The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-07-22
ACCEPTS SOCIALIST NOMINATION
ordway Says That Wage Farmers
and Farmers are Plundered


and Farmers are Piundered
Chester E. Ordway of Springfield,
the nominee OF the Socialist party for
governor, has put his views on the
subject into an open letter accepting
the nomination His letter is as fol-
lows
To the Members of the State Com
mittee of the Socialist Party:
Comrades am in receipt of your
letter advising me of my nomination
to serve the party as its candidate
for governor in the coming campaign.
Deeply sensible of the high honor
thus conferred upon me, and realiz-
ing the responsibility which accom-
panies the honor, | accept the nomi-
nation as call to serve the Socialist
cause which no loyal servant of il
ever refuses to obey.
Permit me, comrades, to assure you
of my appreciation of this mark of
your confidence and esteem and of
my determination to make, under
your guidance, and with your help, a
vigorous campaign.
While this my native state has
long been welded to the party which
has for many years represented en-
trenched Privilege and Plumber, it is
my firm conviction that in no state
in the Union can the Socialist Party
make a stronger or more convincing
appeal to the electorate Our popu-
lation consists mainly of wealth pro
ducers, all of whom, wage earners
and farmers alike. are plundered and
oppressed.
Belonging to the laboring class my
self, feel justified in accepting the
nomination of this party of the
wealth-prOducers and as the partys
candidate, appealing to the wage
earners to consider carefully and ser.
iously the party's position as defined
in our State and national platforms
Why is it that the workers in our
great and growing industrial centers
are without adequate protection
Why is Vermont behind all other
states of the Union in the matter OF
labor legislation, just as the United
States lags behind the rest of the
civilized world? Why have we nc
effective employers liability laws;
no laws regulating the labor of our
sisters and daughters who toll in
workshops and factories; no laws to
prevent the merciless exploitation OF
little children?
The answer to all these questions
is very simple: the workers have
foolishly and blindly voted into pow
er, year after year, decade after de-
cade. representatives Of these vested
interests which profit by the Cypress
ion and exploitation of the producers
A raped and looted labor union in
Rutland bear witness to the fact that
capitalist rule in Vermont is as much
opposed to the interests Of the work
ers as capitalist rule in other places
How, ask my brothers OF the great
labor unions, can you expect any
thing else? Men do not gather
grapes from thistles.
To the farmers OF the State feel
peculiarly fitted to address myself
Born and raised upon Vermont
farm, and an active member of the
Grange the farmers only protective
organization, know from personal
experience that no class of producers
is more exploited than are the far
mers. / assert without fear of seri-
GUS contradiction that the farmers
are more roundly robbed, more sci
entfcally exploited, than any class
in modern times.
Great capitalist interests, strongly
entrenched in political power farm
the farmers" Capitalist control of
the railroads, the great highways of
commerce, and of the markets, place
the farmers entirely az the mercy OF
their exploitation. The only remedy
In sight in my honest judgment, is
that outlined in the Socialist plat
form. The great social agencies
must be made common property and
used for the common good.
The only solution for the great
problem of liberating society from the
grasp Of predatory wealth" about
which we hear so much today, is to
bring about through peaceful, well
considered political action, a cooper
alive state of society in place of the
Industrial anarchy of today. And
that is the mission OF the Socialist
Party.
Confident of the righteousness of
our cause and OF its ultimate victory,
and calling upon all the wealth pro-
ducers of the State to throw of the
shackles of capitalist politics and
rally to the support Of the Socialist
party