Excerpts of Speeches from the Populist Movement(sorry,
I’ve misplaced citations for the following)
... These ideas have gained such a hold upon public opinion,
that they bid fair to cause a complete change in our form of government, as far
as its industrial conditions are concerned, during the next quarter of a
century. It looks as though, before that period was passed, the government
would assume control and ownership of all means of transportation in the form
of railroads; that the government would adopt a system of issuing money to the
people without the aid of banking institutions, and that a larger volume per
capita would be in circulation than
ever before in the history of any government in the world; that the local
governments of cities and towns would assume control and complete owner- ship
of all street railroads, gas and water works, In fact, it bids fair to be a
radical revolution in the industrial affairs of government. It looks as though
the days of individualism and corporations were doomed, and that the next step
in the line of human advancement would be the adoption of the socialistic state
of society.
Tom Watson on Corporate Plunder, 1892 :
... The Corporation is a convenient cloak for the rascality of the individual. It is also his protection. His share in the profits has no limits save the amount of the profits; while his share of the losses is confined to the stock he subscribed for These Corporations are the Feudal barons of this Century. Their Directors live in lordly Palaces and Castles. Their Yachts are on the sea; their Parlor Cars on the rails. They spread feasts that would feed a starving factory town. They throw away on the decorations of a Ball Room enough to clothe the children of a city. They keep bands of Militia to do their fighting. In Pennsylvania it is called the "Coal and Iron Police." In New York and Illinois it is called 'The Pinkerton Detective Agency." At the word of command these hireling assassins shoot
down men, women and children. Time and again they have made
the streets run red with the blood of innocent people. The murderers are never
punished. They are spirited away on the trains.
Not only do the
Corporations keep armed Retainers: they keep oily and servile Courtiers to do
their bidding in other walks of life. Their paid Lobby bribes the voter. Their
paid editor feeds the public with lies. Their corrupt Lawyers and judges peddle
out justice to the highest bidder. Their Attorneys go on the Bench or into
Senates to vote the will of their Masters.
The ambitious young men fear them: their power is
so terribly great. The pulpit fears them: for the plush-covered Pew is the seat
of the millionaire. The Pew OVer2wes the Sacred Desk....
To restore the
liberties of the people, the rule of the people, the equal rights of the people
is our pur- pose; and to do it, the revolution in the old systems must be
complete....
The hot-beds
of crime and vice to-day are at the two extremes of Society. One is among the
class who have all the work and no money; the other is with the class who have
all the money and no work. The one class is driven to crime and vice by hard-
ships, despair, desperation. 'Me other class chooses crime and vice because of
their surplus of money, their lack of purpose, their capacity to live in idle-
ness and gratify sensual pleasures....
Any system which increases the Moneyed Class where there is
all money and no work, debauches Society.... Any System which increases the
class where there is all work and no money debauches and endangers Society. Any
system which will add to the great Middle Class where there is reasonable work
and fair reward, secures to Society the best re- sults of which humanity is
capable. Every principle advocated by the People's Party seeks that end and
logically leads to it.
1. A third party is absolutely necessary in the South
because, under present conditions, neither of the old parties can afford our
people any relief. The Republican party is composed of a few whites and the
negroes. They hate the name of Democrat. Under the present organization of
their party, no aid can come from them because they are absolutely controlled
from the North under a platform and under a leadership which repudiates our
demands for reform.
The Democratic party, on the other hand, is composed of the
whites and a few negros. They hate the name Republican. Under the present
organiza- tion no aid can come from them because they are likewise controlled
from the North under a platform and a leadership which repudiates our demands
for reform....
2. The Southern people were always supporters of the Jeffersonian theory of government. They al- ways believe in preserving the rights of the individ- ual citizen and the maintenance of civil equality. 'They always dreaded the Hamiltonian idea of a moneyed aristocracy with national banks, unbridled corporations and the class rule of the few....
3. It offers the only solution of the color question. Under
our generous treatment of the negro in the South he is becoming rapidly
educated. He can fully appreciate an argument addressed to his interest as a
farmer and as a laborer. I have found them quick to understand the reform
measures we advocate. As a body they are laborers, not capitalists. What is
more natural than that they should feel a deep personal interest in this
movement. They do feel it. They will as a rule vote with us on it, leaving
their party for the very same reasons that we leave ours. Thus the two races
will dwell side by side in political harrnony instead of political discord.
nere are those who profess to see great danger of negro supremacy. I do not
share in this alarm. I cannot see how the colored people can be more dangerous
to us when they agree with us and vote with us than when they differ from us
and vote against us. We assume a singularly absurd attitude when we say that
white people shall never have good laws just because the colored people are
going to help us get them.
4. Because it is the death of sectionalism....
By J. H. Turner, National Secretary-Treasurer of the
National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union
... The white farmers of the South, while they are more reluctant to cut loose from party, are perfectly willing and ready to take the negro by the hand and say to him- We are citizens of the same great country; we have the same foes to face, the same ills to bear; therefore our interests as agriculturists are one, and we will co-operate with you, and defend and protect you in all your rights.
In proof of the above, I will simply submit the agreement
entered into by the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union and the
Colored National Farmers' Alliance and Co-operative Union, at their meetings in
the city of Ocala, Florida, on the second day of December, 1890, which is as
follows:-
Your committee on above beg leave to report that we visited
the Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Go-operative Union Committee, and were
received with the utmost cordiality, and after careful consultation it was
mutually and unanimously agreed to unite our orders upon the basis adopted
December 5, 1890, a basis between the National Farmers'
Alliance and Industrial Union and the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association; ... and
hereby pledge ourselves to stand faithfully by each other in the great battle
for the enfranchisement of labor and the laborers from the control of corporate
and political rings; each order to bear its own members' expense on The Supreme
Council, and be entitled to as many votes as they have legal voters in their
organization. We recommend and urge that equal facilities, educational,
commercial, and political, be demanded for colored and white Alliance men alike,
competency considered, and that a free ballot and a fair count will be insisted
upon and bad, for colored and white alike, by every true Alliance man in
America. We further recommend that a plan of district Alliances, to conform to
district Alliances provided for in this body, be adopted by every order in
confederation, with a district lecturer, and county Alliances organized in
every county possible, and that the lecturers and officers of said district and
counties co-operate with each other in conventional, business, educational,
commercial, and political matters.