The sun., 1891-06-02


polled nearly 10000 votes in twelve States
In the first year OF its existence. Where the
Republicans or Democrats were already in
strong majority. 1t served to make their ma
jority still larger. Where, as In the case OF
New York. Connecticut, and Ohio, the mar
gin between the two parties wns small, the
Republicans gained the advantage. The
reason for these changes was plain. In con-
stttuencies where one or the other party Is
firmly intrenched In power, and has control
OF the machinery Of administration, tho
radical. discordant, and discontinued elc-
ments Of the voting population are.
by the. natural law OF alliance. sup
porters of the minority cause. Thus in
strongly Democratic State like Mis-
souri,, labor reformer would be more likely
TO vote with the Republicans than he would
in a.State like Minnesota, where the SUI
premacy' OF tho Republican party Is 80
strong as to mako 1t independent OF such
assistance. Consequently a third party
movement naturally draws its support from
the minority rather than from the majority
In any State where the party lines are we'll
defined. This proved to be tho case In 1873
in the Republican States West and East,
where the new party recruits came from
tho Democratic. ranks, and served to aug
ment the Republican preponderance.
In the doubtful states. like New York,
Connecticut, and Ohio the radical elements
of-the, voting population were. as tho result
ofmany hard-fought previous battles. quito
evenly divided between the two political
parties. and an independent movement
made drafts upon the strength Of both. In
q hoxp = tv,l,, rn1 kho
racy most In these States. for the reason
that the strength Of the Democracy in the
doubtful States of the North Is greatest
in the large cities. the voters resident
In which lend their support to new
movement promising great gains and
advantages more readily than do voters
resident in farming districts, where
more conservative views prevail and agi-
tators find 1t much more difficult to
gain hearing. Thus 1t was that thirteen
years ago the independent third party
movement, which was designed to over.
power the two old parties. injured the DEM
ocrats most, and 80 far from indicating
probable change In the national Administra-
tion seemed certain to prolong the control.
iraudulentiy obtained in 1877, OF the Repub-
licsns, and thus postpone all hope or pros
'pect Of change. As a result OF this,
the budding prospects OF the new
party were chilled to the marrow in
the very first contest in which they
engaged. A year later Qs79) their
strength in Pennsylvania had fallen
of from 81 900 to 1900 votes. in New York
from 1900 to 20000 In Ohio from $1,000 to
5000. In Wisconsin from $4,000 to $4,000, and
In similar ratio In other States in which
elections were held. BY tho time that the
Presidential election OF 1880 was reached the
great National Peoples party had about
gone out Of existence. It ran. 1t is true,
Gen. WEAVER for President, and he re-
ceived about half as many votes In
the entire country as the party had
cast for its candidates in but twelve States
two years before; but, although he was
Western man, and appealed for support in
the Republican States Of the West chiefly,
his candidature exercised no particular ef-
feet In the contest there or elsewhere. and
GARFIELD and ARTHUR carried oil OF the
Northern States with the solitary exception
OF New Jersey. ...
Such having been the record, in point Of
achievements. OF the last Independent third
party organized at an Ohio convention to
overturn the Democracy and do away with
tho Republicans hereafter, there would ap-
penr to be no present cause for apprehen-
sion In the present movement, established
on tho same lines advocating In substance
tho same principles. aud engineered to a
considerable extent by the same persons.