The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-01-29
THE PLATFORM FIG lit.

L
BY OUR OWN FRIENDS-SHOULD
THE CONVENTION HAVE EN-
DORSED THE OMAHA PLATFORM.
Editor Representative:
AS was one of the committee on resolu-
tons in the late state league convention,
and believed at the time, and believe now.
that the resolutions should have passed.
as they were reported and as there was
no chance at the time to fully and COM
pletely give the committees reasons 10Y
reporting as it did, although Mr.. II. II.
Clarke did give unanswerable arguments
in favor of it. l desire through The Rep
resentative as the general newspaper Of
the party in Minnesota to offer a lew
pointers to the Populists of the state ON
this matter.
What is the object of the Peoples Party
League of Minnesota?
1t is educational, it is missionary pro-
paganda to gather not only Populists in
to it's organization but also new recruits
from the other parties. Very WE'LL then
it's platform should be constructed for that
purpose. The whole attitude of the league
should be imbued with the missionary
spirit It should be wise as serpent and
as harmless, to the tender feelings of those
it wants to gather in, as a dove.
Let me illustrate:
Go with me to Baptist Minister'S
Monday meeting in one of our large cit
sonary effort And the particular occas-
sion that has brought up this discussion Is
the why and WherefOr one certain mln>
lister is always adding to his church and
baptising converts, while another is just
simply holding his ground. They are both
able men, and Jealous men, yet their sue
cess is vastly different. The successful
minister was requested to give his method
of work in detail, and it was in substance
as follows: when I meet a man or a
women in my vicinity that is religously
inclined and brought up in or belonging to
another church l never speak to such a
one at first about doctrina1 points of about
the necessity of baptism by immersion i
speak only about the general principles
of religion and the love of Christ. es>
pecially avoid Wouniing any ones preJu>
dices be they what they may. If l can
only get them to attend church and be-
come interested in religion generally, and
attend my church, baptism by immersion
comes of itself in due time
The unsuccessful minister also spoke
about his methods. He admitted that he
was proud of the fact that the Baptist
church was right on the mode of baptism,
and that he generally made the people
of other churches, no matter how religious
they might be, understand that fact. That
with all his learningS and zeal he was IN
fact rigid doctrinaire.
At the conclusion an old gray haired
minister arose and said that the latter
had misunderstood his calling to that
church That his place was in theologi-
cal seminary to teach young men Baptist
Theology.
Now there are some Populists. and not
a few either good and true and able men,
| that are nevertheless not endowed with
the missionary spirit. They are just the
| men to keep Populists in the true faith.
but they are failures in the missionary
| field They are always worrying about
| the successful missionary. for fear he
| shall stray from the faith. Understand, l
| criticize one. ! simply point out a
| fact for the good Of the cause. I feel that
the crisis of the times demands that plain
| words must be spoken.
Now we know that there is great preju-
| dice In the minds of men of the old parties
| that we must recruit from, If our move
! ment shall succeed, against the Omaha
| platform. No matter if that prejudice is
| founded on error. it is nevertheless there
But the Omaha platform is not divine
| nor even perfect, although masterpiece
| in many respects. All admit that the sub
| treasury plan is impracticable. Now when
| we go out to ask men of the old parties
| to join our league is it not folly to shove
into his face the Omaha platform and de
| mand that he subscribe to that at once:
| Is it not the same tactics that the Bapts
! doctrinaire pursued when he demanded
that the unconverted Episcopalan o,
| Presbyterian concede that baptism by i'm
| merSlOn Is TlSnt DeIOTe lie WOulu lrlf1tt
| him into his church? And is such course
not calculated to drive men away from u:
| rather than attract them towards us
The platform that the committee pre-
scented to the convention embodied The
principles. cardinal principles if you like
Of the Oman platform, although it did no
refer to it in SO many words Referenc,
to the Omaha platform was left out OF
purpose for the reasons above given Ant
it is my deliberate conviction, that if i
had been left out it would have beer
worth 10000 votes in Minnesota for tn
Peoples party ticket next fall. wa
excited and chagrined, at the action of tn
| convention | admit I know that !eadin:
Populists differed from the majority Of III
committee on this point. Yet l subni
that these able gentlemen had not giv.l
the study and thought to this point tina
the committee had. and l consider it still
unfortunate for the cause that the plat
form was not accepted as reported. an,
after the heat OF battle is over can Still
arrive at no other conclusion.
| l want my POpuliSt brethren to under
stand that l, and the great majority of u
all, are not politicians. but busy bushes
men, who for some years past have stole
our spare moments from our avocation t
push this movement along. If we can nc
soon see tangible results we shall simpl
have to quit politics. Our business an
our families demand our time and mean
| in these hard times to the last fartnnS
| Look at vast number of noble men tina
have fallen just in front of the eneme
| breastwork fighting for our cause. / ar
| for war. war to the knife, war in whic
| we neither ask nor give quarter, but, wa
| conducted on all the principles of wa
| and not insane slaughter of our best me
) | in foolish attempt to do the impossible
If the enemy attack me on Sunday I Sha