614 



OREGON. 



value, and of equal purchasing power for the 

 rich and the poor, and that all paper currency 

 issued by the Government should be redeemable 

 in either gold or silver coin at the option of the 

 holder, and not at the discretion of the Secretary 

 of the Treasury." 



It declared opposition to all measures in pen- 

 sion legislation which " draw no distinction be- 

 tween the veteran in the field and the camp fol- 

 lowers in the rear, as involving a cruel wrong 

 to the soldier and wanton waste of the people's 

 money." 



Other resolutions favored the election of Sena- 

 tors by direct vote of the people, the making of 

 eight hours a legal day s labor on all public 

 works, and " laws giving the laborer in all fields 

 of labor a first lien on the product of his labor," 

 demanded the immediate survey of the public 

 lands in the State, and the " immediate and spe- 

 cific forfeiture of the grants of all lands un- 

 earned by railroads and wagon roads in the 

 State. The platform further declared in favor 

 of the Geary Chinese exclusion bill, and con- 

 tained the following on river improvements : 



We urge the passage of such appropriations and 

 the adoption of such measures as will tend most 

 speedily and effectively to open the Columbia and 

 Willamette rivers to free navigation, and for such 

 further appropriations as will speedily and fully com- 

 plete the improvements at the mouth of the Columbia. 

 We condemn the policy of the Republican party in 

 urging upon Congress the feasibility of the boat rail- 

 way at the Dalles, and denounce the measure as a 

 subterfuge whereby the people of the inland empire 

 must remain in bondage for years ; and we condemn 

 the policy of the Republican party, whereby the im- 

 provement of the cascades has been delayed' unneces- 

 sarily by plans and expedients which give no assur- 

 ance that the obstructions to navigation in the Co- 

 lumbia will be released from the grasp of a grinding 

 monopoly which now holds the people of eastern 

 Oregon in fetters. 



Following is the ticket : For Supreme Judge, 

 A. S. Bennett ; Attorney-treneral, George Cham- 

 berlain ; Representatives in Congress, T. K. 

 Slater, R. M. Veatch. 



Gov. Pennoyer deserted the Democratic party 

 after the convention, because it rejected the 

 free-coinage plank on which he was elected in 

 1890, and gave in his adherence to the People's 

 party. 



The People's party held its State convention 

 at Oregon City, March 16. Resolutions were 

 adopted as follow : 



All laws shall be submitted to the people for re- 

 jection or approval, and that the people shall have an 

 equal right with the Legislatures and Congress to ini- 

 tiate measures for enactment into law, and that they 

 shall have the right to recall their legislators and 

 - Congressmen for cause. 



Our 9,000,000 farm mortgages, the condition of the 

 thousands of unemployed, and of the world's starv- 

 ing millions, shall be to us both a warning and a spur 

 to untiring, united action. 



We recognize in the money power of the world the 

 common enemy of all wealth-producers, regardless of 

 nationality; we recognize the universal brotherhood 

 of humanity, and extend our hearty sympathy to the 

 downtrodden masses of every nation in their struggle 

 for better conditions. 



We demand a law prohibiting the confirmation of 

 a mortgage sale, unless such sale shall equal 66 per 

 cent, of the assessed value. 



The platform demanded a direct loan by the 

 Government at 2 per cent. ; the free and unlim- 

 ited coinage of silver; the increase of circulat- 

 ing medium to $50 per capita ; postal savings 

 banks ; no alien landowners ; corporation own- 

 ership restricted to the actual land used ; the 

 Government ownership of railroads ; the abol- 

 ishment of the railro-ud commission and a maxi- 

 mum rate reducing rates one third; the Govern- 

 ment ownership of telegraph and telephone 

 lines; the improvement of Columbia river by 

 building a parallel railroad, to be operated by 

 the Government ; the only taxes for the support 

 of the Government, the 2 per cent, on loans by 

 the Government and the graduated land tax ; 

 no exemption for indebtedness without a corre- 

 sponding rendering of taxable credit ; equal suf- 

 frage ; no Chinese immigration ; State publica- 

 tion of school books ; restriction of county offi- 

 cers to salary ; eight hours a day's labor in facto- 

 ries, mines, and shops ; declared against Pinker- 

 ton detectives ; against the Nicaragua Canal, 

 unless owned by the Government and operated 

 at cost; for the direct vote for all officers; the 

 issue of legal-tender notes, and the payment of 

 Union soldiers for loss occasioned by depreci- 

 ated currency. 



Following are the nominations: For Supreme 

 Judge, D. Wright ; for member of Congress, Sec- 

 ond district, J. C. Luce. 



The Prohibitionists met on April 6, in Port- 

 land. After reaffirming their own distinctive 

 principles and declaring in favor of national 

 control of all railroad, express, telegraph, and 

 telephone lines, and for the prohibition of all 

 trusts and combinations of capital for the pur- 

 pose of controlling the price of articles of ne- 

 cessity or popular consumption, the platform 

 made the following declarations : 



The adjustment of the duties on imports should be 

 fixed in a businesslike way by a national commis- 

 sion of experts, and not made the football of political 

 acrobats ; the amount of duties levied should not ex- 

 ceed the necessary expenses of the Government eco- 

 nomically administered, and wealth and luxuries, and 

 not food^ clothing, and necessities, should bear the 

 burdens. 



The prohibition sentiment that allows itself to be 

 officially misrepresented is impotent against the 

 liquor traffic, and the ballot cast for the candidates of 

 any political party which does not openly antagonize 

 the liquor traffic is a vote for the continued suste- 

 nance of such traffic, and the voter casting such ballot 

 is morally responsible for any injury arising from 

 such traffic. 



We deplore the rapid increase of landed estates, and 

 favor the limitation of alien and corporate ownership 

 of land. 



We favor the election of President, Vicc-President, 

 and United States Senators by direct vote of the 

 people. 



The required time of residence for naturalization 

 should be extended, and no naturalized person should 

 vote within one year after naturalization papers are 

 issued. 



The ticket nominated was : For Supreme 

 Judge, Benjamin P. Welch ; members of Con- 

 gress, W. J. Rigdon, Cornelius J. Bright. 



The results of the June election gave to the 

 Republicans the two seats in Congress and the 

 Supreme Judge, and to the Democrats the At- 

 torney-General. The vote for Judge stood : 



