The People's Party, assembled in National Convention, reaffirms its allegiance to the principles declared by the
founders of the Republic, and also to the fundamental principles of just government as enunciated in the platform of the
party in 1892.
We recognize that through the connivance of the present and preceding Administrations the country has reached a
crisis in its National life, as predicted in our declaration four years ago, and that prompt and patriotic action is the
supreme duty of the hour.
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 basely surrendered by our public servants to corporate monopolies. The influence
of European moneychangers 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
declarations of principles:
The Finances
1. 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.
2. We demand the free and unrestricted coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without
waiting for the consent of foreign nations.
3. We demand that the volume of circulating medium be speedily increased to an amount sufficient to meet the demand
of the business and population, and to restore the just level of prices of labor and production.
4. 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
5. We demand such legislation as will prevent the demonetization of the lawful money of the United States by private
contract.
6. We demand that the Government, in payment of its obligation, 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.
7. 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 as a misinterpretation of the
Constitution and an invasion of the rightful powers of Congress over the subject of taxation.
8. We demand that postal savings-banks be established by the Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the
people and to facilitate exchange.
Railroads and Telegraphs
1. 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 non-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 citizens,
may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accomplished gradually, in a manner consistent with sound public policy.
2. The interest of the United States in the public highways built with public moneys, and the proceeds of 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 freight.
3. We denounce the present infamous schemes for refunding these debts, and demand that the laws now applicable
thereto be executed and administered according to their 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.
The Public Lands
1. 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 land grant frauds by which 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 before the
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.
The Referendum
We favor a system of direct legislation through the initiative and referendum, under proper Constitutional
safeguards.
Direct Election of President and Senators by the People
We demand the election of President, Vice-President, and United States Senators by a direct vote of the people...
The Territories
We favor home rule in the Territories and the District of Columbia, and the early admission of the Territories as
States.
Public Salaries
All public salaries should be made to correspond to the price of labor and its products.
Employment to Be Furnished by Government
In times of great industrial depression, idle labor should be employed on public works as far as practicable.
Arbitrary Judicial Action
The arbitrary course of the courts in assuming to imprison citizens for indirect contempt and ruling by injunctions
should be prevented by proper legislation.
Pensions
We favor pensions for our disabled Union soldiers.
A Fair Ballot
Believing that the elective franchise and an untrammeled ballot are essential to a government of, for, and by the
people, the People's party condemns 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 actions as will secure a
full, free and fair ballot and an honest count.
The 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 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.
Source: Henry E. Rhoades, ed., "The People's Party PLatform" in Tribune Almanac and Political Register for 1897
(New York: The Tribune Association, 1897), 30-31.
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