THE FARMER AND THE LABOR QUESTION. 395 



vote upon all measures of importanGe, according to the 

 referendum principle. 



"16. Abolition of the veto power of the executive (national, 

 state, and municipal), wherever it exists. 



"17. Abolition of the United States Senate and all upper 

 legislative chambers. 



"18. Municipal self-government. 



" 19. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Uni- 

 versal and equal right of suffrage without regard to color, creed, 

 or sex. Election days to be legal holidays. The principle of 

 proportional re{)resentation to be introduced. 



" 20. All public officers to be subject to recall by their 

 respective constituencies. 



"21. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout tlie 

 United States. Administration of justice to be free of charge. 

 Abolition of capital punishment." 



This statement of principles is not Socialism, but bears 

 evidence of being a carefully-considered combination of 

 •'[)lanks," calculated to catch everybody who is discontented 

 with anything. Sucli of the demands as I desire to discuss 

 are dealt with elsewhere. Those who hold these views have 

 hardly the right to call themselves Socialists, although the 

 l)latform includes many of the demands of Socialism.* In the 

 main the Socialist Labor party represents the violent and 

 revolutionary wing of the Socialists. Its declarations and 

 sometimes its acts have created, among law-abiding men, a 

 prejudice against the name of "Socialism" which is difficult 

 to remove. 



The object of this chapter has been attained if the reader, 

 by its perusal, obtains a clear idea of the real economic rela- 

 tions between farmers and workingmen. It is one of conflict 

 ing economic interests profoundly affected by common inter- 

 ests in relation to some other classes. So far as labor seeks 

 the aid of legislation to accomplish its ends, the interests of 

 farmers are sometimes with labor and sometimes against it. 



*See Chapter VIII of this book. 



