The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-17
THE PARTY is SOLID.
JERRY SIMPSON SAYS IT IS THE RE-
SUIT OF TWENTY YEARS. LABOR,

JERRY SIMPSON SAYS IT IS THE RE-
suit OF TWENTY YEARS. LABOR.
The Peoples Party Il Organizing and Does
Not Need ''Reorganization''-A Brief Re-
view Of the Birth and Growth of Other
| Reform Parties.
In answer to the question, s'Shall the
Peoples Party be reorganizedr' I can say
that the Peoples Party is being organ
lied. 1t is in the process of being organ
lied. Conventions held from year to
year are but records to disclose how far
the party has advanced in organization
for purpose. In the growth and the
formation of a new party there is q
change from year to year, and these con-
ventions are but the milestones marking
how far they have travelled; they but
mark the party's progress toward the
true solution of the evils that society
complains of.
In the organization of all new parties
there is, from natural causes, dispo-
sition on the part of delegates assem-
bled in convention to adopt a long plat
form SO as to take in the peculiar ideas Of
all, in regard to what each little faction
thinks is the remedy to cure national
abuses; hence the history of political par
ties shows that nearly every one in the
beginning had a very long platform.
The first convention Of the Liberty par
ty, held in 1843, out of which grew, final
ly, the Republican party, had in their
platform 81 planks.s The first Free Soil
convention put in their platform 16
'planks. The first regular Republican
platform, which was but continuation
of the Liberty and Free Soil parties, had
condensed it into nine planks, yet through
N 6ssD changes from 1910, when the
first abolition resolutions were passed at
Warsaw, N. Y, they all resolved around
the central truth, expressed so well in
the Free Soil platform of 1848 when they
said:
| Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner
! free soil. free Speech free labor and free men,
and under it we will fight on and fight forever
until triumphant victory be won to reward
| our exertion.
That battle has been raging ever since,
but very small part Of the victory has
been won. True, the freedom of the
black man has been secured, but "free
SOIL" with one third of our agricultural
population living upon rented farms and
corner lots in the center of Chicago
worth million dollars, shows that there
is some fighting to be done yet in order to
carry out what was inscribed on that
grand old banner in those days.
Another thing they said and declared
| for-''free men!' Have we free men?
Not much, when 10000 of our people
own half the wealth of this country and
! 5000, 900 men are out of work and cry
ing for bread. No, that battle is to be
fought out yet. We are just on the Skin
mish line. Behind us the forces are
forming and gathering that will finally
carry out that declaration of principles.
and they have been forming and gather
ing ever since that convention at War
saw in 1910.
The growth of party is as slow as an
oak. They are not made by few men
or many men getting together and pass
ing resolutions. They come out of the
past. Their foundations are laid far
back in the past. Their growth comes
from natural conditions, and their growth
is not so much the result of the effort of
so called statesmen as the many un-
known men who at various points are
silently procuring regeneration of pub
lie opinion. The talk on the streets, the
discussion in the schoolhouses, the SER
mons in the churches, the political dis
cussions before elections, and, above all
and beyond all, the pressure that comes
through mans necessity to procure the
things that supply his wants, the denial
of which brings poverty, and through
his poverty he is compelled to think,
force him to reason out the causes and
purposes of his suffering. These are the
forces that silently form party, which
is but an organized army to carry out
the will of the people.
It is my belief that the Peoples Party
under various names has been for wears
forming, and out of it will come the par
ty that will take up the banner the Re-
publicans let fall. It is my belief also
that in their next convention they will
condense their declaration of principles
into smaller compass that will consist
of 'land, transportation, taxation and
finance" That the battle will settle
around the financial question I have no
doubt, and in the struggle in the con-
gressional districts a platform for 1896
will be outlined, for the platform OF
each district will reflect the will, to a
great extent, of the masses.
cannot believe, however, that there
would come any permanent success out
of an attempt to form party on the
lines of free silver alone. There is no
great central truth behind it. To get free
silver would only be step in the right
direction, but short step. There are
other greater national abuses than the
demonstration of silver that are press
ing for solution, and I do not believe
that the earnest men and women who
make up the sum total of the Peoples
Party will consent to trim away their
principles to fit the prejudices of those
who oppose us or submit to the policy
of those whose principles may be subor-
dinated for success. IF that policy should