Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-04-19
NO MORE TRAFFIC.
The Peoples Party Must Fight n Square
Fight For It's Pri ciples aud Make No
EutaugiiuR Alliances.


letter from w. NJ. Goodner, of Larned,
giving briefly his views of what our fu-
ture policy should be. We must take
exception to one of his propositions
Speaking of our relations to the demo
cratic party in Kansas, he says:
1T is true that in Kansas, and possi-
bly, In some other states, there has been
more or less cooperation of populists
and democrats in antagonism to repub-
hcan misrule and republican anarchy.
This cooperation we most heartily
sanction; and, so long as populists re-
main firm and true to those noble prin-
ciples that have achieved such marked
success to our young party. there can
be no harm come of this course. Nay,
more than this, populists can afford, in
limited field, to divide offices with
these cooperating democrats"
The time has come for plain talk
upon this subject 1t may be stated
with absolute certainty that the senti-
ment of eastern democrats and eastern
republicans, which is one and the same,
and which has shaped the policy of the
government under all administrations
for many years, does not meet the ap-
proval of the honest thinking men of
either party in the west or south; and
there is no good reason why this class
of voters of either party should con-
tinue to vote for a continuance of a
policy that is so disastrous to their in
terests. The success of the national
democratic ticket in the late election is
not so much democratic victory as a
republican defeat 1t is a protest
against republican misrule. Thou
sands of western and southern men
voted the democratic ticket because
they wanted some kind of change,
and this afforded the most feasible
means of obtaining it They hoped
that such change would result in
some good to the people, and when they
see that it does not; when they see that
it is simply change of policy, this
class of voters, both of democratic and
republican antecedents, will be ready
for a new departure that will be as dis
astrous to the democratic party as the
late election was to the republican
party. The policy of the peoples party
should be to secure the votes of the
good men of both parties, and this can
only be done by straightforward
course. Anything that looks like fu-
sion or 'co-operation" will naturally
lose us the support of men of the oppo-
site party. Further than this, there
can be no such thing as honesty in pol
itics upon any basis of traffic. If we
ever gain a victory that means any
thing it must be through education and
by strictly Straightforward, honorable
methods, and not by the bargain and
sale of Offices
If we are a party, and if we have
principles upon which we are to go be-
fore the people and ask their support,
we must abide by those principles, and
rely upon the justice of them for sue
cess, and not upon compromise or traffic
with either of the old parties The ad-
vocates of fusion point to our success in
the last election as an argument for
future ''co-operation," as they are
pleased to term it.
1t is quite a question with many
thinking men in our party just how
much we gained or lost by ''co-opera-
ton" in the last election. We are salts
fed that the promises that were made
without authority, and which the peo-
pie repudiated. lost us three congress-
men and many votes upon the state
ticket; and we are further satisfied that
straightforward educational, middle
of-the-road campaign would have won
us more votes than we obtained. This
is our sincere belief However this
may be, we, of course, can og1y conject-
ure now. The past cannot be recalled
We have only to do with the future,
and we desire to enter our protest
against any further compromise or
traffic. What have we gained by itp
Did the democrats elected to the legis-
lature stay with us? They did on the
vote for United States senator and state
printer, which was an even trade, and
no further.
If we are party and have principles,
let us stand by them, and ask for their
support upon their merits by the good
people of all parties; and if we are only
faction or mere annex to the demo-
cratic party, as republicans have
charged that we are, the sooner we
take down our sign and go out of busi-
ness the better. Topeka (Kan.) Advo-
cate