The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1894-09-13


hope Of that party lay in fusion. Bu,
the Democrats have had enough Of tina
dose. Fusion has gone ont Of fashion
everywhere. In Minnesota, in tho Da
kotas, everywhere throughout tn,
Northwest. the party has put up ,
straight ticket Of its own. and left tn,
Populists to founder In the miro. Thi
is the part Of wise party policy and o,
true public spirit. Any decent Demo
crat prefers a Republican and any de-
cent Republican prefers q Democrat in
office to a crazy. law-defying, anaroh
istic Populist. The day Of fusion L
over; and as for the Populists carrying
any state this year outside of ths
Rocky Mountain tier, where patriotism
and even love Of liberty have been sac
rificed to the interests Of the mine own
ers, it is out Of the question. In Mime.
sofa the party is badly torn up. The
fight between the representatives oil
rival candidates for the senatorship and
rival aspirants to the position Of news
paper representative Of the organisation
grows more bitter instead Of becoming
composed. The latest issue of Donnelly's
Representative is full of the foul
mouthed abuse for which he is noted
but turned this time with a. much
energy against his Populst associates
as against the members of either Of the
other parties. He roasts Tom Lucas
and j. L. Macdonald in good shape, re.
CARELESS Of the fact that the latter is
chairman Of the Populist committee,
and entitled therefore to titular respect.
1t is impossible, in the nature Of
things, that the hoped for alliance be-
tween the farmers vote in the country
and the labor vote in the great cities
can be brought about. Either Of these
two elements has but to stop and think
for moment to see that its interests
are Numerically opposed to those of
the other. What the farmer wants is
cheap labor and high prices for
agricultural products. What the city
workingman wants is high wages and
low prices for the necessaries of
life. 1t is as useless to try to harmonize
these elements as to bring the American
Association Of Bankers and free silver
convention into line on the money
question. Every farmer in the State Of
Minnesota knows that the most serious
expense to which he is put is that for
the labor required to help him put in
and gather his crops. The wages Of his
help have been rising constantly for the
last twenty to thirty years. They must
be paid in cash. On the other hand,
the only source from which he can get
cash is the sale of his farm products;
and these have been bringing him in
less money year after year. Anything
that would increase this tendency must
be simply ruinous to him.
The aim Of the labor unions, on the
other side, is to raise wages steadily in
all employments. Their work reflects
powerfully upon farm labor. For,
while the unions themselves do not in
clude farm workers, they establish q
scale to which the farmer must conform.
If man feels that, by going to one Of
the cities, he can command q certain
daily wage, even as common daily
laborer, he viii not remain upon the
farm unless at least an equal amount is
offered to him. In the fact of the in.
creased wages in cities lies the explana-
ton of the growing scarcity of farm
labor and the decreased profits of the
farmer. But the mechanic and artisan
is bent upon accelerating this tendency;
while any increase in the price of -four
or beef or pork or anything that the
farm produces would be serious mis-
fortune to him. No thoughtful man
can fail to preceive that all the antag-
onisms that have been pointed out be-
tween capital and labor are less serious
than those existing between the man
who tills the farm and the man who
works in the shop or factory. It is
these irreconcileable elements that the
Peoples party hopes to unite by appeal
ing to ignorance and prejudice. But
the result could be only to make one
faction cats paw to pull chestnuts
out of the fire for the other. The legis-
lation that either asks would be ruinous
to the other. And as the city element
is the stronger, the better organized
and the more determined, it is that
which would prevail in the end. Every
farmer who votes for the Peoples party
under present conditions may rest as
sured that he is voting for cheaper
farm products and higher prices for
labor of all kinds; not only farm labor,
but the labor employed in producing
the articles which he has to buy, neces-
stating higher prices for them. Let
him ask any Populist how these con.
flicting principles are to be reconciled,
and give to this branch Of the question
some hours Of serious thought before
election day comes around.
BOUGHT FREEDOM WITH DEATH.
Nee Perce Horses Followed Their Leader
Over the Cliff.