668 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



Association, and the Colored Alliance were present. Here again 

 the third-party idea remained unpronounced. The platform issued 

 at Ocala differed in very few respects from that of 1889. The 

 sub-treasury scheme was not endorsed as in the year before, 

 and the government ownership of railroads and telegraphs was 

 changed to government control. A reduction of heavy tariff 

 duties was here demanded, and this is the only out-and-out 

 demand of the kind made in the five platforms. The others 

 content themselves with the statement that the revenue of state 

 and nation should be limited to expenses. 



The Cincinnati gathering represented no real purpose at the 

 time of its meeting. It was composed of the discontented and 

 the ambitious, and was not representative of any large number of 

 voters. The convention opened with the singing of "America" 

 and the Lord's Prayer. These were given with an earnestness 

 that spoke well for the convention and showed that they came 

 from the honest, sturdy, farming class that has so often been the 

 stay of the country, and whose tendency has been toward con- 

 servatism rather than toward radicalism. The proportion of the 

 delegates from the various states was very unequal. About two- 

 thirds of the states were represented, but out of the 1 500 per- 

 sons present, 407 were from Kansas, 317 from Ohio, and 100 

 from Illinois. The majority of the assembly were farmers, while 

 the remainder consisted of representatives of the various labor 

 societies. The purposes of the men were widely divergent and 

 the movement to make a third party was by no means unanimous 

 throughout the country. In vain some of the leaders protested 

 against the formation of a party at that time, hoping to defer the 

 matter until the following year. Their opposition was brushed 

 aside and the party was launched with a platform. The plat- 

 form is based on the Ocala platform, but contains some political 

 measures, and a few Knights of Labor pledges, such as the eight- 

 hour day. The planks of the platform are as follows : free coin- 

 age of silver, abolition of national banks, loans on land and real 

 estate, sub-treasuries, income tax, plenty of paper money, govern- 

 ment control of railroads, election of president, vice-president, 

 and senators by direct vote, non-ownership of land by foreigners, 



