Populists also believe that we should have a system of Postal Savings Banks. These would furnish to the people convenient and safe places of deposit for their savings; and the system would go far to lessen the dangerous power of the metropolitan banks.
Populists are opposed to land monopoly, favor the eight-hour day in factories and similar industries, and believe that the employment of children of tender age in manufacturing establishments, mines, sweatshops, etc., should be watched with hawk-like vigilance and regulated with a parental care which puts the WELL-BEING OF THE CHILD above every other consideration in the case.
Populists believe in UNTAXED NECESSARIES OF LIFE, and contend that whatever tariff duties are imposed should be laid upon luxuries.
In brief, Populists strive for the adoption of those principles which would make this a real Republic, instead of an Aristocracy ruled by a Class, or a Plutocracy in which Dollars dominate.
And during the whole time that the Politicians and Sages and Powers have been laughing at us, we have been quietly furnishing with our garments the wardrobes of such eminent Politicians, Sages and Powers as Roosevelt, Bryan and Hearst.
Bryan accuses Roosevelt of stealing the very clothes that Bryan himself stole from us.
As for Hearst—before he fell down on that Murphy deal—his editorials and speeches were nothing in the world but the echo of James B. Weaver, Jerry Simpson and Mary Ellen Lease!
Had he kept up the lick, and not gone into that deal with Murphy, he would have been elected Governor of New York. He parted with his most valuable asset when he ceased to be an Independent.
The Socialists think they believe in the collective ownership of those things necessary to the production and distribution of wealth, but what they are actually driving at IS THE CONFISCATION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY and a jolly good division of the same, in order that the Have Nots will be upon an equal footing with the Haves.
That’s the inner meaning of practical Socialism, and that’s why it assumes so savage a character in our great cities.