St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-11
POPULISTS TAKE THE TOWN
THEIR CONVENTION MEETS IN RAR-
MONA HALL.
BIG REPRESENTATION

ganization Effected and Igna-
tius;DonnelIy Fires or a Rat
thing Speech-Coxey, Mrs. Todd
and Others Speak.
The PopuiSts of Minnesota swooped
down on Minneapolis yesterday singly,
in pairs and groups, and like the locuSts
of Egypt they owned the earth, and the
fullness thereof was theirs. They
everywhere on the streets, a manly,sum-
tanned, sturdy lot of men with the
wholesome odOr of the soil about them.
and blowing zephyr-iike through their
honest whiSkerS. Taken as body the
delegates to the Populist convention are
rugged, Incorporating body, and they
reflect credit upon the farming element
Of the state.
Harmonic hall was scarcely large
enough to hold the vast army of dele
gates and their friends that Surged into
the building yesterday morning. ana
when L. j. Meighan. chairman OF the
PopuliSt state committee, called the
convention to order a. 1880 O'Clock
every seat on the main floor and in the
gallery was taken.
Among the most prominent of these
were Senator Donnelly. who will re-
ceive the conventions Endorsement for
United States senator; L. j. Meighan
and Louis Hanson, respectively chair
man and secretary of the state commit
tee; A. Il. Holston, county attorney at
torney; f. n. Currier, of Maukato, an
eX-member of the legislature; l.. G.
Long, lecturer of the Farmers Alliance;
John Mcclure. member OF the legiSla
ture from Lac Qui Parle county, and
kittel Halversen, the eX-congresSman.
Prior to the convention q meeting
was held of the state central committee
at the Brunswick hotel. which arranged
the preliminaries. There was nearly n
full attendance of the committee, in
Guiding Chairman Meignan, Secretary
Hanson and Senator Donnelly. 1t was
decided that Thomas j. Meighan, chair
man of the state committee, should be
temporary chairman, and Louis Hanson
temporary secretary. The following
additional officers of the convention
were provided for:
Assistant observation-disclosures Eek
ford and P. i. Seberger.
Reading Clarke. Ii. Johnson.
Sergeant at Arms-Albert Harris.
Assistant, Ii. A. SWAIN.
CALLED TO ORDER.
The convention was called to order
by L. J. Meighan. after which a dis
cuSsiOn enSued as to changing the place
of meeting, as Harmonic hall was
thought to be too small. After the
waste OF considerable time, 1t was de-
cided to make no change. as the hall
was furnished gratis.
n,, oEA f.. hn
mendations of the state central COM
mittee were adopted. and the conven-
ton was temporarily organized with
the following officers: Chairman. L. j.
Meighan; secretary, Louis Hanson;
assistant secretaries, p. j. Seberger,
Robert Eckford; reading clerk, q. Ii.
johnson; Sergeant-at arms, b. A.
Swain; Albert Harris, assistant.
On assuming the duties of temporary
chairman MI. Meighan made very
brief address. He thanked the con-
vention for the honor, which he said he
considered the greater, insomuch as it
came from the party that is soon to take
possession of the government.
Mr.. Meighan declared the only saliva
ton of the country to be the enactment
into law of the principles of the Peoples
party.
AN ADDRESS BY DONNELLY.
After vocal selection by the girls of
the Populist Glee club, 1gnatius Don
nelly was invited to the platform and
he spoke as follows:
He referred TO the convention as the
greatest ever held in the state. ''There
is no one here" he said, referring to
the burial of tine factional differences,
"who contemplates his fellow with
feeling of rivalry or bad feeling. We
are literally band of brothers." This
love-feast-like aspect of things the Sage
attributes to the cause of his paper, The
Representative, for which he made an
appeal for subscribers.
Senator Donnelly then turned his at
tention to the condition of the times, the
great strike and the feeling of the time.
I'VE meet" he said with earnest elo-
quence. sin the midst of turbulent
times. l do not believe the country was
in as much danger in 1861, when the
legions of Lee were in sight of the cap
itol, as it is today. Then it was battle
between sections. which it was impossi-
bic to unite. Today the struggle is
interuecine. 1t is every where; in every
hamlet and village and city in the
North and in the South. The battle is
not for separation of sections. but for
the total subversion of the very prin.
ciples upon which the government is
founded. This government was found
ed by plain men, not by milllonaires.
But force from outside has been at
work-a foreign force-and we now
have two forces arrayed against each
other,
ARISTOCRACY AGAINST COMAfoNALITY.
Thirty thousand families own half
the wealth of the country, and they
have had no part in producing it. They
have stolen it from the labor and toll
that has produced the nation. Why,
you can't put your finger on anything
essential to human happiness but labor
has produced it, A class has fastened
on human toll and received its reward.
AT the same time we have raised up a
Goldfish aristocracy that is responsible
for these conditions, and that is now
threatening the very spirit of liberty.
AT such an hour we meet and we say
we are not responsible. No man can
shake his locks at US and say Thou
didst it, But when the Republican
convention meets in ST. Paul tomorrow
l believe that that shadow must hang
over it. They have labored and teiIed
to bring these results upon this country.
Now they are seeking to lay the re-
sponsibility on the Democracy. The
conditions that are responsible existed
before the Democratic conditions; when
there were 100000 mortgages and
| $4,000, 100000 of mortgage debts on land !;
when at the bidding of England they
| struck down that ancient metal, silver.
| from its place and destroyed one-half of
the money of the world.
"What has been the result? Discon-
| tent, turbulence, riot, crime. You can't
| gather grapes from thistles. The legis-
lation of the Republican party produced
| them.
PATH OF REFORM.
1--WE do not believe the path of re-
! form is through the torch and the rifle.
We believe that it is through the ballot
box.
What would the men of sc do we're
they confronted with these chnditions?
| They would plant their feet on the con-
stitution, sacredly adbering to its every
provision, and avail themselves OF the
machinery of law and order. That is
| the position of the PeOple's marty