754 



UNITED STATES. 



the trade in alcohol it contained the following 

 declaration : 



The liquor traffic is a foe to civilization, the arch 

 enemy of popular government, and a public nui- 

 sance. It is the citadel of the forces that corrupt poli- 

 tics, promote poverty and crime, degrade the nation's 

 home life, thwart the will of the people, and deliver 

 our country into the hands of rapacious class inter- 

 ests. All laws that under the guise of regulation 

 legalize and protect this traffic or make the Govern- 

 ment share in its ill-gotten gains are " vicious in prin- 

 ciple and powerless as a remedy." We declare anew 

 for the entire suppression of the manufacture, sale, 

 importation, exportation, and transportation of al- 

 coholic liquors as a beverage by Federal and State 

 legislation, and the full powers of the Government 

 should be exerted to secure this result. Any party 

 that fails to recognize the dominant nature of this 

 issue in American politics is undeserving of the sup- 

 port of the people. 



The planks of the platform on other subjects 

 contained declarations in favor of woman suf- 

 frage ; a currency issued by the Government only, 

 and consisting of gold, silver, and paper, of a vol- 

 ume fixed at a definite sum per capita ; a tariff for 

 defense against governments that levy duties on 

 American products, with incidental revenue and 

 direct taxes for the support of the Government ; 

 Government control of railroads and telegraphs ; 

 revision of the immigration laws ; and prohibi- 

 tion of alien ownership of land. The platform 

 ended with the following arraignment of the Re- 

 publicans and Democrats, and invitation to party 

 fellowship : 



We arraign the Republican and Democratic parties 

 as false to the standards reared by their founders ; 

 as faithless to the principles of the illustrious leaders 

 of the past to whom they do homage with the lips ; 

 as recreant to the " higher law," which is as inflexible 

 in political affairs as in personal life ; and as no 

 longer embodying the aspirations of the American 

 people, or inviting the confidence of enlightened, 

 progressive patriotism. Their protest against the ad- 

 mission of " moral issues " into politics is a confes- 

 sion of their own moral degeneracy. The declara- 

 tion of an eminent authority that municipal misrule 

 is "the one conspicuous failure of American poli- 

 tics," follows as a natural consequence of such de- 

 generacy, and it is true alike of cities under Repub- 

 lican and Democratic control. Each accuses the 

 other of extravagance in Congressional appropria- 

 tions, and both are alike guilty ; each protests when 

 out of power against infraction of the civil service 

 laws, and each when in power violates those laws in 

 letter and in spirit; each professes fealty to the inter- 

 ests of the toiling masses, but both covertly truckle 

 to the money power in their administration of public 

 affairs. Even the tariff issue, as represented in the 

 Democratic Mills bill and the Republican McKinley 

 bill, is no longer treated by them as an issue between 

 great and divergent principles of government, but is 

 a mere catering to different sectional and class inter- 

 ests. The attempt in many States to wrest the 

 Australian ballot system from its true purpose, and 

 to so deform it as to render it extremely difficult for 

 new parties to exercise the rights of suffrage, is an 

 outrage upon popular government. The competi- 

 tion of both these parties for the vote of the slums, 

 and their assiduous courting of the liquor power 

 and subserviency to the money power, have resulted 

 in placing those powers in the position of practical 

 arbiters of the destinies of the nation. We renew 

 our protest against these perilous tendencies, and in- 

 vite all citizens to join us in the upbuilding of a party 

 that has shown in five national campaigns that it 

 prefers temporary defeat to abandonment of the 



claims of justice, sobriety, personal rights, and the 

 protection of American homes. 



Recognizing and declaring that prohibition of the 

 liquor traffic has become the dominant issue in na- 

 tional polities, we invite to full party fellowship all 

 those who on this one dominant issue are with us 

 agreed, in the full belief that this party can and 

 will remove sectional differences, promote national 

 unity, and insure the best welfare of our entire 

 land. 



John Bidwell, of California, was nominated for 

 the Presidency on the first ballot, receiving 590 

 votes, while 1 79 were given to Gideon L. Stewart. 

 of Ohio, and 139 to W. Jennings Demorest, of 

 New York. James B. Cranfill, of Texas, was 

 nominated for Vice-President over Joshua Lever- 

 ing, of Maryland. 



Socialistic Labor Convention. The Social- 

 istic Labor party met in convention in New 

 York City on August 28, 1892, and nominated 

 for President of the United States Simon Wing, 

 of Massachusetts ; for Vice-President, Charles 

 H. Matchett, of New York. The platform that 

 was adopted was the same one that had been 

 framed for the party in 1889, containing the 

 following demands : 



Social Demands : 1. Reduction of the hours of 

 labor in proportion to the progress of production. 



2. The United States shall obtain possession of 

 the railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all 

 other means of public transportation and communi- 

 cation. 



3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the 

 local railroads, ferries, water-work*, gas-works, 

 electric plants, and all industries requiring munici- 

 pal franchises. 



4. The public lands to be declared inalienable. 

 Revocation of all land grants to corporations or 

 individuals, the conditions of which have not been 

 complied with. 



5. Legal incorporation by the States of local 

 Trade Unions which have no national organiza- 

 tion. 



6. The United States to have the exclusive right 

 to issue money. 



7. Congressional legislation providing for the 

 scientific management of forests and waterways, 

 and prohibiting the waste of the natural resources 

 of the country. 



8. Inventions to be free to all ; the inventors to 

 be remunerated by the nation. 



9. Progressive income tax and tax on inheri- 

 tances ; the smaller incomes to be exempt. 



10. School education of all children under four- 

 teen years of age to be compulsory, gratuitous, and 

 accessible to all by public assistance in meals, cloth- 

 ing, books, etc., where necessary. 



11. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and 

 sumptuary laws. Unabridged right of combina- 

 tion. 



12. Official statistics concerning the condition of 

 labor. Prohibition of the employment of children 

 of school age, and of the employment of female 

 labor in occupations detrimental to health or moral- 

 ity. Abolition of the convict labor contract sys- 

 tem. 



13. All wages to be paid in lawful money of the 

 United States. Equalization of women's wages 

 with those of men where equal service is per- 

 formed. 



14. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all 

 occupations, and an efficient employers' liability 

 law. 



fbliiical Demands : 1. The people to have the right 

 to propose laws and to vote upon all measures of 

 importance, according to the Referendum prin- 

 ciple. 



