The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-12-19
PLEA FOR TOLERATION.
The Peoples Party Is a Social Move
ment.

To the Editor:
In the last number of your paper Mr.. Don
nelly gives some plain and very important
advice to all thinking Populsts. His sug-
gestions un- .er the caption 1886 should be
reproduced week after week, until they
shall have been burned into the memory
of every who is sincere in this move
ment for social reform. Let us glance
briefly at the facts in the light of the OBJ
jects to be accomplished.
There is no exact parallel between the
Peoples party and any other political or
ganization in American history. The aims
of the Peoples party not merely po-
litical, they are really social and economic.
| Other political parties have arisen the
| basis of particular theories about admins
| tration, taxation or personal liberty. The
Peoples party is a cry from suffering hui
manity for a more equitable distribution
of the blessings of modern civilization.
The Peoples party comes before the peo-
pie ostensibly a political organization;
in reality it is a great social movement.
1t resembles a political party in this only,
that it seeks to accomplish its humane OBJ
jects by the machinery of government,
through the suffrages of the people. Other
wise it has no feature that is analogous,
even in a general way, to the characteris-
tics essential to other political parties.
What does this mean? Why, it means that
we have to revolutionize the political think
machines" of the American people; we have
to convince them that the reforms adj
vocate radical as they are, are necessary
| to the salvation of our country. We have
| to impress this doctrine upon a people that
| has been accustomed to hearing itself prais-
| ed the "happiset'' and most prosper
| ous nation on earth. Take only one of
| the reforms desired by the Peoples party,
viz: state control OF natural monopoies, is
| not this a revolution in the industrial
| world? Does history furnish us any war;
| rant for supposing that people can be
| made to accept such a doctrine in day
or in year? So with other planks of our
platform; they mean the complete overturn-
ing of industrial institutions that have long
been held to be as inf1exible and necessary
as the laws of nature. Why, them should
we be discouraged if we have failed to car
ry the country in two years? OF course
some of us are impatient account of
the awful conditions which seem inevitable
in the near future; feel that the people
should take warning before it is too late
l confess that the prospect is indeed
alarming one, but what proportion of the
people is able to see it in that light? What
proportion OF the american people fOr0SaW
the civil war 40 years ago? What prOpor-
ton of them would have voted the Repub
lican ticket in 1860 if that party had de-
clared for the immediate abolition of sla-
very? Yet our party's demands are more
radical and revolutionary than were those
of the Republican party of that time And
the institutions which we seek to replace
are certainly no less respectable" in the
eyes of men than was the horrible traffic
in human flesh. o. let us stop dreaming
and face the cold. hard facts! Enthusiasm
and confidence are splendid things in their
way, but they are not all-sufficient; they
are not substitute for votes. We have
to take people as we find them, not as they
ought to be. What bearing has this upon
Mr.. Donnelly's suggestions? Simply this:
We have to get rid of hobbies like the
woman suffrage question, and the question
of the state control of the liquor traffic
These measures are all right wish they
were a part of our lawsuit they do not
commend themselves to the people general
ly, and should not be allowed to stand in
the way of reforms that more impera-
tive and more practicable. We
cannot reform the world in a day, nor
by the wholesale; we must do it pecemeal
This is a law of evolution. The practical
way, then. is to begin with those things
that appeal most directly to the great body
of the people. The great majority of the
people are convinced that plutocracy and
monopoly must go; that every honest man
should have a chance to live in decent
comfort. These may be platitudes. but
some notion of them. however vague. is
lodged in the brains of nine tenths of our
citizens. Now, these aspirations have been
crystallized into specific demands in our
platforms. Why not stick to these and to
the demand for the reconciliation of sill
yer, and invite the honest Democrats and
the honest Republicans to come with us?
No matter if they cannot agree with us in
detail, they will come to our way of think