Show PLATFORM OF THE PEOPLES PARTY THE tue peoples party at its territorial convention on wednesday october ath re adopted the platform of principles formulated at the peoples territorial convention of 1882 and sustained by the party everywhere we therefore present it to our readers as a faithful faltha ul expression of the sentiments of the great body of the citizens of utah and the platform on which the peoples delegate to congress stands and presents himself for the suf frages rages of the electors we see no reason I 1 for 0 r any alian change e in the document miti mill consider coile cone that the late Conven convention uon von tid did lid wisely in accepting it as a formulation I 1 of the political views of the very large majority ot of the people of utah declaration OF principles the peoples party struggling for supremacy of constitutional law and the sacred privilege of local self seif gov ern ment submit the following 0 declaration of principles we believe that the protect protection ioa ion of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is tile the object of free government and that the constitution of th the e united states was ordained and established to secure the greatest possible alberty to man woman and child consistent with the public welfare ad we believe that free government can only exist where the people governed participate in the tiie adminis tra ion lon there thereof oi ad we e believe that any party or faction ot of a political community that seeks to subvert the institutions of local self government alms aims a deadly thrust at the constitution anc and that such party or faction is unworthy um worthy the suffrages suf frages of a free people ath we believe that any official who attempts to stifle the popular voice as expressed at the ballot box guilty of treason against the sovereign people ath we believe that the right to frame laws suited to the requirements of the territory having been vested by congress in the legislature elected by its citizens to deprive them of that ri right t b by substituting a commission ar arbitrarily itar y appointed and thus to disfranchise a hundred and ili III ty thousand people and reduce them to a condition of serfdom serf dom would be unprecedented in the history of the nation an act that could not be justified by any actual necessity and that the attempt by a pret pretended pretender endel endeA poli poll politimi al party to create creat such besuch a revolution in the government of this territory is worthy esworthy only of conspirators and political adventurers eth we believe in the right of the people of a territory as well as of a state to test in the courts established by the government the constitutionality or coast construction ruction of any enactment local or congressional and express our li at the public declaration of a high federal official of this territory and the enunciation by a so called political party that the people have no rights except such as congress may grant to them and that to differ with the nial rial executive about the construction of a statute is a nullification we utterly repudiate such a monstrous doctrine as worthy alone of the most absolute despotism and claim that the united states constitution in ia its benign provisions extends alike over the states and territories of the Ame american nican union and that it is the bounden duty of 0 the governor as much as the humblest citizen to yield obedience to the laws as they are construed by the courts we utterly repudiate tile the unconstitutional attempt by any executive to usurp judicial or legiel legislative a f functions and ana and to hold the american catiz n hound bound by the partial prejudiced I 1 unfair and illegal const coast construction ruction which he may see fit to place upon any statute ath citizenship is the basis of the right of suffrage while the elective franchise is a privilege lege conferred by law the qualifications for its exorcise orl ori eri er i se grow out of the condition of citizenship and as citizenship is not dependent upon sex or regulated thereby whatever right of voting originates in the citizenship of men inheres also in the citizenship of women female citizens equally equal aly with male citizens are amenable to the e law therefore they are entitled to an equal voice with men in the framing of the law As all just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed and that consent is expressed by the suffrage and as women as well as men are made subject to the government of this country th the denial ot of the hunn humn suffrage rage to women is inconsistent with the principles which underlie our national institutions Th the moral emoral and intellectual as well as physical excellence of our sons and daughters being largely dependent upon the mothers who bare and train them the women of the nation should be endowed with full political freedom that being made familiar with political rights and principles they be able to into the hearts of the rising generation the spirit of patriotism the love of liberty and a reverence for republican institutions for twelve years the women citizens of utah have enjoyed the richt to vote at all elections in this territory and have exercised it with credit to themselves and to the benefit of the community and the peoples party hereby denounces the attempts which have been made to deprive women voters of the right of suffrage as illiberal and unmanly assaults upon vested rights and upon justice equality and the principle of popular sovereignty eig elg n ty ath we believe in an honest and economical administration of government and point with pride to the economy and honesty with which public affairs have been administered by officers elected from the ranks of the peoples party and also to the fact that the taxes in utah are lighter than any other territory the territory is 0 out ut of debt the counties with one or two exceptions are in the same satisfactory is condition the records fail to furnish any instance of embezzlement or misappropriation of public I 1 funds by any official of that party on oti the thu other hand when by frauds committed at the polls tooele thoele county was arted m from toe too popular control the taxes of the county coulty were shamefully mis irlia irila misappropriated appropriated kipro and anci embezzled county crp crip it depreciated t pre from par to les ies less s than fitten cents on the dollar and even by the economy and honesty of tile the peoples who have resumed control of its affairs and although its paper is now worth ninety per cent tooele thoele coun county is not yet quite out of debt and has as not tully lully recovered from the evils of liberal rule ath we repudiate and deny the charges of lawlessness which have bee been made against the people of utah and as proof that those slanders are without foundation we point to the records of the courts the chief of w which ilich filch are not in any way in the control of the people and which demonstrate the striking fact that the so called liberal class constituting less than twenty per cent of the population of the territory I 1 furnishes urnis hes over ove eighty per cent of the criminals loth we I 1 urther further repudiate and deni denk deny the charges that in utah a church chuoc dominates the state that priestly control is exercised in any manner to infringe upon the freedom of the indvik ual either at the polls in convention or f in any official capacity that perjur perjury or falsehood of any kind is justified I 1 whether for the protection of persons from the action of law jorfor or for any other purpose whatever that intolerance is exhibited either for the discouragement of emigration the settlement of public domain or invasion of the rights of any individual that any unequal taxation is either encouraged or permitted that public accounts are not given of the expenditure of public moneys that the tenets of a church are taught in in the district schools or that the people are influenced to idis disloyalty loyal or antagonism to the government of the united states or any of its representatives lith we affirm that it is th the e duty of every american citizen to render obedience to the constitution of the united states and every law enacted in pursuance thereof we affirm with confidence that the territory of utah having the requisite population and exhibiting all ze the qualifications necessary to self government its people being exceptionally tio nally honest thrifty th ritty sober fru sra frugal as a I 1 and peaceable Is ent eat entitled I 1 tied to a admission din into the union as a sovereign state lath we pledge ourselves ag a party to the maintenance and defense of constitutional principles and the inalienable rights of mankind and proclaim ourselves the friends of true liberty civil political and religious to all people in every part of 0 the habl table globe |