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25 1892年的美国大选标志着人民党的诞生
DATE=5-10-2001
TITLE=THE MAKING OF A NATION #140 - ELECTION OF 1892 BYLINE=FRANK BEARDSLEY
VOICE ONE:
(start at 0'14”) THE MAKING OF A NATION -- A PROGRAM IN SPECIAL ENGLISH BY THE VOICE OF AMERICA.
(THEME)
1892 was a presidential election year in the United States. In that year, most parts of the American economy were （1）expanding. But one part was not doing well: agriculture. The result was the birth of a new （2）political party. It was called the people's party. Its members were called （3）populists.
I'm Maurice Joyce. Today, Stan Busby and I tell about the populists, and how they （4）campaigned against the republicans and democrats in the election. Voice two: In the late eighteen-eighties, a North Carolina farming publication described America's economy this way:
" There is something (5) radically wrong in our （6）industrial system. The railroads are making much money. Yet agriculture is failing. The banks are doing great business. Yet agriculture is failing. Towns and cities grow. Yet agriculture is failing. Wages were never so high. Yet agriculture is failing."
（7）Historians give four major reasons why agriculture was failing in the late eighteen-eighties. One was the high cost of （8）transportation. Second were high taxes. Third were falling prices for agricultural products. And fourth was the high cost of borrowing money.
Voice one:
Farmers began to organize to discuss their problems. They formed local groups called "alliances." An (9) alliance member described the result of these （10）discussions:
"People began to think, who had never thought before. People talked, who had never spoken much. Little by little, they began to study their condition. They discussed taxes on income, government （11）ownership of （12）property, the unity of labor, and a thousand other （13）opposing ideas."
Voice two:
Local alliances formed larger groups. The larger groups included many persons who were not farmers, but who lived and worked in agricultural areas. These included teachers, doctors, （14）repairmen, reporters, and （15）church leaders.
In eighteen- eighty- nine, the major alliances held （16）separate conventions in St. Louis, Missouri. They refused to form one big alliance. They were divided on several important issues.
Voice one:
The chief issue was political. Leaders of the northern alliance had decided that agricultural interests could expect little help from either the republican or democratic parties. They believed the answer to their problems was a third national political party. Leaders of the southern alliance disagreed. They belonged to the Democratic Party. And, at that time, democrats faced little opposition in the south. A new party would weaken their political power. So they wanted to work for change within the existing Democratic Party.
Voice two:
Another issue dividing the northern and southern alliances was racial. How would a united alliance deal with black farmers? The southern alliance did not permit black members. And it did not want blacks in a united alliance. The northern alliance said blacks could join.
The two groups could not settle their differences before the state and congressional elections of eighteen-ninety. So, they did not campaign as one party. But they campaigned for one idea: help for America's farmers.
Throughout the south and Middle West, they succeeded in electing agricultural candidates as （17）governors, state (18) legislators, senators, and members of the House of Representatives.
Voice one:
Farm leaders everywhere were surprised by their election （19）victories in eighteen-ninety. They had not expected to win so much, so quickly. Leaders of the northern alliance decided the time was right to form one party to represent all farmers. They felt sure of success. For now, enough leaders of the southern alliance were willing to support the idea.
These southern leaders had succeeded within the Democratic Party. But they quickly learned that they held political power only at the local level. They held almost no power at the national level. So, a few months before the presidential election of eighteen- ninety- two, America's agricultural alliances held a joint convention in Omaha, (20) Nebraska. They formed a new party. They called it the people's party. They called themselves populists.
Voice two:
Delegates to the （21）convention approved a policy statement for the new party. The statement said the national government should own the country's railroads, telegraph, and telephone systems. It said the government -- not banks -- should supply paper money. And it said no limits should be put on government production of silver money.
The populists called for a tax on （22）earnings, fewer working hours for labor, controls on immigration.
To help farmers, the populists demanded what they called the "sub-treasury plan." under this plan; farmers could put their crops in government （23）storehouses. Then they could wait to sell the crops until prices rose. While they waited, they could borrow money from the government at low cost. They would pay back the loans when they sold their (24) crops.
Voice one:
The new people's party also proposed ways to make government more democratic. It said secret ballots should be used in all elections. It said senators should be elected by the people...not chosen by state legislatures.
Most Americans considered populist proposals extreme. They felt the proposals were too close to socialism or communism. The populists considered their proposals just. They felt their movement was a struggle for more equal control of the nation.
On one side of the （25）struggle were producers. These included farmers, laborers, and small businessmen. They were led by the new people's party. On the other side were what populists called non-producers. These included wealthy bankers and leaders of industry. They were led by the republican and democratic parties. Populists wanted producers to have some of the political power traditionally held by non-producers. They wanted producers to get a fairer share of the nation's increasing wealth.
Voice two:
The people's party chose James weaver as its candidate in the presidential election of eighteen- ninety- two. Weaver had been an officer in the union army during America's civil war. He had served in the House of Representatives. And he had been the candidate of a minor party in the presidential election of eighteen-eighty. The Republican Party re-nominated president Benjamin Harrison. And the Democratic Party nominated former president Grover Cleveland.
Voice one:
The campaign began quietly. But a few months before the election, a labor dispute exploded into an important campaign issue. Several thousand steelworkers went on strike at a factory owned by the Carnegie steel company in homestead, Pennsylvania. The （26）steelworkers union called the strike after failing to reach a wage agreement with company officials. After months of growing tension, the head of the company sent three- hundred private security officers to break up the strike and protect non-union workers. The security officers and many of the strikers carried guns. Shots were fired. Ten men were killed.
The governor of Pennsylvania immediately sent state soldiers to the steel factory. After a few more attempts to continue the strike, the union admitted defeat. Its power was crushed. It would be more than forty years before America's steelworkers were organized again.
Voice two:
A short time later, state soldiers were used to break up a strike by railroad workers in New York. And federal soldiers were used against striking silver miners in Idaho. This use of government troops to end strikes caused many citizens to vote against the ruling republican party. They voted for the (27) opposition democratic or people's parties, instead.
In the election of eighteen- ninety- two, republican president Benjamin Harrison was defeated. Democrat Grover Cleveland -- who had lost to Harrison four years earlier -- would be president again. The people's party candidate, James Weaver, won one- million popular votes and twenty-two electoral votes.
Voice one:
Grover Cleveland returned to the white house, just as his wife had said he would. But his second administration would be much more difficult than his first. Within two months of Cleveland's (28) inauguration, the United States entered into one of the worst economic depressions in its history.
That will be our story in the next program of the making of a nation. (Theme) Voice two:
You have been listening to the special English program, the making of a nation. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Stan Busby. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.
注释：
（1） expanding[ iks5pAndiN ]adj.展开的, 扩大的
（2） political[ pE5litikEl ]adj.政治的, 行政上的
（3） populist[5pRpjJlIst]n（美国的）人民党党员
（4） campaign[ kAm5pein ]n.[军]战役, (政治或商业性)活动
（5） radically[ `rAdIkElI ]adv.根本上, 以激进的方式
（6） industrial[ in5dQstriEl ]adj.工业的, 产业的n.工业工人
（7） historian[ his5tC:riEn ]n.历史学家, 史家
（8） transportation[ 7trAnspC:5teiFEn ]n.运输, 运送
（9） alliance[ E5laiEns ]n.联盟, 联合
（10） discussion[ dis5kQFEn ]n.讨论
（11） ownership[ 5EunEFip ]n.所有权, 物主身份
（12） property[ 5prCpEti ]n.财产, 所有物
（13） opposing[ E5pEuziN ]a.反作用的, 反向的
（14） repairman[rI`peEmAn,-mEn]n.修理工
（15） church[ tFE:tF ]n.教堂, 礼拜堂
（16） separate[ 5sepEreit ]adj.分开的, 分离的
（17） governor[ 5^QvEnE ]n.统治者, 管理者
（18） legislator[ 5ledVis7leitE ]n.立法者
（19） victory[ 5viktEri ]n.胜利, 战胜
（20） Nebraska[ ni5brAskE ]n.内布拉斯加州
（21） convention[ kEn5venFEn ]n.大会, 协定
（22） earnings[ 5E:niNz ]n.所得,收入
（23） storehouse[5stC:haJs]n.仓库
（24） crop[ krCp ]n.农作物v.收割
（25） struggle[ 5strQ^l ]n.竞争, 努力 v.尽力使得, 使劲移动
（26） steelworker[stilw[:k[]n.钢铁工厂的工人
（27） opposition[ CpE5ziFEn ]n.反对, 敌对
（28） inauguration[ i7nC:^ju5reiFEn ]n.就职典礼, 开幕式
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