The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-22
A REPLY.

rochester, MINI.
REPLY.
MR.. cox. OF MICHIGAN, REPLIES TO
ME-. DYE, OF COLORADO-AN INTER-
ESTING LETTER-POPULISM AND
SOCIALISM DISCUSSED-THE WORK
Err ON THE FARM AND THE WORK
Err IN THE SHOP-HOW FAR THE
WORKINGMEN ARE TO BLAME FOR
NOT VOTING RIGHT.
To the Editor:
In your issue Of May Sth, Mr.. William
Dye, of Denver, Col, charges into your
Forum in a somewhat tumultuous man
ner charging long list of shortcom-
ings to myself and the Peoples Party.
Mr.. Dye says:
I'm your issue of the 18th of April
Mr.. Edwin D. Cox, chairman P. F. Co.
committee of Marquette, Mich, pitches
into the wage Garner and abuses him
for not voting the Populist ticket in the
past campaign. Mr.. Cox is a typical
Populist. have heard numbers of Pop
ulists express themselves in the same
manner"
ANVW, IL lily VIII lake Zig
trouble to read my article carefully he
will learn that I did not pitch into the
wage Garner, but simply called atten-
ton to the fact that Populists could not
depend upon the average voter in our
cities, for the reason that the vote was
largely on the market to the highest
bidder. That is the whole question I
raised concerning the wage Garner, and
from my point of view it is true.
II would like to ask Mr.. Cox, did he
really expect to accomplish so much as
that in two years? If so he is very
foolish, or else he would be in better
luck than those who have labored ten
times two years and have seen similar
results
My friend Dye should sympathize with
me if he has labored 20 years and has
always seen the average voter sell his
ballot.
Mr.. Cox seems to have no hope to
sustain him, no light to lead him ex-
cept the Ohama platform, or as they
are taking 1t here in doses of free sill
yer, he does not understand the move
ment or the elements that influence it."
To many broad minded conservative
| men there seems to be no way out of tho
woods, except through the Omaha plat
form. Silver, indeed, is only part of
the issue, and very small part COM
pared to the issue of paper money; but
the Omaha platform embraces much
more than silver; the planks on land,
transportation, and finance, is a pretty
wide platform, where the majority can
find ample space for thousand side
issues after the great fight is won.
And this supplemented and flanked by
eight hours for days work. With the
Initiative and Referendum added, which
puts all the power into the hands of
the prOtectionist, would seem to be all
that any reasonable man could ask; in
politics reasonable men only demand
what they think can be gained. Utopia
will not be in sight when the Populists
come into power, and Nirvona will not
be reached when the Socialists have
found Paradise. Says Mr.. Dye:
"This fight is between the former
small business man, small manufac-
turer, silverite and the great capitalists.
1t is their funeral
ut is not the fight between the prole-
tariet (wage-earner) and the capitalists.
The great capitalists will destroy the
smaller cDes-the farmers will fare like
| wise; they will be driven into the ranks
of the proletariet.
eve socialists will not lift a finger to
| save the small middle class. Let. them
be destroyed. To help resist would be
to go against evolution; to act reaction
| airy; to try and roll back the wheel of
| history"
business man, small manufacturer, and
| the silverite are buried, there will not
be much worth burying.
Good Cod. Has it come RI that acc
| that men will not benefit themselves
| because they must help others in doing
| so? l cannot believe that Mr.. Dye
| speaks for the wage earners as a class;
| and if he is the mouth piece of the
| Socialists, they better muzzle him or
| he will ruin their organization But I
| will do Mr.. Dye the justice to say that
| his letter was somewhat hastily written,
so that he did not consider the full
weight of his words: Let the middle
class be destroyed" So that we should
| all wallow in the pit of poverty.
"Mr. Cox is despondent--perhaps he
/ belongs to the small middle class, and
| fears that he will soon be forced into the
/ ever increasing army of the proletariet
"The average Ropulist is respondent
after defeat.
| 1.-THE Socialist, never.
"The Populists' hopes are flying up
above the highest clouds and when de-
feated he is in pitiable state, and talks
| about buying a gun, etc. The Social
list is not Respondent, nor does he get
mad, if the wage class does not at once
| fall into battle line. He knows that the
class struggle is in the near future;
and that the class instinct can be
| found in the breast of every wage
worker; and that bye and bye it will
spring into life and then he will rise
| to a sense of the power of the ballot.
/ Not for the small middle class, but for
himself"
/ The destruction of the Burgeoise
| would seem to preclude the possibility
| of further progress. The middle class
| will probably furnish the leaders to save
| the proletariet from further degrade
| ton. Even the aristocracy upon many
| occasions has come to the relief of the
proletariet, notably the Gracchi Broth
ers, who lost their lives in defense of
the people, and the Borons at Runny-
mede redeemed the people. There are
| thousands of men among the wage earn
ers who are the peers Of the best men
| of the nation; but believe 1t is con-
| coded that the strength of the country
and its safety depends largely upon the
average we'll to do business man and
the farmer. l do not say this in dis
| arrangement of the wage Garner: but
the wage Garner has cultivated his
muscle at the expense Of his brains.
The Populists wish to shorten the hours
/ of labor, but the Socialist will have
none Of it at our hands, With him It