The platform, adopted on September 3, was as follows:

"This Convention has assembled to uphold the principles upon which depend the honor and welfare of the American people, in order that Democrats throughout the Union may unite their patriotic efforts to avert disaster from their country and ruin from their party. The Democratic

party is pledged to equal and exact justice to all men of every creed and condition; to the largest freedom of the individual consistent with good government; to the preservation of the Federal Government in its Constitutional vigor, and to the support of the States in all their just rights; to economy in the public expenditures; to the maintenance of the public faith and sound money; and it is opposed to paternalism and all class legislation. The declarations of the Chicago Convention attack individual freedom, the right to private contract, the independence of the judiciary and the authority of the President to enforce Federal laws. They advocate a reckless attempt to increase the price of silver by legislation, to the debasement of our monetary standard, and threaten unlimited issues of paper money by the Government. They abandon for Republican allies the Democratic cause of tariff reform to court the favor of

protectionists to their fiscal heresy. In view of these and other grave departures from Democratic principles, we cannot support the candidates of that convention nor be bound by its acts. The Democratic party has survived defeats, but could not survive a victory won in

behalf of the doctrine and policy proclaimed in its name at Chicago. The condition, however, which made possible such utterances from a National Convention are the direct result of class legislation by the Republican party. It still proclaims, as it has for years, the power and duty of Government to raise and maintain prices by law, and it proposes no remedy for existing evils except oppressive and unjust taxation."

TARIFF.-"The National Democracy here convened, therefore, renews its declarations of faith in Democratic principles, especially as applicable to the conditions of the times. Taxation tariff, excise or direct, is rightfully imposed only for public purposes, and not for private gain. Its amount is justly measured by public expenditures, which should be limited by scrupulous economy. The sum derived by the Treasury from tariff and excise levies is affected by the state of trade and volume of consumption. The amount required by the Treasury is determined by the appropriations made by Congress. The demand of the Republican party for an increase in tariff taxation has its pretext in the deficiency of the revenue, which has its causes in the stagnation of trade and reduced consumption, due entirely to the loss of confidence that has followed the Populist threat of free coinage and depreciation of our money, and the Republican practice of extravagant appropriations beyond the needs of good government. We arraign and condemn the Populistic conventions of Chicago and St. Louis for their co-operation with the Republican party in creating these conditions, which are pleaded in justification of a heavy increase of the burdens of the people by a further resort to protection. We therefore denounce protection and its ally, free coinage of silver, as schemes for the personal profit of a few at the expense of the masses, and oppose the two parties which stand for these schemes as hostile to the people of the Republic, whose food and shelter, comfort and prosperity are attacked by higher taxes and depreciated money. In fine, we reaffirm the historic Democratic doctrine of tariff for revenue only. We demand that hence-forth modern and liberal policies toward American shipping shall take the place of our imitation of the restricted statutes of the eighteenth century, which have been abandoned by every maritime Power but the United States, and which, to the Nation's humiliation, have driven American capital and enterprise to the use of alien flags and alien crews, have made the Stars and Stripes an almost unknown emblem in foreign ports, and have virtually extinguished the race of American seamen. We oppose the pretence that discriminating duties will promote shipping; that scheme is an invitation to commercial warfare upon the United States, un-American in the light of our great commercial treaties, offering no gain whatever to American shipping, while greatly increasing ocean freights on our agricultural and manufactured products.'

MONEY.-"The experience of mankind has shown that, by reason of their natural qualities, gold is the necessary money of the large affairs of commerce and business, while silver is conveniently adapted

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 Casely surrendered by our public servants to_corporate 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 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."

for

TELEGRAPH.-"The telegraph, like the postoffice system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, shod 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."

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 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 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 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."

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. 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."

We

BOND ISSUE.-"We are unalteraoly 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 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 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 unanimously 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:

"Rosolved, 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 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 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