Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-11-22
P0PILISM AND OTHER ISMS.

room than one wants. Those who
voted the Populist ticket in Missouri
during the late unpIeasantness now
have time to study and enjoy the re-
suits. If those who voted the Pop.
ulist ticket in this State had voted
with the Democrats the party would
have had fourteen out of the fifteen
Congressman, and the State ticket
would have been successful. The
Populists during this campaign ad-
mitted that the Republicans were
opposed to their views on every ques-
ton of legislation, and that the DEM
ocrats were right ''as far as they
vent In the face of this fact they
voted so that high protective tariff,
with all its attendant evils, can again
be fastened upon them. Popullsm,
fiat money, land loan schemes, and
all the other isms are visionary ideas
advanced by demagogues who try to
fool the people in order 20 get office,
or By ignorant people who have had
no chance TO know better. The true
principles of government are lost
sight of and the party suffered tothat
extent. Populists claim that ''the
Democratic party does not go far
enough There are many who
think the party often goes too far in
certain directions. "Bimetallism"
does not necessarily mean the free
and unlimited coinage of silver ut a
ratio of 20 or 30to1. When we agree
that we need more money in the
country it does not necessarily fol-
low that all the printing presses in
the whole world should be made to
print fiat money. When the party
favors free raw materials and tariff
reform it does not necessarily follow
that absolute free trade is the result.
While the party should be opposed
to trusts, and in favor of protecting
the laboring men in everyspossible
way, it is no reason that anarchy
should rule, and that property and
lite should not be safe. \ large
number of those who voted the Pop
ulist ticket in Missouri are now sorry
of it. They will do so no more. The
isms nearly all lead to the socialistic,
paternal idea that the Government
can do more for you than you do for
yourself. For instance, that the
Government can borrow money at j
per cent and loan it to you at 2 pei
cent. All such schemes are idle
vaporings. They are worse. They
sap the life blood of our tree institu.
tons. No party a live in Ameri-
ca that recognizes such ''fool no.
TONS" The fundamental principles
of the Democratic party are sound.
They have been tried and were moi
found wanting. These principle:
are still all right, and those who have
gone off after the various isms and
to worship strange gods will come
back. Don't put isms in the party
platform to get them back. They will
return inorder to get away from such
follies. Seeing their mistake they
will retrace their steps like men, and
in 1896 thousands will be found
fighting in the front rank Of Democ'
racy, who, in 1894, either voted the
Populist ticket or went fishing. They
were honestly mistaken and are
sorry for it. A prominent Republi'
can journalist, who should thank
the Populists for what they helped
his party do in Missouri, now in
in ghoulish glee thus dances on theil
grave:
The fate of the Populists is the
same as that of all the other minor
parties which have appeared in our
politics. The Anti-MasOnic, the
Know othing, the Greenbaek and
the Labor parties, after strutting and
fretting their little hour upon the
stage, passed away. They either
represented prejudices social or re-
ligious like the first two, or, like the
others, they stood for ideas and pol.
icies which were fallacious or mis-
chievious. Not one of those parties
cbampioned any purpose or policy
which could stand the test of intel.
ligent investigation. They repre-
scented no great opinion or doctrine
which endures. Necessarily they
appealed to a class, and, by the
constitution of their being, the mo-
ment they stopped growing at the
%geometrical rate of progression death
came to hand. Two parties at one
time are all that can thrive or exert
any Importance or lasting influence
in this country. Every policy which
has the faintest chance to prevail OF
which ought to prt vail is sure to find
a champion sooner or later in one or
other of the great organizations. This
has been the experience of the United
States from the beginning. Gov
eminent by parties is natural and
inevitable in all countries having
representative institutions, but the
popular will, when definitely deter.
mined and intelligently expressed,
can be carried out far more promptly
and effectively in countries where
there are only two parties than it can
where the political elements are
split up into fragments and shifting
combinations of fragments, as is the
ease in most of the countries Of con
,inentai Europe.
In a boxing bout one evening last
week Fitzsimmons, the prize fighter,
struck Con Riordan, another prize
fighter, on the jaw, killing him. Ii
Sullivan will O hit Fiizsimmons