tlers of their homes and miners of their cla.ms, 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."

DIRECT LEGISLATION.-"We favor a system of direct legislation through the initiative and referendum, under proper Constitutional safeguards."

GENERAL PROPOSITIONS.-"We demand the election of President, VicePresident, 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 politica! freedom and independence, and we beleve 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 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 untrammelled 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 full, free, and fair ballot and an honest count. "While the foregoing propositions constitate the platform upon which our party stands, and for the vindication of which i's organization will be maintained, we recognize that the great and pressing isse of the pending campaign upon which the present election will turn is the financal 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."

A minority submitted a substitute platform, taking the ground that the one of the majority was too elaborate and too much like that adopted at the Democratic Convention. The substitute denounced "the methods and policies of the Democratie 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.

SILVER PARTY.

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-President, respectively, were indorsed on July 24, by acclamation.

THE PLATFORM.

The following is the platform as adopted on July 23:

of

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

the

The paramount issue at this time in 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, Alling 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 so bitterly complain, degrading American labor and striking at the foundations of our civilization itself. The advocates 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 hold 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 Provider.ce. 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 campaign, 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 Vice-President."

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 unanimously by the committee, and were denunciitory 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 navs, 310 yeas. 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 enviction 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 cur social and political institutions that the suppression of the same by a natical 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 patristic 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.

hat 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 cther political questions as spon changes occasioned by prohibition and the welfare of the whole people shall demand."

PROHIBITION BOLTERS.

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The National party (Prohibition new bolters) held its first convention at Pittsborg. 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 employees 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, water works, gas works, 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 pubilc 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.

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL LEAGUE. 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 Republican 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 blot 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 name of its candidates is 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.

ALABAMA.

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

April 28, 1896.-We contend for honest money, for a currency of gold, silver and paper, with which to measure our exchange, that shall be as sound as the Government and as untarnished as its honor, and to that end we favor bimetallism and demand the use of both gold and silver as standard money, under such restrictions to be determined by legislation as will secure the maintenance of the parities of the values of the two metals; also, that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of gold, silver or paper, shall be at all times equal, and we believe the best way to continue the parity of our dollars and at the same time enlarge the circulating medium commensurate with the growth of population is the unlimited use of the domestic silver product of our own monetary system and the prohibition of foreign silver, modified by financial reciprocity.

We are unalterably opposed to any scheme that will give to this country a depreciated and debased currency. We favor the use of silver as currency, but to the extent only that its parity with gold can be maintained, and in consequence are opposed to a free and unlimited and independent coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. We believe that every American dollar should be an honest 100-cent dollar, always and everywhere, whether gold, silver or paper.

DEMOCRATIC.

April 22, 1896.-The platform favors the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1, as the standard morey of the country, without discrimination against either metal and without the consent of foreign nations. It also calls for the repeal of the 10 per cent tax cn State bank issues, and for the government of the State by white men. President Cleveland was commended for his attitude on the Monroe Doctrine, but his financial policy was condemned. The

minority report, which was in opposition to free coinage, was tabled by a vote of 331 to 173. The National Convention delegates were instructed to vote as a unit for free silver.

were

SOUND MONEY DEMOCRATS. August 27, 1896, Resolutions unanimously adopted indorsing Secretary Herbert's course in bolting the Chicago Convention; declaring in favor of nominating a National Democratic candidate in each district in Alabama; deploring the death of ex-Governor Russell of Massachusetts; indorsing the action of the National Provisional Executive Committee, and especially the work of J. M. Falkner, Alabama's member; providing for a thorough organization in every county in Alabama; demanding that the National Democracy be treated fairly at the polls in Alabama; declaring in favor of the Indianapolis Convention placing a National ticket in the field.

POPULISTS.

April 29. 1896.-The platform demanded a free ballot and a fair count; declared for free coinage of silver; the abolition of National banks, and the expansion of currency. A tariff plank said: "We favor a tariff for revenue so adjusted as to protect, as far as practicable, the farmers and the labor in our shops, mines, factories and mills, and their products, against foreign pauper labor."

ARIZONA.

REPUBLICAN.

April 30, 1896.-The "McKinley Wing" adopted a platform, in part, as follows: "We declare that it is the unanimous demand of the people of the Territory of Arizona that silver should be remonetized and restored to its place in the currency of the Nation as a money metal accorded it by the founders of the Republic. We assert that we are for the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and we hereby instruct the dele

gates to the National Convention to use every means in their power to secure a clause in the National platform favoring free and unlimited coinage of silver."

The platform also urges Congress to grant Statehood to the Territory; favored liberal pensions to veterans; advocated "protection to American labor and American industries," and the policy of reciprocity. and indorsed William McKinley for President.

The 'Stoddard-Christy Wing" adopted this money plank:

"That it is the belief of this convention that the people of Arizona, without regard to party, are in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of not less than 16 to 1, and the delegates elected by this convention to St. Louis are held instructed to use all honorable means to secure the adoption of a silver plank in the National Republican platform."

DEMOCRATIC.

June 8, 1896.-Resolved, That we, the Democratic party of Arizona, in convention, repudiate the financial policy of the present National Administration.

We indorse the language used by John G. Carlisle in 1878, when he denounced the "conspiracy" to destroy silver as a standard money, as "the most gigantic crime of this or any other age," and we agree with him in the declaration then made that "the consummation of such a scheme would ultimately entail more

misery upon the human race than all the wars, pestilences and famines that have ever occurred in the history of the world."

We are not willing to be parties to such a crime and in order to undo a wrong already done and to prevent a further rise in the nurchasing power of the dollar, we favor the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1. as such coinage existed prior to 1873, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation, such gold and silver to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private.

We are opposed to the retirement of the greenback, and demand that the Secretary of the Treasury, instead of issuing interest-bearing bonds for the purchase of gold shall recognize silver as money of redemption and exercise the right to redeem greenbacks, treasury notes and all other coin obligations in silver when silver is more convenient.

POPULIST.

August 21, 1896.-The platform indorsed the nominations of Bryan and Sewall on the National ticket; favored free silver; declared for Statehood for Arizona, and the reclamation of desert lands by Governmental aid, and oppose the present irrigation laws of the Territory.

ARKANSAS.

REPUBLICAN.

March 3, 1896.-The platform favored "true bimetallism, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be determined by legislation, as will secure the maintenance of the parity of values of the

35

two metals, so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal.'

Favored protection to American industries, and added: "Whatever the next Republican tariff law may provide, its rates will measure the difference between American and European conditions and will be fully adequate to protect ourselves from the invasion of our market by Oriental products, to the injury of American labor, and will in no case be too low to protect and exalt American labor and promote and increase American production. We are not contending for any particular tariff law or laws, or for any special schedules or rates, but for the great principle-the American protective policy-the temporary overthrow of which has brought distress and ruin to every part of our beloved country."

It also condemned the action of the Democratic party in Congress in voting to place the forest products on the free list, which would cripple the industry or Arkansas and greatly reduce the price of labor; expressed sincere sympathy for the Cubans in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence.

DEMOCRATIC.

June 19, 1896.-"We favor bimetallism, and to that end we insist upon the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1, as money of final redemption, with equal legal tender power, independent of the action of any other nation.

"We are opposed to the issue of interest-bearing bonds for any purpose in time of peace. We demand that the Government shall not surrender, but shall always exercise the lawful option to redeem its obligations in either gold or silver, as may be most convenient.

"We demand the repeal of the present laws discrediting the silver money of the Nation and permitting the making of private contracts payable in gold alone.

"We favor the collection of an income tax as part of the revenue of the General Government, and demand such Constitutional amendments as may be necessary to authorize the same. We affirm the oftrepeated declaration of the Democratic party in favor of a tariff for revenue only. We favor the election of United States Senators by the vote of the people in primary elections."

PROHIBITION.

May 7, 1896.-The platform favored free silver, wcman suffrage, Government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, and the enactment of laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors.

CALIFORNIA.

REPUBLICAN.

May 6. 1896.-The platform had this money plank:

"We favor the free and unlimited colnage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 and the making of silver, as well as gold, a legal tender in payment of all debts, both public and private."

The platform also demanded such legis