THE POPULIST BOMBSHELL OF 1892 143 



of the labor forces of the United States this day 

 consummated shall be permanent and perpetual"; 

 that * k wealth belongs to him who creates it, and 

 every dollar taken from industry without an equiv- 

 alent is robbery"; and "that the time has come 

 when the railroad corporations will either own 

 the people or the people must own the railroads." 

 Next came the demands. Heading these were the 

 monetary planks : " a national currency, safe, sound, 

 and flexible, issued by the general Government 

 only, a full legal tender for all debts, " with the sub- 

 treasury system of loans "or a better system; free 

 and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the pres- 

 ent legal ratio of sixteen to one"; and an increase 

 in the circulating medium until there should be 

 not less than $50 per capita. With demands for a 

 graduated income tax, for honesty and economy in 

 governmental expenditures, and for postal savings 

 banks, the financial part of the platform was com- 

 plete. The usual plank declaring for government 

 ownership and control of railroads and telegraphs 

 now included the telephone systems as well, and the 

 land plank opposed alien ownership and demanded 

 the return of lands held by corporations in excess of 

 their actual needs. Other resolutions, adopted but 

 not included in the platform, expressed sympathy 



