The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-10-09
A Ringing Appeal in Behalf of the
Omaha Platform and Its IA
triOtic Principles.
THE OLD FIGHT AGAINST MON
OPOLIES, SYNDICATES AND
TRUSTS MUST BE MAIN
TANNED.
"Shall This Government BE a
PlutOcracy, or a Government
of the People?"
(Chicago EXpre ss.l

(ChicagO EXPIRE SS.)
AS the time approaches for entering
actively upon the great campaign or
'96 there is great anxiety manifested
among prominent workers OF the Peo-
ple's Party, as no doubt among many
MT considered prominent" relative
to the platform of principles to be
adopted at the next Peoples Party
national convention.
This feeling is an index Of earnest
ness in the work and determination
to win in the coming fight. and is to
be commended rather than severely
criticised.
AS might be expected, there is di-
versity of opinion in the Peoples Par
ty ranks as to what changes, IL any,
should be made in our present decla-
ration of principles before entering
upon political contest that promises
to be without parallel in the history
of the country as regards It's import
ance and the desperate determination
of Plutocracy to win at all hazards.
Among the platform makers Of the
Peoples Party there are those who
whOuld reaffirm, in the maine, the
Omaha PLATFORM: also those who
would add to, or substitute for por-
tiOn. comparatively new and radical
principles; as we'll as those who would
eliminate the whole platform except a
single declaration of single plank
making the fight ION the silver issue
alone"
Foremost among those who may be
termed the radical element of the
party are the old time Gree hackers
men who voted for Peter Cooper
twenty years ago, and who have been
in the thickest Of the third party
fight ever since; men who have sacri-
feed money, friends, and many of
them fortune; who have endured
privations, suffered ridicule, social
os tracism, and snapped their fingers
at golden opportunities to secure per-
sonal ease and enjoyment rather tha n
relinquish their powerful and persist
ent advocacy of "a national currency,
safe, sound and flexible, issued by the
general Government only, full legal
tender for all debts, public and priv
ate, and that without the use Of bank
ing corpora tions."
These old time GreenbackerS have
long been the nucleus about which
every monetary reform has rallied;
they have furnished the motive pow
er, SO to speak, of every third party
movement since the first Greenback
plank was proposed by Boil Schilling
and adopted at the Cleveland conven-
ton of the Labor Reform party in
1872
These old warehouses Of Reform, for
the sake of union" and "harmony''
and Cancellation, have repeatedly
submitted without murmur to change
of party leadership, to change of party
policy on important questions, provid-
ed there was always a straight, clear
cut, consistent, Greenback plank in
every third party plat which has
always been the case.
Now that certain party leaders, who
can count on the fingers OF one hand
the years of their opposition to the
old parties, propose tor the People s
Party a presidential campaign son the
silver issue alone" it is not to be
wondered at these old veterans Of re-
form should Indignantly protest and
clamor for an immediate advance on
the enemy under the old Green back
banner.
1t is not at all surprising that Col.
s. 4. Norton, the veteran Reform
editor who has spent twenty of the
best years Of his life building up the
organized opposition to the OLD par
ties now known as the Peoples farty,
should mpa tiently exclaim: ''We are
sick unto nausea with all this clap
trap about the relative merits Of gold
Hnd silver" should demand the de-
none tia tion of both, and fling to the
breeze the old banner of 'Greenbacks
and ProsperityH
No doubt many of the old-time
workers are at heart inclined to join
in expressing the same sentiment and
would naturally lose interest in the
movement should the Peoples Party
fight narrow down to an tissue
which is already agreed upon by the
leaders OF the two old parties.
AS we'll discharge all the veterans
Of an army on the eve Of a great bat
tie as to enter the next campaign of
the Peoples Party without the advo-
Gates of greenback currency.
The next Populist platform must
con tain the usual greenback plank.
AS to the introduction of a plank
demanding the demonetization of
both gold and silver. these old Green
hackers themselves would unhesitat-
ingly disapprove such a p, opoSiti as
being impracticable and untimely. 1t
would be regarded, also just as mex
pedient to eliminate the silver plank,
upon which issue alone some want to
make the entire fight or he cam
paign, as to eliminate the greenback
plank, which has been leading fea-
ture in every campaign.
The greenback plank is good as it
goes: the silver plank is good as far as
it goes; every word uttered in favor of
either is gospel truth and is approved
by every Populist from Maine to
Texas. but neither of these, nor both
of them together, constitute the main
political issue before the American
people.
The great overshadowing issue
which cOntronts us and which must be
fought to finish in the next cam
paign, is this: Shall this government