The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-04-19

pie; and we were glad of help from
any quarter to elect them, and we
rejoice to-day that they are
elected.
What, then, is all this howl of
Fusion" abouta IF neither the
party nor its candidates abandoned
1.-The middle of the road" from the
beginning to the end of the cam
paign, why did we lose 20, 900 votes,
and possibly the state itself. by rea-
son of furious uproar about Fusion9
Who raised it? What caused it,
What was it all about2 Let me an
swer.
Minnesota has been for thirty
four years reliable Republican
state. 1t was counted upon for
Harrison in the last campaign with
reasonable certainty. The Demo-
Gratis did not fear the election of
Weaver; they regarded that event,
land the, result showed they were
right, as an impossibility. The bat
tie was between Cleveland and Har-
rison. The game was, therefore,
AOA AAO W AClP
elect Populist electors in the
Democratic Southern states;
and for the Democrats to help elect
Populist electors in the Republican
Northwestern states. And this was
generally done. 1t was game of
chess between the giants and Min
nesota was one of the pawns. Word
came from the Cleveland managers
in New York to the Democratic
leaders in Minnesota, to elect everv
Populist elector in this state; and
thus take Minnesota out of the Re-
publican column, where it naturally
belonged. The Democratic state
central committee met and consid-
cred the orders from New York
They did not want to obey them.
Plutocracv did not want to strength
en- the Peoples party SO far as to
give them the state; but finally a
compromise was agreed upon
and the committee, in secret
session, resolved to have
their followers vote for
four out of our nine electors; think
ing that if four electoral votes from
Minnesota were given for Weaver it
might, in a close contest, defeat
Harrison. No conference was had
with the Peoples party; none was
necessary. We could not have stop
ped the Democrats from voting for
our electors if we had wanted to;
AND THERE WAS NO REASON WHY WE
SHOULD WANT TO! 1t was among the
possibilities, Though not the proba-
bilities), that those four electors
might elect Weaver president and
give the government to our party
and it's principles. Why, if we were
loyal to that party and it's prin-
ciples, should we object to the Dem
ocrats or anyone else helping to
elect Weaver? If there were any
who loved the Republican party
more than they did the Peoples
party, of course. they would kick
against such result. Or if
there were any, among our own men,
who had been bought up by Republi-
cans money to defeat our party, Of
course they would raise howl of
Fusion" so as to drive Republicans
back to their old party, and keep the
Republican plutocrats in power for
four years longer, while the ruin of
the country progressed with acceler
ated speed.
But it is claimed that the secre-
tary of the executive committee,
Louis Hanson, fused with the Dem
ocrats and did terrible and horrible
things, which justified the organ of
the party in assailing it and defeat
ing it.
What did he, do2
After the Democrats had resolved
to vote for four of our electors their
committee came to our committee
and said. in effect:
''See here; we have selected
four of your men to vote for
and elect, if possible; but we picked
them out of your nine electoral can
didates, one here and one there
Now many of our voters are not
very well educated; many of them
are foreigners who can scarcely
read English. If these voters have
to go down through your list of
nine electers to pick out four men
they may not understand it, and
may fail to do it, or may make mis-
taxes. IL tuC IOuI udmCS, OH the
other hand, were in a bunch, it
would be easier for them; and still
easier if those four could be put at
the top of your ticket instead of be-
ing scattered through it. Can't you
so arrange the names on your elect
oral ticket"
Now what harm was there in this2
What sacrifice was there of any of
the principles of the Peoples party
in a Encouragement of. an electoral
ticketl What fusion was there in
facilitating the delivery Of Demo-
cratic votes for Peoples party
electors2 Who would be hurt by it,
We wanted those electors elected;
and we wanted Weaver elected.
The Democratic convention had
similarly Endorsed CAVITY and Buck
without a protest anywhere. Should
Louis Hanson have hoisted banner
with the inscription on it: "Any
Democrat or Republican who votes
our ticket shall be shot on the spot!
We did not nominate these men to
elect them, but for joke
On the contrary, Louis Hanson,
like sensible man, wrote a letter
to the secretary of state, asking
that the names be so arranged that
the Democrats could the more easily
vote for them. The whole thing
was done in ten minutes. It had to
be done that Afternoon or not at all;