can and must be effected without depriving American labor of the ability to compete successfully with foreign labor, and without imposing lower rates of duty than will be ample to cover any increased cost of production which may exist in consequence of the higher rate of wages prevailing in this country. Sufficient revenue to pay all the expenses of the federal government, economically administered, including pensions, interest and principal of the public debt, can be got under our present system of taxation from custom-house taxes on fewer imported articles, bearing heaviest on articles of luxury, and bearing lightest on articles of necessity. We therefore denounce the abuses of the existing tariff; and, subject to the preceding limitations, we demand that federal taxation shall be exclusively for public purposes, and shall not exceed the needs of the government economically administered. . . . 44. The Social Cleavage of 1896 ... A turning point came in American politics in 1896, when Mr. Bryan, in his famous speech before the Democratic convention in Chicago, swept aside the century-long sectional issues and made an appeal to the broad masses of the people to unite against the great financial and corporate interests. men and chants. ... We stand here representing people who are the equals The workingbefore the law of the largest cities in the State of Massachusetts. When you come before us and tell us that we shall disturb your small merbusiness interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business interests by your action. We say to you that you have made too limited in its application the definition of a business man. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer. The attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis. The merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York. The farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and toils all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of this country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who Praise for the Western pioneers. Democratic party on the side of the masses. goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain. The miners who go a thousand feet into the earth or climb 2,000 feet upon the cliffs and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured in the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial magnates who in a back room corner the money of the world. We come to speak for this broader class of business men. Ah, my friends, we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast; but those hardy pioneers who braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose - those pioneers away out there, rearing their children near to nature's heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds - out there where they have erected school houses for the education of their children and churches where they praise their Creator, and the cemeteries where sleep the ashes of their dead are as deserving of the consideration of this party as any people in this country. It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned. We have entreated and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have begged and they have mocked when our calamity came. We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy them. . . . Mr. Carlisle said in 1878 that this was a struggle between the idle holders of idle capital and the struggling masses who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country; and my friends, it is simply a question that we shall decide upon which side shall the Democratic party fight. Upon the side of the idle holders of idle capital, or upon the side of the struggling masses? That is the question that the party must answer first; and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sympathies of the Democratic party, as described by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. There are two ideas of government. There are those who be- Democratic lieve that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous prosperity. theory of that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it. You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in this country. . . . ... challenge. If they dare to come out and in the open defend the gold stand- The ard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the Nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. 45. Contemporary Political Issues The following condensed extracts from the platforms of two leading parties in the campaign of 1912 reveal the tendency of the older issues growing out of the Civil War and Reconstruction to disappear before the newer questions connected with the development of industry and commerce, the relations of capital and labor, and changes in our system of government. platform on We heartily favor the policy of conservation and pledge our Progressive party to protect the National forests without hindering their legitimate use for the benefit of all the people. Agriculture lands in the National forests are, and should remain, open to the settler. Conservation will not retard legitimate development. Conserva tion. The Democratic platform on the trust ques tion. We believe that the remaining forests, coal and oil lands, water powers, and other natural resources, still in State or National control (except agricultural lands), are more likely to be wisely conserved and utilized for the general welfare if held in the public hands. We demand that such resources shall be retained by the State or Nation, and opened to immediate use under laws which will encourage development and make to the people a moderate return for the benefits conferred. Pledge our party to require reasonable compensation to the public for water power rights, hereafter granted to the public. Natural resources whose conservation is necessary for the National welfare should be owned or controlled by the Nation. A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. Favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal as well as the civil law against trusts and trust officials. Demand the enactment of such additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impossible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. We favor the declaration by law of the conditions upon which corporations shall be permitted to engage in interstate trade, including, among others, the prevention of holding companies, of interlocking directors, of stock watering, of discrimination in price, and the control by any one corporation of so large a proportion of any industry as to make it a menace to competitive conditions. We condemn the action of the Republican Administration in compromising with the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco Trust, and its failure to invoke the criminal provisions of the Anti-Trust law against the officers of these corporations. . . . We regret that the Sherman Anti-Trust law has received a judicial construction depriving it of much of its efficacy, and we favor the enactment of legislation which will restore to the statute the strength of which it has been deprived in such interpretation. We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of railroads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines engaged in interstate commerce. To this end we recommend the valuation of railroads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines by the Interstate Commerce Commission, such valuation to take into consideration the physical value of the property, the original cost, the cost of reproduction and any element of value that will render the valuation fair and just. . . We favor also legislation preventing the over issue of stocks and bonds by interstate railroads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines, and legislation which will assure such reduction in transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken to avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent adequate service or do injustice to legitimate invest ments. We demand a strong National regulation of interstate cor- The Progresporations. sive Party on the trust The corporation is an essential part of modern business. The issue. concentration of modern business, in some degrees, is both inevitable and necessary for National and international business efficiency. But the existing concentration of vast wealth under a corporate system, unguarded and uncontrolled by the Nation, has placed in the hands of a few men enormous, secret, irresponsible power over the daily life of the citizen- a power insufferable in a free Government and certain of abuse. . . Urge the establishment of a strong Federal administrative commission of high standing, which shall maintain permanent active supervision over industrial corporations engaged in interstate commerce or such of them as are of public importance, doing for them what the Government now does for the National banks, and what is now done for the railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission. . . We pledge our party to secure to the Interstate Commerce |