To the People of the United States:

After mature deliberation, and with a full sense of our responsibility, this conference of American citizens, assembled without regard to party, section, class or creed, to take counsel in this hour of national crisis, reasserts upon this 190th anniversary of the birth of Washington, the fundamental principles upon which this nation was founded.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

"That Government is instituted for the common good, for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people and not for the honor or profit of any man, family or class of men.

"That no man, corporation or group of men shall have any other title to receive compensation from the public than that which is measured by the value of the services they render to the public."

Reasserting these fundamental doctrines as the corner stones of liberty, we proclaim that we do earnestly seek to restore the Government of the United States to the noble ends and high purposes for which it was conceived.

We hold that the splendid structure of the visible American Government is sound and well adapted to the genius of our people. But through the apathy of the people and their division upon false issues, the control of this visible government has been usurped by the "invisible government" of plutocracy and privilege and, administered in every branch by their creatures and servitors, has become destructive of those sacred rights to secure which it was established.

The history of recent years is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation by the servants of this oligarchy in both the dominant parties; all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny and dictatorship within these states. Liberty and Happiness all have been sacrificed upon the altar of greed. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

Life,

They have stifled free speech, throttled

free press and denied the sacred right of assembly.

They have sanctioned wholesale corrup tion of the electorate, seating in the Senate of the United States, Newberry, its most notorious beneficiary.

They have used the Federal Reserve Banking System, controlling the life blood of the nation's credit, as an instrument to deflate and crush farmers and independent business men and cause nation-wide unemployment.

They have obstructed every honest effort to relieve the distress of Agriculture thus caused, and have used every influence to secure betrayal of the farmers' interests.

They have conscripted four million men and boys while they permitted corporations and individuals to extort unconscionable war profits and have sacrificed the soldiers' just demands for equitable compensation to the selfish interests of tax-dodging capitalists and war profiteers.

They have abolished the taxes upon excess profits of corporations and have reduced the taxes upon the incomes of millionaires.

They have squandered the resources of the nation in wasteful and fraudulent contracts and subsidies.

They have permitted the railroads, the arteries of the nation, to be operated not for service but for speculative gain, and, after subsidizing them heavily and guaranteeing their income, have allowed them to be looted by financial manipulation and by contracts to corporations controlled by favored railroad directors.

They have engaged in a campaign of ruthless imperialism in Haiti and San Domingo and have permitted the arms and resources of the United States to be used to crush nations and peoples struggling for freedom and self-government.

They have through the Courts nullified righteous laws of state and nation for the protection of human rights and exalted judge-made law above the statutes.

They have permitted organized crimes and conspiracies of Trusts to go unhampered and have turned the sword of the Anti-Trust Law only against organizations of farmers and industrial workers.

They have held in prison men convicted of no crimes and have pardoned without warrant notorious profiteers and monopolists.

They have used the Army and the troops and police forces of states and cities to crush labor in its struggles to secure rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

They have prostituted the highest offices of government as channels of pernicious propaganda.

They have created new privileges and immunities for capital, trampling under foot the rights of man.

In every state of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. Any administration, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

We, the citizens of the United States of America, in Conference Assembled, do therefore solemnly publish and declare that our Government ought of right to be administered for the common good and for the protection, prosperity and happiness of the people; that its present usurpation by the invisible government of privilege must be broken; that this can be best accomplished by united political action suited to the peculiar conditions and needs of each section and state; and that to this end, we do hereby pledge ourselves to organize for the coming campaign in every State and congressional district so that this may become once more in very truth a Government of the People, for the People and by the People.

Plan of Action. RESOLUTION 1.

This conference recommends that all labor, farmer, co-operative and progressive political forces of the country, as represented in this conference, unite for the purpose of securing the nomination and election of senators and representatives to Congress and to the various state legislatures, and of other state and local public officers in the coming election of 1922, who are pledged to the interests of the producing classes and to the principles of genuine democracy in agriculture, industry and government.

With this end in view it urges all such forces to organize joint committees within each state, congressional district, county and municipality, who are representative of such organizations and similar organizations that will co-operate with them to secure the election of such representatives.

(d) The Socialist and Farmer-Labor parties, the Non-Partisan League, Single Taxers and other liberal political groups;

(e) Such other organizations, bodies and persons as the committee may invite; provided that such organizations or persons are in accord with the purposes of this conference.

The basis of representation to such conference shall be determined by the general committee.

The general committee shall have power by majority vote of its members to increase its membership and to choose officers and sub-committees, including an executive committee.

Pending the convocation of such subsequent conference, and for the primaries and fall elections of 1922, the organizations represented in this conference are urged to make all possible efforts to nominate and elect members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives and all state legislative bodies, as well as all other public officers, who are in accord with the purposes of this conference. The method of securing the nomination and election of such candidates shall be left to the judgment of the respective State and local organizations, in co-operation with the general committee of this conference.

For the purpose of carrying out the immediate objects of this conference, your committee recommends:

That the organization for the conduct of the campaigns in the coming elections be made and carried on largely by representatives in the several States; that the calling of said conferences and the organization of working committees be imposed on the several States.

The avoidance of competing nominations is left, in the first instance, in the hands of state organizations, as are other campaign details. In view of the proximity of the primary elections and the general elections, prompt, efficient organization and united action is imperative.

National Committee of Fifteen.

J. G. Brown, Chicago, National Secretary, Farmer-Labor Party.

Mrs. Edward P. Costigan, Colorado, National League of Women Voters.

George H. Griffiths, National Non-Partisan League.

Jos. A. Franklin, Kansas City, President Brotherhood of Boilermakers.

Warren G. Harding, President, United States of America and to

Members of The Congress.

Greetings:

You are aware of the fact that hundreds of thousands of skilled workers have been without employment for many months. You no doubt also realize that with the closing down of the building industry, owing to cold weather, many additional thousands have been added to the army of the unemployed.

Several months ago an Unemployment Conference was held at the direction of the President. This conference was attended by leaders of industry in America. The benefits obtained by the skilled workers from this conference have been very slight. It may be true that many of the unskilled workers have found relief.

The President apparently believed that leaders of industry could solve this question. They were and they are helpless and they will continue in this position until such time as The Congress sees fit to adopt legislation which will adequately protect all the wage earners of our country. The President and members of The Congress can alone solve the problem of unemployment which exists at the present time.

Let us be frank with ourselves. American manufacturers will not operate their factories or workshops at a loss nor will they operate without having orders for their products.

Unemployment exists in America for these reasons: first, because of the fact that retail distributors, such as department stores, can secure foreign-made merchandise at prices below the American cost of manufacture owing to the low tariff rates now in effect and the broken-down value of foreign moneys. Secondly, due to the greed of many American manufacturers and employers who welcome unemployment as a means of reducing American labor to the standards prevailing in many of the foreign countries, in a few words these referred to

want low wages, long working hours and sweat shop working conditions.

We do not desire to pose as prophets, but we do believe it high time that those whom we have honored with our suffrage should use ordinary, every-day common sense in dealing with acute problems which affect the very backbone of American life and prosperity.

In November, 1917, at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor, realizing the conditions of industry in Europe, and also realizing that American labor could not hope to compete with the products of the cheap labor of Europe and Asia, the leaders of labor adopted, by unanimous vote, the following resolution:

"Resolved, That this convention go on record in favor of a policy of industrial preparedness, and that such preparedness be in harmony with the standards of labor as recognized by the American Federation of Labor, and the enactment of laws by Congress that will adequately protect all wage earners of our country against loss of employment through any industrial invasion on the part of the products of any other nations."

This action was taken more than four years ago. Had our request been complied with many thousands of good Americans would have retained their employment and would have been saved the pangs of hunger and other privations. There would have been no need of any Unemployment Conference.

Representing thousands of skilled American wage earners, a large percentage of whom served their country on the bloodstained fields of Europe, and who, on their return to their homes, have found it impossible to obtain employment, we again reiterate our desire for "the enactment of laws by Congress that will adequately protect all wage earners of our country against the loss of employment through any industrial invasion on the part of the products of any of the other nations."