follow default in the payment of the debt of the 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, and not in the interest of a few, under suitable provisions for protection of life and property, giving to all transportation interests equal privileges and equal rates for fares and freight. 3. We denounce the present infamous schemes for refunding those debts and demand that the laws now applicable thereto be executed and administered according to their true intent and spirit. 4. The telegraph, like the post-office system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest of the people. LAND, HOMES, AND PACIFIC RAILROAD GRANTS. 1. The 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. 2. We condemn the frauds by which the land grant to the Pacific railroad companies have, through the connivance of the Interior Department, robbed multitudes of bona fide settlers of their homes and miners of their claims, and we demand legislation by Congress which will enforce the exemption of mineral land from such grants after as well as before patent. 3. 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. DIRECT LEGISLATION AND GENERAL PLANKS. We favor a system of direct legislation through the initiative and referendum under proper constitutional safeguards. We demand the election of President, Vice-President, and United States Senators by a direct vote of the people. We tender to the patriotic people of Cuba our deepest sympathy in their heroic struggle for political freedom and independence, and we believe the time has come when the United States, the great Republic of the world, should recognize that Cuba is and of right ought to be a free and independent state. We favor home rule in the Territories and the District of Columbia and the early admission of the Territories as States. 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 by injunction should be prevented by proper legislation. We favor just pensions for our disabled Union soldiers. Believing that the elective franchise and untrammeled ballot are essential to a government of, for, and by the people, the People's Party condemn the wholesale system of disfranchisement adopted in some 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 full, free, and fair ballot and an honest count. FINANCIAL QUESTION THE PRESSING ISSUE." While the foregoing propositions constitute the platform upon which our party stands, and for the vindication of which its organization will be maintained, we recognize that the great and pressing issue of the pending campaign, upon which the present Presidential 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. Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital, which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the State and nation toward property.— Theodore Roosevelt, in speech at Minneapolis, September 2, 1901. If, following the clear precepts of duty, territory falls to us, and the welfare of an alien people requires our guidance and protection, who will shirk from the responsibility, grave though it may be? Can we leave these people, who, by the fortunes of war and our own acts, are helpless and without government, to chaos and anarchy, after we have destroyed the only government they have had?-President McKinley, at Savannah, Ga., December 17, 1898. INDEX. Page. Agriculture, growth of, under protection American manufactures in Europe Anarchy, law proposed to punish Annexation of insular territory, effect of Appropriations by Congress Army of the United States, conduct of the Appropriations, Democratic opposition to the Punishment of offenses in the 27 15 268 188 295 145 241 149 Roosevelt's proclamation to the 129 Reduction of the 238 Roosevelt's Decoration Day address on the 191 Schurman's praise of the 145 Taft's praise of the 145 Testimony of the generals as to the conduct of the Cost of living in United States and England Cuba, action of American Congress towards Platt amendment, text of Relinquishment of American authority over Republican government organized by United States 294-305 Danish West Indies, negotiations for Democratic harmony, views of Cleveland, Bryan, and Watter- son on Democratic national platform Opposition to Army appropriations Page. 334 341 363 242 Labor, advantages of American ..... Average rates of wages in England and America Conditions under Republican and Democratic Administra- 82 73 tions 58 71 69 57 Legislation in the States -52-57 Panama Canal. (See Isthmian Canal.) Philippines, Aguinaldo, Dewey's opinion of Aguinaldo's orders for massacre of Americans Amnesty proclamation for Filipino prisoners Bill of rights for Civil authority established in 64 65 60 23 268 274 290 282 284 Republican and Democratic policies contrasted 292 280 41 226 323 322 167 * 121 115 118 127 145 123 121 |