1t renders it
more difficult for the voter to express his pref
erence and seeks to disfranchise to as great
an extent as possible, the opposition TO the
party IN power. 1t perveltS the Australian
ballot law to an instrument of oppression and
puts countless obstacles in the way of an hon
est ballot and fair count.
The liberty of the people is not only menac-
ed but overthrown by such perversion of
the election law; and until this Infamous law
can be wiped from our statutes we are depriv-
ed of our equal rights under the laws, in plain
violation OF the provisions of our constitution
E1ghth-The failure Of the reDu bhcan party
to fulfill its pledge to give us railroad COM
mission electedby people may explain the omis-
sion to make any allusion to state issues in it's
latest platform
Ninth-We denOunce the extravaganza and
partisanship of the last republican legislature,
whose appropriations were hundreds of thou
sands OF dollars larger than ever before, and
winch In all things made the interests of the
people subsequent to the interests of the re-
publican machine.
Tenuh-It appears to us that the peoples
money has been sQuandered in providing for
tax commission which has drawn up a bill
taking the assessment of property out of the
hands of officers elected by the people and
putting it into the hands of a high-selaried set
OF appointed officials.
Eleventh-We demand that railroad proper
ty shall be assessed at as high q rate as the
property Of natural citizens. We call atten-
ton to an increase of millions of dollars in
railroad charges since the railroad law enact
ed by the last populist legislature was wiped
out by republican partisans on the bench.
Twelfth-We favor graduated taxation,
state insurance and reduction of the eXtrav-
agant expenditures for state printing, by the
establishment of printing plant owned by
the state.
Thirteenth-We regard the continuous and
persistent effort of the American Book Com
pany. through the connivance and subservien-
cy OF certain officials and of the agents and
N fhaf aahO hnn
our text book lew, as the most dangerous and
corruptlng influence peryadIng this state as it
attempts TO destroy the usefulness Of our eX
cellent school system; and we demand of the
next legislature rigid examination of it's
methods and an exposure of its acts and of the
officials it has corrupted and is using to ac-
cOmplSh its purpose.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES that all political re-
form is initiated by the independent voter,
and that all footing of the public treasury and
Official boOdling are carried on by the parti-
san, we denounce W. j. Bailey, the republican
nominee for governor, for his oft-repeated
statement that 1.-THE independent voter is a
bushwhacker'
Fifteenth-We congratulate the people of
the state upon the record of Mayor w. H.
Craddock, of Kansas City, Kansas, in his eff
forts to secure an equitable basis of taxation
tor the public corpora ton of his city,
SlXteenth-The course of Senator w. A,
Harris in our nauioral legislature commands
the hearty approval of every honest and fair
minded citizen, regardless of party utilization.
and we p edge ourselves to do all in our pow r
to secure his reelection to the position he
now adOrnS.
ed:
Resolved, too. That we sincerely mourn the
death OF President Mckinley and denounce
the assassination as one of the most mon
StrOuS crimes in history.
Resolved, That we demand the stamping
out by wise legislation of the whole viperous
brood OF murderOus anarchists in the United
States.