LAD #23: Populist Party Platform

The Populist Party Platform is a reaction to the growth and domination of big business during America's heavy industrializing. It claimed to represent the common worker and his rights and political desires. The party adopted an appeal similar to the Declaration of Independence. It starts with a preamble that condemns the status of the poverty-stricken cities. A worker's only hope for organization, or self-protection, is crushed by the unchecked powers of big business. Also, they advocate for a use of silver as currency, as the restriction of this is a way of the government to keep a wealthy creditor's wallet fat. Current currency fails to conduct the equal value for the billions of dollars worth of crops and agricultural productivity. As a result, workers and producers are impoverished, prices drop, and corrupt combines and rings were formed out of desperation. Simply, the party wished to restore the government to its forgotten hallmark of popular democracy. They also stand for a legal union of labor, coinage of silver and gold currency, and the government ownership of railroads and telephone. Land should not be monopolized for the purpose of business speculation, and should being to rightful owners who can then use the land to create their own wealth. The Populist Party believed in a free and fair ballot, as well as pensions for former Union soldiers. They had a sympathy with labor organizations as well as their pleas--less hours, better pay, safer conditions.