The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-09-15
RRARsrER VESTS LETTER.

An Attempt to Fool the People--A
Plea for Union.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
Were it not for a serious menance to
the institutions of the Republic and the
liberties of the people, the so called
National Democratic Convention which
has Just closed it's antics at Indianapo-
lis would be a bowling farce. But that
convention being a part of the scheme
to enslave the American people, 1t must
be regarded seriously. II a little boy
be found in possession of a f1bert rifle,
the fact in itself is not of great i'm
portance; but the consequences may
be serious, if the boy, as boys have
done, should take it in his head to point
the rif3 at his brother and pull the
trigger. Similarly with the aggrega.
ton of sleek individuals who met at
Indianapolis and who there NANTES
ted their contempt for the people who
have produced the wealth which they
now enjoy.
Speaking of that contemptuous feel
ing it is we'll to quote from the Wash
ington Post article upon the rump con
vention. The Post said:
Nothing could have been more
marked than the contrast between this
convention and the gathering Of the
Populists at st. Louis. That was an
aggregation of the long-haired and long
whiskered, di~scontented agitators and
cratic reformers, of the unsuccessful
and the envious, striving after some
thing which they had not and hoping
through visionary, not to say revolu-
tionary, schemes to better their for
lorn condition. The chasm between
Lazarus and Dives was as nothing to
the width of the abyss between the
unkept and disordered POpulist and
the prosperous gentlemen who com
prise the National Democratic party"
These gentlemen, these dear dollar
Democrats, who represent the same
class as the prosperous gentlemen who
nominated Mckinley at st. Louis, met
with the purpose of nominating a ticket
which would help to elect Mckinley
and thus perpetuate the reign of gold
recommendation, monopolies and trusts,
with maybe a furtively whispered
hope that before 1900 they and their
Mckinley allies might be able to sub
vert this Republic into an empire. The
speeches made at the convention were
so insulting to those who work for a
living that it is a wonder that the la
boring class of the city of Indianapolis
did not scourge the money changer
corporation lawyers out OF their beau
tiful city. Their ticket is Palmer, of
Illinois, for President, and Buckner, OF
Kentucky, as his running mate. The
former, who is venerable in naught
save years, obtained the nomination
because ne has proven himself a double
of Grover Cleveland in that he was
elected to the United States Senate
upon his pledge to support the cause of
bimetallism, and he broke his pledge
as soon as he took his seat. Buckner
was thrown in as a sop to the South.
The outcome of the convention shows
that the non-toilers who composed il
regarded Illinois and Kentucky as
States which are likely to cast their
electoral vote for Bryan, and by these
nominations they hope to divert some
Democratic votes from him and thus
secure the election of M,Kinley. In
fact, all the delegates to that conven-
ton were ready to admit that their
ticket had no hope of success, and it
was simply put up to insure the cleo
ton of Mckinley and the subsection of
the farmers and wage earners who are
now objecting to the system which
conveys into the hands of a few all
the wealth which they produce.
They had another obi act. Until this
year the money powers and corpora
lions have been able to deceive the PEG
pie by see saws between the Republi-
can and the Democratic parties. In
one Presidential election their money
and influence was used on one side, in
the next it was used on the other, and
the leading politicians were aware of
this fact. It was a Roman circus in
which the plain, common producing
people furnished the gladiators and the
blood, and also paid the expenses of the
entertainment. The Chicago Conven-
ton and the Peoples Party Convention
inaugurated a new era. They caused
a q alignmenJ-the producers on the
n hand and the vampires on the
other. That did not suit the vampires.
They decided that the wealthy and