672 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



the inquiring mind is unable to substantiate. It arraigns the 

 political parties as separate from the people and lays at their feet 

 the responsibility for the condition of affairs. But the parties 

 which have brought about these calamities are composed of the 

 people, and their effort of self-government must, in consequence, 

 have brought them to the state described in the preamble : a 

 people who, if such a condition exists, are not capable of govern- 

 ing themselves ; a people who must have been deficient in ability 

 to grasp the first principles of economics ; a people who are 

 unable to see and much less to follow their own interests. Never- 

 theless these people are to be intrusted with greater responsibil- 

 ities and greater opportunities to make or mar themselves, not 

 by the parties which have already brought them where they are, 

 but by the one which poses as their savior. There is an appar- 

 ent incongruity when one views the subject from this last stand- 

 point, as well as a strong impression that the address has been 

 injured by over-statement. 



The real platform which follows is much less ardent and, there- 

 fore, demands more serious attention. It can be divided into 

 minor and major planks. The minor planks treat of the tariff, 

 pensions, contract labor laws, an eight-hour working day, and 

 election of senators by the people. The major planks relate to 

 currency, re-establishment of silver, government ownership of rail- 

 roads, and the limited ownership of lands. This division, while 

 somewhat arbitrary, has nevertheless a natural basis, in that the 

 party considers the problems of money, land, and railroads as 

 the most important. 



In the past the tariff has always occupied an important place 

 in the platforms of political parties. The contests of the last ten 

 or twelve years have been fought with this question as the main 

 issue. Notwithstanding the strong hold which the tariff has upon 

 political parties, the People's Party has deemed it best to pass by 

 this bone of contention. The word "tariff" is not used in the 

 Omaha platform, and there is very little to indicate the position 

 of the party in regard to it. In the last lines of one of the 

 sections is found the statement: "We demand that all state and 

 national revenues shall be limited to the necessary expenses of 



