150 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



5. That public transportation should be owned and controlled by the 

 government. 



6. That no class or interest should be taxed to build up any other 

 class or interest. 



7. That public revenues should be limited to an honestly and eco- 

 nomically administered government. 



And for the further security of the public welfare, let them demand : 



8. A just and equitable system of graduated taxation on incomes. 



9. The election of United States senators by a direct vote of the 

 people. 



These demands are the necessary and legitimate outgrowth of our 

 rapidly advancing civilization, and the highest considerations for the 

 public weal and safety should impel us to earnest and persistent endeavor 

 to engraft them upon our governmental policy. 



In all the broad field of our noble endeavor as an order, there is no 

 purpose grander in design, more patriotic in conception, or more benef- 

 icent in its possible results, to the whole country and to posterity, 

 than the one in which we declare to the world that henceforth there 

 shall be no sectional lines across Alliance territory. Failing in all else 

 we may undertake as an organization, if we shall accomplish only a 

 restoration of fraternity and unity, and -obliterate the unnatural estrange- 

 ment which has unfortunately so long divided the people of this country, 

 the Alliance will have won for itself immortal glory and honor. In the 

 spirit of a broad and liberal patriotism, it recognizes but one flag and 

 one country. Confronted by a common danger, afflicted with a com- 

 mon evil, impelled by a common hope, the people of Kansas and 

 Virginia, of Pennsylvania and Texas, of Michigan and South Carolina, 

 make common cause in a common interest. It recognizes the im- 

 portant truth, that the evils which oppress the agricultural interests of 

 the country are national in their character, and that they cannot be 

 corrected by sectional effort or sectional remedies. It recognizes the 

 fact that the war ended in 1865 ; that chattel slavery is gone, and that 

 the prejudices and divisions, born of its existence, should go with it. 



Community of interests between the great States of the middle, 

 southern, and western sections, is the mighty natural force which will 

 draw them together in solid array in the impending struggle between 

 the people and plutocratic power. 



Causes other than political (potent. and effective as the latter have 

 been) have conspired to propagate and perpetuate sectionalism. The 

 rich, powerful, and densely populated East must needs have an out- 

 let for its aggressive enterprise, its rapidly accumulating wealth, and 



