THE CALIFORNIAN WORKING MEN'S PLATFORM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 202, 24 September 1878, Page 4

THE CALIFORNIAN WORKING MEN'S PLATFORM.

Tbe following ia the platform approved and adopted by the working men of California with reference to the land and labor questions, &e.

Whereas the duty of making the laws of the country has hitherto been confined to the non-producing elements of society, who have failed to secure us in our inalienable rights, utterly ignoring tbo welfare of the producers, upon whose labors individual and national prosperity depends, reducing our farmers and wages laborers to a state of dependence, compelling them to compete with a degraded class of Mongolians imported from abroad whose pree*

ence is demoralising as well as dangerous to our liberties ; and whereas our legislative halls— national, State, and municipal — have become infested by thieves, who do not scruple to take bribes, until our national fame has becom.3 a by-word among natioDß ; and whereas our courts have become corrupted, and the equal rights of the people violated until the administration of justice has become a mockery and a farce 5 therefore be it.

Resolved First— That we recognise the Constitution of the United States of America aa the great charter of our iberties, and the paramount law of the and, and the system of Government hereby inaugurated by its framers as the only truly wise, free, jus), Bnd equal government that baß ever existed— the last, best, and only hope of man for selfgovernment.

Second — The public lands are the heritage of the people, and should be donated to actual settlers in limited quantities.

Third —We utterly repudiate ell spirit of communism.

Fourth — No land or other subsidies should be granted to any corporations. Fifth — Land grabbing must bo stopped.

Sixth — Vested righta of property should be respected, but land monopoly mast be restricted and in future prohibited.

Seventh — Money, mortgages, and bonds should be taxed.

Eighth— The dignity of labor must be upheld, and the labor of women, when of equal value, should be equally compensated.

Ninth — The legislator who violates the pledges given to secure his election should be punished aa a felon.

I'enth— The pardoning power now vested in the national and State Executives should be abolished.

Eleventh — The contract system of labor of criminals Bhould be abolished, and criminal labour so regulated as not to conflict, with free labor.

Twelfth — All public officers should reseive fixed salaries, and all fees should be accounted for as public money. Thirteenth— All labor on public works should be performed by tbe day, at ruling rates, and eight houra should' constitute a day's work.

Fourteenth — a system of compulsory education for children under the age of fourteen years should be adopted. Education free io public schools, and all books paid for by the State. Fifteenth — Lectures oq the nobility of labor should be delivered oace a week in the public schools of the State by the principals thereof, upon the subject of labor and its paramount importance in the affairs of raen in every walk of life.

Sixteenth — The President and 1 Vicepresident of the United States, aud Unitel States Senators from the several States, should be elected by a direct vote of the people.

Seventeenth — Malfeasance in public office should be punished as a felooy. Eighteenth — All criminals should be punished by imprisonment, and punishmeDt by money fine should be abolished.

Nineteenth — All money of the United Stales, made by Congress a legal tender for private debt, shouli be received in payment of taxes and all other dues.

Twentieth — Chinese labor is a curse to our land, degrading to our morals, a meuace to our liberties, and shoulJ be restricted, and for ever abolished, and tbe Chinese must go.

Twenty-first — The employment of Chinese labor by corporations organised under the law of thin State, should be prohibited by law.

Twenty-second— lnterest exceeding seven per cent, per annum for the use of money should prohibited by law. Twenty-third — Contracts by debtors for the payment of fees of the attorneys of creditors should be prohibited.

Twenty-fourth — No person shall be taxed for than which be does not own. In other wards, debts should be deducted from the value of a man's property, and should be assessed against the persons to whom the debts ore payable.

Twenty-fifth— The property of every person, to en amount not exceeding 500 dollars, should be exempt from taxation.

Twenty-sixth — All farming lands of equal producing capacity should be subject to equal taxation, without reference to improvements.

Twenty-seventh — Growing crops should not be taxed.

Twenty-eighth — The property of the blind, and the deaf and dumb, to the amount of 5000 dollars, should be exempt from taxation

Twenty-ninth — There should be no special legislation by the State Legislature, and the Legislature should not meet oftener thau once in four years. Ail laws, before taking effect, should be submitted to the people for ratifica-

tion.

Thirtieth — All lakes exceeding one mile in area should be declared public property.

Thirty-first — That we demand the insertion of a clause in the new Con* stitulion for ever prohibiting lobbying around the State Capital during the sessions of tbe Legislature.