The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-11-14
A FEW REFLECTIONS.
THE CONDUCT OF THE CAM.
PAIGN.
A Horrible Mess.-HOw 1t Could
Have Been Bettered.

his defeat, the sympathy of every
Populist in Minnesota. And our
thanks go out to every noble soul who
laborcd on behalf of the people. They
arc the salt Of the earth. May God
bless them, for their heroic efforts for
the right.
We gained immensely among the la
boring men of the cities, but we lost
among the farmers of the state. Why
they should 60 back on US, with wheat
at i5 cents bushel, is something no
man can understand.
We are practically without state
central committee. Macdonald turned
out Just as we foretold. He was equal
to nothing. minus 100 per cent. lie
did nothing and then went off to Chi
cago to rest for week from his ex-
hausting labors, in the midst of the
campaign. lie tired the whole state
and tired himself with being tired.
He drove out of the Secretaryship Mr..
Paul Fontaine, who had some energy,
snap and earnestness and could have
done something, and supplanted him
with Il worthy gentleman, aimable
but ncrveless, whose principal busi-
ness was writing letters to applicants
that the committee had neither mon
ey nor speakers,-nor anything else,-
he might have added, Except pomp-
Gus prctensions and arrogant
stupidity. 1t was the most brutally
botched campaign ever seen in this
world. Macdonald's appointment was
a criminal blunder. and Mr.. Owen has
since, many times repented of it. we
are sure, in sackcloth and ashes.
That ponderous brow deceived him.
it frowncd at him like fertilization;
but there was nothing behind it but
wooden guns, loaded with cabbage
heads
Alas. Alas. Two years ago it was a
knavc undid us,--Fish; year it
was fool, l,-Macdonald And fool
is some times greater calamity than
Il knavc. You can occasionally reason
with Il knavc; but into the bottOmlesS
vacuity of a FOOLS brain you drop the
plummet Cf common sense in vain:-it
never touches sides or bottom. 1t
hangs like spider in the Mammoth
Cave.
1t may be asked what could have
been done?
If we had had the conduct Of the
campaign we should have commenced
it July 10th, at the State Convention,
not two months later. We should
have appealed for funds from the plat
form. In 1892 such an appeal brought
us nearly l.0O0-during the campaign
we raised $4,000. We could have
raised that amount or more this year.
The sum of $4,000 would have furnish
ed 1000 copies each week, of the REP
REsENTATIvE, in Swedish; and 5000
in Norwegian,-given away. 1t would
also have furnished us small cam
paign daily--which we would have
built up to circulation of 10000 or
10000. AS it was we never
received one cent from the State Cen
trail Committee, and even the adj
vances we made it were never repaid.
What we did we had to do it alone
and much of it at loss. And yet the
REPRESENTATIVE was the only living
force, the only vital center, in the
campaign. apart from the speeches of
Mr.. Owen and others.
With the right kind of committee
we could have sent out, for three
months, 10000 copies Of the weekly in
English, Swedish and Norwegian, be-
sides the daily. Our last issue was
Oct. 81, and the election came week
afterwards, and that week was the
crucial period of the battle; and the
Peoples party was voiceless. when it
most needed defender. But it had
Macdonald studying high strategy in
his Office in st. Paul, and looking as
wise as two hundred boiled owls. AS
Macaulay said of Lord Thurlow SO we
may say of Macdonald, that no man
ever uos as wise as Macdonald looked
With the right kind of a campaign
Mr.. Owen and our whole ticket could
have been elected, despite the awful
powers arrayed against us. It aeas
npefrlH question Of education. We would
have stayed right in the office of the
REPRESENTATIVE, and sent out fire
and thunderbolts every day until the
election: and this would have been
more effective than any speeches we
could have made. for it could have
been made to reach every man in the
state.
But what could we dc? The state
conv ention. under the leadership CT
Lucas and Macdonald, turned its back
on US. We found Il personal enemy at
the head Of the state committee; and
he spent two precious months trying
to destroy the only state paper of any
wide circulation in the party; and
while the committee could not pay Us
the postage stamps we loaned it, tho
sum of $50, 900 was to be raised to start
d daily to supplant us.!: Such base
ness, ingratitude absurdity and
lunacy never before were compounded
together. in one horrible mess, for tn
destruction Of a great movement ana
the injury of mankind. And there was
Mr.. Owen, battling wherever his voice
could reach: and a struggling, headless
party laboring in the school houses:
and our great paper putting forth
large editions, unassisted, to reach a
tithc of the readers.of the state: and
tbo ubolo tb;r,y roipr down a last in