Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-09
tends to lead the sober thinking farm
ers of Barton county sounds very fool
ish when the calcium LIGHT of the


ish when the calcium light of the
FACTS in the case are thrown upon it
And what are the facts in the casei
These are some of them: The demo.
Gratis, In most counties in Kansas either
stayed out of the fight last fall, or else
they endorsed the alliance candidates
they did not ''fusen-and no one. with
thimble full of brains will claim that
the alliance party would have elected
half the men they did had the demo
Gratis acted otherwise. Had the demo-
Gratis nomin ated congressman in every
district the alliance would not have
won single one of their men. Had
they not endorsed Attorney Genera
Ives the alliance would not have got a
single state officer. Had they fused
with the republicans in Barton county
the alliance would not have got single
county officer. You cannot deny a
single one of these propositions.
While the most of your readers are
probably earnest and sincere in their
desire for the success of the principles
of the alliance or peoples party. they
are not fools to be preiudiced or led in
to error by such false statements as
you make in .he editorial reproduced
above. If you desire to gain their es-
teen and confidence you can sooner do
so by sticking to the facts. If you will
cease to distort the facts; cease making
assertions that are not only groundiess
but ridiculous, your power for good
will be increased. Be honest and
square; do not dodge the questions of
the day or attempt to crawl out of a
tight place through subterfuge or innu-
endo. Tell your readers how you stand
on the prohibition question.
''If the new party is about like the
democratic party, the question very
forcibly presents itself, why has 1t not
become the great party of this nation,
long before the present?"
For the simple reason that 1.-THE new
party'' is made up principally of former
members of the republican party who
have at last become stirred up to a
knowledge Of the error of that old
played out concern, but who, having
been all their lives bitter opponents of
the democratic party, could not bring
themselves to jump right into the ranks
of what they had so long termed their
enemy. Your question is very easily
answered, and you knew the answer
before you asked the question.
Kansas is the only state where the
third party gained any considerable
victory last fall, and Kansas two years
before went 81, 900 for the republican
ticket. People will dra--s their own
conclusions, no matter what the DEMO
Graf or Beacon may say in the matter.
we again defy our contemporary, the
DEMOCRAT, to show wherein the plat
forms are the same"
AS you we'll know, and as our readers
know, the DEMOCRAT has not claimed
that 1.-The platforms are the same.''
Our comment, in the issue of May 2Sth,
was: THAT it (the peoples party plat
form as made at Cincinnatil is strong
platform We will agree, from the very
fact that, in the main, it advocates the
questions of right and justice that
have been brought before the people by
democratic orators and democratic pa
pers for many years." And it is the
fact. The democratic party has ever
been lighting for the masses as against
the control Of the peoples interests by
the classes. 1t has advocated tariff re-
form; lower interest laws; the abolish
ment of trusts and combines; recIama-
tion of public lands for the use of the
people; a fair adjustment of the tax
laws; a stay of execution, or redemp-
tion law; an equitable adjustment of
freight rates; free coinage of silver
(which it will give the people the COM
ing winter if Harrison don't veto the
business-and may do it over his veto),
and many other things we could men
tion that the peoples party has now
taken up as part of its fundamental
principles.
The democratic party, however, has
never advocated any form of class leg
islation, but has ever been found fight
ing for the good of all the people. It
has not asked that laws be- made to
favor one class more than another, and
therefore has never had in its platform
the ''sub-treasury" scheme or any
scheme of like import, and it is our
opinion that that same sub-treasury
scheme is the rock on which your third
party will split in 1892.
No, Bro. Armstrong, your s'defy'
falls flat because it has never been
called for.
Mabel's Evasion.