People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-12-16
FUSION is CONFUSION.
A Party to Succeed Must Stand Upon II
Own Merits and Fight Its Own Battles.

indistinguishable commlngllng OF the
antagonistic factors which compose the
fusion forces, each of which is unable,
after the conflict is over, to tell with
any certainty how much voting
strength it has 1t is, therefore, fool
ish. confusing and inexpedient from a
political standpoint Considered from
an ethical standpoint, fusion is radical
" deficient in all that makes cause
worthy of self.sacrifcing effort, and
has none Of the attributes that merit
respect 1t is a surrender of the prin-
ciples of truth and candor, and neces-
sarilly involves deceit and cowardice.
A political party is either right or
wrong The voting strength of party
consists of the aggregate of its mem
bers, each of whom believes that the
principles of the party are right and
that the principles of opposing parties
are wrong. This being the case, does
there not apply with striking force the
inquiry of the great apostle to the
Gentiles: what consort hath Christ
with Belial?"
Fusion is not only wrong, politically
and morally, but it is embarrassing al
most to the point of qualification to all
true populists 1t is very awkward to
have geography and politics so closely
blended as to transform into a saint one
whom you account as publican and a
sinner across the state line The editor
is badly handicapped who dare not de-
nounce the corrupt and evil practices
of party for fear he may hurt the feel
ings of some of its members in his own
state. l understand that some OF my
populist friends were disgruntled be-
cause, during the past campaign, staid
too far away from the edges Of the road
and could not see that one of the twins
was much better child than the other.
can't help it. can't fight party in
Missouri and stand in" with it in Kan
saS. Nor can | love in the northwest
the party which in the south is fighting
my brethren to the death. So long as
live | shall fight both of the organ.
lied hypocrisies" until they capitulate
to the peoples hosts.
Mrs. Lease was right, eternally right,
in her denunciation of modern democ-
racy, her patriotism unerringly for
bidding her to condone crime for policy's
sake. The empty honor of being per-
mitted, for Cleveland's sake, to count a
few electoral votes for Weaver but
poorly compensated for the humiliation
of being compelled by silence to give
consent to democratic frauds and OF
giving to democratic outrages the neg
alive condemnation of asserting that
the republicans were guilty of the same
crimes
Fusion subordinates a battle for
principles to struggle for spoils-a
fight for the right to scramble for
offices. After the spoils are obtained
there are no figures to show who were
the victors. In Alabama, Texas and
Nebraska we did not get the offices,
but we have the satisfaction of know
ing that good and true men. in the face
of vindictive opposition and bitter per.
secution, voted the peoples ticket-in
Alabama $1,000, in Texas 1O5, 900 and in
Nebraska $4,000. Unfriendly ballot
counters concede this much.
In Kansas there was no open fusion,
all the candidates-elect having been
nominated as populists, at pOpulist con-
ventions, on populist platforms. These
candidates the Kansas democracy in
dorsed, taking care, at the same time,
to repudiate and denounce the platform
upon which they were nominated. Dur
ing the campaign the metropolitan
democratic press, specially Of the south,
exhausted the vocabulary of abusive
and vituperative epithets in an effort to
show their scorn and contempt for the
peoples party.
What has the harvest been? The
Kansas offices are in the hands Of the
populists, but the democrats are already
claiming that they hold them by virtue
of democratic votes. By dint of close
figuring and considerable assuming
and taking for granted" one may ar
rive at the conclusion that there are
probably between 100000 and 10, 900
populist voters in the state, provided,
however, that none of the IS, 900 demo
Gratis, who in 1890 voted the peoples
ticket, have renounced the faith
since that time. The election re,
turns furnish. no data from
which to determine this fact nor
do they show how many, if any, con-
verts were recruited by the populists
from the democracy since 1890. 1t is
also impossible to approximate the
number of voters who cast a republican
ballot! but who would in straight,
three-cornered contest have voted the
popuistticket. ], for one, believe that
had the Kansas democracy nominated
presidential electors aud a full state
ticket the populists would have carried
the state as easily as they did, as it
was In any ,eventwe should have had
the satisfaction of knowing Just how
many men had the backbone and nerve,
amidst the clash and clamor of a presi.
dental campaign, to stand up and be
counted for God and humanity The
populists should keep their skirts clear
of the time-serving policy which has
prompted republican papers in the
northwest to stultify the past record of
the republican party in order to curry
favor with the democrats, whose votes
they were anxious to secure The same