712 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Independence, the Constitution, and the American 

 flag are one and inseparable. The island of Porto 

 Kico is a part of the territory of the United States, 

 and by levying special and extraordinary customs 

 duties on the commerce of that island the admin- 

 iM ration has violated the Constitution, abandoned 

 the fundamental principles of American liberty, 

 and has striven to give the lie to the contention of 

 .,ur forefathers that there should be no taxation 

 without representation. Out of the imperialism 

 which would force an undesired domination on 

 the people of the Philippines springs the un-Amer- 

 ican cry for a large standing army. Nothing in 

 the character or purposes of our people justifies 

 us in ignoring the plain lesson of history and put- 

 ting our liberties in jeopardy by assuming the 

 burden of militarism, which is crushing the peo- 

 ple of the Old World. We denounce the admin- 

 istration for its sinister efforts to substitute a 

 standing army for the citizen soldiery, which is 

 the best safeguard of the republic. We extend to 

 the brave Boers of South Africa our sympathy and 

 moral support in their patriotic struggle for the 

 right of self-government, and we are unalterably 

 opposed to any alliance, open or covert, between 

 the United States and any other nation that will 

 tend to the destruction of liberty. And a further 

 manifestation of imperialism is to be found in the 

 mining districts of Idaho. In the Coeur d'Alene 

 soldiers have been used to overawe miners striving 

 for a greater measure of industrial independence. 

 And we denounce the State Government of Idaho 

 and the Federal Government for employing the 

 military arm of the Government to abridge the 

 civil rights of the people, and to enforce an in- 

 famous permit system which denies to laborers 

 their inherent liberty and compels them to for- 

 swear their manhood" and their right before being 

 permitted to seek employment. The importation 

 of Japanese and othej laborers under contract to 

 serve monopolistic corporations is a notorious and 

 flagrant violation of the immigration laws. We de- 

 mand that the Federal Government shall take cog- 

 nizance of this menacing e~vil and repress it under 

 existing laws. We further pledge ourselves to 

 strive for the enactment of more stringent laws for 

 the exclusion of Mongolian and Malayan immigra- 

 tion. We indorse municipal ownership of public 

 utilities, and declare that the advantages which 

 have accrued to the public under that system 

 would be multiplied a hundredfold by its extension 

 to natural interstate monopolies." 



The antifusion or Middle-of-the-Road People's 

 party held a national convention at Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, at the same time as the fusionist conven- 

 tion. Wharton Barker, of Pennsylvania, received 

 the nomination for President on the second ballot 

 by 370 votes to 330 for Milford W. Howard, of 

 Alabama, and 9 scattering. Ignatius Donnelly, of 

 Minnesota, was nominated for the vice-presidency 

 by acclamation. The platform was as follows: 



" The People's party of the United States, as- 

 sembled in national convention this 10th day of 

 May, 1900, affirming our unshaken belief in the 

 ciirdinal tenets of the People's party as set forth 

 in the Omaha platform, and pledging ourselves 

 sinew to continued advocacy of those grand prin- 

 ciples nf human liberty, until right shall triumph 

 over mignt and love over greed, do adopt and pro- 

 claim this declaration of faith. We demand the 

 initiative and referendum, and the imperative 

 mandate for such changes of existing fundamental 

 and statute law as will enable the people in their 

 sovereign capacity to propose and compel the en- 

 actment of such laws as they desire, to reject such 

 as they deem injurious to their interests, and to 

 recall unfaithful public servants. We demand the 



public ownership and operation of those means of 

 communication, transportation, and production 

 which the people may elect, such as railroads, 

 telegraph and telephone lines, coal mines, etc. The 

 land, including all natural sources of wealth, is a 

 heritage of the people, and should not be monopo- 

 lized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership 

 of land should be prohibited. All lands now held 

 by railroads and other corporations in excess of 

 their actual needs, and all lands now owned by 

 aliens, should be reclaimed by the Government and 

 held for actual settlers only. A scientific and abso- 

 lute paper money, based upon the entire wealth and 

 population of the nation, not redeemable in any 

 specific commodity, but made a full legal tender 

 for all debts, and receivable for all taxes and 

 public dues, and issued by the Government only 

 without the intervention of banks, and in sufficient 

 quantity to meet the demands of commerce, is 

 the best currency that can be devised, but until 

 such a financial system is secured, which we shall 

 press for adoption, we favor the free and unlimited 

 coinage of both silver and gold at the legal ratio 

 of 16 to 1. We demand the levy and collection of 

 a graduated tax on incomes and inheritances, and 

 a constitutional amendment to secure the same, 

 if necessary. We demand the election of President, 

 Vice-President, Federal judges, and United States 

 Senators by direct vote of the people. We are op- 

 posed to trusts, and declare the contention between 

 the old parties on the monopoly question is a sham 

 battle, and that no solution of this mighty prob- 

 lem is possible without the adoption of the princi- 

 ples of public ownership of public utilities." 



The Socialist-Labor party held a national con- 

 vention in New York city, and on June 6 nom- 

 inated for President Joseph F. Malloney, of Massa- 

 chusetts, and for Vice-President Valentine Rem- 

 mel, of Pennsylvania. The convention readopted 

 the declaration of principles of 1896, as follows: 



" The Socialist-Labor party of the United 

 States, in convention assembled, reasserts the in- 

 alienable right of all men to life, liberty, and the 

 pursuit of happiness. With the founders of the 

 American republic we hold that the purpose of 

 government is to secure every citizen in the enjoy- 

 ment of this right; but in the light of our social 

 conditions we hold, furthermore, that no such 

 right can be exercised under a system of economic 

 inequality, essentially destructive of life, of liberty, 

 and of happiness. With the founders of this re- 

 public we hold that the true theory of politics is 

 that the machinery of government must be owned 

 and controlled by the whole people; but in the 

 light of our industrial development we hold, fur- 

 thermore, that the true theory of economics is 

 that the machinery of production must likewi-" 

 belong to the people in common. To the obvious 

 fact that our despotic System of economics is (In- 

 direct opposite of our democratic system of poli- 

 tics can plainly be traced the existence of a privi- 

 leged class, the corruption of government by that 

 class, the alienation of public property, public 

 franchises, and public functions to that class, and 

 the abject dependence of the mightiest of nations 

 upon that class. Auain. through the perversion 

 of democracy to the ends of plutocracy, labor is 

 robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 

 denied the means of self-employment, and, by 

 compulsory idleness in wage slavery, is even de- 

 prived of the necessaries of life. Human power 

 and natural forces are thus wasted, that the 

 plutocracy may rule. Ignorance and misery, with 

 all their concomitant evils, are perpetuated, that 

 the people may be kept in bondage. Science and 

 invention are diverted from their humane purpose 

 to the enslavement of women and children. 



