that prompt and patriotic action is the supreme duty of the hour.

cor

"We realize that while we have political independence, our financial and industrial independence is yet to be attained by restoring to our country the constitutional control and exercise of the functions necessary to a people's government, which functions have been Casely surrendered by our public servants to porate monopolies. The influence of European money changers has been more potent in shaping legislation than the voice of the American people. Executive power and patronage have been used to corrupt our Legislatures and defeat the will of the people, and plutocracy has thereby been enthroned upon the ruins of democracy. To restore the Government intended by the fathers, and for the welfare and prosperity of this and future generations, we demand the establishment of an economic and financial system which shall make us masters' of our own affairs and independent of European control, by the adoption of the following:

NATIONAL MONEY.-We demand a national money, safe and sound, issued by the general Government only, without the intervention of banks of issue, to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private; a just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the people and through the lawful disbursements of the Government."

SILVER.-"We demand the free and unrestricted coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one, without waiting for the consent of foreign nations."

CIRCULATION.-"We demand the volume of circulating medium be speedily increased to an amount sufficient to meet the demands of the business and population, and to restore the just level of prices of labor and production."

BOND ISSUE.-"We denounce the sale of bonds and the increase of the public interest-bearing debt made by the present Administration as unnecessary and without authority of law, and demand that no more bonds be issued except by specific act of Congress. We demand such legislation as will prevent the demonetization of the lawful money of the United States by private contract. We demand that the Government, in payment of its obligations, shall use its option as to the kind of lawful money in which they are to be paid, and we denounce the present and preceding Administrations for surrendering this option to the holders of Government obligations."

INCOME TAX.-"We demand a graduated income tax, to the end that aggregated wealth shall bear its just proportion of taxation, and we regard the recent decision of the Supreme Court relative to the Income Tax law as a misinterpretation of the Constitution and an invasion of the rightful powers of Congress over the subject of taxation.”

POSTAL BANKS.-"We demand that Dostal savings banks be established by the Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people and to facilitate exchange.

RAILROADS.-"Transportation being a means of exchange and a public necessity, the Government should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people

and on a on-partisan basis, to the end that all may be accorded the same treatment in transportation, and that the tyranny and political power now exercised by the great railroad corporations which result in the impairment, if not the destruction, of the political rights and personal liberties of the citizen, may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accomplished gradually in a manner consistent with sound public policy."

PACIFIC RAILROAD DEBTS.-"The interest of the United States in the public highways built with public moneys, and the proceeds of extensive grants of land to the Pacific railroads, should never be alienated, mortgaged, or sold, but guarded and protected for the general welfare as provided by the laws organizing such railroads. The foreclosure of existing liens of the United States on these roads should at once follow default in the payment thereof by the debtor companies; and at the foreclosure sales of said roads the Government shall purchase the same if it becomes necessary to protect its interests therein, or if they can be purchased at a reasonable price; and the Government shall operate said railroads as public highways for the benefit of the whole people, and not in the interest of the few, under suitable provisions for protection of life and property, giving to all transportation interests equal privileges and equal rates for fares and freights. We denounce the present infamous schemes for refunding these debts, and demand that the laws now applicable thereto be executed and administered acording to their interest and spirit." TELEGRAPH.-"The telegraph, like the postoffice system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, sho'd be owned and operated by the Goverment in the interest of the people."

LAND.-"True policy demands that the National and State legislation shall be such as will ultimately enable every prudent and industrious citizen to secure a home, and therefore the land should not be monopolized for speculative purposes. All lands now held by railroads and other

corporations in excess of their actual needs should by lawful means be reclaimed by the Government and held for actual settlers only, and private land monopoly, as well as alien ownership, should be prohibited. We condemn the land grant frauds by which the Pacific railroad companies have, through the connivance of the Interior Department, robbed multitudes of actual bona fide settlers of their homes and miners of their claims, and we demand legislation by Congress which will enforce the exception of mineral land from such grants after as well as before the patent. We demand that bona fide settlers on all public lands be granted free homes, as provided in the National Homestead law, and that no exception be made in the case of Indian reservations when opened for settlement, and that all lands not now patented come under this demand."

"All public salaries should be made to correspond to the price of labor and its products.

"In times of great industrial depression idle labor should be employed on public works as far as practicable.

"The arbitrary course of the courts in assuming to imprison citizens for indirect contempt and ruling them by injunction should be prevented by proper legislation.

"We favor just pensions for our disabled Union soldiers.

"Believing that the elective franchise and an untrammelied ballot are essential to government of, for, and by the people, the People's party condemn the wholesale system of disfranchisement adopted in some of the States as unrepublican and undemocratic, and we declare it to be the duty of the several State Legislatures to take such action as will secure a fuli, free, and fair ballot and an honest count. "While the foregoing propositions constitute the platform upon which our party stands, and for the vindication of which its organization will be maintained, recognize that the great and pressing issue of the pending campaign upon which the present election will turn is the financial question, and upon this great and specific issue between the parties we cordially invite the aid and co-operation of all organizations and citizens agreeing with us upon this vital question.'

we

too

A minority submitted a substitute platform, taking the ground that the one of the majority was too elaborate and much like that adopted at the Democratic Convention. The substitute denounced "the methods and policies of the Demo-cratic and Republican parties" for their "mutual co-operation with the money power"; also their policies of tariff and the issuance of interest-bearing United States bords in time of peace; demanded a National currency; the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at a ratio of 16 to 1; that the circulating medium shall consist of gold, silver and paper currency; a graduated income tax; economy in Federal administration; Government ownership of the telegraph and telephone; the prohibition of alien ownership of land and pauper immigration, and legislation by means of the initiative and referendum. The minority platform was overwhelmingly defeated, and the majority platform, as above, was adopted.

SILVERITES.

The first National Convention of the Silverites met at St. Louis on July 22, 1896. Francis G. Newlands, of Nevada, was made temporary chairman, and W. P. St. John, of New-York, was permanent chairman. William J. Bryan and Arthur Sewall, the candidates of the Democratic Convention for President and Vice-Presi

dent, respectively, were indorsed on July 24, by acclamation.

THE PLATFORM.

The following is the platform as adopted on July 23:

MONEY. "The National Silver party of America, in convention assembled, hereby adopts the following declaration of principles:

"The paramount issue at this time in the United States is indisputably the money question. It is between the British gold standard, gold bonds and bank currency on the one side, and the bimetallic standard, no bonds, Government currency (and an American policy) on the other. On this issue we declare ourselves to be in favor of a distinctively American financial system. We are unalterably opposed to the single gold standard and demand the immediate return to the constitutional standard of gold and silver, by the restoration by this Government, independently of any foreign power, of the unrestricted coinage of both gold and silver into standard money at the ratio of 16 to 1, and upon terms of exact equality as they existed prior to 1873; the silver coin to be of full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts and dues, public and private; and we demand such legislation as will prevent for the future the destruction of the legal-tender quality of any kind of money by private contract. We hold that the power to control and regulate a paper currency is inseparable from the power to coin money, and hence that all currer.cy intended to circulate as money should be issued and its volume controlled by the General Government only, and should be a legal tender."

BOND ISSUE.-"We are unalterably opposed to the issue by the United States of interest-bearing bonds in time of peace, and we denounce as a blunder worse than a crime the present Treasury policy, concurred in by a Republican House, of plunging the country into debt by hundreds of millions in the vain attempt to maintain the gold standard by borrowing gold; and we demand the payment of all coin obligations of the United States as provided by existing laws, in either gold or silver coin, at the option of the Government and not at the option of the creditor. The demonetization of silver in 1873 enormously increased the demand for gold, enhancing its purchasing power and lowering all prices measured by that standard; and since that unjust and indefensible act the prices of American products have fallen upon an average nearly 50 per cent, carrying down with them proportionately the money value of all other forms of property. Such fall of prices has destroyed the profits of legitimate industry, injuring the producer for the benefit of the non-producer, increasing the burden of the debtor, swelling the gains of the creditor, paralyzing the productive energies of the American people, relegating to idleness vast numbers of willing workers, sending the shadows of despair into the home of the honest toiler, filling the land with tramps and paupers, and building up colossal fortunes at the money centres. In the effort to maintain the gold standard, the country has, within the last two years, in a time of profound peace and plenty, been loaded down with

$262,000,000 of additional interest-bearing debt under such circumstances as to allow a syndicate of native and foreign bankers to realize a net profit of millions on a single deal."

GOLD.-"It stands confessed that the gold standard can only be upheld by so depleting our paper currency as to force the prices of our products below the European, and even below the Asiatic level, to enable us to sell in foreign markets, thus aggravating the very evils of which our people degrading bitterly complain, American labor and striking at the foundations of our civilization itself. The auvocates of the gold standard persistently claim that the real cause of our distress is overproduction; that we have produced so much that it made us poor-which implies that the true remedy is to close the factory, abandon the farm and throw a multitude of people out of employment; a doctrine that leaves us unnerved and disheartened and absolutely without hope for the future. We affirm to be unquestioned that there can be no such economic paradox as over-production, and at the same time tens eof thousands of our fellowcitizens remaining half-clothed and halffed, and who are piteously clamoring for the common necessities of life. Over and above all other questions of policy, we are in favor of restoring to the people of the United States the time-honored money of the Constitution-gold and silver, not one, but both-the money of Washington and Hamilton, and Jefferson and Monroe, and Jackson and Lincoln, to the end that the American people may receive honest pay for an honest product; that the American debtor may pay his just obligations in an honest standard, and not in a dishonest and unsound standard, appreciated 100 per cent in purchasing power and no appreciation in debt-paying power, and to the end, further, that silver-standard countries may be deprived of the unjust advantage they now enjoy, in the difference in exchange between gold and silver-an advantage which tariff legislation cannot Overcome. We therefore confidently appeal to the people of the United States to nold in abeyarce all other questions, however important and even momentous they may appear; to sunder, if need be, all former party ties and affiliations, and unite in one supreme effort to free themselves and their children from the domination of the money power-a power more destructive than any which has ever been fastened upon the civilized men of any race or in any age. And, upon the consummation of our desires and efforts, we evoke the aid of all patriotic American citizens and the gracious favor of Divine Providerce. Inasmuch as the patriotic majority of the Chicago Convention embodied in the financial plank of its platform the principles enunciated in the platform of the American Bimetallic party, promulgated at Washington, D. C., January 22, 1896, and herein reiterated, which is not only the paramount but the only real issue in the pending compaign, therefore, recognizing that their nominees embody these patriotic principles, we recommend that this Convention nominate William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, for President, and Arthur Sewall, of Maine, for VicePresident."

PROHIBITION.

The National Convention of the Prohibition party was held at Pittsburg, Penn., May 28, 1896. Joshua Levering, of Maryland, was nominated for President, and Hale Johnson, of Illinois, for Vice-President. Close to midnight, when contributions to the campaign fund were being received, the Free Silver, Woman's Suffrage and Populist delegates, numbering about 200, bolted the convention. THE PLATFORM.

The majority of the Committee on Resolutions reported a platform, the first six planks of which were adopted unan.mously by the committee, and were denunciatory of the liquor traffic and proposed straightout prohibition. The seventh plank, which declared that no citizen should be denied the right to vote on account of sex, was adopted by only a small majority. The other planks, which referred to one day's rest a week, the English language in non-sectarian schools, the election of President, Vice-President and Senators directly by the people, liberal pensions, exclusion of pauper and criminal emigrants, arbitration, etc., there was some division on.

The minority reported a platform which contained this money plank:

"Resolved. That all money be issued by the Government only and without the intervention of any private citizen, corporation or banking institution. It should be based upon the wealth, stability and integrity of the Nation, and be full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and should be of sufficient volume to meet the demands of the legitimate business interests in this country and for the purpose of honestly liquidating all our outstanding obligations payable in coin. We demand the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at a ratio of 16 to 1 without consulting any other nation." The other points on which the minority asked action were: Preserving public lands from monopoly and speculation: Government control of railroads and telegraphs; favoring an income tax and imposing only such import duties as are necessary to secure equitable commercial relations with other nations; favoring the adoption of the initiative and referendum as a means of obtaining free expression of the popular will. On the motion to make these recommendations part of the majority report the fight began. A vote to lay it on the table resulted in 492 nays, 310 veas. The free silver plank was defeated by a vote of 427 nays to 387 yeas.

A substitute platform was proposed by Mr. Patton, of Illinois, which omitted mention of every subject, woman suffrage included, except prohibition, and it was adopted and became the sole platform of the party. The following is the full text:

"The Prohibition party, in National Convention assembled, declares its firm conviction that the manufacture, exportation, importation and sale of alcoholic beverages has produced such social, commercial, industrial and political wrongs and is now so threatening the perpetuity of all our social and political institutions that the suppression of the same by a national party organized therefor is the greatest object to be accomplished by the

voters of our country, and is of such importance as that it, of right, ought to control the political action of all our patriotic citizens until such suppression is accomplished. The urgency of this cause demands the union without further delay of all citizens who desire the prohibition of the liquor traffic.

"Therefore, be it resolved, That we favor the legal prohibition by State and National legislation of the manufacture, importation, exportation, interstate transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages.

"That we declare our purpose to organize and invite all the friends of prohibition into our party, and in order to accomplish this end we declare it but right to leave every Prohibitionist the freedom of his own conscience upon all other political questions, and trust our representatives to take legislative action upon cther political questions as the changes occasioned by prohibition and the welfare of the whole people shall demand."

PROHIBITION BOLTERS.

The new National party (Prohibition bolters) held its first convention at Pittsburg, Penn., on May 28, 1896. Rev. Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska, was nominated for President, and J. H. Southgate, of North Carolina, was nominated for Vice-President. On the money question the platform said:

It

"All money should be issued by the general Government only, and without the intervention of any private citizen, corporation, or banking institution. should be based upon the wealth, stability and integrity of the nation. It should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and should be of sufficient volume to meet the demands of the legitimate business interests of the country. For the purpose of honestly liquidating our outstanding coin obligations we favor the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold, at the ratio of 16 to 1, without consulting any other nation."

SOCIALIST-LABOR.

The National Convention of the Socialist-Labor party held in New-York City on July 9, 1896, nominated Charles H. Matchett, of New-York, for President, and Mathew Maguire, of New-Jersey, for Vice-President. The platform, divided into twenty-one items, was as follows:

"With a view to immediate improvement in the condition of labor we present the following demands: Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to the progress of production. The United States to obtain possession of the mines, railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones and all other means of public transportation and communication; the employes to operate the same co-operatively under control of the Federal Government and to elect their own superior officers, but no employe shall be discharged for political reasons. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads, ferries, waterworks, gasworks, electric plants and all industries requiring municipal franchises; the employes to operate the same co-operatively under control of the municipal administration and to elect their own superior officers, but no employe shall be discharged for political reasons. The pub

lic lands to be declared inalienable, revocation of all land grants to corporations or individuals the conditions of which have not been complied with. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific management of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the natural resources of the country. Inventions to be free to all; the inventors to be remunerated by the nation. Progressive income tax and tax on inheriances; the smaller incomes to be exempt. School education of all children under fourteen years of age to be compulsory, gratuitous and accessible to all by public assistance in meals, clothing, books, etc., where necessary. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy and sumptuary laws. Unabridged right of combination. Prohibition of the employment of children of school age and the employment of female labor in occupations detrimental to health or morality. Abolition of the convict labor contract system. Employment of the unemployed by the public authorities (county, city, State and Nation). All wages to be paid in lawful money of the United States; equalization of women's wages with those of men where equal service is performed. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all occupations, and an efficient employers' liability law. The people to have the right to propose laws and to vote upon all measures of importance, according to the referendum principle. Abolition of the veto power of the Executive (National, State and municipal), wherever it exists. Abolition of the United States Senate and all upper legislative chambers. Municipal self-government. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections; universal and equal right of suffrage without regard to color, creed or sex; election days to be legal holidays; the principle of proportional representation to be introduced. All public officers to be subject to recall by their respective constituencies. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout the United States; administration of justice to be free of charge; abolition of capital punishment." NATIONAL LEAGUE OF REPUBLICAN CLUBS.

August 26, 1896.-"We heartily indorse the platform adopted at St. Louis by the National Republican Convention, June 17, 1895. The Republican party was right when it elected Abraham Lincoln. It was right in its effort to save the Union. It was right when it struck the chains from 4,000,000 slaves and made them free men. It

was right in carrying into successful operation the resumption of specie payment. It was right in making Protection to American industries a cardinal doctrine of the American people. It was right in insisting that Reciprocity should be come the permanent law of the land. It is right now and always has been right in advocating a safe and stable currency, worth its face the world over, whether in the hands of rich or poor. It was right when it confided in the leadership of Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Harrison. It was right when it nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, and Garret A. Hobart, of New-Jersey, and we pledge them our hearty and loyal support.

"We believe that a return to the Repubpublican policy of protection is as essential to the solvency of the Nation as is the maintenance of the present financial standard to her credit and honor. A cheap dollar means low wages, a financial panic, distress to the people, obligations repudiated, a dishonored country, a biot on our fair history. The Republican party stands for honest money, honest treatment of our country's defenders, an honest system of revenue, protecting our industries and producing sufficient income to conduct the affairs of the Nation, an honest system of exchange with foreign countries, as embodied in the reciprocity idea of the immortal Blaine, an honest administration of public affairs.

"The names of its candidates are synonymous with honesty, patriotism, statesmanship and the highest ideal of life, duty and government. Our policies and candidates inspire the student, quicken the best thought of the voter, elevate the citizen and add new lustre to our country's history."

Detroit, Mich., July 14, 1897.-The following is the full text of the platform adopted:

The representatives of the National League of the Republican Clubs of the United States, in convention assembled in the city of Detroit, reaffirm their unfaltering allegiance to the principles and policies of the party of protection, sound money, reciprocity and patriotism, as expressed in the St. Louis platform. The faith which prompted the nomination and election of William McKinley and a Republican Congress has been justified, and we congratulate the country upon the evidence of returning prosperity. We pledge anew the energy and support of the great army of organized League men in every state of the Republic for the advancement and continued success of the party of Abraham Lincoln.

the

We view with satisfaction the progress that has been made during the short period of the present Republican Administration toward the fulfilment of every pledge made to the people, and commend President and Congress for their prompt and decisive action in sending a monetary commission to confer with other great Powers of the world in the interests of international bimetallism. We rejoice in the conclusion of a treaty providing for the annexation of Hawaii, and expect that, pending the ratification thereof by the Senate of the United States, the Administration will protect the islands against all interference.

The Republican party proclaimed in 1896 its active interest in and sympathy with the Cuban patriots in their long and heroic struggle against foreign misrule and oppression, as well as the fact that Spain has lost control of Cuba. The first and practical evidence of the sincerity of these declarations is the great and unmistakable lessening of Spanish atrocities and butcheries in Cuba at the demand of this Nation since March 4, 1897. The verdict of of the American people and the voice of humanity are that the useless and inhuman efforts of Spain to govern Cuba have lasted long enough, and we believe that President McKinley may be relied upon to interpose his good offices to end that struggle, with the greatest promptitude consistent with wise administration.

In order to carry into effect the policy advocated in the last National Republican platform, we earnestly urge upon Congress the earliest possible passage of a discrimi nating duty measure for the protection and upbuilding of our shipping in the foreign trade.

We earnestly ask of Congress such legislation by bounties as will encourage our beet-sugar industries.

We again commend to the consideration of the Republican clubs of the United States, as a matter of education, the question of granting suffrage to women.

We emphatically condemn the partisan action of the last Democratic President in summarily removing from office Union soldiers and other tried and competent public servants, and in extending the protection of the classified service over his own appointees, without requiring any examination as to their fitness and without regard to their qualifications, as a sham and a fraud and a subversion of the intent and purpose of the Civil Service law; and we favor a modification of the rules and provisions of said law for the benefit of the public service and to remedy the gross injustice thus perpetrated.

We request that new safeguards be incorporated into our immigration laws to prevent unworthy immigrants from landing upon our shores and from entering into competition with the citizen labor of our country.

We sympathize with the miners and other laboring men of the land in their peaceful struggles for living wages; and believe that the Tariff bill soon to be passed by Congress will restore the good times enjoyed by all citizens under former Republican Administrations and destroyed by Democratic free-trade legislation.

ASSOCIATION.

as

popular education in the United States. Aside from the general association there are seventeen different departments, follows: National Council, kindergarten, elementary, secondary, higher, normal, superintendence, manual and industrial, art, music, business, child study, physical training, science, school administration, library, education of the deaf.

The annual meetings of the general association and departments are held in July. The association has about two hundred life members, an associate membership of 8,000, and a permanent fund of about $60,000.