The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-08
THE ANOMALOUS POSITION OF
NAL WALTON.

THE ANOMALOUS POSITION OF
MAI. WALTON.
We publish this morning a letter from
| Mai. w. NJ. Walton, the populist noml-
nee for attorney general of the state OF
Texas. 1t is impossible to understand
the full purport of Maj. Walton's letter.
While he wthdraws his name from the
position to which the populists have nom
| mated him, he utterly fails to say what
| he will do as concerns the balance of the
ticket, whether he will support or fight
| it. All he says, and that looks more
like he had reference to national ques-
tons, is that 81 must 90 to the other
side" and that he will vote for Bryan
and Sewall. He does not say that he
will desert and turn upon the state
ticket. upon which he was nominated.
He does not say he will vote against
Kearby or that he will vote for Culber-
son. but we suppose he means it when
he says II must go to the other side.
If Mai. Walton means that he permit
ted himself to be nominated by state
convention of populists and now in the
midst of battle that he, as one of the
leaders of the populist party, must go
to the other side we fear the popuist
party of Texas will think that Maj. Wal
ton has treated them very badly. leader
that goes ''to the other side"-put in that
mild form-when the rank and file of
his army is in the midst of battle, does
not do himself any great honor, nor is
it likely his army is going to take advice
from him when they find him in the en-
emies' camp.
At this critical juncture, Maj. Wal
toms abandonment of his party is cal
culated to do it great damage. 1t does
not seem to be fair to the party, and
the party is most likely to regard it in
that light. We have great respect for
Maj. Walton-he is a great lawyer, but
he is about the poorest politician that
Texas has ever produced. For the life
of him he can not stay in one party long
enough to be of any service to it and no
doubt political parties hereafter will tight
shy of him, for the only possible thing
he could do outside of his individual vote
WOulu Dt W thN p"i's w
he is temporarily attached by leaving it
in the lurch at some critical moment.
No one can consider Maj. Walton's po-
sition and read his letter and not agree
with us that he is not politician. be
is too independent for a politician. he
is moved too much politically by his pref
udices and his whims. and we fear his
present desertion of the post his party
has put him in will be regarded in no
enviable light by his former populist adj
vocates. He says that when he joined
the populist party "Power, capital and
greed moved into closer compact and
barricaded themselves under the protec-
ton of the republican party, as rein
forced by the naughty cohorts of those
democrats who had debauched the old
party of Jefferson and Jackson and
sought to instill into it treason to the
great body of the people, upon whose
shoulders rest the defense of the country
in time of war and in its strength and
prosperity in time of peace. The effort
was bold and strong and almost fatal in
results, but the time came when the
scales fell from the eyes of the deluded
and betrayed and the light of justice and
right shined in their souls-they rebelled
against the wrongful and ruinous leader
ship, threw down their arms and joined
with the marching ranks of the populistS
to recapture the government, restore its
a. L,,1r
back its administration to the lines of
simplicity, justice, honesty-such were
the first fruits of organized populst eff
fort-may we not be proud of it,"
That means that Cleveland and his fol
lowers were traitors to the constitution
and joined with the republicans as enc
mics of good government and that Maj.
Walton joined the populists but the
democrats came to their senses and
have Joined with the marching ranks of
the populists"-and under these condi-
tons Maj. Walton leaves the popuist
party and joins the repentant democrats.
That is very much like Gen. Grant say
ing to Gen. Lee ut Appomattox, Now,
Gen. Lee, you have laid down your
arms and Joined with the marching
ranks of the Union army, take COM
mand of that army, Gen. Lee My of
ticers and myself will resign in favor of
yourself and your officers Oh, impo-
tent conclusion! Because the democrats
have surrendered to populist principles,
the populists must give up their organi-
cation to the democrats. Verify verify.
major, your political philosophy will
not do. Why did you not go ahead
and profit by the surrender of the
democrats to populist principles or at
any rate take them on probation to give
evidence of their earnestness in their
surrender? The popuist party have
honored you, when its lines of battle
were formed you were placed in COM
mand of one wing of that army, but de-
ceived by false flag you are ready to